…And yes, I am aware that the correct name for the album is just “The Beatles”, as in an eponymous title. No need to race down to the comment section only to find there isn’t one.
SIDE A:
- Wild Honey Pie
- Back In The U.S.S.R.
- What’s The New Mary Jane (Esher Demo version)*
- Blackbird
- Piggies **
SIDE B:
- Happiness Is A Warm Gun
- Birthday
- Cry Baby Cry
- Revolution 9 ***
- Long, Long, Long ****
EXPLANATIONS VIA ASTERISKS:
* Most people who have heard this have only been exposed to the rubbish studio version, which is an ungainly mess (although it is amusing to listen to if you’re in the right frame of mind). The original acoustic demo reveals it as a pretty good (and deeply eerie) sub-three-minute long number, with some particularly spooky harmony vocals and a much better take on the “freakout” ending. Shame about the lyrics…
** Ian MacDonald refers to this as “an embarrassing blot on [Harrison’s] discography” in Revolution In The Head, because a fuckwit by the name of Charles “Charlie Charles Marilyn Manson” Manson heard it and went bananas. Ian MacDonald didn’t understand punk, praised the horrible “stereo separation” on the versions of Beatles LPs available at the time, and when he first heard Bowie’s Low, he roared “Mother, this is too magickal for me,” and spent the rest of the day on the toilet. A grown man, scared of a record! Aside from that, good writer.
*** Fucking deal with it, Giles Martin.
**** As genuinely delightful as “Good Night” is, this feels more appropriate.