The Beatles White Album

The White Album is not only my favorite Beatles album, it's my favorite album by any artist ever.

While it's not perfect (it includes some of the few duds among The Beatles original songs) it's great variety makes it my favorite. It's all over the map and I love that about it. I think it's what makes it so interesting to listen to time after time. Even after I've heard it a thousand times, I still want to hear it again. 

The White Album is synonymous with "double album." It's one of the first albums that most people think of when the phrase is uttered. 

In general I don't like double albums. I'm a big fan of conciseness. I usually prefer albums to be 40 minutes or less. But for some reason this album is an exception.

That said, I should mention that I usually only listen to disc 1 or disc 2 (I think of it this way, having grown up in the era of CDs) rather than listening to the whole thing in one sitting. 

Overall I've probably listened to the first disc quite a few more times than the second but recently I've been listening to the second disc more often. 

The White Album is included in mono in The Beatles Remastered Mono Box Set and in stereo in The Beatles Remastered Stereo Box Set (both released on September 9, 2009.)

In some cases there are some significant differences between the two mixes (other than the obvious panning differences) such as "Helter Skelter" being almost a minute shorter in mono!

Overall, I prefer the stereo version - but it's very cool to have both and to be able to compare and contrast them. 

1. "Back In The USSR" - There's a lot to love about this track from the very cool plane sound effects (they are really quite loud in the mix if you pay attention) to the great Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies to the tongue in cheek lyrics. 
2. "Dear Prudence" - One of my very favorite Beatles songs. It's a great song and I love the structure of it, the way it builds up. And check out Paul McCartney's awesome bass line. 
3. "Glass Onion" - I've noticed quite a few people don't like this song like I do. I don't get that, to me it seems like such an easy song to love. It's just really cool from the great lyrics that reference other Beatles songs to the non-sequitur outro. And the way the cello is used is so inventive. Can you think of another song that uses the cello like this one does? 
4. "Ob-La-Da, Ob-La-Di" - This is another song that gets some undue hate from folks. And again, I don't get it. Maybe it's just too happy for some? Hey, there's nothing wrong with being ridiculously happy from time to time, it's an important part of being manic depressive. This is a good time and I love the lyrics where Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face. Brilliant. 
5. "Wild Honey Pie" - It's not really meant to stand up on it's own, just as a bizarre little world you go to on your way through The White Album. I love it. It's pretty cool that the Pixies covered it too, although I don't really like their version too much.
6. "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" - This is a pretty ridiculous song that used to kind of get on my nerves but it's grown on me over the years. Still not one of my favorites, but it's got it's charms. 
7. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - Epic. A real masterpiece from George Harrison. And his pal Eric Clapton did a wonderful job on lead guitar in really making the guitar "weep." It's the only song where a non-Beatle plays guitar. 
8. "Happiness is a Warm Gun" - John Lennon stitched together a few segments into one complete song with this one. This is one of The Beatles best songs in my opinion. And it has influenced some fantastic music. The members of Radiohead have said this song was an influence on the structuring of their epic song "Paranoid Android." 
9. "Martha My Dear" - Sure it's a song about a sheepdog (Paul had a sheepdog named Martha) and it's a bit "twee" (I think Paul - along with Brian Wilson -  is pretty directly responsible for the whole indie twee thing) and I can see how this would make it unacceptable to some people who have a narrow idea of what kind of music they can like. But I totally dig it. It's a lovely tune and the instrumentation is interesting.
10. "I'm So Tired" - It's interesting how in the mono version Paul's accompanying vocal (during the chorus) is much louder than in the stereo version. This is a great song. I love how it goes between the quiet "tired" verse and the louder explosion of anger that is the chorus. Is this the genesis of the "quiet/loud" style of the Pixies and Nirvana? Probably not, there's most likely much more extreme examples of this earlier on. 
11. "Blackbird" - When I first played this album on CD, I had to stop it on this track and play it over again. I was that taken with it on my first listen. And now all of these years later, I still absolutely love it. It's perfect.
12. "Piggies" - This is a song that has had to grow on me. I must admit I didn't originally care for it, but I quite dig it now. I'm listening to the new remastered stereo version of it as I write this now and it really sounds quite glorious with the over-the-top arrangement. 
13. "Rocky Raccoon" - This is another song where I've noticed a lot of other people don't like it too much but that I've always really loved. What's wrong with people? Why must they take themselves so seriously? Some people just don't get Paul's "silly" songs. They don't seem to get that his tongue is firmly implanted in his cheek. I'm a big fan of Ween and to me if you listen to Paul's "silly" songs from a "Ween perspective" you begin to understand how awesome they are. 
14. "Don't Pass Me By" - This is the only song on disc one that I really just don't care for and that I can't seem to get into. But even then there are a couple aspects of it that I like. The first being the sort of "ramshackle" sound of it, it sounds sort of like some totally spaced out rednecks broke into Abbey Road and somehow got their recording stuck on a Beatles album. Actually I think I'm starting to get it right at this very moment. The sound itself is pretty is cool. The problem is the song is pretty much crap. The other Beatles do all they can to rescue Ringo's poor songwriting but it's not an easy task. Oh yeah, the second thing I like about it: "You were in a car crash and you lost your hair."
15. "Why Don't We Do It In the Road?" - It rocks. Absolutely. I've always loved this song, even if there's not much song here. It's simplicity works perfectly with the sentiment.
16. "I Will" - The sequencing is great. Straight from the primal to the sweet. Much like "Blackbird" this song is perfect. Paul McCartney is a ridiculously talented songwriter.
17. "Julia" - A beautifully sad way to end disc one. This song was named after John's mother (who was killed by an off duty police officer in a drunk driving accident when he was 17) and it's also inspired by his then very new lover Yoko Ono. To me there's a true soul baring emotional aspect to this song that is almost unsettling in the context of a Beatles album (their songs were not often overly emotional.) 

