Paul McCartney needs to remind himself how to play and properly sing many of his old Beatles tracks, he has confessed.
“I have to relearn everything,” the musician told The Mirror. “I’ve written an awful lot, you can’t retain them all. We go in rehearsal and I’m, ‘Oh yeah, that’s how it goes’.”
1/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
In November 1968, millions of double LPs were shipped to record stores worldwide ahead of that tumultuous year’s most anticipated music event: the November 22nd release of The Beatles (soon to be better known as ‘The White Album’). With their ninth studio album, The Beatles took the world on a whole new trip, side one blasting off with the exhilarating rush of a screaming jet escorting Paul McCartney’s punchy, exuberant vocals on “Back In The U.S.S.R.” “Dear Prudence” came next, John Lennon warmly beckoning his friend and all of us to “look around.”
Apple Corps Ltd.
2/10 George Harrison at Abbey Road Studios
George Harrison imparted timeless wisdom in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” singing, “With every mistake we must surely be learning.” Ringo Starr’s “Don’t Pass Me By” marked his first solo songwriting credit on a Beatles album
Apple Corps Ltd.
3/10
For 50 years, ‘The White Album’ has invited its listeners to venture forth and explore the breadth and ambition of its music, delighting and inspiring each new generation in turn
John Kelly/Apple Corps Ltd.
4/10 Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios
The Beatles’ studio sessions for The Beatles (‘White Album’) began on May 30, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios. In the 20 weeks that followed, The Beatles devoted most of their time to sessions there for the new album, with some recording also done at Trident Studios. The final session for the album took place at Abbey Road on October 16, a 24-hour marathon with producer George Martin to sequence the double album’s four sides and to complete edits and cross-fades between its songs. The Beatles’ approach to recording for ‘The White Album’ was quite different from what they had done for ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ Rather than layering individually overdubbed parts on a multi-track tape, many of the ‘White Album’ session takes were recorded to four-track and eight-track tape as group performances with a live lead vocal
Apple Corps Ltd.
5/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
St Pancras Old Church, London
Apple Corps Ltd.
6/10 Ringo Starr at Abbey Road Studios
The Beatles often recorded take after take for a song, as evidenced by the Super Deluxe set’s Take 102 for “Not Guilty,” a song that was not included on the album. This live-take recording style resulted in a less intricately structured, more unbridled album that would shift the course of rock music and cut a path for punk and indie rock.
Apple Corps Ltd.
7/10 The Beatles with George Martin during a recording session at Trident Studios
The Beatles’ newly adopted method of recording all through the night was time consuming and exhausting for their producer, George Martin. Martin had other duties, including his management of AIR (Associated Independent Recording), and he had also composed the orchestral score for The Beatles’ animated feature film, Yellow Submarine, released in July 1968. After the first three months of ‘White Album’ sessions, Martin took a three-week holiday from the studio, entrusting the control room to his young assistant Chris Thomas and balance engineer Ken Scott. On August 22, Ringo Starr also left the sessions, returning 11 days later to find his drum kit adorned with flowers from his bandmates. While the sessions’ four and a half months of long hours and many takes did spark occasional friction in the studio, the session recordings reveal the closeness, camaraderie, and collaborative strengths within the band, as well as with George Martin
Tony Bramwell / © Apple Corps Ltd.
8/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
The Beatles (‘White Album’) was the first Beatles album to be released on the group’s own Apple Records label. Issued in both stereo and mono for the UK and in stereo for the US, the double album was an immediate bestseller, entering the British chart at number one and remaining there for eight of the 22 weeks it was listed. ‘The White Album’ also debuted at number one on the US chart, holding the top spot for nine weeks of its initial 65-week chart run. In his glowing ‘White Album’ review for Rolling Stone, the magazine’s co-founder Jann Wenner declared: “It is the best album they have ever released, and only The Beatles are capable of making a better one.” In the US, ‘The White Album’ is 19-times platinum-certified by the RIAA and in 2000, it was inducted into the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame, recognizing “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”
Apple Corps Ltd.
9/10
Jet & Piston Engine Aeroplane tape, used for the track ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.’
Calderstone Productions Limited
10/10 Giles Martin at Abbey Road
On 9 November 2018, The Beatles released a suite of lavishly presented ‘White Album’ packages (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe). The album’s 30 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio, joined by 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes, most of which are previously unreleased in any form. This is the first time The Beatles (‘White Album’) has been remixed and presented with additional demos and session recordings. “In remixing ‘The White Album,’ we’ve tried to bring you as close as possible to The Beatles in the studio,” explains Giles Martin in his written introduction for the new edition. “We’ve peeled back the layers of the ‘Glass Onion’ with the hope of immersing old and new listeners into one of the most diverse and inspiring albums ever made.”
