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.

Stevie Wonder - "Front Line"

 

In 1982, Stevie Wonder released a two-disc album of greatest hits titled Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I. (To date, there hasn't been an Original Musiquarium II, but I digress). On this album, he included four new tracks, all of which were also released as singles and became sizable hits.

I don't know if the four songs were specifically recorded for this compilation, they were leftover tracks from previous albums or if Wonder had originally penned them for a new album. Whatever the case, I wanted to take the four songs and see if I could find other stray tracks from the same period to create what could have been a new studio album for 1982 instead of a greatest hits package.

SIDE A

1. Front Line

2. Ribbon in the Sky

3. Stay Gold

4. What's That You're Doing?

SIDE B

1. That Girl

2. Front Line Revisited (instrumental)

3. Do I Do

Besides the four new tracks -- "Front Line," "Ribbon in the Sky," "That Girl" and "Do I Do," I also included "Stay Gold" from the soundtrack of the film "The Outsiders." Interestingly, when "The Outsiders" was rereleased several years later, director Francis Ford Coppola decided the score by his father Carmine (who co-wrote "Stay Gold") wasn't right for the film, and he changed the music. So moving the song to this album kind of saves it.

In addition, I included Wonder's collaboration with Paul McCartney, "What's That You're Doing?" It's actually not that uncommon for two singers to do a duet and then have the song appear on both of their respective solo albums (see "My Little Town" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel). Plus, "What's That You're Doing?" always seems out of place on McCartney's Tug of War album, and I think it fits better here.

Finally, to fill out the album, I added the instrumental version of "Front Line" (found on the B-side of the single) to act as a coda before launching into the epic 10 1/2-minute "Do I Do" that concludes the album. Both sides end up clocking in at a little over 21 minutes.

I think overall this is a pretty good album with a nice musical variety and would have fit in well as a followup to Wonder's 1980 album Hotter Than July. Plus, the four tracks from Original Musiquarium I are allowed to better shine here.

I titled the album Front Line since I use two different versions of the song, and I repurposed the single's cover for the album cover after I did a little Photoshopping.

Listen to the YouTube playlist.

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.

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.

Paul McCartney and Wings - "Ship to Shore"

Having recorded two successful studio albums and a triple live album, Paul McCartney's latest lineup of Wings seemed poised to continue that success in 1977-78. However, while recording a new album, it was discovered that Linda McCartney was pregnant. That put the kibosh on a tour any time in the near future. After recording several songs aboard a yacht in the Virgin Islands, lead guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Joe English quit the band. That left the trio of Paul, Linda and Denny Laine to continue, record more songs and eventually release the album London Town.

I wanted to re-imagine what the album might have been if only the tracks that included McCulloch and English had been used. That led me to a new version of the album I've titled Ship to Shore.


SIDE A

1. Mull of Kintyre

2. London Town

3. Cafe on the Left Bank

4. Don't Let It Bring You Down

5. Name and Address

6. Children Children
7. I've Had Enough

SIDE B

1. With a Little Luck

2. Famous Groupies

3. Deliver Your Children

4. Girls’ School

5. Morse Moose and the Grey Goose

First of all, London Town seems strangely out of balance, with side two being more than five minutes longer than side one. I don't know what kind of decision-making goes on when a person, band or producer determines which songs go on which side, but I don't see any particular reason for the discrepancy in this case.

The four additional songs recorded after McCulloch and English left were all on London Town's first side, which leaves a gaping hole if we want to keep the running order similar. We do have two songs recorded before McCulloch and English left that were issued as singles: "Mull of Kintyre" and "Girls' School." But that isn't enough to fill the four missing slots (especially since the first side was already short), so some rearranging was needed.

Looking at the three previous Wings studio albums, they all start with rather slow songs. But even by that criteria, I think "London Town" is just not a good opener. So I put "Mull of Kintyre" at A1. It was a major hit in the U.K., and gives the album a slow-building opening. I moved "Don't Let It Bring You Down" and "Name and Address" to Side A and kept the rocking "I've Had Enough" to close it out.

Side B begins with the same three tracks as London Town, but I included "Girls' School" before concluding the album with "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose," just like London Town.

