The Beatles

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Any other Beatles' fans here?

The band was founded by John Lennon around 1956, under the name "The Quarrymen" in Liverpool. They started playing skiflle: covers and some original songs. In October 1957 Paul McCartney joined the band, and under his recommendation, George Harrison was included in 1958. That year, The Quarrymen recorded two songs: one was a Buddy Holly cover, and the other one a McCartney/Harrison original.

By 1960, and after going through several names, the band was now called The Beatles. They were now in Hamburg, in Germany, playing in local clubs as the Indra, The Kaiserkeller, and The Top Ten club. While in Hamburg they entered the recording studio, this time alongside british musician Tony Sheridad, who was also playing in the german city.
One of the songs they recorded there was "My Bonnie". This song would caught the attention of Brian Epstein, when someone asked for the song on his record store. Epstein would be the band's manager.

By 1962 Ringo Starr was the band's new drummer, replacing Pete Best, and they had signed with Parlophone, with George Martin as their producer.
What comes after this is a known story: their first albums [Please Please Me, With The Beatles], Beatlemania and taking over the United States. Their psychedelic era and experimentation times on Rubber Soul [1965] and Revolver [1966]. And the complete musical maturity on albums such as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [1967] and The White Album (officially named The Beatles) [1968]. And finally the band's separation in 1969/1970.



This is one of my favorites songs by them. It's from the White Album and was primarily written by John Lennon:
Happiness is a Warm Gun

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The first songs recorded by them when they were still called The Quarrymen, back in 1958

That'll be the Day, written by Buddy Holly

And

In Spite of all the Danger, written by Paul McCartney and George Harrison

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My Bonnie, one of the songs they recorded while on Hamburg, around 1960.
They recorded as the accompaniment band for Tony Sheridan, who sings lead vocals and plays lead guitar here.

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This is the first song ever written by John Lennon. This version was recorded when the band auditioned for Decca Records on January 1st 1962.
The company finally decided not to sign them, by saying that "guitar bands are on their way out".


Hello Little Girl

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Love Me Do was the Beatles first single, released on October 5, 1962 and it reached nº 17 in the Record Retailer list in the UK.

The band recorded this song three times:

- June 6 1962. This version was recorded with Pete Best on drums. Then the producer, George Martin, asked the band to replace the drummer.

- September 4 1962. They recorded the song again, this time with Ringo Starr on drums

- September 11 1962. George Martin didn't like Ringo either and hired a session drummer: Andy White. They recorded the song again with him on drums and Ringo playing a tambourine.

The September 4 version, with Ringo on drums was the one released as the single. While the September 11 version, with Andy White on drums was used for the band's first album Please Please Me.

This one is the single version:

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Please Please Me was The Beatles' second single and the first one to reach the nº 1 in the UK. It was released on January 11, 1963.

The song also gives the title to band first album, recorded in one day: February 11, 1963, though 4 songs released as singles were recorded before.

The album was released on March 22, 1963 and quickly reached nº 1 in the UK. The record consists of 8 original songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and 6 cover versions of other artists.

Please Please Me is one of those original songs, primarily written by John Lennon

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Today, 50 years ago, The Beatles released Please Please Me, their first album:

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With The Beatles was their second album, released in the UK on November 22 1963.
Same as Please Please Me, the album reached the number 1 in the UK. This LP, as the previous one, consisted of 6 cover versions, and 8 original songs: 7 by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and one (Don't Bother Me) by George Harrison: the first song he ever wrote.

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The Beatles' 5th single in the UK, I Want To Hold Your Hand, released on November 29 1963, reached the nº 1, same as its predecessors. But it also was the band's first single to reach that position in the US, which opened the way for the "Beatlemania" and the whole British Invasion to break in America.

After I Want to hold Your Hand reached the nº1 in the Billboard chart (January 18 1964) they were invited to the Ed Sullivan Show, and they gave their first concerts in the US.

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On July 10 1964, The Beatles released their third studio album in the UK: A Hard Day's Night

This was their first album containing only original songs. No covers this time. And it's the only Beatles' album to feature only Lennon/McCartney compositions.

As the two previous LPs, this one reached the nº1 in the UK charts.

By this time it was also released the band's first movie, entitled same as the album.

So the LP's side A had the songs from the movie soundtrack, while the side B consisted of new songs.

