The Beatles - Band version of White Album

Well, all good things must eventually come to an end. Back when I started, I had ideas for about a dozen albums, and I never dreamed that it would continue for seven years with more than 150 albums! For the final entry, I decided to end this blog with the way it started: a take on The Beatles' "White Album." 

Way back in the good ol' days of 2017, I reimagined the White Album as three separate albums that I felt better organized the songs:

• A Doll's House
• The Beatles
• Back in Your Safely Beds

There are many ways you can slice and dice the album. But I find it both surprising and enlightening that of the 30 tracks that make up the White Album, only 16 (slightly more than half) actually feature all four band members performing.

And there doesn't seem to be any consistency of one member missing from a track. John Lennon is the only no-show on Ringo Starr's "Don't Pass Me By" and George Harrison's "Long Long Long." Paul McCartney and Starr collaborated as a duo on "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" while Lennon and Harrison were the only Beatles on "Revolution 9." Songs such as "Julia" and "Blackbird" are basically solo efforts for Lennon and McCartney respectively, and so on.

So, I put together the tracklist below if you want an actual, true "Beatles" White Album, with the full band contributing. The only problem is that one track had to go if you want to keep within the time constraints of a vinyl album.

SIDE A
1. Glass Onion
2. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
3. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4. Birthday 

5. Happiness is a Warm Gun
6. Piggies

7. Rocky Raccoon
8. Cry Baby Cry

SIDE B
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
2. Yer Blues
3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
4. Honey Pie

5. Sexy Sadie

6. I'm So Tired

7. Helter Skelter

Interestingly, Lennon's songs dominate this version of the album. So much so that when it came time for me to determine which track to leave out, I chose one of his: "Revolution 1." I figured that "Revolution" was released as a single, so jettison the slow version. Maybe it could have been the B-side of a single.

No band member performs on all 30 tracks of the White Album. McCartney leads with 24, followed by Starr with 22, and both Harrison and Lennon with 20 each.

The familiar album opening with a jet plane sound on "Back in the U.S.S.R" is not included because Starr walked out in a huff during the recording sessions, and McCartney handled drums instead. The same goes for "Dear Prudence." So, I ended up starting this album with tracks three and four.

I mixed up the order a bit, using "Cry Baby Cry" with its "Can You Take Me Back" closing tag as a nice way to end the first side. "My Guitar Gently Weeps" is given more of a spotlight as the opening track of the second side. And I closed the album with the metal "Helter Skelter"—the "I got blisters on my fingers!" line is a great way to end the album as a whole.

Overall, it's an interesting twist and mix.

And so we end the blog. Thanks to all of those who've taken the time to read the entries and post comments. I'll leave the blog as is for the foreseeable future so that newcomers can find it and maybe be inspired.

Triple Albums Made Single

Way back in the olden days of December 2018, I posted an entry on this blog where I took eight double studio albums and slimmed them down to a single disc.

This time around, I’m tackling four triple studio albums and slimming them down, not to a double, but also to a single disc. That’s a lot of whittling. You can be the judge of the outcomes.

 

Green Day – “¡Uno! ¡Dos! ¡Tré!”

Besides listening to all the tracks, I went in search of consensus among others as to what are the best songs from the three discs. And believe me, the more you search the topic online the more you realize that no one agrees on everything. But it did appear that a few songs showed up on most lists I found and helped me narrow it down. Two of the original discs have 12 tracks and one has 13, so I decided to keep it at no more than 13.

1.       Nuclear Family

2.       Brutal Love

3.       Stay the Night

4.       Stop When the Red Lights Flash

5.       Let Yourself Go

6.       X-Kid

7.       Stray Heart

8.       Troublemaker

9.       Dirty Rotten Bastards

10.   99 Revolutions

11.   The Forgotten

12.   Oh Love

13.   Amy

 

Smashing Pumpkins – “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness”

Most people probably think of this as a two-CD, 28-track album, but it was also released as a three-disc, 30-track vinyl album. With 30 tracks to choose from, it’s a lot to wade through. And consider the fact that another 30 or so songs didn’t make the final cut of the actual album (they were included later in a box set). So, to get this down to a single vinyl album, I decided to only use 10 tracks in total. And if you check various “best of” lists on the interwebs you’ll find that four tracks make nearly everyone’s list, and then it's kind of a free-for-all.

