Slowly Digesting The White Album

It has many of the Beatles' best moments, and also some of their worst.

McCartney really abused his position and infested the album with a lot of musical twaddle.

I added the more solid songs to a mix MP3CD to listen while at work but didn't dare put the lesser McCartney stuff on it for fear of being ridiculed.

There's that whole stretch of McCartney granny-songs from "Your Mother Should Know" to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" that is unplayable to coworkers.

"Honey Pie" - I appreciate the attempt at vintage music but that's about all.
"Wild Honey Pie" - How was this not immediately vetoed?
"Mother Nature's Son" - passable
"I Will" - Should have been given to Ringo.
"Rocky Raccoon " - Seriously?

 

lol, I generally agree with the twaddle comment, but can't concur that Your Mother Should Know should be included on that list

 

I ignored it for years for no particular reason - it just seemed too diffused stylistically, and I was drawn to others like Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine. A few years ago on the advice of a sage young lady I listened to the entire White Album and loved it. I now have ten different vinyl copies - the best pressing I have is the UK white vinyl '78 release, but others sound really nice as well for different reasons.

 

poss a tad harsh i think but i do know what you mean and from where you come from, Lennon's quality control could often rein in McCartney's more twee stuff but as i have said earlier the WA shows the state of where the Beatles were at at that time and John probably could not be bothered that much....Macca also made John up his game hence neither of them were as effective apart as when they were together but I think McCartney as the greater songsmith missed Lennon more as his great stuff post Beatles would often be tainted with several of those granny type numbers of what you speak....

 

"Why Don't We Do It In The Road" could have been a rocking song but what was released is basically just a glorified template (not even demo) of a song idea.

The elaborate demos George did a few months later were actually demos of fully written songs.

 

You're need some fiber to move that out.

 

Around 1987-1988, when 'classic rock' was becoming a buzz word, I discovered this album. I was in high school, and everyone I knew talked about the Charles Manson interview from Geraldo Rivera. I wanted to know just exactly what the fuss about this wacko was (I remember commercials of the movie Helter Skelter scaring the crap out of me as a child).

I bought the Ed Sanders book The Family, and read about the whole White Album interpretation weirdness. I thought: I have to hear this album! I thought of the Beatles as lovable mop tops since it seemed like most people were trying to forget the psychedelic period until the 20th anniversary of Sgt Pepper. I have to say: the record spooked me like none other. Like the Manson Family, there are really strange songs that can seem fun and lighthearted on one hand, but there is something dark and dangerous lurking underneath it all. One of my friends said "Wild Honey Pie" gave him nightmares since it sounded like something the Manson Family would sing while dancing around you before killing you.

I know it had to do with The Beatles' relationship with each other, but it fit those creepy images of the Manson Family. This album seemed darker than any heavy metal record I had ever heard. I don't think I ever shook that image, and as a result I never thought of The Beatles as a cutesy sixties pop band. The production was really dry compared to my favorite Beatles period: the psychedelic whimsical swirly trippy stuff. Rather than bright colors and flowers, the White Album was a stark black and white. It was saying: ok kids, rock and roll is about to get really DARK from now on.

And yet that is the appeal for me. It has an air of danger. That might offend some baby boomers, but I see it as a compliment. Black Sabbath and Cannibal Corpse have NOTHING on The Beatles. It took a while for me to stop calling it "the Manson album" when I was a teen. But dark music was big in high school: The Doors, The Cure, most industrial music...I just couldn't believe that this was the same Beatles. Needless to say, this is the one Beatles album my mother didn't care for, and she was a huge Beatles fan in the sixties. She loved the early stuff, and the Hey Jude/Let It Be/Abbey Road period, but thought the psychedelic period was silly. The White Album she never paid attention to thanks to Helter Skelter.

It also didn't help hearing "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" on the documentary "Bowling For Columbine" where it is played during a montage of real live footage of people getting shot and killed in front of the camera.

 

It's my favorite album by the Beatles. I've been enjoying and "getting it" since by birthday - December 2, 1975. I probably have more copies of the album/CD than any other.

