The White Album as a Single LP

Background

One of the benefits of the Beatles' trip to India in 1968 is that it gave them plenty of time to write songs. During their stay in Rishikesh, John, Paul and George were prolific. When they returned to London they had over 30 new songs for what would become The Beatles, more commonly known as the "White Album" after its spare, all‑white cover. The original title of the album had been A Doll's House, after Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play, but after Family released Music in a Doll's House in July of 1968, the Beatles decided to scrap that title in favor of something much simpler. Richard Hamilton's minimalist cover design was a stark contrast to the ornate cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, signaling that the Beatles were moving away from the studio experimentation of that album ("Revolution 9" aside). The only markings on the cover were a low‑contrast embossing of the band's name and a serial number.

George Martin was not in favor of releasing the White Album as a double album, arguing that the Beatles should be more selective. Martin later stated,

The double‑album format was not common in 1968, but the White Album was not the first. Bob Dylan had released Blonde on Blonde in May of 1966 and Frank Zappa followed with Freak Out in July of that year. Donovan released his two‑LP box set A Gift from a Flower to a Garden in December of 1967. Cream's Wheels of Fire came out in August, 1968, and Jimi Hendrix released Electric Ladyland in October of 1968 as the Beatles were recording the White Album. The White Album did have the distinction of being the longest all‑new release to date, clocking in at over 93 minutes.

The Beatles had actually recorded more songs during the White Album sessions than were included on the album. The third volume of Anthology included George's "Not Guilty" and John's "What's the New Mary Jane," which were completed but dropped from the album. Anthology also included a demo of Paul's song "Junk," which was one of the 27 "Esher Demos," all of which were included on the 2018 Super Deluxe Edition reissue of the White Album. A few of the Esher Demo songs resurfaced later on solo albums by the Beatles. Paul recorded "Junk" for his first solo album, McCartney, John reworked "Child of Nature" as "Jealous Guy" for his 1971 album Imagine, George re‑recorded "Not Guilty" in 1979 for his album George Harrison and "Circles" was the closing track on George's 1982 album Gone Troppo. A couple of the Esher Demos became part of the Abbey Road medley, "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam."

Despite George Martin's objections, the Beatles were insistent that their next album would be a double album. Though the Beatles' disagreements were becoming more pointed, on this they could all agree. George would have several tracks on a two‑record set—more than he would have had on a single‑disk LP. Ringo's first original song, "Don't Pass Me By," would also find a place on a double album. Mainly, though, the Beatles saw this as a way to satisfy the requirements of their contract with EMI. The group had signed a contract with a song quota, and releasing a double album with 30 songs would move them quickly toward that number. According to Nicholas Schaffner in The Beatles Forever (1978), after releasing a double album, the Beatles would only have to produce one more album for EMI. And besides, the Beatles were going to release as many songs as they could in whatever way they saw fit. As Paul says in The Beatles Anthology, "It's the bloody Beatles White Album. Shut up!"

The White Album is often cited as the beginning of the end for the Beatles. During the recording of the White Album, the Beatles were often working in effect as solo artists. They used the other members of the band as backing musicians or recorded tracks entirely solo, rather than working together as they had on previous albums. As George Harrison put it, "the rot had already set in." (quoted in Lewisohn) Perhaps this lack of compromise contributed to large number of songs on the album, as none of the Beatles was willing to give up his contributions.

Of course, part of the White Album's appeal is its sprawling, ambitious character. As Jann Wenner wrote in Rolling Stone, "Nothing could have been more ambitious than the current release: The Beatles is the history and synthesis of Western music." Whatever problems the Beatles were having during the recording of the White Album, the result was astounding. All hyperbole aside, the White Album was an ambitious release with some of the Beatles' finest moments. Still, it is interesting to ponder what its impact would have been as a single‑disc LP.

In Tell Me Why (1988), Tim Riley noted George Martin's reluctance to release the White Album as a double album but he wondered which songs would have been left off. He speculated that the choices would have been "'Wild Honey Pie' certainly, 'Rocky Raccoon' perhaps; 'Long, Long, Long' is the weakest George track, but 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', 'Piggies', and 'Savoy Truffle' are essentials. There is no sequence that would satisfy the strictures of the forty‑minute record without discarding not a few but many great tracks." In The Beatles as Musicians (1999), Walter Everett speculated that George Martin would have preferred the following single‑disc LP:

Walter Everett in The Beatles as Musicians

In the review of the 30th Anniversary CD release of the White Album for Mojo magazine, Charles Shaar Murray stated, "Most people agree with George Martin that would have made a killer single album—it's just that no‑one agrees with anybody else about what should be on it." Murray's edit of the White Album was:

Charles Shaar Murray in Mojo

In recent years, many people have offered their own edit of the White Album, from Marc Caro in The Chicago Tribune (2008), Tyler Golsen in Far Out (2021), and The 45-Minute Album Police on Ultimate Classic Rock, to fan submissions on Rate Your Music, Steve Hoffman Music Forums, The Beatles Bible and multiple times on Reddit.

After providing his single‑LP version of the White Album, Murray asked, "What's yours?" Click on the "Build Your Own" link and use the drag-and-drop interface to put together your version of an alternative single‑disc White Album. Have fun filling it out. Be sure to submit your selections because I'm looking forward to seeing what other people think. By the way, my single‑LP White Album is as follows:

The Turn Me On, Dead Man single-LP White Album

My thinking here is that the Beatles' early UK albums typically contained 14 songs and this version has seven tracks on each side. I'm partial to John's songs from this era so six of the tracks are John's, one more than Paul's five. George gets three of the tracks on this single LP version. The main problem with this version is that Ringo isn't represented the way he would have been had the Beatles actually taken this single-LP route. Still, I think these are the strongest tracks on the album and I wanted to make each side roughly 22 minutes.