Editing The Beatles (album) (section)

==Style and production==

===Sessions===
[[File:Abbey road studios.jpg|right|thumb|The album was recorded largely at [[Abbey Road Studios]].]]

''The Beatles'' was recorded between 30 May and 14 October 1968, largely at [[Abbey Road Studios]] in London, with some sessions at [[Trident Studios]].{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=300, 310–12}} Their time in Rishikesh was soon forgotten in the tense atmosphere of the studio, with sessions occurring at irregular hours.{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=245}} The group's self-belief led to the formation of a new multimedia business corporation, [[Apple Corps]], an enterprise that drained the group financially with a series of unsuccessful projects.{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=246}}

The group block-booked time at Abbey Road through July.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=135}} The open-ended studio time led to a new way of working out songs. Instead of tightly rehearsing a backing track, as in previous sessions, the group recorded all the rehearsals and jamming, then added [[overdub]]s to the best take.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=139}} The production aesthetic ensured that the album's sound was scaled down and less reliant on studio innovation than ''Revolver'' and ''Sgt. Pepper''.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=255}} Harrison's song "[[Not Guilty (song)|Not Guilty]]" was left off the album, though 102 takes were recorded.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=139}}

Only 16 of the album's 30 tracks feature all four band members performing.{{efn|"Revolution 1",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=245}} "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=257}} "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=258}} "Cry Baby Cry",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=260}} "Helter Skelter",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=261}} "Sexy Sadie",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=262}} "While My Guitar Gently Weeps",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=263}} "Yer Blues",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=269}} "Rocky Raccoon",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=270}} "Glass Onion",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=273}} "Birthday",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=277}} "Happiness Is A Warm Gun",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=279}} "Piggies",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997}} "Honey Pie",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=281}} "I'm So Tired",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=283}} "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=284}}}} Several backing tracks do not feature the full group, and overdubs tended to be performed by the song writer.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=137}} McCartney and Lennon sometimes recorded simultaneously in different studios with different engineers.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=150}} [[George Martin]]'s influence had gradually waned, and he left abruptly to go on a holiday during the recording sessions, leaving his young protégé [[Chris Thomas (record producer)|Chris Thomas]] in charge of production.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2006/03/23/white_album_review_event_feature.shtml |title=The White Album @ Playhouse|publisher=BBC |first=Nigel |last=Bell|access-date=28 June 2008}}</ref>{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=298}}

During the sessions, the band upgraded from [[multitrack recording|4-track recording]] to 8-track. As work began, Abbey Road Studios possessed, but had yet to install, an 8-track machine that had supposedly been sitting unused for several months. This was in accordance with EMI's policy of testing and customising new gear extensively before putting it into use. The Beatles recorded "[[Hey Jude]]" and "[[Dear Prudence]]" at Trident because it had an 8-track console.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=146}} When they learned that EMI also had one, they insisted on using it, and engineers [[Ken Scott]] and Dave Harries installed the machine (without studio management authorisation) in Abbey Road's Studio 2.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=153}}

The band held their first and only 24-hour session at Abbey Road during the final mixing and sequencing for the album. This session was attended by Lennon, McCartney and Martin; Harrison had left on a trip to the US the day before. Unlike most LPs, there was no customary three-second gap between tracks, and the master was edited so that songs segued together, via a straight edit, a crossfade, or an incidental piece of music.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=162}}

===Genres and length===
''The Beatles'' contains a wide range of musical styles, which authors [[Barry Miles]] and Gillian Gaar view as the most diverse of any of the group's albums.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=315}}<ref>{{cite book|title=100 Things Beatles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die|first=Gillian|last=Gaar|publisher=Triumph Books|year=2013|page=33|isbn=978-1-62368-202-6}}</ref> These styles include [[rock and roll]], [[blues]], [[Folk music|folk]], [[country music|country]], [[reggae]], [[Avant-garde music|avant-garde]],{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=316}} [[hard rock]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings|first=David N.|last=Howard|page=31|quote=[The White Album] contained a panoply of wondrous songs that included acoustic numbers, idiosyncratic pop, heavy-duty hard rock, and flat-out experimentalism.}}</ref> [[music hall]]{{sfn|Inglis|2009|p=122}} and [[psychedelic music]].<ref name="Bell">{{cite web |first=Henry |last=Yates |date=30 April 2021 |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/50-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-beatles-white-album |title=The Beatles' ''White Album'': 50 Things You Need to Know |website=[[Louder Sound]] |access-date=5 May 2021 |quote=The Beatles' ''White Album'' release marked the coming death of the 60s, but it was also The Beatles’ most psychedelic and surreal record.}}</ref> The only Western instrument available to the group during their Indian visit was the [[Steel-string acoustic guitar|acoustic guitar]], and thus many of the songs were written and first performed on that instrument.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steve |last=Turner |title=A Hard Day's Write |edition=2nd |publisher=Prospero Books |year=1999 |isbn=1-55267-337-5 |page=149 |quote=[B]ecause they had no access to electric guitars or keyboards, many of these songs were acoustically based.}}</ref> Some of these songs remained acoustic on ''The Beatles'' and were recorded solo or by only part of the group (including "[[Wild Honey Pie]]",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=271}} "[[Blackbird (Beatles song)|Blackbird]]",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=256}} "[[Julia (Beatles song)|Julia]]",{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=285}} "[[I&nbsp;Will]]"{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=276}} and "[[Mother Nature's Son]]").{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=267}}

