The Beatles: 10 Incredible Rarities You Can Listen To Right Now
4. Sour Milk Sea
The Beatles’ extended sojourn in India had proved a time of great productivity, with new songs pouring out of them. In May 1968, they convened at George’s bungalow in Esher to get this new material down on tape.
The results are rough in places but beautiful and utterly beguiling. It’s like sitting around a campfire with John, Paul and George as they strum acoustic guitars and take it in turn to share songs with you.
Many of these songs ended up on the band’s self titled album later that year but perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s George who had more songs than John and Paul could find use for. These include Not Guilty and a drab dirge called Circles as well as a catchy ode to Transcendental Meditation called Sour Milk Sea.
Instead of finding a home on The White Album, Sour Milk Sea was given to Apple Records signee Jackie Lomax. His harder rocking, electric version was produced by George and backed by an all-star band featuring Paul, Ringo, Eric Clapton and Nicky Hopkins. It’s great but failed to chart in Britain or break Billboard’s Hot 100 in the U.S.
George’s own acoustic version was finally made available on The Beatles 50th Anniversary Edition (Super Deluxe) along with the rest of the Esher demos.