Suggestaholic!

 While driving to work yesterday, I started thinking about Beatles solo albums and which was my favorite from each band member.
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I was trying to resist thinking like a music critic (which I am not), and just determine my favorite records from John, Paul, George, and Ringo. That is to say, which ones I listen to most often, not necessarily the ones critics say we should be playing… Live albums and best-of collections don’t count, because that’s cheating.
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Here’s what I came up with:
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John  An easy choice… John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is one of my favorite albums by any artist. It’s filled with great songs stripped-down to their essentials, a little bad attitude, and some screaming. It was John’s first post-Beatles album, and it sounds nothing like the Beatles. A classic.
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I also like the pure pop stuff he was doing at the time of his death, but had a hard time with all the Yoko caterwauling in-between. Ya know?
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Paul  I enjoy a lot of his albums, most notably Band on the Run and Venus and Mars. But the one I listen to most often might surprise some people: London Town.
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There’s not a bad song on it, and the album has an energy and aura I love. Some of the tunes are completely goofy, but they’re supposed to be. Everything attempted works, and I think the record is significantly underrated.
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The CD has two bonus tracks, “Girls School,” and “Mull of Kintyre,” which make it even better. London Town is pure comfort food for me.
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George  This one’s difficult, because of my ban on best-of collections. George wrote and performed some great songs, but almost all of his albums are uneven.
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I have a nostalgic fondness for George Harrison, probably because it came out during a happy time of my life. All Things Must Pass is considered his masterpiece, and I like it. But there’s a lot of strange shit on there, and not necessarily strange in a good way. Cloud Nine is solid, and was a big hit, but it sounds too much like ELO.
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Since I have to pick just one, I’ll go with George Harrison. But one of the compilations would probably be a better choice. You know, if there weren’t so many strict rules around here.
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Ringo  Another slam-dunk. As far as I know, Ringo only released one really good solo album, and it was called Ringo. He had all the other ex-Beatles helping out on it, and a bunch of interesting songs to work with. Including “I’m the Greatest,” written by John Lennon.
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I recently listened to it for the first time in years, and was surprised how much I liked it. But, to be honest, it’ll probably be 2015 before I break it out again…
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So there you go. What are your opinions on this subject? If you were to pick just one studio album by each Beatle, what would they be? Use our comments link below.

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