Author [[Nicholas Schaffner]] views the acoustic slant as reflective of a widespread departure from the LSD-inspired psychedelia of 1967, an approach initiated by [[Bob Dylan]] and [[the Beach Boys]] and adopted in 1968 by artists such as [[the Rolling Stones]] and [[the Byrds]].{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=111–12}} Edwin Faust of ''[[Stylus Magazine]]'' described ''The Beatles'' as "foremost an album about musical purity (as the album cover and title suggest). Whereas on prior Beatles albums, the band was getting into the habit of mixing several musical genres into a single song, on ''The White Album'' every song is faithful to its selected genre. The rock n' roll tracks are purely rock n' roll; the folk songs are purely folk; the surreal pop numbers are purely surreal pop; and the experimental piece is purely experimental."<ref>{{cite web|last1=Faust|first1=Edwin|title=On Second Thought: The Beatles – The Beatles|url=http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/the-beatles-the-beatles.htm|website=Stylus Magazine|access-date=18 December 2016|date=1 September 2003|archive-date=23 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223025212/http://stylusmagazine.com/articles/on_second_thought/the-beatles-the-beatles.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Martin said he was against the idea of a double album at the time and suggested that the group reduce the number of songs to form a single album featuring their stronger work; the band refused.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=163}} Reflecting on the album years later, Harrison said that some tracks could have been released as B-sides or withheld, but "there was a lot of ego in that band."{{sfn|MacFarlane|2013|p=78}} He also supported the idea of the double album, to clear out the group's backlog of songs. Starr felt that the album should have been two separate records, which he jokingly called "The White Album" and "The Whiter Album". McCartney said that the record was fine as it was: "It was great. It sold. It's the bloody Beatles' ''White Album''. Shut up!"{{sfn|MacFarlane|2013|p=78}}

===Personal problems===
During the recording sessions for ''The Beatles'', each member of the band began to increasingly assert themselves as individual artists who frequently found themselves at odds. McCartney described the sessions as a turning point for the group because "there was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself";{{sfn|Doggett|2009|p=130}} Lennon said, "the break-up of the Beatles can be heard on that album".{{sfn|Womack|2009|p=55}} Recording engineer [[Geoff Emerick]] had worked with the group since ''Revolver'', but became disillusioned with the sessions. He overheard Martin criticising McCartney's vocal performance while recording "[[Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da]]", to which McCartney replied, "Well you come down and sing it".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=143}} On 16 July, Emerick announced that because of the frequent bickering and tension, he was no longer willing to work with the Beatles and left the studio in the midst of a session.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=143}}

[[File:John Lennon en zijn echtgenote Yoko Ono op huwelijksreis in Amsterdam. John Lenn, Bestanddeelnr 922-2305.jpg|thumb|The new relationship between [[John Lennon]] and [[Yoko Ono]] caused tension in the studio with the other Beatles.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1996|p=276}}]]

''The Beatles'' sessions marked the first appearance in the studio of Lennon's new domestic and artistic partner, [[Yoko Ono]], who accompanied him to Abbey Road to work on "[[Revolution (Beatles song)#"Revolution 1"|Revolution 1]]"{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|pp=245–246}} and who was thereafter a more or less constant presence at Beatles recording sessions.{{sfn|Harry|2000|pp=108–9}} Ono's presence was highly unorthodox as, up to that point, the Beatles had generally worked in isolation, rarely allowing visitors, wives and girlfriends to attend recording sessions.{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=483–484}} Lennon's devotion to Ono over the other Beatles made working conditions difficult by impeding communication between Lennon and McCartney, as well as the intuitive aspect that had previously been essential to the band's music.{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=491}} McCartney's girlfriend at the time, Francie Schwartz, was also present at some sessions,{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=176}} as were the other two Beatles' wives, [[Pattie Harrison]] and [[Maureen Starkey]].{{sfn|Harry|2002|pp=77–78}}

