Improving The Beatles Red and Blue Albums

The Beatles' 1962-1966 (Red Album) and 1967-1970 (Blue Album) compilation albums that originally released in 1973 need little introduction. The 54 songs across both albums captured The Beatles evolving sound over the years and naturally split their music into early and late eras. However, the decision to only include original Lennon-McCartney compositions on the 1973 release of the Red Album means that it lacks The Beatles' popular covers from early in their career and songs written by George Harrison. The Blue Album did a better job of properly representing the back half of the Beatles' loaded catalog, but its full track listing left a few notable songs on the chopping block that I believe should have been included.

Fortunately, The Beatles recently released a new 2023 Edition of the albums, which rectify most of these issues and increase the track total to 75 songs. This wouldn't be the internet if I didn't have my own opinions on the new releases, so let's take a look at the new track listings.

Project Goals

The goals for my track listing are:

• Create a cohesive compilation that is enjoyable to listen to
• Express the diversity of The Beatles' catalog
• Demonstrate their growth in technique, songwriting, and production
• Divide the eras covered by the albums more logically
• Sort the songs in the canonical album order
• Prioritize popular songs that anyone can enjoy in the spirit of the original compilations
• Include deeper cuts if they are accessible and display a unique aspect of the band not captured by the other songs
• Remove songs that don't add much to the project as a whole
• Add songs that I enjoy enough to feel warranted
• Remove songs that I don't enjoy enough to feel warranted
• Attempt to logically divide the tracks to fit on multiple discs/vinyl records

1962-1966 (Red Album)

1973 Release

The original Red Album consisted of 26 songs composed by Lennon-McCartney spread across two discs:

2023 Release

The lack of popular cover songs and songs written by George are addressed on the 2023 edition of the Red Album, which adds 12 songs.

Additionally, the 1962 UK single of Love Me Do with Ringo on drums replaced the previous version of the song from the album Please Please Me, which featured Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine.

The 2023 Red Album consists of 38 songs spread across two discs:

I'm really happy with the addition of I'm Only Sleeping. It's such a John Lennon song of the era and captures that special part of the day when you're drifting away into your dreams in the morning. I would have thought it would be considered a deeper cut, but it brings something new to the album and is a great addition.

My Version: 1962-1965 (Red Album)

My version of 1962-1965 (Red Album) contains 43 tracks and runs approximately 104 minutes. The compilation spans the albums Please Please Me (1963), which contains Love Me Do recorded in 1962, through Rubber Soul (1965). The most significant change is that the album now stops at 1965 with Rubber Soul instead of going through 1966 to include Revolver. I'll cover my reasoning for that choice when we get there.

Disc 1

1. Love Me Do (1962 UK single)
3. Love Me Do (Album version)
4. Do You Want To Know A Secret
8. It Won't Be Long
9. All I've Got To Do
10. Roll Over Beethoven
11. You Really Got A Hold On Me
11. Don't Bother Me
12. Money (That's What I Want)
8. This Boy
14. Long Tall Sally
13. You Can’t Do That
18. Things We Said Today

The track numberings in these changelogs are going to get entirely out of whack as we go, particularly by the time we get to an additional disc on my updated Blue Album. Songs that are removed follow the numbering from the 2023 editions. Songs that are added follow the numbering from my new track listings.

Disc 1 focuses on capturing the exciting energy of the early Beatles. I selected my favorite songs from this period and removed songs that I felt didn't appropriately capture Beatlemania.

1. Love Me Do (1962 UK single)
3. Love Me Do (Album version)
4. Do You Want To Know A Secret

The album now opens with the Please Please Me opener I Saw Her Standing There in accordance with my goal of sorting the songs in the album release order. I think this is the perfect introduction to The Beatles and demonstrates their early knack for songwriting and energetic performances. The opening lyrics are:

She was just seventeen
If you know what I mean
And the way she looked was way beyond compare

Nobody knew what he meant, but everyone had their own idea. These lyrics were radical at the time and left everyone young feeling that they could relate to them. George tops it off with a great solo alongside Ringo's signature swinging drum pattern.

The next change is swapping the version of Love Me Do for the original version featured on the Please Please Me album with Andy White on drums and Ringo on tambourine. I prefer this version for its more upbeat sound. Sorry Ringo!

I added Do You Want To Know A Secret, which features George's first time on vocals and captures the beloved harmonies of The Beatles during this period. Personally, I'm a fan of the guitar style, which I can only describe (poorly) as delightfully chunky.

8. It Won't Be Long
9. All I've Got To Do
10. Roll Over Beethoven
11. You Really Got A Hold On Me
11. Don't Bother Me
12. Money (That's What I Want)

Next, I opted to include more songs from With the Beatles because I felt that the album was underrepresented.

