4.37am
24 July 2018
I think Riley got it right in Tell Me Why : there are tracks that come to mind as obvious trims, but there is no single-disc option that wouldn’t sacrifice a great many strong tracks. I have always loved the variety of it, the sheer unpredictability (at least, unpredictable the first time through), the sound of a band that was beginning to splinter and also knew it could get away with just about anything, musically. Yes, with that freedom came no small amount of indulgence, but that’s an important part of the story too.
When I listen to it, I never skip anything. Yes, that includes “Revolution 9 .” I cannot recall ever putting that track on in isolation, but when I listen to The Beatles from end to end, I listen to that too.
12.53pm
28 March 2014
1.31pm
26 January 2017
I saw on an ad and read that article. I’m not surprised to hear that there was dysfunction, but i’ll have to read the book to get the full story.
"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
7.08pm
10 March 2017
Is that why they wanted Phil Spector for Let It Be .
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
3.21pm
26 September 2018
Now that The Beatles 50th Anniversary box set is coming out on 9/9/18 (love the date and symmetry), I made a Spotify list based on these rules (14 songs, two George, one Ringo) just to listen to before the glut of content and demos comes our way. Fun– but not an easy– exercise. They had so many songs, it;s difficult to determine how to follow-up a John song with a Paul song or vice versa. Which Ringo song? Include Savoy Truffle or Long, Long, Long ?
This an interesting track list: each side starts with rockers and ends with quieter tracks. Each side has seven songs and is roughly 22 min long; each side almost as long as the whole Sgt Pepper album. But, a 33 rpm record can hold roughly 22 min per side, so this symmetry works out perfectly! If needed, I’m sure they could have faded out “Guitar” and “Skelter” sooner 🙂
The “Whiter” Album
Side 1
Back In The USSR (perfect opener)
Dear Prudence (perfect follow-up)
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (did this song help break them up)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (great George song)
Martha My Dear (love the horns, tempo)
Julia (perfect)
Mother Nature’s Son (nice quiet end to a side with the horn fade)
Side 2
Revolution (Single)
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (great John pastiche)
Blackbird (perfect to follow next, balance with John)
Sexy Sadie (great John)
Helter Skelter (has to be there)
Long, Long, Long (maybe remorseful and quiet after Skelter)
Good Night (great end)
Leaving off:
Glass Onion (love it, hate leaving it off, but)
I Will (could swap with Mother ‘s Nature Son or Martha My Dear as a short Paul song)
I’m So Tired (again, love it…)
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road (solo Paul anyway)
Savoy Truffle (or swap with Long…)
Cry Bay Cry (fun, average song)
Revolution 1 (I like the faster version)
Revolution 9 (ugh, still)
Piggies (ugh)
Rocky Raccoon (ugh)
Yer Blues (never really liked)
Everybody Has Something … (fun, but a b-side)
Wild Honey Pie (ugh)
Bungalow Bill (fun, but…)
Don’t Pass Me By (could be the Ringo song, but Good Night closes well)
Birthday (a great B-side)
From that time period:
Hey Bulldog
Lady Madonna
all other Escher demos
4.42pm
28 August 2018
I used to think that a single disc White Album would be better, but I have grown to appreciate the regular White Album with it warts and all. I love the variety and grandness of the whole project.
But I still wish I could personally destroy “Wild Honey Pie “.
8.18pm
10 March 2017
I’ve been thinking about this one lately myself and have come up with this:
Side A:
Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
I’m So Tired
Blackbird
Side B:
Birthday
Yer Blues
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey
Helter Skelter
Revolution 1
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
A bit longer than most I’ve heard of but it includes only the good songs on the album.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
2.36am
11 September 2018
I’m a radical who ignores rules (sometimes). I’ve chosen to imagine a double-album where each Beatle is given his own side. I think John said they’d considered this at some point. Each Beatle is given an equal share off 22 mins 30 seconds. This meant I had to be creative with the track-listing.
Disc 1 Side 1 (Paul)
- Back In The USSR (02:43)
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (03:08)
- Martha My Dear (02:28)
- Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? (01:41)
- I Will (01:46)
- Mother Nature’s Son (02:48)
- Helter Skelter (03:17) – edited so Ringo(?) doesn’t get blisters on his fingers.
