♫ The Beatles White Album alternate cover portraits, 1968 

Thanks for posting Elena. This is my first time seeing these alternative photos. With the 50th anniversary commemoration of my favorite album, the White Album, I have been reminiscing about my excitement as a teen when I first got the album as a Christmas gift. I was up all night listening to the album and looking at the enclosed poster and photos in the LP. No other band excited me like the Beatles.

Their appearance changed so dramatically​ like night and day. Much like the world did at that time. it's a little mind blowing. Great photos Elena!

These are such a treasure... I found an original white album at a yard sale 40+yrs ago. It was,and still is in excellent condition. It did not have the poster,but it had the 4 color photos. I had my mum laminate them because I was concerned they would get ruined. When my son inherited my albums (aka took them over), he found those pictures and still has them hanging on his wall...

These are great photos. Thank you for posting

great I love all the pics but the ones of George Harrison melt my heart and Macca with his cute baby face and those big puppy dog eyes and that cute smile

Wow - how indeed they did change in such a short period. Even from your Revolver pics from 66. Some might even say they are not the same human beings but rather a collection of Beatles doubles mixed in from frame to frame. Go look at the Revolver collection and tell me that is the same Paul - and then view the Lennon pics on this set - about 3 different geezas in the first 5 shots. Bizarre.

Always great clips ! Thank you Elena !

It's interesting that Ringo is the only one (with his cravate!) who seems to have dressed up for these photos, while the rest look as this they were dragged out of a recording session for the photos, combed their hair and posed

A superb souvenir of truly magical times! 👍💕

Thank you Elena. Wonderful photos. They are all relaxed and owning the moment. They are very humble. I can tell they still enjoy being together

Brilliant once again...

Am I the only one who thinks that George Harrison looks way older with a moustache?

What an astounding clip Elena! Absolutely superb! Thank you so very much my dear friend for sharing your so magnificent upload with us!

I don't know where you find these photographs, but please keep finding them.

Elena, it is amazing how much the Beatles changed from 1964-68...each of them has a unique personality...thumbs up for this wonderful video.

GREAT!!! WONDERFUL!!!

I like George grinning. The color one. I like Ringo smiling.

Paul looks so sad... and handsome

Amazing! Thank you

You are an amazing archivist.

Lindo! Maravilhoso. Obrigado Elena. Beautifil, wonderful. Thanks Elena!!!!!

John looks the most vulnerable throughout; Paul looks like Al Pacino in one shot, Brian Wilson in profile; George's changes are subtle, shifting from dark to sunny; Ringo looks like a little boy -- it's his eyes that stand out in every picture.

Elena, I love these pictures, especially of Paul. He was absolutely gorgeous. He had the perfect face.

I always wanted every "White Album" alternative photo collected into one place and you have done it for me. Thank you. Great job as always. Are these all on hard drives because I can't imagine all of the photos that you post being in printed form. No room to walk. Lol.

Awesome photos , I know how bad you want to play Beatles music in the back round , but the You Tube police will get there feathers ruffled!

Thanks for the recommendation these guys had it going on

Hello again Elena, You know, I like the arrangement of "Revolution" on the Esher Demo much better than the official released versions. John omitted the third verse which I never liked, the change your head/Chairman Mao lyric. On the Demo John goes back and repeats the fist verse! It's perfect! In interviews, John later regretted taking a swipe at Chairman Mao Zedong in "Revolution". Raul.😐

Fantastic pictures of all!! George was so gorgeous!! 😍😍😍😍

The 1968 John Lennon seemed younger than the 1963 John Lennon. His appearance had changed the most of the four. Hard to believe it's the same John!

I love John's denim jacket. My mum gave me the money to buy the "White Album".

Elena good photos and memorize

Special Beatle-Photos!

Groovy.