It Won't Be Long has a classic sound from this era and deserves an inclusion.

All I've Got To Do demonstrates Ringo's brilliant drumming patterns. Who else would have played like that on this track?

Don't Bother Me was the first song written by George and has a great classic riff on the solo.

Money (That's What I Want) is one of my favorite early covers by the band. It's not as popular as their cover of Twist And Shout, but it's well performed and fits a running motif throughout the band's catalog about money. This replaces the original cover chosen, Roll Over Beethoven, which I don't feel adds enough to be included.

I also removed You Really Got A Hold On Me, which is a song I do like but fail to see a strong reason to justify its inclusion in the greater context of the project.

8. This Boy

I opted to remove This Boy from the track list. It's a fine song, but I don't see how it adds much.

14. Long Tall Sally

In the place of This Boy, we get Long Tall Sally, which is one of The Beatles' better covers complete with a rocking solo. This is the peak of The Beatles early energy and also exposes their influence from the Architect or Rock and Roll, Little Richard.

13. You Can’t Do That
18. Things We Said Today

Moving onto A Hard Day's Night, I removed You Can't Do That. It's another fine song that doesn't add much to the compilation in my opinion. Instead, I included Things We Said Today, which I think is one of The Beatles' best early songs and a large snub from the original track listing.

Closing out Disc 1, we get I Feel Fine and She's A Woman, the A and B side singles released in November 1964. It's worth highlighting Ringo's drumming on I Feel Fine, which I believe is some of his best¹. These mark clear growth for the group into a more refined sound and feel appropriate to end the first disc.

Disc 2

1. No Reply
2. I'm A Loser
3. I'll Follow The Sun
4. What You're Doing
7. The Night Before
10. Act Naturally
11. I've Just Seen A Face
18. The Word
20. What Goes On
22. I'm Looking Through You
10. If I Needed Someone
12. Paperback Writer
13. Eleanor Rigby
14. Yellow Submarine
15. Taxman
16. Got To Get You Into My Life
17. I’m Only Sleeping
18. Here, There And Everywhere
19. Tomorrow Never Knows

My changes to disc 2 primarily consist of removing the songs from Revolver and adding new songs from this era that I felt deserved more recognition.

1. No Reply
2. I'm A Loser
3. I'll Follow The Sun
4. What You're Doing

We begin with Beatles For Sale. Although it's regarded on the lower end of The Beatles' albums, it's still tragically underrepresented on the 2023 release. Beatles For Sale was a bit of a rushed album that shows signs of stardom and Beatlemania wearing down on the Beatles. The Beatles had also recently met Bob Dylan². Dylan's influence and The Beatles' exhaustion are reflected throughout the album.

No Reply and I'm A Loser, the two largest snubs across both 2023 editions of the albums, are added in where they should have originally been.

I'll Follow The Sun is added due to its more folk sound as well as how it riffs with Here Comes The Sun later in the compilation.

What You're Doing has a similar folk sound that deserves recognition to display the Beatles sound during this era.

Other songs that I considered but decided against including were Baby's in Black and I Don't Want to Spoil the Party.

7. The Night Before
10. Act Naturally
11. I've Just Seen A Face

Next up is Help!

I chose to add The Night Before simply because I enjoy it and view it as essential early Beatles.

Act Naturally is an enjoyable country song featuring Ringo on vocals, warranting its inclusion. I chose this one over Another Girl, which felt a bit too obscure. I know it's not their most popular song, but it's a good listen with an open mind.

I've Just Seen A Face is an incredibly fun song that Paul still performs on tour. I don't believe it charted too highly, but I know a few casual Beatles fans that like it. Finally, it was famously the opener to the US release of Rubber Soul, which cements its spot on the list.

18. The Word
20. What Goes On
22. I'm Looking Through You
10. If I Needed Someone

The last album on the revised Red Album is Rubber Soul.

I added The Word because it marks a shift to The Beatles' focus on love and positivity in their public messaging. It was an important song that felt like a precursor to the Summer of Love.

The next addition is What Goes On, another song sung by Ringo in the country/rockabilly genre. It features Ringo's first composition credit on a Beatles song. Perhaps not the most popular song from Rubber Soul, but I like it and am trying to highlight Ringo in areas besides the drums where he obviously shines.

The final addition from Rubber Soul is I'm Looking Through You, which is one of my favorites. It's a painfully accurate portrayal of a fractured relationship. It captures the heart of the songs about strained relationships on Rubber Soul that are missing from the track list (such as You Won't See Me).

