I went through maybe a few weeks at one point of trying to “fix” the album, cutting songs, changing up the running order etc., but now I just love and appreciate it for what it is. The biggest adjustment was wrapping my head around the mono version for the first time in 2009 after having only known the stereo for twenty-something years. I can’t say I prefer one mix over the other at this point, and I wouldn’t say this is an album crying out to be remixed and “updated” for modern ears when it is possibly the most hipster/alternative friendly sounding of all The Beatles’ output. I am really excited for the bonus material though.
Having the advantage of listening to something when originally released, you got a sense of verisimilitude and the backdrop of the times that created that record and its place in that context. Hearing something from a later perspective only, you are robbed of knowing how it felt at the time and the impact it made.
OR, not being able to divorce one's self from the time and place of the album corrupts one's perspective? At 51, I can see both sides.
I see it as a definite drawback not being able to have listened to something in its original context. A dimension of potential appreciation is missing.
I’m hoping Giles remixes Revolution. I’d love to have a stereo mix that’s as foreceful as the mono version.
I don't disagree with you at all, context is extremely important, but so is objective appreciation. I'd day both are valid responses to a work of art.
I like people like Phillip because although I do not always agree with him, he is entitled to his opinions and I feel he makes this thread more interesting. I actually dig that I disagree with him, and also, he was around in ‘68 (surely others here were too), and I am a mere sixteen-year-old lad fifty years after the fact. To say I envy you all would be an understatement.
I hope the Giles Martin who remixed Love finds a time machine and travels forward 12 years. Then locates and ties up the 2018 Giles Martin and stuffs him in a closet while he remixes the entirety of the White Album.
Cool story, gramps. No matter the context, the impact is always highly personal and individualized. Listening to the White Album as an 11 year old in 1986 blew my mind and changed my life. I was robbed of nothing. Great music transcends space and time.
If we're bringing in time machines we may as well just all go back to 1968 and help the lads mix and choose the correct running order and disc number we've all agreed upon.
That's definitely true. In my view, it's much harder to be "objective" (even though the term is really not a valid term in a field which is subjective to begin with) once an album gets further removed from its time. If simply because the effects of time naturally erode the proximity to the times and context in which it was created. Which is, aethestically and historically, the only real inherent thing about any work!
Leaving aside the problematic nature of the term "objective" (which you acknowledge), it's more likely that the opposite is true. All other things being equal, the passage of time favors "objectivity". However, objectivity is not a quality that I normally associate with the appreciation of a piece of art. Open-mindedness, yes, but not objectivity.
I don't agree at all, due largely, as mentioned, to the natural erosion of "facts", observations or effects of an artwork being harder to judge or preserve once they fade away. The Sgt Pepper example is again a great one - it's very difficult (as I've observed from many firsthand) to view the album today in anything resembling an "objective light" because we aren't living in 1967 any longer. Viewing it through 2018 eyes, or 2088 eyes will always lack the familarity of its times, real-time effects and context. But there's no harm in agreeing to disagree. Although I don't really think we are "disagreeing" that much.
Noooo!!! Don't take off Love You Too! That's one of my favorite Harrisongs.... You just can't please all of the people all of the time...
Yes! Not to mention I really like "Dr. Robert" as well! It's yet another one of those Lennon songs I seem to like which, ironically, not being an enormous Lennon fan in general, are not considered the "right" Lennon songs to love. Not that that has ever stopped me from openly confessing I enjoy them. For me it goes alongside the much-maligned Revolution 9, Good Night, Ask Me Why...what else am I forgetting...
At almost 58 I have 20/20 vision to see both sides. my grandparents knew I was a Beatle and Herb Alpert tjb fan and got me The White album for my birthday, December 2nd. I get what your saying. My moms piano students, all hippie Beatle fans 15-20 years old, thought I was a cool kid for liking the White album. Great memories, John M.
A smart, point-scoring reply but I never said I did. I was not aware of the White Album in 1968. I was making the observation that - sadly - a person can't ever again feel the excitement and mood of the times a record was made and released in. It's a great shame as this means it can't again be possible with the Beatles and new generations. I tried to avoid making it a personal issue of oldie perceptions versus youngster perceptions (which it isn't). A few seem to want to turn it into this though. If it needs to be said anyway, we are all perceptive but those born after the Beatles era will not (understandably) be able to see those records in their proper context any more.
