Ethan Hawke's "Black Album" - Revisited

In 2011, American actor Ethan Hawke, a lifelong Beatles fan, compiled 51 solo tracks by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr and called it The Black Album, giving it to his daughter Maya on her thirteenth birthday, years after he had divorced from her mother Uma Thurman, whom he met during the filming for 1997's Gattaca. At the time, he was filming scenes for 2014's Boyhood, and in the movie, The Black Album was incorporated into the story by having his character Mason Evans Sr. giving it to his son Mason Jr. (played by Ellar Coltrane), thus giving the compilation album recognition.

Many listeners, myself included, have since compiled the playlist for ourselves, and listening to it several times over, I think Hawke made a lot of good choices from a variety of sources. A fair number of the biggest hits are there - "Imagine", "Band on the Run", "Photograph", "My Sweet Lord", etc. - and he's even included a few surprises like "Blow Away" (my favorite George solo track) and "Mull of Kintyre", the latter of which having the success of a lead balloon in America.

In Boyhood, Mason Sr. says, "Whenever you listen to too much of the solo stuff, it kind of becomes a drag." He's not wrong there; since the break up in 1970, the Beatles each went down their own individual paths. Too much of John's solo stuff becomes too self-involved, too much Paul becomes too sweet, too much George becomes too spiritual, and too much Ringo becomes... you know, too Ringo. The Beatles were very much greater than the sum of their parts, and the balance between these four talented men had to be just so, which is what Hawke shows with The Black Album.

But what is the problem with his playlist? One is obviously the length, covering three CDs, which would roughly translate to either four or five records, but that's not really the issue I have here, though that is a topic for another time. No, the real issue with The Black Album is that it covers too many years. 34 tracks cover the entire period of 1970-1973, while the remaining seventeen range from 1974's "No No Song" all the way to 1996's "Real Love", and five of them were released after John's death in 1980.

So is it really possible to reconstruct The Black Album by focusing solely on 1970-1973? I think it is; it's simply a matter of replacing the post-1973 tracks with a roughly similar equivalent from that period. It is the most likely period in which we'd get at least three or four post-Let It Be albums, had the Beatles stayed together. There are going to be tracks in which they would never have recorded, much less would even think of recording, had they stayed together, but that's not really the point of this post. What I want to achieve is maintaining Hawke's vision while simultaneously restricting it to tracks solely from first few years post-breakup. So we're left with the following albums:

• John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band (1970), Imagine (1971), Some Time in New York City (1972), Mind Games (1973)
• Paul McCartney: McCartney (1970), Ram (1971), Wild Life (1971), Red Rose Speedway (1973), Band on the Run (1973)
• George Harrison: All Things Must Pass (1970), Living in the Material World (1973)
• Ringo Starr: Ringo (1973)

That's twelve albums to work with (ten of which were already represented in some capacity), along with non-album tracks like "Instant Karma" and "It Don't Come Easy" - and yes, I know I left off Ringo's Sentimental Journey and Beaucoups of Blues, both from 1970, but they're far too left field for this project, so they won't be considered. Without further ado, here's my revised edition of The Black Album! I'll be providing occasional commentary explaining which tracks used to be in a particular spot, along with their replacement.

The official track listing. No, I don't know why there are ten bonus tracks either.

Disc One

1. Band on the Run (Paul, Band on the Run, 1973)
2. My Sweet Lord (George, All Things Must Pass, 1970)
3. Jealous Guy (John, Imagine, 1971)
4. Photograph (Ringo, Ringo, 1973)
5. How? (Imagine)
6. Every Night (Paul, McCartney, 1970)
7. Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (George, Living in the Material World, 1973) - This spot was originally taken up by 1979's "Blow Away", an upbeat, optimistic love song. I replaced it with something similar from this single-that-wasn't from George's sophomore solo album.
8. Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney)
9. One Day (At a Time) (John, Mind Games, 1973) - Originally occupied by "Woman", a soft rock love song from 1980, and John's final posthumous #1 hit. It was even famously performed live with Elton John, which got our very own Mr. Lennon over a bit of stage fright.
10. Jet (Band on the Run)
11. New York City (John, Some Time in New York City, 1972) - John's cover of "Stand by Me" from 1975 originally occupied this spot. Ethan Hawke didn't include anything from Some Time... or Wild Life, and I can't really blame him for that, since neither album is among John's or Paul's greatest. But if you like, you can sub this track in for either "Tight A$" from Mind Games or "Rock and Roll People", an outtake from 1973.
12. Step Lightly (Ringo) - This replaces Ringo's cover of "No No Song" from 1974. I could've kept it in, but again, I am sticking solely to 1970-1973, and "No No Song" is one year off from qualifying by my rules. Another possible substitution is "Sunshine Life for Me".
13. Junk (McCartney)
14. Love (John, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, 1970)
15. The Back Seat of My Car (Paul, Ram, 1971)
16. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) (All Things Must Pass) - "Watching the Wheels" originally took this spot, but I swapped it out for this folksy Harrisong not only to avoid having two John songs back to back, but also to give George more songs because if the compilation was pruned down to a fourth of the length, then that'd be the rough equivalent to George having only two songs, and I want to make sure that he had at least three or four songs on each disc.
17. Mind Games (Mind Games)
18. Bluebird (Band on the Run)
19. You Are Here (Mind Games) - Originally taken up by "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)", it's another love song by John dedicated to Yoko, though it doesn't have to necessarily be restricted to romantic attraction.
20. What Is Life (All Things Must Pass)

