Since 2012, The Mosen Explosion has been celebrating the 50th anniversary of each Beatles album's release. Now it's time to celebrate the Beatles most eclectic album in style, their self-titled double album, which, because of its cover, has become known as The White Album.
This album has a special significance for me personally. When John was assassinated in December 1980, like millions of others I was utterly devastated, trying to make sense of it all as a child. For around two years after his death, I would go to sleep every night, without fail, while playing a cassette of The White Album.
Last Friday, the White Album was rereleased in several versions, the most comprehensive of which is the seven-disc super-deluxe set we'll be playing from during the show.
Like the Sgt Pepper album last year, The White Album has been completely remixed, in both stereo and 5.1. The 5.1 mixes are stunning. On a good system such as our primary Sonos 5.1 set-up, it sounds like you're in the room, seated in the middle of the band, and I wish I could invite all our listeners over for a bite to eat and a 5.1 listening party. If you can get your hands, or rather your ears, on the 5.1 mixes, do what it takes to hear them. No words can do the sonic experience justice. Meanwhile, we’ll of course be featuring the new stereo mixes.
The new mixes are stunning, and we'll play them all on the show. But for Beatles geeks, the most exciting parts of the super deluxe box set are alternate takes, many of which haven't been heard before, and pristine copies of the much sought-after Esher demos. At the end of May 1968, the Beatles met at Kinfauns, George Harrison’s bungalow in Esher. There, they recorded demos of many of the tracks that would end up on The White Album. Giles martin describes it as “The Beatles Unplugged”. While scratchy bootlegs have been around for a while, these Esher demos are taken straight from the original recording, and they are fascinating. We’ll feature some of them on the show.
I’ll take you through The White Album track by track, explaining when and how each song was written, and what each song is about.
We are taking no requests, audio contributions or phone calls, and the usual features are suspended for this week. We only have four hours, and I want to give you as much of this material as time allows.
Do join me on Sunday at 2 PM Eastern, 7 PM in the UK, Monday at 8 AM in New Zealand, for a Beatles White Album special, on Mushroom FM.