FEATURE:
Many Shades of White
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles photoed in 1968 (top-left: John Lennon, top-right: Paul McCartney; bottom-left: George Harrison, bottom-right: Ringo Starr)/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images
Why The Beatles’ Self-Titled Album Is a Great Test for Modern Artists
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I was watching a great live stream on YouTube…
that collected together a panel of great music minds who were discussing The Beatles’ fiftieth anniversary. Also known as ‘The White Album’; a fiftieth anniversary collection is available that has the original songs remastered and mixed by Giles Martin – the son of The Beatles’ producer, Sir George Martin – and the famous ‘Esher demos’ – Esher (Surrey) is where the band converged to record these demos, in George Harrison’s bungalow. Alongside all of this is a full and frank written account of the album, some rare outtakes and all the goodness you could want. It has been lovingly put together by Giles Martin and his team and, as I shall talk about later; it perfectly brings this fifty-year-old collection of songs to the modern time without sacrificing its authentic sound and purity. That is a hard job to do and one Martin has done with aplomb. Before looking ahead and why the fiftieth anniversary collection will open modern eyes; a look back at the album and what was happening at the time:
“Recording sessions for the White Album started with the song Revolution on May 30, 1968, and concluded with take three of Julia on October 13, 1968. Mixing was completed five days later on October 18, 1968. Recorded mostly at Abbey Road Studios, with some sessions at Trident Studios. Although productive, the sessions were reportedly undisciplined and sometimes fractious, and took place at a time when tensions were growing within the group.
Concurrent with the recording of this album, The Beatles were launching their new multimedia business corporation Apple Corps, an enterprise that proved to be a source of significant stress for the band. Also recorded during the White Album sessions were What’s the New Mary Jane and Not Guilty. These two tracks were only available on bootlegs for many years, but were finally released for the first time 28 years after they were recorded on Anthology 3 in 1996…
Despite the album’s official title, which emphasized group identity, studio efforts on The Beatles captured the work of four increasingly individualized artists who frequently found themselves at odds. The band’s work pattern changed dramatically with this project, and by most accounts the extraordinary synergy of The Beatles’ previous studio sessions was harder to come by during this period. Sometimes McCartney would record in one studio for prolonged periods of time, while Lennon would record in another, each man using different engineers. At one point in the sessions, George Martin, whose authority over the band in the studio had waned, spontaneously left to go on holiday, leaving Chris Thomas in charge of producing. During one of these sessions, while recording Helter Skelter, Harrison reportedly ran around the studio while holding a flaming ashtray above his head.
The sessions for The Beatles were notable for the band’s formal transition from 4-track to 8-track recording. As work on this album began, Abbey Road Studios possessed, but had yet to install, an 8-track machine that had supposedly been sitting in a storage room for months. This was in accordance with EMI’s policy of testing and customizing new gear, sometimes for months, before putting it into use in the studios. The Beatles recorded Hey Jude and Dear Prudence at Trident Studios in central London, which had an 8-track recorder. When they found out about EMI’s 8-track recorder they insisted on using it, and engineers Ken Scott and Dave Harries took the machine (without authorization from the studio chiefs) into the Number 2 recording studio for the group to use…
The resulting tracks did not have the same sound as previous Beatles albums had. Thinking that something was wrong with the sound of EMI’s new 3M 8-Track machine (see left), they asked to have a technician check the factory calibration of the machine. The technician using a calibration tape showed the recording engineers that nothing was wrong with the machine, that it was calibrated perfectly to factory standards. The recording engineers were stymied — until they were told by industry professionals that the previous mixing boards at EMI had been valve (US English: tube) powered boards making the earlier Beatles albums sound different. The new mixing boards were the culprit – not the new 3M 8-Track recording machine. It, therefore, took some time before the EMI engineers were able to get the quality of sound they wanted using these transistorized mixing consoles. The EMI engineers were finally able to get the same quality of sound of eariler Beatles albums on Abbey Road”.
