The White Album may not be the Beatles' best album, but it's my favorite because it's a sort of chaotic journey into the world of a band that was falling apart at the seams . The songs are tender and personal, wild and unrestrained, straight up rockers and straight up ballads, blues and country, intelligent and stupid, witty and ridiculous, sublime and heavy. They threw just about everything they could churn out into a musical stew and let it cook into a glorious mess of a double LP. That's why I love it!

I remember buying The White Album, as soon as it came out. I was 12. Me and my brothers opened the album in my bedroom and played it on my little plastic record player. I was the most excited because my brothers were not into music, and I was the only one that played an instrument (alto-sax). Oh, and I saw The Beatles, Live on my 9th b-day ! Aug1965Portland OR The Beatles can do no wrong and I love everything about The White Album. I wasn't that upset when they broke up. They had given the World soo much, already. People grow and move on.

Thank you, lots of laughter I had watching this. Some of the scripting reminds me of scenes right out of that great Mockumentary, "The Rutles - All You Need Is Cash." Lots of great songs on the White Album. I had a band in high school in 1971. I used to lead sing. As I got older and learned guitar the song that still brings a smile to my face is playing "Rocky Raccoon." Especially when: "The doctor comes in stinking of gin and proceeded to lie on the table... (Favorite verse) There are lots of emotions in Beatle songs, and they run the full spectrum of the human scale. Love, anger, peace, happiness, and yes, lots of humor...🎸😃

Even under the worst of circumstances, The Beatles created genius work.

Even with all the chaos brewing in the band. The White Album is a masterpiece.

The White Album was the beginning of the end for the Beatles because of the internal friction and stress going on with the band during the recording of the album but having said that this turned out to be a remarkable musical experience for the greatest band in the history of rock pop music I remember the first time I listened to it, it blew my mind, incredibly versatile one song different from the next there will never be anything like it again a timeless classic, the Beatles will never be forgotten!

I have two favorite albums of all time. One is 'The Golden Age of Wireless' by Thomas Dolby, and the other is the white album by The Beatles, which was my first favorite album, and if I had to pick only one it would be that one. It blows my mind that anyone ever makes arguments for it to be only one disc long, or that it may not be the best Beatles album. I know this may sound strange, but there is something even bigger and more important than the concept of 'the best' in art: the greatest, most meaningful art that there is is art that gets you up in the morning, that moves you, that makes you think, that excites and motivates you, even provokes you, but that is informed and smart and spirited, and emotional or emotive or eliciting emotions from you, and that somehow feels necessary. The idea of 'the best' suggests a set of criteria that critics have devised as a sort of test that can be graded. There's so much of importance and really intense connection with individuals in an audience that art can convey, and it's that part that matters most, I think, to an audience, and that's what should be weighted most heavily when evaluating great musicians and composers and music makers. The really difficult part is that the white album broke the mold when it comes to making such diverse albums. I can't think of any album since that has been as eclectic. I adore that quality of the album. It feels like a travelog. I feel as if I'd taken a train across India, and the solar system, and in fact the milky way...

Ilong , long , long is an underrated gem

The stuff about Blackbird being recorded outdoors is wrong, it was all done in the studio. The birds are from a sound effects tape. God bless Geoff Emerick but his book has a whole bunch of factual errors.

It's extraordinary how interested people are in the creation of Beatles' material. Digging into the psychological aspects, rumours and innuendoes surrounding the group. I simply enjoy the music.

The White Albums always been my favourite Beatles record. It’s incredibly eclectic and wonderfully imaginative.. some fantastic tunes that possibly wouldn’t have ever come to life had they worked together as one. Great video too btw - really well put together mate.. interesting, informative and nicely paced! 👏🏻

I'm so glad I was young, and unaware of any of the drama. The White Album was perfect. Perfect.

Maybe its the 'turmoil' that made it such a revolutionary double album. It remains one of the most turned on mixes ever made, an unintentional masterpiece .

Expertly edited. Extremely, well-sourced. Securely tied together by narration that tells its story, faithfully. Yours is among the very best Beatle-docs. Many thanks!

Fantastic. You laid out all that info so well!!