I can't say that the result is a better album than London Town, but I do think that "Mull of Kintyre" is a better opener, and "Girls' School" gives the collection a bit of extra oomph that I think was otherwise lacking. Also, both sides are about the same length now -- the first side is less than a minute longer than the second.

Attempts by others to recreate this album are often titled Water Wings, as apparently that was a working title at some point. I chose the title Ship to Shore because most of the album was recorded on a boat although some tracks were also recorded in Britain. For the cover, I wanted to use a band photo to emphasize the group overall. When I found a cover for a Water Wings bootleg, I reused the photo from it for my cover and thought the title worked well. Although it might be confused for a "yacht rock" album. 😋

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.

Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello - "Double Mac"

In the fall of 1987, Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello got together and collaborated on writing 15 songs and recorded several demos. Early the next year they recorded new demos, but this time with additional musicians. There were also at least three demos that were recorded solo.

Paul and Elvis then apparently divvied up the songs and new versions were recorded and ended up spread out over five different albums. These include Paul's Flowers in the Dirt (1989) and Off the Ground (1993); and Elvis' Spike (1989), Mighty Like a Rose (1991) and All This Useless Beauty (1996). Two of the songs became sizable hits. Paul's "My Brave Face" went to No. 25 on Billboard, and Elvis' "Veronica" reached No. 19.

In 2001, Rhino Records reissued Spike with solo demos of two of the songs he wrote with Paul: "Veronica" and "Pads, Paws and Claws." In 2017, Paul released a deluxe edition of Flowers in the Dirt, which included 12 original demos from 1987 just featuring Paul and Elvis, as well as nine demos from 1988 featuring additional musicians. Plus, a demo Paul recorded solo for "Back on My Feet" was made available free on www.paulmccartney.com on May 4, 2017.

For this exercise, I have created the duet album -- a handful of simple roots rockers by a Beatle and a punk. I used the demos that either only feature the two men, or the solo demos. That comes to a grand total of 15 songs. I'm titling the album Double Mac -- a play on both their surnames beginning with Mc/Mac.

SIDE A

1. My Brave Face

2. You Want Her Too

3. Don't Be Careless Love

4. That Day Is Done

5. Mistress and Maid
6. Back on My Feet

7. The Lovers That Never Were

SIDE B

1. Veronica
2. Pads, Paws and Claws
3. So Like Candy

4. Playboy to a Man

5. Shallow Grave

6. Tommy's Coming Home

7. Twenty Fine Fingers

8. I Don’t Want to Confess 

In 1989, we were in an age when CDs were still fairly new and were vying with vinyl. So I went ahead and divided the songs into two sides of an LP. I used the order of the songs Paul originally released commercially on the first side, and then the ones Elvis issued on the second. However, three songs, "Tommy's Coming Home," "Twenty Fine Fingers" and "I Don't Want to Confess" apparently have never made it past demo form, and I placed them at the end.

I don't know if a relatively lo-fi album would have done well in 1988-89, during the golden age of MTV. But I would expect the novelty of the two men collaborating together to have gained a lot of interest.

For a cover, I created something that looks a bit rough and handmade to fit the songs. I like that the names and faces are transposed.

Here's a YouTube playlist of the album. Enjoy!

Paul McCartney compilation albums

Creating a "best of" album might seem rather unnecessary. But this first one fills a noticeable gap. In 1975, the Apple Records contracts of the former Beatles members expired. The final releases from John, George and Ringo on Apple were "best of" compilations Shaved Fish, The Best of George Harrison and Blast from Your Past respectively. (Well, actually George's album was delayed and ended up released on Capitol).

As originally conceived, McCartney's compilation was to be a bit different than that of his ex-bandmates. Tentatively titled Cold Cuts (or alternately Hot Hitz and Kold Kutz), the album was to be composed of non-album singles and previously unreleased tracks. McCartney then began recording several new songs and overdubbing older unused tracks. But eventually the project was scrapped, and McCartney turned his attention to recording a new Wings studio album, Venus and Mars.

