firbeck 859 Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 November 22nd 1968, The Beatles White Album was introduced to a puzzled world, part brilliant, part incomprehensible, as producer George Martin suggested, it could have been one of the greatest single albums ever made, but a double, which us poor, broke schoolkids couldn't afford anyway, was a bit much at the time. On release, each copy was numbered, I think Lennon had 1, Macca 2, George 3 and Ringo 4, what value on one of those eh. They gave up after a few hundred thousand, I was lucky enough to get a fairly early numbered one, from Selectadisc too!! which is sitting in a box in the garage. Those little plastic CD cases aren't the same as the real vinyl thing, mind you the original cover wasn't particularly exiting was it. I still love it, I'm playing it now as a tribute, I gather that theres an anniversary programme on Radio 2 at seven tonight, it should be compulsory listening for those twerps on the X-Factor to hear real, if sometimes bizarre, talent for a change, that goes for the judges too. Does it stir anyones memories. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
plantfit 7,580 Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Best group ever! and their music will still be going strong when all the manufactured X factor wannabees are back working behind the counter at Mc Donalds Rog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Beefsteak 305 Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Couldn't agree more!! Still got my heirlooms stashed and brought them out for a good airing on Friday afternoon ( by strange coincidence) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 859 Posted November 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 It's on BBC Radio 2 now, go on their website and stick your headphones in the computer, it sounds fantastic. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 859 Posted November 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 While I was listening to the programme last night, and I thought it was very good, I was musing about on the net and found out that White Album number 000005 is up for sale on E-Bay. If you look it up, it has a fascinating story, involving Lennon and an anonymous muscisian, currently up to £14,200 with the bids ending at about 21:00 tonight. Of course this prompted me to look up other sales and I found out that copies with far higher numbers than mine, which is 235304, had sold for hundreds of pounds. This led to rooting around in the garage and finding my copy, still in a plastic sleeve that I got from Selectadisc and in perfect condition, complete with photos and poster inside, all mint. Trouble is, my copy is in Stereo, not good, it's the Mono one's that are really valuable, I understand that, as during that period, everyone was buying Hi-Fi equipment, Mono was pretty much dead. If my old mate JP is reading this, he bought a mono copy more or less on the day it came out. I was pretty dissapointed about that as my brother had built up a really nice stereo system and of course the album couldn't be appreciated to it's advantage. I bet JP's up in the loft going through boxes this morning. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted November 23, 2008 Report Share Posted November 23, 2008 I thought the White Album was an astonishing piece of work and still do. It always seems to have been slightly overshadowed by some other epic works by The Beatles such as Abbey Road, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper I think. Any other band it would have been very much the highlight of their career but The Beatles back catalogue is just so incredible. The album featured the two sides of McCartney's songwriting talent in such rockers as Helter skelter and Back in the USSR and his gentler ballad style in Blackbird. Lennon's more acerbic style is well represented in I'm so Tired and Glass Onion. George Harrison makes a typically fabulous contribution on While My Guitar Gently Weeps etc. - a song that hardly seems to have dated at all. The divisions within the group were apparent by this time but certainly didn't affect their creative juices. Maybe quite the contrary. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 859 Posted November 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 I see that the 000005 White Album sold for £19,201 last night, I wonder if we will ever find out who actually bought it, nothing said on the news yet this morning, is this is the highest price paid for a vinyl. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
.... 23 Posted November 28, 2008 Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Nice documentary about The White Album on the Beeb here, bud: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/documentaries/whitealbum.shtml Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 859 Posted November 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 Thats the programme I was listening to the other night, good isn't it. They still managed to find a few out-takes that I hadn't heard before, I've got all my original vinyls, CD's, DVD's, everything going, but things turn up. I have to say that any Beatles officianado must buy 'Revolution in the Head' by Ian Macdonald, it's an incredible book, a bit too so called intellectually analytical sometimes, but nevertheless, a fascinating insight. The thing about the Beatles was they began their career when I started at Grammar School and it finished when I left, in other words they were at the cutting edge during my influential teenage years. God help anyone these days, that level of creativity is hard to find anymore, I happened to be alive at the right time, I was lucky. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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