scapp70's Full Review: The White Album [Limited] by The Beatles
For me to review the White Album seemed like such a monumental task to undertake and I was right. There are thirty songs on this double CD, and so much information needed to be told in order to make this an OK review. This album has been reviewed so many times before over the years, and who am I to attempt to tackle it myself? I’m a Beatles fan that’s who, a real devoted Beatles fan. Sure, so then I suppose that I am qualified. Will my review be bias? Of course it will. I sometimes wish I was hearing these songs for the first time, or I was just a casual listener and see what kind of review this would be, would it be more objective? Probably, but then the reader would not get the full review this should be. This is just music, sort of, and yet to a Beatles fan it is more than just music, it’s history. This is a major part of music history, a part of history that is secret unless you’re a Beatles fan. There are some prerequisites to listening and really appreciating this icon in music history. It’s like being a born again Beatles style, you couldn’t make someone understand who hasn’t been baptized by the entire Beatles catalog. Yes, this is part of music history, and in my opinion, only a Beatles fan could tell it.
This Limited Edition of The Beatles, (a.k.a. The White Album) was released on November 24, 1998. I don't know if the press release talked about this CD being remastered or not, but it sounds great to me. The older original CD released, (the one still available) sounded great too. If there are any differences, I can't really say I can distinguish a great leap in sound quality. This version is now out of print, and you can still find some copies around, especially on the Internet.
Back In The USSR starts off this double CD, it's a Paul McCartney composition. Donovan said that he helped McCartney with some of the lyrics while meditating in India with the Maharishi. The song is pretty heavy, and it also has some Beach Boys influence during the bridge. Although this album released no singles, there are some songs that have only gained popularity over the years. Such artists like Elton John for instance, performed this song when he toured Russia in 1979, Billy Joel performed the song when he performed in Moscow in a historic 1987 performance. McCartney also performed this song finally in Russia as well. This song segues into the next song via the roar of an airplane.
John Lennon wrote the amazing Dear Prudence in India as well. I think all of these songs were written in India. As the story goes, John wrote this song about Mia Farrow's sister, who was in India as well. She would stay in her hut and meditate all day, and John's song was a not so subtle way to ask her to come out and play as the lyrics go. Donovan is in the mix again inspiring and influencing The Beatles. Donovan claims that he taught John a certain finger style of playing the acoustic guitar. John was so eager, he learned the style rather quickly and he incorporated this style into two songs; Dear Prudence and Julia, a song about his mother and Yoko at the same time. I always looked at the lyrics as John sort of introducing the new found love of his life Yoko Ono to his late mother who dies some years earlier. I love both songs, but Dear Prudence is the better of the two.
Paul's Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da is one of the best on this huge collection of songs. Paul heard this odd saying from a man named Jimmy Scott whom he met at the British club Bag O' Nails. Jimmy Scott was a conga player of a group called Bad Manners. Jimmy complained that he should get some financial rewards of the song. Paul refused stating that if he had helped write any part of the song he would gladly pay him some money. Jimmy sued, but was then thrown in jail on a different charge when he refused to pay support to his ex-wife. Paul helped him with what he owed her, in order to get him out of jail, and also if Jimmy would drop the suit. All was well, and they remained friends up until Jimmy’s death in 1986. The version on Anthology 3 has such a tropical and Caribbean feel to it, which I love. This version also has a feeling of the Caribbean, but in a rawer way. Paul's lyrics tell the story of Desmond and Molly Jones, and the story of their lovely relationship, their engagement and how their roles had switched after marriage.
Paul's insane Wild Honey Pie is a real treat. This is one of those Beatles songs where the whole band does not participate in the recording. In this case, it's just Paul on piano, guitars and bass, and drums. Lots of vibrato on the guitar really makes this song a crazy sing-a-long type. The song only lasts a little under a minute, but every second is such weirdo fun.
John's The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill is structured like a campground sing along. Even the ever-annoying voice of Yoko (devil) Ono can be heard sounding like a little tyke around the campfire. Lennon's lyrics are clear and overt on the satire, they speak about big brave Bill going tiger hunting, who in the same breath needs his mommy in case he wets his pants. The masterful acoustic guitar intro was most likely provided by EMI archives and performed by those infamous tape loops.