There has been a lot of debate, at the time and later on, whether The Beatles should have been a single album and not the double we all see. This article from The Beatles Bible collects the opinions of a couple of Beatles and Sir George Martin:
“After Sgt Pepper changed the world, the world keenly awaited The Beatles' next step. They had released just the six-track Magical Mystery Tour EP and the Lady Madonna single since then, and there was widespread speculation in the press that they were a spent force.
While recording the album, the group was in the process of launching the multimedia business Apple Corps, while coping with various upheavals including drug busts, changing relationships and substance abuse.
The Beatles were old hands at dealing with such pressure. They turned away from the elaborate excesses of Sgt Pepper, recording instead a simple collection of 30 songs under an even simpler name: The Beatles.
George Martin later claimed he had wanted the group to omit the album's weaker songs and focused instead on producing a solid single-disc release.
I thought we should probably have made a very, very good single album rather than a double. But they insisted. I think it could have been made fantastically good if it had been compressed a bit and condensed. A lot of people I know think it's still the best album they made. I later learnt that by recording all those songs they were getting rid of their contract with EMI more quickly.
George Martin
Anthology
Ringo Starr agreed with the sentiment.
There was a lot of information on the double album, but I agree that we should have put it out as two separate albums: the 'White' and the 'Whiter' albums.
Ringo Starr
Anthology
Despite its faults as a collection, Paul McCartney stood by the album, saying that the wide variety of songs was a major part of its appeal.
I think it was a very good album. It stood up, but it wasn't a pleasant one to make. Then again, sometimes those things work for your art. The fact that it's got so much on it is one of the things that's cool about it. The songs are very varied. I think it's a fine album…
I don't remember the reaction. Now I release records and I watch to see who likes it and how it does. But with The Beatles, I can't ever remember scouring the charts to see what number it had come in at. I assume we hoped that people would like it. We just put it out and got on with life. A lot of our friends liked it and that was mainly what we were concerned with. If your mates liked it, the boutiques played it and it was played wherever you went – that was a sign of success for us.
Paul McCartney
Anthology”.
Sir George Martin died two years ago but I think he would be very proud and pleased with Giles’ work on the fiftieth anniversary work. This article gives you a numerical guide to The Beatles but, so far, the reviews for the remastered anniversary releases has been positive. Ultimate Classic Rock gave their views:
“And from the sound of the double White Album, George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were indeed going their own ways. The 30 songs often unfold like solo tracks with various Beatles sitting in as sidemen with whoever was taking lead on a particular song.
That's why the seven-disc The Beatles (White Album) Super Deluxe is such a revelation at times: They sound like a band working together to create one of rock's all-time greatest LPs. There are some solo excursions here – especially on the stripped-down disc of "Esher Demos" that find the Fab Four testing out their new songs for each other – but there's also plenty of old-school camaraderie as the group works out old songs, new songs and songs that would sit in the vaults for years”…
The studio sessions are like that, offering selected glimpses into how the Beatles got from here to there. Sometimes it's just an instrumental backing track to "Back in the U.S.S.R."; other times it's an early acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" that's just a little less majestic than the one you know. And occasionally there's something jaw-droppingly awesome like that 10-minute "Revolution 1" that reveals sections that eventually found their way into the audio collage on "Revolution 9."
So, in that sense, the 27 "Esher Demos" included here are both the springboard to this set and its centerpiece, even as they reinforce the notion that the four Beatles were moving their separate ways. Early, skeletal versions of songs like "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" got big boosts in the studio when the entire band chipped in, but they're still fascinating and tuneful as acoustic pieces.
Still, these early demos don't mean as much without the finished record. Half a century later, the White Album remains one of the Beatles' greatest, influential and definitive works. You'll appreciate it even more after hearing this Super Deluxe box, which chronicles the LP's inception while furthering its case for such an esteemed place in music history. After all these years, it doesn't sound like the end, but rather a new beginning”.
