The Beatles - Out The Blue 1973

In late 1972 the four former Beatles gathered in a secret recording studio in upstate New York (the location was chosen due to John's immigration problems) to record what was to be their comeback album. After several years of solo efforts and hit singles by each the time had come to regroup and give the world what it really wanted.

Recording went smoothly and by early 1973 the album was finished, and a fine album it was. But at the last minute the project was shelved and the fab four again went their separate ways. Why we'll never know, it's not like the results were anything to be ashamed of. Almost all of the material was released on upcoming solo projects with little or no added production and no attempts to hide the fact that these songs were Beatles songs. But then they didn't advertise that they were either.

Some have suggested that the reason for scrapping the project was that none of the four were willing to sacrifice a song to bring the almost 60 minute LP (pushing the vinyl LP way beyond time limits) down to a more manageable 40-45 minutes (although a couple of the songs could have been slated for a non-LP single). Others have hinted at a heated discussion between John and Paul over songwriting credits and publishing.

In the end the session tapes were divided among the four for inclusion on solo projects while the final master tape was whisked away by Paul, but before the tapes could be taken away an engineer made safety copies of the master and hid them away. All involved were sworn to secrecy and ordered to forget that the event ever happened but those engineer's copies would eventually come back to haunt them. So sit back, put the headphones on, close your eyes and dream of what might have been if this treasure had been released in 1973.

1. Here We Go Again
2. Big Barn Bed
3. Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
4. I Know (I Know)
5. I'm The Greatest
6. Living In The Material World
7. One More Kiss
8. Out The Blue
9. When The Night
10. Bring On The Lucie (Freeda People)
11. Step Lightly
12. Get On The Right Thing
13. You Are Here
14. Hands Of Love/Power Cut
15. Be Here Now

Reality Notes

This is the album that got me started. Many years ago I made a tape containing Beatle solo songs from 1973. Inspired by the fact that 1973 was the only year after 1970 that all four Beatles released albums within the same calander year (Paul released Two). I thought, "what-if instead they collaborated on an album together".

The sad thing in all of this is that this could have and almost really happened. Before John reconciled with Yoko he had plans, with encouragement from May Pang, to join Paul while he was recording his Red Rose Speedway album. Once they got back together Yoko convinced John that it was not a good idea.

By taking the most Beatle sounding songs and avoiding better known songs and a small amount of editing I put together what I felt was a convincing album. I would play this for friends who claimed to be Beatle Fans telling them it was a lost Beatles album and would fool 9 out of 10 people. I created packaging with liner notes and proper song credits which helped the illusion.

When I first compiled "Out The Blue" my goal was to make a believable "unreleased" Beatles album. When I first made this compilation, all I had was a 60 minute cassette tape to fill. Rather than having five to ten minutes of blank space at the end of each side, I chose to fill the tape to capacity. In the context of the back story of an unreleased album, this was okay. One of the reasons given for shelving the album was that no one would sacrifice a song to trim the length down to vinyl time limits.

Songs were chosen for their Beatlesque attributes which included drum, bass guitar and background vocal styles. Singles and popular album tracks were avoided or kept to a minimum to keep the album fresh sounding. It is for this reason that I avoided Paul's "Band On The Run" album which has its own life, sound and personality, and because most casual Paul or Beatles fans know very well.

Eventually this album became the jumping off point for an entire alternate time line beginning with the "White Album" through 1980. You can find that here at my other blog..

The songs were taken from the following albums:

Menlove Avenue - John Lennon

Here We Go Again  -  I had a hard time tracking info about this song (the original demos are undated). I knew it was produced and co-written by Phil Spector which meant it could be from anywhere between 1970 and 1974. I later confirmed that it indeed comes from 1974. I included it because it fits both lyrically and musically, also, being an obscure song (left unreleased until the 80's) it adds to the "freshness factor" of the overall product.

Mind Games - John Lennon

I Know (I Know)
Out The Blue
Bring On The Lucie (Freeda People)  -  I chopped off the short spoken intro which says "Alright boys, this is it, over the hill." and saved that for later use.
You Are Here  -  Edited out the spoken word "nine" at the very beginning but kept the percussive taps as a count in.

Red Rose Speedway - Paul McCartney

Big Barn Bed
One More Kiss  -  Edited out the count in.
When The Night
Get On The Right Thing
Hands Of Love/Power Cut  -  This track closes paul's album and is part of a four song medley. I took advantage of a natural break between the 2nd and 3rd parts, discarded the first half and faded out early before the reprise of the 1st song occurs.

Living in the Material World - George Harrison

Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
Living In The Material World
Be Here Now  -  Closing the album I added 15 seconds of silence to the end of the song then added the spoken intro fron Bring on the Lucie to give the album closure.

Ringo - Ringo Starr

I'm The Greatest  -  The most authentic Beatles song on the album. Written by John who also plays piano and sings backing vocals, Ringo plays drums and sings, George plays guitar, Billy Preston (who appears on the "Let It Be" album) plays organ and long time Beatles associate Klaus Voorman plays bass.
Step Lightly