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11.17am
3 February 2017
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As we all know, when critics are reviewing songs from the four’s solo career, every Now And Then they use the phrase “this could fit in the White Album !”. So, it begs the question: what if it really did? So I thought of thos challenge: try to make a second edition of the WA using solo tubes similar to those on the original. Here are the rules:
– you have to choose the solo song that, to you, sounds/feels like the original, explaining why it is so
– try sticking to 1970 – 1975
– follow the album sequence!
Here’s my take on it:
Side One:
01 Junior’s Farm
02 Out Of The Blue
03 It’s So Hard
04 Mrs. Vandebilt
05 The Lovely Linda
06 John Sinclair
07 This Guitar (Can’t Keep from Crying)
08 Jealous Guy
Side Two:
09 Single Pidgeon
10 Isolation
11 Bluebird
12 Awaiting for You All
13 Teddy Boy
14 Coochy Coochy
15 Ooh You
16 Heart Of The Country
17 Look At Me
Side Three:
18 Eat At Home
19 I Found Out
20 Every Night
21 Whatever Gets You Through the Night
22 Steel And Glass
23 Monkberry Moon Delight
24 Circles
Side Four:
25 New York City
26 You Gave Me the Answer
27 Art of Dying
28 Oh My Love
29 Mulberry
30 I’ll Still Love You
I’ll post the reasons why on a separate comment (it’s huge!), and good luck to you trying!
11.25am
3 February 2017
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Junior’s Farm
It takes Back In The USSR ‘s spot mainly because it’s a nice, upbear rocker that tells a nonsensical story, switching the Ukraine for Nahsville, all that while being a great opener!
Filling in for Dear Prudence we have another finger-picking acoustic number by John, being also one of the highlights of it’s album.
Our first problem in this “Black Album”: there is no such thing as Glass Onion in John’s career. The only song with that much Beatles references in his catalog is How Do You Sleep, and we don’t want to go that way. Instead, I looked for a song that fitted more-or-less with GO’s sound, and chose this gritty bluesy number.
Mrs. Vandebilt
Our Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da counterpart will be this, mainly for being a decidedly upbeat, singalong-able poppy tune. It also tells a weird story, and plays well the part of Obladi here. OH, EH, OH
Exactly like Wild Honey Pie , but less irritating. Unsurprisingly the first song I chose.
John Sinclair
A counterpart for Bungalow Bill is no easy thing to find, for the simple reason of being as it is. So, all we needed to do is to find a folksy, acoustic number with a lot of repetition in it, a function
this song can be used easily in.
This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)
Anything that I could possibly say about this is already in the song title. C’mon, George!
And yet another problem strikes us: the only song in the world that sounds like Happiness Is A Warm Gun , is, well, itself. So, we have to search for a huge classic that speaks, directly or indirectly about Yoko. The fact that JG was written in India with the rest of the White Album also helps.
Single Pidgeon
Martha My Dear is a silly, 30s influenced piano tune written about an animal. Single Pidgeon is exactly that, but is not half as good, inexplicably.
To replace I’m So Tired , we needed a minimalistic sounding song with personal lyrics, all features Isolation has.
Bluebird
Title says it all, really. I can bet whatever you want that Paul didn’t name two similar acoustic songs by two similar birds on accident. Lovely song, by the way.
Playing part of Piggies , AOYA is probably the most political George ever got during his solo career, with the noble exception of Brainwashed. With Piggies being probably the most political Beatles tune, it’s fair enough.
Rocky Racoon, Pt. 2 is this, sharing with RR the fact of telling a story, being mostly acoustic, and having been written together in India. What’s up with White Album Macca and storytelling?
Coochy Coochy
The first genuinely bad song on this comp tries to be Don’t Pass Me By with it sharing their bad lyrics, C&W feel, and the vocals of Richard Starkey, MBE.
Ooh You
Why Don’t We Do It in the Road and this are both hard rocking songs, with only two lines of lyrics each, and played at least 90% by Paul, pretty much justifying it’s own inclusion
I Will is probably the cutest song Paul ever wrote, and one of the runners-up is this song here. Both acoustic guitar only love songs, and to the same person, causing it’s stay here.
Look At Me and Julia are so similar in sound, lyrics and arrangement that if you hear both drunk, you won’t be able to tell which is which. Try it out!
The counterpart to Birthday is a rocking, feel good song with dismail lyrics about doin’ it, with a nice middle eight. And that’s all it needs, really.
The new Yer Blues is a sludgy, heavy, and way too personal song. Exactly how it should be, earning a spot here.
Started around the White Album days, it takes Mother Nature’s Son ‘s spot for being a acoustic, perfect-pop number, written by the guy who invented it.
Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
To fill in for Me and My Monkey, a frenetic, almost shouted number is required. WGYTTN is exactly that, the sole difference being the fact it played in discotheques.
Steel And Glass is a personal attack on a guy that fooled John, also being a midtempo number, filled with rage and “who do you think you are?”-ish phrases. You know which other song is like that? Sexy Sadie !
MMD was chosen for being probably the only Paul song that ever came close to channeling the power and anger of Helter Skelter , but this time with a little bit of surrealism thrown in.
Circles
Yet another India toss-off, it’s used here for being almost as slow and quiet as Long, Long, Long . I could have even chosen the Beatles recording of it, but it wouldn’t be fair, would it?
New York City
Well, here we go. I used NYC here as the counterpart of the single version of Revolution , which is my prefered version. Rocking tune, bit of politics, etcetera. If you want to mirror Revolution #1, then the acoustic demo for this song on the Lennon Anthology is your thing.
You Gave Me the Awnser
Honey Pie renewed is one of Paul’s finest examples of granny music, and a great song by itself, both having horn sections and great piano playing.
Art of Dying
Written way back in 1967, it will fill Savoy Truffle ‘s spot due to the presence of a horn section, them being great rocking songs, and the fact that no other song George ever wrote apart from ST talks about Eric Clapton’s teeth.
Oh My Love
Cry Baby Cry and Oh My Love were written almost together, and you can pretty much see why, being piano-driven songs and of top notch quality. And for the Can You Take Me Back outro, use “Mumbo Link” from Paul’s Wild Life album
Mulberry
A near nine minute avant-garde piece by John and Yoko being exchanged with another nine minute experimental tune by John and Yoko. Hurray!
I’ll Still Love You
The second and last Ringo song, this and Goodnight have in common being written by another Beatle (John and George), and having some orchestration in it. And well, that’s fair enough
And you may ask, what about Hey Jude ? Well, that would be The Back Seat Of My Car , piano driven tune with a sing along ending and completely epic, being even a better song than Hey Jude .
11.44am
26 January 2017
Offline I did this one time for 1970, 1971, and 1973.
https://open.spotify.com/user/…..0zDjf3tmrR
https://open.spotify.com/user/…..0zDjf3tmrR
None are double albums but combining any two years will result in a White Album like experience.
The following people thank sir walter raleigh for this post:
GlassOnion"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
