The Beatles (album)
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| The Beatles | ||
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| Double album by the Beatles | ||
| Released | November 22, 1968 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios and Trident Studios May 30 – October 14, 1968 |
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| Genre | Hard rock Blues rock Psychedelic rock Pop rock |
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| Length | 93:22 | |
| Label | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin, Chris Thomas | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| the Beatles chronology | ||
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK-1967) ------------- Magical Mystery Tour (US-1967) |
The Beatles (1968) |
Yellow Submarine (1969) |
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the Beatles, a double album released in 1968 (see 1968 in music). It is most often referred to as The White Album, as it has no text other than the band's name on its plain white sleeve, designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton. Originally planned to be titled A Doll's House, the album is often hailed as one of the major accomplishments in popular music.
In 1997, The Beatles was named the 10th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998, Q magazine readers placed it at number 17, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 7 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it as the 11th greatest album ever. It was also ranked number 10 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles is the Beatles' best-selling album at 19-times platinum and the ninth-best-selling album of all time in the United States. Note, that the RIAA counts sales of double albums twice for its rankings, and without this adjustment, The Beatles would be the Beatles' fourth best selling album in the US.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Increasingly diverse songwriting styles
With this album, each of the four band members began to showcase the range and depth of his individual songwriting talents and styles that would be carried over to their eventual solo careers. For one thing, the Beatles began recording some of their songs individually, a heretofore unheard-of practice. For another, some songs that the individual Beatles were working on during this period eventually were released on solo albums (John Lennon's "Jealous Guy"; Paul McCartney's "Junk" and "Teddy Boy"; George Harrison's "Not Guilty"). The album is also marked by experimentation with different musical genres.
Lennon's contributions to the album are generally more hard-edged lyrically than his previous output, a trend which carried over to Lennon's solo career. Examples include his pleas for death on "Yer Blues", the parodic "Glass Onion" (mocking fans who read too much into Beatles lyrics[citation needed]), and what are evidently references to his own drug addiction[citation needed] in "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" ("I need a fix..."). His intensely personal "Julia" may be seen as foreshadowing his later "Mother" from his first solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; the political "Revolution 1" begins a pattern of overtly political songs like "Give Peace a Chance" and "John Sinclair"; "Revolution 9" reflects extensive contribution and influence from Yoko Ono, another feature of much of Lennon's solo output. Lennon's songs on The Beatles embrace a wide array of genres as well, including blues ("Yer Blues"), acoustic ballads ("Julia", "Dear Prudence", and "Cry Baby Cry"), experimental ("Revolution 9"), and rock ("Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey").
McCartney's songs for the album include pop ballads ("I Will"), the proto-heavy metal "Helter Skelter", a Beach Boys homage ("Back in the U.S.S.R."), the Bob Dylan parody "Rocky Raccoon", the Little Richard parody "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?", and the music hall style "Honey Pie", among others.
Harrison's sparse ballad "Long, Long, Long" is stylistically quite similar to much of his solo output. His songs also included the lyrically sophisticated "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", the lighter rock song "Savoy Truffle", and the social comment "Piggies". Even Ringo Starr was given leave to include the first song composed entirely by himself to be included on a Beatles album, the countryish "Don't Pass Me By".
[edit] The recording sessions
The album was recorded between 30 May 1968 and 14 October 1968, largely at Abbey Road Studios, with some sessions at Trident Studios. Although productive, the sessions were sometimes fractious and exacerbated the growing tensions within the group. In the difficult seven months before the sessions, the Beatles had experienced the death of their manager Brian Epstein, their first artistic and commercial failure in the Magical Mystery Tour televison film, and a disillusioning long trip to India to study Transcendental Meditation. They also faced rising tension as their new multimedia corporation Apple Corps was incorporated and launched during this time. Also blamed for the tension was the constant presence in the studio of Lennon's new girlfriend and artistic partner Yoko Ono; prior to Ono's appearance on the scene, the Beatles had been very insular during recording sessions.
Often McCartney would record in one studio while Lennon would record in another at the same time, using different engineers.[1] At one point in the sessions, George Martin, whose authority over the band in the studio had waned, spontaneously left on vacation, leaving Chris Thomas in charge of producing the sessions.[2] The studio tensions carried over into the Beatles' subsequent album and film project in early 1969, ultimately released as Let It Be. The Beatles' recording engineer Geoff Emerick quit during these sessions out of disgust[citation needed].