SIDE A

1.       Tonight Tonight

2.       Jellybelly

3.       Zero

4.       Bullet with Butterfly Wings

5.       Galapogos

SIDE B

1.       Muzzle

2.       Thirty-Three

3.       1979

4.       Thru the Eyes of Ruby

5.       Stumbleine

 

The Clash – “Sandanista!”

Some songs from Sandanista were obvious keepers, and some tracks seemed to me like just filler. When it came to determining the final cuts, I again went to the interwebs for various opinions on the best/worst tracks. Finally, I settled on what’s below. It was only after I completed this that I discovered a 12-track promo album called Sandanista Now! had been released (I assume to radio stations), and it only differs from my tracklist by two songs: I included "Something About England" and "Charlie Don't Surf" while Sandanista Now! excludes those songs but includes instead "Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" and "Sound of Sinners." 

SIDE A

1.       The Magnificent Seven

2.       Hitsville UK

3.       Junco Partner

4.       The Leader

5.       Something About England

6.       Somebody Got Murdered

SIDE B

1.       One More Time

2.       Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)

3.       Police on My Back

4.       The Call Up

5.       Washington Bullets

6.       Charlie Don’t Surf

 

George Harrison – “All Things Must Pass”

For this album, the obvious choice for me was to first remove the third disc of jams. And then I assembled what I thought were the best nine tracks. The first side ended up being exactly the same as the released album, and the second side was a mix of the rest. The leftovers would have been a great start on a 1971 or 1972 follow-up album.

SIDE A

1.       I’d Have You Anytime

2.       My Sweet Lord

3.       Wah-Wah

4.       Isn’t It a Pity (v. 1)

SIDE B

1.       What is Life

2.       Run of the Mill

3.       Beware of Darkness

4.       The Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

5.       All Things Must Pass

 

The Beatles - "Yellow Submarine" complete soundtrack

 

It’s strange to me that two attempts were made to make a soundtrack for The Beatles' animated film “Yellow Submarine,” and yet neither version contains a complete tracklist.

The original soundtrack released in 1969 included six Beatles songs along with seven tracks by the George Martin Orchestra.

In 1999, a new version titled Yellow Submarine Songtrack was released. It included all but one of the Beatles songs that appear in the film, but none of the George Martin Orchestra music.

So, I have taken everything that I could find that I think should make up the “complete” soundtrack, and compiled what could have been issued as a double album.

SIDE A

1.       Pepperland

2.       March of the Meanies

3.       Yellow Submarine

4.       A Beginning

5.       Eleanor Rigby

6.       Love You To

SIDE B

1.       A Day in the Life

2.       All Together Now

3.       Sea of Time

4.       When I’m Sixty-Four

5.       Only a Northern Song

6.       Sea of Monsters

SIDE C

1.       Nowhere Man

2.       Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

3.       Sea of Holes

4.       Yellow Submarine in Pepperland

5.       Think for Yourself

6.       Pepperland Laid to Waste

SIDE D

1.       Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

2.       With a Little Help from My Friends

3.       All You Need is Love

4.       Baby You’re a Rich Man

5.       Hey Bulldog

6.       It’s All Too Much [long version]

Using what I think are the best sources, I compiled 24 tracks that include both Beatles songs and George Martin instrumentals into one complete album and put them in the order they appear in the film. I sourced all The Beatles songs (except “A Day in the Life” and “It’s All Too Much”) from Yellow Submarine Songtrack. For the George Martin Orchestra tracks (except “A Beginning”), I used the 2009 remastered version of the original soundtrack album.

Finally, I took “A Day in the Life” from the 50^th anniversary remastered Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album and “A Beginning” from Anthology 3. I also used the extended 8:13 version of “It’s All Too Much,” which is so far only available on bootlegs.

In some cases, the film only includes excerpts of certain songs, but I chose to include the full versions here.

