Beatles albums with no singles... but what if?

I'm surprised no one considered Rocky Raccoon from The White Album. When it was first released, 77 WABC AM in NYC played many of the White Album tracks in rotation for a while; RR was one of the most played and sounded very natural as a hit single that could have been. Of course, USSR was the other very heavily played one.

 

Yes but the us albums are canon and Capitol records got rubber soul right!

 

So " he blew his mind out in a car" is acceptable but not turn me on deadman? Weird times.

 

...then there *are* those who absolutely refuse to consider the U.S. albums as "canon".

 

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is very radio friendly and could easily have been George's first A-side, b/w "Birthday".

 

Ob-la-di Ob-la-da is surely the greatest selling Beatles single that never was.
We used to sing it in primary school during singing practice lessons, along with 59th Street Bridge Song and Raindrops keep Falling on My Head! It certainly sounded really catchy and would have been a massive seller.

 

How about

Helter Skelter b/w Glass Onion

 

They are the Apocrypha,

 

their policy was not to release singles and also have them on the albums. explain these to me 2 hard days night ep's 8 songs from the album 2 beatles for sale ep;s 8 songs from the album. 2 from please please me the beatles hits were already out as singles.

 

EPs were neither singles nor albums, but a compromise - usually targeted at those who wanted more than just the singles, but couldn't afford expensive albums. They were basically "Best Of The Album Tracks" releases, or in the cases of EPs that collected previous hit singles - mini-Greatest Hits albums.

Of course sometimes EPs would contain some or even all exclusive tracks - such as Long Tall Sally.

EPs generally served a different market/fanbase. Albums were for hardcore fans and EPs were for moderate fans, while singles were for everybody - casual/moderate/hardcore fans.

Also it wasn't "Beatles policy" to not pull singles from previously released albums - it was common sense, and what nearly everyone did in the UK at the time. Why? Because the UK singles chart was based on sales ONLY - radio airplay was 100% irrelevant. Pulling a single from a weeks/months old album that many fans have already bought was a risky (and borderline stupid) move since those who already bought the album would have no use for the single, so the single would sell less and therefore chart lower.

When the Beatles pulled Something/Come Together from Abbey Road as a single a few weeks AFTER the album came out (the only time they ever did that) they got their lowest charting single since Love Me Do.

 

That’s my question to everyone voting for “Eight Days a Week.”

 

Plus they didn't come out for a months after the albums.

 

Now this is a better thread!

 

The US albums are not canon. The Beatles had no say in their production, as opposite to the UK albums that truly represent their artistry.

What Capitol did was to compile tracks from several sources and form exlusively commercialy oriented albums. Artistic input from the band was ZERO.

"Oh but they recorded "Bad Boy" exclusively for a Capitol album". By request. And that was just a throw away.

I know some of you are fond of those albums because you grew up listening to them but they weren't made by The Beatles.

If the US discography is canon, then so are the discographies from the other countries.

Let's face it. The Beatles were english, made their records in england, and England was probably the only country in the 60s to have The Beatles' albums the way The Beatles made them.

 

I'm not really buying into the premise of this thread. If the Beatles did include singles from their albums, wouldn't their already established singles have been part of the albums in those timeframes?

For example, wouldn't With The Beatles have included She Loves You or I Want To Hold Your Hand?
Wouldn't Beatles For Sale have included I Feel Fine and possibly Eight Days A Week been a single in the UK?
etc.

 

Canon I say!

 

I'm going to cheat and release a double A-side for each of these albums. I listed my preference for a single A-side first, in case double A-sides don't count.