Hello again Elena, Topic: "GLASS ONION" ~ Quote by JOHN LENNON ~ "I was having a laugh because there'd been so much gobbledygook about Pepper, play it backwards and you stand on your head and all that. Even now, I just saw Mel Torme on TV the other day saying that 'Lucy' was written to promote drugs and so was 'A Little Help From My Friends' and none of them were at all - 'A Little Help From My Friends' only says get high in it, it's really about a little help from my friends, it's a sincere message. Paul had the line about "little help from my friends", I'm not sure , he had some kind of structure for it and - we wrote it pretty well 50-50 but it was based on his original idea." Raul.🙂

Good Morning Elena, Topic: "REVOLUTION #9" ~ Quotes by JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO ~ JOHN LENNON ~ "Revolution #9 was an unconscious picture of what I actually think will happen when it happens: that was just like a drawing of revolution. All the thing was made with loops. I had about thirty loops going, fed them onto one basic track. I was getting classical tapes, going upstairs and chopping them up, making it backwards and things like that, to get the sound effects. One thing was an engineer's testing tape and it would come on with a voice saying "This is EMI Test Series #9." I just cut up whatever he said and I'd number nine it. Nine turned out to be my birthday and my lucky number and everything. I didn't realize it; it was just so funny the voice saying "Number Nine'"; it was like a joke, bringing number nine into it all the time, that's all it was. YOKO ONO ~ "It also turns out to be the highest number you know, one, two, etc., up to nine. JOHN LENNON ~ "There are many symbolic things about it but it just happened you know, just an engineer's tape and I was just using all the bits to make a montage. I really wanted that released. So that's my feeling. The idea was don't aggravate the pig by waving the thing that aggravates - by waving the Red flag in his face. You know, I really thought that love would save us all. But now I'm wearing a Chairman Mao badge. I'm just beginning to think he's doing a good job. I would never know until I went to China. I'm not going to be like that. I was just always interested enough to sing about him. I just wondered what the kids who were actually Maoists were doing. I wondered what their motive was and what was really going on. I thought if they wanted revolution, if they really want to be subtle, what's the point of saying "I'm a Maoist and why don't you shoot me down?" I thought that wasn't a very clever way of getting what they wanted." Note: Elena, I own a "Mono," pressing, on CD, of THE BEATLES/THE WHITE ALBUM and, at 8:06-8:21 of "REVOLUTION #9, there's crowd of people chanting as at a protest. I swear I hear a voice screaming out repeatedly - "Paul's Not Dead!" It's very disturbing! I remember listening to this when this whole controversy started back in 1969 on my album. You know, I sometimes think The Beatles knowingly put us fans on with this hoax that Paul Is Dead! They've never been seriously questioned about this whole saga! Ringo Starr once blamed the D.J.who first brought these so called death clues to light. All Paul McCartney's ever done is joke about the subject! I've never heard George's opinion about this hoax. John Lennon used the hoax to attack Paul on John's "How Do You Sleep?" singing - "Those freaks was right when they said you was dead." I noticed the "Anthology" documentary never once brought up the controversial subject! Raul.😐

When was these photos taken? And When. I know it had to be around the time the Beatles were finishing up recording the WHITE ALBUM during mid Oct. 1968.

I love it !!!

Dear Elena, Topic: "WILD HONEY PIE" ~ Quote by PAUL MCCARTNEY ~ "This was just a fragment of an instrumental which we weren't sure about, but Patti liked it very much so we decided to leave it on the album." Raul.🙂 Note: I'm also a loyal fan of "Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett of The Pink Floyd. I have submitted various comments to Pink Floyd uploads. If you're interested in reading some of them, please look up the comments section on The Pink Floyd's "Apples And Oranges" "American Bandstand" TV appearance in 1967. Hasta Luego! Raul.🙂

Hey Elena, Topic ~ "HEY JUDE." Quote by PAUL MCCARTNEY ~ "I happened to be driving out to see Cynthia Lennon . I think it was just after John and she had broken up, and I was quite mates with Julian [their son]. He's a nice kid, Julian. And I was going out in me car just vaguely singing this song, and it was like "Hey Jules". I don't know why, "Hey Jules". It was just this thing , you know, "Don't make it bad/Take a sad song..." And then I just thought a better name was Jude. A bit more country and western for me. Once you get analyzing something and looking into it, things do begin to appear and things do appear to tie in. Because everything ties in, and what you get depends on your approach to it. You look at everything with a black attitude and it's all black." Raul.🙂

