Northern Songs (July, 1968, Timaeus | Apple)
< file under Beatles In Atlantis >
~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~
Following the cultural revelations of the Winter of Mystery, the project of Atlantean democracy flourished. Strides in justice for all citizens regardless of strata were the renewed focus for the young leadership and citizenry. Great progress was made in assuring the needs of the people were met, their liberty secure throughout, and Atlantis strengthened its position as the cleanest, most environmentally sound of advanced nations— by far the most advanced, at that. This surging social democracy was perceived as a threat by some, and the pirate front, or Pirate Front Facade as they came to be derisively known — that is, the mercenary terrorists who'd feigned piracy as a front to disguise their true aims and the identity of their puppet masters — renewed attacks on The Great Realm.
It is not the place of this blog to speculate on just who was dictating the actions of the Pirate Front, though it would not be idle speculation nor really speculative at all. Let us say more directly it is not the purview of this blog to divulge the unholy alliance of nation-state actors, from both eastern and western powers, directing these attacks, as the evidence is not at our discretion to reveal to the surface world.
Among the resources targeted by the PFF was the processing plant responsible for formulating the world's finest blend of polyvinyl chloride and other materials used in pressing EMI Atlantis' LP records as well as most other locally produced vinyl LPs; hence, the next Beatles album was to be the only one initially offered only in Atlantis' still-new compact disc format.
Tivowr Dorna had found the ideal home for the exquisite Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane double a-side single when crafting the legendary LP-length iteration of Magical Mystery Tour. However, he still had the earlier Paperback Writer / Rain single to bestow upon Atlantean listeners— as well as both sides of the latest worldwide single, Lady Madonna backed with The Inner Light. Owing to George Martin's established practice of always sending Dorna outtakes, Timaeus already had on file the quaternity of numbers UK fans would not hear until those appeared in the Yellow Submarine feature film set to debut in London in July and which fans worldwide could not acquire until placed as the four "new" songs in middle of first side of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack LP the following January. In recognition of Atlantis' unique position as the sole submerged market, Atlantean theaters were licensed to begin screening the aquatic animation the day following its UK premiere, starting with their own gala unveiling attended by the shining lights of Atlantean pop culture, not the least of whom was Tivowr himself. Dorna enjoyed the event, which took place under heightened security due to the current circumstances, satisfied with having met his own goal in regards to the opening. He'd been eager to get some new Beatles into the hands and ears of Atlanteans during this troubled yet hopeful time, coinciding with the movie's slated summer run. Aware the band had not readied any new material for the film's soundtrack, and gleaning that no UK audio release featuring the four "new" songs was imminent, he'd chosen to include those leftover 1967 psychedelic Beatles tracks, and their accompanying early 1968 earthy rocker Hey Bulldog, on the new LP (or, CD, it turned out) he was compiling, forestalling any issue of the Yellow Submarine soundtrack LP available elsewhere at the start of the next year. Hence, despite being the world's only undersea nation, Atlantis never saw release of a Beatles album named after a submarine!
Timaeus did, nevertheless, persuaded by Dorna, later the same year issue an Atlantean compendium of George Martin's re-recordings of his score for the film that would come to comprise side two of the approaching Yellow Submarine LP in all other markets. These selections, combined with earlier Martin recordings interpreting Beatles compositions, and a Martin outtake from the band's upcoming double LP The Beatles, were released, only on compact disc, under the title … in Pepperland. The exact length of the Yellow Submarine selections is not known, as Timaeus rush-released the collection to arrive on Halloween — a surface-originated holiday Atlanteans did observe and delight in — and so Dorna had to create his own edits of the freshly recorded material, which Martin would not prune down for the international January, 1969 LP side until late November. Pepperland was well-received by Atlantis' large audience for soundtracks, ironically a target market for Timaeus long before the label dipped its toes into the waters of surface world rock. This would prove to be the final compact disc manufactured in Atlantis, as the material used for the CDs' thin metallic inner layer was soon reserved for exclusive use in the national defense.
