George Harrison and that typical Beatles sound.

[beefandbones]

Well I'd say 'Plastic Ono Band' is much poppier than any of John's other solo releases up to that point, anyway! Although it is certainly is harrowing lyrically, as I mentioned, it also confines itself to a very present production style and simple instrumentation typical of the Beatles (piano, guitar, bass, drums) and relatively short individual track times typical of the 'pop' format. Although John always seemed to distance himself from the Beatles during his solo career, to my ears his many of John's best solo recordings recall the Beatles more than the recordings of his former bandmates do.

I'd also suggest that although the lyrics to 'Plastic Ono Band' aren't any less 'pop' or 'commercial' than George's lyrics for 'All Things Must Pass'... Paul hit the nail on the head with Maybe I'm Amazed, but the rest of the lyrics to 'McCartney', while more 'pop' than John's or George's, are still somewhat out of the mainstream.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

I will submit this snarky opinion: of the first solo albums by the four post-Beatles...Paul's was my least favorite.

[wj350]

I thought "McCartney" had some of the best and worst..."Maybe I'm Amazed" sounded to me like a major Beatles hit, in typical Paul style. "Teddy Boy" sounded like the grist Lennon was so critical of. Some of the other tracks, if Lennon had an influence, might have been recoverable.

Of the post-Beatles solos, I think All Things Must Pass was the absolute winner--interesting, because of the Beatles, I always have favored Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison in that order as song writers.

Makes one wonder what George might have brought to the prime-time Beatles if the Lennon-McCartney juggernaut wasn't in place...

[blazer]

Well Macca himself said that working with Elvis Costello on "Flowers in the dirt" yielded the same kind of working relationship he had with John Lennon. If Macca would say "I can't do that it's too Beatles sounding and I've done that." Elvis would say "So what, let's do it again."

[jmp4001]

I will submit this snarky opinion: of the first solo albums by the four post-Beatles...Paul's was my least favorite.

Now we know who bought Ringo Starr's groundbreaking epic "Sentimental Journey"

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

HA HA!! Touche!

Then again, the argument has been made that, for a while there, right out of the gates, Ringo really was doing better than the other three as far as airplay and hits...

[jmp4001]

Which brings us right back full circle to George Harrison, who was 'instrumental' in Ringo's best successes - "It Don't Come Easy" and especially 'Photograph", both of which are indelibly stamped with George Harrison's songwriting and playing.

[jimk]

Makes one wonder what George might have brought to the prime-time Beatles if the Lennon-McCartney juggernaut wasn't in place...

All it might have taken is a little more encouragement from George Martin. I saw an interview with him done after George Harrison had passed where he said that he'd always regretted that he hadn't encouraged GH a little more.

JimK

[brammy]

Given that so much of the Beatles sound in their last couple of years was thanks to Paul, I would say that maybe the Beatles sound was continued with Wings. But in fact the Beatles sound was not continued anywhere. The "sound" of Beatles was a combined effort (George Martin and EMI included in that mix) and died when The Beatles broke up.

[lennon211]

I've noticed a couple of things about the Beatles after they broke up. First, is that the more that I listen to George's solo material, the more that I miss his non-slide solos. I love his slide playing and sound, but I do miss his melodic playing and chord-based soloing from the early days. Also, I noticed how each of the Beatles, particularly John, Paul, and George all gravitated back to the sounds of the '50's style rock. John and Paul both released full albums like this, and George definitely flirted with these sounds in the Wilburys and in some of this solo material. I just think that it's interesting how they all strived for their own identity in their post-Beatles careers and yet the sounds and music that they made crossed paths frequently.

[brammy]

yup, I agree. Although IMHO John's Rock'n'Roll album was THE largest disappointment of all the Beatle material. It was overly Specter-zed, too slow, and lacked energy. To me its almost unlistenable, given that you are aware of the potential of the person doing the performance. If John had just decided to pretend that he was 18 years old and perform (and record) in that raw and straight-forward way, it could have been great..... in the same way that "Please Please Me" was great. EMI's intent with that first Beatles album was to capture (warts and all) the performance that the Beatles were doing every night in live venues. In fact, George Martin had considered recording them live for the album but then decided to go into the studio.