Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

           We made it to the Beatles in 1974. John Lennon released Walls and Bridges, which I think is one of his best, George Harrison released Dark Horse and Ringo Starr had Goodnight Vienna. Since I used Red Rose Speedway (which was released early 1973) this uses Paul McCartney's Band on the Run (came out the end of 1973). There was so much good music from the four of them I decided to make this a double album. From Paul I pulled "Band on the Run", "Jet", "Bluebird", "Mrs. Vanderbilt", "Let Me Roll It", "No Words" (which ironically has words), and "Helen Wheels". John gives us "Going Down on Love", "Whatever Gets You Through the Night", "Old Dirt Road", "What You Got", "Scared", "#9 Dream" "Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox)" (which references the Beatles song "Drive My Car") and "Beef Jerky" (which has no words)....

      Cleopatra was the movie 20th Century banked everything on and nearly went bankrupt in the process. It was to have Joan Collins in the titular role, Stephen Boyd as Mark Antony and Peter Finch as Julius Caesar. That however is not the movie that was made. Elizabeth Taylor was cast as Cleopatra and negotiated an extraordinary $1 million salary. Richard Burton was cast as Mark Antony. There was an immediate spark between them, so since they were already married to other people, the movie also led to two divorces. How different things might have turned out with the original cast.

       Continuing with the Beatles imaginary albums, here is 1973. All four had an album out and they all had hits on the radio. From Lennon's Mind Games  I used the title track, "Out of the Blue" and "I Know (I Know). McCartney's Red Rose Speedway provided "Big Barn Red", "When the Night" and the hugely popular "My Love." From Harrison's record Living in the Material   World,  I grabbed not only the title track but the title for this album. I also used his "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" and close the album with "That Is All", which has George singing harmony with himself half way through that I like to imagine is Paul and John with him. Starr's 1973 album was called Ringo , and John, Paul and George all appear on it. I pulled "I'm the Greatest" which Lennon wrote and both he and George play on. I also gave Ringo a rare second song, "Photograph", which he wrote with Harriso...

       It is well known that Paul McCartney was influenced to make the Sgt. Pepper album after hearing the Beach Boys'  Pet Sounds. What if the influence carried over to the cover design? This cheeky post is in honour of Brian Wilson.

        While filming the final season of the series "Parks and Recreation" Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Adam Scott, Katherine Hahn and Paul Rudd posed for a photo. They decided it looked like a David E. Kelley legal drama and was named "Philly Justice".  They soon gave their "characters" names and back stories. Between shooting scenes for their actual series, they would shoot scenes for their fake series. Writers worked on a script, props were made and Dylan McDermott (who wasn't part of "Parks and Rec" joined in the fun.  https://youtu.be/wUBYnswJUks?si=d21FZ8AHddB1dY-J

       In 1971 John Lennon released the album Imagine . I used the title track for the album opener, also from that album I pulled "Oh My Love", "It's So Hard" and "Jealous Guy". Paul McCartney put out Ram  the same year and his "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" opens side two on this "what if" album. Ram also supplied "Backseat of My Car" and "Eat at Home". I pulled the single "Another Day" to round things out. George Harrison's album from 1971 was the live concert recording of The Concert for Bangladesh  which didn't fit for this project.  However the B-side to his "Bangla Desh" single was the studio song "Deep Blue" and I gladly grabbed it for this. Ringo Starr did not put out and album that year, to be fair, he did release two albums in 1970. His international radio hit "It Don't Come Easy" was released in 1971 so that had to be included especially with Harrison...

       Singin' in the Rain  is a classic musical released in1952. It is a comedy dealing with a studio in the 1920s trying to adapt to making sound pictures. While making The Dueling Cavalier  they realize they need to change in a musical, so it becomes The Dancing Cavalier . When I was designing this "what if" DVD cover I was thinking about when I would look through the old Blackhawk Films catalogs. They specialized in great forgotten movies, especially silent films. I thought they should be the ones release this "lost" classic.