"The Beatles" (aka the White Album) sessions
May 30 - Oct 18, 1968 • Songs recorded during this session appear on The Beatles (Mono)
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session May 30, 1968 • Recording "Revolution 1"
Session May 30 - Oct 18, 1968 • "The Beatles" (aka the White Album) sessions
Session May 31, 1968 • Recording "Revolution 1"
Article Circa June 1968 • Paul McCartney acquires a painting by Magritte
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "The Beatles (Mono)" LP.
On this second day of recording for the new album, The Beatles added overdubs over “Revolution 1” recorded the day before. The session lasted from 2:30 pm to 12 pm.
John Lennon double-tracked his lead vocals, and Paul McCartney added his bass line (according to “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, not according to “The Beatles” super deluxe book, 2018). A reduction mix was then made, named Take 19, to allow for further overdubs. John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and his new girlfriend Francie Schwartz then added “shoo-be-doo-wop” backing vocals.
I was in the control room of studio three and there on the other side of the glass was a figure in semi-darkness going over and over some lines of a song. I knew the voice and sure enough I knew the face. John Lennon was about 30 feet away! He was working on “Revolution”, the slow one, and I remember him going through the song again and again in rehearsal, changing a word or two every time. Each time, it would alter very slightly, it would develop and evolve. ‘When you talk about destruction… you can count me out.’, ‘When you talk about destruction… you can count me in.’
Alan Brown – technical engineer at EMI Studios – from The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
Work on “Revolution 1” would continue the next working day, on June 4.
Recording • SI onto take 18
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 18 into take 19
Recording • SI onto take 19
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)
The fourth book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)" captures The Beatles as they take the lessons of Sgt. Pepper forward with an ambitious double-album that is equally innovative and progressive. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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