|
|
Music CD - The Beatles: The Beatles (The White Album)
|
Music CD: The Beatles (The White Album)
Artist: The Beatles
List Price: $34.98
Our Price: $14.50
Your Save: $ 20.48 ( 59% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Capitol
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Tracks:
|
1. Back in the U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
5. Wild Honey Pie
6. Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
8. Happiness Is a Warm Gun
9. Martha My Dear
10. I'm So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don't Pass Me By
15. Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia
|
|
|
Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0077774644327
Label: Capitol
Manufacturer: Capitol
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Capitol
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Studio: Capitol
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: An album unlike any other
Comment: Beginning with the release of Rubber Soul in 1965, The Beatles quickly evolved from brilliant pop songwriters and performers into "serious" artists whose best songs stand comparison, in their creative scope and craftsmanship, with great classical music. As their music became more ambitious, The Beatles drew progressively further away from their rock and roll roots. After their last scheduled concert in San Francisco in August 1966, they gave up live performance to become a purely studio band. Their withdrawal reached its limits in 1967's Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, when they assumed the identities of fictional performers. The pendulum turned the following year. As suggested by its self-title, The White Album was an effort by The Beatles to return to their essence. It was an effort that faced profound difficulties arising both outside and within the group.
The first obstacle The Beatles confronted was that of history. 1968 was a time of political assassinations, Vietnam war casualties, and a sense of impending chaos. It was impossible in this changed world for The Beatles to recreate the pure ebullience of their early careers. In recording The White Album, they were seeking to return home to what had become a foreign land. They were, in the words of the album's first song, "Back in the U.S.S.R.", and their partial disconnection from their surroundings can be sensed even on the album's most joyful songs.
In addition, by this time the group had drawn apart both as individuals and as musicians, and could not recreate their earlier cohesiveness. Although an ensemble work, The White Album already shows the direction the band members will take in their solo careers. Paul McCartney shines as a melodic genius ("Blackbird"), who sometimes settles for surface beauty at the expense of musical depth ("Honey Pie"). John Lennon's transformation from introspective artist to political activist is crystallized in a single, remarkable moment on The White Album. During "Revolution 1," as part of the verse "but when you talk about destruction/ don't you know that you can count me out" Lennon adds a spoken "in!" after singing "out," thereby showing a new ambiguity about the value of social upheaval. George Harrison emerges in his four songs as the clear songwriting equal of Lennon and McCartney, most famously in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," where Eric Clapton plays lead guitar. (Unlike Lennon and McCartney, Harrison's greatest songwriting years were still ahead of him.) And Ringo Starr records his first original composition with the group, the charming, bluegrass guitar "Don't Pass Me By."
Yet another reason The Beatles could not fully return to their roots was their high level of musicianship--they were by now too accomplished and versatile to be contained within a single "sound." The White Album is a library of musical styles, including (to name only a sampling) early heavy metal ("Helter Skelter"), blues rock ("Yer Blues"), melodic ballads ("Mother Nature's Son"), calypso ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"), 1930s dance hall ("Honey Pie"), Indian-influenced rhythms ("Dear Prudence"), electronic sound collage ("Revolution 9"), and muzak ("Good Night"). The diverse instrumentation ranges from the minimalist guitar accompaniment and background bird sounds of "Blackbird" to the luxurious, full orchestration of the concluding "Good Night." Lyrics include gritty stream of consciousness ("I'm So Tired"), naturalistic metaphor ("Blackbird"), meditations on distant love ("I Will"), cryptic sexual allusion ("Happiness is a Warm Gun"), lullaby ("Good Night"), fairy tale fantasy ("Cry Baby Cry"), and a birthday anthem ("Birthday") that has become the leading rival to the traditional "Happy Birthday to You." Each of the more than twenty-five songs and assorted fragments is different and unique.
The Beatles thus faced historical, personal, and musical obstacles to crafting a unified album. To overcome them, they used techniques of detachment and emptying that are the opposite of Western classical music, where large musical structures are built through architectural construction. On the level of individual songs, the performance is engaged and often emotional (listen, for example, John Lennon's remembrance of his mother in "Julia"). But in the album considered as a whole, the complex cross-currents between songs have a distancing effect, separating The Beatles from their material and making this their first completely self-conscious work. To channel the cross-currents, The Beatles masterfully edit the placement and transitions of songs (a beautiful example is the insertion of the haunting, unnamed fragment "can you take me back where are people" between "Cry Baby Cry" and "Revolution 9" near the album's end). So creative is the editing that it essentially becomes another musical instrument. Adding to the feeling of distance is the Beatles' use of parody--of The Beach Boys ("Back in the U.S.S.R"), cowboy ballads ("Rocky Raccoon"), and The Beatles themselves ("Glass Onion").
