The
“solo collection” concept bottomed out in 1972
with the release of Political Nonsense. All but Ringo
were hurting for “Beatlesque” material from their
solo albums. Back Off Boogaloo, was a legitimate
hit for Starr with George’s fine slide guitar.
Paul by now had formed Wings, John continued
promoting the Plastic Ono Band, and all of this leached onto
the cover and the music like eagle dung on a freshly washed
car.
Adding lead vocals by both Linda and Yoko
on tunes made for even angrier fans. Apple even contemplated
merging Paul’s Give Ireland Back to the Irish
with John’s Luck of the Irish ala I’ve
Got A Feeling to create a real Beatle single. Glyn Johns
was summoned by Apple to try to pull it off, but after lousy
results and loud protests from John and Paul, the idea was
shelved. The collection didn’t crack the top ten anywhere
(except it went to Number One in Canada), and was in dollar
cut-out bins within months. Apple was ready to throw in the
towel for the collection series.
In August of ’72, John scheduled a Plastic
Ono concert at Madison Square Garden for the Willowbrook Institution
in Staten Island. He  invited
Paul to appear with Wings, but Paul declined not because of
feuding, but simple logistics.
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