"All My Loving" / "It Won't Be Long" from With the Beatles
"Eight Days a Week" / "I'll Follow the Sun" from Beatles for Sale ("No Reply" would also make a good double A-side with "Eight Days a Week")
"In My Life" / "Nowhere Man" from Rubber Soul ("Drive My Car" would probably be a better alternative in terms of contrast to "In My Life," but I honestly can't stand that song; "Michelle" and "Norwegian Wood" are also deserving A-sides)
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" / "Sgt. Pepper's - With a Little Help" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ("A Day in the Life" is also a deserving A-side)
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" / "Blackbird" from The Beatles (many plausible alternatives: "Back in the U.S.S.R.," "Dear Prudence," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da")

 

I know that such a thing was unheard of for a Beatle single but I can't help but wonder if WMGGW had been released as an A-side, would Clapton's solo have been "shortened"..

 

I agree completely.. This topic is the wrong way round.. Many of the Beatles singles , maybe most, were recorded at the same sessions as the albums, and they (plus George Martin) deliberately selected which songs to release as singles and chose them over other album tracks...

If you are going to develop an argument to release another album track as a single then you need to select a single to drop to make room for it in the UK release schedule at least.....ie one they got 'wrong'.. For example, if you look at the sequence from She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine.....etc, etc, you can just keep going as far as you like.... How are you going to squeeze another single in there??? I think It Won't Be Long is a great song for instance, but it wouldn't beat the others as a single...

All My Loving and Twist and Shout right at the start maybe, but as others have pointed out above,, the EPs were doing the job of getting those songs out there in the UK market for non-album buyers.

 

glad you are happy! LOL...

 

All My Loving/I Wanna Be Your Man

Eight Days A Week/Baby's In Black - I am actually stunned Eight Days A Week wasn't a single

Rubber Soul is another matter for me... it isn't actually a favourite, and I don't buy into the US version was better, mainly because I've Just Seen A Face is a great song, but not an album starter for me ... but singles, Rubber Soul was rife with good singles
Drive My Car
Michelle
In My Life
Norwegian Wood
Nowhere Man
If I Needed Someone

Sgt Pepper is the exact opposite to Rubber Soul for me. I love the album, but I just don't really see much in the way of a single.
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds/ Fixing A Hole

The Beatles/White Album has so many songs, it is remarkable that there weren't any singles
Back In The USSR, seems an obvious choice, but
Dear Prudence
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Blackbird
Birthday
Helter Skelter, perhaps with an edit at the end.

 

Okay, I'll play.

With The Beatles - All My Loving/Hold Me Tight
Beatles for Sale - Eight Days a Week/I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
(yes, this is a Capitol single)
Rubber Soul - Nowhere Man/If I Needed Someone
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Getting Better/She's Leaving Home
(I wanted this to be "A Day in the Life" but I could imagine that being embargoed until the album's release)
S/T ("The White Album") - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/Don't Pass Me By
(alternate: "Hey Bulldog")

 

This could have been a single , an upbeat catchy song ,perfect radio fodder. ' A Day in the Life ' Or ' While My Guitar Gently Weeps ' would not make good singles.

 

Must be that time of day...killing time with another Beatles "what if"

OK, I'll bite

What if The Beatles released singles like they do with modern albums (3 or more single rule)*:

Rubber Soul
Drive My Car/You Won't See Me
In My Life/If I Needed Someone
Nowhere Man/Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Revolver
Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby (nothing new)
Got to Get You Into My Life/She Said, She Said
And Your Bird Can Sing/Here, There and Everywhere

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Stg. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds/Fixing a Hole
A Day In The Life/Lovely Rita
Getting Better/Good Morning, Good Morning

The White Album
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps (released in other countries, but it's a logical choice)
Back In The USSR/Yer Blues
Dear Prudence/Not Guilty
Blackbird/What's The New Mary Jane
Sexy Sadie/Rocky Raccoon

Yellow Submarine
Hey Bulldog/All Together Now (a flip of the German single)
Only a Northern Song/It's All Too Much

Abbey Road
Something/Come Together (as per normal)
Maxwell's Silver Hammer/Oh! Darling
Here Comes The Sun/Octopus's Garden

Let It Be
Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) (normal)
The Long and Winding Road/For You Blue (normal)
Across the Universe/Two of Us
One After 909/Dig a Pony

* or at least before the streaming era, if you count the CD era as "modern".