Beatles ’74 pt7

While 1974 was a prolific year for each of the former Beatles and their individual projects, it was also a prolific year for former Beatle contributions toward other artists' material. Perhaps it was a case of right-place right-time for these records, or perhaps they were an itch that the loss of Apple Records left for each of the former fabs to scratch - either way, the early fall of '74 brought us three major LP releases with big pushes from Beatle-backers. The first of these releases is what many considered after-the-fact to be a lost WINGS album, brother Michael "McGear" McCartney's eponymous debut solo LP. Helped along by "our kid" (McGear's term for Paul), Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and more, the McGear album is a power-pop gem of a record, featuring many co-writes between the McCartney brothers - the biggest of which would be the hit single Leave It. As Paul helped propel his brother back into the charts, George Harrison's new Dark Horse label saw its first two releases: friend Ravi Shankar's Shankar Family & Friends LP, and The Place I Love LP by protege group Splinter. Splinter's Dark Horse debut spawned an international hit lead-off single with the catchy Costafine Town, and it seemed George Harrison was back in action after the tumultuous year of drugs, drink and personal turmoil he had just endured. But the biggest hit of early fall was yet to come -- a little song called Whatever Gets You Through The Night was at last unleashed upon the public, an energetic precursor to a new John Lennon masterpiece...