Beyond its stylish minimalism, the essentially blank cover of The Beatles, better known as the White Album, served a symbolic purpose. The band could find no honest way to visually represent itself as a coherent unit. Each of the three main songwriters was pursuing his own vision, with the other members, however reluctantly, serving as backup musicians. Once a whole far greater than the sum of its parts, the Beatles were now a tense alliance of daunting individual talents. The Beatles became a double album in part because John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison all insisted that their favorite songs be included. "I remember having three studios operating at the same time," Harrison said of the sessions. "Paul was doing some overdubs in one, John was in another and I was recording some horns or something in a third." Ringo Starr grew so frustrated that he quit the band for a time. The others festooned his drum set in flowers to celebrate his return. What didn't suffer in this atmosphere was the music. From the plangent yearning of Lennon's "Julia" to the exuberance of McCartney's "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the prayerfulness of Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (featuring a solo by Eric Clapton), the White Album is an exhilarating sprawl -- some of the Beatles' most daring and delicate work. "I think it was a very good album," said McCartney. "It stood up, but it wasn't a pleasant one to make."
Back in the days when stereo recordings were first made, The Beatles would release two versions of each album, one in monaural and the other in stereo. Remember these days when a stereo album cost one dollar more than the monaural? With the "White Album," it would be the last time The Beatles released both versions. At the time, The Beatles took great care and delight in making the two versions as different as possible from each other. Just about all the songs on the stereo and mono versions have variations that make them different. One case, more extreme than most is where the stereo version is twenty seconds longer than its mono counterpart.
Now Purple Chick presents the White Album in all its mono splendor showcasing the good, the great and the genius. Enjoy!
Disc 1
BITRATE: 320 Kbps
TRACK LIST:
01 - Hey Jude (Mono)
02 - Revolution (Mono)
03 - Back In The Ussr (Mono)
04 - Dear Prudence (Mono)
05 - Glass Onion (Mono)06 - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (Mono)
07 - Wild Honey Pie (Mono)
08 - The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (Mono)
09 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Mono)
10 - Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Mono)
11 - Martha My Dear (Mono)
12 - I'm So Tired (Mono)
13 - Blackbird (Mono)
14 - Piggies (Mono)
15 - Rocky Raccoon (Mono)
16 - Don't Pass Me By (Mono)
17 - Why Don't We Do It In The Road (Mono)
18 - I Will (Mono)
19 - Julia (Mono)
20 - Not Guilty (Mono)
21 - What's The New Mary Jane (Anthology)
22 - Sour Milk Sea (Mono Outfake)
Part 1
Part 2
Disc 2
BITRATE: 320 Kbps
TRACK LIST:
01 - Birthday (Mono)
02 - Yer Blues (Mono)
03 - Mother Nature's Son (Mono)
04 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (Mono)
05 - Sexy Sadie (Mono)
06 - Helter Skelter (Mono)
07 - Long Long Long (Mono)
08 - Revolution 1 (Mono)
09 - Honey Pie (Mono)
10 - Savoy Truffle (Mono)
11 - Cry Baby Cry (Mono)
12 - Revolution 9 (Mono)
13 - Good Night (Mono)
14 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Take 1 (Mono)
15 - Don't Pass Me By (Mono Original Speed)
TRACK LIST:
01 - Birthday (Mono)
02 - Yer Blues (Mono)
03 - Mother Nature's Son (Mono)
04 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (Mono)
05 - Sexy Sadie (Mono)
06 - Helter Skelter (Mono)
07 - Long Long Long (Mono)
08 - Revolution 1 (Mono)
09 - Honey Pie (Mono)
10 - Savoy Truffle (Mono)
11 - Cry Baby Cry (Mono)
12 - Revolution 9 (Mono)
13 - Good Night (Mono)
14 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Take 1 (Mono)
15 - Don't Pass Me By (Mono Original Speed)
Part 1
Part 2
