The Twelfth Album by Stephen Baxter

Sci-Fi author Stephen Baxter must be a huge Beatles fan - and who can blame him! This short story, available in the Baxter anthology Phase Space was originally published in Interzone magazine and was brought to my attention by a very good friend.

I don't know if this alternative universe story is good Sci-Fi but being a Beatle fan I enjoyed it very much and found it to be bitter sweet. It centres on two middle aged men who find an album called, God in a deceased friend's room on the docked Titanic Hotel in Liverpool. The story ignores the Yellow Submarine soundtrack and the Magical Mystery Tour EP which was made into an American album and supposes The Beatles made another studio album after Let it Be - their twelfth British album - God.

The track listing of the album is:

Side 1

1. "Give Me Some Truth", actually released on John Lennon's Imagine album.
2. "It Don't Come Easy", from Ringo Starr's album Ringo's Best (Apple, 1971)
3. "Every Night", from Paul McCartney's album McCartney
4. "All Things Must Pass", from George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass.
5. "Child of Nature", a Lennon song auditioned for The White Album that later had its lyrics rewritten to become "Jealous Guy" from Imagine.
6. "Back Seat of my Car", a McCartney duet with Linda McCartney from their album Ram. On the God album, the song is a traditional Beatles three part harmony.

Side 2

1. "Instant Karma!", the famous Lennon single.
2. "Isn't It A Pity", a Harrison song, auditioned during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, later two versions were recorded and released on All Things Must Pass.
3. "Junk", a McCartney song auditioned during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, later recorded for McCartney.
4. "Wah Wah", a Harrison solo song intended for Let It Be but released on All Things Must Pass.
5. "God", a Lennon song from Plastic Ono Band.
6. "Maybe I'm Amazed", a McCartney song from McCartney. This version, in the story, is a full Beatles recording, with Lennon providing vocals

Course the cool thing after reading the story is to actually program the iPod to make the God album - and what do you know - it works rather well!