Alex Lake
1/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
In November 1968, millions of double LPs were shipped to record stores worldwide ahead of that tumultuous year’s most anticipated music event: the November 22nd release of The Beatles (soon to be better known as ‘The White Album’). With their ninth studio album, The Beatles took the world on a whole new trip, side one blasting off with the exhilarating rush of a screaming jet escorting Paul McCartney’s punchy, exuberant vocals on “Back In The U.S.S.R.” “Dear Prudence” came next, John Lennon warmly beckoning his friend and all of us to “look around.”
Apple Corps Ltd.
2/10 George Harrison at Abbey Road Studios
George Harrison imparted timeless wisdom in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” singing, “With every mistake we must surely be learning.” Ringo Starr’s “Don’t Pass Me By” marked his first solo songwriting credit on a Beatles album
Apple Corps Ltd.
3/10
For 50 years, ‘The White Album’ has invited its listeners to venture forth and explore the breadth and ambition of its music, delighting and inspiring each new generation in turn
John Kelly/Apple Corps Ltd.
4/10 Paul McCartney at Abbey Road Studios
The Beatles’ studio sessions for The Beatles (‘White Album’) began on May 30, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios. In the 20 weeks that followed, The Beatles devoted most of their time to sessions there for the new album, with some recording also done at Trident Studios. The final session for the album took place at Abbey Road on October 16, a 24-hour marathon with producer George Martin to sequence the double album’s four sides and to complete edits and cross-fades between its songs. The Beatles’ approach to recording for ‘The White Album’ was quite different from what they had done for ‘Sgt. Pepper.’ Rather than layering individually overdubbed parts on a multi-track tape, many of the ‘White Album’ session takes were recorded to four-track and eight-track tape as group performances with a live lead vocal
Apple Corps Ltd.
5/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
St Pancras Old Church, London
Apple Corps Ltd.
6/10 Ringo Starr at Abbey Road Studios
The Beatles often recorded take after take for a song, as evidenced by the Super Deluxe set’s Take 102 for “Not Guilty,” a song that was not included on the album. This live-take recording style resulted in a less intricately structured, more unbridled album that would shift the course of rock music and cut a path for punk and indie rock.
Apple Corps Ltd.
7/10 The Beatles with George Martin during a recording session at Trident Studios
The Beatles’ newly adopted method of recording all through the night was time consuming and exhausting for their producer, George Martin. Martin had other duties, including his management of AIR (Associated Independent Recording), and he had also composed the orchestral score for The Beatles’ animated feature film, Yellow Submarine, released in July 1968. After the first three months of ‘White Album’ sessions, Martin took a three-week holiday from the studio, entrusting the control room to his young assistant Chris Thomas and balance engineer Ken Scott. On August 22, Ringo Starr also left the sessions, returning 11 days later to find his drum kit adorned with flowers from his bandmates. While the sessions’ four and a half months of long hours and many takes did spark occasional friction in the studio, the session recordings reveal the closeness, camaraderie, and collaborative strengths within the band, as well as with George Martin
Tony Bramwell / © Apple Corps Ltd.
8/10 The Mad Day Out Photo Session
The Beatles (‘White Album’) was the first Beatles album to be released on the group’s own Apple Records label. Issued in both stereo and mono for the UK and in stereo for the US, the double album was an immediate bestseller, entering the British chart at number one and remaining there for eight of the 22 weeks it was listed. ‘The White Album’ also debuted at number one on the US chart, holding the top spot for nine weeks of its initial 65-week chart run. In his glowing ‘White Album’ review for Rolling Stone, the magazine’s co-founder Jann Wenner declared: “It is the best album they have ever released, and only The Beatles are capable of making a better one.” In the US, ‘The White Album’ is 19-times platinum-certified by the RIAA and in 2000, it was inducted into the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame, recognizing “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”
Apple Corps Ltd.
9/10
Jet & Piston Engine Aeroplane tape, used for the track ‘Back In The U.S.S.R.’
Calderstone Productions Limited
10/10 Giles Martin at Abbey Road
On 9 November 2018, The Beatles released a suite of lavishly presented ‘White Album’ packages (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe). The album’s 30 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio, joined by 27 early acoustic demos and 50 session takes, most of which are previously unreleased in any form. This is the first time The Beatles (‘White Album’) has been remixed and presented with additional demos and session recordings. “In remixing ‘The White Album,’ we’ve tried to bring you as close as possible to The Beatles in the studio,” explains Giles Martin in his written introduction for the new edition. “We’ve peeled back the layers of the ‘Glass Onion’ with the hope of immersing old and new listeners into one of the most diverse and inspiring albums ever made.”
Alex Lake
McCartney also told the newspaper that he firmly believes that most of his back catalogue has stood the test of time, explaining: “Some of the old songs you say, ‘Oh, that’s clever, I wouldn’t have done that’.”
Despite now being 77, McCartney has shown no signs of slowing down in recent months, most recently signing on to write his first stage musical, an adaptation of the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life, and teasing an album of new material.
He is additionally releasing a children’s book in September. Titled Hey Grandude!, it is a picture book revolving around an intrepid elderly explorer who calls himself Grandude, who embarks on incredible adventures with his four grandchildren.
