Best Ever Albums

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Mdemauri — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:27:08 GMT

Author: Mdemauri

Posted: 06/24/2014 19:27

meccalecca wrote:

People are always trying to trash my favorite songs from double albums to make them conventional albums. I like my double albums to be sprawling messes with more ideas than they can handle.

Amen!

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Skinny — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:18:51 GMT

Author: Skinny

Posted: 06/24/2014 19:18

meccalecca wrote:

People are always trying to trash my favorite songs from double albums to make them conventional albums. I like my double albums to be sprawling messes with more ideas than they can handle.

Shout out to Wowee Zowee.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:18:40 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/24/2014 19:18

meccalecca wrote:

People are always trying to trash my favorite songs from double albums to make them conventional albums. I like my double albums to be sprawling messes with more ideas than they can handle.

So much this. The album is an absolute clusterfuck of ideas, and that's what makes it so great. It's by far my favorite Beatles album for a reason.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

meccalecca — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:16:04 GMT

Author: meccalecca

Posted: 06/24/2014 19:16

People are always trying to trash my favorite songs from double albums to make them conventional albums. I like my double albums to be sprawling messes with more ideas than they can handle.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

CA Dreamin — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 15:07:36 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 06/24/2014 19:07

It should of been a single LP, way too much filler as it is. This is how it could have been as good as some of their others:

1. Back in the USSR
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
6. Happiness is a Warm Gun
7. Blackbird
8. I Will
9. Birthday
10. Yer Blues
11. Sexy Sadie
12. Helter Skelter

Had this been the album...holy shit.

The White Album as a single LP?

patip1 — Fri, 30 May 2014 15:40:23 GMT

Author: patip1

Posted: 05/30/2014 19:40

Typical Internet fare and something I’ve thought about. Following the ‘2 by George and 1 Ringo vocal’ formula here goes:
SIDE ONE
1. Helter Skelter (4.29) 2. Dear Prudence (3.56) 3. Piggies (2.04) 4. Birthday (2.42)
5. I Will (1.46) 6. Blackbird [inc. ‘can you take me back…’] (3.18) 7. Julia (2.54)
SIDE TWO
1. Revolution 1 (4.15) 2. Yer Blues (4.01) 3. Mother Nature’s Son (2.48) 4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (4.45) 5. Cry Baby Cry (2.34) 6. I’m So Tired (2.03) 7. Good Night (3.11)

I’m tried to maintain visceral content at the expense of diversity of musical styles in an attempt to preserve the mantra of a good Rock’N’Roll Album. As always what to leave out makes this exercise difficult but not beyond reach.
😄

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

soundguardian — Fri, 30 May 2014 15:26:18 GMT

Author: soundguardian

Posted: 05/30/2014 19:26

I once had to reorder this for an assignment, tbh. I'll show you my result and then my methodology of combination-selection and of choosing my final permutation...

********************************* RESULT *********************************

Final order of the two-sided LP:
_____Side 1
________1. “Happiness is a Warm Gun”
________2. “Dear Prudence”
________3. “Cry Baby Cry”
________4. “Martha My Dear”
________5. “Julia”
________6. “Mother Nature’s Son”
________7. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
_____Side 2
________8. “Blackbird”
________9. “I’m So Tired”
________10. “Sexy Sadie”
________11. “Yer Blues”
________12. “Back in the U.S.S.R.
________13. “Revolution”
________14. “Helter Skelter”

********************************* METHODOLOGY *********************************

The album traverses two or three decade’s worth of genres, from traditional ones like blues and country, rockabilly, jazz, and foxtrot-able tracks to emerging genres like Beach Boys surf and hard rock. With such diversity, it’s hard not to enjoy quite a few of these tracks to make up for the ones that are not particularly involved, interesting, or effective. An elimination process seemed like the quickest means by which to determine which tracks should be represented.