 

Just one thing to mention: the end of the guitar solo in Dear Prudence. WOW

 

I grew up in the eighties, too, and was a big post-punk/alternative fan. I immediately gravitated towards Lennon's songs as, I suppose, most of the guys I liked, sounded like, even if they were influenced by the general Beatle's (and specifically McCartney's) melodic/chord sense (XTC, Costello, Crowded House), they were influenced by Lennon's EDGE and intelligence. I really love Lennon's songs on the White Album. "I'm So Tired" and"Happiness Is a Warm Gun" are two of my all-time favorite songs by anyone. It's like the Velvet Underground's stuff. It's hard to believe those were done in 1968. They were 10-20 years ahead of their time.

 

I bought it in 1969 because of all the buzz about it. Played it several times over a few years and pretty much forgot about it after that. There's a few choice tunes on it for me but overall it's weak for me.

 

Nor "Mother Nature's Son" - one of Paul's best songs and just behind "Dear Prudence" as my fave White Album song.

 

When had The Beatles lost their edginess/street cred coolness between Revolution in September 1968 and before the "White Album" on November 22nd 1968?

 

as i have said before there is nothing wrong with side one at all, it's strong and slick, it looks like so much good effort went into the construction of side one they lost a bit of interest as 2. 3 & 4 are just a hotch potch inho, some great songs but many do indeed have demo feels about them.......and individual demos at that......

 

From Magical Mystery Tour to the inseparable releases of late 1968 -the single of Hey Jude/Revolution amd The White Album.

 

Rocky Raccoon is wonderful.

 

I remember how I looked forward to getting this album as a kid, only to be disappointed to discover that there was no Revolution Nos. 2-8 to be found contained therein.

 

Don't forget the filth he forced upon the band earlier too like his hillbilly love ballad "I've Just Seen a Face," the schmaltzy "And I Love Her," or the silly "She Loves You." I'd keep your coworkers away from "Helter Skelter." Since they obviously haven't heard the Beatles before, it may give them ideas to go around killing people.

 

Back in the 70's, when I discovered the Beatles, this too was the last album for me to find and explore. Like you I was blissfully unaware of it's significance and how expansive it was. Perhaps because it has no hit's on it? Regardless, it is not an album I listen to anymore, perhaps because I played it so much as a young man. Abbey Road is my main go to Beatles albums these days, followed by Sgt Pepper and then maybe Revolver or Let It Be. For many the White Album is considered one of their best, not sure I would agree with that. But I have room in my heart and collection for all their titles, even Yellow Submarine on the rare occasion .

 

Made for a stellar Pixies remake.

 

The thing about the White Album in my opinion is the sound of the recording. It has a depth that I don't hear in other Beatles albums. The way they recorded just has a different feel to it,and it is timeless in that respect. However,as far as the tunes go it is possibly .500 for me. As George Martin said,it could have been a great single album. This is where the Beatles go beyond music in our collective reasoning.
"Goodnight" as an example. If it were any other group it would be laughable. The Beatles transcended music, as it were.
Revolution No.9 would be on the single album for me. I thought it was brilliant at the time and still do. A far departure from the melodic/harmonic sense of the Beatles. It was a nascent attempt at the avant garde and Lennon got it the first time around . That is unheard of.
What would have been a great double album and George Harrison mentioned this in a way.
"Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" would have been beyond awe inspiring as a double album.
I still listen to those two and they don't in the least seem dated.
Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour to me are a reflection of the times and sound like period pieces. They don't hold up for me.
That is not to say there were not some great tunes on either,rather the production makes it sound dated.
When the group hit the eight track machines,they just blossomed to a degree that defies the rational. That was I believe only the White Album,Abbey Road and "Hey Jude" intermittently.

 

And Let It Be

 

Guitar solo? Did I miss something?

 

Probably just the 'picked' solo outro thing, I should think. Sounds ad-libbed to me.

 

It's weird in that as a whole it's a brilliant triumph (at least to many of us) but lots if not most of its tracks don't do all that well outside the context of the album.