
The
BEATLES: The White Album 50th Anniversary Blu-ray/6 CD Set
(1968/Universal Music/Apple Corps Ltd.)
DTS/Dolby
5.1 Sound: A- PCM Mono/Stereo CD Sound: B Extras: A-
Music: A-
One
of the greatest double albums of all time, up there with Bob Dylan's
Blonde
On Blonde,
The Who's rock opera Tommy
and Elton John's Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road,
The
White Album
(1968) was the beginning of the end for The Beatles, whether they
knew it at the time or not. Their existence as a whole, cohesive
band had peaked on Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
(1967, reviewed elsewhere on this site), an album so successful that
it prevented the soundtrack to their TV special Magical
Mystery Tour
from reaching #1 and actually became the first Beatles release to
lose money. Making things worse, their great manager Brian Epstein
had shockingly died at a young age, meaning they were now really on
their own.
During
the making of the album, they stopped following certain guidelines
and the much-discussed presence of Lennon's then-new love Yoko Ono is
said to have caused some friction in the band. That could be valid
to some degree (other wives/girlfriends of the other members did also
show up at times), but in reality, though never discussed, she is
also representative proof that they were now totally grown men with
growing personal lives and that was not and did not need to be
delayed just to have them be a band. Additionally, all four had
accomplished so much personally and professionally that turning back
the clock would have been ridiculous and idiotic. Thus, including
new ideas that George Harrison and Ringo Starr would have, if they
had not released a double album, might they have split up sooner?
Fortunately,
that did not yet happen and if anything, it was time to take a few
bold new steps including harder-rocking music, more challenging
music, bolder music, a rawness that was not on their early records
and (in many cases) push the new 8-track recording systems they would
have in their possession for the first time. After a series of
groundbreaking, innovative masterworks of cover art, they decided
that Magical
Mystery Tour
was the peak of that for a while and turned to delivering a blank
white cover gatefold that only had their name (sometimes slightly
tilted) in raised Helvetica font letters like an oversized business
card. Thus, it was time to get down to business.
Producing
even more music than could fit on four sides of a 33 1/3 vinyl disc
set, Harrison started to show he was Lennon and McCartney's equal,
Starr was getting more proficient in his drumming without sacrificing
talent, instinct or feel and their signature harmonies were as tight
as ever. For this new 6 CD/Blu-ray box set, the album is available
in four versions on the Blu-ray (more on that technically below) and
the first two of the six CDs here. I will comment on the album cuts
referencing them by number, then in the extras section, choice extra
tracks.
For
Disc One, the opening Track 1 was an undeniable response to album
burning, hatred of the group, its art, their 'foreigner' status and
those who accused them of being left wing instigators, or all the
non-fans of the band who don't care about people or any of the arts
at all. If you took it too seriously, tough, especially as it also
spoofed a Chuck Berry hit. Yet Track 3 shows they were ready to
deconstruct their entire past for the fans who were with them, so in
one sense, they were almost starting over. Tracks 8 and 12 were also
meant to be as provocative as possible, while (coincidentally?)
tracks 8 and 12 on Disc Two were also so in a more sly and even
tricky way. Revolution
9
announced that they were never abandoning their previous sonic
experimentation and it insists (a concept still too many do not get)
that an album never has to be merely a collections of songs, concept
album, rock opera or otherwise.
Another
pattern that is amusing is that after we get a challenging rough
and.or raw song, there's McCartney with a classic ballad and/or
classic tune that is almost a break from the bolder side of the
music, though of such high quality that it is not filler or surrender
or some kind of sonic breather, but another side of the band that
always was and will be there.
Disc
1, Track 7 is a still a stunning highlight, one of the sonically best
tracks here, a masterwork by Harrison and guitar by Eric Clapton,
while Track 8 is probably one of the most important political
statements and honest songs about impotence and killing ever made.
Disc Two, Tracks 4, 5 & 6 are the peak of the album's raw
boldness, one of the strongest sets of songs the band ever recorded
and Track 8 unfortunately entering into historical infamy they had
nothing to do with. On their own outside of that, they were going
into the territory of their friends The Rolling Stones and succeeded.
While
re-listening to all of this, sounding as good or better than I have
ever heard the album in my life (and among these are some of their
most played songs ever) it can be sometimes like never having heard
them before, they are playing in a higher musical level than most
music bands and artists could ever dream of reaching and the rawness
coincides with what happened and what was happening the year of its
release. That is no coincidence, just a sense of the moment they
knew as well as anyone.