1. "Birthday" - I love the sound of the bass in the newly remastered stereo version. The split double track vocals from Paul sound pretty amazing too (on headphones.) It may not be one of The Beatles greatest songs, but it's a hell of a lot of fun to listen to.
2. "Yer Blues" - From the superficial party starter that is track one into the heavy blues of track two. For some folks these kind of huge jumps in style may be difficult to deal with but they are a big part of what I love about this album.
3. "Mother Nature's Son" - I've never really loved this song like I do "Blackbird" and "I Will" from disc one. That's not to say I don't like it, I do - it's just not among my very favorites. It does sound amazing in the new remastered stereo version (I keep saying that because it's so true.)
4. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey" - Lots of great guitar riffs can be heard in this track. I really love the "come on come on come on" bit at the end.
5. "Sexy Sadie" - A highlight of disc two. There are so many great things going on in this track it's hard to know where to start. The phased out backing vocals have always been a favorite bit for me.
6. "Helter Skelter" - Awesome. I think may favorite part is actually the backing vocals. They're easy to miss with the heavy guitar riff and all of the noise but I think it's the "ahhh" vocals that really blasts it into outer space.
7. "Long Long Long" - The atmospherics are incredible. It's like floating in a cloud. One of the biggest improvements in sound quality with the new remasters can be heard with this song. The understated nature of this after the bombastic "Helter Skelter" is probably the most obvious example of the kind of unexpected song sequencing that gives The White Album so much of it's unique personality. Actually, perhaps tracks 12 and 13 are an even better example! But I'll get to them here in just a bit.
8. "Revolution 1" - There's some really cool things about this version of "Revolution" such as the "shooby doo wop" backing vocals. But I must say when it comes down to it, if I had to pick just one version of this song to listen to that I would have to go with the faster single version. By the way, this was actually the original version of this song. It was re-recorded faster to be released as a single (it was released as a double A-side single with "Hey Jude" on the other side.)
9. "Honey Pie" - I used to not really like this song at all, but it's grown on me quite a bit over time. It's still not among my favorites, but it adds another interesting element to the album. It's really impressive when you consider the variety of musical styles on this album.
10. "Savoy Truffle" - This is another song that has grown on me over time. Similarly to "Honey Pie" it's still not among my favorites, but I do appreciate it now. The way the horns are used is pretty sweet (and again, they sound awesome on the new remastered stereo version.) George wrote this song about his pal Eric Clapton (who can be heard playing guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps.")
11. "Cry Baby Cry" - I've read interviews where John Lennon talks down this song of his, I don't get that because I think it's great. Of course Lennon was often very hard on his own work with The Beatles. I think that's perhaps because it cast such a shadow over his life. Back to "Cry Baby Cry" along with being a big fan of the song itself, I also really like Paul's bit at the end "can you take me back home" which leads so perfectly into the next track.
12. "Revolution #9" - The Beatles track that people most love to hate. It's just too weird for most folks, and I can understand that. But I've always loved it. I've always loved how absolutely insane it is (especially in the context of being on album by the biggest band in the world.) I love the experience of really listening to it, listening for all of the strange places it takes you through the course of the track. I will admit that I often stop the album at "Cry Baby Cry" and call it a day (and it would have been a big mistake to have it higher in the sequencing) but I have also had some great times listening to the track and I love that they included it on the album (John apparently had to overcome the rest of The Beatles and George Martin's protests to get it on.)
13. "Good Night" - The Beatles go from one of the (if not the) weirdest track to ever make it onto a hit album to one of the most syrupy sweet songs ever released by a rock band. Unfortunately in this case I don't think it really works. This is my least favorite track on the album (sorry to Ringo as the two songs he sings are probably my two least favorites) and it's among my all time least favorite Beatles recordings. I just don't get anything out of it, except that it does almost put me to sleep when I hear it which is fitting given the subject matter.