Buenas Noches Elena, Where do you reside? What is your time zone? Topic: THE BEATLES "CHILD OF NATURE" Lyrics ~ On the road to Rishikesh, I was dreaming more or less, And the dream I had was true, Yes, the dream I had was true, I'm just a child of nature, I don't need much to set me free, I'm just a child of nature, I'm one of nature's children, Sunlight shining in your eyes, As I face the desert skies, And my thoughts return to home, Yes, my thoughts return to home, I'm just a child of nature, I don't need much to set me free, I'm just a child of nature, I'm one of nature's children, Underneath the mountain ranges, Where the wind that never changes, Touch the windows of my soul, Touch the windows of my soul. I'm just a child of nature, I don't need much to set me free, I'm just a child of nature, I'm one of nature's children." Raul.🙂

Hello Elena, Happy Easter Sunday! I believe it's about noontime in Ukraine. Topic: "HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN" ~ Quote by JOHN LENNON ~ "Oh, I like that, one of my best. I had forgotten about that. Oh, I love it. I think it's a beautiful song. I like all the different things that are happening in it. Like, "God", I had put together some three sections of different songs, it was meant to be - it seemed to run through all the different kinds of rock music. It wasn't about "H" at all. "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" which I swear to God, or swear to Mao, or to anybody you like, I had no idea spelled L.S.D. - and 'Happiness' - George Martin had a book on guns which he had told me about - I can't remember - or I think he showed me a cover of a magazine , that said 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun". It was a gun magazine, that's it: I read it, thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means that you just shot something." Quote by PAUL MCCARTNEY ~ "I think this is my favourite on The Beatles album." Make It A Good Day! Raul.🙂

Hello Elena, You're one of those "Ukraine Girls" Paul McCartney sang about in The Beatles' "Back In The USSR!" I see! You are absolutely lovely! Raul.🙂

Good Morning Elena and Happy Mother's Day! It's "Mother's Day" tomorrow Sunday May 12,2019 here in America! Do you celebrate "Mother's Day" in Ukraine? Best Wishes! Raul.😐

Hello Elena, Topic ~ "REVOLUTION" and "REVOLUTION #9" ~ Quotes by JOHN LENNON ~ "When George and Paul and all of them were on holiday, I made 'Revolution', which is on the LP, and 'Revolution #9'. I wanted to put it out as a single, I had it all prepared , but they came by, and said it wasn't good enough. And we put out what? 'Hello Goodbye' or some shit like that? No, we put out 'Hey Jude', which was worth it - I'm sorry - but we could have had both. I wanted to put what I felt about revolution; I thought it was time we fuckin' spoke about it, the same as I thought it was about time we stopped not answering about the Vietnamese War when we were on tour with Brian Epstein and had to tell him, We're going to talk about the war this time and we're not going to just waffle". I wanted to say what I thought about revolution. I had been thinking about it up in the hills in India. I still had this "God will save us" feeling about it, that it's going to be all right (even now I'm saying "Hold On, John, it's going to be all right", otherwise, I won't hold on) but that's why I did it, I wanted to tell you, or whoever listens, to communicate, to say, What do you say? This is what I say," On one version I said "Count me in" about violence, in or out, because I wasn't sure. But the version we put out said "Count me out", because I don't fancy a violent revolution happening all over. I don't want to die; but I begin to think what else can happen, you know, it seems inevitable." JOHN LENNON ~ "Ah, sure, 'Revolution'. There were two versions of that song but the underground left only picked up on the one that said "Count me out". The original version which ends up on the LP, "count me in" too; I put in by both because I wasn't sure. There was a third version that was just abstract, musique concrete, kinds of loops and that, people screaming. I thought I was painting in sound a picture of revolution - but I made a mistake, you know. The mistake was that it was anti-revolution. On the version released as a single I said "When you talk about destruction you can count me out". I didn't want to get killed. I didn't really know that much about the Maoists, but I just knew that they seemed to be so few and yet they painted themselves green and stood in front of the police waiting to get picked off. I just thought it was unsubtle, you know. I thought the original Communist revolutionaries coordinated themselves a bit better and didn't go around shouting about it. That was how I felt - I was really asking a question. As someone from the working class I was always interested in Russia and China and everything that related to the working class, even though I was playing the capitalist game. At one time I was so much involved in the religious bullshit that I used to go around describing myself as a Christian Communist, but as Janov says, religion is legalized madness. It was therapy that stripped all that made me feel my pain won Raul.😐