Good Ole Magic Alex. What would of The Beatles have done without him.

Thanks for this video, it is excellent content. Amazing to consider how prolific each of these dudes are as songwriters.

Incredibly well put together documentary. Informative, brilliant editing and expert narration.

An excellent video. The work you've put into making it is admirable. No, much more than that. ❤

A brilliant video thank you !

thank you so much i’ve been looking for a long video on a deep dive about my favorite album

when you hear Paul just jamming on Helter Skelter acoustic, you get that fly-on-the-wall re-realization of what an absolute monster he was...Paul is one of the greatest acoustic players ever, that;s not hyperbolic...his rhythm hand was ridiculous, a certain level of tasteful approach, James Taylor has it too..insanely underrated in that regard .great down tuned sound, you hear his brilliance in songs like Yesterday, Michelle, and I'm looking through you..

Love each of these anecdotes. Really shine some light on aspects of the band you won’t hear about in any official media.

Its odd how Lennon came in contact with 2 toxic people in this era...Yoko and Magic Alex and how Lennon pushed both of those people onto the other band members.

Great technical info I had never heard before- great job

What they should've done was take a year off from each other, each produce their own solo album, then get back to together and be the Beatles again. Time was simply moving too fast for them. They had to grow up, grow old and get tired of each other all in a span of just 10 years. They each changed and grew so much during that 10 year time span. Way more than most of us do.

Thank You FR! Excellent piece of work. Much appreciated

This is very well done I know a lot about the Beatles and the White Album but I still learned some new things from this video

Great video. I knew it was a troublesome time ( ironic since it was right after transendental meditation and India ) but I had never heard of this Alan Stag guy.

If they had the courage to take a year long break after finishing the White album, the “Let it Be” sessions would have had a different outcome. None of them were honest when they needed to be.

Really weill done. Most accurately detailed account I've heard. Well researched. Bravo.

great video , a lot of information ..... I love the white album ... my favorite , just so much great music

8 copies of the white album and you tell me stuff I didn’t know !!!! Hats off to you sir

The beginning of the end. The '68 sessions, when things started to get weird. John was a bit out of control.

This was great. Well done.

Your videos are fantastic. I don't comment much but I had to tell you how much I enjoy them. The Beatles have always been one of my favorite bands of all time and unfortunately there are a lot of mediocre videos on their career but your videos are so well executed. Thanks for the work you put into it. Fucking brilliant!

Excellent video. Great detail, info I did not already know, and all well organized and told to us. Impressive work.

It may have been hell to record, but the result is heaven and that's all that really matters.

All the work on Ob-La-Di was worth it, there’s so many fun little bits and it grooves so hard.

A quote from John's song 'Julia' comes to mind: „Half of what I say is meaningless ...“ I think Paul and the others also knew that John could be moody, that he often changed his mind and that drugs also had an influence. In the end, they stuck it out together for a while and produced some more fantastic songs. PS: Thank you for this superbly produced story!

The problem with some of the narrative here is that pre-studio work hadn't been examined enough. A majority of songs that made it on the album were written in India or prior to that excursion, and as mentioned in the video, they actually recorded demos of good number of the songs at Harrison's home at Escher before going into the studio - and sounding like they were having a good time too. Esher Demos encompassed 16 of the 30 songs that would make it on the White album: Julia, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Back in the USSR, Honey Pie, Mother Nature’s Son, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Dear Prudence, Sexy Sadie, Cry Baby Cry, The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, I’m So Tired, Yer Blues, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey, Revolution, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Piggies. I Will was written in India; and as mentioned in the video, Ringo's Don't Pass Me By had been around a long time (since 1962/1963). John wrote to Ringo from India about having so many songs, and on the need for him to get ready to work. Yet, this video seemed to have passed over this rather quickly (pre-India song writing, India song writing, work on demos for Esher), and go off on the aftermath of the Rikikesh excursion, a Magic Alex tangent, John playing loud and getting unhinged, the usual Yoko anecdotes, drug use anecdotes (nevermind they had been using drugs since the early 1960s and supposedly took a bit of a break in India), etc. So the question is, what happened after May of 1968, to have things go down hill with the band (band dynamics, interpersonal relationships, professional relationships)? Seems the stream of anecdotes and side notes here didn't in the end really address that question. Nor really differentiate from other prior bouts of arguments and disagreements (which were apparent since 1963). And, one wouldn't know from the video that Hey Jude and Revolution came out as a single during this time - even with the shot of their Twickenham studio mini concert of those two songs at 24:24 in - (in August, with Hey Jude recorded at Trident), which were massive hits. Maybe in the end Apple Corp as mentioned proved a critical factor (tensions over money?). Now if they had stayed focused on setting up a publication business, and securing control of their songs from Dick James, it would have proven a quite constructive/positive investment from the start.

