The 10 worst Beatles solo albums
Any rock scene that has The Beatles missing feels like a much darker place. In just under a decade of creative output, the Fab Four reshaped the rock landscape, paving the way for bold new reinventions in the studio and timeless songs that still influence fans decades after they’ve come out. Even though each band member went on to stellar solo careers, not everything was perfect from top to bottom.
For every great album put out by any group member, there are a handful of times when their creative intuition fails them a bit. Whether it wasn’t made for the right time or an experiment gone horribly wrong, most fans have either walked away from the former Beatles dissatisfied or given an album that hasn’t held up to the passage of time.
One of the key things missing from most of these albums is the creative balance that John, Paul, George and Ringo had when they were a unit. Since they had no one around to keep them in check half the time, some of their solo efforts could either meander or show some ugly sides of their personality that most weren’t ready for.
Since they may have been responsible for the soundtrack to the golden age of rock and roll, some of their lacklustre output just makes fans appreciate their bright moments. It’s never easy having to slog through the table scraps from the former Beatles, but sometimes fans have to take a bad album to appreciate a classic like ‘Imagine’, ‘My Sweet Lord’, or ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’.
10 worst Beatles solo albums:
10. Give My Regards to Broad Street – Paul McCartney
At the start of the 1980s, Paul McCartney was starting to become the next great pop star in his 40s. Although his time with Wings brought some of the wildest tours of the ‘70s, Macca was ready to strike out on his own in the MTV generation, making some of his biggest solo hits with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Music wasn’t enough, though. McCartney fancied himself an actor, and Give My Regards To Broad Street was his idea of working his way into Hollywood.
While the movie is another matter entirely, the album accompanying the film has some of the most lacklustre performances of McCartney’s career, as he cannibalises some of his former Beatles songs. Despite having some great one-off tracks like ‘No More Lonely Nights’, most fans will be shaking their head as to why Macca chose to take his masterpieces and recontextualise them for a new generation.
There are some highlights, like his acoustic performance of ‘For No One’, but for the most part, no one will return to the Broad Street versions when The Beatles’ catalogue is still sitting there. While McCartney would make far more questionable albums during the rest of that decade, Give My Regards gets a spot because it doesn’t need to exist.
9. Electronic Sound – George Harrison
History has written The Beatles’ history far differently than how it actually went. For all of the fans heralding John Lennon as the avant-garde member of the group, each of his bandmates was immersed in the art-rock scene, always looking to add something new to their songs. Although the synthesiser worked wonders on albums like Abbey Road, George Harrison’s test drive with the software wasn’t anything special.
Recorded as a one-off project for Apple Corps, Electronic Sound captures the sound of Harrison working with a Mogg synthesiser for the first time. While hearing any Beatle jamming for a little while might have been fun, Harrison didn’t really understand how the software worked yet, leading to two sides of mindless noise that drones on for the better part of an hour.
Being one of the few albums released while The Beatles were still a band, Harrison got his solo career off to a rocky start, especially towards the album’s end, where the “song” sounds more akin to white noise than anything musical. Electronic Sound could be something to put on as subtle ambient music, but to anyone who appreciates the songcraft behind The Fab Four, there’s none to be found here.
8. Driving Rain – Paul McCartney
No one would have blamed Paul McCartney for taking a huge break from music in the early 2000s. Having just come to terms with losing his first wife, Linda, and starting a new relationship with Heather Mills, Macca was beginning to come back down to Earth and decided to go back into the studio for a new record after some time away. Seeing how Driving Rain turned out, maybe that time away wasn’t the best idea in the world.
Recorded with the help of his touring band, McCartney’s first record of the 2000s marks one of the first times where his trademark whimsy isn’t accounted for on a record. Although there are a few decent ballads on the record, like ‘She’s Given Up Talking’, there are practically no uptempo rockers to speak of, leading to an album that’s way too long and lulls the listener to sleep if they aren’t paying attention.
Even when McCartney tries something different on songs like ‘Spinning on an Axis’, his attempts at rapping some of the verses sound too forced, as if he’s trying to shoehorn in some modern influences because some label told him to. While the prolonged jam ‘Rinse the Raindrops’ finally jolts the listener awake towards the end, the fact that it comes at the very end is one of the biggest musical teases by a Beatle.
7. Ringo the 4th – Ringo Starr
Towards the end of the ‘70s, Ringo Starr was in a very bad way. Having had loads of fun throughout the first half of his solo career, Starr was nursing a severe drinking problem and had begun to let his booze get the better of him throughout the recording sessions. Although the drumming legend could whip a lot of songs into decent shape, Ringo the 4th was the first time his musical intuition abruptly stopped.
While previous albums like Goodnight Vienna still had some decent singles and phenomenal performances, no one was asking for Starr to go disco. Across most of the album, Starr found himself in the same position as other rock legends like Elton John and Queen, looking to change with the times and coming off as unbelievably over the hill.
There are still signs of the old Starr trapped within the album, screaming to get out, but they are all but nullified when they’re being fed through some of the most offputting production of the era and half-hearted takes that sound like Starr just wanted to get the record done to fulfil a contract. Most Beatles solo albums give fans a glimpse into their lives, but Ringo the 4th just makes fans wonder if the lovable drummer was taking care of himself.
6. Gone Troppo – George Harrison
The ‘80s hadn’t started well for any of the former Beatles. After taking in the tragedy of John Lennon’s murder, ‘All Those Years Ago’ at least put George Harrison on stable ground, being a touching ode to his former bandmate. After being told to scrap most of his songs for the accompanying album Somewhere In England, Harrison stopped trying when working on Gone Troppo.
