The Beatles’ classic self-titled 1968 album, aka the White Album, is to be reissued as a deluxe package later this year.
It’s set to arrive on November 9 via Apple Corps Ltd/Capitol/UMe on standard 2LP, deluxe version and a super deluxe package, with the latter featuring a wealth of bonus content.
All 30 album tracks have been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio. Also included are 27 early acoustic demos along with 50 session takes – most of which have been previously unreleased.
Martin and Okell worked with a team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London, with the new White Album including Martin’s new stereo album mix, which has been sourced directly from the original four-track and eight-track session tapes.
Martin says: “In remixing the White Album, we’ve tried to bring you as close as possible to The Beatles in the studio. We’ve peeled back the layers of the Glass Onion with the hope of immersing old and new listeners into one of the most diverse and inspiring albums ever made.”
The super deluxe set comprises 6CDs and a Blu-ray along with a 164-page hardbound book, featuring reproductions of the original album’s four colour portraits of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
The book is illustrated with “rare photographs, reproductions of handwritten and notated lyrics, previously unpublished photos of recording sheets and tape boxes, and reproduced original White Album print ads.”
New introductions by McCartney and Giles Martin will also feature, and the history of the record is documented by Beatles historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett, journalist and author John Harris and Tate Britain’s senior curator of modern and contemporary art Andrew Wilson.
To mark the announcement, a trailer for the package has been released.
Find a list of contents below along with pre-order details.
The Beatles White Album
Standard 2LP
White Album 2018 stereo mix on 180g vinyl in gatefold sleeve with replicated original artwork
Deluxe
3CD, 180g 4LP vinyl box set with digital audio collections pairing the 2018 stereo album mix with the 27 Esher Demos.
Super Deluxe
CDs 1 & 2: White Album - 2018 stereo album mix
CD3: Esher Demos: Tracks one through 19 sequenced in order of the finished song’s placement on the album. Songs 20-27 were not originally included.
CDs 4, 5 & 6: Sessions: 50 additional recordings, most previously unreleased, from the White Album studio sessions – all newly mixed and sequenced in order of their recording start dates.
Blu-ray
2018 album mix in high resolution PCM stereo
2018 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 album mix
2018 Dolby True HD 5.1 album mix
2018 direct transfer of the album’s original mono mix
