The White Album
Is the ninth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 22 November 1968. A double album, its plain white sleeve has no graphics or text other than the band’s name embossed, which was intended as a direct contrast to the vivid cover artwork of the band’s previous LP Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although no singles were issued from The Beatles in Britain and the United States, the songs “Hey Jude” and “Revolution” originated from the same recording sessions and were issued on a single in August 1968. The album’s songs range in style from British blues and ska to tracks influenced by Chuck Berry and by Karlheinz Stockhausen.
Most of the songs on the album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The group returned to EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London at the end of May to commence recording sessions that lasted through to mid-October. During these sessions, arguments broke out among the foursome over creative differences. Another divisive element was the constant presence of John Lennon’s new partner, Yoko Ono, whose attendance in the studio broke with the Beatles’ policy regarding wives and girlfriends not attending recording sessions. After a series of problems, including producer George Martin taking a sudden leave of absence and engineer Geoff Emerick suddenly quitting, Ringo Starr left the band briefly in August. The same tensions continued throughout the following year, leading to the break-up of the band by 1970.
On release, The Beatles received favorable reviews from the majority of music critics, but other commentators found its satirical songs unimportant and apolitical amid the turbulent political and social climate of 1968. The band and Martin later debated whether the group should have released a single album instead. Nonetheless, The Beatles reached No. 1 on the charts in both the United Kingdom and the United States, and has since been viewed by some critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.
Hey Jude
A song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney.
The ballad evolved from “Hey Jules”, a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, during his parents’ divorce.
“Hey Jude” begins with a verse-bridge structure incorporating McCartney’s vocal performance and piano accompaniment; further instrumentation is added as the song progresses.
After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a fade-out coda that lasts for more than four minutes. “Hey Jude” was released in August 1968 as the first single from the Beatles’ record label Apple Records. More than seven minutes in length, it was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts.
It also spent nine weeks at number one in the United States, the longest for any Beatles single. “Hey Jude” tied the “all-time” record, at the time, for the longest run at the top of the US charts. The single has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional critics’ lists of the greatest songs of all time.
Paul McCartney and Egypt Station
The seventeenth solo studio album by Paul McCartney. It was released by Capitol Records on September 7, 2018.
Egypt Station was produced by Greg Kurstin, with the exception of one track produced by Ryan Tedder. The album is McCartney’s first studio release since 2013’s New. The album’s first (double A-side) single, consisting of the two songs “I Don’t Know” and “Come On to Me”, was released on June 20, 2018.
The name “Egypt Station” is shared by one of McCartney’s paintings from 1988, from which the cover art is derived. It became his first number one album in the United States since 1982’s Tug of War and his first to debut atop the Billboard 200.
Egypt Station was recorded in studios in Los Angeles, London, and Sussex. McCartney began working with producer Greg Kurstin some time after the release of his 2013 album New and mentioned their working together several times leading up to the June 20, 2018 announcement of Egypt Station‘s release.
McCartney also recorded three songs with Ryan Tedder. Two of the songs, “Fuh You” and “Nothing for Free”, were released on the album.
John Lennon and Imagine
John Lennon’s second studio album after his departure from the Beatles. Recorded and released in 1971, the album’s musical arrangements are more elaborate compared to the basic, small-group arrangements of his first album, the critically acclaimed John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
Imagine is the most popular of Lennon’s solo albums and the title track is considered by many to be one of Lennon’s finest songs.
While in New York, former Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison had a short jam session, during which Lennon asked Harrison to perform on Lennon’s next album.
Recording was scheduled to begin in a week’s time at Lennon’s Ascot Sound Studios, at his Tittenhurst Park residence. Harrison agreed, and called his friend the bassist Klaus Voormann, to ask him to join in.
Imagine
A song written and performed by English musician John Lennon. The best-selling single of his solo career, its lyrics encourage the listener to imagine a world at peace without the barriers of borders or the divisions of religion and nationality and to consider the possibility that the whole of humanity would live unattached to material possessions.
