Everyday Chemistry
Everyday Chemistry | |
---|---|
![]() Photograph of the cassette casing. The MP3's artwork depicted the cassette itself. | |
Remix album credited to the Beatles by James Richards | |
Released | 9 September 2009 (2009-09-09) |
Genre | Mashup |
Length | 40:48 |
Producer | James Richards |
Everyday Chemistry is a remix album that was made available as a free digital download on 9 September 2009. The album was released along with a story of anonymous authorship.[1] It mashes up various songs from the Beatles' individual solo careers, including tracks from 27 albums. The album portrays itself as being taken from an alternate universe in which the Beatles had not broken up.[2][3]
Context
On 9 September 2009, a website with the URL thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com was created. This date was very notable, as an official Beatles anniversary campaign was going on at this time, which included the 2009 remasters box set, an Apple-shaped USB drive containing the remasters, and The Beatles: Rock Band.[4] The website includes a download link to the entire album on MP3.
The website was accompanied by a short story written by an anonymous person under the pen name "James Richards" (a pseudonym drawn from the legal first names of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the two surviving Beatles, who were born James Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey respectively)
In the story, Richards describes driving through the Del Puerto Canyon road in California, when he had to pull over to let his dog use the restroom. The dog begins to chase a rabbit, leading to Richards knocking himself unconscious after tripping into a rabbit hole.
He wakes up in a room with a bandage on his head. The home he was in was owned by a man named Jonas, and after telling him he found him 20 feet away (despite the location being bare beforehand), Richards finds out that he had woken up in a parallel universe. In this universe, ketchup was purple, cassette tapes would become the more common format than the compact disc, and that the Beatles had never broken up. Jonas shows Richards his tape collection, with most of them being ones he recorded. Some of them were Beatles tapes with Richards describing there being only four he recognized, with one of them being Everyday Chemistry.
Jonas and Richards both discussed their enjoyment of the Beatles, and just before leaving the parallel universe and traveling back to his own, Richards stole a cassette tape containing one of The Beatles' albums from that timeline, despite being told by Jonas to never take anything from another dimension.[5]
The authenticity of Richards' story has been questioned, with many not believing the idea of a parallel universe. Richards has since denied that the album was composed of mashups, reasoning that "even though in the alternate universe the Beatles hadn't broken up, that didn't mean their future music ideas disappeared".[6]
The website would also include photographs of the cassette tape, the case of the tape, and the location in which Richards had went unconscious.
Album artwork
Everyday Chemistry was not given official artwork. Instead, photographs of the cassette tape were used for the cover. The first photograph (which appears on the main page of the website) includes the cassette's case, with the album title & track list being written on ruled paper. The other photograph (which has been used on the MP3 download of the album) is the tape itself, which is a General Electric 60-minute cassette tape. This photograph is unique as it doesn't match with the photographs that appear on the website.
Because of the lack of an official album artwork, fans would take it upon themselves to create their own. The most popular interpretation would include an art piece created in circa 1968 by an unknown artist of what the Beatles would look like at the age of 64, an art piece inspired from the song "When I'm Sixty Four".
Critical reception
The album was received well by listeners. On Rate Your Music, which assigns a rating out of 5 to reviews from users, the album received a score of 3.35, based on 195 reviews.[7] Despite the criticism of Richards' story, Everyday Chemistry has been met with praise for its mixing, production, and mashup choices.[8]
Track listing
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Four Guys" | 4:17 |
2. | "Talking to Myself" | 3:38 |
3. | "Anybody Else" | 6:03 |
4. | "Sick to Death" | 2:56 |
5. | "Jenn" | 3:34 |
6. | "I'm Just Sitting Here" | 3:23 |
7. | "Soldier Boy" | 3:22 |
8. | "Over the Ocean" | 3:36 |
9. | "Days Like These" | 3:23 |
10. | "Saturday Night" | 3:22 |
11. | "Mr Gator's Swamp Jamboree" | 3:24 |
Total length: | 40:48 |
Samples
"Four Guys"
- "I'm Moving On" (John Lennon)[citation needed]
- "Band on the Run" (Paul McCartney)[3]
- "When We Was Fab" (George Harrison)[3]
- "Vertical Man" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
- "Beatlemania In Action" (The Beatles' Story)
- "We were four guys ... that's all (Interview Anthology 1)" (The Beatles)
"Talking to Myself"