By
this time too, imitators of the band (The Monkees), latter-wave
British Invasion groups and hit records that reflected the simple
'innocent' beginnings of The Beatles (Sugar
Shack,
World
Without Love
(the latter penned by McCartney)) showed that Beatlemania meant that
imitators and musician fans were catching up with them in some ways,
so they had
to keep pushing to break new ground. Here, they succeeded.
Here
is the Track Listings of all 6 CDs (the first two, again, of the
Blu-ray as well), followed by tech comments and extras....
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
1.
Birthday
2.
Yer Blues
3.
Mother Nature's Son
4.
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5.
Sexy Sadie
6.
Helter Skelter
7.
Long, Long, Long
8.
Revolution 1
9.
Honey Pie
10.
Savoy Truffle
11.
Cry Baby Cry
12.
Revolution 9
13.
Good Night
Disc:
3
1.
Back In The U.S.S.R. (Esher Demo)
2.
Dear Prudence (Esher Demo)
3.
Glass Onion (Esher Demo)
4.
Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da
5.
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (Esher Demo)
6.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Esher Demo)
7.
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Esher Demo)
8.
I'm So Tired (Esher Demo)
9.
Blackbird (Esher Demo)
10.
Piggies (Esher Demo)
11.
Rocky Raccoon (Esher Demo)
12.
Julia (Esher Demo)
13.
Yer Blues (Esher Demo)
14.
Mother Nature's Son (Esher Demo)
15.
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (Esher
Demo)
16.
Sexy Sadie (Esher Demo)
17.
Revolution (Esher Demo)
18.
Honey Pie (Esher Demo)
19.
Cry Baby Cry (Esher Demo)
20.
Sour Milk Sea (Esher Demo)
21.
Junk (Esher Demo)
22.
Child Of Nature (Esher Demo)
23.
Circles (Esher Demo)
24.
Mean Mr Mustard (Esher Demo)
25.
Polythene Pam (Esher Demo)
26.
Not Guilty (Esher Demo)
27.
What's The New Mary Jane (Esher Demo)
Disc:
4
1.
Revolution 1 (Take 18)
2.
A Beginning (Take 4)/Don't Pass Me By (Take 7)
3.
Blackbird (Take 28)
4.
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey (Unnumbered
Rehearsal)
5.
Good Night (Unnumbered Rehearsal)
6.
Good Night (Take 10 With A Guitar Part From Take 7)
7.
Good Night (Take 22)
8.
Ob - La - Di, Ob - La - Da
9.
Revolution (Unnumbered Rehearsal)
10.
Revolution (Take 14 Instrumental Backing Track)
11.
Cry Baby Cry (Unnumbered Rehearsal)
12.
Helter Skelter (First Version Take 2)
Disc:
5
1.
Sexy Sadie (Take 3)
2.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Acoustic Version Take 2)
3.
Hey Jude (Take 1)
4.
St Louis Blues (Studio Jam)
5.
Not Guilty (Take 102)
6.
Mother Nature's Son (Take 15)
7.
Yer Blues (Take 5 With Guide Vocal)
8.
What's The New Mary Jane (Take 1)
9.
Rocky Raccoon (Take 8)
10.
Back In The U.S.S.R. (Take 5 Instrumental Backing Track)
11.
Dear Prudence (Vocal, Guitar & Drums)
12.
Let It Be (Unnumbered Rehearsal)
13.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Third Version Take 27)
14.
(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care (Studio Jam)
15.
Helter Skelter (Second Version Take 17)
16.
Glass Onion (Take 10)
Disc:
6
1.
I Will (Take 13)
2.
Blue Moon (Studio Jam)
3.
I Will (Take 29)
4.
Step Inside Love (Studio Jam)
5.
Los Paranoias (Studio Jam)
6.
Can You Take Me Back (Take 1)
7.
Birthday (Take 2 Instrumental Backing Track)
8.
Piggies (Take 12 Instrumental Backing Track)
9.
Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Take 19)
10.
Honey Pie (Instrumental Backing Track)
11.
Savoy Truffle (Instrumental Backing Track)
12.
Martha My Dear (Without Brass And Strings)
13.
Long Long Long (Take 44)
14.
I'm So Tired (Take 7)
15.
I'm So Tired (Take 14)
16.
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (Take 2)
17.
Why Don't We Do It In The Road? (Take 5)
18.
Julia (Two Rehearsals)
19.
The Inner Light (Take 6 Instrumental Backing Track)
20.
