Given I've been a huge Beatles fan for decades, I haven't dipped my toe much into their solo stuff. I got Macca's first solo LP years ago and didn't much like it, I can enjoy some of Lennon's first two proper solo LPs but I haven't ventured beyond them. I like Harrison's All Things Must Pass, but again, I haven't bothered with anything else by him. But I only just picked up a copy of McCartney's Ram, which I had always avoided believing it would be pretty bad. But this LP is a revelation, and easily the most Beatles sounding solo LP I have heard, just wonderful, melodic and imaginative stuff. Just played it through for the first time tonight and I'm blown away to be honest. What else by solo Beatles is worth hearing that I am missing out on?

Hello there,to my ears Ram is the best solo album by macca, are you counting Wings in this?In reality that was not solo,but I'm wondering If you're counting Wings in your equation?As to my ears much of the Wings stuff is better than macca solo, the first solo album is a sparse basic recording, but Ram is far more accessible than that,a cracking album in my opinion, I'm not a big fan of much of macca solo albums, very inconsistent to my ears, but I'll give him credit, he's not afraid to try new things!

As for John Lennon solo,to me his earlier solo albums are on the whole a bit stronger than his former co writer, the reason an album like"Imagine"is regarded as a classic, is because there's many fabulous songs, for me this was solo Lennon at his peak, after this i don't think anything touches it,of course the album preceding Imagine, Plastic Ono Band,is another i rate, but is this solo? Mind Games is another that has some fine songs, but i think Imagine is his best solo work! Again like Macca I think Lennon peaked early in his solo stuff.

As for George Harrison,i love the 68 album Wonderwall,so he's the first to release outside The Beatles, this is a fine mix of Indian and eastern vibes, mixed with psych and weird county like ditties,a real period piece that's for sure.As for the magical All Things Must Pass,to me this is the best solo album from any ex Beatle, absolutely magnificent stuff, and shows that he was under utilised as a songwriter in The Beatles,but I'm sorry to say this, again just my opinion,no album of George's touches this, nothing close, he again like Macca wasn't scared to try new sound and new technology as is evidenced by electronic sound i think the album was called,i found that very inaccessible, and not to my liking at all,in truth i don't go passed All Things Must Pass, how do you follow up with anything better than that?

As for Ringo Starr, I've not been brave enough yet to even listen to his solo albums, it's ignorant of me i know, I've heard some of his singles, and was not enamoured with those so I've avoided his albums, but I've read good things about his Ringo album that features Lennon, Harrison and McCartney, but not together,all recorded at separate times.
So for me when it comes to their solo albums, they peaked very early as solo artists, and in my opinion struggled to match those earlier albums!! Sorry i can't be more enthusiastic concerning their solo stuff.

Like Stuart I'm a bit lacklustre about solo Beatles overall or what I've heard of it. I certainly agree with him about George Harrison for instance. I'm not sure if Ringo's solo work might be a bit of a surprise, I've not bothered investigating it either but I actually like the singles he did early on like 'Back Off Boogaloo'.

On solo McCartney, I've not listened to all of them but one I found really enjoyable is 'Flowers In The Dirt'. In fact, look for the double CD version as part of his reissue programme a few years back that has a second CD of the album largely as piano demos but with Elvis Costello singing them instead of McCartney, it's great, better than the Maca's own released version in my view. The other solo album I really like is 'New' froma couple of years back. This has some very beatles-like sounding numbers and is a good solid album of prime Maca al round.

I'm a sap for super deluxe sets but I don't really like the (very expensive) McCartney ones because they have more books of hand-written lyrics and family photos than they do of extra music. The double CD editions such as Flowers In The Dirt though are a good way to collect them cheaply.

Recently though the John Lennon albums have started to be reissued as super deluxe sets as very attractive 10x10" slip cased 'Ultimated Edition' sets of a book and discs. 'Imagine' (4xCD + 2 audio blu-ray) was first followed by 'Gimme Some Truth', a double CD best of. 'The Plastic Ono Band' set is due on April 23rd (6xCD + 2 x Blu-Ray audio) all freshly remastered from the tapes. There's also single and double CD editions of these as well cheaply with the remastered versions of the albums. So if you're going that route, they are probably the best sounding versions you'll hear. I have also been toying with getting the 'Lennon signature box' from a few years back that has all his albums as digipaks in one boxset.

PM:relaxed:

Thanks for the considered views, and Stuart I was really asking about any post-Beatles work solo or otherwise. Strictly speaking Ram was actually credited to Paul and Lynda McCartney so not a solo LP. I have nothing by Wings for example and while I know the odd thing from radio play I have never been tempted to explore further although I am thinking again after hearing Ram. I can't see me going for any Ringo, but I also wondered about Harrison's other stuff, as I really do like All Things.

I'll check out Flower In The Dirt, and New.

Ram was slated when it was first released.

The critics hated it at the time for some reason. I guess they were looking for 'authentic' rootsy honest rock, as opposed to Ram which they probably thought was backwards looking over-ornate pop fluff. The public liked it well enough though and it was a good seller. The critics also seem to love it now too, probably the biggest u-turn critical reappraisal I can think of.