Fab Four Fracas: What’s the Best Solo Album by a Member of The Beatles?

You likely won’t find too many music fans who’d say they were glad The Beatles broke up. If there’s a bright side, it’s that the four members went on to make so much incredible music in their post-Fab Four career. But what’s the best album by a Beatles member made after they were part of the group? We put four classics to the test and came up with a verdict.

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‘All Things Must Pass’ by George Harrison (1970)

George Harrison struggled to get the other members of The Beatles to give his songs the time of day in the group’s final years. He stockpiled them all and then wrote a few new ones once the band was kaput. All Things Must Pass couldn’t be contained to a single album from the former Beatles guitarist. So Harrison turned it into a triple LP (although the last one, full of lyric-less jams, is somewhat dispensable.) Even Phil Spector’s hazy production can’t diminish the wisdom and spark of the brilliant songs Harrison unleashed. These were qualities that were clear to everyone who heard them except, apparently, John and Paul.

‘Imagine’ by John Lennon (1971)

John Lennon’s first solo effort, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, stood out as a searing excavation of his demons. It’s thrilling but unrelentingly bleak. Imagine found him lightening up his sound in an effort to court the pop audiences that were looking for a little of the old Beatle shine. Mission accomplished. But don’t sleep on the brilliance of the material included on his record. In many ways, songs like “Crippled Inside” and “Jealous Guy” were every bit as harrowing as those from the first record. But the melodic beauty throughout makes for a more well-rounded listen.

‘Ringo’ by Ringo Starr (1973)

Ringo Starr slow-played his solo career, which was a brilliant move. A couple of low-key covers albums here, a few well-timed singles there, and nothing much else for a few years or so. The public was craving his jovial presence when the Ringo album arrived in late 1973, years after The Beatles broke up. Never really known as a prolific writer, Starr depended somewhat on his Beatle buddies for killer songs like “Photograph” (co-written by George Harrison) and “I’m The Greatest” (penned by John Lennon). Starr also benefitted from an incredible cast of musicians on an absolute crowd-pleaser of an LP.

‘Band On The Run’ by Paul McCartney and Wings

Technically, Band On The Run was credited to Paul’s post-Beatles band Wings. But they were down to only three members when they made this LP, and they relied heavily on Macca’s multi-instrumental ability and production skills to fill out the sound. McCartney dips into his love of early rock and roll on songs like “Helen Wheels” and “Let Me Roll It”. He gets a bit futuristic on “Jet” and “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five”. And then he pulls off the ultimate tour de force on the title track, which stuffs about five brilliant songs into one unstoppable hit single.

The Verdict

Let’s be honest: Every one of these albums is a five-star release. We have to dock Ringo a bit for not digging as deeply, in a lyrical sense, as the others. Imagine, so insightful for most of its running time, is spoiled a bit by the pettiness of “How Do You Sleep?”

That leaves two. As seamless as Band On The Run may be in terms of flow from one song to the next, there isn’t much to certain tracks like “Mamunia” and “No Words”. By a narrow margin, we’re going with George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, which doesn’t contain an ounce of filler on those first two LPs.

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