I particularly liked how the four album sides began and ended naturally with their six equal tracks. While searching online, I found this interesting alternate cover on Pinterest posted by petdevaney.

Sources:

• A1, A2, B3, B6, C3, C4, C6 – Yellow Submarine (soundtrack), 2009
• A3, A5, A6, B2, B4, B5, C1, C2, C5, D1, D2, D3, D4, D5 – Yellow Submarine Songtrack, 1999
• B1 – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50^th Anniversary Edition, 2017
• A4 – Anthology 3, 1996
• D6 – bootleg from YouTube

And here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

George Harrison -- "Cosmic Empire"

 

I recently came upon walrusz’s YouTube channel where he’s added some new studio backing to a few demos George Harrison recorded. That led me to read up more on the 50^th anniversary of Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album where I discovered there were a number of outtakes he never officially released in his lifetime.

I’ve often thought that Harrison waited too long to record a follow-up to All Things Must Pass. Yes, it was a triple album (or a double album with an extra disc of jamming) and it was a massive success when it was released in 1970. However, his former bandmates released more albums than he did from 1970 through 1973. Paul McCartney issued five studio albums during that span and John Lennon released four. Even Ringo Starr recorded three studio albums. Meanwhile, George issued two: All Things Must Pass (1970) and Living in the Material World (1973).

Considering George supposedly had tons of songs he’d written that had been rejected by the other Beatles (namely John and Paul), one might think that he’d be keen to now get it all out there and have a follow-up album in 1971 or 1972. But in fact, he had other priorities, including legal issues, a failing marriage, the organization of the Concert for Bangla Desh and the care for his mother who was dying. 

So here's my attempt at an album that could have been.

SIDE A

1.      Cosmic Empire 

2.      Mother Divine 

3.      Window, Window 

4.      Dehra Dun 

5.      Going Down to Golders Green 

6.      Nowhere to Go 

SIDE B

1.      I Live for You

2.      Deep Blue 

3.      Tell Me What Has Happened to You 

4.      Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna) 

5.      I Don’t Want to Do It 

There were several songs George demoed in 1970 that he later recorded for albums, and I decided not to use those.

Looking and searching, I found 11 songs that could have been used for a late 1971 or early 1972 album. I used five tracks that walrusz posted on his YouTube channel: “Cosmic Empire,” “Nowhere to Go,” “Dehra Dun,” “Mother Divine” and “Window Window.” For the latter song, I snipped off the studio chatter at the very beginning as I found it distracting. 

I also included the 2000 overdubbed version of “I Live for You” that George released with the 40^th anniversary of All Thing Must Pass, as well as the demos for “Going Down to Golders Green,” "Om Hare Om (Gopala Krishna)," “Tell Me What Has Happened to You” and “I Don’t Want to Do It” from the 50^th anniversary of the album. 

And finally, I included “Deep Blue,” the B-side of George’s 1971 “Bangla Desh” single. I thought about including “Bangla Desh” as well, but it’s very apparent that it was always meant to be a standalone single.

I especially like using the Bob Dylan-penned “I Don’t Want to Do It” to end the album with just George on vocals and guitar. The song's final line “I don't want to say goodbye” and abrupt stop seemed like a great ending, I think. George actually re-recorded the song in 1985 for the Porky’s Revenge soundtrack, and that seems like a sad result for a Dylan song that he himself never recorded. Using it here gives the song a bit more respect.

The result is what I think is a very enjoyable 11-track album. For the album cover, I found this photo of George online and added the words. I titled it Cosmic Empire after the lead-off track.

Here is a YouTube playlist of the album. Enjoy!

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [double album version]

 

Free of the confines of being a touring band and refreshed after several weeks of vacation, The Beatles began work on the band's eighth album. Initially, the group thought about creating an album with songs reflective of their childhood in Liverpool. This resulted in the songs "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane." Other early tracks included "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Only a Northern Song." 