I have chatted a lot about the background and sort of left the article on a cliff-hanger. I was, as I said at the top, watching the YouTube video where Matt Everitt (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Giles Martin spoke about the new release and dissected the songs. Joining them on a panel was Miles Kane and Andy Bell (Ride); Georgie Rogers (BBC Radio 6 Music, Soho Radio), Felix White (The Maccabees) and Dan Stubbs (NME). They gave their views regarding the album and why it is so special; how it has translated through the past five decades and why it remains so special. The consensus was – and will be for most other people – that the sheer eclectic range of the records means you are picking up new elements and reveals this far along. Songs fall in and out of favour and, unlike some Beatles albums; The Beatles holds a strong and loyal position in their all-time top-five. It was a great discussion and I learned a lot – from Martin and the guests – regarding the songs’ beauty and how the material came together. The fact most of the material was laid onto a 4-track – there was an 8-track but the guys wanted a simpler and less rigorous sound than on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - is amazing! Thirty songs on four sides (on vinyl that is; or a single sitting/skimming on Spotify); it is a masterful album that, despite some rougher cuts, amazed critics and resonated profoundly.
IN THIS IMAGE: The Beatles (and Yoko Ono) depicted in their 1968/The Beatles period/IMAGE CREDIT: Ken Lowe
I guess two myths/quibbles need to be got out of the way before I look to the future. One, as discussed last night, was this notion that The Beatles was a band in disarray and chaos. It is true Sir George Martin was at-odds with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr (sirs both); George Harrison and John Lennon because, in terms of recording and the way it was being produced; he was used to a different style. The Beatles was a completely different experience to that of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Gone was the ruthless perfectionism and all-night sessions mining the studio for fresh secrets: replacing it was a band being a band; looser and willing to put the songs together in their own time. Whilst George Martin (I’ll drop the knighthood from now onward, if that is okay) was unhappy with the experience and felt it should have been a single album; what remains and we have is glorious. I do not feel you can whittle down a double-album as captivating as colourful as The Beatles because it is a long listen. The Telegraph mooted a single album and highlighted faults.
“...But where that 1967 masterpiece sounds unified, The Beatles (to give The White Album its official title) is fractured, its disparate pieces flying off in different directions. It is the sound of The Beatles falling apart.
Still, if you think the original White Album’s sprawling, wait until you hear about the forthcoming six-CD Deluxe edition, which adds 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes to the album’s original 30 tracks. As a tonic to that, let’s consider a shorter version. reducing The White Album’s 30 tracks (31 if you include Can You Take Me Back?, uncredited on the sleeve or label) to... how many, exactly? Fan site beatlesbible.com says 14 tracks is the “standard rule”. The White Album aside, six of The Beatles’ other 10 albums released in the UK had 14 tracks. So 14 it is. And like a diligent maths pupil, I’m going to show my workings...
An easier omission is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. Paul McCartney placed rocket boosters under already existing inter-band tensions by his insistence that the group spend two days playing Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da over and over again. It’s a banal ditty that exemplifies what Lennon derided as “Paul’s granny music”. But McCartney was convinced it was a hit. He was right, it was – the band Marmalade took their contemporaneous cover version to number one. But I think we can live without it on our leaner White Album.
Same goes for Honey Pie, a less egregious example of Paul’s granny music, but nevertheless a novelty item. We tolerated When I’m 64, Paul, because it seemed psychedelic on Sgt Pepper, coming straight after Within You Without You. We quite enjoyed Your Mother Should Know from Magical Mystery Tour (the double EP released in 1967 a few months after Sgt Pepper). But while we can admire McCartney's mastery of pre-war pop stylings, he's testing our patience with this one, and it hasn’t “hit the big time”
Meanwhile Birthday has not supplanted Happy Birthday to You as an anniversary anthem, and McCartney’s Why Don’t We do it in the Road?, while enjoyably crude, is not a major work. Nor is Lennon’s Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey. The primate in question may have been heroin, though the track’s exuberance suggests Lennon can’t have been taking too much of it at that stage”.
