Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Beatles - Good Night Vienna (1974)


The Beatles – Good Night Vienna

(a soniclovenoize re-imagining)


Side A: 
1.  Venus and Mars/Rock Show
2.  Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
3.  Love In Song
4.  So Sad
5.  Steel and Glass

Side B: 
6.  Junior’s Farm
7.  (It’s All Down To) Good Night Vienna
8.  Dark Horse
9.  #9 Dream
10.  You Gave Me The Answer
11.  Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out)
12.  Venus and Mars (reprise)


This album is the fifth and final in a series of “re-imagined” 1970s Beatles albums that presume the question: “What if the Beatles never broke up?”  Good Night Vienna collects the highlights of the various Beatles solo material from and around 1974 into one cohesive album, which followed the previous four re-imagined 1970s Beatles albums (Instant Karma!, Imagine Clouds Dripping, Living In The Material World and Band On The Run, chronologically). 

Source material for Good Night Vienna starts with Lennon’s final solo album in the 1970s, Walls and Bridges, as well as George’s Dark Horse.  The Lennon-penned and performed token Ringo track was taken from his album of the same name.  1974 mostly saw Paul McCartney touring in support of Band On The Run, so the A-side of his 1974 single “Junior’s Farm” was used, as well as the highlights of his 1975 album Venus and Mars, being the closest available source material next to his 1974 singles.  Once again matching the atmosphere of all four of their solo projects into one cohesive Beatle-esque  yet strong album—strong for 1970s Beatles, that is—was actually a simpler task than previous re-imaginings, as I felt the strongest of their material all seemed to be Beatle-esque anyways.  This album came together rather quickly, and its effortless flow, while not making an incredible impact like Imagine Clouds Dripping or Band On The Run, is a rather unified and enjoyable listen (if one enjoys mid-70s solo Beatles material in the first place!).  “Venus and Mars” and it’s reprise was specifically used to bookend the album, with an introduction of the band at the start of Side A and a concluding farewell at the end of Side B (reminiscent of Sgt. Pepper).  New edits and crossfades were created for many of the tracks to make a continuous two sides of music, notably the first three tracks of Side A and the last three tracks of Side B. 

As any astute follower of this series could assume, there would eventually come a certain point where these re-imaginings would no longer be possible, as Lennon ceased to make (commercially released) music in 1975, retiring to become a stay-at-home father.  We now have three choices to carry-on in the yearly fashion I’ve set forth with my series of 1970s Beatles albums: 1) continue this series without John Lennon; 2) continue this series with Lennon’s contributions being his Dakota acoustic home demos paired with Paul, George and Ringo’s studio solo material; 3) discontinue the series altogether.  As much as it might be a disappointment to you, constant listener, I have opted for Choice #3 and make the presumption that The Beatles took an indefinite hiatus in 1975, allowing for the other three to pursue their (sketchy) solo careers.  Since I’ve always felt that The Beatles had begun with John Lennon, it only seemed natural that they should end with John Lennon’s retirement.  Besides, after this point Paul and George’s solo albums diminished in quality at an appalling rate; it’s better to burn out then to fade away… 

So sit back, relax and imagine if you will:  After the success of the 1973 Beatles album Band On The Run, John continues what is called his “Lost Weekend”, a period of drugs and debauchery initiated by Lennon’s expulsion by Yoko Ono; after a world tour in support of Band On The Run in early 1974, The Beatles retreat to record another album that summer, but sessions are plagued by a disheveled Lennon preoccupied with partying alongside his celebrity-friends, not to mention a sudden onslaught of laryngitis for George, preventing him from contributing any number of new songs he’d written for the album; Paul’s leadership sees the band through to completing the difficult album, encouraging a generally “live-band” sounding album with one of his song fragments “Venus and Mars” beginning and ending the album; the album was named Good Night Vienna by Paul, after the Lennon-written song featuring Ringo’s lead vocals.  A cover photo was taken featuring The Beatles (as well as a Linda McCartney!) dressed as characters mentioned in the lead single “Junior’s Farm” (Bob Dylan was again impressed).