However, the need for a new single resulted in the first two tunes being used as a double A-side. And since The Beatles normally kept singles separate from albums, neither "Strawberry Fields Forever" nor "Penny Lane" made the album and the childhood theme was abandoned. Since then, some folks -- including producer George Martin -- have lamented that those two songs didn't make the album's tracklist. But even if they'd had a change of heart at the time, at least two, and maybe three, other songs would have to have been cut to make room. As it was, "Only a Northern Song" didn't show up for record buyers until the Yellow Submarine soundtrack the following year.

There was another alternative -- The Beatles could have made Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band into a double album. Here's my track list for what could have been:

SIDE A

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2. With a Little Help from My Friends

3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

4. Fixing a Hole

5. She's Leaving Home

6. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

SIDE B

1. Good Morning Good Morning

2. When I'm Sixty-Four

3. Getting Better

4. Lovely Rita

5. Within You Without You

SIDE C

1. Only a Northern Song

2. Penny Lane

3. Strawberry Fields Forever

4. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

SIDE D

1. Carnival of Light

2.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)

3.  A Day in the Life

To double the size of Sgt. Pepper's, I included the two songs from the single, a few outtakes and one fake. Added tracks here include "Only a Northern Song," "Penny Lane," "Strawberry Fields Forever," "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" and "Carnival of Light."

I've always thought that "Good Morning Good Morning" would have made a better opening track for the second side rather than "Within You Without You," which I moved to the end of the second side.

"You Know My Name..." was unfinished during the Pepper sessions and attention was not returned to it until 1969 before it was released as a single B-side the following year. How much of the track was completed in 1967 is unknown, but presumably, it could have been polished off at the time. "Carnival of Light" was a 13-minute sound collage that The Beatles recorded for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave. It was heard in public that one and only time and has never been commercially released. Fake versions exist on YouTube (and frankly might actually turn out to be better than the real one).

I like how although each album side is close in length, the actual number of tracks progressively decreases by one. It wasn't deliberate, but seems so Pepperish anyway.

For the cover, I used the album's original artwork, created by the Dutch design collective The Fool, and added titles.

The Beatles - "Beatles Again"

In 1969, new Beatles manager Allen Klein negotiated a new contract with Capitol Records that required one compilation album per year. I don't know how they planned to have a new compilation every year for the five-year span of the contract, but the plan for the initial one was to use songs that hadn't appeared on albums (only singles).

Allan Steckler was given the task of deciding which tracks should be included. Ten tracks were chosen, put in chronological order, from 1964-69, and issued (only in the U.S.) as Hey Jude in 1970. With the inclusion of the group's most successful song ever (the title song), the album promptly sold more than 2 million copies.

The problem with the album is that the Beatles' sound had changed so dramatically from the time of their mop top days of 1964 and their hippie days of '69. With a little more care, a compilation album could have been produced with a more contemporary sound using more recent songs, including some still unreleased.

SIDE A

1. Revolution

2. Lady Madonna

3. The Inner Light

4. What's the New Mary Jane?

5. Not Guilty

6. The Ballad of John and Yoko

SIDE B

1. Hey Jude

2. Old Brown Shoe

3. Don't Let Me Down

4. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

The first four tracks of Hey Jude are the ones I have the problem with: "Can't Buy Me Love," "I Should Have Known Better," "Paperback Writer" and "Rain." Removing these, I needed a new opener. "Revolution" -- which closes side one on Hey Jude -- seems like the obvious choice to me. I then moved "Lady Madonna" from track 6 to track 2. 

I added three songs to the first side not on the original album: "The Inner Light," "What's the New Mary Jane?" and "Not Guilty." All seem like obvious tracks to include. "The Inner Light" didn't show up on an American or British album until 1978's Rarities and the stereo version wasn't released until 10 years after that on Past Masters, Volume 2. Both "What's the New Mary Jane?" and "Not Guilty" were White Album outtakes that weren't released until Anthology 3 in 1996.

For the final song on the first side, I moved the Hey Jude album closer "The Ballad of John and Yoko" here instead.

The first three tracks of the second side are the same as Hey Jude, but I closed the album with "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)." Originally the b-side of the then-upcoming "Let It Be" single, this track wasn't released on an album until Rarities in 1978.

