h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A few weeks ago, I was talking with my friend Roy via email about The Re-release of George Harrison's album "All Things Must Pass." In passing, Roy mentioned the "Imaginary Last Beatles Album," meaning the one they would have made had they not released all their solo efforts in 1970.

For some reason this had never occurred to me before, but I realised that with a CD writer and a good colour printer you could make your own, so I set about doing that. It was quite a difficult task. Most of Paul's first record seems unfinished (like he forgot to write the words); most of John's first is unacceptably personal; Ringo's was a collection of old standards (though his first single was OK); and of course George's effort makes them all look mediocre. Realising this could be a controversial subject, I'm holding off the listing of the record, though the title, of course, is "Imaginary."

After creating "Imaginary," I thought I ought to create an alternative to "1", which is a compilation that misses out some essential tracks (like Strawberry Fields), so I created "2", which had the following criteria for inclusion.

1. Should not have been on "1"
2. Er... that's it.

Here's the track listing:

1. all my loving (lennon/mccartney)
2. i should have known better (lennon/mccartney)
3. if i fell (lennon/mccartney)
4. no reply (lennon/mccartney)
5. i don t want to spoil the party (lennon/mccartney)
6. she s a woman (lennon/mccartney)
7. you ve got to hide your love away (lennon/mccartney)
8. i ve just seen a face (lennon/mccartney)
9. norwegian wood (this bird has flown) (lennon/mccartney)
10. nowhere man (lennon/mccartney)
11. taxman (harrison)
12. rain (lennon/mccartney)
13. i'm only sleeping (lennon/mccartney)
14. strawberry fields forever (lennon/mccartney)
15. a day in the life (lennon/mccartney)
16. back in the u.s.s.r. (lennon/mccartney)
17. dear prudence (lennon/mccartney)
18. while my guitar gently weeps (harrison)
19. rocky raccoon (lennon/mccartney)
20. helter skelter (lennon/mccartney)
21. here comes the sun (harrison)
22. two of us (lennon/mccartney)
23. for you blue (lennon/mccartney)

Finally, because "Imaginary" just didn't seem good enough, I decided to create a cheat's mix, allowing myself to go as far as 1973 or 4 in my attempts to plunder something decent.

"Imaginary" (Cheat's Version):

1. Mind Games John
2. Let Me Roll It Paul
3. Crippled Inside John
4. Jet Paul
5. I Dig Love George
6. Photograph Ringo
7. Give Me Some Truth John
8. Maybe I m Amazed Paul
9. Remember John
10. Band on the Run - Paul
11. My Sweet Lord George