David Bowie Joins The Beatles (An Alternate Beatles Timeline)

THE BEATLES - PAST MASTERS, VOLUMES ONE & TWO Released:  27 May 1987 Genre:  Pop rock Producer:  George Martin, Glyn Johns Volume One Love Me Do [Single Version] From Me to You Thank You Girl She Loves You I'll Get You I Want to Hold Your Hand This Boy Komm, gib mir deine Hand Sie liebt dich Long Tall Sally I Call Your Name Slow Down Matchbox I Feel Fine She's a Woman Volume Two Bad Boy Yes It Is I'm Down Day Tripper We Can Work It Out Paperback Writer Rain The Ballad of John and Yoko Let It Be Memory of a Free Festival Across the Universe [World Wildlife Fund Version] THE BEATLES -  PAST MASTERS, VOLUMES THREE & FOUR Released:  27 May 1987 Genre:  Pop rock Producer:  The Beatles, George Martin, Tony Visconti, Ken Scott, Tom Scott, Chris Thomas Volume Three Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) Running Gun Blues Power to the People It Don't Come Easy Blindman All the Young Dudes C Moon Holy Holy [Band Version] 1984 Lunch Box / Odd Sox Goodnight Vienna [Single Edit] V

Tin Machine never really existed. David Bowie had given those interviews to get the press off his back while his real intentions remained hidden. The idea of some sort of Beatles reunion had secretly enthralled him since their dissolution. He even considered Live Aid the best time for them to reunite, yet his idea failed when George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to show up. But even his former bandmates were somewhat into the idea; all of them had played on each other's solo albums throughout the 80's, so the idea didn't seem as farfetched as some would think. Obviously the reason that it never happened was that John Lennon was dead, and it wouldn't be the Beatles without him. But what if it didn't have to be? He discussed the idea with Paul McCartney when he could, and they came to an agreement that would benefit everyone. Until being contacted by Bowie, Harrison and Starr didn't even have music on the brain. Starr had recently recorded with Wings, but that w

Bowie's Silhouettes World Tour had ended in 1984, and he was left a wreck. It was his first large (mostly) drug-free outing in what felt like forever, and Bowie didn't have anything to keep him going. Bowie finished his Serious Moonlight album in mid 1984, and then he rested. Similarly to directly after the Beatles disbanded, he turned to films to keep him active. He had a starring role in Absolute Beginners and provided the title song that became a chart hit when it was released as a single. His only other major film outing during this time was Jim Henson's Labyrinth . Henson wanted him to star as Jareth in the film, but Bowie just didn't have it in him for another major film role. He did however work with Sting, formerly of the Police and the new actor for Jareth, in writing songs for the film that would come to be known as some of Sting's best solo work. For Bowie however, that was basically it when it came to big projects for the time being. Until his dear fri

Paul McCartney's tour with Wings came to an end in July of 1984. The tour proceeded even after the release of Wings' debut album Amiens Mons , and it succeeded more because of it. All parties were happy with the end result of the tour, and following its conclusion, Wings once again went on hiatus as they had many times in the past. This left McCartney by himself once again, a circumstance he took advantage of. For having no studio release that year, 1985 was an oddly busy year for him. He was commissioned to write a song for the comedy film Spies Like Us and it became the titular track and he was asked by David Bowie to play on a track for his album that would be due out sometime the following year. A film revolving around Wings' world tour was also in talks, but this never came to be. The real success for him McCartney this year was his appearance at Live Aid, a huge benefit concert done to raise funds for a famine in Ethiopia. While some predicted a full Beatles reunion,

The scant notability that George Harrison's last two studio albums received from the public was taken by him as a sign from up above that perhaps music shouldn't always be in the forefront of his mind. And so from 1982-1985, he focused more on his racing and film producing hobbies than he did on music. Some even say he never even touched a guitar in that span of time (obviously hyperbole). But all in all, the current music scene was just something he did not find very appealing, and he longed for the times where his music (and the music of others like him) topped charts. Hell, sometimes he even wished the Beatles were still around. They could definitely whip every schmaltzy artist into shape, he thought. His musical hiatus was cut short temporarily in 1985 when he was asked to provide a song for the sex comedy film Porky's Revenge! , produced by James Komack. His contribution was "I Don't Want to Do It", a song Bob Dylan had written for him 15 years prior, but

