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Related: About this forumThis is one of those bootlegs you'll fall in love with
The Beatles acoustic White Album (aka The Esher Sessions) !? Heck yeah.
The precise date is unknown, but towards the end of May 1968 The Beatles met at Kinfauns, George Harrison's bungalow in Esher, Surrey. There they recorded demo versions of a number of songs written in India, 19 of which later appeared on the White Album.
The 27 songs believed to have been taped at Kinfauns were recorded on Harrison's Ampex four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder. They were mostly grouped together by the composer of each song, although John Lennon's songs were more scattered across the day. They were most likely taped in this order:
0:00 Back in the USSR
3:00 Dear Prudence
7:45 Not Guilty
10:49 Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
14:03 Rocky Raccoon
17:02 The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
19:50 What's The New Mary Jane
22:35 Sexy Sadie
25:16 Yer Blues
28:53 Revolution
33:10 While My Guitar Gently Weeps
35:54 Blackbird
38:40 Mother Nature's Son
41:09 Child of Nature (AKA Jealous Guy)
43:57 I'm So Tired
47:10 Julia
Most of the recordings were widely bootlegged, although the release of Anthology 3 resulted in previously-unheard demos of the four final songs. The seven Kinfauns demos included on Anthology 3 - licensed to Apple by George Harrison - were also of a better quality than the bootlegs.
It is possible that not all of the demos were recorded at Kinfauns, and it has been speculated that some were recorded alone by the songs' composers. Alternatively, previously-made recordings may have been brought to Harrison's house for overdubbing, but, again, this is far from clear.
Of the songs unreleased by The Beatles in 1968, perhaps the best known is Child Of Nature. This was inspired by a Maharishi Mahesh Yogi lecture, and was lyrically similar to Mother Nature's Son. Lennon later reused the melody for 1971's Jealous Guy.
What's The New Mary Jane was based around a nursery rhyme-style melody, and in the studio became one of Lennon's first avant garde compositions. It remained unreleased until Anthology 3, despite Lennon's various attempts to have it released by The Beatles or the Plastic Ono Band.
Two of Lennon's songs, Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam, were held back until 1969's Abbey Road, when they became part of the 'long medley'.
Just one of Paul McCartney's songs - Junk - was unreleased by The Beatles, although they returned to it during the Get Back sessions in early 1969. It eventually found a home on McCartney's first solo album.
Harrison fared less well, with three of the five demos failing to be included on the White Album. A studio version of Not Guilty should have appeared on that record, although it was eventually included on Anthology 3. Circles, meanwhile, wasn't issued until Harrison's 1982 solo album Gone Troppo.
Sour Milk Sea was given to Apple recording artist Jackie Lomax. It was his debut single later in 1968, produced by Harrison with McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on drums.
https://www.beatlesbible.com/1968/05/24/demo-recordings-for-the-white-album/
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This is one of those bootlegs you'll fall in love with (Original Post)
bathroommonkey76
Mar 2017
OP
I shall keep an eye out for your next project! This took me back to the first time I heard the
downeastdaniel
Mar 2017
#3
BigmanPigman
(51,590 posts)1. WOW
I never heard this before. Thanks man!
bathroommonkey76
(3,827 posts)2. Keep an eye out for more of my posts in the future.
downeastdaniel
(497 posts)3. I shall keep an eye out for your next project! This took me back to the first time I heard the
The White Album some almost 50 years ago...the same excitement of hearing The Beatles for the 1st time...
Thanks.
bathroommonkey76
(3,827 posts)4. There is a magic to these unreleased demos.
I first heard this at a record store in the early 90s and have been in love with it ever since.
The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Tom Waits, and dozens of other artists have treasure troves of bootlegs out there in the world-- Sometimes it's nice to step away from the studio albums and hear the raw/unfiltered demos from these talented folks.
Glad you liked the post!