The Beatles
The Black Album

01 Tennessee
02 The house of the rising sun
03 Commonwealth
04 Enouch Powell
05 White power
06 Winston, Richard and John
07 Hi ho Silver (Honey Rush)
08 For you blue
09 Let it be
10 Get back
11 Don't let me down
12 On our way home (excerpt)
13 Dialogue and guitar bits
14 Don't let me down
15 Suzy Parker
16 I've got a feeling
17 No Pakistanis
18 Let it be (rehearsal session)
10 Be bop a lula
20 She came in through the bathroom window #1
21 She came in through the bathroom window #2
22 She came in through the bathroom window #3
(Full perfomrance; slow version)
23 She came in through the bathroom window
24 High heel sneakers
25 I me mine (rehearsal session)
26 I've got a feeling (excerpt)
27 One after 909 (excerpt)

01 Dialogue / Norwegian Wood
02 Norwegian wood
03 She came in through the bathroom window
04 Penina
05 Shakin' in the sixties
06 Good rockin' tonight medley
07 Across the universe
08 On our way back home
09 Guitar bit
10 I threw it all away
11 Momma you've been my mind
12 Domino
13 Dialogue
14 Early in the morning
15 Stand by me
16 Hare Khrishna
17 On our way back home
18 "You got me going"
19 Don't let me down
20 I've got a feeling
21 One after 909
22 Too bad about sorrows
23 Unknown oldie
24 She said she said
25 Mean Mr. Mustard
26 Don't let me down
27 All things must pass
28 A fool like me
29 You win again
30 Piano piece / Dialogue
31 She came in through lesson
32 She came inthrough the bathroom window (excerpt)
33 I me mine (vocal excerpt)
34 Watching rainbows
35 Instrumental

I have put my original three-vinyl set on a double CD, but bellow is the story of how this gem arrived in my hands at the first place. Also, you'll be glad to know that it comes with an awesome poster, similar to the one included on the White Album. It was expensive hard work, but I made a scanneable miniature of this poster, and you can check it here.

That's my favourite of all disc in my collection. Mine is the Japanese-labeled version. I don't know much about vinyl bootlegs, but I've been told more than once that this a very rare and expensive disc. It's an awesome edition, with a beautiful White-Album-styled poster inside.

Back in 1992 I was just starting to get my first rare recordings. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of "Love me do", a local mall promoted this big exposition. A guy came from São Paulo with dozens of picture discs, rare editions, autographed books, photos, videos and all kind of beautiful things you can imagine. Later on I came to know many good people don't trust this guy and judging him became quite an issue. But that didn't matter then.

I had already heard about the Black Album, and it was kind of an object of desire. It was "the" one I wished. So the first day I got to the mall to see all the Beatles stuff, I noticed they had this beautiful black covered vinyl behind the "for sale" window. I approached the guy and asked him: "That wouldn't be the Black Album, would ity?". He laughed and said: yes it is! From that day on, I could not think of anything else. But it was so expensive (I admit I'm a bit embarassed to say: $500!), that I didn't even consider getting it. Today I can think about expending $500 on a very desired Beatles item, but in those days I didn't work, so I depended on my dad for everything. Anyway, I couldn't think or talk about anything else, and I went there everyday to see the Black Album.

It was fun anyway. It was just one week until my birthday, and I was taking the oportunity to get more affordable bootlegs, like my first Lost Lennon Tapes. But one day, one I got there, bad surprise... The Black Album wasn't there anymore! I couldn't believe somebody had bought it! I was really sad, although knowing I would never get it. I simply sad to the guy there: "Well, I can only hope it's someone who can properly appreciate it". He looked at me with a smile and said: "Don't worry: I'm sure that's someone who will enjoy it a lot".

So a week later, on my birthday, I woke up for breakfast, and my mom and dad were waiting for me. They gave me happy birthday, a piece of cake and, guess what, a very beautiful package with nothig more nothing less inside than... the Black Album!! I couldn't believe it. Than my mother told me that one day in the mall she passed the guy a secret message while I wasn't looking, telling "Don't sell the Black Album; we'll come back later". It's paradoxal, but I was so surprised that it was almost like I knew it. That's very much like my parents, very much like my dad, coming with a wonderful surprise when nobody's expecting it anymore, or when everybody's already guessing it. And that's how I got my most-prized disc on my 17th birthday.

So that's it. The Black Album!