DM's Beatles forums
Beatles forums => Albums => Topic started by: on November 13, 2007, 06:06:28 PM
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The original title for The White Album was going to be "A Doll's House", named after the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's 1879 masterpiece.
(original Norwegian title: Et dukkehjem)
Apparently, the boys decided against such a stilted literary title and went w/ the more mundane "The Beatles"--which became nicknamed "TWA" (and eventually stuck).
Personally, I prefer the original concept of "ADH", which gives rise to a million cover-art possibilities, which alas, is purely academic now.
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I like the concept of The White Album. First you have their most ambitious album - Sgt. Pepper, with their most ambitious cover. And seeing as TWA was pretty much a no frills affair, the plain white cover perfectly complements it. One extreme to the other. IMO of course.
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they could've given the world a double-shock if they wanted...
these aethetic "rules" arent written in stone.
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I never said they were. ;)
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..or even a triple shot
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They actually changed the name because A Doll's House was already taken, by a band called the Family. (I think A Doll's House better hints at the contents within!)
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White Album Facts
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The Beatles was released in the UK on November 22, 1968 as Apple PMC 7067-8 (mono) and PCS 7067-8 (stereo) and in the US on November 25, 1968 in stereo as Apple SWBO 101. The White Album was not released in mono in the US.
The White Album's original working title was A Doll's House, which is the name of Henrik Ibsen's masterpiece play written in the 19th century.
In addition, according to The Beatles Album by Geoffrey Giuliano, an illustration was prepared for the cover of A Doll's House by the famed artist Patrick but the plain white cover was opted for instead. This illustration eventually showed up on EMI's Dutch release of the Love Songs album, De Mooiste Songs.
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/4983/mooiste5th.jpg[/url])
Recording sessions for the White Album started with the song Revolution on May 30, 1968, and concluded with take three of Julia on October 13, 1968. Mixing for the album was completed five days later on October 18, 1968.
This album marked the first on the then newly formed Apple label, which had made its first appearance as a 45 three months earlier on August 30, 1968 with the Hey Jude/Revolution single, both of which were recorded during the White Album sessions.
Also recorded during the White Album sessions were What's the New Mary Jane and Not Guilty. These two tracks were only available on bootlegs for many years, but were finally released legitimately for the first time 28 years after they were recorded on Anthology 3 in 1996.
The Guiness Book of Records lists The Beatles as having sold "nearly two million" copies in its first week of release in the US.
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9506/whitead0cv.gif[/url])
Goodies
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Four 8x10 glossies, one of each Beatle, were included as inserts with the White Album. These pictures were taken by photographer John Kelley in the autumn of 1968.
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5638/wajl7jq.jpg[/url])
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1588/wapm3df.jpg[/url])
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1730/wagh9gm.jpg[/url])
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3089/wars6ig.jpg[/url])
Silly Censorship
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In the United States, one small photograph of Paul and one small drawing of Yoko and John in the poster that was included with the White Album were censored.
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9039/paul18iz.gif[/url])([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/932/paul29wd.gif[/url])
([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/3687/yj18ci.gif[/url])([url]http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5466/yj23lz.gif[/url])
On the left are scans from a copy of the White Album poster included with a White Album manufactured by EMI in Germany. On the right are unretouched scans of the same places on the poster from a copy made by Capitol in America.
All found here: [url]http://www.beatletracks.com/ I[/url] really love this site. Lots of great information.
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They actually changed the name because A Doll's House was already taken, by a band called the Family. (I think A Doll's House better hints at the contents within!)
Yes, Chris. Exactly. The subject matter (lyrically) in TWA lends itself to grander literary themes, I feel--that's why I thought the Ibsen title would've stuck if it wasnt used first by the band you mentioned. Thx 4 input.
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I think it might have come over as a little pretentious. I'm glad Family got there first.
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I think even the Stones (also in '68) were beginning to "touch" on social themes on "Beggar's Banquet"
--songs like "Salt of the Earth" and the historical allusions in "Sympathy For The Devil" point to this. Even "Street Fighting Man" is unabashedly political. All of this seemed antithetical to their usual fare of r&b mega-tracks, but I suppose in the very turbulent year of 1968 even the "Bad Boys of Rock & Roll" felt it incumbent on them to take a strident "position" on some of these questions, lest they seem "out of the loop", hence, the B. Banquet Lp. It's one of their MOST intelligent albums (IMO) (if not THE most intelligent they ever did), but I think they never followed up on this and eventually went back to their "proven formula" w/ subsequent works like "Let It Bleed" & "Sticky Fingers" et. al..