Lady Madonna (Take 2 Piano & Drums)
21.
Lady Madonna (Backing Vocals Take 3)
22.
Across The Universe (Take 6)
The
Esher Demos (pronounced EE-shrr) make for an interesting paired down
version of the final album that fans will in particular be interested
in hearing on Disc 3, recorded at George Harrison's house at the
time, in the area named Esher). I thought they were interesting, but
nothing to challenge the final product. However, Tracks 23 and 26
(both written by Harrison) are the big surprises and you should hear
them ASAP. That leaves the final CDs 4, 5 and 6 with a bunch of
choice sessions tracks, alternate takes, revealing behind-the-scenes
moments and songs that were never finished or surfaced on later
albums.
Disc
5, Track 3 has McCartney nailing the classic in the first take! The
final single became their longest stay at #1 on the U.S. Pop Charts.
On Track 14, they try to recreate the elvis Presley version of the
hit classic. The instrumental backing tracks are always interesting
and the phrasing choices they make as singers early on versus the
final cuts show the creative process at its best.
The
set comes in a coffee table hardcover book with a few pages that
holds the seven disc, one double-page poster holder and in a clear
slipcover (be careful not to rip it or have it cut into the book)
with text printed on it best read when it is over the book. More on
its contents monetarily, but now, to the playback quality of the
discs.
All
six CDs have PCM 2.0 16bit/44.1kHz Stereo sound and are nice, clean,
clear and newly transferred in most if not all cases, but the
original album sports new stereo mixes made for this anniversary
edition that are fine, but not what you'd get on the previously
remastered CD or earlier
stereo versions of the album. Those tracks are also on the Blu-ray,
though at a slightly higher 96kHz/24bit PCM 2.0 Stereo as well as the
original 1968 monophonic sound in 96/24 PCM 2.0 Mono sound. Both are
smoother, warmer and a little richer than the CD stereo, but in this
case, only by so much.
Some
audiophile fans might have wanted 11.1 or 7.1 mixes of the final
album tracks on the Blu-ray, but Giles Martin and company have
decided to stick with 5.1 mixes from the original 4-track and 8-track
soundmasters, so we get a choice between lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1
and maybe very slightly better DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 96/24
mixes. I prefer to hear the album this way as I did with the Blu-ray
on the Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
anniversary set from last year. The songs that especially shine in
5.1 include While
My Guitar Gently Weeps,
Happiness
Is A Warm Gun,
Everybody's
Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey,
Helter
Skelter
and, as expected, Revolution
9.
Once
again, you can really hear more so just how great these songs are,
the singing, the musicianship, the engineering and George Martin's
amazing producing (on most tracks). You hear things hardly anyone
has ever heard in them before and save a rare moment that shows the
age of the recordings, it is amazing how fresh and full these all
actually sound. Though bombarded by (usually generic, tired digital
recordings these days with zero character or memorability) digital
sound music recordings, we again get character and nuance and
richness digital cannot deliver and few but the people recording and
performing here could have ever come up with. It makes the album as
exciting as it must have first been to those stunned early buyers who
darted to the first turntable (or tape player) they could find to
listen to the whole album.
Since
then, so many people have come up with albums named after a single
color (some good, like those from Prince and Weezer, for instance,
double albums or not), but The
White Album
remains an all-time classic and even after the arrival of Punk,
Rap/Hip Hop, Hardcore and other rougher music forms, how many of
those albums really had the guts to do what this one does? Hardly
any.
Other
extras from the 164-page book include a pullout poster with lyrics on
one side and photos on the other, stills of the four famous stills of
the four Beatles you could frame if you wished,little envelopes to go
with all seven discs you can insert in seven marked spaces, while the
book text adds rare photos, handwritten lyrics, promo material for
the launch of the album, McCartney essay We,
The Beatles,
Giles Martin-penned intro, plus essays The
Way To White by
Kevin Howlett, Can
You Take Me Back, Where I Came From?
by John Harris, Track
By Track
by Kevin Howlett (which goes beyond just the tracks on the final
album), The
Mad Day Out
by Kevin Howlett, White
On White
by Andrew Wilson and It's
Here!
by Kevin Howlett.
The
White Album
is one of the greatest albums ever made and this set is the
definitive way to experience it now. There is a vinyl version of
this set also issued, but this is the edition serious home theater
and music audiophiles will want to get. Of course, megafans will
likely buy both, but you can only get the 5.1 mixes here and they do
not disappoint.
-
Nicholas Sheffo