There were three other tracks I considered: the single edit versions of both "Let It Be" and "Get Back," and the "wildlife" version of "Across the Universe" that had only been released previously on the World Wildlife Fund compilation No One's Gonna Change Our World. But since all three songs in different versions would appear on the Let It Be album released later the same year, it didn't seem to make as much sense as the other options. 

And there you have it, what I consider to be a superior compilation album than Hey Jude. For a cover, I used the shot of the group that was on the back side of the Hey Jude album, and I titled it Beatles Again, which is rumored to have been the original album title. I found this album mock-up on the web.

John, Paul, George and Ringo - "Soap Opera"

Rock bands ending in acrimony are fairly common. But no band exploded quite so publicly as the biggest band in the world. John, Paul, George and even Ringo expressed their frustrations through song, providing us an album's worth of material that I've collected together under the title Soap Opera.

SIDE A

1. Wah Wah

2. Run of the Mill

3. God

4. Too Many People

5. 3 Legs

6. Early 1970

SIDE B

1. How Do You Sleep?

2. Dear Friend

3. Back Off Boogaloo

4. Sue Me, Sue You Blues

5. Let Me Roll It

6. Beef Jerky

George was first out of the gate with this All Things Must Pass album that included two songs, "Wah Wah" and "Run of the Mill," regarding his overall disillusionment with John, Paul and The Beatles in general. On his John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album, John declared "the dream is over" with "God" where he disposed of idols, religion, politics and his former band. Paul responded with two songs of his own: one regarding what he saw as John's preachiness in "Too Many People" and his feeling of betrayal by the other three Beatles in "3 Legs." Ringo, often the arbitrator, released a can't-we-all-get-along song in "Early 1970."

The second side kicks off with John's blistering attack on Paul with "How Do You Sleep?" Paul comes back with an olive branch in the form of "Dear Friend." Then Ringo steps in with his own attack on Paul with "Back Off Boogaloo." George expresses weariness regarding all the lawsuits flying about with "Sue Me, Sue You Blues." Paul then returns with possibly the cleverest of the "attack songs," doing a very good John imitation while requesting "Let Me Roll It." And it all comes to an end with a very subtle tip of his hat to Paul by John who incorporates the guitar riff of "Let Me Roll It" in his song "Beef Jerky."

• "Wah Wah" and "Run of the Mill" are from George's All Things Must Pass. 
• "God" is from John's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. 
• "Too Many People" and "3 Legs" are from Paul's and Linda's Ram. 
• "Early 1970" and "Back Off Boogaloo" can be found on Ringo's Blast from Your Past. 
• "How Do You Sleep" is on John's Imagine. 
• "Dear Friend" is from Wings' Wild Life. 
• "Sue Me, Sue You Blues" is from George's Living in the Material World. 
• "Let Me Roll It" is from Wings' Band on the Run. 
• And "Beef Jerky" is on John's Walls and Bridges.

For the cover, I took photos I found online of the former Beatles as solo artists circa '74, cropped them, and mimicked the Let It Be album cover, using a soap bubble background.

The Beatles -- "Plastic Blues"

I’ve toyed around for years with the well-worn concept of what a late 1970/early 1971 Beatles album would have been like had the band stayed together. It took a while before I came up with a track list I liked.

SIDE A

1. What Is Life 

2. Well Well Well 

3. Oo You 

4. Remember 

5. Junk

6. Working Class Hero 

7. It Don't Come Easy 

SIDE B

1. I Found Out 

2. Every Night 

3. All Things Must Pass 

4. Teddy Boy 

5. Look at Me 

6. Let It Down 

7. Maybe I'm Amazed 

Other than a couple of exceptions, I decided to focus on songs that the Beatles had practiced during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions but had not made it onto a Beatles release. Also, given that the Beatles usually did not include songs they recorded for singles on their albums, I didn’t consider solo non-album singles either (except for one song from Ringo).

I led off the album with George’s “What is Life.” Of the tracks I’d selected, this one just seemed to me to be the best one to start the record with its catchy guitar riff. Plus, with the success of George’s songs on Abbey Road, I think he would take a more prominent role. Thus, we have four of his songs rather than the usual two.