The response was generally positive for Good Night Vienna both critically and commercially.  It was definitely not their strongest album to date, but it wasn’t a disappointment such as Living In The Material World, and many fans and critics compared the album to the quaint Let It Be album from 1970.  “Junior’s Farm” backed with the non-LP B-side “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” was a hit in 1974 and brief European tour was planned along with a few select American dates.  That fall, around the time of the single release of “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” b/w the non-LP track “Spirits of Ancient Egypt”, Paul foresaw his dear friend and bandmate’s eminent destruction from his joyously turbulent excess, and knew that something had to give; perhaps The Beatles had lived longer than they should have?  Paul realized that John was simply masking his loneliness and the loss of Yoko, the person who created balance in his life.  The title for their apparently final album—a slang for “it’s all over”—was  prophetic in that Paul knew the only way to save John was to stop the madness of The Beatles, the entity that had enabled John’s destruction.   While playing the final American dates, Paul orchestrated a meeting of John and Yoko to reconcile and hopefully let John rediscover the missing balance in his life.  Paul’s plan worked, and John and Yoko once again found the missing pieces of themselves in eachother, backstage of The Beatles’ final performance at Madison Square Garden on November 28th, 1974 (Elton John was the opening act).  Both John and Paul decided it was time for the Beatles to take an indefinite break—to save John and free the others.  Seeing an opportunity for redemption for his previous family abandonment, John subsequently retired from music to concentrate on a domestic family life and to attend his soon-to-be-born second child.  The rest of the Beatles were free to pursue their own solo careers, which they most certainly did.  And the rest is history…  Or could have been, anyways. 


Sources used:
All The Best! (original 1987 master)
Dark Horse (1992 CD pressing)
Photograph – The Very Best of Ringo Starr (original 2007 master)
Venus and Mars (1995 Steve Hoffman remaster)
Walls and Bridges (2005 remaster)

flac --> wav --> editing in Audacity and Goldwave --> flac encoding via TLH lv8
*md5, artwork and tracknotes included

37 comments:

  1. I'd say you've made it seems like the alternate universe Beatles ended on a good note rather than everybody hating each other. Perfect idea, also would they make a reunion album in 1979? It would seem like a good idea

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  2. Say, what do you have planned after this? Any other rock groups that would make good albums that never were, like maybe if Syd stayed with Pink Floyd for a little longer or something.

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  3. Tell me sonic, what about the unreleased Red Rose Speedway double album?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rose_Speedway#Additional_tracks

    Every track is available, that could be something huge!!

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    1. You could even make a triple LP, with the remaining tracks recorded for singles too! But actually, a double album could be made!

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    2. http://albumsthatneverwere.blogspot.com/2013/04/paul-mccartney-wings-red-rose-speedway.html

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  5. Great job on all of these. Can't wait to listen. In the meantime maybe you would like to see how I handled the alternative Beatles timeline - http://beatles-whatif.blogspot.com - Mine starts in 1968 with solo albums instead of the White Album and goes from there. And, like you projects, each album is more than just a compilation of official tracks. I did some editing and made use of bootleg material as well.

    My request - what can we do about the 1974 CSN&Y unreleased album?

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    1. Thanks, looks cool!

      I see you are using 4shared... How does that compare to zippyshare? It's annoying having to re-up these files every 30 days...

      I thought about doing the CSNY album but haven't found any source material...

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    2. I have not had anything to complain about concerning 4shared beyond a false id of one file as containing a virus. They also do not delete files for inactivity as long as you log in at least once a month. zippyshare seems more download friendly though.

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  6. I think these "What-if" Beatles albums are pretty cool, and I look forward to listening to them.

    Did you ever think about making a final "reunion" album, where in late 1979/early 1980, the Beatles get together and have a one-off reunion album? It would unfortunately be the last ever for the Beatles since Lennon gets shot and killed three weeks after it's release.

    I think this would work as you'd have since all of the Beatles were making music around that time, and you could pull from Double Fantasy, McCartney II, Somewhere in England, and Stop and Smell the Roses?

    Just an idea. Anyways, great work with these Beatles albums.

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    1. There is another possible lost album in there: Tracks from Can't Fight Lightning, Double Fantasy Stripped, Rude Studio Demos, and the rejected Somewhere in England all hang together well without the heavy production of Double Fantasy, McCartney II and others.

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  7. Links went up in a puff of smoke. Can you reup them please?