- Honey Pie (02:41)
Disc 1 Side 2 (George)
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps (04:45)
- Piggies (02:04)
- Long Long Long (03:04)
- Savoy Truffle (02:54)
- Who Ate My Biscuits? (01:00) – Previously unheard studio argument
- Not Guilty (04:28)
- Sour Milk Sea (03:43)
Disc 2 Side 1 (John)
- Dear Prudence (03:56)
- Glass Onion (02:18)
- Happiness Is A Warm Gun (02:43)
- I’m So Tired (02:03)
- Julia (02:54)
- Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey (02:24)
- Sexy Sadie (03:15)
- Revolution 9 (02:30) edited to a more manageable length.
Disc 2 Side 2 (Ringo)
- Don’t Pass Me By (03:51)
- Silence to refer to the fact that Ringo left the band during the White Album sessions (15:26)
- Goodnight (03:13)
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QuarryMan, 50yearslate, Getbackintheussr, Jules9.58pm
14 June 2016
laytonrushing said
I used to think that a single disc White Album would be better, but I have grown to appreciate the regular White Album with it warts and all. I love the variety and grandness of the whole project.But I still wish I could personally destroy “Wild Honey Pie “.
You see the truth! The length is why the album is so unique and cool.
1.The Beatles 2.Sgt. Pepper 3.Abbey Road 4.Magical Mystery Tour 5.Rubber Soul 6.Revolver 7.Help! 8.Let It Be
9.A Hard Day’s Night 10.Please Please Me 11.Beatles For Sale 12.With The Beatles 13.Yellow Submarine
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5.40am
26 January 2017
QuarryMan said
That demo was quite interesting but I still don’t see what’s good about Glass Onion . I think they could have expressed that message in a much better format than what it is: an uninteresting melody with lyrics that lead nowhere. That’s my problem with the White Album , it’s just throwaway ideas that could have been brilliant if they’d been executed properly and with possibly the worst melodies in any of their studio era albums.
Cringe
I’m guessing this was during the first time I listened to Revolution 9 all the way through, and hated it. I’ve now come to appreciate it, but only within the context of the album.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
6.02am
20 February 2014
I’m fine with fitting the White Album onto a single disc, as long as we wait until we have the sort of disc that can contain all four sides without leaving out a microsecond.
I have 7.004 billion brothers and sisters.
7.23am
10 March 2017
2.00pm
15 November 2018
The problem with trying to create a single White Album is that there are plenty of songs that the album would be better of without, but so many that make the album the masterpiece it is. For instance, I would cut Wild Honey Pie and Revolution Nine without a second thought, and I wouldn’t think twice about cutting Don’t Pass Me By and The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill . But besides those four, I wouldn’t want to take any more songs away… and then you’re left with something that’s not a single album or a double album. I guess maybe you could make a separate EP…
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WigwamLove one another.
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2018: 2019: 2020:
6.12pm
27 February 2019
long dead post, but i made a playlist about 10 months ago so i thought i would talk about it here when i found this thread:
behind under the spoiler tag i’ll put the track listing of the playlist first and then i’ll put my explanations after:
side 1:
3. Revolution 1
4. Yer Blues
7. Sexy Sadie
side 2
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3. black bird
4. long long long
5. i will
6. Julia
8. helter skelter
the original album has a whole spread of genres (rock and roll, blues rock, baroque pop, country) i decided to stick with the rock stuff and the soft stuff. that’ll give us the most variety of content without it seeming like a disjointed mess.
i started thinking about how the album started and i didn’t wanna lose that intro of Back In The USSR and Dear Prudence . they bleed together like one song and it feels right. i almost went with going into Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey , but i kinda liked the feel of Revolution 1 a little more for something early on, funny considering it’s the side 4 opener on the original. Revolution 1 is a slower/softer rocker which is a nice lead in from Dear Prudence , and the electric guitar is a nice way to lead to Yer Blues . i don’t remember why i thought this, but i put Martha My Dear in. maybe i thought the fade out on Yer Blues made for a good time for a genre change. but it leaves the listener open to a surprise when we lead into Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da . and the piano in ob-la-di through out the song, leads into the start of Sexy Sadie . the start of the psychedelic phase of the album. Sexy Sadie ‘s fade out goes into Happiness Is A Warm Gun john singing with soft guitars “she’s not a girl who misses much..” and then it goes to rise up, louder and bigger it goes down a little and stays at that height and then a brief inhale and it gets a little louder but not like at the peak. and then the song stops silent for the last 5 seconds. side 1 comes to a close.
