What would a single-LP White Album include?

It's difficult to see how the Beatles could have recorded a single album after India. Yes, that's what George Martin wanted. But in a year when you'd be hard pressed to find a point of agreement between them creatively, the one thing the Beatles did agree on was that their next release should be a double album. I think that when people lament the length of the White Album, they might be seeing a different problem. The White album disunity reflects the period in which it was recorded. The Beatles were in the midst of horrible tension, there was little sense of band unity, and so the White Album reflects that.

All of this is to say is that if the Beatles were in a cohesive band mood while Lennon is still invested-you could end up with an album that while still being a two album collection-is more cohesive than the albums we have-even better than Abbey Road.

The problem is, after Epstein dies, the tension of 1968 may be unavoidable.

Sure, you could do things to change it-keeping Lennon off heroin would be a big one.

So long as that tension is there the Beatles 1968 release will not sound like the work of a unified band in the sense of their earlier output, because it wouldn't be.

For the Beatles to release a single LP after India you might need them to be at the point of a split sometime during the sessions, to the point where they have the attitude of "This is our last album, let's make sure it's as good as possible and hey-we can just rerecord the rest as solo artists anyway." Or some other prompt.
 
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For the Beatles to release a single LP after India you might need them to be at the point of a split sometime during the sessions, to the point where they have the attitude of "This is our last album, let's make sure it's as good as possible and hey-we can just rerecord the rest as solo artists anyway." Or some other prompt.

Actually that's not a bad idea for a timeline.

It would be interesting not just to speculate on a tracklist for that single-disc 1968 Beatles album, but also the 1969 solo albums that follow in it's wake.
 
The traditional narrative has that Paul didn't shout louder than John in 66-67, it's that John went silent and Paul stepped up.

Yep, the challenge is to give John something that revives his interest in The Beatles. If that changes by late 1967, it's a whole different scenario for 1968.
 
What I was thinking is that if The Beatles had given the leadership to John for the late 1967 project (Whether it's Magical Mystery Tour, or an album), it MIGHT have eased some of the feeling that Paul was constantly pushing his pet projects - especially given that the Sgt Pepper 'concept' was his too.

I have no idea what a Lennon-led project in 1967 would have looked or sounded like, though.. and I think this is kinda creeping off-topic anyway.

If Lennon had been in the driver's seat in late 1967 I think there's a good chance the band would have headed off to India rather than recording another album. The Beatles could probably get away with not releasing another album in 1967 with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band being as huge as it was. If Lennon and Harrison had had their way in September-that may be what the band would have done in September 1967-or at least Lennon and Harrison. The question would then be would an earlier trip have the same effect as the one that happened. According to a lot of accounts the Beatles lost their band unity after India and didn't regain a semblance of it until Abbey Road-and even that had a lot to do with Lennon's relative lack of participation on everyone else's songs. That's the big mystery-why did that happen? What it something inherent in an Indian experience, or was something else going on?

If the Beatles head off to India in September 1967-would the same dynamic emerge when they return? If not then I could see the next album being more Lennon led than Sgt. Pepper. I think that the India experience is pretty much the only thing that returned Lennon to the level of productivity he had been at until the end of 1965. Indeed, in total there are more Lennon than McCartney songs on the White Album when you take both albums into account. I think that suggests that if he had headed off to India earlier, he would have been prolific and as productive if not more so than McCartney-though McCartney would have the songs he had already written before the trip as well.

I think that Revolution might be an unheralded cause of the split. If Lennon became convinced that if he wanted to express himself, if he wanted to make a grand important statement-which the song's ambivalence aside does seem to be how he viewed that song-he couldn't do it in the group context. If you want the sessions to go better, you probably have to have Paul McCartney agree to go along with a Revolution single. Having the song recorded quicker, the repeated takes poisoned the well of those sessions pretty quickly.
 
If Lennon had been in the driver's seat in late 1967 I think there's a good chance the band would have headed off to India rather than recording another album. The Beatles could probably get away with not releasing another album in 1967 with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band being as huge as it was. If Lennon and Harrison had had their way in September-that may be what the band would have done in September 1967-or at least Lennon and Harrison. The question would then be would an earlier trip have the same effect as the one that happened. According to a lot of accounts the Beatles lost their band unity after India and didn't regain a semblance of it until Abbey Road-and even that had a lot to do with Lennon's relative lack of participation on everyone else's songs. That's the big mystery-why did that happen? What it something inherent in an Indian experience, or was something else going on?