These sessions also marked the change from 4-track to 8-track recording, although in essence this had started in 1966 and 1967 with the technique of 'bouncing down' several tracks onto one, to free up new tracks for recording.
While Abbey Road Studios had yet to install an 8-track machine that had supposedly been sitting in a storage room unpacked for months (evidently because EMI could not afford its power cord), the Beatles decided to out-source to the more updated Trident Studios.[1]
[edit] Starr's temporary departure
At one point during the recording sessions for the album, Starr suddenly walked out of the studio, feeling his role was minimised compared to that of the other members[citation needed]. But Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison pleaded with Starr to return, and after two weeks he did. In Starr's absence, McCartney replaced him as the drummer on "Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence." Upon his return, he found his drumset decorated with red, white, and blue flowers, a welcome-back gesture from Harrison[citation needed].
[edit] The songs
Many of the songs are personal and self-referencing; for example, "Dear Prudence" was written for actress Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, who attended a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India, at the same time as the Beatles and who experienced hallucinations while meditating. She had to be kept in her room under guard for a period of time and, after the guard was removed, she was afraid to leave her room, thus the lyrics "Won't you come out to play...". She was serenaded with this song in an attempt to reassure her and help her calm down. In fact, many songs on The Beatles were conceived during the group's visit to India in the spring of 1968. "Sexy Sadie" is about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who led those transcendental meditation classes. Lennon first wrote the song as "Maharishi" to mirror the group's disillusionment of Yogi's greatness; Harrison objected and the name was changed. "Glass Onion" is Lennon's song for those fans who spent time looking for hidden meanings in Beatles song lyrics; it references several other Beatles songs. The album runs the gamut of genres, from pop with tracks such as "Birthday" and "Back in the U.S.S.R.", hard guitar-based rock in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", British blues in "Yer Blues", proto-heavy rock in "Helter Skelter", Honky tonk ska in "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", influential and experimental audio-montages in "Revolution 9", to acoustic ballads such as "Blackbird" and "Julia".
The only western instrument available to the group during their Indian visit was the acoustic guitar, and several of the songs (such as "Dear Prudence", "Julia", "Blackbird" and "Mother Nature's Son") were written and first performed on acoustic guitar during their stay. These songs were recorded either solo, or by only part of the group.
Yoko Ono made her first appearance, adding backing vocals in "Birthday" (along with Pattie Harrison and Linda Eastman); Yoko also sang backing vocals and a solo line on "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and was a strong influence on Lennon's musique concrète piece, "Revolution 9".
Eric Clapton, at Harrison's invitation, provided an extra lead guitar for Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Harrison would later return the favour by collaborating on the song "Badge" for Cream's last album Goodbye.
Several songs recorded during The Beatles sessions were not part of the final album, such as "Hey Jude" (released as a single backed with "Revolution"). Other songs recorded during this time would later surface on bootlegs as well as on The Beatles Anthology, including Harrison's "Not Guilty" (which he would later re-record as a solo track and release on his 1979 self-titled album, George Harrison) and Lennon's "What's The New Mary Jane".
A number of songs were recorded in demo form just prior to The Beatles sessions for possible inclusion but were not recorded properly. These were "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam" (both which would be used for the medley on Abbey Road), "Jubilee" (later retitled "Junk" and released on McCartney's first solo LP), "Child of Nature" (recorded with drastically different lyrics as "Jealous Guy" for Lennon's Imagine), "Circles" (which Harrison would return to fourteen years later on "Gone Troppo") and "Sour Milk Sea" (which Harrison gave to friend and Apple artist Jackie Lomax for his first LP Is This What You Want).
The album was produced and orchestrated by George Martin, and was the first Beatles album released by Apple Records, as well as their only original double album. Martin suggested to the Beatles that they reduce the number of songs in order to form a single album featuring their stronger work, but the band decided against this[citation needed]
The arrangement of the songs on The Beatles follow some patterns and symmetry. For example, "Wild Honey Pie" is the fifth song from the beginning of the album and "Honey Pie" is the fifth song from the end. Also, the three songs containing animal names in their titles ("Blackbird", "Piggies", and "Rocky Raccoon") are grouped together. "Savoy Truffle" contains a reference to "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," a song that appears earlier on the album. In addition, the album's four Harrison compositions are distributed evenly, with one appearing on each of the four sides. Many of the heavier, rock songs were also grouped together on side three ("Birthday", "Yer Blues", "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" and "Helter Skelter").
