The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
This is a difficult one to write about. I'd heard a lot going into it and had it really hyped up. Quite a few people saying it's their favourite Beatles album. I intended to listen to each disc over two sittings but ended up sitting and listening to the whole thing and to be honest, not entirely because I was enthralled. I was mostly confused. This album feels really all over the place. It starts off with a couple of excellent songs, the 50's rock 'n' roll style 'Back in the U.S.S.R' and the equally excellent psychedelic Dear Prudence.
Then comes a couple of decent songs surrounding my lowest rated Beatles song, Wild Honey Pie, a very surreal 54 seconds that would honestly be better as an instrumental. But no matter because we get treated to a run of 5 excellent songs with the absolute stand out 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. It's clear at this point that George is becoming a phenomenal song writer, a reputation he would cement on Abbey Road with 'Something' and 'Here Comes the Sun'.
All these songs are excellent but they are a very eclectic mix. Whereas previous albums were very tight, very directed, this feels chaotic. Blues into Art Rock into Baroque into Pop? These sudden shifts in genre continue as the album goes on but it feels like they frontloaded their best. From Piggies to I Will, it's a collection of good songs but far from their best (apart from 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road?' which becomes my new lowest rated Beatles song and threatens to dip into being just "okay").
Things pick up again with Julia. A touching song written by Lennon for his mother. A couple decent songs and then another run of quality starting with the 5-star Helter Skelter, it's followed by a pair of great songs, 'Long, Long, Long' and 'Revolution 1.' 'Honey Pie' threatens to bring us down again until 'Savoy Truffle' and 'Cry Baby Cry' play. Then the most infamous song on this album and probably in Beatles history.
'Revolution 9' is an avant-garde sound collage, often said by Lennon as his attempt at evoking the idea of a revolution in sound. In a way it does, it's hectic and chaotic and full of discordant noise. It feels less like a song and more like an audio Rorschach test, entirely up to interpretation and supposedly very revealing based on what you see (or hear, in this case).
Personally I think it's fine, it definitely conveys chaos and it's rather disquieting. Might be the most avant-garde thing ever put on a mainstream pop album. We then finish off with a lullaby titled 'Good Night' which is... fine.
Overall this album is chaotic and messy and has wild swings in tone. It also contains some of my lowest ranked Beatles songs. It's difficult because while I think a fair amount of this album is filler, I don't really dislike anything that's there. Most of the stuff on here I've given 3 or 3.5 would be a solid 4+ on most other bands albums, but when compared to the likes of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and 'Helter Skelter', they can't be called remotely on the same level.
John Lennon once said "the break-up of the Beatles can be heard on that album" and I believe him 100%. The wild shifts in genre and tone can only be put down to a band no longer being in sync. They were all growing apart creatively and it was showing. Having this double album felt less like they had 2 albums worth of material and more that each one of them was unwilling to work together and unwilling to cut their own material to make one really good single album, instead of a mediocre (by Beatles standards) double album.
A lot of this is down to the presence of Yoko Ono. While some say she was the downfall of the Beatles, others say she was a misunderstood genius and the hate for her is solely misogyny. Personally I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. While it's clear Yoko Ono has talent, she is often also too experimental for her own good. I haven't explored her own discography enough to say whether I like her work or not but it's wildly different for the Beatles and maybe the others had a point that maybe what she wanted to do and what The Beatles wanted to do were a bit too different to be compatible.
Whether she was a positive or negative influence is up for debate (and I'm not up for wading into that mess). What isn't up for debate is the fact McCartney didn't get on with her and that alone affected the writing partnership between himself and Lennon.
Another thing Lennon (supposedly) said is that this album is the "son of Sgt. Pepper" and I think I get what he's saying. It's less focused, far looser, it's them each laying themselves bare as opposed to Sgt. Pepper where they're hiding behind a fictional band. It's the child rebelling against the parent.
White Album tells a story. Not directly in the music, but in it's hectic and disjointed structure. It's clear that this was not the product of a band that's synced up and firing on all cylinders.
Ultimately it's still a good album. Definitely a lot to like and has one of the best run of songs on any of their albums. I just think that it's too messy for its own good. Too much of it feels like filler and rather than showing the creative vision of each member, it reveals their individual weaknesses.
My favourite Beatles album changes a lot. Everything from Rubber Soul onwards is my favourite album depending on what day it is.
Just not White Album.