Oh what could've been...and almost did.
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Beatles 'were to come together again'
By James Bone in New York and Adam Sherwin
IT WOULD have been the sensational return of the Fab Four. But the bullet that killed John Lennon 25 years ago today destroyed plans for a Beatles reunion, according to new claims.
Lennon was making secret plans to record an album with the other former Beatles when he was killed, Jack Douglas, the producer who was working with him until minutes before his death, told The Times.
He said in an interview in New York: “He and Paul planned to play on a Ringo album and that’s how they were planning to do it, and George had not come aboard yet.”
The sticking point, however, was with Harrison. “George was already in a lot of hot water with John because of George releasing his autobiography and not really mentioning much of John in it,” Mr Douglas said. “But I think they assumed that George would come along as soon as the thing got going.”
Mr Douglas, who won a Grammy award in 1982 for producing Lennon’s Double Fantasy album, said that Lennon had already begun sending him material “earmarked verbally” on tape for the planned Ringo album. But he said that Yoko Ono was unhappy about the proposed reunion.
“Yoko discouraged Paul coming around,” Mr Douglas said. “There was a writing session somewhere in the Dakota [the apartment block where Lennon and Ono lived] and there was one cancelled which John did not know about, cancelled by a third party,” he said. “He was waiting for Paul to show up. He was told that Paul did not show. Paul was told that John was too busy.”
The revelations were given credence by a new claim that a £6 million record contract, which McCartney signed with CBS in 1978, contained a clause that allowed him to record with the Beatles at any time.
But Beatles experts said they were unaware of any Lennon reunion plans. Ray Connolly, author of The Beatles Complete, said: “John liked to help Ringo and this could have been a way he saw to get the guys back together in the studio.
“But George and Yoko had rows and she would probably have tried to stop a reunion.”
Eliot Mintz, Ono’s longtime spokesman, confirmed last night that Lennon and Ono had planned to go on a limited tour with Double Fantasy, but added that he knew knothing about the ex-Beatles playing together again.
Mr Douglas, now 60, said that Lennon spent his final day finishing off a track featuring Yoko called Walking on Thin Ice. After weeks of work, they finally finished the mix at the Hit Factory studio and agreed to meet at 9am the next day to make a master tape.
“We were all thrilled with it. His [Lennon’s] feeling was that this was the one that was going to take Yoko over the top and make her critically acclaimed, and cut him loose so that he could do his things with ‘the boys’ without Yoko tagging along. She could do her own thing,” Mr Douglas claimed.
Paul McCartney was a joke...and every other Beatle even admitted preferring John over Paul. George even criticised Paul because the only thing Paul did after Sgt Pepper, was cripple the musical influence anybody else had.
George would say that Paul would never be open to any other ideas. Paul was not the most important Beatle at all. I don't think anyone was, they were all important.
-Duff
I absolutely agree with this........
But I do also agree that Lennon/Beatles are grossly overrated. Mostly as I do not enjoy any with few exceptions of their songs/music.
IMO the same holds true to Elvis.
Lennon was pretty damn incredible with his solowork. I don't like Imagine very much either, but Working Class Hero and some of this other songs were straight to the point ni a really raw and awesome way.
As for Mcartnety being the most important Beattle....
I realy don't think he was even close to Lennon, and I don't think he was ahead of Harrison in talent either. He might have had the most "superstar" power, though. I think the talent was elsewhere.
And Ringo just sucks.
What people mean by overrated, is I don't like them. But when you look at the influence and changes they made to music they are not overrated. Personal preference changes and is not quantifiable, but other things are.
I agree. I don't like the Beatles for but in no way are they overrated.
true true..name your favorite band and i can see them saying the beatles were a huge influence...even rap.
See Manny's post above. Personal reference is one thing.....I am a new fan of the Beatles and although 10 years ago I wasn't a fan...I knew that they had brought upon a change. I knew they were something special.
PS. ELVIS ROCKS!
The Beatles overrated? Maybe, but you are talking about one of the most talented, creative and popular bands of the past century. It's pretty damn hard to avoid overrating them. At their time, they were both among the most talented and most popular at what they did, how many artists can say that?
They also changed the face of popular music forever, without the Beatles (along with others like Elvis, Chuck Berry, Rolling Stones, etc), there wouldn't be any of the music we have heard for this past four decades, for good or wrong. They inspired so many people around the world to form a band that it's impossible to measure their influence.
But they weren't just all about popular sucess, they also helped popular music mutate from classic Rock & Roll into a more complex form, with arregments, production (George Martin takes credit here), composition and sounds that were never used before.
Lennon solo career wasn't as succesful as expected in commercial terms, but he certainly had an amazing amount of good songs in his catalogue. Tragically, his life reached and unexpected end, and many people have missed the chance of hearing his music. I say this since I'm 23, and I know people from my generation or younger only know The Beatles as something that was big in the past, but they aren't sure why.
I never said he wasn't an asshole, but he was the best musician in the group. He wasn't much of a lyricist, but without him the Beatles would have simply been a snobby art rock band with no real melody, except for the occasional George Harrison gem.Paul McCartney was a joke...and every other Beatle even admitted preferring John over Paul. George even criticised Paul because the only thing Paul did after Sgt Pepper, was cripple the musical influence anybody else had.
And as much as I like George Harrison, he could have never written enough material to sustain longevity without Paul and John. Paul had the best musical sense of any of them. John was more of an experimental poet. For the most part, his solo work appealed to artsy snobs, not music lovers.
And it was the combination of the parts what made them so great. You had McCartney's pop melodies, and composition talent, combined with Lennon raw, anger, expermental side, plus George's songs, with Hindu arrengments, and well...Ringo in the drums!
Completely agree.
And before I'm misunderstood, let me say I'm not a big fan of McCartney's solo work either, though I do prefer it to Lennon's.
Yeah Elvis!!!
10 yrs ago? a new fan?
I in can't believe its been 25 years...jesus i remember Cosell announcing it on Monday Night Football..
Yeah Elvis!!!
10 yrs ago? a new fan?
I in can't believe its been 25 years...jesus i remember Cosell announcing it on Monday Night Football..
"look at that monkey run...run monkey, run!!"
yeah, i remember that too and Jimmy The Greek.
I don't agree with Manny that he had less talent than Harrison, because some of the best solos the Beatles had weren't by Harrison. Listen to the Taxman solo and that's Paul McCartney playing it.
But him being the most important Beatle is a joke..hardly. The more I read and learn about Paul McCartney the less I like of him because of his enormous ego and his absolute insistance on distancing himself from some of the crappy stuff The Beatles did that was his idea, and his utter glory-grabbing on things that were less his and more Johns or Georges.
Personally, I think Plastic Ono Band is by far one of the most underrated albums in rock history. It's so brilliant and has so much anger coming from John. I love it.
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