Revolution

The Beatles, released November 22, 1968, a double LP commonly known as the White Album for its virtually featureless cover.   Creative inspiration for the album came while the group had Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru.  At his ashram in Rishikesh, India, a Transcendental Meditation course scheduled for three months marked one of their most prolific song writing periods, yielding numerous songs including a majority of the thirty included on the album.  However, after realizing the Maharishi was manipulating them and making sexual advances to women attendees, all the Beatles had left before completing the course.  In anger Lennon wrote a scathing song titled Maharishi, renamed Sexy Sadie to avoid potential legal issues.  McCartney said, We made a mistake. We thought there was more to him than there was. During recording sessions for the album, which stretched from late May to mid-October 1968, relations between the Beatles grew openly divisive.  Ringo quit for two weeks, and Paul took over the drum kit for Back in the U.S.S.R. and Dear Prudence.  Sometimes Paul would record in one studio for prolonged periods of time, while John would record in another, each man using different engineers.  Tensions were further aggravated by John's romantic preoccupation with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, whom he insisted on bringing to the sessions despite the group's well-established understanding that girlfriends were not allowed in the studio.  Describing the White Album, Lennon said, Every track is an individual track; there isn't any Beatle music on it. John and the band, Paul and the band, George and the band.  McCartney recalled that the album wasn't a pleasant one to make.  Both he and Lennon identified the sessions as the start of the band's break-up.

Abbey Road, primarily recorded during July and August, and released on September 26, 1969 in the UK and October 1, in the US.  Producer George Martin and Paul mcCartney wanted to get back to the Pepper's format of a continuously moving piece of music.  However, Lennon, wanted his and McCartney's songs to occupy separate sides of the album.  The eventual format, with individually composed songs on the first side and the second consisting largely of a medley, was McCartney's suggested compromise.  The completion and mixing of I Want You (She's So Heavy) on 20 August 1969 was the last occasion on which all four Beatles were together in the same studio.  On that same day, Lennon announced his departure to the rest of the group, but agreed to withhold a public announcement to avoid undermining sales of the album. Abbey Road sold four million copies within three months and topped the UK charts for a total of seventeen weeks.  Its second track, the ballad Something, was issued as a single and was the only Harrison composition ever to appear as a Beatles A-side.  While Abbey Road is a rock album, it also incorporates genres such as blues, pop, and progressive rock.  The album has been viewed by many critics as the Beatles' greatest work and is ranked by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time.  Abbey Road remains their best-selling album.

Let It Be, released May 8, 1970 was mostly recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of the album Abbey Road.  The project's impetus came from McCartney, who suggested they record an album of new material and rehearse it, then perform it before a live audience for the very first time—on record and on film.  Originally intended for a one-hour television programme to be called Beatles at Work, Martin said the project was not at all a happy recording experience.  Harrison, aggravated by both McCartney and Lennon, walked out for five days.  Upon returning, he threatened to leave the band unless they abandon all talk of live performance and instead focus on finishing the new album, initially titled Get Back, using songs recorded for the TV special.  Ultimately, what would be their final live performance was filmed on the rooftop of the Apple Corps building at 3 Savile Row, London, on 30 January 1969. In March 1970, the session tapes were given to American producer Phil Spector.  Spector worked on the tracks and compiled the eventually released album; by now entitled Let It Be.  McCartney was unhappy with Spector's approach and particularly dissatisfied with the lavish orchestration on The Long and Winding Road, which involved a fourteen-voice choir and thirty-six-piece instrumental ensemble.  McCartney's demands that the alterations to the song be reverted were ignored, and he publicly announced his departure from the band on 10 April 1970. John Lennon was shot dead by a madman on 8 December 1980, at age 40.  George Harrison died on 29 November 2001, aged 58, from metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.  Ringo continues to drum along the Casino Circuit and Paul, with his band Wings continues to record and perform at sold-out rock venues around the world.

Wanderin' Spirit
January, 2014
"Revolution"

This page has been made for viewing in Internet Explorer.  In order for all audio to play in Chrome or Firefox you will need to install the IE Tab extension and add https://www.angelfire.com/* to the Auto URL list, thank you.