The Worst Debuts From Great Bands

There’s a certain art to a good debut.

On the one hand, the debut has to be captivating enough that it can stand as a self sufficient statement on its own. On the other, there has to be enough untapped potential to keep future releases from getting stale. It’s generally a bad idea to just keep releasing the same record over and over again.

But sometimes, even great artists whiff it at their first at-bat. In fact, some of the artists responsible for some of the most gorgeous music ever started their careers with albums that barely have even have a glimmer of what they would go on to create.

Disclaimer: not every album on this list is bad per se. They just fail to offer any sort of representation of what the band would be capable of.

Continue reading

Record #692: Mike McGear – McGear (1972)

Every so often, someone will suggest a record for me to review. I always tell them the same thing: on this blog, I only review albums that I own on vinyl, so if they want me to review something, the would need to give it to me.

To date, only my friend Jay has taken me up on that offer, with this Beatles-adjacent release.

Mike McGear, born Peter Michael McCartney, is the brother of the one and only Paul McCartney. If he was trying to get out of his older brother’s shadow, this album is a strange way to go about it, as Paul produced the album, wrote (or cowrote) most of the songs, and offered up Wings as a backing band.

It’s no RAM, but save for the fact that his brother is singing lead vocals, this feels all the world like a forgotten Paul McCartney solo record.

Continue reading

Record #297: John Lennon – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

Record #297: John Lennon - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
The thing about the Beatles’ breakup is that it didn’t mean the end of music from the four men who called themselves the Beatles. In fact, quite the opposite. In 1970 alone, each member...

 

The thing about the Beatles’ breakup is that it didn’t mean the end of music from the four men who called themselves the Beatles. In fact, quite the opposite. In 1970 alone, each member released a solo album (as well as the problematic Let It Be). Ringo debuted in March with a collection of standards (Sentimental Journey). Then in May, Paul released a ramshackle collection of half-finished songs (McCartney). In the end of November, George released a three disc opus chronicling all of the (absolutely incredible) songs Lennon/McCartney turned down for Beatles records (All Things Must Pass). Everyone waited on John, who at this point seemed like the true genius of the group (untrue, but we’ll get to that).

Two weeks after George, John and Yoko released two separate albums with nearly identical covers recorded in the same recording session, both called Plastic Ono Band. Yoko’s was an obtuse amalgam of music concrète and free jazz (Ornette Coleman guest stars!), which would have been incredibly off putting for those who bought John’s record, which against all odds, featured some of his most straightforward songwriting. Sonically, the performances follow his bluesier contributions to White and Let It Be. These songs tap the roots of rock and roll tradition, intentionally stripped to their barest bones. A few doubled vocal tracks and sound effects are scattered about the playlist, but the production is the most raw Lennon has been since Ed Sullivan.

And speaking of raw, this record was recorded after Yoko introduced John to primal scream therapy, which he had used to process the loss of his mother as a child and his abandonment issues from never knowing his father. The lyrics reflect this with almost painful clarity (most specifically on the opener “Mother”), while the literal practice of primally screaming is used in some of the tracks. As such, John never recorded anything as visceral as “Well Well Well,” which includes a screamed middle section. The single most vitriolic thing he ever sang is in the climax of “God,” where he sings loudly, “I don’t believe in Beatles!” Pause for the sting to hit. “I just believe in me/Yoko and me.” Ouch. And Ringo is right there, man! (he drummed on the whole album. And All Things Must Pass. Everybody still loved Ringo). But for all its venom, the album has some tenderness to it–Look At Me is maybe his best love song ever.

While John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is an incredible statement from an incredible artist, it’s hard to use it to support Lennon’s superiority. Some argue that this is the finest Beatles solo ever. They’re wrong. That honor goes to either All Things Must Pass or Paul’s Ram, but Plastic Ono Band is undisputedly in third. It would have been interesting to see these songs with some of George’s lead lines, and who knows if Paul would have made them sweeter or pushed them into even rougher territory (remember: Paul was the roughest rocker of the bunch. See: Helter Skelter, Oh! Darling, his guitar solos in The End and Taxman and scats in Hey Jude). But as it is said, it does not do to dwell on dreams.

 

Record #245: The Beatles – “Yesterday” and Today (1966)

It took a while for Capitol to figure out the Beatles. While they were initially keen for their LPs to be a mish mash of whatever tracks they were recording at the time, the Beatles were the among the first acts to look at the twenty-four inches of wax (both sides, keep up) as an opportunity to make a singular artistic statement.

But Capitol was a little slow on the uptake, continuing to grab recordings from different recording sessions and piecing them together to cash in on Beatle-mania. While they stopped releasing different North American versions once Sgt. Pepper arrived, the Beatles had been recording complete albums as early as Beatles for Sale in late 1964.

“Yesterday” and Today, largely culled from Rubber Soul and Revolver, with a few tracks from Help!, was the culmination of Capitol’s misguided practice.

Continue reading

Record #192: George Harrison – Living in the Material World (1973)

In the three years after their break up, it became obvious that none of the Beatles were going anywhere. John got over his weirdness and got back to rock music. Paul responded to the backlash of the homespun McCartney with the incredible Ram, then form Wings. Ringo released a country record (?!?). And after the releasing the sprawling deluge of All Things Must Pass and organizing and recording the massive humanitarian Concert for Bangladesh at the Behest of his mentor Ravi Shankar, George Harrison no longer had anything to prove.

Continue reading

Record #191: George Harrison – All Things Must Pass (1970)

The Beatles were over. McCartney had made a press release announcing it, followed a week later by his first solo record, which was derided as a disappointing, half-baked affair. The magic was over. The good days were all behind us. And while the Fab Four may all still be releasing music, nothing they made could have topped what they did together.

But for George Harrison, the dam had burst.

Continue reading

Record #38: The Beatles – Hey Jude (1970)

At some point, someone had the idea that people might be more apt to buy an album full of singles as opposed to a bunch of seven inches. For me, that is completely true. I would much rather sit down for twenty minutes and then have to get up to flip the disc than to sit down for three minutes. And one a group has as many non-album singles as the Beatles did, a singles compilation could be a legitimately rewarding listen. So many great songs litter each side: Lady Madonna, Revolution, Paperback Writer, Don’t Let Me Down, and, of course, Hey Jude, which everyone knows.

Continue reading

Record #37: The Beatles – Let It Be (1970)

As the story goes, after the fragmented, acrimonious, and fragmented sessions that yielded The White Album, Paul McCartney, longing for the old days, suggested the band come together for one last show, writing an album together with guitars instead of with tape reels. The show in question was the infamous unannounced rooftop concert in London (which was beset by party-pooping policeman), which was their final public appearance. The concert was recorded, and then spliced together with studio songs for an album, which was shelved, due to the group’s dissatisfaction with the project, until restraint-less producer Phil Spector got his hands on it. The album that resulted is…a mixed bag. Like The White Album before it, it contains some of the Beatles’ greatest material (see: Across The Universe, pop ballad among pop ballads Let It Be), but it’s wildly uneven (see: Dig It, The Long And Winding Road).

Continue reading

Record #35: The Beatles – Yellow Submarine (1969)

I will say it right now. Yellow Submarine is my least favorite Beatles song (barring Wild Honey Pie). For whatever reason, it’s the first song a large section of the population think of when they think of the Beatles. I have never understood it, since THE WHOLE OF THEIR EXTENSIVE CATALOGUE showcases a better band than that one track. But, it makes for a good premise for an animated film, and being that the Beatles made money, a soundtrack for that film had to be released.

Continue reading