Thursday, November 29, 2018

The White Album 50 Project: The End

And so, now it really is time to say good night . . . to everybody, everywhere.
This is the thirty-ninth - and last - post that I have written about the Beatles' White Album for its golden anniversary.  It's been a fun but exhausting adventure, and don't ask me if I'm planning a fiftieth-anniversary series of blog posts for Abbey Road in 2019, because I still need to recover from the past thirty-two weeks of this project.
I'd like to thank Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as the memories of John Lennon and George Harrison, for all the wonderful music here - even "Wild Honey Pie" and "Revolution 9" - and also extend my thanks to Chris Thomas and the memory of George Martin for producing it.  I'd like to give a special shout-out to all of the people who inspired the songs.  They include Donovan, Mike Love, Prudence Farrow, Richard Cooke, Eric Clapton, Little Richard, various Beatle girlfriends and wives, and of course, the late Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  And, because I know his son would likely be embarrassed by the mention of it, Warren Herlihy and his gun obsession.  Also, a tip of the hat - or, in some cases, a wag of the finger - to the various individuals I was inspired to bring up (or down) in the writing of these blog entries - Ray Stevens, Joel Grey, Theodore Roosevelt (who gets a finger wag because he went out rhino hunting with his gun, but probably didn't have an elephant, and took his son Kermit in case of accidents), the Avett Brothers, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Weird Al Yankovic, Billy Joel, Freddy Fender, John Mayall, John Denver, Mia Farrow, her son Ronan, Led Zeppelin, Fountains of Wayne, and a whole bunch of other folks I can't think of right now.   
And - this is in all seriousness - I dedicate "The White Album 50 Project" to the late Geoff Emerick, who died of a heart attack at 72 earlier this year while this series was in progress.  Now that he and George Martin are in the next world with two of the Beatles, I hope they rock on together.  Geoff . . . put the red light on.  :-(
And last but hardly least, I only need remind you of the releases of the various fiftieth-anniversary editions of the White Album, out now, with all-new remixes courtesy of George Martin's song Giles, who brings forth (or fifth) this monumental feat with, as he explains, "the hope of immersing old and new listeners into one of the most diverse and inspiring albums ever made."

For a hundred and fifty-three bucks, you can get the seven-CD Super Deluxe edition, with:
  • the 2018 stereo album remix on two compact discs
  • a disc of 27 demos from the sessions at George Harrison's house in Esher Demos
  • a disc of 50 newly released and remixed outtakes
  • a Blu-ray disc featuring an album mix in high resolution PCM stereo, a Master Audio 5.1 album mix, a Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix, and a direct transfer of the White Album's original mono mix 
  • a book - a really nice book!
For those of more modest means, there's the Deluxe edition, with the new stereo remix of the double album plus the Esher disc, and for those who still have turntables, you can just get the new stereo remix of the original double album on vinyl.  Whichever you choose, you can't go wrong.  More information is here
And you can read my review of the entire White Album, published on this blog in May 2015, by going here.
And so I declare my series on this album closed.  So what am I going to do after this?
I think I'm going to listen to the White Album. :-)     

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