The Beatles (The White Album) [Enhanced]

Yet despite the dips in quality, The White Album is an album I play regularly from start to finish. I suppose that a lot of the White Album's charm comes from the sequencing of songs that juxtapose rock with country with folk with experimental; that four composers are at work; Paul excels with Back in the USSR and Blackbird; that George's songwriting takes a big step forward (White My Guitar Gently Weeps just may be the best cut); that John returns to the forefront of the band with outstanding work (Dear Prudence, Julia and Yer Blues; and the album creates its own universe by sheer size and variety.

Though not my favourite Beatles album, and not a masterpiece along the lines of Revolver and Pepper, The White Album is a great album.

Regardless of the different music preferences and the like or dislike for the Beatles' music, the "double white" adds value based on the following concepts. First, it offered a summary of almost every style played during the 60's. (1) Rock'n Roll ("Back To the USSR", "Every Body's Got Something To Hide"...), (2) Heavy Rock ("Helter Skelter", "Birthday"), (3) Electric Blues ("Yer Blues"), (4) Jazz ("Honey Pie"), (5) Folk-Rock (the album's version of "Revolution"), (6) Folk ("Blackbird", "I Will" "Julia", "Rocky Raccoon"), (7) Experimental ("Revolution No 9"), (8) Baroque ("Piggies"), (9) Raw expressions ("Wild Honey Pie", "Why Don't We Do It..."), (10) Heavy Ballads ("Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Dear Prudence", "Sexy Sadie") and, (11) Typical 60's pop (from "Ob-la-di-Ob-la-da", "While My Guitar..." through "Don't Pass Me By"). Second, the sound of the instruments evolved significantly as bass was given a protagonic role ("Dear Prudence" or "Birthday") as opposed to being kept in the back of the tracks. Guitars were used to create a forceful atmosphere ("Helter Skelter", "Every body's Got.."... "Yer Blues"). Third, the Beatles' grew as individual musicians and as a result the instrument switching during the recordings increased, thus George gets to play bass and to invite Clapton into one of his sessions, while Paul plays drums and guitars on more than one track. Many of the tracks reflect the work of a "soloist" or of a soloist with a backing group, and the White Album included more of these solo efforts than any of the Beatles previous material. However, I don't find that these characteristics diminish the quality of the album. "Blackbird" and "I Will" relate more to McCartney's solo music than to the Beatles, but so did "Yesterday", "For No One", and "Fool On the Hill". In addition, "Julia", "Cry Baby Cry" and "Sexy Sadie" were totally Lennon and distant from the Beatles music, but also were tunes like "You've Got To Hide Your...", and "Tomorrow Never Knows". The same cold be said for Harrison's compositions, were "Within You and Without You", "The Inner Light", or "Love You To", reflected more George's mood than the Beatles 60's music.

If you have doubts on the value of the "double white" and its subtleties, let me humbly recommend that you "only" compare this material with the sound of the albums issued during 1967 and 1968. Please abstain from comparing the "Double White Album" with 70's rock groups, contemporary artists, or any other group that emerged and developed after this material was released. I've received comments of listeners who argue that many of the tracks sounded raw, unfinished and disconnected from each other. As a result, some seem to think the "White Album" should have been a one record album instead of a double. Analysing the material I find that there are at least 21 songs that have the same quality standard as the material considered as the group's best. Only 9 tunes out of 30 contained in the album could be questionable. Probably the album should have been a "shorter double album".

My final comment is that the "Double White" was an innovative concept at the time it was released and I remind music lovers that most of the Beatles' music was "perfectly simple", which made it "simply perfect".