A Personal Note from this Website’s Editor
I can still clearly remember listening to this album in it’s original vinyl incarnation, four sides, four different acts if you will, packaged inside one twelve inch squared white sleeve. An inside that sleeve four incredible full color head shots, one of each beatle, an a poster that unfolded to reveal a large collage of photographs. John sitting cross-legged, naked in bed with Yoko, Paul laying in the bath, Ringo in his yellow ruffled shirt, an a contemplative George in black and white. All these intimate personal photos seemed to be haphazardly thrown together. And if that weren’t enough, the lyrics to every song were printed on the back of that poster so you could follow along as you listened.
I was just a 14 year old freshman in high school when I first heard this album. I remember it was the Saturday night just after Thanksgiving of 1968. I was working the coat room at our local high school dance, that being the only way a freshman could attend. Just as we were wrapping it up for the night a friend walked in with the the brand new 2-cassette edition. I can still see that cool little black box with those two cassettes fitted neatly inside. He’d also brought along one of those small portable single speaker cassette players popular at the time. We started with side-one of that first cassette and continued to listen mesmerized for the next hour and a half. That was the first time I heard this album, I never stopped listening. To this day over forty years later it still in some ways has that same impact it did that night so long ago. I’ve been continually engaged with it on one level or another ever since, and it remains a huge part of the “soundtrack of my life”.
Warmest regards,Joe Stewart
Editor and incorrigible Beatles fan
email: joestewart@mac.com
