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Like Some Forgotten Dream

What if the Beatles Hadn't Split Up?

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Like Some Forgotten Dream

By: Daniel Rachel
Narrated by: Daniel Rachel
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About this listen

This is the story of the great lost Beatles album.

The end of the Beatles wasn't inevitable. It came through miscommunication, misunderstandings and missed opportunities to reconcile.

But what if it didn't end? What if just one of those chances was taken, and the Beatles carried on? What if they made one last great album?

In Like Some Forgotten Dream, Daniel Rachel - winner of the prestigious Penderyn Music Book Prize - looks at what could have been. Drawing on impeccable research, Rachel examines the the Fab Four's untimely demise - and from the ashes compiles a track list for an imagined final album, pulling together unfinished demos, forgotten B-sides, hit solo songs, and arguing that together they form the basis of a lost Beatles masterpiece.

Compelling and convincing, Like Some Forgotten Dream is a daring re-write of Beatles history, and a tantalising glimpse of what might have been.

©2021 Daniel Rachel (P)2021 Octopus Publishing Group Music

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I wanted to like this much more than I did, being a sucker for alternative histories in general, and for The Beatles. The title is fine, but 'What if [they] hadn't split up?' isn't. It really is 'What if their split had been delayed until the end of 1970 and they'd put out one more album, The 4 Sides Of The Beatles?'. Which is fine as far as it goes - I enjoyed hearing the true stories behind the tracks chosen, which could have been Beatle, not solo, recordings. However, it's not much of a stretch of the imagination.

The problem is, there really is a book which takes that subtitle seriously; Zabel's 'Once There Was A Way', which starts with Epstein's death and proceeds to bend the timeline with alternative outcomes that we know were actual possibilities: for example, that they really did make The Lord Of The Rings with Kubrick, and that the rejected Abbey Road album title (Everest) is the one which was used, among many other 'could have beens'. It then goes on to posit that the Beatles attended a big party at George's house and somehow managed to bury the hatchet over their business arrangements, and stayed together. You see, I thought that Like Some Forgotten Dream was going to be another in the same stable.

Now don't get me wrong - the book is an enjoyable listen, though for a Beatles student it presents little that is new. If you want to know more about how they wrote songs, and their interactions between 1968 and 1970, there's a lot here, so I have given 3 stars for that. However, I would have preferred him to avoid the Liverpool accents - the lads didn't have particularly strong Scouse accents, and the extreme one used for George is laughable or sick-making depending on your POV.

It's not a bad book, but neither does it live up to the promise of its subtitle.

Misleading sub-title

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Just a short review to say I really liked it. Like any "What songs would make it onto a single album 'White Album'?" or in this case "What songs would go on a 1970 Beatles album?" discussion, (surely two of the most debated topics amongst Beatles fans) it's purely subjective. Still, the author provides enough background and reasoning to justify his choices. It's pure fantasy after all. Like the other reviews, my main criticism is the accents. I don't know if it's my loose ties to Liverpool but the exaggerated scouse accents really began to grate by the end, which is a shame because the author has a solid radio-friendly voice otherwise. It's almost as if his only reference point to The Beatles' speaking voices is the aging "Didn't Do Any Drugs' Beatles from Harry Enfield's show, and Paul Rudd and Jack Black's Lennon and McCartney from the hugely underrated comedy Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Still worth a listen though.

I liked it, but...

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I was looking forward to this book as it was a new twist on the Beatles' story, however, I was sadly disappointed. The book is in two parts; the first part deals with the break-up of the Beatles, and the second, the "What If" they had carried on and made a final album and what form that would have taken.

Firstly, the narrator's presentation was a little annoying when he impersonates the Beatles with strong Liverpool accents. I don't think the Beatles had strong accents, and his impersonation will annoy the listener, (I think). Secondly, in the first part of the book, covering the break-up, he paints a very depressing picture of the Beatles' situation. I can't remember how many times he used the word "divorce", but it was countless. I know it was a period which was fraught with issues, but the picture presented is the one portrayed in the bleak, Let It Be film. There is nothing new in the retelling of the story. The demise begins with the end of the touring years, the death of Brian Epstein and moves on to the well-known story about the dispute between Paul and the others over Allen Klein.

The "What If" section was disappointing too. The author divides the final album up into sections of music by each individual Beatle. So, there is a John Lennon section of songs, a Paul McCartney one and so on. I think if there was to be another album, it would not have taken that format. Most of the songs are taken from the ashes of the Let It Be sessions. The author doesn't reveal very much about the songs which he picks. For Beatle fans, they will be familiar with the songs and the background to them.

I didn't find the book an enjoyable read, and I didn't really learn anything new from it.

Not Quite What I Had Expected

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