It's particularly interesting the chord that opens the song A Hard Day's Night, and the use George Harrison gives to his 12 string electric guitar.

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Beatles for Sale was the band's 4th LP in the UK. Released on December 4 1964, it reached, as the 3 previous albums, the nº 1 in the UK charts.

Considering that A Hard Day's Night featured only original songs, this album may be seen as a step back. Here, as in their first two LPs, they had 8 Lennon/McCartney original songs, and 6 cover versions from other artists.

This is a little "darker" album, which we can notice on songs like No Reply, I'm a Loser, and Baby's in Black (all of them by John Lennon). We can also start to notice the influence of Bob Dylan on this LP, particularly on some lyrics, and also in the acoustic approach of some song. This influence will be somewhat heavier later, specially on Help! and Rubber Soul.

Beatles for Sale

Any comments and other contributions are welcome!!

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The Beatles 8th single was I Feel Fine, released on November 23 1964 in the UK, and on November 27 that same year in the US. It reach the nº1 in the charts at both sides of the Atlantic, and it's B-side was the song She's a Woman.

Both songs are credited to Lennon-McCartney, though I Feel Fine was primarily written by John Lennon, while She's a Woman was written mostly by Paul McCartney. And in both songs we start to find some experimentation by the band:
I Feel Fine is probably one of the first songs that use electric guitar feedback on purpose on the recording. This can be heard at the beginning of the song, just before the guitar riff (such a great riff by the way).
On the other hand, She's a Woman is a rather heavy song for 1964, with slightly overdriven guitars and McCartney singing in a somewhat higher register. Though it keeps mostly a 12-bar Blues structure.


I Feel Fine

She's a Woman

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Help! is The Beatles' 5th album, released in the UK on August 6 1965, and as their previous LPs, it reached the number 1 in the UK charts.

This is their last album to include cover versions of other artists: 2 of them. 12 of the 14 songs are originals: 10 by Lennon/McCartney, and 2 written by George Harrison.

Same as with A Hard Day's Night, along with the album The Beatles released their 2nd movie, entitled like the record: Help!.

On the A side of the LP were the songs featured in the movie, while the B side had new songs.

Bob Dylan's influence is notorious here as well. Like in Beatles For Sale we can find an acoustic/folk feel, and the lyrics are evolving as well, specially the ones by John Lennon: Help!, You've Got to Hide your Love Away.

In this album we can find Yesterday, credited to Lennon/McCartney, but primarily written by Paul McCartney. It is the first song by the band to feature a string quartet, arranged by their producer George Martin. Its is the first one too to have participation of only one member of the band: Paul McCartney on acoustic guitar and vocals.

Help!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX-61Vg2lkA

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Now here's where things start to become really interesting.
Rubber Soul was The Beatles 6th LP in the UK, released on December 3 1965. As usual, it quickly reached the nº 1 in the UK charts.
For the first time since A Hard Day's Night, there were only original songs in a Beatles' album: 11 by Lennon/McCartney, 2 by George Harrison, and one by Lennon/McCartney/Starkey.

Here the band began to experiment more in the studio and to include "strange" instruments to the rock context. In Norwegian Wood, George Harrison plays an indian Sitar. In the song In My Life there's a baroque-like interlude played by the producer George Martin.
Their lyrics continue to evolve too, specially those written by John Lennon. Nowhere Man is a good example of this: a more "philosophical" lyric, and no longer the typical love song.

There's still an acoustic feel to this album, but we can also hear a Soul influence and a somewhat heavier sound on a couple of songs (Drive my Car, Think for Yourself).

This is one of my favorite Beatles album. I love the sound they had here, and in my opinion is the perfect bridge between their earlier years and what is about to come with Revolver (another GREAT album). For me, the best of The Beatles start here.



Rubber Soul

Any comments or more contributions are much welcome!

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Things get even more interesting with The Beatles' 7th studio album: Revolver, released on August 5 1966. Same as their previous albums, Revolver reached the nº1 in the UK charts. And this would be their last album to have a different US release.

Once again, this album have only original songs in it: 11 by Lennon/McCartney, and 3 written by George Harrison.

We can find more experimentation on this album, both in the composition itself and the arrangements/instrumentation.

