Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

Unsurprisingly it took me a little while to get around to writing this review, it is a double album after all, but I've been listening during my last couple of gym sessions and I have to say I'd forgotten how much of a joy The Beatles really is. Coming round to reviewing The White Album I thought this would be long and bloated, I only remembered the worst of this album but listening back now The White Album is a wonderfully light refreshing breeze. It truly is a tribute to the Beatles that they could create a record with this much scope and creativity, that's over pouring in every possible direction imaginable and yet it so perfectly balanced, The White Album never feels heavy, it's never a chore, it's just sheer unrepentant fun. Now if we delve into the big book of musical clichés The White Album sits atop the list, the double album, it's ludicrous, it's totally OTT, it's self indulgent to the extreme, it's brimming with creativity and desperately in need of a filter but as I've already expressed this is no bloated mess, this is two albums worth of short, sharp and sublime pop music. This album truly is revolutionary, perhaps more so than any other, not because it's remembered as fondly as Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper's but because this is a landmark in a bands career. When the Red Hot Chilli Pepper's or Even Led Zeppelin dropped their respective double albums, it was their White Album moment. The Beatles invented a rock and roll cliche, this is what you do when you have too many ideas and too much creativity for a regular album, you do a White Album.

I have to say it's hard to know where to start. Take the first side for example the first six tracks; Back In The USSR, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Wild Honey Pie, Buffalo Bill, While My Guitar Gentle Weeps & Happiness Is A Warm Gun they couldn't have less in common if they tried. Starting out with the raucous rocker Back In The USSR feels like a cruel trick, when you first hear this track with it's clear Chuck Berry and Beach Boys influences alongside it's slick satirical punch you think you've stumbled on to The Beatles balls to the wall rock album but you couldn't be further from the truth. Two songs later Paul McCartney would be doing his best impression of West Indian ragga. Ob-La-Di... is one of those tracks you know you should hate, you should detest it's sugary sweetness and it's goofy charm but you can't it just makes you smile. It's not just McCartney whose on silly form, Lennon's offering The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill is a sheer delight, opening with a flamenco guitar part played completely on the keyboard and featuring vocals from Yoko Ono and Ringo's wife Mauren, the track is just ludicrous. What makes Bungalow Bill so much fun is the fact that song feels like a parody of itself from the word go, with Lennon messing around vocally and the Beatles even applauding themselves at the end of the track. There's a certain thrill to hearing Lennon deliver his epic "And Captain Marvel Zapped Him Right Between The Eyes" line. Now I know you could probably write a whole essay on the socio-political commentary of Lennon's scathing lyrics, but let's face it, this track is too much fun to weigh down with critical thought.

So if you haven't gathered yet The White Album is rather ridiculous and unashamedly schizophrenic, there's far too much to discuss, so let's cut to the highlights. George Harrison really stepped up to the plate on the White Album with the beautiful While My Guitar Gentle Weeps, it's just a perfect track, every inch of it sounds right, it couldn't possible be any other way; from Clapton's divine solo, to the thudding rhythm section and of course George's beautiful vocal performance and ethereal lyrics. Elsewhere John Lennon is on equally electric form. Delivering first the wonderfully subtle Dear Prudence built around a gorgeously plucked acoustic guitar and later the epic Happiness Is A Warm Gun. The latter is one of the true Beatles tracks on this album as McCartney work tightly with Lennon to finalize the arrangement. It's a track that changes moods at will and feels like a true journey, I have to admit that sometimes when it pops up on my ipod I don't actually recognize the track at all from the opening verse. It's staggering that they managed to cram such an expansive musical adventure into just two minutes and forty five seconds.

Not to be outdone McCartney is bringing his a-game to the table, fed up with being labelled a limp balladeer Paul decided to bring some sleazy dirty rock and roll in the form of Helter Skelter. It's seems almost like destiny that the year that Led Zeppelin was born happened to be the year that Paul McCartney wrote the best Led Zeppelin track that never was. Helter Skelter is a visceral thrill ride something distinctly lacking in the rest of the Beatles back catalogue. Elsewhere McCartney was indulging his fascination with music of the distant past with the dance hall inspired Martha My Dear and the gorgeous ballad Mother Nature's Son, the latter feels instantly classic even upon your first listen. Then of course McCartney served up the positively barmy folk-opera parody Rocky Raccoon, it's a track that dares you to take it seriously, it's a critics worst nightmare, dismiss it and you'll look foolish, over analyse and then the joke will truly be on you. Either way it's an undeniable thrill. It seems completely mind blowing that the same guy who wrote Back In The USSR and Helter Skelter also wrote Ob-La-Di... & Rocky Raccoon, it's a total mindfuck, and even more bizarrely there on the same album practically side by side.

Oh and what of that Richard Starkey fellow, well whisper it, but he wrote a really good song, Don't Pass Me By is just a treat. You can relate to it instantly and it's stompy folk meets sea-shanty arrangement just ingrains itself in your cranium. It's like a beautiful nursery rhyme, seriously kids should be singing this stuff in schools, forget the religious propaganda, it's time for some good old fashion capitalism, get them hooked on The Beatles good and early, and damn it Ringo Starr is just the man for the job. Okay enough silliness, in all seriousness, Ringo hadpenned arguably his best song.

Lennon is on fire across this double album Glass Onion is just brilliant, he's clearly having a hell of a time making fun of The Beatles own legends as he references all his psychedelic greats before revealing that their merely Glass Onion. The sentiment is spot on, he's making fun of us for taking everything far too seriously, and turning great pop music into mythical legend (yes I see the irony in all of this). Elsewhere Lennon cranks up the despair and angst on the brilliant I'm So Tired concluding with the piercing cry "I'd Give You Everything I've Got For A Little Piece Of Mind". Yer Blues seems Lennon launching into a classic blues stomper, proclaiming "In The Morning Wanna Die, In The Evening Wanna Die, If I Ain't Dead Already You Know The Reason Why" it feels like more of his biting sarcasm the perfect send up of the over the top blues sentiment. Yet it's so primal an honest it also seems a reflection on Lennon's own inner torment at the time of recording. Yer Blues feels so visceral and fresh you could slap the name White Stripes on this track and half the kids wouldn't know the difference. Lennon sprinkles this album with dark soulful classics in the form of Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey and Sexy Sadie, he really gives The White Album it's soul.

There is simply too much to discuss on The White Album seriously I don't even think I've covered half the tracks on this LP, or even a quarter of the musical influences and genres that are on display. The White Album is just bursting at the seams with creativity and inventiveness, everyone will have their different favourites, and there are certainly a fair share of clangers and failed experiments, but it's so well balanced musically, that it feels like a breeze and nothing dwells long enough in the mind to dampen the mood. George Martin must be given a healthy dose of praise for managing to make this album sound so cohesive and hang together so well, because more so than ever The White Album was truly the sound of four solo artist playing together rather than a cohesive unit. Yet it never feels like too much of a good thing, it's certainly overblown and more than a little silly, but it's too brilliant to dismiss, this is the sound of the Beatles let loose to do whatever the hell they wanted, no matter what the end results, and never quite knowing what's around the next corner is part of the fun. Quite simply this is the most complete and harmonious collection of totally random and unrelateable songs ever tabulated, okay I lied, that was hardly simply was it, but it was alot of fun.