A few years ago, I presented a challenge here to try making THE WHITE ALBUM a single album and I have to admit that it was a lot harder than I thought. Heck, there are still choices there that I’ve debated changing. It just goes to show that there actually are a lot of really good songs on there, more than I think people give it credit for.
Which is not to say there aren’t some stinkers. There are three in particular I’ve always taken issue with. “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?” is absolutely terrible. Yes, I’m serious. Out of all the Beatles songs out there, I consider this the worst. I’m fine with repetition, but with a long phrase like that, it just comes off as Paul awkwardly scream singing the title for the most part. “Wild Honey Pie”...not good, but I kind of appreciate what Paul was trying to do here. It feels like there was some ambition to make something fresh, but mixing bizarre guitar sounds with Sesame Street monster type voices isn’t something I think people were begging for. “Revolution 9?” What “Revolution 9?” I don’t know a song called...
OK, fine. Yes, “Revolution 9” is a thing that exists and something I skip every time I listen to this album. In fact, when I tried to listen to it again for this review, I found out my CD copy was scratched and when I tried to stream it, my Internet froze for a while. It was like a sign not to listen to it again. Obviously, considering my previous statement about “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road?”, I don’t consider this the worst Beatles song, but part of that is because it’s debatable if it’s really a song at all. Yes, the base track of it is from the ending of “Revolution 1”, but you can barely tell based off of what’s going on. To be fair, it’s not really that bad at first; I think if they had cut it off after about a minute, it would have been acceptable, but at the length it ended up at, it just feels like such a waste of space. Literally, you could cut it out and put “Hey Jude” in it’s place. Or, they could have also replaced it with George’s “Not Guilty” and saved “Hey Bulldog” from its fate of being banished to an album many Beatle fans didn’t really like.
OK, so now that that’s out of the way, what about the rest of the album? Some songs are better than others, but outside of the aforementioned ones, I do like each one in some way. “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence” are both great opening songs. McCartney is usually an acceptable drummer, but I really do have to give credit for his drumming on “Dear Prudence”, especially near the end as it’s speeding up; it really feels like he felt the weight of the situation and was giving his all. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is the source of much debate for all Beatles fans, but I’ve always enjoyed it for the silly song it is; if I didn’t know better from all accounts, I’d say that it did sound like fun recording based off of all the laughing sounds near the end. The three-way sequence of “Bungalow Bill”, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun” is fantastic. I know some people like to make fun of “Bungalow Bill”, but the Mellotron and organ in the verses actually do create this kind of dark, eery effect that really work in the song’s favor. “Guitar Gently Weeps” is easily my favorite George Harrison song, and one of my favorite Beatles songs in general. Everything from the production to the deep lyrics is just so fantastic; it’s the kind of song that I like to show people just to show how cool they really were. And “Happiness’s” constantly changing sections makes it a really effective side closer; when I did my one album version of THE WHITE ALBUM, I made this the last track, and that’s one decision I still stand behind, as it really does have that effect of pulling the listener back in to listen again.
That three-way sequence is so fantastic, in fact, that the songs immediately following it and starting the next side kind of feel underwhelming as a result. I love “Martha My Dear” and think “I’m So Tired” is OK, but after that three-way sequence, anything was going to be underwhelming. It’s as though those three songs took you to a different world and now the Beatles are bringing you back to Earth, as most of the songs on here are lighter in instrumentation, mostly ballads. There are still great songs here; “Blackbird”, “I Will”, “Julia”, and there are a few uptempo songs too (“Don’t Pass Me By” and the song that I refuse to mention again), but I do think it was kind of a mistake to sequence these songs in the way that they did. To be fair, I myself have trouble figuring out how to sequence the rest of this album better; the only thing I can think of that might work would be switching “Glass Onion” with “Martha My Dear”.
Side 3 picks things up from a rock perspective again. “Birthday” and “Yer Blues” have the same effect as “Back in the USSR” and “Dear Prudence” in kicking things off well. I’m not the hugest fan of “Mother Nature’s Son”, but otherwise the rest of the side is pretty effective. “Sexy Sadie” has some of the best vocals on the album, “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide” is another explosive rocker, “Helter Skelter” is one of the most unique songs Paul ever made. It all works pretty well.
Side 4 starts off with the memorable “Revolution 1”. I know lots of Beatles fans hate “Honey Pie”, but as someone who is fascinated by all that old vaudeville-type stuff, I do find it quite entertaining and memorable. Outside of that avant-garde time waster, the rest of this side is great. “Savoy Truffle” is a fun rock number from George, “Cry Baby Cry” has a haunting feel to it, and “Good Night” ends things with a nice, 40s-style ballad.
And, finally, there’s the single: “Hey Jude”/“Revolution”. And, really, what can I say? They’re both fantastic songs. So, yeah, overall a really creative period for the Beatles. Not everything’s perfect, but you still have to admire all the creativity that was coming out of them around this time. Heck, there were other songs that were demoed around this time too that were also of great quality and would show upon later albums. Even if it was a period of turmoil for the band personally, the work that came out of it still remains a great piece of music history.
