Yet for all of their geniality, the Esher Tapes were calculated rough drafts-coherent blueprints for the upcoming project. With its enthusiastic handclaps, ad-libs, and lighthearted harmonies, it makes for one of the Beatles' most convivial recordings. The band had rarely, if ever, sounded more uninhibited and free. With its splendid acoustic introduction, the demo for 'Revolution' offers a perfect case in point. In contrast with their painstaking efforts in the studio, the Esher Tapes witness the Beatles working in unison and exalting in the pure joy of their music.

During the last week of May, the bandmates gathered at Kinfauns, where George Harrison had fashioned a home recording studio, complete with an Ampex four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder.Īt Kinfauns, the Beatles compiled 23 demos in preparation for recording the songs that would eventually comprise the White Album. 'We got our mantra, we sat in the mountains eating lousy vegetarian food, and writing all these songs. 'The entire White Album was written in India,' John Lennon later remarked. Begun in May 1968 at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, the album was a font of creative activity that rivals, if not supersedes, some of the most prolific moments of their career. But at the same time, it was also their most determined, self-conscious effort. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The White Album was decidedly more fragmentary and generically diverse. In contrast with the band's previous opus Sgt. As the essayists in this special issue demonstrate, we are only just beginning to understand the LP's unique creative achievements.

Originally loosed upon the world as The Beatles in November 1968, the so-called White Album is easily the most contentious and least understood masterwork among the band's unmatched artistic corpus. In many ways, the Beatles' ninth and longest studio album is their most enigmatic release.

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