The unity The Beatles achieve on The White Album does not eliminate its diversity but rather arises through it. Within its spacious sprawl, the group at first appears on the verge of coming apart at the seams. But upon much further listening, the album rises to the threshold of transcendence. As one's attention moves from style to style, from Beatle to Beatle, a stunning holography unfolds, with each song encapsulating this entire, massive work, whose dimensions are as large as music itself. Symbolic of this process is the album cover. White is the harmonious blending of the separate colors in the spectrum. Yet through a rainbow hologram, these colors can once again be separated. In the same way, the disparate elements of The White Album blend without ever losing their separate identities.
Endlessly interesting, always slightly beyond reach, The White Album remains, forty years after its release, at the cutting edge of musical innovation.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Black and White
Comment: The Beatles (aka The White Album) is a fascinating mix of many diverse styles and finds the Beatles stretching out a bit more as far as stylistic daring goes. As a casual Beatle fan, however, I feel there is also a lot of what I do not love about them all that much. There are too many lightweight songs mixed in with the bona-fide genius of others. I am sure die hards love this sort of thing and find the appeal of those songs all the more endearing. I am, however, not in that category and can't help but feel there is one solid single album somewhere in between these grooves. I mean, all double albums give a band the opportunity to branch out and approach styles they would not normally test out for the public. That's not the problem. The problem lies in the filler material, in which there is plenty of.
I cannot blindy call this album a Beatles' classic when in comparison to "Abbey Road", "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul". EVERY song on those mentioned albums was stellar (well, maybe not Yellow Submarine) but you get the point. Unlike popular belief, The Beatles weren't always perfect and The White Album, which for most of it is as good as good music gets, is the real beginning of the cracks that had begun to appear in their relationships with one another. You have Fluff like "Wild Honey Pie", "Bungalow Bill", "Why Don't We Do it in the Road", "Honey Pie", "Savoy Truffle", "Good Night" and the eight minute catastrophe of "Revolution 9" alongside masterpieces such as "Dear Prudence", "Ob La Di", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Blackbird", "Birthday" and "Helter Skelter". Even the version of "Revolution 1" is not as good as the single version.
All that being said, any understanding of the developement of modern pop music must start with The Beatles. The White Album, however, is not the place to start, in my opinion. Yes, it is better than just about anything else that was released during it's time by bands working the same territory, but it is not the best The Beatles have to offer. This is along the lines of "Let it Be", "Magical Mystery Tour" and (oh here come the comments) "Sgt Pepper". All classics, but not the creme de la creme.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Double Your Pleasure
Comment: Released forty years ago, "The Beatles" aka "The White Album" is notable for many reasons. It's the Fab Four's only double album. It differs greatly from the band's previous two psychedelic albums for a more back-to-basics approach which would continue with their following albums. It's a sprawling and at times schizophrenic record that documents the falling apart of the band as most songs are primarily composed by whomever is singing the lead with the rest of the boys as backup band. Though this is true going back to about "Beatles For Sale", it especially applies to this album as Ringo briefly quit for a while with Paul playing drums on "Back In The U.S.S.R." and a few other songs; Yoko Ono's presence in the studio which irritated everyone with the exception of John; and other personal events that had the band unraveling.
Kicking things off to a rousing start is "Back In The U.S.S.R.", an inspired mixture of Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys. Sung by Paul with wonderful backup singing by John & George, it has a great melody and witty tongue-in-cheek lyrics. John's "Dear Prudence" with a sweet, cascading guitar line the boys became known for follows. This song was inspired by Mia Farrow whom they met during their stay in India for the purpose of studying meditation with Maharashi Mahesh Yogi. Next up is the lyrically self-referential "Glass Onion", another brilliant song by John. For me, the pseudo-reggae of Paul's "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is cute but ultimately somewhat forgettable. It's another of the Beatles' children's songs in the tradition of "Yellow Submarine". "Wild Honey Pie" is another track that could easily have been left off the album, sounding totally like filler. John's "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill" is mainly notable for its satiric lyrics and Yoko's unique backup singing. Its melody is especially weak when compared to George's stately, lovely "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" which follows. Graced with guitar solos by George's pal Eric Clapton, this song firmly establishes Mr. Harrison as a songwriter on par with Lennon & McCartney. "Guitar" also utilizes that trademark cascading guitar figure that bonds the verses with the choruses. This song is beautifully straight forward, abandoning the psychedelia (which I nonetheless adored) of compositions like "Within You Without You" from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Blue Jay Way" from "Magical Mystery Tour". "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is a song in three parts and the second song from this album in which John mentions guns. Spooky. In light of his tragic assassination in 1980, was this guy psychic? The verses on this one are a bit folk, the bridge is bluesy and the chorus is inspired by doo-wop. Again, the lyrics are delightfully tongue-in-cheek. Paul's "Martha My Dear" is a great little number that was inspired by his dog. John follows this with another bluesy tune, "I'm So Tired". Paul's sublime "Blackbird" was inspired by the American Civil Rights movement. It's just Paul, an acoustic guitar and birdsong and it's absolutely lovely in its simplicity. George's "Piggies" is another satire, this time concerning class differences. The first reference to Bob Dylan on "The Beatles" is "Rocky Raccoon" with Paul emulating the American poet in the lyrics and general form and tone of the song. Ringo makes his writing debut with the country song "Don't Pass Me By". The lyrics are dryly funny but like the songs that immediately precede and follow it (Paul's "Why Don't We Do It In The Road"), the tunes sound a bit tossed off, a bit throwaway. "I Will" is another very pretty song by Paul that is instrumentally minimalist with just acoustic and bass guitar. Disc 1 ends with John's ode to his mother, the delicate acoustic guitar ballad "Julia". It's a very touching song and its simplicity, it mirrors "I Will" perfectly.