[edit] Singles
Although "Hey Jude" was not intended to be included on the album, it was recorded during the White Album sessions and was released as a stand-alone single. Its B-side, "Revolution", was an alternate version of the album's "Revolution 1". Lennon had wanted the original to be released as a single because of its political slant but the other Beatles objected because it was too slow[citation needed]. A new, faster version with distorted guitar was recorded but was nonetheless relegated to the flip side of "Hey Jude".
[edit] The mono version
The Beatles was the last Beatles album to be released with a unique, alternate mono mix, albeit one issued only in the UK. Twenty-nine of the album's thirty tracks ("Revolution 9" being the only exception) exist in official alternate mono mixes.
Beatles albums after The Beatles (except Yellow Submarine in the UK) occasionally had mono pressings in certain countries, but these editions – of Yellow Submarine, Let It Be, and Abbey Road – were in each case mono fold-downs from the regular stereo mixes.
In the U.S., mono records had already been phased out, so the U.S. release of The Beatles was the first Beatles LP issued in the U.S. only in stereo.
[edit] Sleeve
The album's sleeve was designed by Richard Hamilton, a notable pop artist who had organised a Marcel Duchamp retrospective at the Tate Gallery the previous year. Hamilton's design was in stark contrast to Peter Blake's vivid cover art for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and consisted of a plain white sleeve. The band's name was discreetly embossed slightly below the middle of the album's right side, and the cover also featured a unique stamped serial number, "to create," in Hamilton's words, "the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies."[citation needed] Later vinyl record releases in the U.S. showed the title in grey printed (rather than embossed) letters. Early copies on compact disc were also numbered. Later CD releases rendered the album's title in black or grey.
The album's inside packaging included a poster, the lyrics to the songs, and a set of photographs taken by John Kelley during the autumn of 1968 that have themselves become iconic.
Two re-issues in 1978 (one by Capitol Records, the other by Parlophone) saw the album pressed on white vinyl, completing the look of the "white" album. In 1985, Electrola/EMI released a DMM (direct metal mastered) white vinyl pressing of the album in Germany, which was imported to the United States in large numbers. Another popular white vinyl pressing was manufactured in France. The 1978 Parlophone white vinyl export pressing and the German DMM pressing are widely considered the best-sounding versions of the album. This is due to the use of the famed Neumann lathe on the 1978 export pressing and the use of the DMM process on the 1985 pressing.
This is the only sleeve of a Beatles studio album not to show the members of the band on the front. However, in 1988, Capitol/EMI released a 2-cassette version of the album that features the bandmembers' faces on the sleeve in the same arrangement as that of With the Beatles.
In 1998, a 30th Anniversary reissue of the album was released on a 2-disc compact disc version, which was imported from the United Kingdom. The packaging of this release is virtually identical to its vinyl counterpart. It has the same pure white gatefold cover, complete with the title "The BEATLES" in a slightly raised, embossed graphic at a slight angle. There is also the now-classic sequentially numbered signification on the front of this cover, thus making this one a REAL limited edition. The interior to this cover features the song titles on the left-hand side, and the four black-and-white photos of the group members on the right. This version of the cover even accurately mimics the orginal British vinyl pressing from 1968, with the openings for the discs at the top rather than the sides. There are miniatures of the 4 full-color glossy portait photos included, as well as an exact replica of the poster with the photo collage on one side, and the album's complete song lyrics on the opposite side. The CDs are housed in black sleeves, which were also used for the original British album.
[edit] Influence
The album's cover, though very basic and simple, has been very influential. Goth Rock band The Damned released The Black Album in 1980, and is considered the first album to draw influence from the cover, as well as the first band to use the term "Black Album". In the 1990s, both Prince and Metallica released self-titled albums with their names printed against mostly plain black covers, and are both informally referred to as "The Black Album". In 2003, rapper Jay-Z released an album officially called The Black Album. Two compilations of Beatles material, released in 1973 as The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, are often referred to as "The Red Album" and "The Blue Album" respectively, in reference to their colour scheme. Both of Weezer's self-titled albums borrow from this idea as well and fans refer to them respectively as "The Blue Album" (1994) and "The Green Album" (2001). 311's self-titled release from 1995 is often referred to as "The Blue Album", and the Dells 1973 self-titled album is often known as "The Brown Album", as is The Band's 1969 self-titled album.
