The Ladders: The Beatles reunion without Paul McCartney
In 1973, The Beatles all appeared on the same album for the first time since their breakup in 1970. It wasn’t officially a Beatles reunion, just that the four members all converged to appear on Ringo Starr’s solo album Ringo. But the fact that all four former members were on the same LP was enough to spark reunion rumours.
Paul McCartney had largely excised himself from his bandmates when he instigated the band’s split in a self-interview published alongside his debut solo album, McCartney. John Lennon, George Harrison, and Starr all continued to work together: Starr drummed on Lennon’s debut John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, and Harrison’s debut, All Things Must Pass. Harrison helped Lennon record Imagine, and Starr appeared in Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh.
By the time 1973 rolled around, tensions had started to ease between the former Beatles. Now united in their battle against former manager Allen Klein, the four musicians had established their respective solo careers and had felt a certain freedom away from their previous band. Lennon and McCartney even buried the hatchet and occasionally hung out, recording the coke-fuelled jam session A Toot and a Snore in ‘74 with Stevie Wonder and Harry Nilsson a year later.
All four members agreed to help Starr record Ringo. Lennon penned ‘I’m the Greatest’, Harrison helped write ‘Photograph’ and ‘You and Me (Babe)’, and McCartney wrote ‘Six O’Clock’ with his wife, Linda. Also on board was close friend Klaus Voorman, the artist/bass player who first met in the band in Germany, created the cover artwork for Revolver and played on both John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and All Things Must Pass.
While recording ‘I’m the Greatest’ in Los Angeles, Lennon, Starr, and Voorman were recording the basic track with longtime associate Billy Preston sitting in on the organ for the overdubs. What they didn’t have was a guitar player. By coincidence, Harrison phoned Starr to say he was in Los Angeles for business. Harrison was then invited to the studio to play on ‘I’m the Greatest’, with three Beatles and two Fifth Beatles recording the final take.
Of course, once the press found out about the lineup, talks of a reunion were once again abuzz. This time, speculation formed around the idea of The Beatles reuniting without Paul McCartney. Harrison had previously shot down the idea of forming another band with McCartney, and an interview with Starr that appeared in the NME in 1971 helped give the potential new group a name.
“I’d be in a band with John. I’d play with George,” Starr said. “We could be called the Ladders, it wouldn’t have to be called The Beatles.” Harrison was apparently so enthusiastic at the session that he suggested forming a new group with the musicians. Lennon, however, was unenthusiastic about the idea.
“I never really considered it. It wasn’t serious,” Lennon told David Sheff in 1980. “George was just having a good time and enjoying the session…but there was no way I was going back into a band with a bunch of guys and do that all over again. No way. It wasn’t that I had anything against THOSE guys. I wasn’t joining a band with a bunch of ANY people.”
The Ladders weren’t meant to be, but Harrison and Preston would later act as bandleaders to the group Harrison formed to tour behind his 1974 album Dark Horse. Starr would get Lennon to play on 1974’s Goodnight Vienna and 1976’s Ringo’s Rotogravure, the latter of which also featured McCartney singing backup on the song ‘Pure Gold’. It wouldn’t be until after Lennon’s murder in 1980 that the former Beatles began to collaborate again.
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