If the Beatles head off to India in September 1967-would the same dynamic emerge when they return? If not then I could see the next album being more Lennon led than Sgt. Pepper. I think that the India experience is pretty much the only thing that returned Lennon to the level of productivity he had been at until the end of 1965. Indeed, in total there are more Lennon than McCartney songs on the White Album when you take both albums into account. I think that suggests that if he had headed off to India earlier, he would have been prolific and as productive if not more so than McCartney-though McCartney would have the songs he had already written before the trip as well.

I think avoiding Magical Mystery Tour would actually help them in the long run - it was a pet project of Paul's, which had a fair bit of criticism at the time for being directionless. If The Beatles take a break from July-Sept 1967 (whether it be on their own as in late 1966, or in a group retreat as in 1968), there's still time for them to re-convene in time to get a Christmas single out for 1967, and have a single album ready by Spring 1968.

As for direction, in later interviews John said he preferred the White album to Sgt Pepper because it has less production (or words to that effect) - I think the key influence on John may have been basically produced psychedelic rock like early Captain Beefheart. 'Safe as Milk' was one of John's favourite albums towards the end of 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eRDkiwGMM
 
Is this a wish list? My ideal tracklisting would be this one:

Side 1:
1. Back in the USSR
2. Dear Prudence
3. Birthday
4. Piggies
5. I'm So Tired
7. Julia
8. Happiness is a Warm Gun

Side 2:
9. Helter Skelter
10. Mother Nature's Son
11. Long, Long, Long
12. Savoy Truffle
13. Cry Baby Cry
14. Revolution 9

Flanked by an additional single:
A: While My Guitar Gently Weeps
B: Sexy Sadie
 
I think avoiding Magical Mystery Tour would actually help them in the long run - it was a pet project of Paul's, which had a fair bit of criticism at the time for being directionless. If The Beatles take a break from July-Sept 1967 (whether it be on their own as in late 1966, or in a group retreat as in 1968), there's still time for them to re-convene in time to get a Christmas single out for 1967, and have a single album ready by Spring 1968.

As for direction, in later interviews John said he preferred the White album to Sgt Pepper because it has less production (or words to that effect) - I think the key influence on John may have been basically produced psychedelic rock like early Captain Beefheart. 'Safe as Milk' was one of John's favourite albums towards the end of 1967
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8eRDkiwGMM

I have two concerns with the possibility of avoiding Magical Mystery Tour.

1. It may have served as a safety valve for the inevitable post-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band critical backlash which may have otherwise negatively impacted the response to their next release.
2. Without the film, they or Lennon and Harrison at least may head off to India, and there may be something inherent in that experience that damaged the band. Or Lennon's perspective of it.
 

Thande

Donor
It's staggering (and very useful from an AH perspective of course) to consider the potential cultural cost of this sort of thing. Ignoring subjective things like the fact that some of the songs being suggested as cuts will be individual people's favourites (e.g. Honey Pie in my case), that is. Here's a brief (and incomplete!) rundown of the cultural impact of some of the songs on the White Album:

Back in the USSR - loads of cover versions and title pastiches, such as the classic AH short story collection Back in the USSA

Dear Prudence - influence on the Grateful Dead and Siouxsie and the Banshees

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - cover version by Marmalade (better known to many than the original) made them the first Scottish band to ever top the UK singles chart

Bungalow Bill - reintroduced Captain Marvel to a new UK generation via its brief shout-out

Happiness is a Warm Gun - influence on U2, Marilyn Manson, Alanis Morrisette

I'm So Tired - influence on Kasabian

Blackbird - unsurprisingly given the song's background, lots of influence on American groups

Piggies, Revolution 9 and Helter Skelter - Charles Manson

Rocky Raccoon - the character of Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy

Julia - influence on Kurt Cobain and Nirvana

Mother Nature's Son - influence on John Denver and in particular the title later used as his epithet

Sexy Sadie - influence on Radiohead

Revolution 1 - obviously its phraseology has entered the language

Good Night - well, for a start, my friend Richard would be unable to sleep when on holiday without it :p
 
Anything that cuts Happiness is a Warm Gun would be a crying shame...it also ruins the montage in the movie Bowling for Columbine if it goes without the song...