Lennon and Yoko Ono co-produced the song and album of the same name with Phil Spector. Recording began at Lennon’s home studio at Tittenhurst Park, England, in May 1971, with final overdubs taking place at the Record Plant, in New York City, during July. One month after the September release of the LP, Lennon released “Imagine” as a single in the United States; the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and the LP reached number one on the UK chart in November, later becoming the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed album of Lennon’s solo career. Although not originally released as a single in the United Kingdom, it was released in 1975 to promote a compilation LP and it reached number six on the chart that year. The song has since sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK; it reached number one following Lennon’s murder in December 1980. In 1985, the Central Park Conservancy memorialized a portion of the park in honor of Lennon, called Strawberry Fields, with a mosaic that reads “Imagine”. Shortly before his death, Lennon acknowledged Ono’s role in inspiring the concept behind “Imagine”; as of June 2017, plans were underway to ensure that she receives a co-writing credit for the song.
Geoff Emerick
was an English sound engineer who worked with the Beatles on their albums Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) and Abbey Road (1969). Beatles producer George Martin credited him with bringing “a new kind of mind to the recordings, always suggesting sonic ideas, different kinds of reverb, what we could do with the voices”.
Emerick also engineered the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle (1968), Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band on the Run (1973) and Elvis Costello’s Imperial Bedroom (1982). He won four Grammy Awards for his work in the music recording field. His 2006 memoir Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles caused controversy for its factual errors. In 2018, Emerick died from a heart attack at the age of 72 in Los Angeles, California.
Yellow Submarine
The tenth studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 13 January 1969 in the United States and on 17 January 1969 in the United Kingdom. It was issued as the soundtrack to the animated film of the same name, which premiered in London in July 1968. The album contains six songs by the Beatles, including four new songs and the previously released “Yellow Submarine” and “All You Need Is Love”. The remainder of the album is a re-recording of the film’s orchestral soundtrack by the band’s producer, George Martin.
The project was regarded as a contractual obligation by the Beatles, who were asked to supply four new songs for the film. Some songs were written and recorded specifically for the soundtrack, while others were unreleased tracks from other projects. The album was issued two months after the band’s self-titled double LP (also known as the “White Album”) and was therefore not viewed by the band as a significant release. Yellow Submarine has since been afforded a mixed reception from music critics, some of whom consider that it falls short of the high standard generally associated with the Beatles’ work. It reached the top 5 in the UK and the US, and has been reissued on compact disc several times.
The film
A 1968 British animated musical fantasy comedy film inspired by the music of the Beatles, directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate. Initial press reports stated that the Beatles themselves would provide their own character voices; however, aside from composing and performing the songs, the real Beatles participated only in the closing scene of the film, while their cartoon counterparts were voiced by other actors.
The film received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, in contrast to some of the Beatles’ previous film ventures.
John Lennon: Live from New York City
On August 30 1972 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Lennon performed two shows, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, a benefit concert for the Willowbrook State School for Retarded Children in New York, at friend Geraldo Rivera’s request. Rivera introduces Lennon and Ono at the beginning of the album, and he is referenced in Lennon’s impromptu revised lyrics in the opening song, “New York City”. Later a live album released in 1973.
The benefit concerts, billed as One to One, also featured other performers in addition to Lennon, including Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Melanie Safka and Sha-Na-Na, although their performances are not included on this album, nor on the simultaneous video release.
Live in New York City captures Lennon’s last full-length concert performance, coming right after the release of Some Time in New York City. Backing Lennon and Ono were Elephant’s Memory, who had served as Lennon and Ono’s backing band on Some Time in New York City.
Although the material Lennon performed was largely drawn from his three most recent albums of the period (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, Imagine and Some Time in New York City), he also included in the setlist his Beatles hit “Come Together” and paid tribute to Elvis Presley with “Hound Dog” before leading the audience in a singalong of “Give Peace a Chance”.
“Come Together”, originally in the key of D minor, was performed in E minor.