ELIMINATED TRACKS
S1 T4: “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” – Too poppy with too many wasted syllables and not enough substance.
S1 T5: “Wild Honey Pie” – It's short, annoying, and no one likes it.
S1 T6: “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” – The piece is simply too reiterative, with the same line “hey, Bungalow Bill, what did you kill” repeated far too many times to grasp and maintain a listener's attention.
S1 T14: “Don't Pass Me By” – Ringo's atrocious attempt to song writing that results in hideous country chaos and the immortal line “I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair. You were in a car crash and you lost your hair”. Ummm... yeah, so there's that.
S1 T15: “Why Don't We Do It in the Road?” – The lyrics are very uninspired (with exception to monkeys copulating in an Indian road), and the song is thus limited in scope and depth.
S2 T9: “Honey Pie” – It sounds dated, while many many Beatles songs sound timeless. It's clearly a weaker song on this record. It's sometimes less sophisticated and classy (with that attempt at a smooth foxtrot sound), and more boring than anything.
S2 T12: “Revolution 9” – Far too drawn out, way too long, and fails to justify that length. It's disorganized, and clearly had far less planned structure than the musique concrete that so obviously influenced it.
S2 T13: “Good Night” – A rather weak attempt to resolve such a large album, one would expect something drastic, dramatic, or blissful. “A Day in the Life” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” were revolutionary, whereas this is just mildly pretty. The sound and feeling doesn't in particular match the moods of the other pieces that precede it, and the album isn't a concept album like Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, so it's all the less impactful. We'll choose one of the best of my selected tracks that seems appropriate to end a late-Beatles album, one that's revolutionary like those other two closers.

ORIGINALLY UNCERTAIN (later eliminated by default via the process of selection, but all decent tracks)
S1 T3: “Glass Onion”
S1 T9: “Martha My Dear”
S1 T12: “Piggies”
S1 T13: “Rocky Raccoon”
S1 T16: “I Will”
S2 T1: “Birthday”
S2 T4: “Everyone’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” – Not exactly compulsory, and more of a trinket piece, “Everyone’s…” isn’t a terrible piece at all.
S2 T7: “Long Long Long” – It’s too slow-paced, and overall mediocre, but by no means terrible.
S2 T10: “Savory Truffle” - uhhh... it's about a box of chocolates... don't get me wrong, chocolate is delicious, but still.

SELECTED TRACKS
S1 T1: “Back in the U.S.S.R” – Fast-paced, exciting rocker with cool jet sounds in the background, and, more importantly, a hilarious satire of The Beach Boys.
S1 T2: “Dear Prudence” – A relaxed, innocent piece praising the gorgeous state of nature, and encouraging Prudence Farrow to break from her meditation and enjoy the riches that life has to offer. The most striking of the lyrics is “the sun is up, the sky is blue; it's beautiful, and so are you”.
S1 T7: “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”** – The piece is visionary and beautifully dolorous. You can feel Eric Clapton expressively wailing on his guitar throughout and equate that with a Harrison's lament for society's decadence. The worst part is that Harrison sees so much potential in mankind's capability to love, but sees this potential go to waste.
S1 T8: “Happiness is a Warm Gun”** – Lennon's song meaning is open to multiple interpretations. He devised it via composing three disparate parts, and seamlessly cascading those sections together. The result was a great in Beatles history and catalog. Outrageously, it was banned by censors for its sexual– or drug– related references.
S1 T10: “I'm So Tired” – This piece is very relate-able, as everyone has experienced feelings of weariness and distraught due to excess stress, work, or various of life's downs.
S1 T11: “Blackbird”** – There's a definite tone of serenity and peace in this track that none of the other songs on The White Album attain. It's essential to the album and can't be left out. Real bird samples inserted into the mix make it all the more perfect.
S1 T17: “Julia” – A beautiful tribute to Lennon’s mother.
S2 T2: “Yer Blues” – Straight-up heart-wrenching blues that can't be left off this line-up. With brilliant lyrics like “My father was of the sky; my mother was of the Earth / But I am of the universe, and you know what it's worth”, this piece is a satisfying update to the blues genre.
S2 T3: “Mother Nature's Son” – This acoustic number stands out as a notable contribution by the Beatles to the folk-inspired music of the 60’s.
S2 T5: “Sexy Sadie” – Originally an indictment of the Maharishi by Lennon when he was disillusioned by Maharishi's sexual advances on a woman, this has somehow turned out to be more of an admonishment of manipulative women.
S2 T6: “Helter Skelter”** – Undeniably the first of its kind, this unique gem is often considered the first “hard rock” song with wide release on an LP. McCartney really lets loose on this one, and the crashing cymbals by Starr help the lead guitar soar. It's strange that all the Beatles seem to have rotated roles, with McCartney leading guitar and vocals in an edgy song, Lennon taking on bass responsibilities, and Harrison providing rhythm guitar. After the initial fade out, it unexpectedly creeps back in, and ends with the well known “I got blisters on my fingers” line.
S2 T8: “Revolution” – It's almost obligatory, and a top-class piece (with a spectacular opening riff) concerning ideals of world change that can't necessarily come to fruition by the means of revolution or force. I suggest the faster single version as opposed to the album version, as it has more of a sense of urgency, and more of a rocking drive.
S2 T11: “Cry Baby Cry” – The folk sound at the end of the track has a lot of soul. It's just a pretty piece in general, throughout.