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  8. Hello soniclovenoize! I just found your blog last night, and wanted to say that I think it's very cool what you're doing with these recreations. I've only had a chance to listen to Nirvana's "Sheep" so far, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be checking out some of the others this evening. I hate to bother you with a request, but would it be possible to get new FLAC links for this and Band on the Run? It would be greatly appreciated. On a positive note, all of your other FLAC links are good for another 30 days now after all of my downloading last night. Thank you again for all the work you've put into these and for sharing them. I look forward to seeing what else lies in store!

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  9. Thank you very much! I listened to Lifehouse last night, and you did a great job with it.

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  10. Just found your Blog! Thanks for doing it.

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  11. Any chance of a possible 1979-80 reunion album. John had some great songs and if you take some songs from the couple albums McCartney put out in that time you could have a solid album

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  12. Thanks so much for doing these! I've also really enjoyed reading the back story for the creation of each album. It's really touching how Paul was willing to put the Beatles on hold for John!
    If you have time and interest, it would be cool if you could post Past Maters Vol. 3 covering the non-album tracks from 70-74. And like everyone else here, I'd love to hear a Beatles reunion album from 1980.

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  13. Hi soniclovenoize, recent discoverer of your fantastic site here. Sorry to bug you and I know it is a hassle, but would it be possible to get new flac links for this and Band on the Run? Would really appreciate it! Thanks for taking the time to create these amazing "whatifs?" and for sharing your talent.

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  15. Will you make an album that has the Beatles reuniting in 1979/1980 using tracks from Double Fantasy, and after John dies, one last album that uses tracks from Milk and Honey and (maybe) the two songs they recorded for the Anthology series (Free As A Bird, Real Love)?

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    1. I agree with this. Could use McCartney II, George Harrison's self titled album, and Stop and Smell the Roses for Ringo. Then they get together in 81/82 to record together on last time as a tribute to John, using tracks from Tug of War, Somewhere in England, and Stop and Smell the Roses again, along with Free as a Bird and Real Love

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  16. These are great and fun to listen to. I thought I was the only one doing this. I have my own 6 CD set that I've created. My method was to pair like years because influences and recording techniques were similar. I also named the first set Instant Karma! but I kept all of the stripped down songs together and grouped the lush ones on Imagine, the follow-up album. I also continued all the way through the Anthology years with "Free As A Bird". George and Paul produced albums with Jeff Lynne so it really went well together with John's songs from Anthology. It's fun pretending to be George Martin!

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  17. You are great dude... compared with the YouTube guys, this is shameless, but compared with ALL THE INTERNET, you are like god.

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  18. Why the heck would Spirits of Ancient Egypt be a B-Side when Denny Laine did the vocals?

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  19. You must continue as you do so well so far. Thank you so much for everything

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  20. I’ve been looking for someone to riff on the idea of The Ladders forming officially in 1973-4 after the ‘I’m The Greatest’ session but could not find anyone taking up the challenge and decided to try it myself (sort of). In my version, Harry Nilsson joins John, Ringo, George and Klaus for an album drawing from all of their various recordings started in the year or so after that session with special points given to co-writes, covers and collaborations among those principals... I created a Spotify playlist (because I have limited production skills) but would love to hear what a pro could do - especially with cross fades on the dual versions of That Is All and Easy For Me. — feedback is appreciated — a formal version would be even better... https://open.spotify.com/user/bruceenloemusic/playlist/51f1w5ygJYDGEQ7oPh5y4A?si=x9IzcvKrRqO8eBr1_YzSXw

    By the way, I’m a huge fan- I think your Human Highway is almost my favourite CSNY album- thanks for these labour’s of love...

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  21. Hi, I only now discovered this great blog and immediately started to download all Beatles/Beatles-Solo FLACs.
    Unfortunately, the links to all the files from 2012 are not working.
    Can these be re-uploaded, please?
    Thanks!
    Jo

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    1. I am thinking about upgrading all five of these 1970s Beatles albums in one sweep. That is why I'm waiting to switch to mega on these.

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  22. Great and thanks for the answer.
    Jo

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  23. Many thanks for having re-uploaded all 5 Albums plus a 6th bonus album in Sept. 2019

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  24. Could you repost the links for this one? Thanks!

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  25. Been really loving these. However, I have two questions. 1. Does Phil Spector stay on as their producer after Living in the Material World, do they ever go back to George Martin or get someone new? 2. Denny Laine sang lead of Spirits of Ancient Egypt, who does in this timeline?

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