- "I'm Losing You" (John Lennon)[failed verification]
- "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (Paul McCartney)[3]
- "Stuck Inside a Cloud" (George Harrison)[3]
- "Early 1970" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
"Anybody Else"
- "One Day (At a Time)" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Somedays" (Paul McCartney)[3]
- "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" (George Harrison)[citation needed]
- "Monkey See – Monkey Do" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
"Sick to Death"
- "Gimme Some Truth" (John Lennon)[3]
- 'No More Lonely Nights (playout version)" (Paul McCartney)[citation needed]
- "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (George Harrison)[citation needed]
- "All By Myself" (Ringo Starr)[3]
"Jenn"
- "God Save Oz" (John Lennon)[citation needed]
- "Jet" (Paul McCartney)[citation needed]
- "Teardrops" (Harrison)[citation needed]
- "Hard Times" (Ringo Starr)[3]
"I'm Just Sitting Here"
- "Watching the Wheels" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Call Me Back Again " (Paul McCartney)[citation needed]
- "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" (George Harrison)[citation needed]
- "Loser's Lounge" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
"Soldier Boy"
- "Isolation" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Phil and John 1" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Listen to What the Man Said" (Paul McCartney)[3]
- "Woman Don't You Cry For Me" (George Harrison)[3]
- "I Don't Believe You" (Ringo Starr)[3]
- "John Lennon Becomes A DJ For A Day At KHJ Radio 27 September 1974" (and now back to your local station) (John Lennon)
"Over the Ocean"
- "You Are Here" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Heather" (Paul McCartney)[citation needed]
- "I Dig Love" (George Harrison)[citation needed]
- "Marwa Blues" (George Harrison)[citation needed]
- "Back Off Boogaloo" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
"Days Like These"
- "Nobody Told Me" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Write Away" (Paul McCartney)
- "Soft-Hearted Hana" (George Harrison)[3]
- "Christmas Eve" (Ringo Starr)
"Saturday Night"
- "Cold Turkey" (John Lennon)[3]
- "Night Out" (Paul McCartney)[citation needed]
- "P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)" (George Harrison)
- "Runaways" (Ringo Starr)
"Mr. Gator's Swamp Jamboree"
- "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (John Lennon)[citation needed]
- "Momma Miss America" (Paul McCartney)[3]
- "Tired of Midnight Blue" (George Harrison)
- "$15 Draw" (Ringo Starr)[citation needed]
See also
Works that explore similar concepts
- The Black Album
- "The Twelfth Album"
References
- ^ Brennan, Colin (18 November 2015). "Transdimensional thief claims to be in possession of unreleased Beatles album". Consequence of Sound.
- ^ Dreyer, Chris (31 March 2010). "'Everyday Chemistry', the Beatles". Inlander.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u JNSP (30 December 2009). "'Everyday Chemistry', el timo de la estampita" (in Spanish). jenesaispop.
- ^ "The Beatles' Remastered Albums Due September 9, 2009 | Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. 7 April 2009. Archived from the original on 23 July 2024.
- ^ Spacek, Nick (9 November 2009). "The Beatles Never Broke Up?". Pitch. Kansas City, MO. Archived from the original on 18 March 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ^ "Everyday Chemistry: The Story Behind The Greatest Beatles' Albums That Never Existed". Of Fact and Fiction. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ^ "The Beatles - Everyday Chemistry by James Richards". Retrieved 20 July 2024.
- ^ Prindle, John (14 February 2024). "Everyday Chemistry: The "Beatles" Album From a Parallel Universe (?)". Medium. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
- v
- t
- e
performances
- 1960 Johnny Gentle Tour
- Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour
- 1963 Roy Orbison Tour
- The Ed Sullivan Show appearances
- 1964 world tour
- The Beatles' 1964 tour of Australia
- 1964 North American tour
- 1965 European tour
- 1965 US tour
- 1965 UK tour
- 1966 tour of Germany, Japan and the Philippines
- 1966 US tour
- Our World performance
- Rooftop concert
Management | |
---|---|
Production |
companies
places
- 10 Admiral Grove
- 12 Arnold Grove
- 20 Forthlin Road
- 251 Menlove Avenue
- 34 Montagu Square, Marylebone
- Abbey Road, London
- Ad Lib Club
- The Bag O'Nails
- Beatles Ashram
- Beatles-Platz
- Blue Angel
- Casbah Coffee Club
- Candlestick Park
- Carnegie Hall
- The Cavern Club
- Cavern Mecca
- Comiskey Park
- The Jacaranda
- Kaiserkeller
- Kinfauns
- London Palladium
- Penny Lane, Liverpool
- 3 Savile Row
- The Scotch of St. James
- Shea Stadium
- St Peter's Church
- Stanley Street
- Star-Club
- Strawberry Field
- Tittenhurst Park
- The Top Ten Club
- Wigmore Street
- The Beatles Anthology
- The Beatles: The Authorised Biography
- The Beatles: All These Years
- A Cellarful of Noise
- I, Me, Mine
- Lennon Remembers
- Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now
Category