As for the Beatles, they were essentially creatively spent after the White Album. Let It Be, for example, had horrible production value aside from (Let It Be and Long and Winding Road) and though I love Abbey Road, you can already tell by late 1969 the Beatles' slick production was already eclipsed by other bands, such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Though All Things Must Pass was an unbelievable album, it would have been sad to see the Beatles burn out and no long be the top act in the business. What it comes down to is that the Beatles jumped onto the Psychedelic Rock bandwagon when it was cool, and when they realized it was lame unmistakably began incorporating country elements. However, neither genre was the future of rock. All the big hard rock albums and singles were unmistakably hard rock/arena rock going into the 70s and 80s. The Beatles would have had to make the transition sooner after the White Album to be more of a hard rock band without looking and feeling lame for being trend hoppers.

And that's what it came down to. They were no longer dictating the trends like they once did. So, in a way, it is good they went out on top when their relevance had already peaked. Led Zeppelin was going to be the band of the 70s. An intact Beatles could not compete.
 
Seems like this has lost some of its momentum, but I was called to reply anyways, as this is my favorite album by the group: to Thande's point, the idea of a 1-LP "White Album" seems to be a useful historical exercise, but not at the expense of cutting half the songs from the collection from the historical record. I believe Ringo once made a point that he'd prefer 2 discrete LP's-- a "White Album" and "Whiter Album" (using/paraphrasing his words). However, this would not work, it seems to me: one double-album with the all-white cover was enough (or even too much) for many fans past and present, particularly when containing such a diversity of musical styles, tones, and colors. The success of the late Beatles period was developing not exactly a unified sound for each record as a thematic journey-- think of "Sgt. Pepper's" or "Abbey Road" with half the songs missing and you lose the narrative arc, as it were.

Therefore, I would like to propose a 1-LP release of songs from what is now "The White Album" under a different umbrella-- "Longing, Longing, Longing" (or something not so trite and cute). I submit this for dissection by the thread-contributors who are still around:

Side 1: 21.5 min.

Long, Long, Long-- introducing the theme of waiting/longing in a very non-shotgun-blast sort of way-- setting up the expectations-defying nature of this album by NOT starting off with a crowd-pleasing rocker like "Back in the U.S.S.R." or "Birthday"
Don’t Pass Me By-- tongue-in-cheek continuance of theme in country vein
Martha My Dear-- McCartney has to get himself in first before Lennon with an ode to a dog waiting/longing for its master
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide…-- Lennon says "screw you" to the theme-- with Yoko, he's not longing anymore
Cry Baby Cry-- but he still reflects backwards/forwards to children longing for parents, with McCartney signaling his return at the end
Helter Skelter-- romantic/sexual longing, taking the theme into high gear
I’m So Tired-- only appropriate to close out this romantic-longing/waiting theme after "I've got blisters on me fingers!"

Side 2: 22.5 min.

Yer Blues-- continuing the high-octane rockin' of the end of Side 1
While My Guitar Gently Weeps-- longing for a better world; mixing the personal, social, and spiritual as only Harrisongs can
Why Don’t We…-- yes, I'm keeping it in as a nice break-- longing can get a bit too holier-than-thou, so let's go in the mud for a bit
Piggies-- writing of which, here we are back in the mud
Happiness Is A Warm Gun-- a perfect transition from the visceral beginning to the crazy genre-bending ending
Wild Honey Pie-- more of an add-on to the above, pretending like this is turning into "Abbey Road" a few years early
Honey Pie-- a less "wild" honey pie indeed-- the theme of longing for a far-away lover is itself encapsulated in a longing for musical styles long past
Good Night-- finally, a style not-so-long past and completely out-of-left-field to end a Beatles album-- but we're finally resolving the "longing" theme with a bit of tongue-in-cheek self-reference (though not as much as "Glass Onion")-- our longing has been fulfilled, ironically, by all these 20-somethings going on and on about longing for the last 40 minutes

Total Running Time: 44 min.
 
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