The Beatles' thirteenth and final album, Abbey Road, was released on September 26, 1969, through Apple Records. It was recorded between February and August of the same year, coming hot on the heels of the failed "Get Back" sessions of January, in which they tried to "strip down" all the complex overdubbed work they had done ever since they had stopped touring, and go back to a more natural, live sound, as inspired by The Band's Music from Big Pink and other, rootsier music coming in late 1968 as a reaction to psychedelia. Said sessions ended with tensions very high and its album and television special both postponed indefinitely, with George Harrison quitting the band and then returning a few days later, and a couple of attempts of putting an album together by engineer Glyn Johns in February without much success. During the sessions for Abbey Road, the group were notably on good spirits, leaving their differences and business issues aside and focusing on creating one more album for the band. Things worked out so well, in fact, that before John Lennon made his famous announcement of "wanting a divorce" in September 1969, the band had made tentative plans of a follow up to Abbey Road. And even after said announcement, things stayed quiet and unsure as to the future of the band up until the release of Paul's McCartney album, which announced the breakup for good.
That leaves us with the main question of this reconstruction: what if the Beatles had made one more album after Abbey Road? While this question has been asked incessantly for more than 50 years now, we can make this old debate more interesting by adding some rules to it, so as to not turns this into a "My favorite solo Beatles tracks" playlist all over again. Those rules are that all of the songs up for consideration have to have been written before The Beatles broke up in September 1969, and preferably intended for use by the group or seriously considered to be so. Additionally, only recordings from the 1970/71 period will be considered, as going any further than that would mean deviating too considerably from the established Beatles sound, which would make for a jarring listening experience. As Abbey Road before it, Everest would be produced by George Martin, engineered by Geoff Emerick, and recorded during the time period of January 1970 to April 1970, which was spent working on the finishing touches to Let it Be. Imagining such a record had already been released in May 1969, as originally planned, this frees up the early months of 1970 and gives the band the need for new product to fulfill the beginning of their new contract with Capitol. That gives the band yet another reason to go into the studio, which is always a good thing, isn't it?
We can also establish the format we will be following with the album. Given Lennon's dissatisfaction with the Abbey Road medley and the tendency the band had to not repeat themselves, this would probably be simply a collection of standalone songs, the normal 14 tracks of a Beatles record divided into something like 5 John, 5 Paul, 3 George, and 1 Ringo, as was the case with Revolver way back in 1966. With that, George again gets the most songs he's ever gotten in a single LP, especially considering Ringo's song was basically ghostwritten by him anyway. We'll use most of the songs John and Paul had available, since they tended to record or release almost everything they wrote, and they each have five spots to fill, which means only George will face any serious scrutiny as to what will be included. He had about 15 songs in the can at this point, which means we'll have to select the three which were the most seriously considered or rehearsed by the band. No easy task, especially considering the quality of his material, but we've got some songs that are clear forerunners in this, such as "All Things Must Pass" or "Let it Down", which were actually rehearsed very seriously by the band during the Get Back sessions. Thankfully for Ringo, he actually had a song he was working on, which means he will get a lead vocal spot as well. With that, let's move on and take a look at the tracklist:
All Things Must Pass (All Things Must Pass)
Every Night (McCartney)
Jealous Guy (Imagine)
Teddy Boy (McCartney)
Look at Me (Plastic Ono Band)
Isn't it a Pity? (All Things Must Pass)
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Another Day (RAM)
Let it Down (All Things Must Pass)
Oh Yoko! (Imagine)Junk (McCartney)
Oh My Love (Imagine)
It Don't Come Easy (Ringo)
The Back Seat of My Car (RAM)
Download link:
The Beatles - Everest (1970)
The Beatles - Everest (1970)
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| Paul and George at the last Beatles recording session, January 3rd, 1970 |
We can start off with the closest we'll get to an actual Beatles song in this reconstruction, "Gimme Some Truth", begun during the January 1969 Get Back sessions. With lyrical contributions from Paul and slide guitar by George, it features 3/4 of the group, the most we'll be getting here. It is followed by George's "All Things Must Pass", written on Thanksgiving 1968 at Dyan and The Band's Woodstock home. Rehearsed extensively during the Get Back sessions, it's probably one of the easiest inclusions we will be making here. Another result of the January 1969 Twickenham rehearsals, comes Paul's "Every Night", a more stripped-down song than the two that came before it. Following that, are three songs that date from their March 1968 trip to Rishikesh, India. The first is John's "Jealous Guy", first written as "Child of Nature", then rehearsed during the Get Back sessions and finally reworked for the Imagine album. The second is Paul's "Teddy Boy", which Paul had been pressing the band to record for quite some time. They had evaded it for three albums, but I think they would have had to record it this time around. The third is John's "Look at Me", a solo John recording that wouldn't be out of place in the White Album. Following is Version Two of "Isn't It a Pity", the oldest song on the album, that George had been pushing on the band since 1966, and I would hope that he finally got it into an album.
Opening side two is "Another Day", a product from the January 1969 Get Back sessions and a number one single for Paul. It's followed by the alternate Take 1 of George's "Let it Down", written alongside "All Things Must Pass" in Thanksgiving 1968 and rehearsed during the January 1969 sessions. The choice of an early take is due to the less bombastic arrangement used in it, more closely matching the way the Beatles rehearsed it. It's followed by the latest and probably most controversial inclusion into the album, May 1969's "Oh Yoko!". While some (including myself) would rationally steer clear of a song that was so overtly about her, this is 100% a song John would have pushed onto the others, much like "The Ballad of John and Yoko". It's followed by the last of our Rishikesh numbers, Paul's great "Junk", which again would've fit into the White Album quite easily. It's followed by another more somber number, John's "Oh My Love", featuring George on lead guitar. It was written in December 1968 alongside "Don't Let Me Down", and why it wasn't used on Let it Be is beyond me. It's followed by Ringo's lead vocal, "It Don't Come Easy", begun right after the White Album was released and finished with George's help. Closing off the album is Paul's "The Back Seat of My Car", one of the many piano ballads he wrote during the Get Back sessions, being in my opinion the best of the bunch.
Clocking in at 48-minutes with two same-length sides, Everest is the same length as Abbey Road, even though it's a pretty long record by the time's standards. And when considered on a song-by-song basis, it's honestly a stronger record than Abbey Road, only losing when it comes to cohesiveness, for obvious reasons. It's also a pretty somber, subdued album, pretty heavy on ballads and light on happier, poppier material, which makes sense considering the psychological state the band was in at the time. Once again, George absolutely steals the show with his songs, absolutely deserving the extra song he got here, and once again probably writing what probably are the best songs on the album. As for a single off the album, I could see them releasing a "Jealous Guy"/"Another Day" double A-side single, much like "Come Together"/"Something" before it, and it being a pretty big hit. Maybe even a non-album single consisting of "Instant Karma!"/"Maybe I'm Amazed", two fantastic songs that break the rules of our reconstruction but were already written by February 1970. Since all of these songs are leftovers, it's only fair that we use a leftover title for Abbey Road, inspired by the brand of cigarette engineer Geoff Emerick smoked. This collection only goes to show that The Beatles were too soon gone, and had at least one album left in them, even with all the turmoil that went on around them at the time.
Sources:
Paul McCartney - McCartney
John Lennon - Imagine
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Paul and Linda McCartney - RAM
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Ringo Starr - Ringo
