BRC: The 1973 "Black Album"

No one knew at first what to make of the album with the nondescript cover that arrived in stores in 1973. It was stamped with the barely discernible characters "BRC" and included no photos, liner notes or credits.

As soon as listeners heard the first cut, they knew the Beatles, rumoured to have stopped recording together in 1970, were back. Due to the similarity of the cover design to The White Album of 1968, the first BRC release became as The Black Album.

Speculation raged over the meaning of the mysterious letters on the cover. Some saw a parody of the BBC, suggesting rude terms for the alternative middle initial. The more cynical offered "Beatles Raise Cash"'. Others, in the spirit of the super-groups of the time, said "BRC" stood for the collaboration of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. Others suggested the "C" was for David Crosby (raising the joke that the next album would be by "BRC&Y"), despite the lack of evidence of input by these other musicians.

Apple insiders eventually revealed the acronym represented the more prosaic "Beatles Releasing Collective". This designation signalled a departure in the relationships of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They were now putting out records together but only sporadically creating together. The biggest break was the dissolution of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team. John and Paul joined George (and sometimes Ringo) as solo writers producing brilliant individual material for albums. Although all four Beatles would occasionally help on each other's songs, John and Paul who could only rarely be found on the same number after 1970.

However, whether the tunes were produced individually or in combination, The Black Album contained some of the best Beatles music ever. Half a decade had elapsed since The White Album, yet fans and critics found the albums comparable in their exploration of diverse pop genres. Early reviews noted the centrifugal forces of the separate talents in the Beatles seemed to strain the album's seams almost to the ripping point. In those first few days, it was not yet known how apt this metaphor was.

Several comments were made that now appear humorous in light of later knowledge. Some writers noted how strongly the other Beatles backed George vocally in numbers such as "My Sweet Lord" and "Wah Wah", not realizing George had overdubbed himself to create the chorus effects. "Let Me Roll It" was attributed to John giving a Lennon-McCartney love song his trademark acerbic twist, until it was revealed that Paul wrote, sang and played it without John. Ringo's contributions, such as "Photograph" and "Back Off Boogaloo", were treated as typical gifts from the L-M songwriting team, although he had in fact worked with George more than anyone else.

The biggest gaffe however was treating the initial cut, "Band on the Run", as a commentary on the group's flight from crazed fandom (reminiscent of early Beatlemania), instead of, as seems more likely now, a reminder of how close the world came to losing the Beatles to individual egos.

But we did not lose them. And despite the shocking neglect of record companies that has led some younger fans to think the Beatles' output ended in 1970, The Black Album is available once more. Enjoy again this first-ever Beatles triple-play, a true Beatles classic and one of the dozen finest pop albums of the decade.

Labels on the LP records in the 1973 album were minimalist, featuring a stylized apple with apparently four bites out of it. The three CDs in the Wuttiff bootleg adopt this design.

CD I
1. Band on the Run
2. Don't Let Me Wait Too Long
3. John Sinclair
4. Beware of Darkness
5. Instant Karma
6. It Don't Come Easy
7. Another Day
8. Jealous Guy
9. What is Life
10. Oh Yoko*
11. Helen Wheels
12. Working Class Hero
13. Mrs. Vandebilt
14. Give Peace a Chance*
15. My Sweet Lord

CD II
1. Mother
2. Every Night
3. It's So Hard
4. Photograph
5. Let Me Roll It
6. Power to the People
7. Jet
8. Oh My Love
9. Wah Wah
10. New York City
11. The Art of Dying
12. Oh My My
13. Woman is the Nigger of the World
14. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

CD III
1. Love
2. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
3. Cold Turkey*
4. My Love
5. Imagine
6. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)
7. Happy Xmas (War is Over)
8. Maybe I'm Amazed
9. Back Off Boogaloo
10. Gimme Some Truth*
11. Isn't it a Pity
12. Hot as Sun
13. God
14. All Things Must Pass

The Wuttiff bootleg includes "The Beatles" and "The Black Album" on the cover's side panels, where the original had only "BRC".

*Several numbers on The Black Album have circulated in other versions on bootlegs over the years. The Wuttiff release keeps the original EMI/Apple BRC versions.

"Oh Yoko", "Give Peace a Chance" and "Gimme Some Truth" are slightly shorter, due to wise studio editing, than the takes widely distributed on other releases. The raw power of "Cold Turkey" on The Black Album confirms Zonn's selection of the live London recording over the somewhat tamer studio cut offered on some bootlegs.