Disc Two

1. God (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
2. Tomorrow (Paul, Wild Life, 1971) - Paul's 1975 hit "Listen to What the Man Said" originally took this spot. Instead, I include this pseudo-sequel to "Yesterday", with hopes for a better future. Another possible substitute is "Dear Boy" from Ram.
3. Crippled Inside (Imagine)
4. You're Sixteen (Ringo)
5. Let Me Roll It (Band on the Run)
6. Power to the People (John, non-album single, 1971)
7. Another Day (Paul, non-album single, 1971)
8. If Not for You (All Things Must Pass)
9. Out the Blue (Mind Games) - John's comeback single "(Just Like) Starting Over" originally occupied this spot. "Out the Blue" contains a similar theme of feeling gratitude to the singer's lover for appearing in their life.
10. Teddy Boy (McCartney) - Originally taken up by "Let 'Em In" from 1976, I replace it with a track that seems to be about John, making a nice little segue into "Mother".
11. Mother (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
12. Helen Wheels (Band on the Run)
13. I Found Out (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band)
14. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey (Ram)
15. Instant Karma! (John, non-album single, 1970)
16. Run of the Mill (All Things Must Pass) - Originally occupied by George's 1979 re-recording of "Not Guilty"; "Run of the Mill" has a similar theme with George expressing his frustration with what was going on between the Beatles at the time.
17. Heart of the Country (Ram)
18. Oh Yoko! (Imagine)
19. Be Here Now (Living in the Material World) - "Mull of Kintyre" was originally in this spot. "Be Here Now" is similarly dreamlike in terms of sound, but it is a little more general.
20. It Don't Come Easy (Ringo, non-album single, 1971)

Disc Three

1. Look at Me (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) - 1984's "Grow Old with Me" originally kicked off disc three. My revision starts with a similarly stripped song that was first started in India, and even serves as a call forward to "Oh My Love".
2. My Love (Paul, Red Rose Speedway, 1973) - Technically not a new addition, since it was originally track four on disc three in Hawke's original compilation. I moved it forward to substitute for Paul's 1976 hit "Silly Love Songs". Why would you have two tracks with a similar theme on the same disc, much less within four minutes of each other? Not to mention the similar title to John's "Oh My Love", which could've led to a bit of a mix-up.
3. Apple Scruffs (All Things Must Pass) - Originally taken up by "Real Love", the posthumous 1996 single. Hawke left George out of the run for love songs, which is something I hope to correct here with this ode to the Beatles' female fans.
4. Six O'Clock (Ringo) - Hawke left Ringo off of the third disc for some reason, and so I rectified that by including a song Paul wrote for Ringo; one of his most honest, direct songs. You could use the extended version found on Goodnight Vienna and I think it works either way. This takes the place of "My Love", having already been moved up two spaces.
5. Oh My Love (Imagine)
6. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) (Living in the Material World)
7. Get on the Right Thing (Red Rose Speedway) - Paul's final #1 hit from 1983, "Pipes of Peace" occupied this spot originally. I'm not quite sure of which songs from this period would have a similar theme to "problems disappearing with love", so I chose "Get on the Right Thing" as the closest equivalent I could think of.
8. Imagine (Imagine)
9. One More Kiss (Red Rose Speedway) - Paul's tribute to John from 1982, "Here Today", originally took this spot. I substitute that for a similar sounding deep cut from Red Rose Speedway.
10. All Things Must Pass (All Things Must Pass)
11. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (Band on the Run) - Paul's 1991 Unplugged performance of "And I Love Her" originally closed off this compilation. Hawke started it off with "Band on the Run", so I chose to end it with the track that reprises it at the end to bring things full circle. What else can you do except start a new one?

With this revised track listing, we now have eighteen vocal spots each by John and Paul, ten by George, and five by Ringo, still maintaining 51 tracks. Now that it focuses solely on the first few years following the Beatles' break-up, it feels more coherent in my opinion. Of course, not everyone will agree with the changes I made, and that's fine. Ethan Hawke may have compiled The Black Album, but we're the ones who listened to it and have had our say as to how good it is. I'm one of those people, and I've had my say as to how I could've arranged it differently.

Does anyone know how I could contact Mr. Hawke? I imagine that I'd have a few interesting discussions with how I'd rearrange The Black Album!