@RogerPeet 4 days ago I remember buying The White Album, as soon as it came out. I was 12. Me and my brothers opened the album in my bedroom and played it on my little plastic record player. I was the most excited because my brothers were not into music, and I was the only one that played an instrument (alto-sax). Oh, and I saw The Beatles, Live on my 9th b-day ! Aug1965Portland OR The Beatles can do no wrong and I love everything about The White Album. I wasn't that upset when they broke up. They had given the World soo much, already. People grow and move on.

The White Album is the greatest package ever assembled...period. 2 albums. 30 songs. Gatefold. 4 individual posters of each member...PLUS.. A GIANT COLLAGE poster with all the lyrics printed on the back. Astonishing. And then some copies came individually numbered

In ten years,there were a fewbumps in the road,overall the music rarely suffered.....its a miracle the beats lasted this long...

Excess and egos is the perfect description of the White Album. The Get Back documentary is heaven compared to the White Album recording. 🤣Jeez.

And yet: A masterpiece.

Great job mate! Paul agrees as well. Keep up the good work.

The "Buffalo Springfield Again" album showed that band members didn't have to be unified to create a great album. Like the Beatles, Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young produced solo recordings and they became the album. Both albums were great, but ultimately both bands were finished within a year of those albums. Thank you for the great video!

My favourite Beatles album mainly because of how brilliant John's contribution is. It's so strong you don't mind Revolution 9.

I was not invited. I'm still somewhat angry about the whole incident.

A real pleasure to listen to. So well done.

Gosh, all those constant changes! I guess being four markedly different artists a split was inevitable, but Yoko finished them off by disrupting Paul and John's love affair. A fascinating window on something wonderful falling to pieces. Thank you!

I love this album, one of my favorite albums really.

The Beatles work along with the people who worked with them is legendary.

Really great mini documentary. Still missing a few years 1965 and 1965; hope to see those soon :) I'm not even a huge Beatles fan but damn was this ride into complete dysfunctional behavior.

Geoff Emerick’s book is arguably the best at describing the tension while making the White Album. And it’s very telling that he describes that most of the tension was caused by two people: John Lennon and Yoko.

A shout out to the engineers and producers who had to put up with working with the Beatles.

Emerick is not considered to be a reliable source. He has been accused of being deeply unfair to the legacy of Harrison, Lennon, and anybody in the band other than McCartney. The guy he worked for after the band split up.

Very well done. It gives a lot of insight into the dysfunction at this time, particularly with John & Yoko, but they made a beautiful album (except for Revolution 9!😂)

I can feel the vibe of the encroaching tech revolution of the 70's when looking at this footage. I was born in 1970.

The Beatles and their engineers were a group of raw creative and endless talent. Few people realize how much the engineering staff contributes to a groups success too. Each unique. Each with their own unique talents and input. Each self centered. It is amazing they lasted as long as they did. the drugs didn't help either. All that talent and unique drive can and did make for a often hostile and competitive work environment. Still, all things considered one of music histories most remembered groups and music that will last for ever. Their work created and crossed several genres of style from their beginning to their end. I often wonder if Yoko actually was a muse for John, a source of creative inspiration or just a leach/groupee and or just a just a drug sharing buddy for John??

i got into the beatles when i first heard a song and it happened to be "love me do" i wanted to find out who sings the song and to this day, i have always been a beatles fan, fell in love with the india story from 1968 and "Dear Prudance" is now my favourite song and accounting guitar sound, i was 15 back then, nearly 24 now

Well done, lad. Hits all the points. Magic Alex DID invent one thing that would have made millions. It eventually became "Macrovision" which was a copy protection method. The Beatles didn't go for it.

