viscom

In VIsCom we’re working on re-designing an iconic Beatles album of our choice. Mine is the White Album and here is what I’ve learned about it:

Basic Facts:

Released Nov 22, 1968 on the fifth anniversary of their second album With the Beatles
Total of 34 new tracks were released. 30 were contained on the double-LP
The double wallet merely had words the BEATLES embossed on the front
Early copies had individual number stamped on the front
Inside the package was two discs wrapped in black inner slevers and there were four individual photographs of the guys and a folded poster containing a photo-collage with the lyrics to the songs on the reverse
First album to appear on the Apple label
Entered the UK chart at no. 1 and occupied the position for 8 of the 22 weeks it spent on the chart
First double-length release

Meditation experience:

The Beatles flew to Rishikesh, india for several weeks of meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during which they enjoyed a prolific period of song writing.
Maybe the need for new experiences, or the need to find themselves again, lead them all to follow a course in transcendental meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Wales.
the truth is that isolation and the absence of worries and daily stress made John and Paul write a good number f songs. In fact between all four Beatles 32 songs were brought from India, most of them basically acoustic due to the lack of any other instruments in India.

Internal Factors:

They stopped touring in 1966 and were free to explore the possibilities from inside the studio and began enjoying the time that their fortune allowed
Creativity was strong as ever even though the musical output had slowed
- Sgt Pepper changed the world and then they released just the six-track Magical Mystery Tour EP and the Lady Madonna single right before
While recording the album they were coping with various upheavals drug busts, changing relationships and substance abuse
The individual talents of all four Beatles were already finding the group’s structure too restrictive for their own ideas. None of them were willing to discard any of their songs in favor of someone else’s. The White Album became the joint effort of four individuals, each one of them claiming the necessary playing time for their songs.
The first two tracks were recorded with Ringo because tempers flared during a recording session and he walked out/announced he had quit (lasted two weeks)
The sessions allowed the four members to work on separate projects at the same time to keep tensions to a minimum
In a degree of turmoil at this point – suffered their first major artistic failure in Magical Mystery Tour television film
Perhaps foretelling their imminent solo careers, each band member contributed lyrics and vocal solos.
John Lennon – Witty and accomodating of others regardless of who they are or what they’ve done.
Paul McCartney – Very Down-to-Earth and considerate.
George Harrison – Quiet, but very spiritual and witty.
Ringo Starr – Charismatic and lively, but sort of the “outsider” among the Beatles
Tension albumTop of Form
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Sound:

Extremely eclectic work made by a disunified group

Majestic cornucopia of styles, born from one of the group’s most creative periods

Mysterious and happy, acoustic and rocking, simple but dense.

Never before had a rock record been so self-reflective, or so ironic; the Beach Boys send-up “Back in the U.S.S.R.” and the British blooze parody “Yer Blues” are delivered straight-faced, so it’s never clear if these are affectionate tributes or wicked satires.

None of it sounds like it was meant to share album space together, but somehow The Beatles creates its own style and sound through its mess.

Band Quotes:

Helter Skelter is just a track we did in total madness and hysterics in the studio. You know, sometimes you’ve just go shake out the jam.” –John
“All the experiences that happened in India was all embodied in that album. Most of those songs were written in Rishikesh like Julia and Blackbird and Dear Prudence.” –George
“Sgt Pepper did its thing, it was the album of the decade – of the century maybe. It was very innovative. Great songs, glad I was on it. But the White Album… We ended up being more of a band again and that’s what I always love, I love being in a band.” –Ringo
“I wasn’t interested in following up Sgt Pepper and I don’t know whether the others were or not, but I know that what I was going for was to forget about Sgt Pepper. You know that was Sgt Pepper and that’s alright, fine, it’s over… and just get back to basic music.” –John
“We just put it out and got on with life. A lot of our friends liked it and that was mainly what we were concerned with. If your mates liked it, the boutiques played it and it was played wherever you went – that was a sign of success for us.” -Paul

Sources:

http://www.thebeatles.com/album/beatles-0

http://www.beatlesbible.com/albums/the-beatles-white-album/

http://www.upv.es/~ecabrera/white.html

http://beatlesnumber9.com/words.html

Our first project in Visual Concepts was all about representing an animal of our choosing in 16 different ways. At first that may sound simple, but for each category we had to have a minimum of 12 sketches. This totaled to over 200 sketches by the time I was done. The final deliverables included a poster of 16 final mark concepts and a process book that documented all of our sketching. It was broken up into two chunks- the first 96 sketches due one week and the other 96 sketches due the next week. My room had ink, paint, coffee, charcoal, and various tools strung about throughout the duration of this project.