Apart from Back in the USSR, Helter Skelter and Happiness Is a Warm Gun; most of Jon Dennis’ selected fourteen have a calmer and more tranquil mood.
I contest there are a few songs I pass by – including George Harrison’s Piggies and Paul McCartney’s Rocky Raccoon – but each track holds its place. You could not do a single album because there is a subjectiveness and which songs do you omit?! People will be angry whichever songs you remove and, in a digital age, one can merely take the original double-album and select an album’s worth that they can put into a playlist! The thirty moods, stories and skins you get from The Beatles tells a complete story and is a definition of where the band were in 1968. The fact the band might pick a different fourteen songs to the collective critical wisdom suggests an obvious flaw in that plan. Releasing a double-album is risky and can divide but The Beatles knew what they were doing and the songwriting is exceptional. Even the slightly ‘weaker’ cuts are interesting and are worth listening to. Other states The Beatles were on the verge of splitting. Maybe John Lennon thought they were doomed and George Martin was happy. There were a few spats and issues – Starr briefly left and there were a few arguments; Yoko Ono’s increasing role in the studio meant she and Lennon were separate from the rest of the band; Harrison often wrote alone and did not have a partner – but the band were on the same page when it came to getting the material down. You cannot record a song as complete and formidable as Helter Skelter (Paul McCartney’s offering) if you are divided and squabbling.
IN THIS IMAGE: The cover for the Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/IMAGE CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images
A lot of the outtakes and in-studio discussions show there was calm and that willingness to explore and unite. Whereas Let It Be, which followed the following year, was a visibly tense and notoriously fractured album; The Beatles is a lot more harmonious and easy than most assume. This article looks at the band being ‘broken’ doing 1968:
“How seriously were the Fabs adhering to the path of spiritual awakening as they returned to the studio to work on the follow-up to Sgt Pepper?
George Harrison, it seemed, was still into it. John Lennon was out of it, and maybe not just figuratively. When asked whether he had returned from holiday with anything "fantastic", he replied: "Yes. A beard."
McCartney's attention had drifted into a world of musical pastiche and Ringo Starr was unimpressed with the way things were shaping.
Not the most auspicious of starts. The truth is the Beatles hadn't really been on the same page since they stopped touring in 1966 but, buoyed on by phenomenal success, they just kept going.
Another major problem for the group was that they were without a manager. Brian Epstein had died of an accidental overdose just at the point when they were delving into meditation.
Aside from the colossal personal impact of this tragedy, the group's business affairs were now all at sea...
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles during their ‘Mad Day Out’ in the summer of 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Murray
“Business differences were to cause them problems for the next few years.
Lennon and McCartney also had another issue to contemplate. While the quality of their songs, whether written separately or together (an increasingly rare event) was seldom in question, now they had a third songwriter to accommodate.
The material which Harrison was bringing to sessions was good. So good, in fact, that it threatened to eclipse theirs. Some would say it did.
Lennon was also bemusing his bandmates by bringing his new partner, conceptual artist Yoko Ono, along to every recording session.
On top of all this, their stalwart producer George Martin, frustrated at the band's undisciplined approach to recording, walked away from the project suddenly, depriving them of his genius in the process.
Arguments ensued. Paranoia was rampant. Ringo had enough and left the group, only to be coaxed back by the others, but not before they'd nailed the album's two opening tracks without him.
The White Album ended up being the record on which The Beatles cracked inwardly and irreversibly as a group.
As Harrison so accurately observed: "The only thing we could do was write songs and make records and be Beatles… successfully. And there were always good songs".
