The 1975 Beatles Album

The 1975 Beatles album would be the last one they would release for the next five years as John took a sabbatical to be a father and househusband.  The other three would have released solo albums during this time.  During 1975, John performed live for the last time for the Salute to Lew Grade TV special.  John finally got the Rock 'n' Roll tapes back from Phil Spector and was able to complete that project.  Paul and George released albums of new material, while Ringo and John released greatest hits packages.  And for the last part of the year, Paul took his Wings on the first part of their tour around the world.

Track Listing:

1.  Venus and Mars / Rock Show

2.  Oo-Wee

3.  Move over Ms. L

4.  You Gave Me the Answer

5.  Magnito and Titanium Man

6.  Be-Bop-A-Lula

7.  This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)

8.  Do You Want to Dance

9.  You

10.  Stand by Me

11.  Listen to What the Man Said

"Venus and Mars / Rock Show" -- These two tracks that bleed into each other lead off Paul's 1975 Venus and Mars album and were featured in his 75/76 world tour.

"Oo-Wee" -- Ringo did not release an album of new material in 1975, so his track would have to come from last year's Goodnight Vienna.  "Oo-Wee" was released in early 1975, however, as the B-side to the "Snookeroo" single.

"Move over Ms. L" -- John released an album of all new tracks in 1975, Rock 'n' Roll, but this Beatles '75 album just did not sound right with four oldies from this record mixed in with the others's 1975 tracks.  That's why I think John would have chosen this track instead to be on the album -- it was a new composition, and he was satisfied enough with it that he released it in 1975 as the B-side to "Stand by Me."

"You Gave Me the Answer" --  From Paul's Venus and Mars.  Released as the B-side to "Letting Go" and a concert favorite.

"Magnito and Titanium Man" -- Another V&M song from Paul.  This track about the Marvel Comic X-Men was the B-side to the "Venus and Mars / Rock Show" single and a constant in the 75 /76 tour set list.  His "Dit-da-doo, Dit-da-doo, Dit-da-doo, Doo-doo-doo-doo" in this song is one of my favorite moments in recorded pop music history.

"Be-Bop-A Lula" -- This is a track from John's Rock 'n' Roll album.  On the British show Desert Island Discs Paul picked this Gene Vincent track as one he would take with him to the hypothetical island.  He also recorded a version of this song for his Unplugged album.  John said that this was his favorite song of all time, so it's gotta be included here.

"This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)" -- A single from George's 1975 album Extra Texture (Read All about It).  This was the first John/Paul/George/Ringo single not to sell enough to make the charts, although it's a pleasant enough song.

"Do You Want to Dance" -- This Bobby Freeman hit (I know it as a Beach Boys song) from John's RnR album was not a single, but the other Beatles were big reggae fans and would have liked the arrangement.  This track doesn't feel like an oldie at all, so it fits in seamlessly with the 1975 tracks contributed by Paul/George/Ringo for this album.

"You" -- George's hit song from the Extra Texture album that he originally wrote for Ronnie Spector.

"Stand by Me" -- The classic hit song from John's RnR album.  He performed this song during his performance at the 1975 Salute to Lew Grade TV special.

"Listen to What the Man Said" -- The album closes with this Paul track from V&M that was also a number one single.

1975 Non-album Single:

"Slippin' and Slidin'" backed with "You Can't Catch Me"

These two tracks needed to be released in order to satisfy The Beatles's end of a lawsuit.  When John borrowed some lyrics from his hero Chuck Berry to use on "Come Together," Chuck Berry's publisher sued.  The agreement John made was that he would record some of the songs that the publisher owned the rights to so that the publisher could get the royalties.  "Slippin' and Slidin'" was a Little Richard hit that John performed on the Lew Grade TV show, so it seemed like John liked it enough to use it as this Beatles '75 single.  The B-side here is "You Can't Catch Me," the Chuck Berry song that John pinched the lyrics from in the first place.  So he might as well use the whole song this time, right?