Though this LP expands the musical search started on Rubber Soul, there's a clear departure from the previous album's sound. We won't find here the acoustic/folk feel of Help! and Rubber Soul: this is actually a psychedelic album.

There's distorted guitars (and quite distorted for the mid '60s), backward guitar solos and unusual arrangements for a Rock band. Once again we find a Sitar, but now even deeper in an Indian music context: Love You To by George Harrison features not only a sitar, but also tabla and tambura.

On Eleanor Rigby (by Paul McCartney, with some contribution of John Lennon), we hear a string octet, arranged by George Martin, with an interesting use of counterpoint for a non-classical work.

There's also a couple of backward guitar solos: on I'm Only Sleeping and Tomorrow Never Knows, both written by John Lennon.

Tomorrow Never Knows is actually one of the most interesting songs in the album (for me at least...). Lots of experimentation with tapes and other sounds aside of the usual Rock instruments: backward seagull sounds, other sounds and noises in tapes rolling a different speeds, all with echo and reverb on it... All in the search for creating the atmosphere Lennon wanted for the song. There's also a good amount of effects on John's voice, who told George Martin that he wanted to sound like "a hundred chanting tibetan monks". Is voice was put through a rotating leslie speaker as well to help getting the effect. This song is written around just one chord: C major, though because of the melody there's some B flat chords too. It's lyrics are inspired in the book The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary, in turn inspired in The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream

It is not dying... it is not dying...

One of my favorite Beatles albums: top three I would say, alongside The White Album and Abbey Road. If Rubber Soul was the beginning of the band's best times, with Revolver we're already there.

Revolver

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEz2YD-w2jc

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Today it's been 46 years since the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The Beatles' 8th studio album was published on June 1st 1967, and for the first time it had the same release on both the UK and the US. As all their previous LPs it reached the nº 1 on the UK charts, and also on the US.
The album has 13 songs: 12 of them by Lennon/McCartney and one written by George Harrison.

The Beatles' experimentation on the psychedelic context reached it's peak on this album, which is also considered one of the earlier attempts at doing a concept album. It was Paul McCartney's idea to play as a fictitious band: The Sergeant Pepper's Band. This concept idea though, only really worked on the first 2 and the last 2: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, With a Little Help From My Friends, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), A Day In The Life.
Once again George Harrison tries indian music: Within You Without You is maybe his most successful mix between the Indian and the Western music. The instrumentation is Indian, same as with Love You To in Revolver. There's Sitar, Tambura, Tabla, etc. All played by indian musicians.
On She's Leaving Home Mike Leander provides the strings (+ harp) arrangement instead of George Martin. And in A Day in the Life they make use of a full orchestra for the crescendos halfway through the song and in the end of it, this time conducted by Martin.

The lyrics aren't about love on this album for the most part, but far more creative this time: taken from an old circus poster (Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite), inspired by some local news (A Day in the Life), inspired by a drawing (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds).

The famous cover was designed by Peter Blake and Jaan Haworth, inspired by a McCartney's sketch. It features the band dressed as the Sgt. Pepper's band's in front of a collage of celebrities and historical figures admired by the band members.

The album recordings started with Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. But finally they weren't included on the album, but were released as a double A-Side single instead. Recordings started on December 6 1966 and were completed on April 21 1967. 6 months: the longest time The Beatles had taken on the recording of an album. This, plus the fact that they stopped touring and playing concerts after Revolver led to rumors of the band breaking up.
But once the album finally came out, it was almost immediately considered as a masterpiece, and The Beatles' most important work 'till that time. Still today is considered as one of the most important Rock albums. But there's actually a before and an after of the Sgt. Pepper's in Rock's history.


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Lennon/McCartney)
With a Little Help From My Friends (Lennon/McCartney)
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Lennon/McCartney)
Getting Better (Lennon/McCartney)
Fixing a Hole (Lennon/McCartney)
She's Leaving Home (Lennon/McCartney)
Within You Without You (Harrison)
When I'm Sixty Four (Lennon/McCartney)
Lovely Rita (Lennon/McCartney)
Good Morning Good Morning (Lennon/McCartney)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) (Lennon/McCartney)
A Day in the Life (Lennon/McCartney)

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Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were released as a double A-side single on February 17 1967 in the UK, and on February 13 1967 on the US. And for the first time since 1963, a Beatles' single failed to reach the nº1 on the british charts: it reached nº 2. Though in the US, Penny Lane would reach the nº1.