Whatever the opinions regarding their fragility and mental states; whether the album should be a single or a double; we are listening to it fifty years after release and revelling in its myriad voices and sights. It is a masterful work that, through the courses of thirty songs, covers multiple genres and themes. Paul McCartney alone is responsible for penning Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (a jaunty, Music Hall number), Blackbird (a Folk song about civil rights); Helter Skelter (a forerunner to Metal) and Back in the U.S.S.R. (a nod to the style of The Beach Boys). John Lennon was not to be outdone and wrote what is seen as one of the (if not the) best song on the album: Happiness Is a Warm Gun. It is a multi-part suite that would be taken to heart by the likes of Radiohead (Paranoid Android) and multiple artists. Lennon was not deliberately trying to do a suite-like song but he was following his instincts. Lennon also wrote Julia (about his late mother) and Glass Onion; The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (a child-like song you’d imagine coming from McCartney) and Revolution 9 (more a soundscape than a traditional song). There were efforts from George Harrison – including the Eric Clapton-featuring While My Guitar Gently Weeps – but it was the lead songwriters opening their minds to the limit and coming up with some of the best material of their careers. They were no longer writing the three-minute Pop song for radio and worried about performing these songs for enthralled audiences (the band stopped touring before Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as they could not hear themselves sing anymore).
IMAGE CREDIT: Getty Images
You notice stunning drum fills or great effects; lyrics that jump out of nowhere and songs that burrow their way onto the brain. Denying the world of all the songs would be a crime and you’d miss out on so many gems. Giles Martin’s care and dedication means not only do we get to hear the originals fresher and in a modern context but there is more content around the songs: those discussions and outtakes show how numbers came to be and the process of experimentation. I urge people to buy the anniversary releases and get involved with every note and scrap that you can find. Not only was The Beatles the sound of a band, once more, changing the game but it was a record that few have managed to match. Bands such as The Clash and The 1975 have taken various elements from The Beatles and used them in their own work but I cannot think of another band who has managed to make such a scattershot and diverse record. Many might say one cannot release a double-album in the streaming age. Not only would people cherry-pick songs and discard the majority of the album; critics would roll their eyes and suggest it be narrowed to a single L.P. Taking risks is a way of moving music forward and we would not be as attached to The Beatles’ eponymous album were it not for the number of songs and how much ground is covered.
Consider how many different genres there are included and that provides a tantalising prospect for a new band! Maybe a solo artist could attempt it but, for those out there who are looking to push boundaries and blow the game open; why not look at The Beatles and take the lead from this incredible work of art?! I feel there are so many lessons and secrets to be discovered that you could make a modern-day equivalent. Maybe the recording process would be different in terms of the personnel but I don’t think you need to go ultra-modern and use high-tech stuff. Using 4 and 8-track recorders to give it that vintage sound – and keeps you focused and provides a challenge – and not limiting yourself in terms of subject matter (The Beatles covered everything from birthdays to loneliness through to civil rights and the rich elite on their self-titled album) is a good idea. Maybe not every song will hit the mark but it will allow you to indulge, not be limited by convention and routine and could lead to something spectacular. I know a lot of bands who were playing around the time of The Beatles’ release and taking heed from it. This fascinating study of The Beatles talks about the way the ‘fashion’ of the record has lived on:
“They fashioned their look in a similarly simple style. The gaudy showbiz flash of the Pepper era joined the Epstein-dictated sartorial conservatism of their touring years on the cultural scrap heap. In their black waistcoats, white shirts, black hats, snake-hipped, low-slung, tapered and tailored flares, they looked more like a gang than like a marching band. Cuban-heeled, ankle-hugging Chelsea boots, mix-and-match moustaches and meticulously mussed hair suggested the brooding frontier cool of the American West, riverboat gamblers with issues. It was an enduring stylistic template for the likes of the Black Crowes, The Raconteurs and the Temperance Movement. The ’68 Beatles – a one-stop shop for 21st-century stylists – were rock-band-cool incarnate”.
