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As I listen to Side 2 I have been imagining a mashup album called Walls and Venus and Bridges and Mars. Back in the day I made a mix CD combining all the Beatle solo albums from 1970, but I never went any further than that. It hardly seemed worth the trouble, nor does it seem worth it now.
But Paul and John could have used each other’s influence during this time; their creative competition always spurred them on to greater heights, and the quality control was better in The Beatles. There was no room for something like “Call Me Back Again,” which stretches out a very slight idea to almost five minutes.
And don’t get me started on “Listen to What the Man Said,” which triggers my Seventies PTSD. A lot of great music was made back then, but much of what got played on the radio was crap like this.
“Treat Her Gently – Lonely Old People” isn’t much better. For cripes’ sake, Paul, you already wrote “When I’m 64”… wasn’t that enough?
Well… years ago I publicly swore off ragging on Paul, who’s one of the few Beatles we have left. I haven’t found much to like on Side 2, and Paul doesn’t feel present for some of it… Denny Laine sings lead on a couple tracks… I guess in service of the idea that Wings was a Real Band. But I said I was going to get through it, and I did, and I have to love myself for that.
I did a podcast a while back where I proposed that Ringo and Paul and Mick and Keith form the ultimate supergroup. Your article reminded me of that. I still think it’s a great idea, but I can’t figure out how to cash in on it.