The White Album: Abridged.

Do you think Ob-La Di... or Yer Blues could actually hit #1 as singles? It would be hard to name any track off the White Album that would (maybe BITUSSR or WMGGW). I'd rather Paul and John save them for their solo albums, where they can do the least damage. Of course, all of this is perfectly well and good in hindsight...

Harrison's quality in contributions goes up and down over the course of all the post Help! albums. I'd cut Piggies and Savoy Truffle if I could get "Not Guilty" and While My Guitar Gently Weeps on any White Album. When he's good, he's good...when he's bad, he's singing about chocolates.

It is really hard to reedit track listings without knowing the songs very, very well and taking a lot of time to do it. It would probably also help to actually be a Beatle in 1968.

Obladi Oblada was released as a single in a few countries, and it did pretty well. The song was one of the more popular tracks off the album at the time apparently. It wasn't a single in Britain, but where it was, it did well. So, maybe not #1 but it'll be up there in the charts in my estimation. Yer Blues is obviously more questionable, but the three options are single, on the album, or an early Plastic Ono Band Release.
 

Thande

Donor
I only came across the claim recently that the White Album is padded and frankly I think the people making the claim are bonkers. Besides a couple of obvious novelty/experimental pieces like Wild Honey Pie and Revolution 9, it's pretty much pure gold all the way through as far as I'm concerned.
 

Thande

Donor
Obladi Oblada was released as a single in a few countries, and it did pretty well. The song was one of the more popular tracks off the album at the time apparently. It wasn't a single in Britain, but where it was, it did well.

Actually "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" was a number one single in the UK at the time--just not by the Beatles, it was covered by Marmalade.
 
I only came across the claim recently that the White Album is padded and frankly I think the people making the claim are bonkers. Besides a couple of obvious novelty/experimental pieces like Wild Honey Pie and Revolution 9, it's pretty much pure gold all the way through as far as I'm concerned.

I could see someone making an argument for the album being too long or even a little bit bloated. But this is all by Beatle-standards, which are different than any other musical standard out there. Compared to some of their tighter, shorter albums, the White Album does look like a drop in quality. But it's still a whole hell of a lot better than most other music.

The Beatles made the record they wanted to make, even though it came out a bit disjointed and was definitely an indication of things to come. I'm just glad they were able to make Abbey Road after the Get Back/Let It Be debacle...there has never been a better end to any artistic endeavor.
 
Hmm... Lennon did a movie around this time IIRC, called How I Won The War. Might that have some sort of influence on things if say he wants to release something to promote it?
 
I only came across the claim recently that the White Album is padded and frankly I think the people making the claim are bonkers. Besides a couple of obvious novelty/experimental pieces like Wild Honey Pie and Revolution 9, it's pretty much pure gold all the way through as far as I'm concerned.

I'd say it's a showcase, I think every group should attempt a double-album at some time in the career just to show the full extent of what they can do artistically. The Stones had Exile On Main Street, the Who had Quadrophenia and Tommy, the Kinks never got round to it due to their record companies but their albums Village Green Preservation Society, Lola vs Powerman and Preservation Act 1 and Act 2 were all going to be double-albums at some point, Bob Dylan then had Blonde on Blonde, etc, etc
 
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