The White Album... what to make of this sprawling landscape of the most diverse range of music to ever converge onto one title???? MAGNIFICENT is a good word!
I remember I was 17 years old when my Mother bought me this for Xmas. It was 1988 and it came with white vinyl!!! I had known a few of the more famous songs but had not heard the others.... it was a shock when I first heard it I must say! But very quickly it became an absolute favourite for me too.... perhaps this IS my favourite album!!!
The opener 'Back in the USSR' is perhaps the greatest opener on ANY Beatle album... as the soaring jet takes off so does this album.... and then the jets takes us back down to the gorgeous, spine tingling sounds of 'Dear Prudence'.... Ah and then the 'BOMP, BOMP' and off it goes into 'Glass Onion'!!! This truly is a showcase of four men whose talent had just been realized and each of them are as cocky as the other and almost daring each other to top the next song. 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da' I must confess is a mind blower... so easily dismissed as 'soft' but LISTEN to what is going on in this song??? Add to that the humourous / frustrated additions from John and George to Paul's last verse and this song just works!!!
The raucous 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road', the heavy 'Helter Skelter', the tender paean to 'Julia', the wacky 'Rocky Raccoon', the classy 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', the angry 'Yer Blues', the mini-suite 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun' to the call for 'Revolution', the pro-civil rights, 'Blackbird', the social comment of 'Piggies' and the closer 'Goodnight' that I must point out that I was CONVINCED for years this was a Paul song sung by Paul... hell, I then find out it was a John song sung by Ringo!!! That's what The White Album was about, it turned all of The Beatles conventions upside down and what came out was ANOTHER direction for The Beatles and ANOTHER major victory of creativity!
Can I add that 'Long, Long, Long' is perhaps THE most underrated song in The Beatle's catalogue!!! This song personifies tenderness and grace in the one breath! Oh and one other.... Is 'I'm So Tired' the first palindromic song??? Listen to it!!! It convinces you that you are tired!!!! BRILLIANT!!!
PS... The cover??? Only The Beatles knew how to top the glorious Sgt. Pepper cover didn't they? Plain white with 'The Beatles' embossed into the cover. Again, it's only the magic of The Beatles who could turn a plain white cover into something so iconic...
And I also really need to point out again the joy it must have been to be a member of the record buying public back in the day... this 30 song masterpiece came hot on the heels of perhaps their best single, 'Hey Jude' back with the fast version of 'Revolution'.... WOW!!!
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