The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album]

The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album] (1968)

Genre: Pop Rock, Art Rock, Psychedelic Rock

With the release of the new 50th anniversary edition of the Beatles' legendary Double-LP, I found it appropriate to start my album reviews with this one. This will not be a review of the new mix's production, but more so just the music and the original album in general. As a reminder, I do not intend for this to be a really in-depth and complex review. I'm just sharing my quick personal thoughts on the album. As for any album review I will do, I try to be objective without letting any personal bias get too much in the way of the final grade.

Fresh off the heels of Sgt. Pepper's (Let's forget about Magical Mystery Tour for a second), anticipation for the Beatles' next studio album was undoubtedly high at the time. What we ended up getting was the most musically incoherent album that they ever released. I don't mean this in a negative way, though. Packing 30 tracks into a Double-LP is no easy feat, especially with the strict deadlines that they faced. With that many tracks, one would expect quite a few of them to be real stinkers, but surprisingly, the album keeps a steady momentum going throughout most of its nearly 94-minute runtime. 

In comparison to Sgt. Pepper's, this does feel like a return to more traditional rock n' roll. However, this wouldn't be a proper late Beatles record without lots of sonic and stylistic experimentation within. Glass Onion, with it's simple, yet funky riff and entertaining "4th wall breaking" lyrics, dabbles with tints of psychedelia, prominently on display with the eerie use of strings near the end of the track. The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill provides a short, but tantalizing Spanish guitar style intro. Helter Skelter infamously became known as the first heavy metal song and, ironically still sounds fresh, with its distorted, fuzzy production and all. 

Being a Double-LP, there is also room for good handful of acoustics. Blackbird and Julia remain among the most hauntingly beautiful songs in The Beatles' discography. With both of these songs being solo efforts by Paul and John, respectively, it's interesting to note that there are quite a few times throughout the album where you get the vibe that in reality, this record is a mish-mash of solo efforts combined into one. Tensions within the band were troublesome throughout the recordings, but it gave us a glimpse, to some degree, of what each member was cable of writing and composing on their own. Probably the most celebrated effort on the album would have to be While My Guitar Gently Weeps, which forever solidified George's great ability as a songwriter. 

As I stated previously, this album does suffer from a sort of identity crisis, in that there is no consistent style throughout, and while this can be attributed to the vast amount of tracks, it does seem like each Beatle had different artistic ideas in mind. Nothing can excuse them from the (admittedly little amount) of weird filler, though. God knows what was going through Paul's mind when recording Wild Honey Pie, one of the shortest and most unique, yet unsettling pieces of filler I've ever heard. Revolution 9, which has sort of become a novelty at this point, immensely drags down the momentum of the 2nd disc, and at nearly 8 and 1/2 minutes, it REALLY drags. While I consider it more of an experiment than an actual song, I still skip it pretty much ever time I go through this record. Because of this and my general dislike for George's much too slow Long, Long, Long and the admittedly appropriate, but snore-inducing (Perhaps, that was the point?) closing track Good Night, Disc 2 does present itself as a weaker effort than the first, though it doesn't get too much in the way of holding this record to a high standard. This is most certainly one of the The Beatles' greatest accomplishments and the fantastic assortment of songs mostly makes up for the few stinkers.

A+

Favorite Tracks: Dear Prudence, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I'm So Tired, Blackbird, Rocky Racoon, Julia, Savoy Truffle

Least Favorite Track: Revolution 9