‘Deconstructing The Beatles’ White Album’ Gets a Sioux Falls Showing

Growing up in the late 1960's and early 1970's, I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I became aware of The Beatles and their music, but I certainly remember hearing of their break-up in April of 1970.

It wasn't until 1979 that the full gravity of The Beatles, and their impact on popular culture, began to sink in for me. That was the year my paths crossed with Tim Luesse, a fellow student at Brea-Olinda High School in Southern California. Tim was an aspiring drummer and a HUGE fan of the Fab Four. He was the kind of guy that went to fan festivals and collected anything and everything he could on the band.

Seeing The Beatles through his eyes and hearing the stories behind their music had me hooked. Over the past three decades, I have become a bit of super fan myself and to this day am still fascinated by all things Beatles.

One of the band's projects that has always piqued my curiosity was the 1968 album The Beatles, better known to everyone as The White Album. This double LP really marked the beginning of the end for the group, with John, Paul, and George all working on their own songs in different studios at Abbey Road, while Ringo, feeling left out, briefly quit the group, only to be persuaded by his band mates to return two weeks later.

The most compelling evidence of the emerging fracture in the group? When the album was completed, all four Beatles played together on only slightly more than half of the songs - 16 of the album's 30 tracks.

Three years ago this month, when the album was celebrating its' 45th anniversary, I decided to play amateur record producer and trim the album from 30 tracks to a much more 'Beatle-esque' 12 tracks.

See how I did when you read What if The White Album Had Only Been a Single Record?

Now, someone else with far more impressive credentials, is dissecting The White Album in much greater detail.

Scott Freiman is the mastermind behind Deconstructing The Beatles, a project devoted to an in depth examination of the intricacies of the music of the world's most influential band. Freiman, who holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Music from Yale University and a Masters of Music Composition from New York University, has presented lectures to sold-out audiences at theaters nationwide and has spoken about the Beatles at colleges, universities, and corporations, like Pixar, Google, and Facebook.

In the Fall of 2012, he taught a semester-long course, The Beatles In The Studio, at Yale. Freiman’s insights into the music of The Beatles can be found in the book All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release, published in October 2013 by Black Dog and Leventhal.

His latest work is Deconstructing The Beatles' White Album, a 90-minute film that looks at the revolutionary techniques used during the production of 'Revolution', 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. 'Blackbird', and other songs from the iconic album. It also examines the creative process of The Beatles' performances and recording sessions.

The film is being screened for one night only, Wednesday, November 16, 2016, in more than 100 cities across the United States, including Sioux Falls, where the local film group Cinema Falls is sponsoring a showing at the Icon Lounge at 7:00 PM.

The doors open at 6:00 PM and The Hegg Brothers will be providing some pre-film entertainment. Tickets are $12 (plus $1.65 ticket fee) in advance, $15 at the door. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Deconstructing The Beatles’ White Album is the first of a four-part series, with other films in the works on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, and Rubber Soul.

Here is Freiman sharing some insights on The Beatles' 1967 song 'Penny Lane':

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