Congratulations. This is an intelligent and interestingly narrated video, steering clear of the crude sensationism that, for me, ruins these type of album retrospectives. Thank you for you time and expertise.

This is superb. It also demonstrates clearly how everyone - band, producer, engineers - were under John's mercurial tow

You know your stuff. Well presented 👍🏻

personally, i believe all the troubles the beatles experienced during the recording of "the white album" are greatly exagerated. regardless, they ended up producing THE BEST r&r album ever released. thanks for the video.

This is SO well done!

Only the Beatles could come back from a vacation and deliver the best double album of all time! 😮

Goodnight is such a sweet song. Ringo was the right choice to sing it.

Dear prudence is a master piece

Love your work. Is there a plan to put all these together as one mega documentary in sequence at some point? You will have created the best independent Beatles doc since The Compleat Beatles in '82. Especially with a focus on albums embedded within the years like this. Every Beatles documentary ever has glossed over certain albums, barely mentioned actual songs, etc. I appreciate that you don't do that.

My favorite Beatles album!

Awesome new video!

Yoko: "Not when he looked so fierce..." John: "His mommy butted in" Yoko & John: "If looks could kill it would've been us instead of him"

"The group sit in George's living room playing each song amongst a cloud of jostic smoke."

they were never the same after rishi sunak - he affects us all

THIS IS AN AMAZING VIDEO! So well done with so much valuable information given relevantly and concisely. I've listened to the White Album for decades and never knew any of this background about its production--fascinating. It's shocking to me that every song on the album sounds perfect in its own way yet so many were controversial, disliked, argued over and retaken amidst what appeared to be chaotic and almost accidental recordings. Who would have guessed any of this. It's all a testament to not only the talent of the band but all those involved in its production.

So cool that they found these wonderful old films.

"It's a treasure trove of underated masterpieces and gems...

The White Album was one of their bedt.🇬🇧✨

This album shows that , hey we're the Beatles, we can do whatever we want... Would've been a great single album....

At the 20 second mark: "Workin' togevvuh..." 😊 Love it!

Never knew there was this much animosity at the end.

This is AI Bringing regurgitated ideas and wrong notes to the mix. One note: Paul ALWAYS dubbed his bass lines to the recorded material. That's how he attained that amazing precise sound. This is an interesting post.

Ive been watching your videos, they are excellent 👍 but this episode was Superb 👌 Love the way your narrate your music documentarys 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Well, there must be a whole lotta stories swept under the carpet about recording sessions . Allegedly they once smashed a mixing board or something else.

my fav beatles album! By far!

Awesome documentary

It's ironic that after returning from a retreat where the focus was meant to be losing the self, their egos were charged to the nth degree. It was a turbulent point in time both globally, and for them personally. When you think of how little time had actually passed since the release of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and what an insane rollercoaster ride it had been, then they suddenly find themselves in the mountains, attempting to leave the world behind, only to plunge back into it. It's no wonder these sessions were such a frenzy.

Also misleading to newer fans is the studio was not known as Abbey Road at that time. It was simply called EMI - who later changed the name to Abbey Road to honer The Beatles after they titled their last studio album, (Let It Be was released later but recorded earlier), Abbey Road - the street where the studio was located.

White album was John’s shining moment.

I think the Beatles' members pretty much did their own mixing and recording w the techs present. Stagg would not be able to sway anything. The Beatles pretty much owned the studio by then..

It's a Great Album! They all are

GREAT VIDEO, CHEERS.

Four sides of absloutely unbelievably great rock n roll music.

Superb, thank you.

Nightmare is right, it sounds like Lennon was totally out to lunch by that point.

As a Beatles manic white album was awesome all four were so talented the egos started to clash long live the beatles fab four

Listening to him made me wonder,(as Americans) what the hell happened to our accents? Imagine that, being so British, you inspire a History lesson...