Before he worked on the remaster, Paul hadn’t listened to the Beatles’ “White Album” in 50 years

Some artists listen to their back catalog obsessively. Others revisit their sonic past on occasion. Then there’s Paul McCartney, who says he hasn’t listened to his Beatles music in a long time — half a century, to be exact. The Fab Four’s 1968 self-titled double album, which we’ve all come to know as The White Album, is getting a 50-year reissue next month, and Macca tells the Canadian Press that helping to prepare the reissue inspired him to actually give it a listen.

“I haven’t listened to it in 50 years,” he admits. “I don’t really listen to stuff we did. Then it comes around again [like with last year’s reissue of] Sgt. Pepper [and] I go, ‘Woah, check this out… those kids are good!’ It all comes flooding back.”

Paul says when he listens, “I remember where we were and the circumstances of recording each of the tracks,” and that the feeling is sometimes “amazing because there I am, right in the room with John and George and Ringo — but John and George particularly because they’re no longer with us…. It’s quite emotional.”

Back in June, Paul told DIY magazine the White Album reissue is “very cool and it sounds like you’re in the room.” In addition, Paul said the expanded collection will include “some demos of the songs, so you get things stripped right back to just John [Lennon’s] voice and a guitar. [It sounds] amazing.”

The 50th anniversary White Album hits stores and digital outlets on a to-be-announced date.

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