Bob and Tom's first comedy album, The White Album, released Christmas 1986, borrows its name from the Beatles' album, though the cover does not - rather, it features cartoon caricature portraits of the show's titular stars Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold. This is the first of two Bob and Tom compilations to be named after or parody Beatles albums (the other being their second release, Shabbey Road.) Both albums are out-of-print.
In 1979, the writer Joan Didion published a collection of essays in a volume entitled The White Album.
Washington based band Sunny Day Real Estate released an album with an entirely pink cover, which became to be known as The Pink Album.
They Might Be Giants' 1986 self-titled debut album is referred to as The Pink Album for the colour of the record's centre label (and later the colour of the CD label), as well as to avoid confusion with the band's name and their later song "They Might Be Giants."
In 1987, Saturday Night Live comedian Dennis Miller released his first comedy album, entitled The Off-White Album, recorded live at George Washington University, featuring a likewise coloured album cover.
Electronica duo Orbital's first two albums are both titled Orbital and known colloquially as the "Green Album" (1991) and the "Brown Album" (1993), whilst their 2004 release has the formal title Blue Album.
In 1995, the Australian comedy duo Martin/Molloy released a double CD officially called The Brown Album, and in 1997 the band Primus released a CD with the same title.
In 1998, an album of new songs from The Simpsons, titled The Yellow Album, was released. The album's cover was a parody of the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which had already been done as a couch gag for an episode in the series.
In 2000, comedian Lewis Black released an album titled The White Album, with similar cover art, down to the capitalisation scheme of "Lewis BLACK".
In 2004, Brian Burton (also known as Danger Mouse) released The Grey Album, an unauthorised mashup remix album later distributed on the Internet using samples from The White Album against the a cappella version of Jay-Z's "Black Album. EMI and Apple sent Brian Burton cease and desist letters, which prevented official distribution of The Grey Album.
Also in 2004, Australian alternative band TISM released a 2 DVD/1 CD pack called The White Albun. An intentional misspelling of The White Album, its packaging was a white box with 'TISM' embossed on the front. At the end of the song "Cerebral Knievel" there is a short parody of "Revolution 9".
[edit] Tributes and popular culture references
- At some point in the early-to-mid 1980s, Sonic Youth planned to cover the entire album, but this never saw the light of day. The project became the experimental pop satire The Whitey Album, which was released under the name Ciccone Youth.
- During a concert on October 31, 1994, Phish played all the songs from The Beatles (except "Good Night") as one of the band's "Halloween musical costume" extravaganzas. The show has been released in its entirety as Live Phish Volume 13.
- In December 2005, the BBC show One World broadcast a two-hour retrospective on The White Album. Narrated by former Beatles co-producer Chris Thomas - who went on to produce such luminaries as Pink Floyd, Sex Pistols, Roxy Music, and Brian Eno - the broadcast features reworkings of songs from The Beatles from a large and diverse roster of independent artists such as Bardo Pond, Deerhoof, Toy, and Bedouin Soundclash.
- On May 19, 2006, Will Taylor and Strings Attached, an Austin, Texas-based string quartet known for their collaborations with pop musicians, held a performance of the complete The Beatles, featuring many Austin rock/country/blues musicians, such as Gary Clark Jr., Libby Kirpatrick, and White Ghost Shivers. The concert was held at University Baptist Church in Austin and was recorded for a CD release.
- Dynamite Hack's acoustic guitar rendition of Eazy-E's rap "Boyz-n-the-Hood" includes a snippet of the guitar from the White Album song "Blackbird", with altered lyrics.
- In The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", many Beatles references appear relating to Homer's group The Be Sharps. One such reference occurs when Barney introduces the rest of the band to his new girlfriend, a Japanese conceptual artist. In a parody of "Revolution 9", they demo a song which features a tape loop of Barney's belches with his girlfriend intoning "Number 8" over and over again.
- In Men in Black, as Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) is explaining to the newly-recruited Agent J (Will Smith) that alien technology permeates Earth society, he holds up a small (perhaps an inch in diameter) shiny disc (supposedly the latest music media) and laments, "Guess I'll have to buy the White Album again."
- In the movie This Is Spinal Tap, Polymer Records executive Bobbi Flekman is explaining to the band's manager that their proposed cover for Smell The Glove has been deemed sexist and will have to change. She comments "And I don't think that a sexy cover is the answer for why an album sells or doesn't sell, because you tell me....the White Album, what was that? There was nothing on that goddamn cover."