Both songs were written and recorded in 1966 and were to be included on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but were finally released as a single by Brian Epstein's decision.
Though both songs are credited to Lennon/McCartney, Penny Lane is a Paul McCartney's work and Strawberry Fields Forever on the other hand was written by John Lennon. There's plenty of similarities between the songs, being both of them written around their childhood memories, and talking about specific places in Liverpool: Penny Lane is a street near Lennon's childhood home, and Strawberry Field was a Salvation Army Children's Home also near Lennon's childhood home.
John Lennon wrote Strawberry Fields Forever in Spain, while filming the movie How I Won the War.



Penny Lane

Strawberry Fields Forever

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Magical Mystery Tour was a double EP released on December 8 1967 in the UK. In the US though, it was released as an LP, on November 27 1967, and it's the only case in which the US released is considered now the official instead of the UK publication.
The US release reached the nº1 on the charts.

The EP was originally the soundtrack for the film of the same name. The film was a TV movie written and produced by the band, though it received bad criticism.
The double EP consisted of 6 songs: 4 by Lennon/McCartney, one by George Harrison and one credited to the whole band.
On the US on the other hand, the album was released as an LP, with 11 songs, the other 5 being released before as singles.

This album follows the direction the band took on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. They continue with the experimentation on the recording studio and we have here another mostly psychedelic album. One good example of this is George Harrison's song Blue Jay Way. In this case he does not deliver another Indian inspired piece, but there's an Oriental feel to some melodies and there's also an interesting use of studio effects throughout the song, specially on George's voice.
McCartney on his side show us his versatility on songs like Your Mother Should Know, with an oldies mood, or the thoughtful The Fool on the Hill.
We also find here the first instrumental track in The Beatles catalog: Flying, credited to all 4 members.
On the original EP there's only one 100% Lennon song: I Am the Walrus. A true masterpiece, both musically and lyrically. This is an Alice in Wonderland inspired psychedelic piece completed with a great arrangement written by George Martin. It is worth of notice that the whole song is built over only major chords!.

The rest of the LP is made with previously released singles:
Hello Goodbye (I Am The Walrus A-side)
Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane
Baby You're a Rich Man / All You Need is Love

All You Need is Love it was performed by the band on Our World, a television show broadcasted globally via satellite on June 25 1967. They represented the UK in the show at the BBC's request.



Magical Mystery Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkrmDUsoKCk

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In August 1968 The Beatles released the single Hey Jude, with Revolution on the B side. This was their first release with their new label: Apple, and it reached the nº 1 in both the US and the UK. In the US the single's A side had the longest time time spent by a Beatles single at the top spot: it was there for 9 weeks, and also is their longest song to hit the charts, running over 7 minutes. It also was their 16th number one single in the US.

 

Hey Jude was written by Paul McCartney, though credited as Lennon/McCartney. The inspiration for the song comes from John Lennon's first son, Julian, who was at that time dealing with his parents divorce.

 

Revolution, also credited as Lennon/McCartney, was written completely by John Lennon. The inspiration for this song was political and comes specially from the protests around 1968. This song is notorious for being a quite Heavy Rock track for it's time, with a rather fast tempo and heavily distorted guitars. On it's origin though, it was much slower and had an acoustic feel. 

The original version (later called Revolution 1) was recorded during the White Album sessions, and it was finally included in that record. John Lennon wanted the song to be released as a single, but the rest of the band refused, arguing it was "too slow". Lennon's response came in the form of a new, fastest, electrified, noisy and heavy version of the song: Revolution, that would be released as a single, but as a B-side to Hey Jude, against Lennon's desire.

From one of the original version takes would also come out the concrete music experiment that is Revolution 9.

 

 

Hey Jude

 

Revolution

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And finally I reached this:

My favorite album of all time, no doubt, which I'm listening right now 

 

The Beatles, most known as The White Album is the band's 10th LP (or 9th, depending on how you count Magical Mistery Tour) and it was released in November 22 1968. Is a double album, and by far the most eclectic work by the band. Here we found far more individual work, which results in an immense variety of styles, sounds and musical genres, all in the same record.

It reached the nº1 in both the UK and the US where it spent several weeks. It's also, according to the RIAA, the band's best selling album, and the 10th best selling album of all time in the US.

