Quitcherbitching, do your thing, don’t disolve and just get together ever so often and pump out some righteous tunes.
That’s my after 1970 advice. Other than that, I’d concur on the Apple debacle.
And Magical Mystery Tour? Dudes, fine drop acid for two solid years, but stay off the buses and stay in the studios.
And more touring would have been cool too. I realize Beatlemania sucked for them, but once they moved out of pop and into cool, they would have been great in concert. Especially in the 70’s when concert technology started to catch up to their concepts.
Don’t sign with Allen Klein (J, G, & R, only): the man’s a crook.
Make it explicit in HELTER SKELTER that you’re not saying “let’s start a race war by brutally slaying rich people in Los Angeles”, because let’s be honest, it’s what we all thought the song was saying first time we heard it.
At least one album with George & Ringo contributing half the track (minus Ringo).
Another light comedy instead of LET IT BE and MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
John, Paul AND George have said in past interviews that it was the hectic tour/makearecord/tour/etc pace that made them write such great songs. They apparantly worked extremely well under pressure. The fact that the quality of their work slowly but surely atrophied over the years apart from each other attests to this.
Also, Believe it or not, there was a lot of competition in those days.
As far as the OP the only thing I can see that they definitely should have done different would be to have lost Brian Epstein WAY before his OD. He was a really poor manager; he had them sign away most of the royalties to their own songs.
A fair point, but I suppose it depends on perspective and what you’re trying to accomplish. I think it’s fair to say the Beatles definitely lost sales because of the remark. So, if you’re looking at the ‘things they should have done differently’ from a purely selling more records point of view, I think not having the shit storm that followed the remark very well could have helped their sales. But you may even be right on that angle… maybe if they had ‘stirred up more shit’, they might very well have gained a whole new audience that may have been even bigger than the one they lost. We will never know.
And if they had named their second album “Bigger Than Jesus”, the B-Sharps wouldn’t have had a name for their second album!
Keep Spector away from Let it Be. I have the bootleg version, without him, and it’s much better. (They should add that charge to his trial. He’ll really hang.)
Lock John and Paul together and keep them collaborating. The real
Lennon McCartney songs are better on average than the White album
and beyond individual songs.
Just jam more. More stuff like the second side of Abbey Road instead of overproduced, over-mixed stuff.
John - Stay away from communism and eastern mysticism quackery. I doesn’t age well and it makes you sound like a flake. Even if you are a flake, keep it to yourself so that you don’t influence the gullible and create problems in the world. If you want to imagine “no possessions” that’s fine, I will help you. Just give all of yours to me.
Also, apologize to Forrest Gump for being rude and condescending to him on that talk show. Here he was protecting your sorry ass and you go making stupid remarks about how great communist China is.
I, too, would love to hear a George Martin-produced Let It Be. But, ya know, I guess I wouldn’t want them to change anything. The Beatles have moved beyond pop band into mythos. They are icons. They are legends. They are perfect in their own way.
