1981 - Lennon & McCartney

While John was working on Double Fantasy with Yoko, John and Paul got together to discuss the next Beatles project. They each presented songs they were working on and made plans to bring in George and Ringo. John went back and finished his album while Paul started to finalize the plans and scheduling with the others.

Unfortunately that's not how things went. John finished and released Double Fantasy and then was taken from us. All plans for a new Beatles album were dropped. Paul suggested to the others that they finish off the project but neither George nor Ringo felt up to the task so Paul, with the encouragement and blessings from George, Ringo and Yoko, took the tapes they were working on and released this album.

1. Borrowed Time (John)
2. Coming Up (Paul)
3. Girls and Boys (John)
4. On The Way (Paul)
5. (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess (John)
6. Waterfalls (Paul)

7. Nobody Knows (Paul)
8. I'm Stepping Out (John)
9. Summer's Day Song (Paul)
10. Nobody Told Me (John)
11. One Of These Days (Paul)
12. I Don't Wanna Face It (John)

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Reality Notes:

This album combines what might be considered the best tracks from Paul's McCartney II album and John's tracks from John and Yoko's Milk and Honey album.

The album splits nicely between tracks 6 and 7. All of Paul's songs are the released versions with some of the count-ins edited out. All of John's songs are also the released versions with the exception of Borrowed Time which is an early mix without all the vocal reverb and Girls and Boys which comes from a bootleg of home demos but was also used in the film John Lennon: Imagine during the opening credits. I also edited out some of the count-ins from John's songs and dropped Grow Old With Me in favor of Girls and Boys.

BBI:

As a Beatles album some of these songs would most likely fail to make the cut but as a Lennon & McCartney album it recieves high marks. There are many moments where you can picture both John and Paul present on the tape. The standout collaboration happens on Nobody Knows. Paul actually seems to channel John on the second vocal.