There definitely does seem to be some strong indicators that a major Beatles-related project is on the way. But there have been so many false Beatle alarms in my lifetime that still, to this day, I am pretty shocked that Anthology even happened at all. My take on it is this... last year around this time, the Pepper Deluxe was released and shot up to #1 on Amazon even before it was released. An expensive comprehensive physical boxed set makes it to #1 in an era where the public is moving away from physical copies. Seems like an anomaly almost. Apple/EMI (or VeeJay or Parlophone or whoever is in charge these days) notices this and gets excited and realizes there's still a significant market for "new" Beatle products. Meanwhile the Pepper Box gets released to the public to mostly very good reviews, there's even "unboxing" videos posted by new generation teenage Beatle fans on Youtube and so forth which demonstrate the wide appeal that this expensive set has. Then Giles makes an offhand comment that "the White Album is next" and this gets linked with a comment Ringo made about "go ahead and remix the White Album, it'd be great" and some publications run a brief story along the lines of "the White Album is due for a boxed set remix in 2018." Some time the next day, Giles is drinking a pint and listening to Carnival of Light on his laptop when he notices a bunch of texts and missed phone calls from Apple. Slightly worried, he calls back. Someone from the powers-that-be office answers and "gently" corrects him about the "White Album is next" stories that are flying around and tells him to stop. Giles then sends out a brief text or something saying "I swear to god that I am not working on the White Album right at this very minute, please enjoy the Pepper boxed set." Giles attempts to dismiss his earlier statement as meaning "the White Album is the next album chronologically after Pepper" or some such story. Meanwhile near the end of the year another Beatle product is put out and sells respectably, and the interest in the Pepper Deluxe also spurred significant sales of other albums like Abbey Road and Revolver. Apple Bonkers see the end-of-the-year numbers and are jumping up and down and high-fiving each other in their office bragging about what a great boxed set "they" put out and what an awesome idea it was to follow this up with the Christmas flexis which completely sold out despite having a relatively more limited market than Pepper. They realize they'd be flushing money down the toilet by not following up with further remixes/boxed sets and decide to go with that idea. Giles takes a break for a bit, then later on in 2018, someone from Capitol or Zapple or whatever calls him up and asks him how work is going on the White Album remix. Giles says he didn't know he was supposed to be working on it and the person on the other end of the line tells him he needs to get it ready for a November release date to meet the 50th anniversary. There is still speculation going on about the White Album remix despite Giles' earlier retraction, so Giles asks if he can "drop a hint" because everyone is bugging him about the remix he was told not to talk about. After some consideration he is told he "can drop a very small hint" but is forbidden from "mentioning The Beatles" or using a photo of them. So he then posts a picture of a Beatle-era console with a well-known Beatle book visible in the cabinet. "So glad to be back at work again," he says, seemingly having confirmed the rumors about a White Album remix while also not really giving too much away. Just speculation though.
The White Album isn't Sgt. Pepper's. Maybe it will be a Christmas offering released in November. But I think it's a late hot summer offering...but cannot imagine, since it's a double album, that it will be released the way they handled Sgt. Pepper's. The summer of 68 is the blueprint for the White Album. The media will be all over this.
So if it's going to be a Christmas release, that means... ...wait for it... ...it will really be a White Christmas!!!!!
Well said. There's synergy to all this stuff too, a reason to keep the brand going. I'm sure these releases help sell tickets to the "Love" show, for instance. "Love" has probably grossed somewhere in the neighborhood of $600,000,000 dollars since it opened. You know the Beatles are making a decent chunk of that.
I look most forward to hearing Ringo’s drumming on the remix. His drumming is formidable on the White Album in either mono or stereo.
Aint gonna be summer. Most people tune out and spend on vacations during that time. . Its the perfect holiday gift.
One of my favorite items to have gotten was when FYE had a sale on the Beatles album cover mugs. I picked up the ones that were my favorite albums, and completely forgot that I should have picked one other than the White Album. White. The mug...is white. They saw me coming on that one!
