The Beatles (aka the white album)

Disc Two

Birthday
One of those songs you just sort of wish were never written, even if it represents the blueprint for all that is Cheap Trick.

Yer Blues
Can there be a clearer delineation between McCartney and Lennon than "Birthday" and this song? That one chirped and bobbed, this one moans and lurches. And if the title didn't spell it out (it did), this is most definitely a blues, although the sort that someone like Eric Clapton was probably happy to stay clear of.

Mother Nature's Son
Bored. It's on par with shit like Fleet Foxes, but with better vocals. And horns.

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
This is just an ungodly racket. And another one of my faves. There's a brittle deliberate ugliness to this song that makes it a grandad to a lot of what went on in 70s punk and post-punk.

Sexy Sadie
Another deep cut fave. The title sets me up to expect another "Rocky Raccoon" but it avoids cloying cuteness. In fack, it features a sublime melody - and Lennon's knack for moving into falsetto at the perfect moment (tell me Britt Daniel hasn't been taking notes). That background "wowowow" is purty durn cool too.

Helter Skelter
At last, Paul brings it. Really just as ugly as "Monkey", even if it is about a spiral slide at a school playground. Poor ol' Charlie Manson really misread that one. 4 of the 6 songs on this side so far prove once again that under the massive cultural phenomenon the Beatles were a beast of a rock 'n' roll band when they wanted to be.

Long, Long, Long
Holy change of gears. Is this George? I really like it. Sounds like a minor cut after all that's preceded it, but a solid song.

Revolution 1
Well, you just can't beat the single version (which ranks in my fave songs ever), but this laidback groove is pretty sweet, even with the horns and shoo-be-doo-wop backing vox. You can hear Harrison's guitar just begging to be let loose though - the sonic equivalent of a junk yard dog at a chain link fence. I prefer the version without the fence.

Honey Pie
I want to punch Paul in the sack.

Savoy Truffle
George is reading from a menu, ferchrissakes. Kinda surprising how well this song works.

Cry, Baby, Cry
Love this one. Like "Long, Long, Long" it gets overwhelmed by some of the major moves surrounding it, but a great song.

Revolution 9
I gotta admit, I love how pointless and annoying this is. And I love it even more when I consider the cross-section of fans the Beatles had acquired by this point - everyone from screeching prepubescent girlies to "serious" musos - so you've got to know this marked a clear line in the sand. I mean, this atrocity exists on the same album as "Ob-La-Di". Meditate on that for a moment.

Good Night
With these last two songs as closers, I'm surprised anyone expected another Beatles album ever. This sounds final.

Doesn't he play with Lennon on this track from Live in Toronto?

Has anybody done more for John Lennon's legacy than Mark David Chapman?

Stick to the sports commentary where its accepted to be dumb as a post.

Also, what was the 'Edited White Album' that was floating around here before?

i knew there was a reason i had him blocked.

Yellow Submarine

Released in '69, with one side George Martin orchestral shee and one side of ostensibly "new" Beatles songs (even though all of the new tracks had been recorded a year or two earlier). This is product, plain and simple.

Yellow Submarine
I will stab a fork in my ear the next time I have to listen to this in its entirety.

Only A Northern Song
A Harrison tune - and calling it a "tune" is hyperbolic on my part.

All Together Now
A leftover track from '67, and nothing more than a ditty. A Paul ditty, that is - so even more dittier than ditty with a side order of extra ditty. Comparatively makes the previous song sound like "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

Hey Bulldog
Recorded in Feb. '68, so the newest track on the album. Sounds messy and unfinished, although an unlikely, spectacular guitar solo springs out of nowhere in the middle of it all.

It's All Too Much
Another Harrison track. 6 minutes of multi-tracked meh.

All You Need Is Love
Fans must have been so pissed off after spending cash on this "album", and the re-appearance of this already released song was just rubbing salt in the wound. Just a reminder of what the band was capable of when they tried, and a confirmation that they weren't trying.

Pepperland
Sea of Time
Sea of Holes
Sea of Monsters
March of the Meanies
Pepperland Laid Waste
Yellow Submarine in Pepperland
I will never listen to any of this again.

I've still never listened to that "album".

yeah that's the one remaster that i still can't bring myself to purchase.

You've been buying them individually?

I've been mulling it over, but I wanted to get the earlier albums in mono, if I could, and I think the mono versions are only available as part of the box. Eh, whatever. I guess I'll just get the regular stereo remasters of Please Please Me and With the Beatles (since I've never owned those) and go from there.

yeah. i bought a couple at first and then kept going back like every couple of days and getting another. it helped that they were all on sale and all said they were probably cheaper than the box at the place where i bought them, but i probably could've gotten a better deal for that on amazon.

Yellow Submarine is horrendous. I like the sprawl of the White Album. I do not understand why Magical Mystery Tour is so maligned.

Can we do the Ted Nugent discography next?

Abbey Road

Yeah, so I've never hidden my disdain for the much vaunted side 2 of this thing, but I'm going into this with as much of an open mind as I can muster.

Come Together
Right off the bat, the remastering sounds awesome. Paul's bass has always been high in the mix, but that dirty rhythm guitar lazing around underneath it all really stands out now. Sounds like a real band just getting together and playing. The song itself has never been one of my faves, but I'm never unhappy to hear it either.

Something
Again, the remaster helps this. I've never before noticed how busy Paul's bass is during this song. And this tune, along with "Here Comes The Sun", is probably George's songwriting apex.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Paul, we've gone over this shit a few times already. Stop it. Just stop.

Oh Darling
Much better, Paul. A seriously vast improvement. Still mining the oldies, but at least you're closer to your own decade.

Octopus's Garden
Why wasn't this on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack? I could've ignored it there.