[[Peter Doggett]] writes that "the most essential line of communication" had been broken between Lennon and McCartney by Ono's presence on the first day of recording.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|pp=46–47}} Beatles biographer [[Philip Norman (author)|Philip Norman]] comments that the two shared a disregard for the other's new songs; Lennon found McCartney's songs "cloyingly sweet and bland", while McCartney viewed Lennon's as "harsh, unmelodious and deliberately provocative".{{sfn|Norman|1996|p=340}} Harrison and Starr chose to distance themselves partway through the project,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=137}} flying to California on 7 June so that Harrison could film his scenes for the [[Ravi Shankar]] documentary ''[[Raga (film)|Raga]]''.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=300}} Lennon's, McCartney's and Harrison's individual projects outside the band in 1968 were further evidence of the group's fragmentation.{{sfn|Inglis|2009|p=120}} In Lennon's case, the album cover of his experimental collaboration with Ono ''[[Two Virgins]]'' featured the couple completely naked, a gesture his bandmates found bewildering and unnecessary.{{sfn|Doggett|2011|pp=54–55}}

On 20 August, Lennon and Starr were working on overdubs for "[[Yer Blues]]" in Studio 3, and visited McCartney in Studio 2 where he was working on "[[Mother Nature's Son]]". The positive spirit of the session disappeared immediately, and engineer Ken Scott later claimed that "you could cut the atmosphere with a knife".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=150}} Starr abruptly left the studio on 22 August during the session for "[[Back in the U.S.S.R.]]",{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=307}} feeling that his role in the group was peripheral compared to the other members, and upset at McCartney's constant criticism of his drumming on the track.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|pp=250–51}}{{sfn|Clayson|2003|pp=183–84}} Abbey Road staff later commented that Starr was usually the first to arrive at the studio, waiting in the reception area for the others to arrive.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=151}} In his absence, McCartney played the drums on "Dear Prudence". For "Back in the U.S.S.R.", the three remaining Beatles each made contributions on bass and drums, and the drum part is a composite of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison's playing.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=151}} Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison pleaded with Starr to reconsider. He returned on 5 September to find his drum kit decorated with flowers,{{sfn|MacDonald|1997|p=273}} a welcome-back gesture from Harrison.{{sfn|Beatles|2000|p=312}}

===Mono version===
''The Beatles'' was the last Beatles album to be mixed separately for stereo and mono.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13425-stereo-box-in-mono/ |title=The Beatles – Stereo Box |first=Mark |last=Richardson |work=[[Pitchfork Media]] |date=7 September 2009 |access-date=24 June 2014}}</ref> All but two tracks exist in official mono mixes; the exceptions are "Revolution 1" and "Revolution 9", both direct reductions of the stereo master.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=150}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beatles/var-1968.html |access-date=24 July 2022 |website=www.columbia.edu}}</ref> The Beatles had not been particularly interested in stereo until this album, but after receiving mail from fans stating they bought both stereo and mono mixes of earlier albums, they decided to make the two different.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.guitarworld.com/abbey-road-engineer-ken-scott-says-beatles-white-album-sessions-were-blast |title=Abbey Road Engineer Ken Scott Says The Beatles' White Album Sessions Were a "Blast" |first=Damian |last=Fanelli |journal=[[Guitar World]] |date=22 November 2013 |access-date=24 June 2014}}</ref> Several mixes have different track lengths; the mono mix/edit of "Helter Skelter" eliminates the fade-in at the end of the song (and Starr's ending scream),{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=154}} and the fade-out of "Yer Blues" is 11 seconds longer on the mono mix. Several songs have missing or different overdubs or effects which differ from the stereo mixes.<ref>{{cite book |title=Every Little Thing: the definitive guide to Beatles recording variations, rare mixes & other musical oddities, 1958–1986 |first1=William |last1=McCoy |first2=Mitchell |last2=McGeary |publisher=Popular Culture, Ink. |year=1990 |isbn=978-1-56075-004-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/offrecordmotownb00bart/page/54 54] |url=https://archive.org/details/offrecordmotownb00bart/page/54 }}</ref>

In the United States, mono records were already being phased out; the US release of ''The Beatles'' was the first Beatles LP to be issued in stereo only.{{sfn|Spizer|2007|p=170}} In the UK, the Beatles' following album, ''[[Yellow Submarine (album)|Yellow Submarine]]'', was the last to be issued in mono.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=164}} The mono version of ''The Beatles'' was made available worldwide on 9 September 2009, as part of ''[[The Beatles in Mono]]'' CD boxed set.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-beatles-remastered-albums-due-september-9-2009-20090407 |title=The Beatles' Remastered Albums Due September 9, 2009 |first=Daniel |last=Kreps |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=7 April 2009 |access-date=14 July 2014}}</ref> The original mono LP was rereleased worldwide in September 2014.<ref name=mono2014/>