I "fixed" the White album

I've always liked that one. Have some fun. Next time you play the CD, sequence that song after 'Yer Blues' and see if it has a bit more kick.

 

If I've overreacted -- it's because I'm so tired of Revolution #9 bashing. It's only one of the more genius moments in the whole Beatles canon, IMO.

If I WAS to cut a song from the album -- it would have to be Long Long Long. But I wouldn't do it because it's the bloody Beatles White Album.

 

Savoy Truffle is superb, IMO, BTW.

 

This is one of my favorites, too. Guess I should add I like 'Rocky Raccoon' so I won't have to post again.

 

I like savoy truffle also, an innocent little song about eric clapton's sweet tooth. cool guitar licks, and I always loved that horn arrangement, a style which george continued to use over the course of his solo career

 

D'you ever hear it in mono? It's goddamn brilliant!

 

Savoy Truffle is SUPERB!

As for the horn arrangement - I always think it's very reminiscent of the one on "Good Morning, Good Morning" in terms of the abrasive sound.

As for the white album being just a collection of songs wherby the order doesn't matter - couldn't disagree more.

I've been listning to it on CD for nearly 20 years and I still hear it the way I first did when I first got into it on an original LP back in 1985 (my sister had just come home from school with it having paid a fellow pupil 2 pounds for it in the playground - those were the days!). I'll never forget each of the 4 sides being a little collection of songs and feeling like they belonged together somehow. "Martha My Dear" is a great opener for side two which was my favourite side initially. "Long, Long, Long" makes so much more sense as a side closer. Why would anyone want to change it when it is perfect as it was originally intended? Like I said before, if you don't have it on vinyl then get yourself set up with a music server and you can hear it as it was meant to be heard:

Side one
"Back in the U.S.S.R."
"Dear Prudence"
"Glass Onion"
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
"Wild Honey Pie"
"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
"Happiness is a Warm Gun"


Side two
"Martha My Dear"
"I'm So Tired"
"Blackbird"
"Piggies"
"Rocky Raccoon"
"Don't Pass Me By"
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
"I Will"
"Julia"


Side three
"Birthday"
"Yer Blues"
"Mother Nature's Son"
"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"
"Sexy Sadie"
"Helter Skelter"
"Long, Long, Long"

Side four
"Revolution 1"
"Honey Pie"
"Savoy Truffle"
"Cry Baby Cry"
"Revolution 9"
"Good Night"

 

It's one of mine as well, always has been.

I've said this before, but I think you had to have spent long evenings sitting cross-legged on the floor back in 1968 struggling to unravel The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest to appreciate what a delightful sendup Rocky Raccoon was. I smiled and exhaled when I first heard it and it's brought a smile every time since.

White Album surgeons are like people who skip the first half of a basketball game or can't enjoy a meal served in courses. Why bother?

 

The cheesy intro makes me cringe and the stupid lyrics grate on me. I like songs with nonsensical lyrics (I am the Walrus!) but Savoy Truffle is one of my most hated songs- although its not as bad as "Honey Pie." I like Revolution 9 though- just thought I'd add fuel to the fire!

 

I think all he was trying to say was that the self-indulgence, the high price, the questionably cover art . . . nothing hampered public acceptance of the album, and it was therefore acceptable "warts and all".

It wasn't really a money comment but a social, how-we-relate-to-our-fans one.

 

I second that. "Long,Long,Long" is one of the most underrated songs the group ever did.

 

Somewhere around here is where George became truly great.

 

They could've just made an entire album of "Revolution 9". That would've been really cool.

PS
Anyone who "hates" 'Honey Pie' is absolutely bonkers!

 

Guess I belong in a mental home then.....lol

 

The only way to "fix" the White Album, IMHO, would be to release it in HiRez (SACD or DVD-A), and add a 5.1 mix to boot! Listening to Revolution #9 in surround would be bizarre!

 

I think Manson and his crazies did that back in '69 during one of their acid trips...

Interesting av, BTW...that show on DVD yet?

 

"Revolution #9" is a perfect musical example of Tom Wolfe called the "Painted Word," in reference to much of the inscrutable contemporary art that baffles most viewers. That is, the painting (or pile of bricks or porcelain toilet or out-of-focus photograph) is of interest only as an illustration of some academic theory or manifesto, not in and of itself.

Were there legitimate musical theories behind "Revolution #9" (or METAL MACHINE MUSIC)? Maybe. In the end, does it really matter? No. I'd much rather listen to Miles Davis's AGHARTA and PANGAEA, which function as music with or without the Stockhausen references in the reviews.

It would have been better had "Revolution #9" been consigned to the infamy of a suppressed, experimental outtake fans had to seek out, rather than the piece of celebrity indulgence I hear. Honestly, how many fans of the track would even bother to listen through it once but for the names attached?

 

Well, John's name is "attached" to The Wedding Album and Two Virgins, but I've never heard them, nor will I "force" myself to because it's "Beatle product." I think "Revolution 9" is outstanding, and as essential to the White Album as any other track. It has a structure and an ebb-and-flow, and it passes my simplest test for an over-long track -- it doesn't FEEL long.

Many others will disagree, I know, but I don't see "R9" as "celebrity indulgence." The two aforementioned Lennon-Ono albums? THAT'S celebrity indulgence. I don't know how many Beatles fans here like Pearl Jam, but my favorite PJ album has always been Vitalogy. One need only listen to the "experimental" track at the end -- "foxymophandlemamathatsme" I think it's called -- to appreciate "Revolution 9" and realize that one can't just "throw together" a track like that.

 

Yeah! That would be a lights-out experience.

 

But it is safe to say that as their power and clout grew, so did the possibility of something like "Rev 9" seeing light of day. Can't think of one other band that could have gotten away with it--at least not an act that was internationally popular(which is to say, Zappa & the Mothers could have done it, but then, they weren't selling a ton of records, either). That it was the Beatles, of all acts, who issued it remains all the more astounding(and, if you think about it, just the beginning: Lennon took the idea of freeform, unconventional recordings further with his '69 solo Lp's--which, deservedly, didn't do much business once the word got out what they were really about).

 

Once again, I could point to reviews of "#9" by people familiar with the musical territory where "Revolution #9" properly resides, and show bona fides as regards its extraordinary qualities, but it's hard convincing folks that Benny Andersson and Dolly Parton are remarkable songwriters too. Those fans of the Beatles who are drawn towards "#9" are urged to explore the wicked soundscapes of the incomparable Iannis Xenakis.

 

I feel in love with the Beatles the summer that The Love You Make was released and the night in 1983 when it's authors appeared on Larry King's late-night AM coast-to-coast radio show. A month later I bought my own turntable. The only Beatles album I had at hand was my Aunt's copy of the White Album, which I explored and exhausted.

What was once a wild adventure eventually became overfamiliar. As a youngster I appreciated Ob-La-Di; today I tune it out - but I never skip it.

The thing that brought the album completely back to life for me was to cut the deck, to simply start with side 3 first. It's a heady start with John, rather than a goofy one with Paul - that colors the experience of the rest of the thing. It's still familiar, but refracted differently.

 

Replace Revolution #9 with What's The New Mary Jane.

 

Remove Goodnight.

 

Sexy Sadie?