I removed If I Needed Someone because there are already too many songs from Rubber Soul at this point, and it felt like it was shoehorned to fill an arbitrary George quota for the 2023 release. I've never heard anyone claim they particularly love any of the songs after In My Life, so I don't feel too bad about removing this song.

Why end with Rubber Soul?

Following significant growth in a short amount of time, The Beatles naturally had more notable songs in the back half of their catalog, so I believe it makes more sense for the Red Album to cover a four-year period while the Blue Album covers a five-year period.

Further, I view Rubber Soul as a natural transition for The Beatles. It was the final album that recording engineer Norman Smith worked on with the group. The songs also shifted from happier love songs to being noticeably more pessimistic and exploring new themes outside of love. The album is also the first with prominent influences from experimentation with drugs (cannabis in this case).

Another aspect is that Rubber Soul is considered The Beatles' first great album. It notably directly inspired Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys to write Pet Sounds³.

Most importantly, this was the last album performed while The Beatles were still touring. Revolver's innovative studio techniques proved to be too challenging to perform live⁴, so The Beatles only performed songs through Rubber Soul.

Finally, the album ends with In My Life, an introspective song written and sung by John. Its lyrics looking back on John's life feel suitable for the closer to this chapter of The Beatles.

1967-1970 (Blue Album)

1973 Release

The original Blue Album consisted of 26 songs spread across two discs:

2023 Release

The 2023 edition of the Blue Album adds 9 songs.

Now and Then is a new 2023 Beatles single created from an unfinished demo recorded by John Lennon, which was able to be created thanks to an impressive audio tool developed by Peter Jackson's team⁵ during the creation of his Beatles Get Back documentary.

The 2023 Blue Album consists of 37 songs spread across two discs:

My Version: 1966-1970 (Blue Album)

My version of 1966-1970 (Blue Album) contains 57 tracks and runs approximately 179 minutes. The compilation spans the albums Revolver (1966) through Let It Be (1970) / Abbey Road (1969).

Disc 1

1. Paperback Writer
2. Taxman
3. Eleanor Rigby
4. I’m Only Sleeping
5. Here, There And Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. For No One
10. Got To Get You Into My Life
11. Tomorrow Never Knows
1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Penny Lane
6. Within You Without You
15. Fixing A Hole
16. Lovely Rita

Disc 1 of the updated Blue Album begins in 1966 and introduces us to The Beatles' studio era where they stopped touring and were no longer restrained by having to create songs that could be performed live. This allowed for a burst in musical creativity with the band now free to experiment to their hearts' content when composing songs solely for studio recordings.

1. Paperback Writer

If Rubber Soul laid the groundwork for The Beatles' transition into greatness, Paperback Writer was proof they were already there. The harmonies, instruments, and creative lyrics blend perfectly together, and The Beatles perform a harder sound than they had previously. Paperback Writer was the only song from 1966 performed live by The Beatles during their final tour and naturally lends itself to being the perfect song to transition the eras.

I considered adding the B-side single Rain for Ringo's strong drumming performance and the playful commentary on songs about the sun, but it didn't feel quite right in this playlist. It's more of a deep cut for passionate fans in my opinion.

7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. For No One

Like Rubber Soul, Revolver is in contention for the best Beatles album, so it deserves more songs. Shifting Revolver onto the Blue Album allows for us to experience the studio version of The Beatles, and with that change comes their LSD-inspired sound. These aren't your mother's Beatles. Or maybe they are...

She Said She Said is one of my favorite songs from Revolver. It exposes us to John's psychedelic lyrics and pairs perfectly with the next addition.

Good Day Sunshine is Paul's take on a similar idea used in She Said She Said's composition and is inspired by Lovin' Spoonful's Daydream that topped the American charts when it was written. It's a classic happy song to balance out some of the more negative songs from this period that has wider appeal to most listeners.

For No One is a beautiful yet heartbreaking song that brings us back down from the highs of Good Day Sunshine. This song marks the end of Paul's relationship with Jane Asher, and it also feels like an end of the love songs for The Beatles. From here on out, the songs seem less personal and more focused on storytelling.

Tomorrow Never Knows closes out Revolver like it does on the 2023 release, and its wild experimentation carries us into a new age of The Beatles' songwriting.

1. Strawberry Fields Forever
2. Penny Lane

I should briefly mention a rather notable change I made. I moved Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane to later on in the listing for their canonical release on Magical Mystery Tour. These always felt like the wrong opener to the Blue Album to me and would have found themselves awkwardly stuck in the middle of my updated disc 1. To prevent disc 1 from running too long, I've decided to stick with the canonical album releases.

