Product Description

THE BEATLES (generally known as "The White Album" because of its cover) was a sprawling two-record set, highlighting the distinct personalities in the group as they matured and moved further away from each other. With the four Beatles playing like session men on each other's songs, the making of the album was fraught with tension. John Lennon's songs included a bitter take on people who read too much into the Beatles' lyrics ("Glass Onion"), reflections on loneliness and alienation ("Yer Blues", "I'm So Tired"), and the avant garde sound collage "Revolution 9".
George Harrison's songs offered black humor ("Piggies") and tender sadness ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps", with Eric Clapton on guitar). Paul McCartney provided both light, lyric songs ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da","Honey Pie"), and rockers ("Back In The U.S.S.R"., the explosive "Helter Skelter"). Ringo Starr made his solo songwriting debut with the goofy country/ska lilt of "Don't Pass Me By" and sang the album closer "Good Night".

Track Listing

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. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
9. Martha My Dear
10. Im 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 & 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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #199 in Music
• Released on: 1987-08-24
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.co.uk Review
The White Album was meant to be the record that brought the Beatles 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 songwriting powers, with Lennon in particular growing into one of music'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

Customer Reviews

Total Rubbish!
My sister has a copy of this album on CD and I have listened to some of it and I find it all a load of rubbish.

For a start I find all of the names of the songs weird.

For example:

Glass Onion

Wild Honey Pie

Bungalow Bill

Piggies

Sexy Sadie

Savoy Truffle

WTF???

The only songs I like on this album are:

Back in the U.S.S.R & Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, so hence I will rate this 2 stars

If any of the Beatles albums are any good I recommend The Red & Blue Albums (1962-1966 & 1967-1970) because I think that was when the Beatles were at their best.

IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO ...................
By 1968 The Beatles were at a crossroads. Sgt Pepper had been a massive cultural and commercial success but the following years Magical Mystery Tour film had flopped. The death of manager and mentor Brian Epstein had also proven a massive blow, especially to John, and the four band members were growing increasingly distant from each other. George felt completely overwhelmed by both Lennon & McCartney and Ringo was becoming totally fed up with the bickering and in-fighting.
The answer was to release a new record - a double album - of new material. Much of 1968's White Album is made up of basically solo material - the other Beatles acting simply as sidemen - and is as fractured and patchy as this would imply. When it works and the Fabs really work together the results are stunning - 'Back In The USSR' with Paul handling drums, 'Dear Prudence', 'Glass Onion' and 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun'. John's solo 'Julie' is gorgeous and George's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' was a milestone song for quiet one. Paul also shone on the haunting 'Blackbird' and the brilliantly simplistic 'I Will'.
George Martin was quoted as saying that he thought the White Album would have made a brilliant single record - but John and Paul were determined to have their way. So for every 'Long Long Long' we get the trite 'Piggies', the saccarine sweet 'Honey Pie' and John's simply nuts 'The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill'.
That the Beatles also recorded their most successful single of all time - 'Hey Jude' - during these tense sessions is even more amazing.
Not The Beatles finest album but a fascinating listen nevertheles.

An incredibly diverse wayward classic
With its plain white sleeve and pared-down arrangements, the White Album was released as something of an antidote to its predecessor Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although it lacks Pepper's cohesion, it has an incredible, unbelievable diversity and is brilliant in places.

Recorded at a time when tensions between The Beatles were at their height, the White Album is also one of the first double albums of new material ever released by a pop or rock band. As with most double discs, there are some critics who say that The Beatles should have cut out the fillers and released a single LP. Whilst I see their argument, I disagree with them - the strength of the White Album is its variety and, though every track isn't a classic, there's only a handful I would consider possibly not worthy of a place on my ipod. Revolution No. 9 for starters obviously...

On to the better music, the highlights for me of the White Album range across several genres. Of the acoustic tracks, Paul McCartney's Blackbird is as majestic in its quiet way as anything the Fab Four ever recorded. Other quieter highpoints include John Lennon's moving ode to his mother Julia and Paul's Mother Nature's Son, hidden away on side 3. Just as MNS fades, the clanging, driving Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey kicks in for two minutes of frenzy followed by the elegant chord changes of Sexy Sadie. Further highlights for me include Back In the USSR, the vaudeville Honey Pie and George Harrison's rather spiteful Piggies though I could also have mentioned several others.

So, the music is largely excellent even though the White Album lacks togetherness in most senses of the term with each song's writer more or less using the other members of the band as session musicians (if at all) on many of the songs. Often not a terribly good atmosphere in the studio then, yet the resulting album probably benefits from these tensions in terms of intra-band competitiveness and the variety of styles present. A wayward classic but a classic nonetheless which is stunningly brilliant in places.