Episode 46 – Beatles ’70 pt7

As the year 1970 draws to a close, the holiday season brings with it even more releases from the now-former Beatles and other Apple Recording Artists. Alongside John Lennon’s own Plastic Ono Band LP that December comes a companion album from wife Yoko titled Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band. While the cover is nearly identical to John’s, the songs on this collection most certainly were not, as John, bassist Klaus Voorman and fellow fab Ringo Starr laid down some heavy jams in support of Yoko’s wild vocal stylings. On the more commercial side of the former Beatle pool, George Harrison, who was himself celebrating the #1 All Things Must Pass triple LP, ALSO celebrated a corresponding #1 single on December 26th with the hymnal pop opus My Sweet Lord. Defying expectations once more, George achieved a success rarely duplicated in pop music and handily became the most successful ex-Beatle of the four by leaps and bounds. Paul McCartney had been himself contemplating an end-of-year release with the album he had recorded in New York and had begun mixing back home, but it’s rumored that upon hearing George’s output, decided to take another pass at polishing the record that would later become RAM. It was a year of drastic change, and one the Beatles as a group did not survive...but through the hardship and the pain would be the silver lining of creative outpouring from John, Paul, George and Ringo; older and wiser for having redefined the world of popular music forevermore…