The Glorious, Quixotic Mess That Is the Beatles' 'White Album'

PopMatters ^ | February 19th, 2016 | by Chris Gerard

[Mariner]

The Beatles’ kaleidoscopic opus Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band arrived in 1967, the “Summer of Love”, the season of psychedelia and LSD, free love and hippy idealism. That all faded into 1968, a year of violence and dread. The Vietnam War raged with no end in sight, civil rights protests and vicious backlashes roiled across America, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, the hippie enclave at Haight-Ashbury descended into a quagmire of hard drugs and crime, protesters and police skirmished at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Czechoslovakia was invaded, numerous countries around the world were held in the stone fist of brutal dictatorships, protests in Northern Ireland erupted in violence… the world was wrought with chaos and fear.

The time for the mystical fantasies of Sgt. Pepper had passed. Something more elemental was required. It’s no coincidence that the Rolling Stones released their dark classic Beggar’s Banquet in 1968, with its incendiary cornerstone tracks “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man”. The darkness was in the air.

So what next for the Beatles? Their longtime manager and restraining influence, Brian Epstein, was dead of a drug overdose. The band’s Magical Mystery Tour TV special was savaged by critics and became the group’s first significant failure. The stakes were high for pop music’s biggest band, who suddenly found themselves cut adrift in a very different world. Their solution was the Anti-Pepper… simply called The Beatles but promptly dubbed the White Album for its stark white cover. Where Sgt. Pepper was all vibrant colors and imagery, the White Album couldn’t be more different—raw, often unrefined, frequently veiled in shadow.

[Rebelbase]

#9 makes perfect sense if one is tripping on shrooms.

[cuban leaf]

I will confess I have a soft spot for obla-di-obla-da except for the weird sex change toward the end.

This is a really fun rendition of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BKhvhSehc

on a side note, there is something called The White Album Concert. Here is one song from it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDTUALprnLI

And here are the beatles in a 15 minute video about the making of the White Album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_gAeHlIrWc

[MuttTheHoople]

John and George are still working, with Stu and Brian

[Artaniss]

While My Guitar Gently Weeps contains the meaning of life.

Listen to it.

The version on YT - Eric Clapton - While my guitar gently weeps (Concert for George) is very good.

[Flycatcher]

Very informative article.

Thanks for posting.

[Bodleian_Girl]

I agree with you about The White Album.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

The White Album and Revolver were the Beatles finest.

Sgt Peppers

No, no - Abbey Road. Then Revolver.

I recently bought The Beatles in Mono on vinyl. Absolutely worth every penny - astonishingly good quality and the glossy jackets are faithful reproductions of the UK jackets right down to the advertisements for EMITEX record cleaning cloths on the back.

[plain talk]

Great summary of the album. enjoyed it. Of course Sgt Pepper is a very special album. After that my favorite has always been Abbey Road. In particular I enjoy the three guitar solos on the 2nd side which was the last thing they recorded for that album. But I love the White Album and Revolver as well ...

[dadfly]

ha.

i guess it’s too late to call Dr. Robert.

[rusty schucklefurd]

One of my all time favorite songs on the White Album is “Dear Prudence”. I love the layering of vocals and instruments - I especially love the drum work on the last minute or so of the piece - I read somewhere that Paul played the drums on this song - don’t know if that’s true or not.

[wardaddy]

Feel the hate on that album....whew

Lennons contribution is like a prequel to Plastic Ono Band

[Mariner]

“Dear Prudence”

Lennon was on a talk show back in the day, and related that song was recorded in a single take, studio live.

It was just Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.

[Cedar]

I grew up with the Beatles from the time my mom brought home one of their 45’s in the early 1960’s. I bought every album, knew every note and lyric—each one a real work of musical art, in my opinion. No wonder they were my favorite band, such talent.

[jurroppi1]

That’s funny!

[onedoug]

“Dear Prudence”.

I was cleaning a .50 cal machine gun when I heard that for the first time on AFVN. Overlooking the rice paddy that stretched from Hill 29 to the Redball twixt Danang and Chu Lai, deciding right then that I would remember that scene for the rest of my life.

“...The sun is up. The sky is blue....”

Seems like it was just there.

[Bodleian_Girl]

Thanks for your service.

My uncle was in Vietnam. I still remember the day he came home.

[jimmyray]

That memory is compelling!!! Care to elaborate a little more? How did you get there, who did you bunk with, what was a duty day (esp that day), etc.

[Zirondelle]

Abbey Road, side 2. Excellence!

[dfwgator]

Macca originally wanted to have “Junk” on the White Album but the other members didn’t want it. So he wound up putting it on his first solo album. IMHO, it’s one of the best melodies he ever came up with.

[freepertoo]

With the White Album, they did go their separate ways. It has its fine moments, but mostly a big MEH. Their unity was magical...their individuality just mediocrity.