As most Beatles fans know, producer George Martin and others have opined that The Beatles (aka The White Album) should have been released as a very strong single LP instead of as a double LP of mixed quality. If you had to pick from among the album’s 30 tracks to make the best single LP that you could, which would you choose?
The longest side on The Beatles is Disc 2 Side 2, coming in at 24:24. Therefore, rounding up, let’s say that you have as much as 49 minutes to fill (though if you feel that there’s only, say, 40 minutes of quality stuff to choose from, you’re not required to go all the way up to the limit). If you feel like delving a little deeper, you might also want to go ahead and re-sequence the album, in which case you should observe a time limit of 24:30 per side. Also note that you may not want to offend George by shutting him out of the album, and it might be nice to give Ringo something to do (wrote “Don’t Pass Me By,” sang on “Good Night”), but that’s less important.
The tracks:
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:56 – Dear Prudence
2:17 – Glass Onion
3:08 – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
0:52 – Wild Honey Pie
3:14 – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:23 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:28 – Martha My Dear
2:03 – I’m So Tired
2:18 – Blackbird
2:04 – Piggies (Harrison)
3:32 – Rocky Raccoon
3:50 – Don’t Pass Me By (Starkey)
1:41 – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
1:46 – I Will
2:54 – Julia
2:42 – Birthday
4:01 – Yer Blues
2:48 – Mother Nature’s Son
2:24 – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
3:15 – Sexy Sadie
4:29 – Helter Skelter
3:04 – Long, Long, Long (Harrison)
4:15 – Revolution 1
2:41 – Honey Pie
2:54 – Savoy Truffle (Harrison)
3:01 – Cry Baby Cry
8:22 – Revolution 9
3:11 – Good Night
Side I
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:56 – Dear Prudence
3:08 – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
3:14 – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:23 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:28 – Martha My Dear
Side II
2:03 – I’m So Tired
2:18 – Blackbird
3:50 – Don’t Pass Me By (Starkey)
1:41 – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
1:46 – I Will
2:54 – Julia
4:15 – Revolution 1
2:54 – Savoy Truffle (Harrison)
Side 1
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:14 – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:23 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:03 – I’m So Tired
2:24 – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
2:04 – Piggies (Harrison)
3:50 – Don’t Pass Me By (Starkey)
Side 2
2:42 – Birthday
2:24 – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
4:29 – Helter Skelter
4:15 – Revolution 1
8:22 – Revolution 9
2:18 – Blackbird
Note: I took the track lengths off of Wikipedia, which attributes the 9 second accoustic guitar part between “Wild Honey Pie” and “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” to the latter track. On the CD, however, those nine seconds are considered part of “Wild Honey Pie,” so that “Bungalow Bill” begins in mid-chorus and is 3:05 long, whereas “Wild Honey Pie” ends with the acoustic guitar part and is 1:01 long.
Just in case it matters to anyone, which it won’t.
Since he wrote the best song ON the album, I sure wouldn’t do that!
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:56 – Dear Prudence
3:08 – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:23 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:18 – Blackbird
1:41 – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
4:01 – Yer Blues
2:48 – Mother Nature’s Son
3:15 – Sexy Sadie
4:29 – Helter Skelter
4:15 – Revolution 1
3:01 – Cry Baby Cry
3:11 – Good Night
Not quite 46 minutes
Cutting the last 7 minutes was the hard part, especially keeping with the ‘throw Ringo a bone’ guideline.
I’d definitely resequence it, though I’m not sure how, so I haven’t done that.
… Now I need to make a Winamp playlist of this version of the album.
Back in the ussr
Dear prudence
Happiness is a warm gun
Martha my dear
Helter Skelter
Blackbird
I will
Birthday
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Im so tired
Revolution 1
Sexy Sadie
Savoy Truffle
First, I mis-transcribed the length of “Happiness is a Warm Gun” – it’s 2:43, not 2:23. I don’t know how I did this, as I copied and pasted it from Wikipedia, which has it correct.
Also, just as with the “Wild Honey Pie”/“Bungalow Bill” issue I mentioned in my last post, there are two other cases of Wikipedia and the CD disagreeing over which track gets credit for odds & ends in between:
The 9 second piano interlude (played by George Martin) between “Rocky Raccoon” and “Don’t Pass Me By” – ascribed to the latter in the OP, the CD gives it to the former, so that “Rocky” is 3:41 and “Don’t” is 3:42 (beginning with Ringo’s drum intro).
