It was 50 years ago today....

I always have preferred the first McCartney LP to Ram.  Except for Teddy Boy--what a loser that is!

If a group with the talent and originality of the Beatles formed today they'd be an instant huge success.

I still love those first two McCartneys. Paul played and sang all the parts on the first (as did Emitt Rhodes on his even better s/t 1970 debut), but had hired Studio/Jazz drummer Denny Seiwell by the time of Ram, paying him $150 a week to be on retainer. Not cool.

I really love the fact that they decided to give Ringo a song on every outing. Which other band has 4 different lead singers per album?

Then there’s the fact that even an album comprised of their worst songs would be pretty good by most standards.

The standards they’re judged by are so high that even so called failures, ie the Magical Mystery Tour or Let It Be, would be seen as successes for anyone else.

For me the sheer variety and creativity of the Beatles was missing from their solo efforts. As a last resort I decided to follow Lennon’s advice for those who wanted another Beatles album by combing favourite tracks from their solo albums.

Apart from the difficulty of finding suitable Ringo tracks from his solo efforts, It Don’t Come Easy being the standout, it works quite well.