The Beatles (November, 1968, Timaeus | Apple)
< file under Beatles In Atlantis >
~ the stereo selections from this album, using the homogenized latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~
Though twice as long as in other markets, and despite being adorned in an ornate, colorful sleeve, the Atlantis edition of the Beatles' self-titled 1968 release was nonetheless a double album which became known, just like elsewhere, as "the white album." Surprising, perhaps even perplexing, upon first consideration; but true!
The sabotage of the vinyl processing plant (see Northern Songs entry), might logically be expected to have hastened a full, if temporary, transition to EMI Timaeus' world-first digital disc format (see Magical Mystery Tour entry). But a key material in the manufacture of these compact discs was soon commandeered for exclusive use in the national defense as the surface world threat against the undersea democracy worsened. While restoring the capacities of the vinyl plant, the revered "labcoats" — as the Timaeus engineers were known — found themselves researching and developing alternate materials, as the undersea resources used in the formulation of their high grade vinyl had fallen under attack as well.
An abundant variety of white coral unique to the waters of Atlantis proved not just a suitable replacement as the main building block for a new sort of vinyl LP, but an improvement. Not really coral, as it was actually a plant that greatly resembled coral, it was known colloquially as snow-choral [sic] and in folklore was said to carry "silent songs of the ancestors." Sonically superior and capable of double the capacity due to a greatly tightened but deeper groove with immensely improved tracking, the resulting material could easily contain the entire double LP across just two sides, with no sonic degradation, Just how any material could produce these results still baffles surface world scientists, but contemporaneous reports indicate universal acknowledgment of this engineering marvel's stunning success.
Not content to just settle for the improvement and fit an entire double album on a single LP, and aware that all inessential surface world imports had been cut off due to the spiraling conflict — which meant no mono LPs coming in from UK for that growing sector of fans who'd purchase the Parlophone editions to augment their local stereo collections— Tivowr Dorna saw this as an opportunity to provide Atlantean fans both mixes in a single package. Hence, what could have been a single LP thanks to Atlantean advancements, and what would have required a quadruple LP anywhere else, indeed ended up as a double LP.
The outer artwork, though, could not follow the format released in other markets. A square, white — blank, really — cover was the traditional housing for remembrance books at Atlantean funerals, with recordings from the services later made available in an identically austere sleeve. It is postulated that blankness and the uniformity of these covers represented the abandonment of ego and the unity of the Atlantean people as they passed on from this life, though surface world scholars are woefully lacking in real expertise regarding such traditions.
Dorna certainly didn't want the cover to carry this weighted connotation which the band did not intend, and so instead used a painting similar to one which would much later surface as the cover to a compilation of ballads. But, courtesy of being the first — and, it turned out, only — release on white snow-choral-derived discs without additional colorant, the album despite the painterly cover became known as the white album.
A colleague suggested to Dorna the possibility that some copies might be split up, with the stereo and mono discs sold separately and at a markup. To forestall this, Dorna, who wanted to encourage listeners to enjoy both mixes anyway, chose to distribute the mono and stereo mixes equally across sides. That is, the first half of the first side — which corresponds to the first side of the UK album — featured the mono mixes, while the second half of first side — which corresponds to the second side of the UK album — featured stereo mixes. Conversely the first half of the third side — which again corresponds to the first side of the UK album — featured the stereo mixes, with the second half of third side — which again corresponds to the second side of the UK album — featuring mono mixes. Mono/stereo distribution on the other three sides mirrored this approach.
The combination of the tightened groove and the untreated snow-choral proved a bit fragile, and, if polished with a common household cleaner, volatile. The fragility with grooves packed to 45 minutes led to future releases of other titles limiting side lengths to a maximum of a half hour or so — still achieving superior sonics compared to regular vinyl — and the addition of an oily black stabilizer. Pressings of The Beatles, however, continued to use the tighter groove, allowing for inclusion of both mixes, pressed on untreated snow-choral which lent the album its local nickname matching its global sobriquet. And the volatility, nay, explosiveness, led to several instances of the records being weaponized to defeat surface terrorists. Anyone who'd lost their copy using it in such defense of their nation's liberty was granted a replacement from Timaeus. Crates of records, unsleeved and ready to fire, were sent to any area anticipating an enemy incursion.
The album was, it nearly goes without saying, another critical and popular success for The Beatles unrivaled by any other surface artists or even any sea act. Conflicts with the outside world never impinged upon Atlantis' love for the work of their four land lads.
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| As is clear from the above reproduction, unlike everywhere else, in Atlantis it wasn't the cover art that lent the album its blanched nickname |
