The White Album, Redux

[Queersetti]

I saw this discussed elsewhere, and thought I'd put it here and see how it goes.

Imagine that you work for EMI in 1968 and you are tasked with trimming The Beatles "White Album" down to a single disk. What would you keep, what would you trim?

Keep in mind, with the technology of the time, you can not put more than 20-22 minutes of music on a side of an album.

Also, you had better balance between the members of the band, and not piss anyone off, by, for example, putting out an album of all John's songs, or all of Paul's or leaving all George's songs off.


And, just for shits and giggles, let's give you an additional option of using, in addition to the songs that were released on the original album, two that were left off. "Hey Jude", which clocks in at 7:11 and the single version of "Revolution" which is 3:21.

The existing track listing:

Side One
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Back in the U.S.S.R." McCartney 2:43
2. "Dear Prudence" Lennon 3:56
3. "Glass Onion" Lennon 2:17
4. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" McCartney 3:08
5. "Wild Honey Pie" McCartney 0:52
6. "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" Lennon 3:14
7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) Harrison 4:45
8. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Lennon 2:43
Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
9. "Martha My Dear" McCartney 2:28
10. "I'm So Tired" Lennon 2:03
11. "Blackbird" McCartney 2:18
12. "Piggies" (Harrison) Harrison 2:04
13. "Rocky Raccoon" McCartney 3:33
14. "Don't Pass Me By" (Richard Starkey) Starr 3:51
15. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" McCartney 1:41
16. "I Will" McCartney 1:46
17. "Julia" Lennon 2:54
Side three
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Birthday" McCartney and Lennon 2:42
2. "Yer Blues" Lennon 4:01
3. "Mother Nature's Son" McCartney 2:48
4. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" Lennon 2:24
5. "Sexy Sadie" Lennon 3:15
6. "Helter Skelter" McCartney 4:29
7. "Long, Long, Long" (Harrison) Harrison 3:04
Side four
No. Title Lead vocals Length
8. "Revolution 1" Lennon 4:15
9. "Honey Pie" McCartney 2:41
10. "Savoy Truffle" (Harrison) Harrison 2:54
11. "Cry Baby Cry" Lennon, with McCartney 3:02
12. "Revolution 9" Speaking from Lennon, Harrison, George Martin and Yoko Ono 8:22
13. "Good Night" Starr 3:13

 

[Saint Peter]

Trim the whole fucking thing and get some fresh tunes.

 

[Queersetti]

Trim the whole fucking thing and get some fresh tunes.

All that gets you is Let It Be.

 

[Amberchgo]

Buy he rights to #9 then burn the tapes never allowing it to be heard again.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Keep in mind, with the technology of the time, you can not put more than 20 minutes of music on a side of an album.

Actually, the standard format is 22½ minutes, but can be 25, 30, or more.

 

[Queersetti]

Actually, the standard format is 22½ minutes, but can be 25, 30, or more.

You can, but you wouldn't. You would get serious sound degradation at those lengths.

 

[LiFeNdEaTh]

the beatles and Manson = great combo/duo

 

[Saint Peter]

You can, but you wouldn't. You would get serious sound degradation at those lengths.

Not if the band plays the songs really fast.

 

[phrodeau]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjfQSxcq0c

 

[Byron In Exile]

You can, but you wouldn't. You would get serious sound degradation at those lengths.

Not much at 25 or 27. (Genesis' Duke was over 27 per side.)

Of course, the more time per side, the lower the gain has to be to avoid bleed between the grooves, so the signal-to-noise ratio is progressively lower. Between 35 and 39 minutes per side is better suited to voice recordings.

A White Album with 25 minutes per side would be perfectly acceptable.

 

[Queersetti]

the beatles and Manson = great combo/duo

So you wouldn't cut Piggies or Helter Skelter.

 

[Sean]

Side One
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Back in the U.S.S.R." McCartney 2:43
2. "Dear Prudence" Lennon 3:56

7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) Harrison 4:45
8. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Lennon 2:43

15. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" McCartney 1:41
16. "I Will" McCartney 1:46

6. "Helter Skelter" McCartney 4:29

Those are the must haves. The others I'd have to think about.

 

[Queersetti]

Not much at 25 or 27. (Genesis' Duke was over 27 per side.)

Of course, the more time per side, the lower the gain has to be to avoid bleed between the grooves, so the signal-to-noise ratio is progressively lower. Between 35 and 39 minutes per side is better suited to voice recordings.

A White Album with 25 minutes per side would be perfectly acceptable.