The tracklist for George Martin in Pepperland was as follows:
01 Don't Bother Me » Off the Beatle Track
02 There's A Place » Off the Beatle Track
03 I Should Have Known Better » A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack)
04 And I Love Her » A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack)
05 Ringo’s Theme (This Boy) » A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack)
06 A Hard Day’s Night » A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack)
07 Help! » Help! {The George Martin Orchestra LP}
08 I Need You » Help! {The George Martin Orchestra LP}
09 Auntie Gin's Theme (I've Just Seen a Face) » Help! {The George Martin Orchestra LP}
10 Tell Me What You See » Help! {The George Martin Orchestra LP}
11 She Said She Said » … Instrumentally Salutes "The Beatle Girls"
12 Woman » … Instrumentally Salutes "The Beatle Girls"
13 And Your Bird Can Sing » … Instrumentally Salutes "The Beatle Girls"
14 A Beginning » Anthology 3
15 Pepperland » Yellow Submarine
16 Sea Of Time » Yellow Submarine
17 Sea Of Holes » Yellow Submarine
18 Sea Of Monsters » Yellow Submarine
19 March Of The Meanies » Yellow Submarine
20 Pepperland Laid Waist » Yellow Submarine
21 Yellow Submarine In Pepperland » Yellow Submarine
Dorna also had at his disposal instrumental recordings, by Harrison supported by John Barham, fellow Liverpudlians the Remo Four, fellow Beatle Starr, Eric Clapton, Aashish Khan, Mahapurush Misra, and a host of others, for another upcoming film, Wonderwall. Dorna intended to issue it in its entirety as the first solo Beatle LP, but Timaeus brass feared such a move would fuel rumours of a looming Beatles breakup and unsettle a nation already on edge from recent attacks. Dorna acquiesced. Keenly aware Atlantean fans loved Flying off of the previous album, he took the opportunity to expand this latest collection he was assembling to standard Beatles LP-length by incorporating four of the more Western-leaning selections that would later appear worldwide on Wonderwall Music.
Having only been provided a mono mix of Only a Northern Song, and without a transfer of the multitracks at the ready, Dorna used Timaeus' experimental demixing tech which he helped pioneer to craft a stereo version. He also applied it to subtler effect on Paperback Writer, aiming to more closely follow the balance of the powerful mono mix. Finally, Tivowr added a perfect, short edit of just the ditty from the Beatles' 1967 fan club Christmas record, without the band's spoken holiday greetings as this would detract from the flow of the album, hampering repeated listens. This edit was later planned for inclusion as final track (or, possibly, within a final medley) of the canceled 1984 EMI compilation Sessions, and has to this day never seen official release outside of Atlantis. The final tally of tracks, not even accounting for the selections intended for Wonderwall Music (which were properly identified as Harrison solo numbers, despite Timaeus' misgivings), resulted in the Beatles collection with the highest percentage of writing contributions from Harrison.
Northern Songs stands as the closest Atlantis got to one of Capitol's "soundtrack" versions of a Beatles album, interspersing instrumental selections among Beatles recordings. It shared another, unfortunate, characteristic with a certain Capitol release, only including two Lennon originals as on the US label's dreadfully diminished edition of Revolver. In a fascinating, though indefinitive, glimpse into Dorna's thinking and aesthetic sense, an early draft of the track listing reveals the February 1968 mix of Across The Universe slotted in where the brief Christmas number would instead appear; an apparently later draft has the collection retitled after Across the Universe, with the song placed second-to-last. This is all intriguing on several counts: the inclusion of the song would have remedied the relative paucity of Lennon-penned Beatles tracks, yielding a total of three each from him, McCartney, and Harrison, alongside the group-credited holiday number; Atlanteans don't celebrate the holiday in question (though they were quite familiar with it and other religious and secular traditions of the land-dwelling peoples, and shared a fondness for all solstice-timed celebrations); regardless of LP or CD format, there was plenty of room to include Across the Universe with no need to remove anything; and, finally, the consideration of Across the Universe as title track strongly suggests Dorna thought highly of the number. Yet, despite all this, it was excluded. One can only surmise Dorna ultimately did not feel the ethereal ballad fit the tone, mood, or purpose of the assemblage he was preparing, and so set it aside for future use.
Upon release, the minimal amount of Lennon compositions was indeed gently bemoaned by fans and critics who, universally praising his two showcases, simply wished for more. Nonetheless, while not the artistic triumph of the Magical Mystery Tour concept album, and though lacking an absolute touchstone like A Day in the Life, Northern Songs resonated deeply with Atlantean listeners. Potentially a risky move, Dorna's mid-'68 creation proved the right call, demonstrating yet again his unassailable timing and approach to presenting the fabs to Atlantis. "All Together Now" even became a joyful rallying cry as the nation faced mounting threats from outside.
| Featuring the four Beatles songs unique to the Yellow Submarine animated film and eventual worldwide soundtrack LP, Northern Songs' release was partly timed to promote the cartoon, arriving on shelves simultaneous to the film's underwater debut in July 1968. The release was not sequenced for side breaks, as Dorna learned while compiling it that it was to be issued solely on CD; while likely a suspected subsequent LP issue retained this identical sequence, where the sides may have broken is unknown |
- Paperback Writer °
- Rain π
- On the Bed ∞
- Only a Northern Song †
- All Together Now ‡
- Red Lady Too ∞
- It's All Too Much ‡
- Party Seacombe ∞
- Christmas Time (Is Here Again) *
- Hey Bulldog ‡
- Ski-ing ∞
- Lady Madonna π
- The Inner Light ∆
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