Tag: Better The Beatles

Revolver Soul

My Better The Beatles series rolls on with the ultimate selection of the best from Rubber Soul and Revolver. I ended up with a clean eight from each, combined here into Revolver Soul:

  1. Good Day Sunshine
  2. Taxman
  3. Drive My Car
  4. Eleanor Rigby
  5. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
  6. Yellow Submarine
  7. Michelle
  8. You Won’t See Me
  9. Here, There And Everywhere
  10. I’m Only Sleeping
  11. Nowhere Man
  12. Girl
  13. I’m Looking Through You
  14. In My Life
  15. For No One
  16. And Your Bird Can Sing ​​

That’s right, the song one listicle ranked as the very worst Beatles song (not going to link to it because it’s ipso facto garbage due to that ranking) is now at the head of the line, despite “Taxman” being one of the best first tracks ever.

The departed from Rubber Soul: “The Word”, “Think For Yourself”, “If I Needed Someone”, “What Goes On”, “Wait”, and “Run For Your Life”. Not sad about these.

The departed from Revolver: “Love You To”, “She Said She Said”, “I Want To Tell You”, “Doctor Robert”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, and “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Sorry to get rid of both Harrison joints, but I’m just not into the sitar.

You’re welcome.

December 28, 2021 Add Comment

Let It Abbey Road

I’m two-thirds of the way through The Beatles: Get Back, the 8-hour documentary on Disney+. It inspired me to add another installment of my Better The Beatles series, wherein I trim the fat from their discography to create super albums of only their best stuff. (Previously: Sgt. Pepper’s Magical Mystery Tour, The (Single) White Album, and Ram McCartney.)

Since both Abbey Road and Let It Be contain songs created during the same period, here’s my track listing for a hypothetical Let It AbBey Road:

  1. Get Back
  2. Come Together
  3. Two Of Us
  4. Something
  5. Dig A Pony
  6. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer
  7. Oh! Darling
  8. I’ve Got A Feeling
  9. Octopus’s Garden
  10. Let It Be
  11. Here Comes The Sun
  12. Because
  13. For You Blue
  14. You Never Give Me Your Money
  15. Polythene Pam
  16. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
  17. Golden Slumbers
  18. Carry That Weight
  19. The End

The omissions from Abbey Road weren’t terribly tough: “Sun King”, “Mean Mr. Mustard”, and “Her Majesty” are slights, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is too long. 

Similarly, it was pretty easy to remove “One After 909”, “I Me Mine”, “Dig It”, and “Maggie Mae” from Let It Be because they aren’t good. “Across The Universe” and “The Long And Winding Road” are good, I guess, but also tonal outliers from the rest.

You’re welcome.

December 15, 2021 Add Comment

Ram McCartney

Rob Sheffield’s Dreaming the Beatles (highly recommended) has a great Paul McCartney quote on his own solo work:

I hear some of them and think, blimey, you should finish that one someday, son.

I don’t think that applies to his more recent ones, which I really like: 2005’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, 2007’s Memory Almost Full, and 2012’s jazz standards cover album Kisses on the Bottom.

I also like his first two solo records, 1970’s McCartney and 1971’s Ram. But I also think, in the spirit of Better The Beatles and Paul’s own above quote, that they could be improved. Basically by becoming one album.

Here’s what my version of Ram McCartney would look like:

  1. The Lovely Linda
  2. That Would Be Something
  3. Every Night
  4. Junk
  5. Man We Was Lonely
  6. Teddy Boy
  7. Maybe I’m Amazed
  8. Too Many People
  9. Ram On
  10. Dear Boy
  11. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
  12. Heart of the Country
  13. Eat at Home

Gone are all the instrumental or noise songs, and the ones that simply annoy me like “Kreen Akrore” and “Monkberry Moon Delight”. The result is a much tighter, cohesive album that shows off McCartney’s renowned talent without the self-indulgent piffle of these early solo works.

You’re welcome.

