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Beatles Timeline: 50 years on

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    And the White Album was out 50 years ago. To celebrate, here it is in cover versions.

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      Well done G-Man. Knew I'd miss it.

      A remastered version of Helter Skelter came up on Spotify the other day. So much better than I ever remember it. Fresh and raw, never got that.

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        And many thanks to Satchmo Distel for this thread:https://www.onetouchfootball.com/sho...cks-on-Youtube

        Tanks to G-Man, too.

        Thanks,

        Listen
        with the night falling we are saying thank you
        we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
        we are running out of the glass rooms
        with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
        and say thank you
        we are standing by the water thanking it
        standing by the windows looking out
        in our directions back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
        after funerals we are saying thank you
        after the news of the dead
        whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
        over telephones we are saying thank you
        in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
        remembering wars and the police at the door
        and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
        in the banks we are saying thank you
        in the faces of the officials and the rich
        and of all who will never change
        we go on saying thank you thank you
        with the animals dying around us
        our lost feelings we are saying thank you
        with the forests falling faster than the minutes
        of our lives we are saying thank you
        with the words going out like cells of a brain
        with the cities growing over us
        we are saying thank you faster and faster
        with nobody listening we are saying thank you
        we are saying thank you and waving
        dark though it is

        W.S. Merwin

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          I'm thinking of asking for this White Album six-disc outtakes extravaganza thing for my Xmas, given it's my favourite Beatles album and possibly my favourite album ever. Will I listen to a disc and a half and then file it on the shelf to collect dust, like I do with most boxed sets I get for Xmas, or will I be entranced by genius through to the end of March?

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            Interesting stuff, G-Man. Disappointed that you didn't include Fats Domino's version of 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide...'.

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              Is The White Album the 'Sandinista of the sixties'? Some of their best material but a sprawling mess of an album.

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                But what would you cut? I despise bungalow bill, wild honey pie, piggies, rocky raccoon and savoy truffle... but everyone seems to hate Honey Pie, Revolution No9 and I love them. Fuck it, I even enjoy Don’t Pass Me By. Somehow the whole benefits from the shite.

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                  For a single album, making allowance for the formula of two George and a Ringo track, and cutting a few great John tracks (Bungalow Bill, Cry Baby Cry) to accommodate Paul stuff, I’d go for the following, though in a different sequence:

                  Back In The U.S.S.R.
                  Dear Prudence
                  While My Guitar Gently Weeps
                  Happiness Is A Warm Gun
                  I’m So Tired
                  Blackbird

                  Birthday
                  Sexy Sadie
                  Helter Skelter
                  Long Long Long
                  Revolution
                  Good Night

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                    I was glad to see Good Night made your listing. Ringo's best vocal, sounds like he means it.

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                      Originally posted by imp View Post
                      I'm thinking of asking for this White Album six-disc outtakes extravaganza thing for my Xmas, given it's my favourite Beatles album and possibly my favourite album ever. Will I listen to a disc and a half and then file it on the shelf to collect dust, like I do with most boxed sets I get for Xmas, or will I be entranced by genius through to the end of March?
                      I think the Esher disc is a keeper that you will go back to. The band is more harmonious than on the studio album and the playing has more vigour in some cases. It feels fresher. It is also the last time Lennon is really a Beatle, arguably.

                      The other out-take discs are like Anthology - meh in most cases.

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                        Thanks, SD. The request has now been registered by the appropriate Xmas authorities. I really like the White Album outtakes on Anthology.

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                          Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                          It is also the last time Lennon is really a Beatle, arguably.
                          By the recording of this set, only Paul is still really a Beatle. George was set to leave, John wanted to, Ringo actually did.

                          The solo stuff put out by George and John at that point was not in competition with Beatles material yet, much of the White Album is a collection of solo projects, with the others as session players (if at all). There was some collaboration between John and Paul, notably on "Birthday".

                          By every account, the recording of Abbey Road was a greater cohesive group effort than anything since St Pepper's, though even then, John's attention was not, let's say, undivided.

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                            By the recording of this set, only Paul is still really a Beatle.
                            And he's dead.

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                              LOL, as the parents of our grandchildren used to say.

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                                Good podcast on Esher sessions:

                                http://somethingaboutthebeatles.com/...d-esher-demos/

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                                  Good podcast on the 'Blue' album that includes this period:

                                  https://soundcloud.com/fabcast-870039074

                                  There is a good Youtube series on the John and Paul relationship. This is the 1967-69 episode:

                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0mpbX4SaY0

                                  1968: John and Paul in the US, May 13, 1968, promoting Apple (interviewed by Larry Kane):

                                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp0i...ature=youtu.be

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                                    George was at Woodstock with Dylan and The Band around this time while Paul was preparing songs for the disastrous Twickenham sessions. Lennon and Yoko were on heroin, but had performed at the Rock and Roll Circus on December 11.

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                                      Steve Hillage doing 'It's All Too Much" 1977

                                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRx3y2GfsxA

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                                        The nadir: The Beatles being filmed falling apart in Twickenham, Jan 2-10, 1969, ending when George quits.

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                                          50 years ago yesterday the Yellow Submarine sountrack was released. Side1 and 1968's non-album releases in cover versions...

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                                            This journalist, improbably named Bill Wyman, has rated all 213 Beatles tracks from worst to best. Disagree with a few, but I think he's done a good job. If you've a spare half hour that is.

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                                              Originally posted by G-Man View Post
                                              50 years ago yesterday the Yellow Submarine sountrack was released. Side1 and 1968's non-album releases in cover versions...
                                              There are better covers of several of those tracks.

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                                                I'm sure there are. I'd be interested in your nominations.

                                                Some tracks were used on previous Beatles covers mixes, so I didn't want to repeat them. Lady Madonna has previously featured in superior versions by Fats Domino (twice), Booker T. & The MG’s, and Cal Tjader. Hey Jude has featured in superior versions by Wilson Pickett and by The Temptations.

                                                I challenge you to find a better version of The Inner Light than Jimmy McGriff and Junior Parker's.

                                                I must confess to disliking Bowie’s version of Across The Universe, and I've yet to hear a version I like.

                                                I cannot conceive of the possibility of any good version of Yellow Submarine, so having a funk band do it is as good as it gets. And Journey covering a fairly obscure Beatles song has novelty value.










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                                                  I found myself disagreeing with (journo) Bill Wyman on quite a lot his rankings, but that's what lists are for I suppose.

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                                                    One thing I didn't realize until recently is that in Feb 69, The Beatles went straight from the Get Back disaster into new sessions that became the first sessions for Abbey Road yet none of the shit in the Get Back sessions seems to have leaked into the Abbey Road ones. Yoko is presumably still in the studio yet they are able to get down to work and do a good last album.

                                                    Maybe the rooftop concert temporarily papered over a few cracks?
                                                    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 15-01-2019, 12:44.

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