side 2 begins by continuing the psychedelic sound with While My Guitar Gently Weeps . it fades out, getting quieter and quieter. and then the bass/drum start bursts the volume back up with Glass Onion . the creepy orchestra concludes the song to comfort you saying “no more loudness, have something soft now” and the psychedelic phase of the album concludes and we go into blackbird. from there we go into Long, Long, Long which continues the quiet theme of the latter half of the side. and continuing with long, long long’s theme of love, we go into i will and then Julia . and finally concluding the soft guitar stuff we have Mother Nature’s Son . which has beautiful soft guitar but it also has the horns to fill it in like a big goodbye. i think it’s a nice end and remember that creepy orchestra comforting you saying “no more loudness”? i’m sorry, it lied and now you’re knocked out if your seat with the bejesus scared out of you. and there’s dawn of metal staring you right in the face with helter skelter.
i had a lot of fun when i made this playlist. i always thought of the playlist like a car ride. first side has more of the energetic stuff with more john songs, and the second side gets quieter with more paul songs. and you got a couple george songs in there too. you’re relaxed and you get out of the car about to go in the house and ready to go to bed and… suddenly i realized i forgot to put some ringo on the album
i guess i should set up a signature soon? maybe?
6.49pm
18 October 2013
50yearslate said
The problem with trying to create a single White Album is that there are plenty of songs that the album would be better of without, but so many that make the album the masterpiece it is. For instance, I would cut Wild Honey Pie and Revolution Nine without a second thought, and I wouldn’t think twice about cutting Don’t Pass Me By and The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill . But besides those four, I wouldn’t want to take any more songs away… and then you’re left with something that’s not a single album or a double album. I guess maybe you could make a separate EP…
Thing is they certainly had enough songs stocked up to replace the 4 you dislike.
It’s just a fun game..and nowadays I’m sure we’ve all made the cuts we want.
Hmm………..I must make a Sgt Pepper EP……
6.55pm
26 January 2017
Although I’m completely against the idea of a single disc White Album (a complete U turn from my original thoughts), for the sake of intrigue, I think your side 1 is pretty good, @joshthenesnerd , but I think side 2 has too many soft songs in a row. For me one of the best things about the White Album is how surprising some of the transitions are, and I think having too many soft ones next to each other would rob it of that shock effect.
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
7.18pm
27 February 2019
QuarryMan said
Although I’m completely against the idea of a single disc White Album (a complete U turn from my original thoughts), for the sake of intrigue, I think your side 1 is pretty good, @joshthenesnerd , but I think side 2 has too many soft songs in a row. For me one of the best things about the White Album is how surprising some of the transitions are, and I think having too many soft ones next to each other would rob it of that shock effect.
that is very true, my thinking was so many soft songs in a row would lull the listener for a while and then scare the crap out of them with helter skelter
i guess i should set up a signature soon? maybe?
4.00am
14 June 2016
Open with Wild Honey Pie , Revolution 9 and Why Don’t We Do It In The Road. That would’ve given people a shock!
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Getbackintheussr1.The Beatles 2.Sgt. Pepper 3.Abbey Road 4.Magical Mystery Tour 5.Rubber Soul 6.Revolver 7.Help! 8.Let It Be
9.A Hard Day’s Night 10.Please Please Me 11.Beatles For Sale 12.With The Beatles 13.Yellow Submarine
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9.58am
15 November 2018
11.40am
27 February 2019
it’s the next morning now, i realized ringo said it should’ve been 2 albums. the White Album and the whiter album. the whiter album would be all the tracks leftover from making the first playlist.
for me the remaining tracks would be
Wild Honey Pie , The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill , I’m So Tired , Piggies , Rocky Raccoon , Don’t Pass Me By , why don’t we do it in the road, birthday, everybody’s got something to tide except for me and my monkey, Honey Pie , Savoy Truffle , Cry Baby Cry , Revolution 9 and goodnight. i’ll have to think about this. i’ll be back later with a playlist.
i guess i should set up a signature soon? maybe?
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