How do you fuck up having a backing band consisting of Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and Harry Nilsson? Apparently by being a complaining, coked-up, and drunk John Lennon, ugh. I finally tracked down the bootleg of this rumored 1974 recording (the only post-Beatles McCartney and Lennon performance known to man) and was so disappointed. You can literally hear John offering Stevie coke on the first track:
A Toot and a Snore
[right-click to download]
Then they twist the knife by starting and stopping to play one of my favorite songs, Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalker [right-click to download] (later covered nicely by Modest Mouse as Sleepwalkin' [right-click to download]):
Nightmares
[right-click to download]
Thankfully on the last track the mic is passed from John to Paul and Stevie and a song is actually completed:
Cupid / Take this Hammer
[right-click to download]
This beats the previous biggest blown opportunity I thought I had ever seen, The Dirty Mac, a supergroup consisting of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell (Jimi Hendrix's drummer) that Lennon put together for the Stones' Rock and Roll Circus. It was also the first time that Lennon had ever performed without the Beatles since their inception. Of the two songs they ever played, Yoko Ono (who is not a bad person) got to sing:
At least the Stones appreciated a genius:
Uptight (Everything's Alright) / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
[right-click to download]
Watch the end to see Stevie and Mick dancing together! God I love Stevie Wonder...
1 comment:
I don't know that I would have survived the 70's
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