George had such thick,healthy looking hair ❤

Faul & Fennon

Great pics

Ringo's blue eyes are extraordinary! All four of them are extraordinary. Love them so much. ♥

Omg !! I love Paul !! Just look at him !! Gorgeous !!!!!!

Ringo actually got better looking in my opinion as the sixties progressed. He looks good here! I have the album and it still has the original photos and poster, I suspect a lot of those ended up on dorm walls and such and are long missing. Thx for the upload!

Fantastic. Thanks Elena !!!!

John , Paul , et les amis des Beatles sont mes amis c'est magique !

Amazing! Most of these I've never seen. Wonder if they were taken at Abbey Road. Would love to be able to save these. Thanks!!!

excellent

Exellent shots especially Lennon. You are the best Elena.

What a horrible sound!

Wonderful and, surely, the complete set! I bought the White Album in Dec 1982 (aged 14) and used to stare at these photos reproduced in the A4 colour prints, as well as the poster. When I wore out all 4 sides of the album I bought another one!

1968 was the year John decided to let his hair grow. Paul was letting his beard grow, the same beard he would eventually wear during the Get Back(Let it Be)movie just a few mos later.

Who was the photographer?

Shame Elena, that you don't credit the photographer !

don't like the audio

Bonjour Elena, If you haven't seen it, please watch "JOHN LENNON'S JUKEBOX", an American produced, PBS Special on RU-vid. It's a wonderful documentary about John Lennon's personal Jukebox he'd take with him while on tour. There's a fascinating interview with Donovan, when highlighting his song "Turquoise", where he discusses the Maharishi retreat and modestly explains teaching John Lennon the picking technique he used on Dear Prudence, Julia & Happiness Is A Warm Gun. Au Revoir! Raul.😐

Hello Elena, I'm on the computer at the Arroyo Seco Library in Highland Park, CA. I got a clearer view of your pic, of you holding your cat, and I must say you are very beautiful!!! You possess such beautiful and sensitive eyes!!! You know, I've always wanted to view all the alternate photos of this particular photo session! I can't thank you enough for uploading these cool pics! Lady, you are incredible!!! How do you do it? Can you put out a collection of photo books in separate volumes, I suggested, of Beatles featuring the years - 1962,63,64,65,66,67,68,69 & 70? I'm sure they would sell extremely well! Regarding this wonderful upload. You know, Paul McCartney has always been viewed as the cutest Beatle, but, in my humble opinion, George Harrison is the best looking, insightful and coolest Beatle. He looked good in anything he wore!!! George was always referred to as the "Quiet Beatle. I disagree, George was the most "Laconic" Beatle!!! He didn't waste words!!! He only spoke when he felt he had something to say. And, when he did speak he always had something enlightening and philosophical and humorous to say. I loved his honesty and dry wit!!! R.I.P. GEORGE HARRISON.

Buenos Dias Elena, Quote by PAUL MCCARTNEY ~ "We pinch as much from other people as they do us." Did you know JOHN LENNON pinched the intro to "REVOLUTION" from Pee Wee Crayton's 1954 Single ~ "Do Unto Others."? Very interesting. Raul.😐

Por favor alguien puede escribir la barba de paul de cuantos días era en estas fotos. Me interesa saber porque es la época en que estaba con linda y empezó a dejarla crecer después se fueron a nueva york y pudo pasar sin ser reconocido

Wonderful!!! Thank you very much for sharing!

Paul should have chosen the 1st picture we see of him.

Ringo is adorable

1:24

1:45 that is a good one and quite usable.

ringo looks cute and chubby.

That's Faul not Paul.