The 9 or 10 seconds of studio chatter (“I’m sorry, George,” etc.) between “Cry Baby Cry” and “Revolution 9” – ascribed to the latter by Wikipedia, the CD gives it to the former, so that “Cry” is 3:11 while “Revolution 9” is 8:13.
IMO, the piano after “Rocky Raccoon” is *probably *better suited to inclusion with “Don’t Pass Me By,” while in the other two cases the CD gets it unequivocally right and Wikipedia’s listing gets it wrong.
I’m spending entirely too much time on my list.
Side 1 (24:22)
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
3:56 – Dear Prudence
2:17 – Glass Onion
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison)
2:43 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:28 – Martha My Dear
2:03 – I’m So Tired
1:41 – Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?
1:46 – I Will
Side 2 (22:55)
2:54 – Julia
4:01 – Yer Blues
2:48 – Mother Nature’s Son
2:24 – Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
3:15 – Sexy Sadie
4:29 – Helter Skelter
3:04 – Long, Long, Long (Harrison)
Might need to work on the sequencing - not sure “Julia” works as a side-opener - but otherwise I’d be pretty happy with that. Though I do enjoy the way “Revolution 9” breaks the album up.
You guys need to look at the big picture and realize that there are very few albums that can come even CLOSE to The White Album. What’s wrong with you that you even think of picking it apart? Why not choose something like Let It Bleed or Days of Future Past or how about 461 Ocean Blvd? They are the kind of stuff that needs to be looked at. Leave the White Album alone for God’s sake. Really! Maybe you need a part time job? lol
My version would have only the following songs, because these are ones I actually listen to when I’ve played (my parents’ copy of) The White Album. Of all their albums, I think the White Album is my least favorite.
2:43 – Back in the U.S.S.R.
2:17 – Glass Onion
3:08 – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
3:14 – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4:45 – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
2:23 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun
2:18 – Blackbird
3:32 – Rocky Raccoon
3:01 – Cry Baby Cry
And I’ll be honest, I prefer Throwing Muses’ cover of Cry Baby Cry…but don’t bother with the live version on youtube.
But it’s not the best album ever. And it’s certainly not perfect. (The closest thing to a perfect album I can think of is Only a Lad by Oingo Boingo, and even that has You Really Got Me.)
It’s not even the best album the Beatles have ever done. Sgt Pepper, Rubber Soul, and Abbey Road all beat the White Album by lightyears. For instance, they include fewer examples of John going completely off the rails.
Respectfully, I disagree; the most important thing is that it is the album that they wanted to put out at the time. It reflects perfectly the conflicts within the band and in the greater world - the stress between innovation and consolidation.
For John to be able to write the gorgeous ‘Julia’ and the shocking ‘Revolution 9’, for Paul to write ‘Blackbird’ and be able to sing both ‘Good Night’ and scream himself hoarse for ‘Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?’, for George to really start to hit his stride as a songwriter, and to have the nerve to insist that on ‘his’ song, he will get Eric Clapton to do the solo slide part because that is the sound he wants, for Ringo to have to struggle to keep up with the changes in the band and their music, all these elements were there in their lives and in the music. It is a spectacular album and it is my deeply held conviction that it shouldn’t be buggered about with. Period.
Program out tracks if you must - I listen to it beginning to end as the Gods themselves decided was fit. As far as I’m concerned, it is not ‘The Beatles’ that is under judgement, it is those who listen to it.
This is an artistic dispute, so don’t take it to a personal level.
[/Mod Hat Off]
Part of what makes the White Album legendary, in my opinion, is the fact that it sprawls and it’s kind of a mess. You could definitely clean it up but then it becomes just another album. I’ll dig through my files to look for my best effort - I think I cut it down to about an hour but I don’t think I ever got near 49 minutes.
If you want to take it as a historical document of what was going on in their heads at the time, sure.
If you want to take it as an album, no.
What counts when deciding what makes a good album is the quality of the tracks, and how they work together.
And the White Album has two lousy tracks - Revolution 9, and Long Long Long - and several that would be better served on a different album, or at least positioned differently on The Beatles, so it falls far short of ‘perfect’ as an album.
That John had clearly lost his mind and thought Revolution 9 was a good idea doesn’t change that it’s not - that it’s nothing but a pothole on what is otherwise a very good album.
Being illustrative of the behind the scenes crap doesn’t make it a perfect album - it makes it a good illustration of the lives of the band. It, in fact, contributes to the fact that it’s anything BUT a perfect album.
I’m going to go with why mess with perfection. The White Album does exactly what it intended to do and does it well. Definitely including Revolution 9. If I want to listen to only certain songs, then I can do that.
