Junk In The Yard

Following the departure of Lennon in 1969, The Beatles, now a three-man band consisting of McCartney, Harrison, & Starr, found themselves in a tricky position; their co-founder, and in many ways, their leader, had left a vacuum of empty space. One wrong step for the unstable band could mean total collapse. Unsure of what their next course of action should be, McCartney suggested the favored plan of 'keeping it down' and seeing what ideas stuck while in the studio. The newly publicly-dubbed 'Threetles' then set to work on their next album.

With Lennon gone, and McCartney artistically drained from 1969's 'Abbey Road', Harrison found himself a notch higher on the totem pole. With 'albums worths' of rejected compositions, and the -McCartney partnership no more, Harrison set to work revisiting old works, conjuring up new ones, and recording a multitude of covers with the others.

McCartney summoned up what songwriting ability he had left from 'Abbey Road', and with help from his newly-wedded wife, Linda, he managed to turn his bottom of the barrel songs and riffs into multiple album-worthy additions, even going so far as to revisiting his 1968 composition, 'Junk', which just so happened to end up lending it's lyric '...the junk in the yard...' to the album's title.

Starr, not a prolific songwriter in general, and deeply troubled by Lennon's departure, had no luck coming up with any new material. Instead, Harrison suggested Starr sing cover songs, as they had done in years past. Starr decided on 'Only You (& You Alone)' by Buck Ram, and the recently penned '$15 Draw', by American musician Sorrells Pickard.

Mid-way through 1970, The Beatles realized that the album wouldn't be ready until 1971. Not wanting to disrupt their album-a-year streak, McCartney gave producer Phil Spector the tapes of the disastrous 'Get Back' sessions. Tasked with creating an album of the rough material, Spector added lavish strings and effects to the songs in a vain effort to disguise their dirty nature. McCartney nearly quit after hearing Spector's work, but was coaxed back by Starr.

Somehow, miraculously, the album was completed, and released on August 17th, 1971 in the U.K., and August 24th in the U.S. after being pushed back from the late-1970 release it had aimed for. The press, constantly trying to spy and catch a hint as to what the unusually quiet Beatles were up to in the studio, and expecting a grand follow up to 'Abbey Road', were taken aback by the new, nearly-acoustic sound of The Beatles.

Needless to say, the public were split. Most fans welcomed the change of pace, while others boycotted the album in anger of the seemingly cash-grab approach after Lennon's departure. Nevertheless, being under the name of 'The Beatles', the album hit number one across the US and UK charts. As well as hitting the number one spot, due to the mystery surrounding the album and the rumours of Lennon leaving, 'Junk In The Yard' became the highest preordered album of all time, a record it held until Pink Floyd's 1975 album 'Wish You Were Here' surpassed the record.

Lennon's 1971 solo album, 'Imagine', was held from the top spots by 'Junk In The Yard'. Furious that The Beatles continued to beat him, even after leaving, Lennon wrote multiple scathing articles and interviews against The Beatles, calling them 'irrelevant', 'folk-bullshit', and his trademark insult, 'granny-music'. The Beatles took barely any notice to this, however, as they soon set to work on their most ambitious project yet...