George Harrison's song While My Guitar Gently Weeps starts off like it's going to be awesome, but in my opinion it just ends up chasing its own tail as the song goes nowhere. George said he first presented and worked on this song with Paul and Ringo. They both seemed uninterested, and George who was substantially more interested went to his friend Eric Clapton and played him the song. Eric showed an interest and so George then and there invited him to play on the record. Eric needed some convincing by George, because he felt unworthy to play on a Beatles track, but it happened and the rest is history. The song is depressing in the music and the lyrics, it's a sluggish groove with interesting drumming by Ringo.
John's Happiness Is A Warm Gun is a masterpiece. Like most of Lennon's great ideas, they start out as someone else's great ideas. The title was directly lifted from an American gun magazine with an article for a hunting rifle with the song's title in big letters as the article's title. The song's time signature's change throughout the song, yet it never loses it's cohesiveness. A clean electric guitar fingering some quiet chords in the background and a loud raunchy guitar playing some nasty licks in the foreground. Ringo's drumming reaches new heights as he grapples with the song's time signature changes, yet the lyrics still have time to provide levity and humor and some doo-wop backing vocals from George and Paul.
Martha My Dear is a beautiful song dedicated to Paul's giant sheep dog Martha. The piano playing is very advanced, and perhaps Paul being left-handed had some sort of advantage to this style of playing. He displayed his complicated "two-hand thing" way of playing as he calls it on such songs like Lady Madonna or Listen To What The Man Said. Paul is heard solo at the piano, and then when his vocals kick in, the violins accompany him. The rest of The Beatles start in at the bridge, and then the horn section takes over for the rest of the song. I love those songs that build up and go somewhere.
I'm So Tired starts almost without a pause. John and the Beatles start this off slow and soft. John whisper-sings ♫"I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink..."♫, the chorus builds and grows louder with Ringo's solid beat. Each verse grows louder, and the same with each chorus. All of The Beatles get the joke when John sings about cursing a 16th century explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh as he was "such a stupid get," but I don't get it.
Blackbird is an acoustic number written by Paul McCartney. The song features just Paul, his acoustic guitar and the noises of his feet tapping and some incidental bird chirping. Paul says it is a song about black people in America and the whole civil rights movement. Paul wrote this song on his farm in Scotland.
George has four songs on this album, and unfortunately While My Guitar Gently Weeps is probably the best of the lot. A perfect example of George's poor input is the song Piggies. John Lennon confessed to helping with some of the lyrics. The song's musical structure is like that of a nursery rhyme, and I'm surprised this song is left off of those Baby Beatles CDs, it would work perfectly. Yet, the lyrics and the melody are drone and uninteresting.
Ringo's first attempt at writing a song by himself turns out great. Don't Pass Me By is a fun toe-tapper, and Ringo's voice seems more dynamic here in the double tracked take. The addition of the country fiddle only adds to the song's charm. One line from here is also used in the argument for the 'Paul is Dead' theory;
♫"You were in a car crash
And you lost your hair"♫.
Paul's Why Don't We Do It In The Road? is a track much like his Wild Honey Pie in the way that the song is just a short one, with the same lyric over and over and Paul plays all the instruments, except the drums here. To me this sounds like Paul's attempt to imitate the old blues records sung by those amazing black artists. The very impressive drumbeat proves that Ringo is on drums. This song is rumored that Paul plays all instruments, but while he is somewhat accomplished at keeping a steady beat, there was never any evidence that Paul had gotten very innovative.
Paul's Rocky Raccoon is another wonderful acoustic number. The song is written and performed with all 7th chords, and it resulted with the right effect. It allowed Paul to recite in a narrating way the story during the verses. It is believed that Paul wrote this on the roof of the Maharishi's house, and then later wrote the lyrics with John Lennon and Donovan all while these meditators were in India. This is one of those Beatle songs that I still would mess up the lyrics while trying to sing along. John plays the harmonica, the bass guitar and harmonium on this song, while Paul is only on acoustic guitar, Ringo on drums and George Martin on piano.