The tracks marked with ** will be the 4 enveloping tracks to the two sides, as they're the 4 strongest cuts. And the structure will be laid out like the following:

Side 1
1. “Happiness is a Warm Gun”
X
X
X
X
X
7. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Side 2
8. “Blackbird”
X
X
X
X
X
14. “Helter Skelter”

The final track, “Helter Skelter”, is selected as the closing track because it is most likely the most innovative or genre-fostering and influential piece of the 30 tracks, and builds to very monu-mental moments, like in “A Day in the Life”, “Tomorrow Never Knows”, and “I Am the Walrus”. It even refuses to end at the original fadeout, fading back in and breaking the customary trend of ending at the fade out, which is completely unexpected. It only seems appropriate to end on such an epic note of powerful music, and that legendary Ringo Starr outburst: “I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!” The other three are brilliant pieces, and I’ve always considered “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Blackbird” to be the most incredible pieces on the album (bar “Helter Skelter) (but would not be ap-propriate openers). Cascading one into the next would be a perfect transition. The way this is ar-ranged is interesting in that “Blackbird” is on one end of the spectrum (one of the most chill pieces that the Beatles have ever composed) and “Helter Skelter” is on the other end of the spectrum as the heaviest piece composed and executed by the Beatles (and perhaps anyone at that point in time).

The final step is to organize the last 10 tracks into the remaining places. Exploiting the afore-mentioned fact, the first side is relatively understated, with tracks like “Martha My Dear”, “Julia”, “Dear Prudence”, and “Mother Nature’s Son”. The second side begins subdued with the nocturne “Blackbird” and increasingly becomes harder to a climactic fit that is “Helter Skelter”. This sequence provides the listener a whirlwind tour of the diversity of genres inherent to the sounds in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. It was difficult to choose between “Martha My Dear”, “I Will”, and “Rocky Raccoon”.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Listmeister — Fri, 30 May 2014 10:51:21 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 05/30/2014 14:51

I'll have a go.

The Beatles : Revolver II

1. Birthday
2. Helter Skelter
3. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
4. I'm So Tired
5. Piggies
6. Rocky Raccoon
7. Don't Pass Me By

1. Revolution [single version]
2. Back in the USSR
3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
4. Honey Pie
5. Revolution #9
6. Lady Madonna

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2014 04:50:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/29/2014 08:50

newbands1 wrote:

You can find them on Anthology 3 and here..

Thanks!

EDIT: This is great stuff!! They never cease to blow my mind.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

newbands1 — Thu, 29 May 2014 04:26:57 GMT

Author: newbands1

Posted: 05/29/2014 08:26

You can find them on Anthology 3 and here..

Link

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2014 04:21:45 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/29/2014 08:21

TracyJacks wrote:

Not Guilty was recorded more than hundred times during the White Album sessions before Harrison decided it's not good enough to be on the album. It's a more energetic version than the re-recorded version he released on his self-titled solo album a decade later.

What's The New Mary Jane is great, I love the track. But some of the non-single songs are not good enough comparing to other songs which are on the album.

Sounds interesting. Where's a good place to check out these White Album castoffs?

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

TracyJacks — Thu, 29 May 2014 03:56:28 GMT

Author: TracyJacks

Posted: 05/29/2014 07:56

newbands1 wrote:

If they had decided to make a triple album.

9. Not Guilty

13. What's The New Mary Jane

These are actual Beatles songs recorded in various sessions during 1968.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

newbands1 — Wed, 28 May 2014 23:07:10 GMT

Author: newbands1

Posted: 05/29/2014 03:07

If they had decided to make a triple album.

1. Hey Bulldog
2. Lady Madonna
3. Sour Milk Sea
4. The Inner Light
5. Revolution (Single ver.)
6. Child of Nature
7. Circles
8. Junk
9. Not Guilty
10. Across The Universe (Wild Life)
11. Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias
12. Heather
13. What's The New Mary Jane
14. Hey Jude
15. Spiritual Regeneration
16. Spiritual Christmas

These are actual Beatles songs recorded in various sessions during 1968.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Wed, 28 May 2014 23:00:34 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 05/29/2014 03:00

newbands1 wrote:

For me no.It's part of the "eclectic double album concept"I have no doubts cutting down the album and selecting the best tracks would make for a more immediate and enjoyable listening experience.But that would apply also to any album above 45 minutes.(London Calling,69 Love Songs,etc.)