IN THIS PHOTO: The Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images
I think too many artists balk at the idea of doing a double-album and feel it will be panned. The fact that The Beatles loved their eponymous album means the experience was great and shows they were united in a common goal. They broke ground and created this breath of fresh air back in 1968. There have been a few half-arsed attempts to go some way to redefining the album but nobody has managed to go far enough to get the tongue wagging. It is 2018 and we have more sounds and genres available at the fingertips than fifty years ago. Modern artists can listen to the giddiness of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and the roar of Helter Skelter and marvel. They can vacillate over Good Night and Glass Onion and, rather than admire those songs; try making their own versions and following in the footsteps of The Beatles. It is a hard ask but the time is right and I feel a modern challenge would be well-met and admired. So, then...why buy the anniversary edition(s) of The Beatles?! You could stick with the original and have all the songs there – one gets so much more with tomorrow’s release:
“The BEATLES (‘White Album’) releases include:
Super Deluxe: The comprehensive, individually numbered 7-disc and digital audio collections feature:
CDs 1 & 2: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo album mix
CD3: Esher Demos
- Esher Demo tracks 1 through 19 sequenced in order of the finished song’s placement on ‘The White Album.’ Tracks 20-27 were not included on the album.
CDs 4, 5 & 6: Sessions
- 50 additional recordings, most previously unreleased, from ‘White Album’ studio sessions; all newly mixed from the four-track and eight-track session tapes, sequenced in order of their recording start dates.
Blu-ray:
- 2018 album mix in high resolution PCM stereo
- 2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 album mix
- 2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix
- 2018 direct transfer of the album’s original mono mix
Deluxe: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo album mix + Esher Demos
The 3CD; 180-gram 4LP vinyl box set (limited edition); and digital audio collections pair the 2018 stereo album mix with the 27 Esher Demos.
Standard 2LP Vinyl: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 stereo mix
180-gram 2LP vinyl in gatefold sleeve with faithfully replicated original artwork
The minimalist artwork for ‘The White Album’ was created by artist Richard Hamilton, one of Britain’s leading figures in the creation and rise of pop art. The top-loading gatefold sleeve’s stark white exterior had ‘The BEATLES’ embossed on the front and printed on the spine with the album’s catalogue number. Early copies of ‘The White Album’ were also individually numbered on the front, which has also been done for the new edition’s Super Deluxe package.
The set’s six CDs and Blu-ray disc are housed in a slipsleeved 164-page hardbound book, with pull-out reproductions of the original album’s four glossy color portrait photographs of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as well as the album’s large fold-out poster with a photo collage on one side and lyrics on the other. The beautiful book is illustrated with rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten and notated lyrics, previously unpublished photos of recording sheets and tape boxes, and reproduced original ‘White Album’ print ads.
IN THIS PHOTO: The three-C.D. Anniversary Edition of The Beatles/PHOTO CREDIT: Apple Records/Getty Images
The book’s comprehensive written pieces include new introductions by Paul McCartney and Giles Martin, and in-depth chapters covering track-by-track details and session notes reflecting The Beatles’ year between the release of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and recording sessions for ‘The White Album,’ the band’s July 28 1968 “Mad Day Out” photo shoot in locations around London, the album artwork, the lead-up and execution of the album’s blockbuster release, and its far-ranging influence, written by Beatles historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett; journalist and author John Harris; and Tate Britain’s Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art Andrew Wilson. The Deluxe 3CD is presented in an embossed digipak with the fold-out poster and portrait photos, plus a 24-page booklet abridged from the Super Deluxe book. Presented in a lift-top box with a four-page booklet, the limited edition Deluxe 4LP vinyl set presents the 2LP album in a faithful, embossed reproduction of its original gatefold sleeve with the fold-out poster and portrait photos, paired with the 2LP Esher Demos in an embossed gatefold sleeve”.
Say what you want about albums that followed The Beatles but nobody cannot deny, in 1968, the world’s best band were onto something and throwing away the rules! It remains this fascinating and multifarious treasure chest from four men who wants to create something historic. They did that and did so much more. We might pick odd tracks from The Beatles to ignore but I think each song is a part of the tapestry and essential. Through time, musicians and fans alike have given their views and expressed their love. I think now, as we marvel fifty years on; it is a great time for a modern act to look at The Beatles and...
IN THIS PHOTO: Paul McCartney during the recording of The Beatles in 1968/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
CHALLENGE themselves to match it!