I know of three versions of “All Things Must Pass”: the original released version, George’s demo from The Beatles' Anthology 3, and a workout by the Beatles that’s available via bootleg. I went with this version, and it’s therefore the only actual Beatles track on this album.

Note that each of the four Beatles has a song either opening or closing a side. Democratic, no? The democracy is throughout with three John songs to Paul’s two on the first side, and the opposite on the second. Add in the obligatory Ringo song, and you’ve got yourself a new Beatles album.

For an album title, I thought that several of the tunes had a bluesy feel, not to mention the line in “It Don’t Come Easy”: “Got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues.” Taking a cue from the Beatles’ Rubber Soul album, I came up with Plastic Blues.

For a cover, I went dumpster diving into the web and found a photo of blue balloons with hearts attached to them. I thought that worked well.

John’s songs are from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Paul’s are from McCartney. George’s are from All Things Must Pass (except, somewhat ironically, "All Things Must Pass"). Ringo’s song did not make it onto an album until the compilation Blast from Your Past. I don't usually create a back cover, but made an exception here. And here's a YouTube playlist of the album.

"The Best of George Harrison"

Following a post earlier this month about best-of compilation albums for Paul McCartney, this time around, I'm looking to fix 1976's The Best of George Harrison.

This first compilation of George Harrison's songs is an odd one. Side one includes only Beatles songs that he wrote, and the second side is solo tracks. I don't know whose idea this was, but after five years and four solo albums (since the Beatles broke up), plus contributions to a live album and non-album tracks, there were enough songs to fill out one best-of compilation.

So this is a "fixed" version, featuring only solo George.

SIDE A

1.       My Sweet Lord

2.       Dark Horse

3.       You 

4.       Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)

5.       Deep Blue

6.       What is Life

SIDE B

1.       Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long

2.       Isn't It a Pity (version one)

3.       Bangladesh

4.       All Things Must Pass

5.       Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)

6.       Ding Dong, Ding Dong

Besides the six solo songs on the original album, I added six more. The album begins with George's best-known song and probably his biggest hit. The "new" tunes include:

• "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)," while not a single, has become highly regarded since its release.
• "Deep Blue," part of the double a-side of the "Bangladesh" single;
• "Don’t Let Me Wait Too Long," which was scheduled to be released as a single, but was subsequently withdrawn;
• "Isn't It a Pity (version one)," part of the double a-side of the "My Sweet Lord" single;
• "All Things Must Pass," the title track of the hugely popular album, and
• "Ding Dong, Ding Dong," a holiday single from 1974.

Both sides end up being about 24 minutes in length. The result here is a better overall look at George's post-Beatles career through 1975 and does his solo career a bit more justice. Let Beatles songs be Beatles songs, and solo ones be solo ones.

The Ladders

A lot of people have created the “what if?” Beatles album if the band had stayed together. The usual outcome is to take the best songs from each of the four members' solo albums and assemble them into one cohesive album.

I take a different approach here. After the Beatles broke up, the members split into two sides—Paul on one and John, George and Ringo on the other. There were rumors that John, George and Ringo would form a new band with old friend Klaus Voormann taking up bass duties. There was even a name for the band, The Ladders, floating around. The idea didn’t get very far. John, in particular, wasn’t interested in joining another band after departing the Beatles so recently.

However, both John and George utilized the rhythm section of Ringo and Klaus on both their solo albums. There was a lot of uncertainty lingering about what to do next for the band members. The fact that John and George could have used pretty much any musician in the world and still chose Ringo as their drummer speaks volumes, I think. They wanted to leave the Beatles but weren’t quite secure enough to let go completely just yet.

If you take John’s seven songs with Ringo and Klaus, George’s six songs with Ringo and Klaus from their 1970 solo albums, plus one Ringo song with George and Klaus and you get two sides of a potential Ladders album. John gets his side and George gets his. John had even suggested a similar arrangement for the Beatles’ Abbey Road, with his songs on one side and Paul’s on the other. Think of this album as a stop-gap measure before everyone went completely solo. 

