In honor of what could have been John Lennon's 83rd birthday - as well as the upcoming release of the final ever Beatles song "Now and Then" (it's about time they finished it!) - here's a post from me showing how a few select Beatles albums could've gone in how they distributed their non-album tracks.
Side A (16:13)
1. She Loves You - 2:21
2. From Me to You - 1:58
3. We Can Work It Out - 2:16
4. This Boy - 2:16
5. She's a Woman - 3:03
6. I Feel Fine - 2:20
7. Matchbox - 1:59
Side B (17:05)
8. Long Tall Sally - 2:03
9. Bad Boy - 2:21
10. Day Tripper - 2:50
11. I Call Your Name - 2:09
12. Slow Down - 2:56
13. Paperback Writer - 2:19
14. I Want to Hold Your Hand - 2:27
Ah yes, the first ever Beatles compilation album, released when it was believed the Beatles were finished, but really, they were working on Sgt. Pepper. The Beatles themselves didn't even like the album to the point that it was de-canonized in 1987, and Past Masters took its place the following year. A Collection of Beatles Oldies has a place in the heart of many Beatles' fans who missed out on the wave of Beatlemania in the mid-1960s, but is there a way to make the album once again fit within the canon?
First things first, I took out any songs that were previously included on the original British albums - "Help!", "Michelle", "Yesterday", "Yellow Submarine", "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "Ticket to Ride" and "Eleanor Rigby" - as I want to focus solely on non-album tracks. Of the songs I picked as replacements, "This Boy" was a very popular song during the Beatles' 1964 tours, as was "She's a Woman", even being played at their final concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco - Paul even played it live solo for his MTV Unplugged performance. Both tracks also show up on Side A.
The Beatles' cover of "Bad Boy" - recorded for the American album Beatles VI - sticks out like a sore thumb. What's the point of buying a compilation just for a lackluster cover, many fans thought? Ideally, some would replace it with "Please Please Me" or "Love Me Do", but, keeping with the "no overlap" rule, I brought in the tracks from the Long Tall Sally EP so that "Bad Boy" wouldn't be the only cover included. "Long Tall Sally" is one of the Beatles' best covers, and it was also performed at their final concert at Candlestick Park as their encore (tragically, that was also when the tape ran out, cutting the performance short). Not only that, "Matchbox" gives Ringo a vocal spot, replacing "Yellow Submarine", and along with "Slow Down", the inclusion of a few more covers really sells the "oldies" part of the title more.
Sadly, George doesn't get any vocal representation here, but that was also the case with the official A Collection of Beatles Oldies, so fair's fair. Also, to better match the official albums, there are now fourteen tracks instead of sixteen.
One final change to the album was the artwork; instead of the 60s pop art drawing done by David Christian, I've opted to use the Beatles' joint painting "Images of a Woman", which was painted at their Tokyo Hilton suite over three nights, for the cover, giving the album more of a personal touch. I even used the same font that was featured on the Yesterday and Today album. I can't really say if my revisit of A Collection of Beatles Oldies is better than the official version, as it does lose some really strong songs, but if it means that overlap doesn't take place, then it's a sacrifice worth making.
Side A (21:30)
1. Yellow Submarine (Remix) - 2:52
2. Only a Northern Song - 3:24
3. All Together Now - 2:11
4. Hey Bulldog - 3:12
5. It's All Too Much - 6:26
6. Revolution - 3:25
Side B (20:11)
7. Hey Jude - 7:08
8. The Inner Light - 2:37
9. Lady Madonna - 2:18
10. Across the Universe - 3:49
11. You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) - 4:19
Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine are often viewed as being sister albums, since three songs from the latter album were recorded in 1967 and would've been at home on the former. But rather than mash the two albums together, I'm making Yellow Submarine a full-on Beatles album. The title track is the enhanced sound effects remix as found on the Revolver 2022 box set, and Side A ends with "Revolution" instead of "All You Need is Love". Side B consists of the remaining 1968 non-album tracks, as well as "Across the Universe" (first worked on during the "Lady Madonna" sessions) and "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" (being started on as early as 1967). As for the George Martin score? Let's assume they're part of an extended play released alongside the album.
Why the Beatles didn't consider going in this direction, I'll never understand. The Yellow Submarine film was released in July 1968, and the "Hey Jude" single the following month. Releasing the album then would've given the album a boost and tided fans over until the release of The White Album three months later.