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Even though the White Album is one of the greatest albums of all time, I really dont find anything mystical or anything about it's cover. I would've preferred very much a cover like the one intended for A Dolls House, but maybe still called "The Beatles".
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I don't even think they called it the White Album when it was released? It was
just called The Beatles. correct me if i'm wrong.
:)
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I like the original cover because George is holding a rabbit-- say no more! ;D
I also am extremely glad the United States censored Paul's pubic hair. That sort of thing may be tolerated over there but over here everyone is smooth and childlike, as evidenced by our action figure dolls. *sprays Nair on everything ... you can see the effect it had on John and Yoko*
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I don't even think they called it the White Album when it was released? It was
just called The Beatles. correct me if i'm wrong.
:)
It's always been called 'The Beatles'. It's never been called 'The White Album'. It's only used to make a distinction between the name of the band, and the album.
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Basically i was right then ;D, it's the same with the Red & Blue album,
the name's not on the cover. and i always call Live at the BBC the brown
album! ;D :)
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I admit I didn't know about the Ibsen connection; the reason I think A Doll's House fits just a bit better is that the myriad "bits of music," and much more individual songs, lend themselves to this sense of things occurring in different rooms, separated from each other. (I love the album, of course, in case I'm coming off wrong. A title's not very important, really.)
From a lot of stuff I've read, the album's cover was so striking at the time because of the drastic, and quite smart-ass, contrast between the plain white square and the trend-setting Sgt. Pepper image from the year before. I think the Beatles' acute sense of humor is often left out these days!
Artist George Hamilton came up with the idea, and his original thoughts included the ring from a coffee cup. Paul thought that was a bit TOO flippant, so the embossed name of the band was settled on instead. "Has there ever been an album just called The Beatles?" Hamilton asked. "I don't think so, but I'll have to check," said Paul. (That's a funny thing, but of course the Beatles couldn't keep track of all the bastardized USA album names that Capitol had concocted.)
Then they thought about having the green smear of an apple on the cover, as if someone had thrown...well, the Beatles' new logo, I guess, at the whiteness. This was abandoned as well, since the quality of the printed image from country to country couldn't be assured, and a green apple smudge would just look like a bit of dirt without the resolution.
I guess my favorite quote about the White Album is Paul's, from Anthology.
"I'm not big on that, y'know. 'What if we'd done this or that....' It's great. It sold. It's the bloody Beatles White Album! Shut uuuup."
:)
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Artist George Hamilton came up with the idea, and his original thoughts included the ring from a coffee cup.
You surely don't mean:
(http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g299/paulk58/263231George-Hamilton-Posters.jpg)
;D ;D ;D
I'm sure you meant to say Richard Hamilton. :)
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Oops. Hee! You're right: Richard. :) (Hey, there's a reason I'm the resident dork here.)
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I guess my favorite quote about the White Album is Paul's, from Anthology.
"I'm not big on that, y'know. 'What if we'd done this or that....' It's great. It sold. It's the bloody Beatles White Album! Shut uuuup."
:)
yeah, I always liked that quote--I used it a few weeks ago in one of my posts too
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I'm sure you meant to say Richard Hamilton. :)
HAHAHA yeah, not the actor "george" H.
(but no biggie, Chris)
BM, I swear I nearly fell over laughing when I saw this pic u posted of the "eternally sun-tanned one" ;D
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I'm impressed he had an image right there and ready for posting! Now that's being prepared. ;D
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I'm impressed he had an image right there and ready for posting! Now that's being prepared. ;D
I am president of the Copenhagen branch of the George Hamilton non-fan club! ;D
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I am president of the Copenhagen branch of the George Hamilton non-fan club! ;D
I had no idea you were in Scandanavia. Say hello to Abba for me..no wait, that's Stockholm.
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I had no idea you were in Scandanavia. Say hello to Abba for me..no wait, that's Stockholm.
