Bangla Duhn by Ravi Shankar – ***

First released: 1971

The barely tolerant "Concert for Bangla Desh" crowd shifted in their seats with Ravi’s Indian piece until George and friends turned back up to entertain them with “real” music (hee-hee). Actually, it’s not too bad though I have to admit I was in alignment with the stoners when I first heard this in the late 70s and felt that the only good music was rock and roll music. My tastes have expanded widely since then.

Bangla Desh by George Harrison – ***

First released: 1971

If ever there was a song that needed a remaster job on CD, this is the one. Since it was only released as a 45 originally and later tossed onto "The Best of George Harrison" (which is in desperate need of a remastered and repackaged collection), it is somewhat of a forgotten tune despite being the title track and final encore for "The Concert for Bangla Desh". It was never a big hit, but I like it.

"Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 1973

McCartney’s best album since "Ram" and best album so far (some say ever) with Wings. I tend to favor the next album "Venus and Mars" as superior, but I don’t hate this one. As you can see, I still gave it four stars. I just things like the “ho hey ho” part kind of weigh things down and are kind of silly, where as with "V&M" Paul built upon what he established by accident here.

Band on the Run by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 1973

Yet another song that was a patch job of different snatches of tunes and yet again, Paul achieves genius with one of the best songs of his career. The title track off the album and the third (count ‘em) hit single from the highly-abundant Wings album. Another interesting factoid is that Paul mentions "Sailor Sam" in the lyrics, which is also mentioned in one of the unreleased Rupert tracks. It makes me wonder if this track was originally written for and discarded from the Rupert project. It also appears on 1978’s "Wings Greatest", 1987’s "All The Best" and 2001’s "Wingspan". Different live versions were performed and released on "Wings Over America" in 1976, 1990’s "Tripping the Live Fantastic" and 2002/3's "Back in the US/World". A snippet of this song also appears after "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five" on the "Band on the Run" album.

Band of Steel by Ringo Starr – ***

First released: 1975

Ringo sings co-lead on this song with Guthrie Thomas. Ringo really should compile a rarities album and put this stuff on it, as this one's not that bad. I know, I know, it’s on bootlegs, but that’s not the point.

Band Introduction by George Harrison – ***

First released: 1971

"We've forgotten Billy Preston!" cries George on "The Concert for Bangla Desh" and makes it one of the funniest introductions ever.

Baltimore Oriole by George Harrison – ***

First released: 1981

A darker sounding song than what normally is released by George Harrison, mainly because it wasn’t written by George but rather Hoagy Carmichael, who also wrote "Hong Kong Blues" on the same album, "Somewhere in England".

Balls to Your Partner by The Beatles – *

Unreleased.

Paul recites a Liverpudlian drinking rhyme during the 1969 sessions for “Get Back”. It’s only three seconds long.

Ballroom Dancing by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 1982

There are at least three different versions of this song. One was the demo version that Wings was working on when Paul decided to call it a day on Wings in 1981, two was the standard release on the "Tug of War" album, and three was the rerecording from the "Give My Regards to Broad Street" soundtrack from 1984. The "Tug of War" version is hands down the best one of the three and should have been released as a single over "Tug of War". The nice bouncy keyboards remind me of a good Elton John tune. It should have been the third single from "Tug of War".

Ballad of the Skeletons, The by Allan Ginsberg – **

First released: 1993

Paul participates in this Allan Ginsberg production which was released as a CD single. Nothing special as you can’t really tell that Paul is involved very well and it’s not that interesting anyway.

Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let it Roll) by George Harrison – ***

First released: 1970

Sir Frankie Crisp apparently was the former tenant and owner of George Harrison’s recently purchased Friar Park Henley-on-Thames mansion and so George composed this simple ode to him. One of the more amusing moments on "All Things Must Pass" though still way over-produced to these ears. I’m not a big fan of the “wall of sound”.

Ballad of John and Yoko, The by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1969

It’s absolutely amazing that a song hailing the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono would only feature John and Paul. It’s kind of ironic. As for the song, it’s a solid 50s inspired rocker whose success in the US was cut short by the frequent use of the word “Christ” in the lyrics. Of the numerous number one hits by The Beatles over the years, this is only one of a couple that was never performed live. Of course, the autobiographical nature of it all and the impossibility of Lennon singing it now, curtailed this possibility. Originally just a single, the song made its album debut on the "Hey Jude" compilation. It's also on "1967-1970". It first appeared on CD on "Past Masters, Volume Two" in 1988, and it’s on the "Imagine: John Lennon" soundtrack from 1988, 2000's "1", and "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" from 2006.