Side A (21:05)
1. The One After 909 - 3:08
2. All I Want is You - 3:55 [Dig a Pony]
3. I've Got a Feeling (Everybody Had a Hard Year) - 3:42
4. Old Brown Shoe - 3:40
5. Don't Let Me Down - 3:52
6. Get Back - 2:50
Side B (20:01)
7. You Know It Ain't Easy - 3:27 [The Ballad of John and Yoko]
8. On Our Way Home - 3:29 [Two of Us]
9. Maggie Mae - 0:45
10. Because You're Sweet and Lovely - 2:50 [For You Blue]
11. The Long and Winding Road - 3:32
12. Can You Dig It? - 1:54
13. Let It Be - 4:04
An update to my recreation of Let It Be that I did a couple of years ago. For this upgrade, I've dropped both "Not Guilty" and "Across the Universe" in favor of "Old Brown Shoe" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko", respectively, and held off on "All Things Must Pass" for a future project. The two new songs are both from a similar timeframe as the Get Back period, give or take a few months, and in order to fit the sound of the project, I've used the stripped versions as included on the Abbey Road 50th anniversary box set.
As for the track listing, Side A is unchanged save for "Old Brown Shoe", focusing on the three songs recorded live on the rooftop and the "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down" single. Side B is reshuffled and opens with "The Ballad of John and Yoko", followed up by "Two of Us", both retitled. I think it makes for a strong one-two opener, as John and Paul are singing about their respective lives, with the latter also singing about his friendship with John alongside his love for Linda. The pair then ham it up for "Maggie Mae" before delving into "For You Blue" (using its original title) and "The Long and Winding Road". The album concludes with a custom edit of the jam "Dig It" and the unedited take of "Let It Be", to which John remarks was "rather grand". In between tracks, I've kept the studio chatter to make it feel "live" throughout.
Even though only one song - "I Me Mine", recorded January 1970 - was cut, I like how this version of Let It Be flows, with one side being mostly electric and the other mostly acoustic.
Side A (24:38)
1. It Don't Come Easy - 3:01 [remix]
2. Every Night - 2:31
3. Give Me Some Truth - 3:16 [Take 4; edit]
4. Let It Down - 4:13 [Take 1]
5. Teddy Boy (Mama Don't Worry) - 2:22
6. Jealous Guy - 4:14 [Take 29; edit]
7. Isn't It a Pity? - 5:01 [Take 27]
Side B (23:32)
8. Maybe I'm Amazed - 3:53
9. Oh My Love - 2:44 [Take 20; edit]
10. Junk in the Yard - 2:43 [extended edit]
11. Cold Turkey - 5:01 [Take 2; edit]
12. All Things Must Pass - 3:31 [Day 1 Demo; edit]
13. Falling Rain - 2:18 [Glasses/That Would Be Something; custom edit]
14. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On) - 3:22 [Take 10; edit]
Now here's a project that I've tweaked constantly until I'm fully satisfied with how it sounds, and will likely continue to do so. The last time I made an upgrade was back in February 2022, so what's changed since them?
Side A retains the "Easy"/"Night"/"Truth" opening sequence, and similarly closes with "Jealous Guy" and "Isn't It a Pity". In between, however, "Let It Down" and "Teddy Boy" are moved up from Side B, and "I Me Mine" is dropped. Side B, of course, has been given a major reshuffle, and it now opens with "Maybe I'm Amazed", Paul's finest solo song, followed up with "Oh My Love" and "Junk", a reverse from their original order. "Cold Turkey" comes next to fill the void left behind by "I Me Mine", and was actually suggested by John for the next Beatles single but rejected; now it gains a place on the album. Hot as Sun concludes with "All Things Must Pass", a custom edit of "Glasses" and "That Would Be Something", and John rounds things off with "Instant Karma".
Obviously, I didn't want to include anything from either Plastic Ono Band or Ram, as my thinking here was that following Hot as Sun's release, the Beatles take a hiatus so that they can focus on solo projects, but they leave the door open for another album if they're interested. All Things Must Pass has more than enough songs leftover to still make a complete album, and the leftover Imagine tracks could be mixed in with some of Yoko's songs from Fly, making it a Plastic Ono Band album. McCartney was a no-brainer to take songs from, and Hot as Sun essentially takes its place for release. The majority of the songs by John and George are either raw mixes or use alternate takes, and "It Don't Come Easy" is a custom stripped back remix; this was in order to match the sound of Paul's songs.