6. Within You Without You
15. Fixing A Hole
16. Lovely Rita

This may sound sacrilegious, but I have never been a big fan of Within You Without You and how it breaks up Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, so I removed it from the track listing. Now it certainly exposes another side of The Beatles and their influence from Indian music, but I feel those influences are better captured in a more subtle manner on Ticket To Ride and Norwegian Wood and less subtly on Tomorrow Never Knows.

Fixing A Hole can be viewed as Paul's response to John's Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, so it slots in right after. I find it presents a beautifully complex composition with an interesting story.

Lovely Rita's intro places me right in 1967 with that acoustic guitar riff and the staggered entrances by each musician. The story is comical and expresses the Beatles' ever-present cheekiness throughout their careers. The outro composition is entirely unexpected and further demonstrates the group's growth.

Disc 1 now ends with A Day In The Life. I don't have much new commentary to add about the song itself, so I'll simply highlight that it's often regarded as The Beatles' greatest song. I love it as the final track to disc 1 because it has this sense of grandeur that requires a bit of time to decompress from. I thought about replacing this version of A Day In The Life, which has cleaned intro and outro sections with the version from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band so that the disc would end with the comical runoff and dog whistle at the end of the track, but the new version flows better. Listeners can save that Easter egg for the first time the listen to the album on vinyl.

Disc 2

10. The Fool On The Hill
4. Strawberry Fields Forever
5. Penny Lane
15. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
17. Helter Skelter

Disc 2 begins as a psychedelic fever dream that our musical journey has slipped into, and I love it. We are greeted with the Magical Mystery Tour album and its eponymous song. Another great opener with the triumphant trumpets and a lovely bass line from Paul. I love the way this song plays off the heavy ending of A Day In The Life. It brings a much needed pick-me-up while also guiding the listener to discover that The Beatles may have lost their minds. What a wonderful introduction before we descend into the madness that is I Am The Walrus.

10. The Fool On The Hill
4. Strawberry Fields Forever
5. Penny Lane

The Fool On The Hill felt like an odd inclusion in the original track list to me. It's a song I personally enjoy, but I seldom hear many casual Beatles fans remark favorably of it. I removed it because I don't think it's a particularly stand-out track that adds enough on this already very long list.

At long last, here are Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane. John and Paul's brilliant compositional rivalry is on full display with these songs now slotted in their album position. Alongside them is All You Need Is Love, which has also been moved to represent its inclusion on Magical Mystery Tour.

15. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
17. Helter Skelter

Disc 2 finishes with The Beatles' eponymous, packed, and eclectic album dubbed the White Album. The 2023 edition did a good job of adding some worthy songs, but the album is full of so many songs (30 in total), that I think it needs a few more to capture all of the ideas that were explored.

I added Happiness Is A Warm Gun, which is one of my favorite from the album. It's a journey through several different ideas that is revisited on the medley on Abbey Road.

I also added Helter Skelter, which on the surface sounds unlike any other Beatles song. This is The Beatles at their absolute hardest and contrasts shockingly with Blackbird before it, providing some context to how all over the place the White Album was. The songs fades out, fades back in, and then fades out to Hey Bulldog to end disc 2.

Disc 3

2. Don't Let Me Down
20. I Me Mine
5. I've Got A Feeling
6. One After 909
11. Old Brown Shoe
14. You Never Give Me Your Money
15. Sun King
16. Mean Mr Mustard
17. Polythene Pam
18. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
19. Golden Slumbers
20. Carry That Weight
21. The End
22. Now And Then

Disc 3 opens with Let It Be (1970) before Abbey Road (1969). I am intentionally breaking my own project goal here to follow the canon album order. However, I have good reasons!

1. The majority of the recording for Let It Be occurred in January 1969 before Abbey Road
2. The Beatles deliberately produced Abbey Road as their final album
3. Let It Be released in 1970 following the band's breakup after Phil Spector was brought in to salvage the recordings

2. Don't Let Me Down

While I'm breaking the rules, I may as well break them again for the disc 3 opener. The Get Back / Don't Let Me Down single released on April 11, 1969, more than a year before the release of Let It Be. Don't Let Me Down was a pivotal part of the Get Back sessions, and The Beatles performed it multiple times during the rooftop concert. Its exclusion from Let It Be always baffled me, and I think it's good enough to warrant a spot on this album.

However, this leaves Don't Let Me Down in an awkward spot. Where should it be placed? I find that Get Back is a better opener than Don't Let Me Down, and presumably The Beatles agree since it opened their rooftop concert and is the A-side of their single. Accordingly, first up on disc 3 is the electric live performance of Get Back from the rooftop concert with Billy Preston on piano. This is followed by the second unique song from the rooftop performance and the B-side to Get Back: Don't Let Me Down.