By the time Duke came out in 1979, they were squeezing on more music, true. I don't recall exactly what the deal was, but didn't it have something to do with the disks being made somewhat more flexible?

Anyway, it's a quibble. George Martin would never have allowed that much time to be put on a disk, but he signed off on the double album, so for the sake of this discussion, fuck him.

 

[pointless]

Those are the must haves. The others I'd have to think about.

you forgot yer blues and i'm so tired.

and revolution. yeah, it's the cheesy version, but fuck it. it stays.

 

[RobDownSouth]

Play the Hits!

Side One
1. "Back in the U.S.S.R." McCartney 2:43
2. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" McCartney 3:08
3. "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" Lennon 3:14
4. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) Harrison 4:45
5. "Blackbird" McCartney 2:18
6. "Birthday" McCartney and Lennon 2:42
Side 2
1. "Yer Blues" Lennon 4:01
2. "Sexy Sadie" Lennon 3:15
3. "Helter Skelter" McCartney 4:29
4. "Revolution 1" Lennon 4:15
5. "Savoy Truffle" (Harrison) Harrison 2:54
6. "Good Night" Starr 3:13

 

[pointless]

troglodyte.

 

[phrodeau]

Revolution had a single release, so both of those can go. George only had one worthy song on the album, and "Good Night" was written by John.

Side One
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Back in the U.S.S.R." McCartney 2:43
2. "Dear Prudence" Lennon 3:56
4. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" McCartney 3:08
17. "Julia" Lennon 2:54
1. "Birthday" McCartney and Lennon 2:42
11. "Blackbird" McCartney 2:18
14. "Don't Pass Me By" (Richard Starkey) Starr 3:51

total 21:32

Side two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) Harrison 4:45
9. "Martha My Dear" McCartney 2:28
5. "Sexy Sadie" Lennon 3:15
6. "Helter Skelter" McCartney 4:29
11. "Cry Baby Cry" Lennon, with McCartney 3:02
13. "Good Night" Starr 3:13

total 21:12

 

[RobDownSouth]

troglodyte.

That was the Jimmy Castor Bunch. I can see how YOU would confuse that for a Beatles song.

 

[Beco]

Best I could do.....

Side One

1. "Back in the U.S.S.R." McCartney 2:43
2. "Dear Prudence" Lennon 3:56
3. "Glass Onion" Lennon 2:17
4. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" McCartney 3:08
7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) Harrison 4:45
8. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Lennon 2:43
Side two

9. "Martha My Dear" McCartney 2:28
10. "I'm So Tired" Lennon 2:03
11. "Blackbird" McCartney 2:18
12. "Piggies" (Harrison) Harrison 2:04
17. "Julia" Lennon 2:54
Side three

2. "Yer Blues" Lennon 4:01
3. "Mother Nature's Son" McCartney 2:48
4. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" Lennon 2:24
5. "Sexy Sadie" Lennon 3:15
6. "Helter Skelter" McCartney 4:29

Side four

10. "Savoy Truffle" (Harrison) Harrison 2:54

 

[Lorilei]

I.....I.....no. I can't do it. I can't.

 

[RobDownSouth]

I.....I.....no. I can't do it. I can't.

I get that a lot. S'okay though. I still like ya. Some women simply have sensitive gag reflexes....

 

[Byron In Exile]

By the time Duke came out in 1979, they were squeezing on more music, true. I don't recall exactly what the deal was, but didn't it have something to do with the disks being made somewhat more flexible?

Columbia Records introduced extended-play LPs (26 minutes per side) in 1952.

 

[Queersetti]

Columbia Records introduced extended-play LPs (26 minutes per side) in 1952.

Abbey Road was the longest running Beatles album, at 47:23, for what it's worth.

 

[Queersetti]

Here's a plan.

First, my version of the White Album.

Side One

Revolution ( the single version)
Back In the USSR
Dear Prudence
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Julia
Blackbird

Side Two
Birthday
Yer Blues
Savoy Truffle
Helter Skelter
Hey Jude

That still leaves a lot of good material in the can. Fine, because let's face it. let It Be sucked. So I'd take the best of those sessions, send everyone home for a while, and use the best of the unused tracks from the White Album to put together the next album.

Side One

Get Back
I Me Mine
Glass Onion
I Will
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Across The Universe

Side Two
Let It Be
Don't Let Me Down
Why Don't We Do It In The Road
Two of Us
Sexy Sadie
The Long And Winding Road

It's a better plan than hiring Phil Spector, isn't it?

 

[Adre]

Rocky Raccoon must be included.