I Want You (She's So Heavy)
Not so much a song as an extended jam with a cool tune at its center. Just like "Come Together", I love hearing the band playing like this. Feels like it's been way too long for that - since before Pepper anyway.

Here Comes The Sun
My fave George track. Little stroke of genius.

Because
Goddammit, Please Please Me feels like a million years ago. It's hard to keep the big picture in perspective, especially after Pepper's and the white album. This song almost gets back to those more innocent times, as if the band is trying to revisit '66. Not a bad thing at all, really.

You Never Give Me Your Money
Not a great song, but I'm happy enough just experiencing the band playing together here. It shouldn't feel like such a shock that they're an honest-to-god band, but it does.

Sun King
Okay, so here we enter the side 2 song suite. I love the mellow intro, much less enamored with the half-assed song that arises out of it.

Mean Mr. Mustard
Well now, that segue was less than impressive. Just an abrupt cut. Song at least sounds more finished than the previous one, but then after a minute it's over...

Polythene Pam
Another abrupt segue, another minute-long snippet of an idea. Kind of intriguing. Could've possibly grown into something.

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Much smoother transition into this one. Another hint of a song that may have been worthwhile with some extra work. Fade out...

Golden Slumbers
And fade up from silence. Just over a minute, but this one actually works as a song, and not only because it feels finished, but also because...

Carry That Weight
...it transitions into this song at the perfect moment - and this song contains one of the greatest hooks ever written. Not much else, but still... great hook.

The End
After the whole trip, from Cavern Club to cultural phenomenon, they go out with a bunch of song scraps and then this cool little jam that ends with a tease of a lyric. It's a great ending. Except...

Her Majesty
Some dumbass felt the need to tack on this unnecessary business at the end. Bad idea. It's the equivalent of a hidden track - except not hidden but just as useless.


Final verdict: I haven't changed my opinion on this one. That second side is almost as over-praised as Pepper's or Pet Sounds. Maybe moreso. And the much heralded George Martin/Paul McCartney advancements in sound recording/editing during that side are a total let-down. Nope, sorry. This band was long done.

I've mentioned multiple times about the cognitive bias of the recency effect, and I know full well it's why I have always had a negative opinion on Abbey Road as I hate, hate, hate, hate that this album ends with 'Her Majesty'. THIS is the final piece of music on the Beatles final album and why I always feel disappointed after playing it. This calls for a Blech.

Let It Be
The only of the latter Beatles albums I'd never heard before. Chronologically recorded before Abbey Road but released after - which makes sense, as far as I'm concerned. This album's "back to basics" approach makes for a much more fitting end point.

Two Of Us
Wow, I'm not sure how I've never heard this before. It's great. Understated and affecting. How was this not compiled on '67-'70 and "The Long And Winding Road" was? I'm kind of surprised it's the lead-off track instead of the finale though.

Dig A Pony
Again, wow. Never heard before and loving it. So far I'm completely on board with the band's notion to strip the sound back to basics. It's working on every level.

Across the Universe
One of the ones I've been all too familiar with - although listening to it in the context of the album I can't help but get annoyed with the orchestral and choir overdubs. I guess that's the Spector touch? So much for "back to basics".

I Me Mine
More orchestra - why was that considered necessary? I love when the chorus jettisons that shit and just rocks out. And it would've been even more effective if the verses had just been George and his guitar.

Dig It
Huh. One of those song scraps that seems misplaced in sequencing. Oh shit - just realized what comes next. Maybe the sequencing is fine.

Let It Be
Another one of those bedrock songs. Hard to hear it as anything other than something that just dropped magically out of the sky. The guitar part has a nice dirty bite to it to counter the sweetness - remaster really brings that out.

Maggie Mae
Clocking in under a minute before it falls apart. Small peek into the band dicking around in the studio. Okay.

I've Got A Feeling
Like my favorite moments on Abbey Road, this isn't so much a great song as a great example of the band's ability to play together. Like it. Like it a lot.

One After 909
Awesomeness. Same as above, really. I'm falling back in love with the band.

The Long And Winding Road
And then they do this to me. Spector cheese on top of Paul cheese with an extra helping of cheese. It really was all too good to be true, wasn't it?

For You Blue
Oh man, I've heard this before but honestly never knew it was the Beatles. Figured it was Mungo Jerry or something. It's pretty damn good too.

Get Back
Don't really know what to say about this. Like a lot of this album, it's a fine document of the band playing but it's a song I've never much cared for. Thematically it should've started the album - switched places with "Two of Us" - although that final Lennon crack of "I hope we passed the audition" is the perfect way to end, so nevermind.


I'm actually kinda sad to see this all end. What a great story these guys stitched together. And as much as I wish they could've stuck together for eternity like the Stones, their disbandment was ultimately as perfect as it was heartbreaking. A definite beginning, middle, and end. Goodbye '60s. Dream is over.


Next up, the two discs of the Past Masters.

cool.

It was nice getting an insight into what you love and hate about my favorite band, rads.

Thanks to everyone else who kept me entertained for the past 15 pages.

I didn't feel the need to go into every track and defend my love of tracks some of you feel are schlock, but by no means do I think they're perfect. I do think their accomplishments are mind boggling, especially given the timeline.

I think the overall quality considering the quantity is pretty outstanding as well.

I'd love to do more similar threads like this on Obner. One of my favorite threads in a long time.

Yeah, while my pure nostalgia for The Beatles sometimes makes me go "eeerrr?" when Radcliffe begins his takedown, I can't say I disagree with much of his assessments.

But, my abiding love for the material is such that I can ignore that and still like a lot of what he considers tripe.

The writing is very entertaining and well put together though. A+ effort here RAGSILF!

not a review from me, but funny nonetheless

http://www.cynical-c.com/?p=16171