The shorter White Album

Many Beatles fans question the group's decision to release The Beatles ("The White Album") as a double album. Was there really enough good material to justify four sides? What might a single album crafted from that material have sounded like?

Compact discs and computerized playlists make it easy to answer the second question for ourselves. Click on the "Continue reading..." link to see my attempt at trimming down The Beatles to a single, strong album.

But don't let me have all the fun—you, too, can make your own White Album! The only rules are that you have to use songs that were on the original White Album, and you're limited to 30 minutes per album side. Drop me a line when you're done.

My "shorter White Album" song list:

SIDE A  (21m 54s)1. Back in the U.S.S.R. 2. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps 4. Happiness is a Warm Gun 5. Martha My Dear 6. I'm So Tired 7. Blackbird 8. I Will SIDE B  (25m 47s)1. Birthday 2. Mother Nature's Son 3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide... 4. Helter Skelter 5. Long, Long, Long 6. Savoy Truffle 7. Cry Baby Cry 8. Revolution 1

NOTES: Basically, I got rid of the dated experiments, the Indian memoirs, and the sops to Ringo, plus a few other tracks. No, keeping "Martha My Dear" was not a typo. I like that song. No, I'm not going to try to defend that. Aside from moving "Revolution 1" to the end of Side B, I retained the original track order; none of it seemed especially wrong. I was tempted to put "Helter Skelter" right after "Martha My Dear", though. Finally, I was surprised by what a strong track "Savoy Truffle" is.