White Album 50th anniversary editions

[a duncandisorderly]

Andy Partridge mentioned his disappointment with the lack of 'bite' on mellotron samples - that you could only get that 'spitting' sound by jabbing the keys on a real mellotron.

conversely, when mine was in the studio for 'denim on ice', lawrence was always complaining about the little quirks of the thing- the occasional snatching at the start of a note, & the 'zipping' sound of the rewinding tapes hitting the play heads whenever his keyboardist (not me) released the keys too slowly; it's a classic mistake that people make when playing the things- they think if they dab at the keys gently, it will affect the attack or the volume, & that letting the keys up slowly will make the notes fade out. no. you have to play it like a church organ. the notes are on or off, & the action is quite heavy-going for a synthist. anyway, I pointed out to lawrence that on his 'reference' album for the prog pastiches he was attempting ('the lamb lies down on broadway') we could clearly hear the same thing happening to tony banks. "you want people to know it's a real one, right?" I said. so the zip noises stayed in.

[Replies From View]

And did you also call him a knob?


I hope you also called him a knob.

[a duncandisorderly]

And did you also call him a knob?


I hope you also called him a knob.

who, lawrence? yes, many times.

here's one: while I was explaining to him about the mellotron noises on 'lamb..', he said something like 'you know a lot about genesis- how did they get that bass sound?'

no, really. he's doing a pastiche of prog rock, & he hasn't figured out the rickenbacker bass. now, since all this happened, I've looked into it myself & I know that rutherford used lots of instruments, including various custom built shergolds & so on, but the noise LH was referring to was unmistakeably an early 70s rickenbacker.

'have you got one?' he says, & then he & brian (whose studio we were in) start looking at the chart for this song where all of a sudden LH wants this bass sound. discovering that the 24 tracks are now all occupied, lawrence decides he must wipe one of the earlier attempts at a bass part. to my horror, it's been recorded by norman watt roy... & lawrence wants to wipe it.

"no fucking way" is what I think, but instead I just say "no" & change the subject.

I'm actually credited with synth on that album- it was my mellotron, but I wasn't allowed to play the part for some obscure reason- I think the actual keyboardist was on the books as co-writer or something. it wasn't tim dorney, who I know (flowered up, republica)... someone called pete.  but I'd also dragged a little moog down there to make some wibbly noises. I was practising these over the track to give him some idea of what it could do, but they taped the arsing about & that was that.

"fuck me, you cheeky sod!" is what I think, but instead I just shrug.

couple of days later they ring me at home-

"this rickenbacker of yours..."

"it's in the shop", I say. "sorry."

three months later he rang me at home, in person, to check the spelling of my name. I don't actually see the album until I buy my own copy from ebay, & see my name on its own line, last, after everyone else's. I have mixed feelings about it.

[wosl]

I have mixed feelings about it.

You're not alone.

[Replies From View]

Lawrence actually sounds worse than a knob, if anything.

[Ferris]

I have a rickenbacker & a fender VI, & I know which one sounds like that.... it's lennon.

God I'd love a Fender VI. That's all the input I have for now, until I get a copy of this to listen to.

[biggytitbo]

Although thank fuck it never happened, what would the best single album version of The Beatles be if George Martin had got his way?

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Wild Honey Pie
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
I'm So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Don't Pass Me By
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
I Will
Julia
Birthday
Yer Blues
Mother Nature's Son
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Revolution 1
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution 9
Good Night


Such an exercise just underlines why it can't be a single album, how can you have the white album without Piggies or Why dont we do it in the road or cry baby cry etc?

[mrpupkin]

Funnily enough I was trying that today and ended up with this pile of shit

Ussr
prudence
Guitar
Happiness
Martha
Im so tired
Blackbird
Rocky racoon
I will
yer blues
Mother natures
Helter skelter
Long
rev 1

probably still too long for a single vinyl

[Satchmo Distel]

A double album was needed because they brought so many songs back from India and were still adding others. It was their creative peak as writers, even if the quality control dropped, and there's good musicianship on all the tracks except Revolution 9, which is more of a statement about refusing to recognize boundaries between music and other forms of aural art.

[biggytitbo]

Funnily enough I was trying that today and ended up with this pile of shit

Ussr
prudence
Guitar
Happiness
Martha
Im so tired
Blackbird
Rocky racoon
I will
yer blues
Mother natures
Helter skelter
Long
rev 1

probably still too long for a single vinyl

I'd only have rev1 if it was the fast one, but I guess thats cheating. Also don't think you can have the White album without rev9 whether you hate it or not.

[wosl]

I wouldn't be as proscriptive as Biggy (I've been happily listening to a Piggies-free White Album for donkey's).  Treating it like an unimpeachable totality is to do it a disservice in a way. While its sequencing is rightly considered a marvel of balance and juxtaposition, it remains a grab-barrel that's practically begging you to swap things around, cut things out, and construct your own single disc version of the album, according to how you feel at the time (Richard Hamilton's poster collage can act as a spur and a guide of sorts).  Here's today's, in vinyl layout:

Side 1
Birthday
I'm So Tired
Savoy Truffle
Blackbird
Everybody's Got Something To Hide
While My Guitar
Cry Baby Cry
Helter Skelter

Side 2
Why Don't We Do It
Long, Long, Long
Julia
Glass Onion
Martha My Dear
Sexy Sadie
Mother Nature's Son
Revolution 9
I Will

[SteveDave]

I listened to all the songs on that boxset today. Now to delete them and never listen to any of them ever again. Saved myself a fortune.