Paul's wonderful love ballad I Will really stands out as one of his best love songs written. With his new love Linda in mind he wrote one of the first beautiful love songs to his wife, whom has been the inspiration of many a McCartney love song. John is heard hitting a block of wood, Ringo on cymbals and maracas, and Paul on acoustic and humming the bass line. Paul's amazing guitar work really shines here on the sleek acoustic lead fills throughout the song.
Paul starts off the second disc with his hard rocker Birthday. John Lennon claims that Paul wanted to write a song with this idea in mind, thinking that it would be used for the purpose of birthdays. In retrospect he was right, more so these days than back then. In any case, Lennon dismisses the song as a throwaway even though his guitar playing in very exciting on the track. George Harrison is featured on bass, and Paul on piano. Also on the song, Yoko and Pattie Harrison can be heard singing the background vocals.
John Lennon's Yer Blues is one of the few numbers on this collection of songs where all four Beatles play their respective instruments. The song places the four Beatles in a small room where they jammed on the song a few times, and that live feel is heard. The track that we hear is comprised of two takes of the song fused together. You can hear the two come together right after the lead guitar break and when Ringo has a quick drum segue spotlight. The song is a bluesy number with an interesting bass line from Paul.
Paul, like the rest of The Beatles have created many songs that would fit into what we call today, the unplugged category. Many songs that have a prominent acoustic guitar, and of course some orchestral assistance as well. A prime example is Paul's Mother Nature's Son. The song is centered around some variations of the D chord, this is perhaps Paul's softest acoustic number on the set. George Martin mentioned that his thoughts back then would be to cut some songs and make it a single album, instead of a double so it would be really great. While I love the fact that there are so many songs on two discs, I think if the Beatles were an act out today, we would have possibly got two separate releases. One would be the unplugged album, and the other the normal Beatles release. That wouldn't be so bad, actually. I can see my fantasy now, The Beatles sitting on stools and on MTV Unplugged, performing mostly songs from The Beatles Whiter Album. Oh yeah, that would be all right.
Some of the songs available here are the total opposite of acoustic or quiet. Take John's Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey. This is one of the loudest songs here. The song has a catchy hook within the ♫Come on, come on♫ parts. The song has a sloppy sound, the band isn't tight on this track, and I feel that it's part if the song's charm. John's "Monkey" incidentally was Yoko, and of course the fact that they were sleeping together was hidden from Cynthia, John's first wife. Maybe it's just the monkey who has nothing to hide.
Sexy Sadie is a song about Maharishi, and John's disappointment with the whole thing. One of the women accused the Maharishi of coming on to her, and that's all John needed to fly of the handle, leave and write this song. I don't think the accusations were proven, but the rumor or mention was all the fodder Lennon and the other's needed to skedaddle out of there. The lyrics:
♫"Sexy Sadie, what have you done?
You made a fool of everyone"♫
were originally sung
♫Maharishi, what have you done..."♫
The lyrics were changed, I suppose so that the message was not so overt. This is not one of John's best songs.
As the story goes, Paul had read a review for The Who's latest album, and the reviewer was hailing on the songs as the loudest and heaviest songs he has ever heard. Paul decided he wanted a review like that, so he wrote the peculiar quasi-heavy song called Helter Skelter. The song is loud and boisterous, but without any soul and with the often-sounding off-key notes hit, it's gets a bit wearisome. I often prefer the many covers of this song, in particular Motley Crue's version off their second release Shout At The Devil.
Another "unplugged" song is George's super quiet Long, Long, Long. John Lennon is not present on this track. George is on acoustic and lead vocals, Paul is on the organ and bass and Ringo on the drums. The lyrics seem to be about a childhood something that George loved so much, yet he lost it. After he finds it years later, he remembers the love..or something like that.
Revolution 1 is the first, obviously, of three songs with similar titles released by John and The Beatles. This version would have worked out perfect on the acoustic "unplugged" album since the single, which was released later that year, is so much harder than this version. This again sounds like one of those live takes, where you have all four Beatles in the room playing the respective instruments. The addition of session players providing trumpets and trombones are just added for accent here, and for me do not really add anything to the song. I much more prefer the single version of this song with the distorted guitars.