Disc 2 opens with the rocking "Birthday" which is followed by John's "Yer Blues", a tortured blues number that references "Ballad Of A Thin Man" with the line 'just like Dylan's Mr. Jones'. Paul's gorgeous "Mother Nature's Son" is next. Largely acoustic, it also features a lovely horn section. John brings back the rock 'n roll with "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" with its rollicking guitar bits. The piano-driven "Sexy Sadie" was written by John about the boys' fallout with the Maharishi. Lovely background vocals enhance an already terrific song. "Helter Skelter" proves that although best known for his beautiful ballads, Paul could rock like a hell-hound. 'Blisters on my fingers', indeed. Did he invent heavy metal with this song? I believe it predates Black Sabbath's debut album by a couple of years! George's "Long,Long,Long" makes a 360 degree turn from the heavy rock of "Helter Skelter". Anchored by organ, this song is a sublime marvel. The shift in tone, like so many from this album, is what gives "The Beatles" the schizophrenic feel I noted earlier. The version of "Revolution 1" on this album is quite different than the single version. Its focus is more acoustic and again owes a debt to doo-wop. I don't share Paul's love of the music hall/vaudeville genre but if you're curious about it, the second (!) "Honey Pie" is a great example of it. George's tribute to sweets, "Savoy Truffle" follows. It's a nice little rocker with swinging horns. John's haunting, beautiful "Cry Baby Cry" precedes the Beatles' most experimental track, "Revolution 9", which was constructed from various tapes John made. His association with avant-garde artist Ono becomes crystal clear after a listen to this mind-blowing 'song'. Paul & George had enjoyed making tracks out of tapes going back to "Pepper's" at least but had never released them under the Beatles name. It has enormously influenced my own music. If you enjoy "Revolution 9" then check out the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of the original practitioners of musique concrete. "The Beatles" fittingly closes with "Good Night", a wonderfully wistful tune perfectly sung by Ringo.
Needless to say and despite its flaws, "The Beatles" is an essential part of this amazing band's catalog. You won't regret owning it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beatles white album
Comment: Disc 2 skips in the begining.......not cool..but it was great to hear this CD since I traded my white album years ago to my brother!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Eclectic
Comment: Very few artist have ever produced such a diverse and eclectic album such as this. For all its oddness "The Beatles" (The white album) seems to work as a coherent form. I am sure they were not trying to accomplish this feat when they first set off on this endeavor; it just ended up that way. Musically it's all over the map. Caution was thrown to the wind. It's more a collection of solo recordings and a group effort, but you still get the feeling it's The Beatles. There are some great moments (Back in the USSR, While my guitar gently weeps, Birthday & Dear Prudence) and few low points too (Revolution #9, Goodnight) many have tried to recreate it, but none have come close to capturing the essence of this work. Because it is so eclectic and varied on one level and kind of focused on another that it works. It's not their best album by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly their most interesting. George Martin their long time producer has always maintained he would have preferred they had made a single "good" album instead of a double album, but other than a handful songs, which ones do you cut out?
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
Better known as the "White Album," this was meant to be the record that brought them back to earth after three years of studio experimentation. Instead, it took them all over the place, continuing to burst the envelope of pop music. Lennon and McCartney were still at the height of their powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of rock's towering figures. But even McCartney could still rock, and the amazement on "Helter Skelter" was that he had vocal cords at the end. From Beach Boys knock-offs to reggae and to the unknown ("Revolution #9"), this has it all. Some records have legend written all over them; this is one. --Chris Nickson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