20. I Me Mine
5. I've Got A Feeling
6. One After 909

I removed the newly added I Me Mine as my first change to Let It Be. It's a song that I do enjoy but doesn't seem like the best representation from a relatively messy album. I feel like its inclusion was once again to fill a George quota and doesn't add much to the project as a whole. Sorry George!

Next, I added two songs from the rooftop concert: I've Got A Feeling and One After 909. I think the rooftop songs deserve more recognition, and I really enjoy the energy in them! We hadn't seen this much energy from The Beatles since the Red Album.

I've Got A Feeling is my favorite song on Let It Be. You can hear Paul smiling through the audio, and the back and forth with John feels great. It's the peak of their rooftop performance, and they performed it twice during their set. Its inclusion is a no-brainer.

One After 909 is a song dating back to 1960 with a young John Lennon as a member of The Quarrymen. This provides a rare glimpse at what the modern Beatles sound like playing their old music and is a great example of their growth in skill at playing their instruments. A proper redemption arc for Ringo from his exclusion on Love Me Do!

11. Old Brown Shoe

Once again, I'm removing a George song by striking out Old Brown Shoe. I truly enjoy many of George's songs. Something is brilliant, and All Things Must Pass is an excellent album. But this is such an obscure song that isn't particularly unique and is perhaps the most odd inclusion on the project dating back to the 1973 release. I don't feel that anything is lost by removing it from this increasingly long track list.

14. You Never Give Me Your Money
15. Sun King
16. Mean Mr Mustard
17. Polythene Pam
18. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
19. Golden Slumbers
20. Carry That Weight
21. The End

Next is what I consider my least sound change, but I'm happy with the decision. Disc 3 closes with the entire medley from side two of Abbey Road. All the songs were designed to be experienced together, so they were all naturally included. The medley feels like a more fleshed out version of Happiness Is A Warm Gun from the White Album.

You Never Give Me Your Money is a beautiful song to open the medley and provides context behind The Beatles breakup while also playing into the money motif expressed throughout the band's catalog over the years. The song is revisited on Carry That Weight to tie together a wonderful sense of cohesion.

Fittingly, the album ends with The End, a triumphant last hurrah with a final message from The Beatles:

And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make

22. Now And Then

I removed Now And Then for my final change to the Blue Album. It's too new and doesn't feel like it belongs on an album titled 1966-1970. I know every band member played their part on the track, but it lends itself to being more of a Paul and Ringo song since John and George had passed away by the time it was released. Its inclusion feels like a promotion. My choice to remove it bears no weight on my opinion of the song itself.

Final thoughts

The original collection of songs released in 1973 amounted to 54 songs with a 162-minute runtime. The new 2023 release brought that total up to 75 songs with a 229-minute runtime. As I added the final songs from the medley on the back side of Abbey Road, I noticed a moment of serendipity! My revised list contains exactly 100 songs. That results in a runtime of 283 minutes. That's a long runtime!

This is by no means supposed to be a definitive list of every Beatles song ever released. As I stated in my goals above, I wanted to assemble two cohesive albums that tell the story of The Beatles throughout their career. I still prefer listening to the individual albums collectively for the most part. My updated versions are better suited for how I listen to my CD copies of the 2023 editions of the Red and Blue albums: in my car over a long period of time continuing from where I left off during my previous ride.

It's really hard to package The Beatles into a collection of songs when they have so much content and a particularly diverse set of material. I'm overall really happy with the 2023 releases and think the producers did a great job assembling the track list. The updated mixing of the songs is generally pretty good too. I'm happy to now have quite a few of the earlier songs in a proper stereo mix to replace the poor stereo mixes previously available on streaming services. I would still like for the mono mixes of everything preceding The Beatles (White Album) to be released however.

My inspiration for this project stemmed from the fact that I felt No Reply and I'm A Loser should have been included in the 2023 release. I've also always felt that the two eras were divided up at the wrong point in time. The rest of my changes can be attributed to getting carried away :-)

Addendum

Listen to the updated albums

Listen to my versions on Spotify:

• The Beatles - 1962-1965 (Red Album) [Definitive Edition]
• The Beatles - 1966-1970 (Blue Album) [Definitive Edition]
• The Beatles - 1962-1965 (Red Album) & 1966-1970 (Blue Album) [Definitive Editions]

Acknowledgments

A massive thanks to The official Beatles' canon written by Ger Tillekens for helping me organize the track listings and Alan W. Pollack's Notes on ... Series for teaching me so much about The Beatles' music in depth.