The Beatles (The White Album)
Thirty songs on a double LP, the first album on Apple, written largely with acoustic guitars in India.
The Beatles, 1968
- Released
- 22 November 1968
- Recorded
- 30 May to 14 October 1968
- Studio
- EMI Studios (Abbey Road) and Trident Studios, London
- Label
- Apple
- Producer
- George Martin
- Length
- 93:33
Most of the songs were written during a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India, in early 1968, where the acoustic guitar was the only instrument at hand. The band demoed them at Harrison's home in May. The sessions were tense. Martin took an unannounced holiday, Emerick quit in the middle of a session, and Starr left for about two weeks in August. Recording moved from four-track to eight-track along the way, and it was the last Beatles album mixed separately for stereo and mono. Chris Thomas produced some tracks without credit. Eric Clapton played lead guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and Yoko Ono contributed to several songs.
It entered the British chart at number one on 7 December 1968 and stayed eight weeks. In the United States it led for nine weeks. Derek Jewell of the Sunday Times called it the best thing in pop since Sgt. Pepper, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone saw in it the history and synthesis of Western music, and Nik Cohn found it boring beyond belief.
Track listing
- Back in the U.S.S.R.2:43
- Dear Prudence3:56
- Glass Onion2:18
- Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da3:08
- Wild Honey Pie0:52
- The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill3:14
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps4:45
- Happiness Is a Warm Gun2:47
- Martha My Dear2:28
- I'm So Tired2:03
- Blackbird2:18
- Piggies2:04
- Rocky Raccoon3:33
- Don't Pass Me By3:51
- Why Don't We Do It in the Road?1:41
- I Will1:46
- Julia2:57
- Birthday2:42
- Yer Blues4:01
- Mother Nature's Son2:48
- Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey2:24
- Sexy Sadie3:15
- Helter Skelter4:30
- Long, Long, Long3:08
- Revolution 14:15
- Honey Pie2:41
- Savoy Truffle2:54
- Cry Baby Cry3:02
- Revolution 98:22
- Good Night3:14
Personnel
- John Lennon vocals, guitar
- Paul McCartney vocals, bass, guitar, piano
- George Harrison vocals, guitar
- Ringo Starr drums, vocals
- George Martin producer
- Chris Thomas producer on some tracks, uncredited
- Eric Clapton lead guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Yoko Ono vocals, tapes
- Ken Scott engineer
- Geoff Emerick engineer
More from The Beatles
With the Beatles (1963), Please Please Me (1963), A Hard Day's Night (1964), Rubber Soul (1965), Help! (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), Abbey Road (1969), Let It Be (1970)
Sources
- The Beatles (album), Wikipedia