The Danes are famous for, er...Aqua! :(
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The Danes are famous for, er...Aqua! :(
..and Hamlet. (and dont get technical w/ me..I KNOW he's a Shakespeare fiction LOL)
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god I'm such a wise aRSe
;D
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god I'm such a wise aRSe
;D
You said it! ;D
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I was really proud of Paul for that White Album quote too. I'd say it's my favorite thing I've heard him say about the Beatles and that I pretty much agree with it. I love 97% of the White Album. All I'd do differently is drop Honey Pie, swap Savoy Truffel for Not Guilty and swap the White Album version of Revolution for the single one. Apart from that I think it's just fine the way it is.
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Throwing out a few thoughts on an old post I found:
The original title for The White Album was going to be "A Doll's House", named after the famous Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's 1879 masterpiece.
I wonder why they were considering "A Doll's House"? I remember reading that (and Hedda Gabler) in high school, and I don't see the connection to the songs on this album. Perhaps it's just momentarily eluding me. Or maybe I just don't get it. ;)
Apparently, the boys decided against such a stilted literary title and went w/ the more mundane "The Beatles"--which became nicknamed "TWA" (and eventually stuck).
I note that "TWA" appears several times in this thread. I've never seen that before in my 35 years as a Beatles fan.
Personally, I prefer the original concept of "ADH", which gives rise to a million cover-art possibilities, which alas, is purely academic now.
I must say I agree with this 16-year-old opinion.
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I must say I agree with this 16-year-old opinion.
I think by going with the white album approach they swam against the tide of psychedelia in the starkest way possible. And it’s still iconic in its simplicity. An elaborate Dolls House cover would have looked cool but I wonder if it would have looked a bit generic for it’s time now.
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I think one of the reasons thy didn't use this title is because another group had just used the idea. Their record was released in July 1968.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Musicinadollshouse.jpg)
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I think by going with the white album approach they swam against the tide of psychedelia in the starkest way possible.
That's a great point. I was thinking last night, too, that the cover provides a sharp contrast to the music on the album, which is so . . . intense, and varied. I've never given much thought to album covers before and how the decision about a cover is made, that is, what factors affect it. I don't recall reading anything about particular covers other than the Yesterday and Today "butcher" cover. I'd like to learn more.
I think one of the reasons thy didn't use this title is because another group had just used the idea. Their record was released in July 1968.
I read that, too, zipp. I hadn't realized the records were released so closely to one another. Thanks for posting the image. I love that cover.
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That's a great point. I was thinking last night, too, that the cover provides a sharp contrast to the music on the album, which is so . . . intense, and varied. I've never given much thought to album covers before and how the decision about a cover is made, that is, what factors affect it. I don't recall reading anything about particular covers other than the Yesterday and Today "butcher" cover. I'd like to learn more.
There’s undoubtedly books just on this. ;D
They did put a lot more thought into their covers than most bands of the time. They always seemed to care about the presentation and had the status to not get fobbed off with some hurried thing by the record company. Paul had a go at Brian Wilson once saying the Beach Boys needed to get better covers. Considering Pet Sounds just had a rather lame photo of the band with barn animals I get his point.
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There’s undoubtedly books just on this. ;D
I'm almost afraid to look. ;) I'm on a strict self-imposed book-buying moratorium until I get caught up on my current reading.
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Two of my favorite album covers that I'd like to learn more about, especially Marillion's ("A penny for your thoughts, my dear"):
(https://i.ibb.co/59tC0n7/Marillion-misplacedchildhood.jpg) (https://i.ibb.co/YXVcn1B/The-who-face-dances-album.jpg)
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They did put a lot more thought into their covers than most bands of the time. They always seemed to care about the presentation and had the status to not get fobbed off with some hurried thing by the record company. Paul had a go at Brian Wilson once saying the Beach Boys needed to get better covers. Considering Pet Sounds just had a rather lame photo of the band with barn animals I get his point.
Moog, 1966 was a very special year for music, bands and album covers. A teenager at the time, I thought the Pet Sounds album cover was pretty good. The Beach Boys were moving away from the "Surf Sound" and the album cover certainly emphasized that as did the name of the album.
The album cover photoshoot was done at the "petting paddock" of the San Diego Zoo's children's park in May 1966. No doubt that's how the name for the album came to be.
Here's a good article on the subject which shows many of the pictures from that photoshoot: The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - Album Cover Location - San Diego Zoo, California - May, 1966 (https://www.popspotsnyc.com/beach_boys_pet_sounds/)
(https://www.popspotsnyc.com/beach_boys_pet_sounds/goat_1.jpg)
In turn, Paul McCartney has said that Pet Sounds insipired the writing of Sgt. Peppers.