SIDE A

1. Mother

2. Hold On

3. I Found Out

4. Isolation

5. Remember

6. Well Well Well

7. God

SIDE B

1. My Sweet Lord

2. Isn’t It a Pity

3. Wah-Wah

4. If Not for You

5. All Things Must Pass

6. I Dig Love

7. It Don't Come Easy

John’s songs are from the album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, George’s are from the album All Things Must Pass, and Ringo's was a single and available later on the Blast from the Past compilation album

There’s also a potential non-album single with “Instant Karma!” (featuring John, George and Klaus) backed with “Beware the Darkness” (featuring George and Ringo).

For the Ladders album cover, I used a picture of an old playing board from the game Snakes and Ladders. I thought the theme would work with the band’s name and might be something John, George and Ringo would be familiar with from their childhood. Plus the game’s Indian roots might especially appeal to George.

The Traveling Wilburys -- Volume 2 and Volume 4

The Traveling Wilburys – a band that some believe is the last great “supergroup” – released two albums: Volume 1 and Volume 3. The title of the second album was a joke. During, between and after those albums, the five members recorded together on various projects.

In attempting to create a Volume 2, I realized there was enough material for a Volume 4 as well.

The first was easy to construct. I used two Traveling Wilburys outtakes:  “Maxine” and “Like a Ship.” I added three songs from Roy Orbison’s solo album, “You Got It” and “California Blue” (both featuring Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne) and “A Love So Beautiful” (featuring Lynne and George Harrison); two songs from Petty’s solo album, “I Won’t Back Down” (featuring Lynne and Harrison) and “Zombie Zoo” (featuring Lynne and Orbison); two songs from Lynne’s solo album, “Every Little Thing” and “Lift Me Up” (both featuring Harrison); one song from Bob Dylan, “Under the Red Sky” (featuring Harrison);  and one George Harrison song, “Cheer Down” from the Lethal Weapon 2 soundtrack (featuring Lynne).

I tacked on the holiday message from George Harrison (as Nelson Wilbury) from the Winter Warnersland album as a bonus track. For the album artwork of Volume 2, I only added the word/number "Volume 2" on a picture I found on the web. 

SIDE A

1. You Got It

2. Lift Me Up

3. Like a Ship

4. Every Little Thing

5. I Won’t Back Down

SIDE B

1. Cheer Down

2. A Love So Beautiful

3. Under the Red Sun

4. Maxine

5. California Blue

6. Zombie Zoo

Bonus: Holiday message from Nelson Wilbury

For Volume 4, I took a similar tack.

The tracks include two Traveling Wilburys outtakes: “Runaway” and “Nobody’s Child.” Other tracks include two Harrison songs he recorded for a “Best of” collection, “Poor Little Girl” and “Cockamamie Business” (both featuring Lynne); a Del Shannon song, “Walk Away” (featuring Lynne and Petty); three songs from Lynne, “Stormy Weather” and “September Song” (both featuring Harrison) and “Blown Away” (co-written by Petty and featuring Shannon); one song by Petty, “Runnin’ Down a Dream” (featuring Lynne, plus Shannon in the ending message), and one mostly instrumental song by Jim Horn, “Work It Out” (written by Lynne, and featuring Lynne, Harrison and Petty). I used the original version of “Runaway” and added the remix at the end as a bonus.

Roy Orbison died in 1988, and there were rumors that Del Shannon would take his place in the group. But Shannon committed suicide in 1990. Shannon ends up featuring as lead singer on “Walk Away,” backup vocals on “Blown Away” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and his song “Runaway” is covered. Plus Petty name-checks him in “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” So Shannon ended up being kind of a de facto member of the group.

Dylan is mostly a no-show on this album except for sharing lead vocals on “Nobody’s Child.” Considering both Orbison’s and Shannon’s deaths (and now Harrison’s and Petty’s as well), I think the album cover of a train wreck is appropriate. I found the old photo online, added some sepia tone and changed the words.

All tracks are available on the various solo albums and the Traveling Wilburys' box set, The Traveling Wilburys Collection, except the original version of “Runaway,” which was a non-album B-side of the band’s “She’s My Baby” single.

