Beatles ’73 pt8

Yesterday and Today - A podcast by Wayne Kaminski

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It's November of 1973 and, for the first time since he was a teenager, John Lennon was a bachelor. In the wake of the John/Yoko split, an alcohol-fueled Lennon set out to drown his sorrows in drink, drugs and favorite songs from his past. Enlisting the help of longtime collaborator Phil Spector, the so-called "Oldies But Moldies" sessions began in Los Angeles which found John howling his rock and roll roots with mixed and inebriated results. As Lennon stumbled through the studios and clubs of southern California, Ringo Starr enjoyed his time in the spotlight with the release of the hugely successful Ringo album. This star-studded LP of catchy rock and roll took the world by storm, and transformed Starr from former fab to full-fledged solo artist. With the mammoth lead-off single Photograph and a host of catchy pop song craft, pals George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Harry Nilsson, Marc Bolan, Billy Preston, producer Richard Perry and others helped Ringo create one of the biggest albums of the decade. With only a few weeks in the year left to go, the four former Beatles had managed to release four hit LPs of solo material which lit up charts around the world - and, impossible though it may be to believe, the biggest ex-Beatle LP was still yet to come...