August 22, 2018 1 Comment

Sgt. Better: ‘Lonely Hearts Club Band’ remastered

By no means am I an audiophile. Play an MP3, ACC, and WAV file of the same song back to back and I most likely couldn’t tell the difference. (Correction: I definitely couldn’t tell the difference, having failed this quiz.)

But when I listened to the newly remastered 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, I could tell the difference.

That’s because this new edition does more than just reformat the original tracks. Since the original album was configured for mono rather than stereo, the mix when played in two speakers or earbuds is often awkwardly lopsided. This new version was remixed from the ground up, using the original master tapes to create a balanced sound that’s optimized for our modern stereo ways.

(Looks like #BetterTheBeatles goes beyond this blog.)

That’s what I read anyway. I wanted to listen for myself to hear just how different the mixes were. After loading up both versions, I eschewed my typical earbuds and opted for my Sennheiser headphones to go back and forth between the old and new cuts. Even my simple ears noticed a huge difference.

Play, for example, the original version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. Notice the opening organ only comes through one ear. This is the version we’ve had to live with for 50 years, until now, where the notes in the remix float evenly across the soundscape.

Paul’s melodious bass lines and Ringo’s drumming are the overall winners of this remix. On top of the overall songwriting prowess, those two elements are what make Sgt. Pepper’s such an aurally rich and relistenable experience.

Would that they performed this sonic sorcery on every Beatles album!

January 22, 2018 Add Comment

Sgt. Pepper’s Magical Mystery Tour

This article comparing The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, both released in 1967, got me thinking about what one hypothetical album that combined the best of both albums would look like. So as part of my Better The Beatles project, I’ve determined a track listing for Sgt. Pepper’s Magical Mystery Tour. Thirteen tracks from both albums, shuffled into an ideal song order for your listening pleasure.

  1. Magical Mystery Tour
  2. Hello, Goodbye
  3. With a Little Help from My Friends
  4. Lovely Rita
  5. She’s Leaving Home
  6. Getting Better
  7. Strawberry Fields Forever
  8. Penny Lane
  9. When I’m Sixty-Four
  10. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
  11. Baby You’re a Rich Man
  12. All You Need Is Love
  13. A Day in the Life

The cuts from Magical were pretty easy: “Flying,” “Blue Jay Way,” “I Am the Walrus,” and “The Fool on the Hill” are either too weird or too instrumental. “Your Mother Should Know” was the toughest goodbye.

Sgt. Pepper’s was a bit more difficult. I won’t miss “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” and “Good Morning Good Morning”, but ditching “Within You Without You” eliminated the remaining George Harrison song, and “Fixing a Hole” is interesting but not interesting enough.

I pondered what to do about the two title tracks that bookend the album. Theoretically they provide the framework for both albums, but I figured “Magical Mystery Tour” performs the same upbeat and psychedelic invitation that the first “Sgt. Pepper’s” track does, so that allowed me to ditch both songs and let the album name do the storytelling.

You’re welcome.

June 1, 2017 2 Comments

Make ‘The White Album’ Great Again

The White Album is too long. Everyone knows this. As a public service I have trimmed down the bloated double album into one cohesive record, leaving the order unchanged but the musical integrity restored:

  1. Back in the U.S.S.R
  2. Dear Prudence
  3. Glass Onion
  4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
  5. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
  6. Martha My Dear
  7. Blackbird
  8. Piggies
  9. I Will
  10. Birthday
  11. Mother Nature’s Son
  12. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
  13. Sexy Sadie
  14. Good Night

This means no “Helter Skelter” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (sorry George). No “Julia” or “I’m So Tired” because those should be on a Lennon solo album. I kept “Everybody’s Got Something” over “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road” in the Long Title category because of the former’s exuberance and the latter’s being a mere half-song.

“Revolution 1” and “Revolution 9” were easy nixes because the B-side version of “Revolution” is the best and #9 isn’t music. The hardest cut was “Rocky Raccoon”, but there are still 3 other animal-themed songs, which is plenty.

I went for “Good Night” over “Don’t Pass Me By” for the Ringo tune because it’s prettier. And I ditched “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” along with most of the album’s second half because they aren’t good.

You’re welcome.

May 28, 2017 1 Comment