Monthly Archives: December 2008

by Brian V

In order of your preference, please. This has nothing to do with any of the songs they wrote, sang, or whatever while in the Beatles – I’m mainly interested in what people think of the solo stuff.

I’ll go first:

1. Paul – He gets a bad reputation because he tended towards treacly, over-sentimental stuff both in and out of the Beatles, but he’s hands-down the most interesting of the four. Pretty decent arguments could be made about his first 2 albums (literally homemade, playing 99% of the instruments himself, with weird, half-finished experiments sitting alongside pop gems like Maybe I’m Amazed) being a large influence on the lo-fi indie-pop thing that happened in the 80s and 90s. The highly-underrated Wild Life and the classic Band on the Run are also very worthy of your attention. And while it’s true that he’s been not very good in the last few decades, he does surprise you every once in awhile with something like 1999′s Run Devil Run, where he covers some of his favorite 50s rock songs. The whole thing isn’t great, but the 1/3 to 1/2 that is good is almost punk-rock in its approach and execution (see the title track, She Said Yeah, I Got Stung, and Honey Hush if you need proof).

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2. George – All Things Must Pass is far and away my favorite solo Beatle project, but I’ve ranked George at #2 because it’s the only one of his albums that I really like. Granted, my collection is missing Gone Troppo, but I’m fairly confident that it wouldn’t move him past Paul.

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3. John – A good portion of my favorite Beatles material is John’s, but remember, we’re talking solo. His first solo album, Plastic Ono Band, is a classic. About half of his second album, Imagine, is good, but the slide into mediocrity has already begun. Beyond that, you’re looking at a few good singles (#9 Dream, Mind Games, Jealous Guy) swimming in a sea of over-produced light rock. His oldies album, Rock & Roll, is totally smoked by Paul’s Run Devil Run.

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4. Ringo – I’m actually putting him here by default since I’m pretty unfamiliar with his solo stuff other than a song or two.

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