In answer to the question of a one disc White Album:

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
I'm So Tired
Birthday (sung by Ringo)
Yer Blues
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Revolution 1/9

[the science eel]

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
Blackbird

Birthday
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Long, Long, Long
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution 9
Good Night

[wosl]

One or two hard-nosed omissions, there.  I like it!

[daf]

Let's try this as a way to whittle it down :

Standalone single (45rpm) :
A : Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
B : The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill

"Food" 7" EP  (33rpm) :
A : Glass Onion / Wild Honey Pie
B : Honey Pie / Savoy Truffle

"Nature" 7" EP  (33rpm) :
A : Blackbird / Piggies / Mother Nature's Son
B : Rocky Raccoon / Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

"Heavy" 7" EP  (33rpm) :
A : Birthday / Yer Blues
B : Why Don't We Do It In The Road? / Helter Skelter

- - - - - - -
Leaving :

Side 1 (27:11)
Back In The USSR (2:43)
Dear Prudence (3:55)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (4:45)
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (2:45)
Martha My Dear (2:28)
I'm So Tired (2:03)
Don't Pass Me By (3:50)
I Will (1:46)
Julia (2:56)

Side 2 (25:15)
Revolution 1 (4:16)
Sexy Sadie (3:15)
Long, Long, Long (3:06)
Cry Baby Cry (3:02)
Revolution 9 (8:21)
Good Night (3:15)

- - - - - - -

Capitol then re-package the 3 EP's and single as an album for the US market in July 1969 - when the Glyn Johns Get Back LP is rejected - (this widely imported compilation is finally released as an official LP in the UK in 1976) :

Side 1 (20:57)
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (2:25)
Piggies (2:04)
Rocky Raccoon (3:33)
Birthday (2:42)
Yer Blues (4:01)
Why Don't We Do It In The Road? (1:42)
Helter Skelter (4:30)

Side 2 (20:45)
Glass Onion (2:18)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (3:09)
Wild Honey Pie (0:53)
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (3:14)
Blackbird (2:18)
Honey Pie (2:41)
Savoy Truffle (2:54)
Mother Nature's Son (2:48)

[kalowski]

I just keep dipping in from time to time. I'm trying to savour it all.

[kalowski]

Page by page flip through the book

Can't watch this. It's like some freaky alternate universe version of the unboxing clips my daughter watches.

[daf]

Can't watch this. It's like some freaky alternate universe version of the unboxing clips my daughter watches.

Hah, god I am SO addicted to them - I have no friends, so I'm curating my imaginary social life with bespoke video nerds!

ENVY ME PEOPLE, ENVY ME!

[a duncandisorderly]

Although thank fuck it never happened, what would the best single album version of The Beatles be if George Martin had got his way?

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Wild Honey Pie
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
I'm So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Don't Pass Me By
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
I Will
Julia
Birthday
Yer Blues
Mother Nature's Son
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Not Guilty
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Revolution 1
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution 9
Good Night

that's better.

[DrGreggles]

Getting it down to a single album is hard work.
Had to murder some darlings just to get to 16 tracks:

Back In The USSR
Dear Prudence
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
I'm So Tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
Birthday
Mother Nature's Son
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Revolution 1
Good Night

Tried to maintain the usual Beatles album rules; even split between John and Paul, a couple of George's, and Ringo sings one.

[Replies From View]

I listened to all the songs on that boxset today. Now to delete them and never listen to any of them ever again. Saved myself a fortune.

Could you please shed some light on how I could do the same?

[Crabwalk]

-1 karma for everyone taking 'Julia' off the White Album.

I don't care if it's theoretical, you are committing a crime.

[kalowski]

-1 karma for everyone taking 'Julia' off the White Album.

I don't care if it's theoretical, you are committing a crime.

-2 for Dr Greggles, who also kept Piggies on the thing.

[DrGreggles]

-2 for Dr Greggles, who also kept Piggies on the thing.

It's the 2nd best Harrisong on there!

[greenman]

Honestly though I think the album is at most 1/4 more immediate material(While My Guitar Gently Weep, Dear Prudence, Helter Skelter, etc) so really needs the sprawling nature of it to work, very different to say London Calling were you could come up with a single disks worth of material with that kind of appeal.

[SpiderChrist]

Could you please shed some light on how I could do the same?

Messaged you

[mrpupkin]

don't think you can have the White album without rev9 whether you hate it or not.

I don't hate it but its taking up 8 minutes of prime real estate, if I'm whittling down to a single disc its getting whittled to fuck

[Satchmo Distel]

The album works better in the digital age where you can make your own version. Must have been murder when you had to mentally switch off through Piggies, etc.

Revolver is a better album because there are no duds if you allow for the obligatory Ringo indulgence. In addition, there is nothing as good as For No One or Tomorrow Never Knows on there.

You could split it into a John album and a Paul plus George album acknowledging the others as backing musicians. This is how Lennon viewed it later. There are no collaborative tracks although Esher actually feels more like a proper band.

The John album would kick off with the fast Revolution and end with Revolution 9. The slow Revolution kicks off Side 2. Paul/George starts with USSR and ends with Long Long Long. Hey Jude kicks off Side 2.

[ajsmith2]

My single album is the same 30 tracks just crammed in 15 per side in awful K-Tel comp audio quality.

Also, Piggies is great. That's their best 'bridge' section ever imo.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

anybodyy who leaves 'Cry Baby Cry' off of their single album is committing crimes