The double LP consists of 30 songs: 25 by Lennon/McCartney, 4 written by George Harrison, and, for the first time, a song written by Ringo Starr.

 

The origins of this album material can be found on the band's travel to India, where they took part on a Trascendental Meditation course, led by The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the spring of 1968. The only instruments they took with themselves were acoustic guitars, and soon both John Lennon and Paul McCartney, as well as George Harrison, began writing new songs when they weren't taking part of the meditations. Most the White Album material was actually written during this time, and many of the songs are (at least in the beginning) of acoustic nature. As many as 40 songs were written during this time.

Once they were back in England, in May 1968, they recorded, as demos, the majority of these songs at George Harrison's place in Esher (the are the Esher Session, which can be found as a Bootleg). After this, in May 30 1968 they went to Abbey Road to start the recording of the new album.

There was a lot of new material, and none of them wanted to leave out their own songs. The solution was to include most, if not all of the new music and release the new record as a double LP.

 

So, in The White Album we find everything. There's Rock n' Roll, Swing, Country, Blues, Hard Rock, Acid Rock, Acoustic ballads, Concrete Music, an attempt at doing Reggae, and even proto-Heavy Metal.

 

The album opens with Back in the U.S.S.R., written by Paul McCartney, a Rock n' Roll song in a style close to The Beach Boys. Ringo Starr didn't participate in the recording of this song, instead, each of the others played a drum track, being the Paul McCartney's one the most prominent in the mix. This shows us that the tensions within the band started during this period.

Dear Prudence, by John Lennon, is the song that follows. This is one of the songs written in India, and it's about Prudence Farrow, who was apparently taking the meditation too seriously and John here invites her to "come out to play". Same as in Back in the U.S.S.R. Ringo doesn't play here.

The LP continues with another Lennon song: Glass Onion, with cryptic lyrics to bring up confusion to those who took too seriously the analysis of The Beatles lyrics. Here (and in almost the rest of the album) we have Ringo on the drums and percussion.

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da is the next song. This one was written by Paul McCartney and is his attempt at writing a Reggae song. We continue with another McCartney song: Wild Honey Pie. Paul is the only one playing in this track, which is more like a personal experiment at over-dubbing different instruments over a rather simple structure. It is an odd song to say the least, but very interesting in terms of sound and harmony.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill was written by John Lennon. It's a very simple song inspired by a guy in India who enjoyed hunting tigers. This was Lennon's response.

The first song by George Harrison we find here is While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Acoustic in it's origins, we find it here as a Hard Rock track, with heavy distorted guitar (considering it is 1968) and a very percussive bass by Paul McCartney. The lead guitar here is played by a special guest, George Harrison's good friend Eric Clapton.

The next song is one of my favorites, and definitely the most complex song in The Beatles catalogue: John Lennon's Happiness is a Warm Gun. The song has 3 big sections, and we can find at least 5 or 7 different sections on the song as a whole, depending how they are considered. Harmony, and specially rhythm are particularly interesting in this song, using a lot of metric changes in the middle section (the Acid Rock part). The guitar solo, though simple has an "acid" sound which is remarkable.

We continue with a Paul McCartney's song: Martha My Dear. Led by Paul's piano, this song is about McCartney's dog: Martha. We find once again here an interesting harmony and a very nice strings and brass arrangement scored by George Martin.

I'm So Tired was written by John Lennon, as many of the song here, in India. Is remarkable how that tired feeling can be noted on the music itself and not just in the lyrics.

Written by Paul it follows Blackbird, a beautiful acoustic ballad: just McCartney and his acoustic guitar here. Wonderful song!

Piggies is the second song by George Harrison in the album. Here we find George exploring social issues in the lyrics, using the pigs as metaphors. The song has a notorious baroque sounding because of the Harpsichord that carries the melody of the instrumental breaks.

Rocky Raccoon, by Paul McCartney is another acoustic song in nature, with a "wild west" sounding and lyrical theme. This one is followed by Ringo Starr's first composition: Don't Pass me By, a clearly Country effort built over 3 chords yet with a catchy melody. Ringo sings here.

Why Don't We Do It In The Road? is another simple song, a Blues based track written by Paul McCartney. It's quite a Hard Rock song though with an aggressive singing by Paul and a very percussive piano and bass.