- In the movie Fletch with Chevy Chase, Fletch calls the record department while impersenating a doctor in a hospital. The person asks "Can I get you something?" and his response is, "Do you have the Beatles' White Album?"
- In the comic strip Get Fuzzy, Bucky "invents" a new toy called the "Sqwucky" by painting Rob's father's old White Album red.
- Minnesota-based indie rap group Atmosphere's 2003 album Seven's Travels has a cover design very similar to the White Album.
- Nickelodeon released an album with songs from its popular children's series, SpongeBob Squarepants, titled The Yellow Album with a cover very similar to the White Album.
- L.A. Noise Band Child Pornography released an album with the same name and album cover in 2004.
- In 2004 DJ Danger Mouse released The Grey Album, a mix of the White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album.
[edit] Track listing
All songs by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
[edit] Side one
- "Back in the U.S.S.R." – 2:43
- "Dear Prudence" – 3:56
- "Glass Onion" – 2:17
- "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" – 3:08 (vorbis sample 204K)
- "Wild Honey Pie" – 0:52
- "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" – 3:13
- "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison) – 4:45 (vorbis sample 188K)
- "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" – 2:43
[edit] Side two
- "Martha My Dear" – 2:28
- "I'm So Tired" – 2:03
- "Blackbird" – 2:18 (vorbis sample 140K)
- "Piggies" (George Harrison) – 2:04
- "Rocky Raccoon" – 3:32
- "Don't Pass Me By" (Ringo Starr) – 3:50
- "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" – 1:40
- "I Will" – 1:45
- "Julia" – 2:54
[edit] Side three
- "Birthday" – 2:42
- "Yer Blues" – 4:00
- "Mother Nature's Son" – 2:47 (vorbis sample 164K)
- "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" – 2:24
- "Sexy Sadie" – 3:15
- "Helter Skelter" – 4:29 (vorbis sample 147K)
- "Long, Long, Long" (George Harrison) – 3:03
[edit] Side four
- "Revolution 1" – 4:15 (vorbis sample 203K)
- "Honey Pie" – 2:40
- "Savoy Truffle" (George Harrison) – 2:54
- "Cry Baby Cry" – 3:02
- "Revolution 9" – 8:21
- "Good Night" – 3:11
[edit] Rejected tracks
The following were rejected before final mixing:[1]
- "What's The New Mary Jane"
- "Not Guilty"
- "Etcetera"
Note: "Hey Jude" was always intended to be a stand-alone single therefore it wasn't rejected for the album (ref[1] pg.145).
The following songs were in an early form and may or may not have been considered for the album:[3]
- "Junk" (known at the time as "Jubilee", released on McCartney's first solo album McCartney)
- "Circles" (later released on Harrison's solo album Gone Troppo)
- "Sour Milk Sea" (later recorded by Jackie Lomax)
- "Something" (later featured on Abbey Road)
- "Mean Mr. Mustard" (later featured on Abbey Road)
- "Polythene Pam" (later featured on Abbey Road)
- "Child of Nature" (inspired by the same Maharishi lecture as Paul McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son", its lyrics were too similar to Paul's composition for it to be considered for the album - a reworked version of this song later appeared as a hit single from John Lennon's solo album "Imagine" in the form of "Jealous Guy")
[edit] Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | November 22, 1968 | Apple Records | mono double LP | PMC 7067-8 |
| stereo double LP | PCS 7067-8 | |||
| United States | November 25, 1968 | Apple, Capitol Records | double LP | SWBO 101 |
| Worldwide reissue | July 20, 1987 | Apple, Parlophone, EMI | double CD | CDP 7 46443-4 2 |
| Japan | March 11, 1998 | Toshiba-EMI | double CD | TOCP 51119-20 |
| Japan | January 21, 2004 | Toshiba-EMI | remastered LP | TOJP 60139-40 |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Lewisohn, Mark(1988). The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. Hamlyn Publishing Group. ISBN 0-600-55784-7.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2006/03/23/white_album_review_event_feature.shtml
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1996). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Chancellor Press. ISBN 0-7607-0327-2.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- http://blogmedo.com/blue-white-album-goes-on-display/
- http://www.uncut.co.uk/news/the_beatles/news/9087
- Further information, including photographs of the packaging
- Beatles comments on each song
- The Beatles (disc 2) at MusicBrainz
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles lacking sources from March 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | The Beatles albums | 1968 albums | Apple Records albums | Double albums | Albums produced by George Martin
