Ramagine: Ex-Beatles 1971

Lennon's Imagine tuns 50 today. He had released "Power to the People" in March. Ringo had released "It Don't Come Easy" - produced by George - in April. Paul and Linda put out Ram in May. George's only studio output for 1971 was the "Bangla Desh" single in July, as he devoted most of his time first to production and then to preparations for the benefit concerts.

Had the Beatles still been a band, they would have had enough material for a quality album, Ramagine. It is a solid one, with three or four tracks still garnering airplay in the classic rock format.

For the sake of variety, we'll use the first take of Imagine. It has a different mix, with a more prominent harmonium. We'll also include the All Things Must Pass out take, "I Live For You". At the risk of alienating fans of Wings Wild Life, we won't include any of its tracks here, as the album didn't come out till December.

It would have been a pretty strong album. As far as our admittedly futile enterprise of reconstructing Beatle albums, it is the last one wherein John holds his own. In later years his albums still showed some flashes of brilliance, but he became more and more of a legacy act, leaving Paul to carry the weight.

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