(secrets of the white album)
Presented and Directed by Thomas Mulready
Featured seminar on Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 1:30PM at AXPONA, Audio Expo North America at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, 1551 N. Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL 60173. Free and open to all attendees of the 2019 AXPONA conference.
http://www.axpona.com/
It all began with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi inviting The Beatles to Bangor, Wales to take part in a conference on Transcendental Meditation (TM) in 1967. The Beatles embraced TM, renounced their use of drugs, and learned their manager Brian Epstein had died of an accidental overdose back in London. They subsequently traveled to Rishikesh in the foothills of the Himalayas to study TM further with the Maharishi, Mick Jagger, Donovan, Mike Love, Mia Farrow and her sister Prudence.
While in India, they wrote most of the songs that appeared on their next album, entitled The Beatles, but which has come to be known as The White Album after its conceptually plain sleeve designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton. Upon their return to the U.K., the band assembled for one casual session at Kinfauns, George Harrison’s house, to demo their new songs for each other; a session that thankfully was recorded on his Ampex 4-track tape deck. Released as the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The White Album is generally considered one of the best albums of all time, and generally tops lists of the best double albums.
Featuring diverse and strong material throughout, classics include Revolution 1, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Blackbird, Helter Skelter, Back In The U.S.S.R., Birthday, and the sound collageRevolution 9. The album is known for its wildly differing styles, overtly political lyrics, stellar songwriting by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison (and Ringo’s first Beatles song), and the contentious atmosphere surrounding its creation, causing engineer Geoff Emerick to quit, Ringo Starr to briefly leave the band, and creating tensions that eventually led to the band’s breakup 16 months later. Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine calledThe White Album, “the history and synthesis of Western music.”
Thomas Mulready dissects The White Album and peels back the curtain to show how the album was recorded, the stories behind the songs, and what was happening in The Beatles’ lives at time. Using rare video, photos and needle drops, the 75-minute presentation includes Q&A, trivia and many surprising insights. Audiophiles will be interested in the recently released remixes of the album and outtakes, plus George Harrison's demos, produced by George Martin's son Giles Martin.
Acclaimed music aficionado Thomas Mulready is known for creating avant-garde non-profit festivals: Ingenuity Fest, now in its 15th year, and the legendary Performance Art Festival, the largest festival of performance art ever. He created the CoolCleveland media network of sites & mobile apps to turn people on to the coolness of Cleveland, the location of David Bowie's first US concert. Assiduously researched and painstakingly organized, Mulready has presented his performance art in New York and Paris, and served as a Senior Research Consultant in the United Kingdom. His multimedia presentations on David Bowie, Glam and The Beatles have been presented at universities, jazz clubs and aquariums. He previously presented An Evening With(out) David Bowie at AXPONA 2018 with his band Vanity Crash. His next show is entitled: When Andy Met Lou: Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, to be debuted on September 13 & 14, 2019.
CONTACT: Bob Burford, BurfordPR: [email protected], 330-842-1258
Thomas Mulready is available for interviews and commentary. CoolCleveland correspondents will be onsite at AXPONA 2019 conducting video interviews with leading figures in the audio industry.
This Analog World
CoolCleveland.com
