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The White Album challenge - your input sought


Phil O'Keefe

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Side A

1. Why don't we do it in the road

2. Everybody's got something to hide

3. While my guitar gently weeps

4. Happiness is a warm gun

5. Helter skelter

 

Side B

1. Blackbird

2. Sexy Sadie

3. Long long long

4. Cry baby cry

5. Dear prudence

6. i'm so tired

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Ok, here's my somewhat controversial entry:

 

Side 1:

1. Birthday

2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

4. Glass Onion

5. Dear Prudence

7. Blackbird

8. Happiness is a Warm Gun

 

Side 2:

1. Savoy Truffle

2. Yer Blues

3. Why Don't We Do it in the Road?

4. Cry Baby Cry

5. Helter Skelter

6. Julia

7. Long, Long, Long

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Any change to the White Album is going to be controversial. There are no right or wrong answers - just opinions. Thanks for sharing yours V - that's a pretty darned good list IMO. Not exactly what I'd choose, but not too far from it... although my list would probably change a bit from day to day, depending on my mood. :D

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Mine will eliminate all the songs that inspired Charles Manson.

 

So say goodbye to:

Revolution 1

Revolution 9

Piggies (sorry, George)

Helter Skelter (Sorry, Led Zep)

I Will

Honey Pie

Happiness Is a Warm Gun

Sexy Sadie

Rocky Raccoon

Don't Pass Me By

Blackbird

Glass Onion

 

 

Then I'll get rid of the Beach Boys nods:

Back in the U.S.S.R.

Wild Honey Pie

 

Gotta cut some more, so:

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

 

result:

 

Side one

 

1. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" 2.24

2. "Dear Prudence" 3.56

3. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 4.45

4. "Martha My Dear" 2.28

5. "I'm So Tired" 2.03

6. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" 1.41

7. "Julia" 2.54

 

Side two

 

1. "Birthday" 2.42

2. "Yer Blues" 4.01

3. "Mother Nature's Son" 2.48

4. "Long, Long, Long" 3.04

5. "Savoy Truffle" 2.54

6. "Cry Baby Cry" 3.02

7. "Good Night" 3.13

 

 

 

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i like it. can't stand "julia" but toher than that. i love ending with "long long long". ending the other side with "helter skelter" is the only change i'd make. love "birthday", i used to hate it growing up, but love it now for some reason.

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^^^ well stated and observed. Manson was in and out of 'state homes' from the age of 8 onwards .... in the good old Happy Days of 1950's America. He was raped before the age of 12, and homeless by 16. it would have been remarkable had he not been a trainwreck.

 

That said, LSD and lots of bored teenage girls sure did fuel something horrific within, didn't it? If only Dennis Wilson had gotten him that record deal ....

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This took about 45 minutes for me to pull together, but I feel pretty confident about this being my streamlined White Album.

 

Set your iTunes crossfade preference to exactly 3 seconds for the full segue experience. I gave a lot of thought to how one song ends and leads into the next song (the tempos, the pitch, the dynamics, the random sounds, etc.) If I could find a version of "Dear Prudence" without the airplane noise at the beginning, it would be pretty much perfect!

 

1. Helter Skelter

2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

3. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

4. Back In The USSR

5. Happiness Is a Warm Gun

6. Birthday

7. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

8. Martha My Dear

9. Mother Nature's Son

10. Dear Prudence

11. Blackbird

12. Cry Baby Cry

13. Revolution 9

 

 

 

 

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Phil, I tried to do this like 4 times now but always ended up trashing my playlist. Anytime I would take a song out I would get discouraged because I'm used to how the album is now, but tonight I sat down with a beer, and then another beer and I finally finished how I would do it in a single album. Here we go:

 

Side A

1. Back In the U.S.S.R.

2. Dear Prudence

3. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

4. Julia

5. Blackbird

6. Martha My Dear

7. Rocky Racoon

8. I'm So Tired

 

Side B

1. Helter Skelter

2. Happiness is a Warm Gun

3. Yer Blues

4. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey

5. Mother Nature's Son

6. Sexy Sadie

7. Revolution 1

8. Cry Baby Cry

 

 

I couldn't separate Back In the USSR and Dear Prudence, I just couldn't, even without the ambient noise tying them together I just couldn't separate them. My brain is so accustomed to hearing that arpeggio after the airplane noise, and my ears love it. I think, basically I made Side A a little more polished and easy on the ears, which made it a bit more Paul dominant, Side B is bit more raw I'd say, still poppy, but a bit more rough around the edges, which gives more of a nod to Lennon, the superior Beatle. ;)

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I couldn't separate Back In the USSR and Dear Prudence, I just couldn't, even without the ambient noise tying them together I just couldn't separate them. My brain is so accustomed to hearing that arpeggio after the airplane noise, and my ears love it.

 

Yeah, I had the same feeling with Cry Baby Cry into Revolution 9. Their marriage is pretty perfect.

 

But honestly I was never sold on the USSR to Prudence segue, however pretentious or blasphemous that is for me to say. In this postmodern age of remix and cutup I don't feel beholden to leave works of art untouched... not even The Beatles. The Cirque De Soleil Love soundtrack is a perfect example of how putting things in a new context can be exciting without spoiling any of the magic of the original.

 

 

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Oh, if I were to put together this playlist as an actual mixtape I would edit the songs a bit to make the transitions smoother. You'd pretty much have to.

 

I am actually really surprised that anyone has kept Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da. I thought that was considered pretty much the worst Beatles song.

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Thing that makes this the toughest for me is the artifacts on the beginning and ends of tracts. The "ay-oh" before 'while my guitar"' date=' or the extra piano bit on the end of 'rocky raccoon'. Can't make a smooth transition to the next song.[/quote']

 

 

Agreed. I almost feel like I need to edit them in Audacity to remove the artifacts :facepalm:

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I am actually really surprised that anyone has kept Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da. I thought that was considered pretty much the worst Beatles song.

 

I had a feeling someone would point that out.

 

I heard McCartney perform it last year in Orlando at the start of his US tour, and it would be incontheivable that anyone would have complained about the energy in that arena during that song. And it fits really well between Birthday and Martha My Dear.

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Yes, I do - get the feeling that he was tipping his hat to other styles / writers / etc. with much of the record. Perhaps including his 'former self.'

 

Regarding the snippets, oddly, I would be very pleased to reduce the songlist but would love to expand on those pieces of connective tissue, much like Olivia Tremor Control albums.

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