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| photo by Keith Priser of Sally Priser's original release. |
On November 22, 1968 the Beatles released
their first album as a group on their own record label “Apple”. It was
catalogued as “The Beatles” but quickly became more commonly referred to as
“The White Album” due to its white cover. Upon hearing it for the first time in
1968 when I was thirteen my impression was that it seemed to be a return to the
Beatles natural progression in
recording. While I regard “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” very highly,
that album seems to be an explorative interruption from their more
straightforward type of recording which had been absent the wizardry and
gimmickry of studio tape manipulation. Not that Revolver or White Album contain
no tape manipulation at all, “Tomorrow Never Knows” on Revolver is very
studio-deep. It’s just that Sgt. Pepper exuberated on such technical aspects.
On “The White Album” we hear a return to
very strong vocals uncluttered of studio effect. There are hard-rock moments
such as “Helter Skelter”, “Back in the USSR
It was 1968. Martin Luther King Jr. and
Robert Kennedy had been killed. NASA had landed a spacecraft on the surface of
the moon and returned it to Earth (this was a trial run before they sent
humans). John Carlos had attracted attention for his Black Power salute on the
podium having won a gold medal at the Olympics. The movie “Wild in the Streets”
had been released.
The world, for this thirteen-year-old, had
become intriguingly sophisticated in science and radicalized in politics. “The
White Album” in all of its lyrics, instrumentation, and topics, seemed a
concurrent musical articulation of the events which were emerging in history.
While the Beatles of 1964-1966 offered a
stage-performance focus on writing and recording which was light on ego, and
Sgt. Pepper” was the artistic manifestation of the group’s collective ego, “The
White Album” seemed to reconnect with the simple idea of album as a collection
of individual songs unrelated to each other. The listener was relieved of the
expectation to discover some ambiguous theme as was the case with Sgt. Pepper.
After “Sgt. Pepper” I had expected the
Beatles would continue toward yet more experimental recording, perhaps more
deeply into philosophical and religious material. All summer in 1968 I had read
reports of the Bealtes, their wives, and friends studying under the Maharishi.
My anticipation as to what the next album would contain intrigued me and
tickled my sense of imminent discovery. Though the “White Album” did not
deliver on my expectations, it nonetheless was consistent with the Beatles
knack for remaining relevant and timely to a broad audience.
Mostly, “The White Album” was a return to the
“Beatle Formula” (evasive as that is to define), with the additional attribute
of being super-loaded with personal ego of the individuals.
The singular exception to the “Beatle
Formula” on this album is “Revolution Number 9”. A sound-collage of various
recordings, it seems more appropriate to be on John and Yoko’s “Two Virgins”
album. And yet, I grant that “Number 9” permits the “White Album” a bit of
mystique it would otherwise lack.
Please don’t take it that I insult the
album. I love it! And this post is intended to celebrate the album.
On November 22, take some time to listen to
the whole album, or any part of it and “tune in” to the youth revolution of
1968!
“May it serve you well!”
I invite you to read the review
of the album by Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone Magazine dated December 21, 1968:
