My love affair with the Beatles' classic White Album has been a brief and intense one. It's hard to really place when my appreciation of the Beatles began.
When I was much younger, one of my best friends was really into the Beatles. It was because of him that I listened to all the Beatles' records. I think Sgt. Pepper's and Magical Mystery Tour probably received the most frequent play. It was also with him that I was introduced to the Beatles' films. Still, the only Beatles album I owned was the soundtrack to Help! Occasionally I would dust off my parents' old vinyl, but for a while my experience with the Beatles' music had been rather casual and superficial.
Then I went through a period where I thought I was "too good" for the Beatles. I would deride their early material for being too bubblegum and write off their later material as being overrated. When people would present me with the common argument that the Beatles were completely innovative for their time, I shrugged them off. My response was usually the same: just because they were the first doesn't mean other people haven't done it better since. I don't know what drove me to break my ties with the band. Perhaps I was just turned off by their popularity and acceptance amongst the crassest of musical consumers, or perhaps my indie snobbery just got the best of me, but whatever the reason, I simply refused to listen to most of their music.
Briefly a couple years ago, I listened to a burned copy of Abbey Road fairly often, but even that passed after a time. (Although looking back on the album from my perspective now, I think it could easily sit alongside the White Album as one of the most important albums in popular music, but that discussion should be saved for a future post, methinks, if it ever gets around to being written.)
Last September, I ended up spending part of an evening in the apartment of a friend of a friend. I only knew one person out of the handful of people in the room, so needless to say, some sort of common ground needed to be reached to start a conversation. As it happened, all the other people in the room were Berkeley students or musicians of another sort, so naturally the conversation shifted towards a discussion of music. It was then that the host went over to the CD player and put the White Album on the stereo.
Holy fucking shit.
It was like a silence came over the room. Or at least it sounded silent to me, because I stopped listening to all the extraneous noise around me. The sound coming out of the stereo speakers floored me. I was instantly captivated by the simple rootsy guitar lines and shouted harmony vocals of "Birthday" (the host had put in the second disc), and it just got better from there. The raw masculinity of "Yer Blues" segues into the gorgeous lilting melodies of "Mother Nature's Son" which segues into the flawlessly executed "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey."
![Revolver [UK]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510D51P8YKL._SL120_.jpg)
![Help! [UK]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31JCXHRNYXL._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Al Barger
Oh hell yeah. In contrast to your personal experience, I had in retrospect the good fortune of the opposite experience socially. I was discovering the Beatles as a freshman in high school in 1977. At that time, they were at the relatively low ebb of their popularity. I know of only one classmate who had Beatle albums, making him immediately the coolest guy in school. Thus, basically I got to experience the Beatles for that crucial first year or two as my own favorite little cult group.
2 - Jones Violet
Interesting. Most of my friends were fans of the Beatles during highschool (in the 90's, mind you) but I've always had a very hard time getting into them, and I really did try to like them. However, reading this review of the White Album makes me want to give it another go and listen to them, this album, in particular.
Really nice review, Bryan.
3 - Bryan McKay
Thanks a lot, Jones. I hope that you enjoy it, should you choose to give it another listen. As it's a double album, it can be a lot to take in on one go, but it's well worth it, I think.
4 - uao
My relationships with Beales album were always ferociously intense and multi-dimensional.
I first bonded with Sgt. Pepper in '78 (same year the movie came out, but I knew the Beatles before I know Frampton and the Bee Gees). Abbey Road grabbed me almost immediately next, in mid-'79. I was 14 then.
The WHite Album then became my favorite obsession. It sounded darker, more sinister. It had a creepy Charles Manson connection. It sounded jaded and worn. It had some of their best moments; the sunburst of Lennon guitar on "Dear Prudence", the gentle McCartney back-to-naturism "Mother Natures Son", the Harrison showcases, the baroque bare-bones-meets-misique-concret-from-the-Pepper-guys of "Sexy Sadie", "Long Long Long:, Ringo's "Don't Pass Me By", the slow "Revolution #1" and the John Cage on acid of "Revolution #9", the Beach Boy nods, the tips from Donovan, McCartney's most bawdy "Why Don't We Do It In The Troad", this informed my 15 year old self in 1980.
I next went through a Rubber Soul phase, a Help! phase, and a Hard Days Night Phase, before deciding I was a Revolver man, around 1983.
I consider this Beatlefied musical upbringing a useful, varied, and fun one. God bless 'em.
I dig that White Album.
5 - Mark Sahm
I wrote off the Beatles as old fogeys for most of my youth since I was into alt rock, rap and metal. But as I traced back influences of influences in college around 1997, I found it usually leads to the Fab 4.
I'll steal UAO's description of being a Revolver man, since I don't own the White Album, just copied some MP3s from it. But I might should probably give it another look.
6 - Marc D'Angelis
I was a teenager when the White Album and Abbey Road came out. Both are still mainstays of my collection, but I do recall this. A reviewer commented about
Abbey Road that it included songs from all kinds of genres - rock, eclectic, schmaltz, country, etc. My reaction was "what the hell is this guy thinking?" This was very true about the White Album, which has at least one song from every possible variation, including outright psychotic, but it had no relation to Abbey Road.
Abbey Road was one of the finest albums of the Beatles ouevre, but it did not have nearly the range that The Beatles did.
7 - Al Barger
One of the little cool points of entry for the White Album is the tribute angle that informs several of the songs. That is, some of these songs were put together very specifically as tributes/parodies of other artists. Mostly this was Paul's angle.
Thus, "Helter Skelter" was a nod to the new kid, Jimi Hendrix.
"Back in the USSR" covers both the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, as per "Sufin' USA."
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road" was Paul's idea of a Little Richard song, thus the primal simplicity of the lyric. Think "Tutti Frutti."
Best of all this way, "Rocky Raccoon" was a very specific Dylan parody, clearly addressing his current John Wesley Harding style.
I'm not sure how much John was into that tribute conceit, but "Yer Blues" would make perfect sense as the Beatles' answer to the "Heartbreak Hotel."
Mr Sahm wrote about tracing back the styles of all his modern college boy music to the Beatles. These White Album tributes take it a step further, showing some of the places the Beatles were getting it- and what they were doing different. You can see how "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is modeled on Little Richard, but he sure never sounded like that. It's all Paul.
8 - Bryan McKay
I never really thought of "Helter Skelter" as a nod to Hendrix, but that does certainly put an interesting spin on the sound of the song.
The Beach Boys allusions in "Back In The U.S.S.R." are masterful, however.
It certainly is interesting to look at how the Beatles drew upon their various influences and transformed them into something wholly unique and fantastically inspired. This is an extraordinarily singular record in that it sounds completely original while still containing recognizable nods to nearly every piece of Western music to come before it. "Piggies" even goes as far to makes nods to the classical composition of the baroque era.
9 - Al Barger
Most important to their later development was the incorporation of British vaudeville music hall tradition, which came out in interesting schmaltzy stuff ("She's Leaving Home") to some of the more obvious novelty numbers. "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "When I'm 64" come to mind. Paul used to refer to some of those things as his "Fred Astaire" songs.
10 - Conguero
I bought all the Beatles albums (LP's and 45's) when they came out. From Revolver on up. Okay that ages me.
The lads got a lot of flack from the press for the White Album. George Martin didn't want to put it out. He still mentions that when interviewed.
Pauly (I remember this) made a response to a reporter who asked a question concerning the White Album (with a negative slant).... when asked Paul replied... (and a paraphrase here)
"It's the fucking White Album, for Christ's sake"
Meaning... it sold, had a good following, might even be a diamond right now.
A few years ago, I heard it on CD (I hadn't listened to it in a number of years)..... it didn't sound that fresh... to my ears, it didn't pass the test of time. But I could have been in a pisser of a mood when I played it.
11 - crooked spine
I've always thought the White Album was overrated myself. Sure, it's got some great songs. But by 1968 the boys were getting a little less selective about what they would release. It's hard to imagine such lightweight songs as "Wild Honey Pie," "Cry Baby Cry," or "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" making the cut for Revolver. And seriously, does anybody ever make it all the way through disc 2 without fast-forwarding past "Revolution 9"?
Also, the album's kind of a bummer in that you can almost hear them breaking up. Earlier Beatles albums had more of a collaborative feel to them. Lennon even once said of the White Album: "It's like if you took each track off it and made it all mine and all George's. It's like I told you many times, it was just me and a backing group, Paul and a backing group, and I enjoyed it. We broke up then."
Personally, I think Rubber Soul and Revolver are much stronger albums. Those are the two albums that made me really appreciate the Beatles for the first time.
12 - Al Barger
Crooked Spine, are your ears crooked too? "Cry Baby Cry" is a particularly outstanding and underappreciated song. CLICK HERE for my full pontification on the song.
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is a perfectly good basic rock and roll song. It's probably not up there with "Strawberry Fields," but it would slot in nicely next to, say, "She's a Woman" or "I'm Down."
"Revolution 9" hardly counts as a song, but you could entirely edit it out and still have a good double album. This track makes for good texture.
This little freaky bit of electronic experimentation also is fun to play on CD jukeboxes to screw with the straights in restaraunts and bars. I remember having a particularly good time playing this on a jukebox at Chi-Chi's during happy hour a few years back, and watching the building anxiety generated in the bar.
13 - Shark
I bought 'em as they came out -- which makes me around 104 years old. (Still own all the first pressings, too, including the "Introducing the Beatles!" on VeeJay label!)
Just a memory: We used to listen to #9 on acid.
On 8-track.
In the backseat of by older brother's psychedelic, fluorescent green 1968 VW.
Still can't hear the words "Number Nine" without having a mini-flashback.
Thanks for the memories, kids.