Is Hot as Sun really the Beatles album that wasn't? Maybe not, but it's at least one possibility, using mainly songs that were rejected from previous albums, with a couple of new ones thrown into the mix. I think what makes this believable is that it sounds like they're all in the same room; Klaus Voormann on bass is close enough to Paul, and Paul recorded his songs by himself, given that his solo debut sounded the most like the Beatles. What also helps is that John, George and Ringo appear on each others' songs, making it feel more like a group effort and not a collection of solo careers.
Side A (7:49)
1. Another Day - 3:41
2. Coochy Coochy - 4:08 [earlier fade out]
Side B (7:24)
3. Medley: Hot as Sun/I Me Mine - 3:04 [custom edit]
4. Oh Yoko! - 4:20 [Take 1; edit]
A bonus extended play that would've been released alongside Hot as Sun upon release. Another Day consists of songs that the Beatles wrote while together, but didn't fit what I had in mind for Hot as Sun. The title track is now part of a medley with "I Me Mine", the only actual Beatles song on the EP. I imagine that the instrumental would've been recorded as a jam between Paul, George and Ringo while John is away. Speaking of whom, he probably would've forced "Oh Yoko!" onto the group as a tit for tat against Paul for "forcing his granny music upon the group". (Typical ego madness between the pair, am I right?) The remaining track, "Coochy Coochy", goes back to the same timeframe as "It Don't Come Easy".
Side A (25:11)
1. Love Me Do (1962 Single Mix) - 2:24
2. Yes It Is - 2:43
3. One After 909 (1963 Version) - 2:56
4. You Know What to Do - 1:59
5. I'll Get You - 2:06
6. Thank You Girl - 2:04
7. Komm, gib mir deine Hand - 2:27
8. Sie liebt dich - 2:20
9. What's the New Mary Jane - 6:12
Side B (23:38)
10. Rain - 3:02
11. That Means a Lot - 2:27
12. If You've Got Trouble - 2:48
13. Come and Get It - 2:30
14. Not Guilty - 4:20
15. Leave My Kitten Alone - 2:57
16. I'm Down - 2:32
17. Christmas Time is Here Again - 3:02
The UK version of Rarities was originally included with the original studio albums (except Magical Mystery Tour) as part of The Beatles Collection in 1978, but was later released separately. Unusually for a compilation album, it included an array of non-album B-sides and tracks recorded for other projects like a German single, an extended play and a charity album. Like A Collection of Beatles Oldies, Rarities was superseded by Past Masters.
As a good chunk of songs have already been included on previous reworked albums - in this case, a record breaking ten - I set about filling the gaps with material that would eventually be released down the road. The album now starts with the original single version of "Love Me Do", featuring Ringo on drums, per the American version of Rarities. Eight of the "new" songs were considered for the unreleased Sessions album for a 1985 release, but it was rejected at the last minute by the surviving Beatles. The tenth remaining song, "You Know What to Do", remained unreleased until 1995, having been rediscovered two years prior. You could probably sub it in for "How Do You Do It?", also considered for Sessions, since they're more or less the same length. I kept the remaining seven songs in their original positions, but swapped "What's the New Mary Jane" and "Sie liebt dich" around as it feels awkward not having the two German songs back to back.
Also like A Collection of Beatles Oldies, I changed the cover to Rarities as the official version is quite plain. I utilized the Mount Rushmore portrait of the Beatles, as featured on the Love Songs compilation, to make it look a little more visually interesting. The color scheme isn't that much different from the official Rarities. I think this reworked Rarities has more of a unique selling point to it as Beatles fans can get not only the remaining tracks that haven't appeared on an album, but also some previously unheard songs from the archives. It's very much a combination of two separate ideas put onto a single project.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun little experiment to tackle, and one that I didn't think I needed to do. As it stands, the majority of the Beatles' official canon is unchanged, with the albums most affected being Yellow Submarine and Let It Be due to being released earlier. On top of this, we also now have versions of A Collection of Beatles Oldies and Rarities that fit snuggly amongst the official works, and we got a new Beatles album and extended play package for all of our troubles. And in the end, nothing was wasted and we gained new songs in the process.
