My first album, in this series of posts, is The Beatles (aka the white album). I love all the Beatles records but I’ve always had a special place in my heart for this diverse work of art. I originally had it on cassettes! It also has such an exciting cover! It was released on November 22, 1968, was the groups 9th studio album and their only double. The album has been certified 24× platinum by the RIAA.
The sleeve included a poster with a montage of photographs, with the lyrics of the songs on the back, and a set of four photographic portraits taken by John Kelly. All the original albums were numbered in the front, bottom right side of the cover.
Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. Hey Jude and Revolution (rocking version) were recorded at the same time but were only released as a single. There were no singles released from the music on the album.
Guest musicians on The Beatles (from Wikipedia)
Yoko Ono – backing vocals, lead vocals and handclaps on “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”, backing vocals on “Birthday”, speech, tapes and sound effects on “Revolution 9”
Mal Evans – backing vocals and handclaps on “Dear Prudence”, handclaps on “Birthday”, trumpet on “Helter Skelter”
Eric Clapton – lead guitar on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Jack Fallon – violin on “Don’t Pass Me By”
Pattie Harrison – backing vocals on “Birthday”
Jackie Lomax – backing vocals and handclaps on “Dear Prudence”
John McCartney – backing vocals and handclaps on “Dear Prudence”
Maureen Starkey – backing vocals on “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill”