It's followed by another McCartney song: I Will, a ballad providing big contrast with the previous song. There's no bass guitar here: instead, there's Paul singing the bass-line: "dum - dum"

The first LP closes with Lennon's song Julia. A song about his mother, it is an acoustic ballad. We find here just John and his guitar

 

On to the second LP:

Birthday is the opener. Primarily written by Paul, but with some Lennon's collaboration (the only compositional collaboration of the album). It's a heavy Rock n' Roll with nice distorted guitars and a prominent drumming by Ringo.

We continue with Yer Blues by John Lennon. A heavy 12-bar blues we find here, as a response to the British Blues wave of the time (such bands as Cream, The Yardbirds, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, etc).

The album goes on with Mother Nature's Song and acoustic ballad by McCartney which he wrote in India after one of Maharishi's lessons about nature. (John wrote a similar song about the same: Child of Nature, not included here, but that later, and with different lyrics would be part of Imagine as Jealous Guy).

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except me and my Monkey is a Lennon song. A fast and rather heavy Rock n' Roll based on some India experiences and the starting relationship of John and Yoko Ono. As a personal comment: the riff is just amazing, same as the break after the refrain.

We continue with Sexy Sadie by John Lennon. Here we have another song with a very interesting harmony and an amazing vocal arrangement by the band. The song is actually about the Maharishi, who apparently wasn't as pious as he pretended to be...

And here we find it: Helter Skelter. Written by Paul McCartney this is the heaviest song on the entire Beatles catalog. Actually an early example of Heavy Metal. Paul, in fact wanted to do here the "heaviest, dirtiest and noisiest" song possible, as a response to some comments he read about The Who's song I Can See for Miles.

It is followed by a ballad. Such a contrast! Long, Long, Long is a George Harrison song. A beautiful acoustic ballad in a metric of 3/4: very unusual for The Beatles.

The next song is Revolution 1 by John Lennon, which is described in the previous post. It is followed by Paul McCartney's Honey Pie. This is Paul experimenting with the Swing style and transporting the band to a '30s decade sound.

Our next stop is the last Harrison composition of this LP: Savoy Truffle, a song about some chocolates that Eric Clapton used to eat a lot. The song is a nice Rock piece with a notorious sax arrangement by George Martin.

And getting close to the end we find Cry Baby Cry, a primarily acoustic song by John Lennon. Towards the end we find a "hidden track": an excerpt of a Paul's song, usually called "Can you Take me Back?". This hidden track fades into Revolution 9, a Concrete Music experiment by John Lennon, with the help of George Harrison and Yoko Ono: backward tapes, noises, screams, modified sounds and that repetitive "Number nine... Number nine... Number nine". I find it rather interesting and actually quite fun, but it is maybe the most avoided track in all Beatles albums.

Finally, the album closes with Good Night written by John Lennon and with Ringo on vocals. There's an orchestral arrangement here by George Martin.

 

 

Many of the India material didn't make into the album, and were later released as singles, or included either in Abbey Road or Let it Be. Some of them were later used on the Beatles solo albums after the break up, a process that actually start here. Tensions within the band started to appear here: Ringo leaving for a couple of weeks is an example of this. Yoko Ono's growing presence is another factor in the mix. The creation of a business like Apple is another. In fact, many of the songs were recorded individually, using different studios at Abbey Road. Though it's true too, that they were in a hurry for a date to accomplish, so they had to find a way to work faster.

Truth is, that for me at least, this is the band's peak: their best moment. But also, the end of The Beatles start here.

 

 

The Beatles - The White Album

 

LP 1

Back in the U.S.S.R

Dear Prudence

Glass Onion

Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da

Wild Honey Pie

The Continuing Story of Bungallow Bill

While My Guitar Gently Weeps  

Happiness is a Warm Gun

Martha My Dear

I'm So Tired

Blackbird

Piggies

Rocky Raccoon

Don't Pass Me By

Why Don't We Do It in The Road?

I Will

Julia

 

LP 2

Birthday

Yer Blues

Mother's Nature Son

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey

Sexy Sadie

Helter Skelter

Long, Long, Long

Revolution1

Honey Pie

Savoy Truffle

Cry Baby Cry

Revolution 9

Good Night

 

 

Sorry for the incredibly long post, but this album deserves it