Yesterday and Today

John Lennon was not about to back down from a challenge. With his former songwriting partner achieving commercial success with the runaway US single Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey from the UK #1 RAM album, John’s solo work took a turn toward the charts. The Imagine LP was in many ways the culmination of everything John’s music had been over the years - equal parts catchy, light, heavy, political, hard-rocking, tender and introspective - missing only the kinds of radical experimentation that had alienated the general public in the past. From the downright bubbly Oh Yoko, to the haunting ballad Jealous Guy (a re-worked “Child of Nature” which had been kicking around since Rishikesh), to the iconic title track, Imagine was a home run for both critics and fans alike. John’s spite and anger toward Paul was on full display in the vicious How Do You Sleep, which Lennon explained to confused Beatle fans as a retort to Paul for messages directed toward him on RAM. The partnership was no more, but in its place a heightened sense of competition would drive both Lennon and McCartney to interesting new heights in the decade to come. But perhaps the biggest change for John Lennon as Summer turned to Fall in 1971 was his permanent relocation to New York City, where he (unbeknownst to him at the time) would call home for the rest of his life, and never again return to his native England...

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December 8th, 1980.

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With RAM sitting high atop the charts, It Don't Come Easy blaring across radios worldwide and the finishing touches being placed on the Imagine album, the summer months of 1971 were bustling with former Beatle activity. Though mocked for its perceived underperformance by George and John, Paul McCartney's second outing was a steady seller that leap-frogged early criticism and seemed to only improve with age, even to this very day. But while a success for Paul was welcome news in the McCartney camp, it was another former Beatle in the summer of '71 that would steal the show...by putting one on. The Concert for Bangladesh was conceived and executed by George Harrison after his friend and mentor Ravi Shankar expressed to George the plight of refugees from war-torn Bangladesh. George was moved by his friend's plea and hastily prepared what was, at the time, an unprecedented benefit concert that included the likes of Eric Clapton, Billy preston, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Badfinger, Jesse Ed Davis, Klaus Voorhman and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, Bob Dylan. It was a charitable event that would go on to inspire an entire movement, from Live Aid to Farm Aid and many more in the decades beyond. The spotlight may have been uncomfortable for Harrison, but in the summer of 1971 it was blazing as brightly upon him as the star underneath, and George rose to the occasion.

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It's 1968! After a year of incredible highs and dizzying lows, The Beatles took on the new year with energy and enthusiasm. The boys entered the studio to record rockers, pop tunes and ballads that would be counted among their very finest, as well as a segment for the upcoming Yellow Submarine film still in development. Macca's ode to Fats Domino, Lady Madonna, and John's rocking Hey Bulldog roared with the kind of sound and energy of the band's pre-psychedelic recordings, while Across the Universe grew from the type of poetic song-craft of the year prior. The early weeks of the year also saw John and Paul produce the band Grapefruit - one of the first groups connected to the as-yet-to-be-fully-up-and-running Apple and whom share their name with a book published by Japanese artist Yoko Ono. They were named by John Lennon, who at this time was focused on finding himself under the tutelage of the Maharishi. John made amends with his father Freddie, who had abandoned him at an early age, and looked inward with meditation as a way to peel back the layers of anger and pain that had driven him to substance abuse. Life was good, and change was coming as the band made its final preparations for an extended holiday in India...

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It’s December, 1969, and The Beatles find themselves with a #1 album on both sides of the Atlantic, a #1 single with Something/Come Together, an album and film in the works for release in the new year, and...all but finished as a functioning group. What remained of the dream was in the process of being sorted out by Allen Klein and his people at Apple, while the band members focused on individual pursuits. Perhaps most notable amongst those pursuits being George Harrison going back out on tour as a support musician for Delaney & Bonnie throughout England that month. The Beatle who pushed so hard to petition his bandmates to cease touring back in the summer of 1966 found himself to be the first Beatle to join a tour since that time. But George wasn’t the only Beatle emerging onto the concert stage in December, John and Yoko were back again to promote a message of peace with the aid of Unicef for a special Peace at Christmas concert event. Accompanying the performance was a worldwide billboard campaign from the couple proclaiming “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It.” - a message of peace in time for the holiday season. The holiday season also brought with it not one but two releases from The Beatles, first in the form of the sixth and final installment of the Beatles Christmas Message for the fan club. The second release at last brought to the public the group’s 1968 performance of Across the Universe, appearing on a World Wildlife Fund charity LP. Ringo’s co-starring film role in the Peter Sellers smash The Magic Christian brought with it an accompanying soundtrack featuring songs by Badfinger and contributions from Paul McCartney to round out a very busy month and bring us, at last, to the end of 1969.

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