SIDE A

1. Poor Little Girl

2. Runaway

3. Walk Away

4. Stormy Weather

5. Runnin’ Down a Dream

SIDE B

1. Nobody’s Child

2. September Song

3. Work It Out

4. Blown Away

5. Cockamamie Business

Bonus: “Runaway” (remix)

The Beatles - "Back in Your Safely Beds"

Here's an album you can't have—at least not yet, as of this writing. In the past couple of weeks, I've posted two versions of albums in which I used most of the tracks of The Beatles' "White Album." But I deliberately left off "Wild Honey Pie" and "Revolution 9." I just don't think they fit well with the other tracks.

The Beatles—specifically Paul, John and George—experimented extensively with music and wrote pop songs. George released Electronic Sound, and John and Yoko released Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions and the Wedding Album. Paul also created experimental music but didn't release it commercially.

Back in Your Safely Beds is what might have happened if The Beatles released their more experimental songs together on one album.

However, one of the tracks I propose for this album, "Carnival of Light," a nearly 14-minute sound collage, has yet to be released. It was originally recorded by the band in 1967 for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave event. It has never appeared on any Beatles release and has only been heard by a select few since the rave event. Paul wanted to put it on The Beatles' Anthology 2 album, but George vetoed the idea. Paul occasionally teases the possibility of releasing it someday in the future. The rest of the tracks on this proposed album are all commercially available.

"What's the New Mary Jane?" was completed during production of the White Album, but was not officially released until 1996 on Anthology 3. "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" was released as the B-side to the "Let It Be" single. The final recording work on this song was in April 1969 (the last of these five tracks to be completed), and so I see Back in Your Safely Beds as a summer of '69 release that wasn't.

SIDE A
1. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
2. Carnival of Light

SIDE B
1. What's the New Mary Jane?
2. Wild Honey Pie
3. Revolution 9

My simple album cover is stark white, with the title in big, fat letters and the logo of Zapple Records—the avant-garde and spoken-word subsidiary of Apple Corps. The title comes from one of Ringo's malapropisms (aka Ringoisms), like "A Hard Day's Night" and "Tomorrow Never Knows," which the band has previously used for titles. Maybe the band wouldn't even include their name on this record. Maybe they'd make up a fake name. Who knows?

With this blog entry, I'll move on to other proposed albums that don't involve The Beatles. Stay tuned.

"The Beatles" by The Beatles

In my last post, I created a single-disc concept album using 14 tracks from The Beatles' "White Album." In this post, I'm using most of the leftover tracks to create a good, standard rock album.

While A Doll's House could have created a good bridge from the Sgt. Pepper's/Magical Mystery Tour era, this album would have been mostly a return to basics. The Summer of Love was so last year; the Vietnam War and Civil Rights protests were everywhere, and music was changing. Using the official title of the White Album, I call this one simply The Beatles. 

SIDE A

1. Back in the U.S.S.R.

2. Sexy Sadie

3. Not Guilty

4. Julia

5. Honey Pie

6. Don't Pass Me By

7. I'm So Tired

SIDE B

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2. I Will

3. Yer Blues

4. Why Don't We Do It in the Road?

5. Happiness is a Warm Gun

6. Long Long Long

7. Revolution 1

8. Helter Skelter

Again, like A Doll's House, there is a balance of vocals: six by John, five by Paul, three by George, and one by Ringo. All of these tracks are from the original "White Album," except "Not Guilty." A short version of the song is on Anthology 3, but I used a longer 4:17 version. For an album cover, I used one-half of the proposed artwork for the inner gatefold of the "White Album" that wasn't used.

NOTE: You may have noticed certain songs from the White Album that I've left off from both this and A Doll's House: "Wild Honey Pie" and "Revolution 9." I consider "Wild Honey Pie" to be akin to nails on a chalkboard. I really hate it. Maybe the worst Beatles song I can think of. As far as "Revolution 9" is concerned, I was fascinated with it when I was a teenager, but these days, it just seems like one long noise track. I think maybe these two tracks as well as a few other odds and ends could appear on yet another Beatles album, which maybe I'll get to in the future.