The time following John Lennon's untimely death in 1980 was hard on everyone that knew him and his music. But it came the hardest to his wife Yoko Ono. Since their relationship started in the late 1960's, they had been considered two peas in a pod, and they accompanied each other quite well, not only personally but musically as well. In the 1970's, Lennon and Ono released two albums together when Lennon was not busy with Beatle matters, Fly (1971) and Free the People (1973). Ideas for a third Plastic Ono Band album to be released in the late 1970s were floated around but never came to fruition. Time passed by following his death, and the public had seemed to calm down about Lennon's passing. Ono had waited until the time was right to release an out-takes compilation album that would be seen as the epilogue of John Lennon's musical journey. Ono sought famed Aerosmith and Cheap Trick producer Jack Douglas to help produce and compile the material into a suitable LP. T

Following the moderate success of  Arnie Pupe , Paul McCartney wished to get back on the road and finally commit to a world tour. McCartney hadn't done a tour of that scale since the mid 1970's with the Beatles, but since then he had done multiple smaller venue tours with his backing group Wings. Wings had formed in 1972 and usually comprised of Paul, his wife Linda and friend Denny Laine, along with some other lesser known session musicians that changed over time. It was formed to give McCartney an excuse to play live shows when the other Beatles weren't up to it, and the band consistently broke up and reformed when McCartney felt the need to tour. Before 1983, their biggest concert had been at the Concert for the People of Kampuchea in 1979, in which their lineup was the two McCartneys and Laine, as well as Laurence Juber as an additional guitarist and Steve Holley as their drummer. This lineup returned for their 1983 tour that didn't end until mid 1984. This tour rou

See Old Blood for details. RINGO STARR - IT BEATS SLEEP! Released:  16 June 1983 Genre: Pop rock, new wave Producer:  Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stephen Stills, Ronnie Wood Side A Private Property In My Car Hopeless Wake Up Attention Side B Picture Show Life You Belong to Me You've Got a Nice Way Everybody's in a Hurry But Me Going Down Back cover

1982-83 was a rarely calm time for David Bowie. For once, there was no recording for the new studio album or playing live or anything of that sort. That's not to say he didn't work in other places. He had worked as the composer for the German film Christiane F. that released in late 1981 and later worked on films such as The Hunger and Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence , both releasing in 1983. But he would finally give in to his fans and start the Silhouettes World Tour that would span from early 1983-1984. His first solo tour, he would play both contemporary songs from his most recent album as well as old Beatles songs that he had performed on. All shows would include a performance of the Beatles' "Imagine" as a tribute to John Lennon. What was most noted by fans who went to these shows was Bowie's reworking of some his older songs, such as "Heroes" and "Changes", to fit a more modern dance-pop sound. This was the result of Bowie starting w

The death of bandmate and close friend John Lennon and the following dissolution of the Beatles hit Paul McCartney hard. By then, he had become the de facto leader of the group, always having the most of his songs on their records and guiding the group through the turbulent 70's. The fact that he had to give that all up hit him like a brick. He quickly became depressed, secluding himself inside his Scotland home with his wife and kids. But he would never stop making music. Indirectly influenced by the growing new wave and synth-pop artists that were becoming popular, McCartney began to play with synthesizers, hoping to make a new album out of his experiments. He had experimented with the same idea during the creation of Rockestra , but now McCartney wanted an entire cohesive product using the new technology. Unfortunately, this project would never come to be, or at least the majority of it. Always moving and always changing, McCartney would soon turn tail to a different more ambiti

The Beatles' Going Faster had bombed terribly for a Beatles record, and the fallout would happen publicly. Where the band were once celebrated for their mere appearance out in public, they were now barely noticed at all. The music world had changed, and by 1979 had given way to new wave, punk and other new forms of rock. The Beatles had tried to capitalize on these trends and failed. They would go on hiatus for the remainder of the year before even thinking about putting out a follow-up. But George Harrison didn't seem to mind all that much. It just gave him more free time for himself. He had initially left the band for some much-needed peace of mind (among other factors), and he thought to himself that this would be no different. He spent the remainder of 1979 mostly away from his guitar and with friends and family. He attended Eric Clapton's wedding to his former wife Pattie Boyd (Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr would also attend). He was able to dive deeper into his inte