The White Album at 50 Years Old

The Beatles eponymous 1968 double album turns 50 today. Forever known as 'The White Album' thanks to its stark white cover, this is a collection of songs that has some fans and critics saying they topped their previous release 'Sgt Pepper' and some citing this album as the beginning of the break up.

My opinion is the White Album today remains the benchmark over which future albums were measured by. Most of the songs were written during their trip to Rishikesh, India in early 1968 and demoed at George Harrison's house in Esher, England before the album was recorded. This trip produced a huge volume of songs from John, Paul and George. So much that it was decided that the next album would be a double album. Their producer, George Martin, didn't feel that it should have been and the songs should have been condensed into one single album which led to a little tension during the sessions.

During interviews about the excellent 2018 remix of the album, George Martin's son, Giles compared his father's dislike of the album to an argument he himself had with his father over not measuring Pimm's. "The white album was the Beatles not measuring Pimm's!" is what he said in the interview.

The remixes sound incredibly fresh. Some have expressed discontent with some of them, While My Guitar Gently Weeps being one coming under fire for not having the bass and drums centered in the mix. Personally, I prefer the remix of Good Night to the original one but the Esher Demos and studio takes are the big draw for many fans in the deluxe package. All of them cleaned up and remixed.

What is your favourite remix from the White Album? Do you prefer it to the original mix?? Let us know on Facebook in the Tea & A Butty group!

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band 50th Anniversary Reissue.

It was 50 Years Ago Today: The Sgt. Pepper Reissue for the 50th Anniversary of the album.

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is considered by many to be the Beatles' greatest album of all time. Indeed, the greatest album of all time by any band.

Pepper was released at a time when the world had no idea what had happened to the Beatles. Other bands of the teenybopper years of 1963 - 66 had broken up and the press were keen to apply the same label to the Beatles. Indeed, since August 1966, very little had been seen of them save for a single release in February 1967 (Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane) which in their native UK, had been pipped to the number one spot in the charts by Englebert Humperdinck and 'Please Release Me'.

So, with the months going by, the Press decided to sound the death knell of the Beatles and began to ponder the future without them. Then, in June 1967 they were back and the press loved them. The album going down in history as the greatest they had ever made.

50 years later and the Beatles are at it again, but this time going for a full blown three deluxe edition set which will feature unreleased complete takes of all 13 songs. The complete list as reported by Rolling Stone will be:


Super Deluxe [4CD/DVD/Blu-ray box set]

CD 1

Sgt. Pepper 2017 Stereo Mix

CD 2 (Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)

1. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 1]
2. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 4]
3. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 7]
4. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Take 26]
5. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Stereo Mix - 2015]
6. "When I'm Sixty-Four" [Take 2]
7. "Penny Lane" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
8. "Penny Lane" [Vocal Overdubs And Speech]
9. "Penny Lane" [Stereo Mix - 2017]
10. "A Day In The Life" [Take 1]
11. "A Day In The Life" [Take 2]
12. "A Day In The Life" [Orchestra Overdub]
13. "A Day In The Life" (Hummed Last Chord) [Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11]
14. "A Day In The Life" (The Last Chord)
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
16. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" [Take 9 And Speech]
17. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 1 - Instrumental, Breakdown]
18. "Good Morning Good Morning" [Take 8]

CD 3 (Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates)

1. "Fixing A Hole" [Take 1]
2. "Fixing A Hole" [Speech And Take 3]
3. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End]
4. "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!" [Take 7]
5. "Lovely Rita" [Speech And Take 9]
6. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Take 1 And Speech At The End]
7. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Speech, False Start And Take 5]
8. "Getting Better" [Take 1 - Instrumental And Speech At The End]
9. "Getting Better" [Take 12]
10. "Within You Without You" [Take 1 - Indian Instruments Only]
11. "Within You Without You" [George Coaching The Musicians]
12. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 1 – Instrumental]
13. "She's Leaving Home" [Take 6 – Instrumental]
14. "With A Little Help From My Friends" [Take 1 - False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
15. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" [Speech And Take 8]

CD 4 (Sgt. Pepper and bonus tracks in Mono)

1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of Sgt. Pepper Original Mono Mix
14. "Strawberry Fields Forever" [Original Mono Mix]
15. "Penny Lane" [Original Mono Mix]
16. "A Day In The Life" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
17. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" [Unreleased Mono Mix - No. 11]
18. "She's Leaving Home" [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
19. "Penny Lane" [Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single - Mono Mix]

DISCS 5 & 6 (Blu-ray & DVD)

Audio Features (both discs):
- New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of 'Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
- High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 'Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
- The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
- Promotional Films: "A Day In The Life;" "Strawberry Fields Forever;" "Penny Lane" [4K restored]

As superb as the 2017 Stereo mix of the original album will be, it's all the extra stuff that is getting me excited. The studio chatter and instrumentals of the classic tracks look to be a goldmine for the fans and for the fans of mono mixes, the Super Deluxe will be perfect for them too. (I'm all about the Stereo mixes, personally!)

All these reissue packages are released May 26th and are available by clicking on the picture below.