Honey Pie makes his first true stab at a genre of music that would lace the albums he made with Wings in the later years. Paul really lets his 20s style vaudeville shine bright. This is a genre that was inspired by his father, after all he was an accomplished clarinet player his dad was. This song again has all four Beatles performing, Paul on piano, John on lead guitar, George on bass and Ringo on drums. The session players performing on trumpets and clarinets really are the prominent instruments besides Paul's piano, and they set the tone for the entire song. George Harrison gives praise for John's off the cuff jazzy guitar lead.
Savoy Truffle is written by George Harrison about his friend Eric Clapton and a box of chocolates. The name Savoy Truffle was the name of a flavor in this Mackintosh's Good News box of chocolates. This song can be likened to John's Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite from the Sgt Pepper album, in that George had gotten almost all of his lyrics were taken from the names of flavors in the box of chocolates, just as John received all of his lyrics almost word for word from an old poster he found.
It is John Lennon who closes out this CD for the last three songs. The first of which is the nursery rhyme of a ditty called Cry Baby Cry. The chorus is catchy, the verses are a bit boring. Yet, this is one of the few songs where all of The Beatles are playing their respective instruments, and George and Paul provide the harmonies as well. John sings in a sort of whispery voice over the descending notes. John is heard on piano and organ as well. Paul snuck in his little 20 second ditty on the end of this track, maybe so as John didn't have the entire last three songs to himself.
My experience with Revolution 9 is probably like most Beatle fans. We skipped over this track, we didn't include it on our Beatles mix CDs, and it never really entered any Beatles discussions. While I may still not include this song on any Beatles CD mixes I may create, the track has definitely grown on me. If you ignore the insane ramblings John Lennon offered back in 1968 of how this track is the future of music during his defense against the other three and producer George Martin that it should be included on this Beatles album, then the song has a story of its own. The song is made up of a collage of sounds that is supposedly layered atop of the long fade out that wasn't used from the track of Revolution 1. I don't hear that, but on this song, you can hear a man's voice repeating the words Number nine, number nine.. throughout the song. This was later included in the Paul is dead fiasco, because when you play it back you can hear the words "turn me on dead man, turn me on dead man". Ooo, real spooky. Of course the phrase means nothing, unless of course Paul died in 1966 and the fact was covered up, then it means everything. John used different tape loops from the EMI archives to achieve his montage, and he admits that Yoko's influence was somewhat heavy for this song.
Goodnight is perhaps the most delicate song written by John in his career. A song written with his first son Julian in mind perhaps makes it a bit more poignant than at first listen. George Martin did a wonderful lush and swelling arrangement for the music. The only Beatle present on the track is Ringo Starr. John gave it to Ringo to sing, and accompanying him were a choir of four boys and four girls. The song is a lullaby, and it does in fact sound dream like or something from a different plain of existence. This is another one of those songs that I had never appreciated much until lately. It is really one of the best, I think.
☺☺☺
A bit of fantasy now for me, as I indulge myself for a brief paragraph on what the Beatles Unplugged 1968 (The Whiter Album) song track list would be. Thank You -
Dear Prudence, Wild Honey Pie, The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill, I'm So Tired, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Why Don't We Do It In The Road, I Will, Julia, Mother Nature's Son, Long, Long, Long, Revolution 1, and Cry Baby Cry.
Not too bad, if I must say, the remaining 17 songs would make up an extra long single album, like Abbey Road.
Ok, end of fantasy.☺☺☺☺☺
The Limited Edition
This is the one and only special edition CD that The Beatles official released in this manner. These CDs are packaged in the mini-album style. It also comes with a small replica of the original poster that came with the original vinyl release. It has the picture collage on one side and the lyrics to all of the songs on the other side.
Also, a surprise were the same four color photographs that were included here as the original vinyl, except again the smaller variation. The CDs also are housed in their own apple sleeves. The case is made of heavy duty cardboard, and so not only is this Limited Edition very attractive, but it is sturdy and will last years with gentle hands.
DISC 1:
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, The
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
DISC 2:
1. Birthday
2. Yer Blues
3. Mother Nature's Son
4. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5. Sexy Sadie
6. Helter Skelter
7. Long, Long, Long
8. Revolution 1
9. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution 9
13. Good Night
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦More Beatles-related Epinions from Scapp70♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
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