Ballad of John and Yoko, The by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1969

It’s absolutely amazing that a song hailing the relationship of John Lennon and Yoko Ono would only feature John and Paul. It’s kind of ironic. As for the song, it’s a solid 50s inspired rocker whose success in the US was cut short by the frequent use of the word “Christ” in the lyrics. Of the numerous number one hits by The Beatles over the years, this is only one of a couple that was never performed live. Of course, the autobiographical nature of it all and the impossibility of Lennon singing it now, curtailed this possibility. Originally just a single, the song made its album debut on the "Hey Jude" compilation. It's also on "1967-1970". It first appeared on CD on "Past Masters, Volume Two" in 1988, and it’s on the "Imagine: John Lennon" soundtrack from 1988, 2000's "1", and "The U.S. vs. John Lennon" from 2006.

Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, The by The Beatles – *

Unreleased.

The Beatles do a brief parody of this song during the 1969 "Get Back" sessions.

Badge by Cream – ****

First released: 1969

The notorious story about this Cream song written by George Harrison is that Eric Clapton mistakenly thought that Harrison’s scribble of the word “Bridge” was actually “Badge” and so the joke became the title. Not a bad idea, since the title would probably be “I Told You” or “You Told Me” or something like that had it been titled correctly. This originally appeared on Cream’s final studio album "Goodbye". I believe that there is an unreleased Harrison demo version in existence as well, but I don’t have it. It’s a very good song and has been part of Clapton’s live repertoire ever since.

Bad to Me by The Beatles – ***

Unreleased.

Though this song was released by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, this review concerns the John Lennon version recorded in 1963. Only recorded as a demo, the song had potential, as a Beatles track, but apparently Lennon felt it wasn’t quite good enough. And unlike Harrison who would resurrect older compositions in later years for his solo albums, John never went back to this old tune.

"Bad Boy" by Ringo Starr – ***

First released: 1978

A return to form of sorts for Ringo, but the damage of "Ringo’s Rotogravure" and "Ringo the 4th" had been done, coupled with a so-so TV special that’s of the “so bad, it’s good” variety. Some of Ringo’s best tunes are on this album like "Heart on My Sleeve", "Who Needs a Heart" and "Hard Times", but there’s also a lot of inappropriate filler, too. It might have fared better if "Heart on My Sleeve" was issued as the first single instead of "Lipstick Traces" (in the US) or "Tonight" (in the UK).

Bad Boy by Ringo Starr – **

First released: 1978

This is the “I’m just a bad boyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy….” version of this song and not The Beatles version where John’s telling Junior to behave himself. It was written by Liv Armstrong and Avon Long and was a hit for The Jive Bombers in 1957. Nothing to do with Miami Sound Machine either. Not a bad track, but nothing great either. Check out the original on the "Cry Baby" soundtrack. Ringo's is on his album of the same name.

Bad Boy by The Beatles – ***

First released: 1965

The US needed another track for their "Beatles VI" album, so The Beatles duly went in to record yet another cover version to appease the yanks and turned to Larry Williams again. Strangely, they could have included "I’m Down" on "Beatles VI" and then The Beatles wouldn’t have had to rush record this. In any case, The Beatles themselves didn’t seem to think too much of this, as it was thrown onto the compilation "A Collection of Beatle Oldies" in the UK. It first appeared on CD on "Past Masters, Volume One" in 1988. Later, it was on "The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2" in 2006.

Backwards Traveller by Paul McCartney – ***

First released: 1978

The b-side of "With a Little Luck" wasn’t much, but it was an impetus for me to buy the "London Town" collection as I felt if I liked the b-side of a single that was on the album, the album might not be too bad. It worked, as "London Town" is a great Wings album. The full medley included the instrumental part with the punny title "Cuff Link". I love the opening "Hey!"

"Back to the Egg" by Paul McCartney – ***

First released: 1979

Though not designed as such, this ended up being the final Wings album of all. When first released, I really dug on this album, especially the single "Getting Closer". Over time, my opinion has changed and I don’t really like it as much as I do other Wings albums. I was always upset that "Goodnight Tonight" and "Daytime Nighttime Suffering" were left off of the album, and still not added years later when the CD version was issued, as they are much stronger tracks than some of the ones actually issued; a typical McCartney problem.

Back Seat of My Car, The by Paul McCartney – ***

First released: 1971

Here is one creepy sounding song and another in a long line of McCartney songs that seems to be fashioned from a number of bits and pieces of unfinished compositions. It works pretty well and was yet another rehearsed with The Beatles, but not completed until Paul’s "Ram" album. It was also a single in the UK and on 2001’s "Wingspan".