I disagree on London Calling. It's the one double album that I think absolutely nails it from start to finish, perfectly.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

newbands1 — Wed, 28 May 2014 22:16:59 GMT

Author: newbands1

Posted: 05/29/2014 02:16

For me no.It's part of the "eclectic double album concept"I have no doubts cutting down the album and selecting the best tracks would make for a more immediate and enjoyable listening experience.But that would apply also to any album above 45 minutes.(London Calling,69 Love Songs,etc.)

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

pranafilms — Wed, 28 May 2014 19:45:15 GMT

Author: pranafilms

Posted: 05/28/2014 23:45

I love experimenting with The White Album. While I do love the album as a whole, I does have it share of filler, be it entertaining filler. I have done many versions of single disc White Album, including many different versions off of Anthology 3. This is my current version.

Side 1
1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion [Anthology]
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps [Anthology]
5. Blackbird
6. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
7. Don't Pass Me By [Anthology]
8. Not Guilty

Side 2
9. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey
10. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da [Anthology]
11. Sexy Sadie [Anthology]
12. Long, Long, Long
13. Helter Skelter [Anthology]
14. Cry Baby Cry [Anthology]
15. Good Night

I wish I could have Yer Blues or Julia on here, but I think this works well. I mad another version without Glass Onion and with the original While My Guitar... and Side 2 started with Yer Blues, the Anthology Ob-La-Di, EGSTHEFMAMM, the original Sexy Sadie, Long, Long, Long, the original Helter Skelter and Good Night with the Can You Take Me Back excerpt from Cry Baby Cry ending the album.

Which version is better? Would any of you put Anthology cuts or any bootleg version on your version?

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 May 2014 16:35:36 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/28/2014 20:35

SACRILEGE!!! 🤬 🤬 🤬

I'm only sorta kidding.

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

TracyJacks — Wed, 28 May 2014 16:26:36 GMT

Author: TracyJacks

Posted: 05/28/2014 20:26

I like your idea and your choices even if I love the White Album as it is, a double album.
I still think Helter Skelter and Long, long, long are not really good next to each other. I always turn up the volume after Helter Skelter because Long, long, long starts off too quietly (or should I say the first half of the song is quiet compared to the loudest ever Beatles song)

If I made a list of single album I would add Savoy Truffle, or Piggies, too. I love all the Harrison songs on this album. I would also add Glass Onion as it is one of the best songs on the album imo.
I also love Cry Baby Cry. Even Revolution 9 has its charm!

Funny is that the first version of the White Album I got is a Hungarian 1993 released album called "The White Album - A Selection", and it is a single album. Later I got an another tape including the original double album.

So my first White Album tape has this songs in order:

A-side

1. Back in the USSR
2. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
3. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
4. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
5. I'm So Tired
6. Blackbird
7. I Will
8. Piggies

B-side

1. Birthday
2. Mother Nature's Son
3. Sexy Sadie
4. Revolution 1
5. Hone Pie
6. Cry Baby Cry
7. Good Night

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

AgainstMeAgainstYou — Wed, 28 May 2014 16:03:59 GMT

Author: AgainstMeAgainstYou

Posted: 05/28/2014 20:03

Mdemauri wrote:

They also included a song that Ringo sang lead on as well. You'd have to include Don't Pass Me By or Good Night. But there are so many other songs that I like that are missing.

I might be in the camp that says it's fine as a double album. 😲

I like your thinking though and making the running order and length fit a proper album.

My issue with Don't Pass Me By is more a cohesiveness issue (I'm not a fan of Good Night, or any of Side D for that matter; I think Long, Long, Long is amazing and should've closed). I like the song but it didn't fit well between Blackbird/Julia like WDWDIITR does. Same goes for Glass Onion, which is one of the best songs on the entire album. Also, the running time would've been an issue with either song included. My stipulation was that each side could not be longer than the longest side on the original (Side D, which is 24:27 if I recall correctly).

Re: The White Album as a single LP?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 May 2014 15:58:02 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 05/28/2014 19:58

The problem I have with abridging the White Album is that it loses some of the very eclectic "meh" attitude that went into arranging the tracks that made it great. That said, this is a pretty decent track list. I'd honestly recommend adding something from Side D though. Savoy Truffle perhaps?