Being far more invested in the film company Handmaid Films, much of this album was made during a handful of recording sessions in between Harrison going on holiday. While a certain tropical vibe comes from songs like the title track and ‘Wake Up My Love’, the production is some of the most dated on any Beatles project, sounding as if Jimmy Buffett had decided to make a synth-heavy pop record.
The sad part is just how many songs are swallowed by the production, like the squelchy sounds butchering the lovely ballad ‘Mystical One’ and turning the Beatles’ leftover ‘Circles’ into something straight out of a fever dream. Though he would eventually return to more familiar territory on his comeback album Cloud Nine, Gone Troppo feels more like a middle finger to Harrison’s label for making him create on demand.
5. Some Time in New York City – John Lennon
For most of the early ‘70s, John Lennon’s songwriting often went hand in hand with politics. After opening the door for something more pointed on ‘Revolution’, Lennon was ready to turn his voice up during his solo career, paving the way for anthems like ‘Give Peace a Chance’ and ‘Power to the People’. There’s a fine line between being passionate and preachy, though, and Some Time in New York City crossed that border more than a few times.
Being a collaborative effort with Yoko Ono, Lennon offers up some of the most biting commentary of his career with varying degrees of success. While he got a lot of attention from one of the lead singles, ‘Woman is the ****** of the World’, much of his commentary gives way to boring songs like ‘John Sinclair’ and ‘Attica State’. Even though Yoko steps up her game with her contributions like ‘Sisters O Sisters’, some of her ideas also meander a bit too much, as if she has too many words in the verses to fit the melody.
It wasn’t long until Lennon and Ono eventually broke things off as well, separating for a time after the album came out and Lennon moved out to California with his mistress May Pang. Though both Lennon and Ono were artists in the truest sense of the word, this was one of the few times when they were wondering if their collaborations were hurting their art more than helping.
4. Bad Boy – Ringo Starr
No one is looking to Ringo Starr to be the most experienced songwriter of the former Beatles. Though he may have had an unbeatable sense of rhythm and a serviceable voice, most of Starr’s tunes with The Beatles came down to pure charm, giving the rest of the members a bit of a break in the action. Although Starr could carry that charisma across multiple albums, there’s no excuse for what happened on Bad Boy.
Right in the middle of his drinking problem, an album that was nothing but covers of old rock and roll tunes should have been a slam dunk. Unlike John Lennon’s Rock and Roll, fans are hearing these renditions in their worst possible form, with Vini Poncia’s production not working and Starr sounding completely out of it throughout every single take.
While some songs suit Starr’s vocal character, like the title track, songs like ‘A Man Like Me’ should have been axed long before they made it onto the record, being a humanised version of the Scouse the Mouse hit of the same name. After years of having a fair bit of success off singles like ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, all of that goodwill Starr had built up over the years had finally bitten the dust.
3. Press to Play – Paul McCartney
By the end of the ‘80s, the decade had been going on for far too long. In all forms of pop music, fans were subjected to some of the most disposable garbage on MTV, with songs that felt like they were written by a committee rather than someone with flesh and blood. While Paul McCartney could surely add some levity to the rock scene, Press to Play is the nostalgia trip no one wants to go on.
Framed as an ode to the ‘40s style of music, no album has been more emblematic of its decade during The Beatles’ solo outfits, with McCartney working with some of the biggest names in pop music to get what the results he wanted. Although there are echoes of other bands like Tears For Fears and Crowded House in some of the textures, McCartney’s lyrics take a severe nosedive, from the manufactured love song ‘Press’ to making performances by Pete Townshend and Phil Collins sound utterly lifeless on ‘Angry’.
When McCartney does bust out some of his rock chops, fans are in for some of the most toothless songs he has ever written, sounding like he’s trying to be hip with the kids but coming off as completely out of touch with his generation. McCartney may have been responsible for timeless songs before and after this album, but this is the closest he has ever come to making abject dad rock.
2. Extra Texture – George Harrison
After being on a creative hot streak right out of the gate, George Harrison’s solo career began to wane in the mid-70s. Having already been battling laryngitis and divorce with Pattie Boyd on Dark Horse, Harrison wanted to flee from his problems and return to the rock scene in California. Although it was party time behind the scenes, Harrison’s hot streak finally ran out on Extra Texture.
While it’s easy to see why his previous album was rough around the edges, Harrison’s attempts at making R&B-influenced tunes had nothing but shoddy results, especially when he tries to call back to his Beatle days on songs like ‘This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)’. Although there is one great song on the album in the opener, ‘You’, that’s about as chipper as the album will get, with the rest of the project being reserved for plodding songs that often go nowhere.
Despite Harrison showing a real knack for soul music throughout his last few projects, not even hiring some of the best sidemen in the world could have helped him, later calling the album’s results “grubby”. Harrison would always have a knack for making creative reinventions throughout his career, but Extra Texture was a clear sign that ‘The Quiet One’ desperately needed a break.
1. John Lennon’s experimental albums
It’s about time fans let go of the Yoko Ono argument behind The Beatles’ breakup. Though John Lennon may have been spending a lot more time with his muse, her presence never hindered the band’s creative process in the studio. If there was ever a case to be made about Ono’s negative influence on Lennon’s artistry, look no further than his first official “solo” albums.
Made as an experiment with Yoko Ono, their collaborative efforts made for some of the most grating noise to ever be associated with a Beatle. Across Two Virgins and Life With Lions, Lennon serves up some of the most atonal songs he can think of, thinking that the music had to be created in the listener’s mind rather than weaved into the vinyl grooves.
While there are some unique ideas on these albums, like the final sounds of Lennon and Ono’s child in utero, projects like The Wedding Album just feel like time-wasting experiments, like Lennon and Ono spending the first side of the record saying their names to each other over the sound of ambient noise. No Beatle is capable of producing great music all the time, but it is jarring that the man who wrote ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ made albums like this less than five years later.
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