Back on My Feet by Paul McCartney – ***

First released: 1987

The first song released of the McCartney/MacManus collaboration was this b-side to "Once Upon a Long Ago". It's a pretty good track and is somewhat hard to find now due to its obscure placement. As such, it has never been officially released in the US. Later it was added as a bonus track to the 1993 UK CD remaster of "Flowers in the Dirt".

Back Off Boogaloo by Ringo Starr – ****

First released: 1972

With this song Ringo proved he was now a two-hit wonder! Actually he had a few more hits in the next couple of years, but this paved the way for the Ringo album released in 1973. "Boogaloo" escaped inclusion onto an LP until Ringo’s "Blast From Your Past" compilation in 1975 and 2007’s "Photograph" compilation. It was also added to the 1992 CD reissue of "Goodnight Vienna".

A live version appears on 1998’s "VH1 Storytellers" with an amusing anecdote of how this song almost became "Mack the Knife"! Different live versions appear on 2000’s "The Anthology …So Far" and 2002’s "Ringo & His New All-Starr Band".

If you are a fan of Ringo’s drumming, this is the track for you! I love it! I should also mention that an atrocious version by Ringo and Harry Nilsson made it onto Ringo’s "Stop and Smell the Roses" album in 1981, but the less said about that version, the better. On this album and on 2007's "Live at Soundstage", Boogaloo was spelled Bugaloo. I wonder what Sid and Marty Krofft had to say about that?

"Back in the World" by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 2003

While the US got "Back in the US", the rest of the world got this album of Paul’s called "Back in the World", with some minor song changes, including the first ever live appearance of "She's Leaving Home". Overall, this is one of the better sounding live albums as I said on the US commentary as Paul’s voice was in much better shape than it was in the 90s.

Back in the USSR by The Beatles – ****

First released: 1968

Another all-time favorite of mine, and one that probably should have been a single, but wasn’t, until 1976 in England no less. It opens up The Beatles “White Album” quite nicely. Ringo doesn’t play drums here, and Paul’s drumming is more determined than usual. The plane sound effect is used to great effect here. It's also on "1967-1970". It is also used for 2006's "Love". A demo snippet is featured on 2003's "Fly on the Wall".

Different live versions were performed by Paul on 1990’s "Tripping the Live Fantastic" and 2002/3's "Back in the US/World". Ringo finally did play drums on the song when he performed it live with The Beach Boys in 1984.

"Back in the U.S." by Paul McCartney – ****

First released: 2002

Paul finally puts out a decent sounding live recording since the days of "Wings Over America". Methinks that he finally listened a vocal trainer who told him to sing from his diaphragm and not from his throat. He probably gave up the funny little herbal cigarettes to help him along. There was a different version released outside of the US in 2003 called "Back in the World", which features four different songs and removes four from this set.

Back in the Sunshine Again by Paul McCartney – *

First released: 2001

Will someone tell Paul that he's not 20 years old anymore? He cannot sing those high notes and it's painful to listen to him try. Besides, this isn't that great of tune from "Driving Rain".

Baby’s Request by Paul McCartney – ***

First released: 1979

Paul goes back and does another tune like "You Gave Me the Answer" or "Honey Pie" that harks back to a different era. He should do an entire album like this, or at least a compilation of these types of tunes. Heck, I’ll burn one myself. This was originally on Wings’ "Back to the Egg". A nice album closer in the way McCartney does best.

Baby’s in Black by The Beatles – **

First released: 1964

I’ve never been a huge fan of this song as it seems kind of plodding and Lennon and McCartney both sing it kind of lethargically, yet they must have liked it a lot since they sang it on tour consistently from 1964-1966 (though strangely it was left off of 1977's "Live at the Hollywood Bowl"). It’s originally from "Beatles For Sale" and "Beatles ’65" and 2004’s "The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1". A live version appears on the b-side of the "Real Love" CD single in 1996.

Baby’s Heartbeat by John Lennon – *

First released: 1969

"Baby’s Heartbeat" is literally that. At first it’s kind of interesting and after awhile (it lasts over five minutes), it starts sounding kinda gross. The worst part about listening to it is the knowledge that Yoko suffered a miscarriage shortly after this recording. From "Unfinished Music No. 2 – Life With the Lions". John’s voice can be heard at the beginning.

Baby, You’re a Rich Man by The Beatles – **

First released: 1967

Not my favorite Beatles song. The lyrics are kind of dumb and the instrumentation is kind of bland after a promising opening. It was originally the b-side of "All You Need is Love", and added to the US version of "Magical Mystery Tour", and featured briefly in the "Yellow Submarine" film. It's also on 1999's "Yellow Submarine Songtrack".