The The Beatles [White Album] [50th Anniversary Edition]

by The Beatles

Overview

Each song on the sprawling double album The Beatles is an entity to itself, as the band touches on anything and everything it can. This makes for a frustratingly scattershot record or a singularly gripping musical experience, depending on your view, but what makes the so-called White Album interesting is its mess. Never before had a rock record been so self-reflective, or so ironic; the Beach Boys send-up "Back in the U.S.S.R." and the British blooze parody "Yer Blues" are delivered straight-faced, so it's never clear if these are affectionate tributes or wicked satires. Lennon turns in two of his best ballads with "Dear Prudence" and "Julia"; scours the Abbey Road vaults for the musique concrete collage "Revolution 9"; pours on the schmaltz for Ringo's closing number, "Good Night"; celebrates the Beatles cult with "Glass Onion"; and, with "Cry Baby Cry," rivals Syd Barrett. McCartney doesn't reach quite as far, yet his songs are stunning -- the music hall romp "Honey Pie," the mock country of "Rocky Raccoon," the ska-inflected "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and the proto-metal roar of "Helter Skelter." Clearly, the Beatles' two main songwriting forces were no longer on the same page, but neither were George and Ringo. Harrison still had just two songs per LP, but it's clear from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," the canned soul of "Savoy Truffle," the haunting "Long, Long, Long," and even the silly "Piggies" that he had developed into a songwriter who deserved wider exposure. And Ringo turns in a delight with his first original, the lumbering country-carnival stomp "Don't Pass Me By." None of it sounds like it was meant to share album space together, but somehow The Beatles creates its own style and sound through its mess. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/09/2018
Label:	Capitol / Phd Wholesale
UPC:	0602567696865
Rank:	885

Tracks

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. 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

18. Birthday
19. Yer Blues
20. Mother Nature's Son
21. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
22. Sexy Sadie
23. Helter Skelter
24. Long, Long, Long
25. Revolution I
26. Honey Pie
27. Savoy Truffle
28. Cry Baby Cry
29. Revolution 9
30. Good Night

Album Credits

Performance Credits

The Beatles   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Paul Hicks   Remastering
Paul McCartney   Composer,Producer
W.C. Handy   Composer
Geoff Emerick   Engineer
George Harrison   Composer,Producer
Lorenz Hart   Composer
Ringo Starr   Composer,Producer
John Lennon   Composer,Producer
Jerry Leiber   Composer
Mike Stoller   Composer
George Martin   Composer,Producer
Sean Magee   Remastering
Ken Scott   Engineer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Richard Starkey   Composer
Guy Massey   Remastering
Giles Martin   Mixing
Mike Heatley   Liner Notes
Kevin Howlett   Liner Notes
Steve Rooke   Remastering
Sam O'Kell   Remastering