======
PS: I second CrookedSpine's "...you can almost hear them breaking up."
That album is one of the most "that's a Paul song -- that's a Lennon song" of their entire body of work.
(Paul, the cheesy 'musical hall' tunes --vs-- John, the really cool good stuff...)
It's a hindsight thing, but a valid observation.
14 - godoggo
I once read an interview with McCartney in which he said that Helter Skelter after hearing that (I think it was) The Who had done the loudest, rawnchiest rock song ever, to which he responded something like, "Right, must do it."
My mom and dad, who don't normally listen to rock, became Beatles fans after seeing Yellow Submarine, so I was listening to them in preschool. Nowadays I'm a Rubber Soul man.
15 - uao
Further musings on the White Album...
At the same time I discovered the White Album, I was also reading "Helter Skelter" about the Mansonites. There's almost half a chapter devoted to Manson's twisted interpretations of "Revolution #9", "Revolution #1", "Blackbird", "Helter Skelter", "I WIll", "Sexie Sadie", "Piggies" and others.
While the Beatles had nothing to do with whatever was mutating in Manson's acid drenched head, this connection somehow colored the album an extra bleaker shade.
That, along with the packaging and overall vibe the splintering band conveyed, made the album akin to a frozen winter day, with bare trees and frost on the ground.
Which made me appreciate the glimpses of color, like "Dear Prudence" even more.
In a sense, the album is a prefect rehearsal for the Beatles' individual solo careers, all of which remained largely within the parameters set on this record.
I was particularly fond of Harrison's tunes on this disc, and while McCartney has some silly ones, his best ones rank up there with his best. But Lennon has all the greatest moments. I'll second the vote for "Cry Baby Cry" as great song, although in the end, I do still consider Revolver the Beatles' best album.
It's hard to choose just one with the Beatles, however. Each one has so much history and and are so full of good songs that the Beatles occupy a mythical place beyond the rockosphere, beyond the ability of rock critics or fans to accurately describe.
16 - LG
The Beatles still continue to impress me and I've heard all their stuff countless times. Amazing band. The best ever.
17 - Eric Berlin
The older I get, the more I dig and appreciate The Beatles. I like all their stuff, but am particularly partial to the Rubber Soul / Revolver era. The White Album is outstanding, of course. And I happen to dig the vaudeville stuff.
Nice job on this, Bryan.
18 - godoggo
I tend to prefer Lennon's stuff (and Harrison's, too - maybe more, truth be told), to McCartney's, but Paul sings Julia, so I presume he wrote it. It's certainly one of the Beatle's most beautiful melodies and lyrics.
Cry Baby Cry strikes me as pretty banal.
19 - godoggo
Incidentally, I was reading an interview with the virtuoso punk rock guitarist Billy Zoom the other day in a fanzine, and he made the point that one's reaction to the Beatles "vaudeville" (his term) stuff depended on whether you'd heard the real thing, which he said was much better done (I can't remember the name of the band that he cited - damn, I gotta pick up another copy of that zine - the man's musical background and biography are utterly amazing, and much bigger than the music he's known for, much as I love it).
Amyway, this isn't meant to slight the White Album, first of all because it only applies to a small minority of their songs.
I just find myself moved by other periods at this stage of my life.
20 - uao
Actually, Lenno0n sang and wrote "Julia", about his estranged mother. She gave him to his aunt to raise when he was 4 or 5, and he never got to know her again until he was 17. Then she was killed in an automobile accident.
Lennon would revisit his feelings for his mother in the stark and Primal "Mother" from Plastic Ono Band in 1970.
21 - Al Barger
The Kinks would be the other obvious act to have that English vaudeville influence, explaining their 70s musical stage plays, such as the Soap Opera.
Somewhere here, I've got this big honkin' box set of English music hall recordings. This stuff mostly didn't strike me as anything that amazing. None of these people had Beatle level skills.
Then again, we're talking about stuff going back to the beginnings of the commercial popular music industry. The whole idea of making records was new.
In any case, that vaudeville stuff greatly broadened the Beatles palatte. That influence rather than early American rock is probably the biggest practical stylistic difference between Beatlemania and the Serious Artists going from Rubber Soul forward.
22 - Eric Berlin
I think the vaudeville influence is fun and further proves that The Beatles' were almost always able to keep it loose, even amid maddening fame. It also lends a distinct Britishness to The White Album, something that Big Time UK acts like Led Zep and the Stones never really achieved... they likely could have cared less, but you (hopefully) get my drift.
23 - godoggo
Hmm, I don't think I've actually listened to Julia in like ten years. Most of this stuff is just kind of bouncing around my noggin.
24 - godoggo
"None of these people had Beatle level skills." Oh, I imagine their instumental chops were better. Beyond that, I'm tempted to get into a digression about where Mr. Zoom is coming from, but no.
25 - godoggo
I'd say Dylan was a bigger influence on Rubber Soul. I don't hear any music hall there.