ribbons

Janszoon, I agree about the editing and jotted down a single-disc length White Album list of my own yesterday (on a paper napkin -- a white paper napkin -- truly!). Here it is, with tracks more or less in order:

Back In The U.S.S.R.
Happiness Is a Warm Gun
Wild Honey Pie
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
I'm So Tired
Blackbird
Savoy Truffle
Martha My Dear
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Julia
Yer Blues
Mother Nature's Son
Revolution 9
Long, Long, Long

***

EDIT:

This means the cross-outs (on the napkin ) were:

Birthday (really superfluous tune, imo; very easy deletion for me)
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (very easy deletion; funny but lightweight)
Cry Baby Cry (very difficult deletion; absolutely love the piano and drumming, but the nursery rhyme theme seems a bit out of place to me for this album)
Don’t Pass Me By (very difficult deletion, as I hated to cut Ringo’s only tune - and I love the Leslied upright piano and oompah pace. Oh well, at least it went to # 1 in Bavaria.)
Dear Prudence (difficult deletion if only for the superb bass line; the acoustic guitar pattern always seems slightly repetitive to me)
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey (love the energy of this song, so it was a difficult deletion)
Glass Onion (good playing on this, but an easy deletion thematically)
Good Night (touching song, as it was composed by John for his son Julian (although sung by Ringo – sorry again, Ringo!), but couldn’t really include it on a single disc)
Honey Pie (difficult deletion, as I love ‘20s-style music which Paul does so well)
I Will (difficult deletion, especially as it memorializes the beginning of Paul and Linda’s relationship - but I felt there were too many acoustic tracks to consider)
Piggies (significant in the context of the double album, superfluous to a single disc)
Revolution 1 (never liked this – the single is so much better)
Rocky Raccoon (I like it lots better than Bungalow Bill but, again, slightly lightweight for a single album)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (I hated to delete this, knowing it’s usually held in such high regard; but I think the song is overrated and it’s purely personal taste that I would leave it off)
Why Don’t We Do It In The Road (fun for the double album, no space for it on the single)

Holerbot6000

The White Album is what it is and needs to be digested whole, warts and all. I've been listening to that album for so many years, I can't imagine cutting it down. It's probably the first dreaded self-indulgent double album in rock history. Can anyone think of an earlier one? Once again, the Beatles did it first (and I think it's one of the best dreaded doubles ever). Totally biased, of course.

Janszoon

Canned Heat's Living the Blues, which consisted of one record of regular songs and one record of continuous jam band wanking, came out a few weeks before the White Album.

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Holerbot6000

Well ya got me there definitely, but I still think the Beatles record set the standard for what I'm thinking of. Jam band records are kind of few and far between but it seems like every established band does the dreaded double artistic statement stretch out sooner or later. It's like a rite of passage, and I do think the White Album was a direct inspiration for such like.

Howard the Duck

yeah same here

the only song I can't stand is "Bungalow Bill"

i also wished the vocals in "Long Long Long" were mixed louder - George was practically whispering there

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Janszoon

Magical Mystery Tour

First off, that you very much to Burning Down for sending this to me!

This is an interesting Beatles release to review since there are two very different versions of it—the original British six-track double EP and the American LP which was the British EP with several singles tacked on the end. I'm going to try and do both.

First up is the original British release, which was the actual soundtrack to the movie of the same name. What can I say about it? It's okay, just okay. None of these songs are bad by any means, but none are particularly great either. Mostly it sound like it's a collection of song that didn't make it on to Sgt. Pepper's, and ones that are, frankly, not as well produced. "Fool on the Hill" is the probably the strongest, with it's Dovonan-esque flute and Beach Boys bass harmonica. "Flying" is pleasant, if forgettable. "Magical Mystery Tour" sounds like a half-assed "Sgt. Pepper". "Blue Jay Way", probably the most experimental of the bunch, never quite rises above it's own murk. "Your Mother Should Know" is another of the better songs, this time in the "granny shit" vein that McCartney was so fond of. The vocal melody is nice but the actual song structure is a little on the uninteresting side. "I am the Walrus", probably the most well known song on the original double EP, would have been the most at home of Sgt. Pepper's, but not as one of the stronger tracks—I was pleased, though, to finally understand a Rocket from the Crypt reference after giving this track a closer listen.

On to the American release. I've already reviewed about half of it in the previous paragraph, here's the rest: "Hello, Goodbye" is a pretty nice single. Not one of my favorites, but I love that climbing quality of the chorus, not to mention that rough-assed fiddle. "Strawberry Fields Forever" obviously very much fits into the Sgt. Pepper zone. It's a good song (though it has surprisingly shitty guitar playing if you listen closely) but I have to say I think the Los Fabulosos Cadillacs/Debbie Harry cover surpasses the original in nearly every way. "Penny Lane" is another decent quality single. As I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for bittersweet pop tunes and this fits the bill perfectly. "Baby, You're a Rich Man" is by far the worst song on this side, but it's still okay, sort of comparable to much of the first side. Last by not least is "All You Need is Love", very much in the carnival barker fashion of Sgt. Pepper's but nevertheless easily the best song on here. I'm especially fond of the the vocal melodies.

Altogether, I find the original British release to be pretty lacklustre. It's not horrible, but definitely my least favorite of the albums I've reviewed so far. The American release somewhat remedies this though with its addition of decent singles and I'd say that version of the album, while still not great, is roughly on par with Rubber Soul.

Here's that Los Fabulosos Cadillacs cover by the way:




Up next: Help!

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blastingas10

How would you sum up your opinion of The Beatles, a good
But overrated band? Or a decent and extremely overrated band?

Howard the Duck

huh, it's supposed to sound like that - one part was recorded in Bb, another in C#

Bb raised in pitch, C# lowered

it gives that surreal dreamlike feeling

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Janszoon

Probably "good but overrated". It would be hard for them not to be overrated with the reputation that have but they do have some great stuff that I come to enjoy a lot more since starting this thread.

It's supposed to sound shitty? Well in that case they achieved their goal. I'm not talking about key it's in though, I'm talking about the actual playing, which sound like a new member joined the band and was struggling to keep up.

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Howard the Duck

it's supposed to sound as if you were high

i don't find it "****ty", more "unique"

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