I don't know the reason there was no "best of" from Paul McCartney at the time, but it might have something to do with the fact that he released music under his own name, as a duo with his wife Linda, and with the band Wings. So unlike his former bandmates, it wasn't really possible to release a "solo" best-of compilation. However, if this was the reason, it didn't stop him from releasing just such a compilation in 1978 titled Wings Greatest, even though more than half the songs are not by Wings.

Ignoring that, I assembled a compilation album of all his A-side singles from 1971-1974 that were on Apple. That resulted in a record I've titled Wings & Things (which I think is a better title than Cold Cuts).

SIDE A
1. Another Day
2. Eat at Home
3. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
4. Back Seat of My Car
5. Love is Strange
6. Give Ireland Back to the Irish
7. Mary Had a Little Lamb

SIDE B
1. Hi Hi Hi
2. My Love
3. Live and Let Die
4. Helen Wheels
5. Jet
6. Band on the Run
7. Junior's Farm

I tried tinkering with the track order but finally decided to just keep them in chronological order. The only A-side I left off was "Mrs. Vanderbilt" because it wasn't widely distributed and because I thought four songs from the same album were too many. I went back and forth for a while with the idea of including B-sides as well. But that would have made it a double album, and in keeping with the other ex-Beatle compilations I left it as a single LP. I struggled a bit with a cover design, but eventually went with a stream of butterflies I found on the web and added titles.

Having assembled Wings & Things, I decided to redo Wings Greatest, re-titling it Wings Greatest 1975 - 1980. Unlike the original version, all tracks are actually by Wings:

SIDE A
1. Listen to What the Man Said
2. Letting Go
3. Venus and Mars/Rock Show
4. Silly Love Songs
5. Let 'Em In
6. Maybe I'm Amazed [live]
7. Mull of Kintyre
8. With a Little Luck

SIDE B
1. I've Had Enough
2. London Town
3. Goodnight Tonight
4. Old Siam, Sir
5. Getting Closer
6. Arrow Through Me
7. Coming Up [live]
8. Wonderful Christmastime

Like the previous compilation, I put all of the A-sides of the singles in chronological order, except for moving the holiday song to the end. With Wings ceasing to be a band by 1981, this acts as a nice end note. For the cover, I used the original and added the years.

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.

The Beatles' "A Doll's House"

A lot has been written about creating a single album from The Beatles' "White Album." Online, you'll find numerous attempts, public polls, arguments, etc.

My personal feeling is that there is a great concept album lurking in the "White Album" begging to come out. It's fairly common knowledge that The Beatles originally planned to call the album A Doll's House after playwright Henrik Ibsen's play. However, when the group Family used the title Music from a Doll's House for its debut album, The Beatles' title was scrapped.

To me, A Doll's House conjures up the idea of childhood, and there are plenty of songs on the "White Album" that connect with childhood themes. With that in mind, I put together a single disc concept album that I think really works.

SIDE A

1. Glass Onion

2. Dear Prudence

3. Birthday

4. Savoy Truffle

5. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

6. Mother Nature's Son

7. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

SIDE B

1. Martha My Dear

2. Piggies

3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

4. Blackbird

5. Rocky Raccoon

6. Cry Baby Cry

7. Good Night

Kicking off Side A is "Glass Onion." It's the perfect song to link previous Beatles songs with what is to come and serves as an introduction to this album. "Dear Prudence," an invitation to come out and play, follows. Then the party starts with "Birthday" and everyone can indulge in sweets with "Savoy Truffle." Then there follows storytime and singalongs -- "...Bungalow Bill," "Mother Nature's Son" and "Ob-La-Di...."

The second side of the album begins with an "Animals Suite," which harks back to the album cover: "Martha My Dear" (about Paul's sheepdog), "Piggies," "...Me and My Monkey," "Blackbird" and "Rocky Raccoon." "Cry Baby Cry"—it's nap time, and you sing the lullaby "Good Night."

Not only do all of these songs fit in well thematically, but there is also a good balance of contributions: five vocals by John, six by Paul, two by George and one by Ringo.

All of these tracks are available on the "White Album." Slight trimming is needed on "Dear Prudence" at the beginning to remove the jet sounds that bleed in from "Back in the U.S.S.R."

Here's a YouTube playlist to listen to this "lost" concept album.