THE BEATLES: WHITE ALBUM (1968)
The album 'The Beatles' or 'White Album' as it is widely known, was the 9th official album by The Beatles, it was released in 1968, and it was a double one.
This album was recorded in a very weird period for the group. They had just returned from India after spending the last few months with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi with meditation and song-writing.
But upon their arrival back to UK, many problems showed up among the 4 Beatles. As a result Ringo Star quit the band for a while, and Paul Mc Cartney played drums in his place in a couple of songs. Many of the songs in this album were 'solo' recordings, as each individual member of the band began to explore his own talent.
Musically this record is more 'electric' that any other record they had released so far, and it is a musical puzzle. Meaning that it contains for the first time many different styles of music gathered all together in one record. From Blues, Country, Pop - Rock, Jazz - Rock, even a primitive form of Heavy Metal, allthough this term had not been invented yet.
The album's original title was supposed to be 'A Doll's House', but the idea was abandoned after Family's release 'Music in a Doll's House' earlier that year.
Now, some known or unknown information for this album:
Allthough it is not credited in the album notes, Eric Clapton played lead guitar on Harrison's song 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps'. Also, Lennon's song 'Sexy Sadie' is about Maharishi and the rumouırs the he made sexual advances to Mia Farrow's sister Prudence, while they were alltogether in India. For her is the song 'Dear Prudence' as well.
This record is the first The Beatles released in their own record company 'Apple', and it is the first that followed the death of their manager 'Brian Epstein'
As for the reception of the album, it was a great success!
Upon it's release it received largely positive reviews, and reached at No.1 in the charts both in UK and USA. The 'White Album' has sold over 30.000.000 copies worldwide, and it is listed at No.10 on Rolling Stones' magazine list with the '500 Greatest Albums of all Time'.
In the following videos you can listen to the songs 'Sexy Sadie' and 'Yer Blues'
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