The Beatles – Mach Schau 1975
Following the cancelled Vienna concert, The Beatles decided to return to their roots the next year, recall the best time of their lives and record the new album in Hamburg, Germany, in a small underground studio owned by Bruno Koschmider.
They left their wives and girlfriends at home and, with only a modest team, locked themselves in a studio for a month and set to work. They worked hard during the days and at nights they tried to reunite with their then striptease dancers girlfriends. (Yeah, I know.. it might be too far fetched but it’s my parallel universe).
Eventually, they had so much material that the originally planned Rock Show album was later released as a double album and the name was changed to Mach Schau as a reminder of their humble beginnings.
At the end of their stay, they even played a short unplanned and unannounced concert on the site of the former Kaiserkeller club.
Side One:
- Venus And Mars
- Rock Show
- Stand By Me
- Grey Cloudy Lies
- What You Got
Side Two:
- Magneto And Titanium Man
- I’m The Greatest
- Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)
- This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)
- Treat Her Gently
Side Three:
- Steel And Glass
- Listen What The Man Said
- Bless You
- Letting Go
- You
Side Four:
- Going Down On Love
- You Gave Me The Answer
- Dark Horse
- Oh My My
- Beef Jerky
I really tried to make it single album but it was impossible. Same like White Album or George´s ATMP, there are too many good songs for single album but not enough of them for double, so sides three and four are a bit weaker and unbalanced. But does it matter? It’s their last album. And sounds good. Or not?
The only minor flaw is that they again made lots of too long songs, so it’s only five tracks on each side. I could have squeezed six but I could not find any more I would like to use anyway.
So this the end? As I mentionned on Goodnight Vienna, all the work I did just proved the point. (Proved the point I didn´t want to accept). They split at the right time, at the top(permost). All of them made plenty of good songs after the break up. But they never were as good as in sixties. Their solo albums never sounded as compact and coherent as the Beatles albums. They weren’t as good as the Beatles. Maybe it was because they didn´t have to compete with each other, maybe because they didn´t have strong opposition. Maybe it was because the seventies were just shite, comparing to the decade before. I don´t know.
Maybe George would have done a better job knowing he would have to up his game to get his songs on a Beatles album ?
They all would have to..
Decent enough album but I think Paul,John or both would have intervened to make George’s songs a bit better or completely dropped them and maybe by now the Beatles would be releasing albums every two or three years with live shows in between so maybe goodnight Vienna and mach schau would have been combined to make one great double album ?
Interesting thought, the second one. I might try it, it sure will be better album. The first one about intervention – they wouldn’t dare 🙂 George was no kid anymore and he wouldn’t let them mess about his songs. Maybe he would even leave the band again..