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Happy 40th, White Album ...

blacknapkinsblacknapkins Posts: 2,177
edited November 2008 in Other Music
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97391032&sc=nl&cc=asc-20081124
"Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best."
~ FZ ~
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Jack BauerJack Bauer Posts: 28
    Such an amazing album. It's on my Christmas List.
  • AnonAnon Posts: 11,175
    happy anniversary to a killer, amazing, incredible, etc. album.


    i have nothing else to say. its just an amazing album!!
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Happy birthday to one of the most ridiculously overpraised, patchy, self-indulgent piles of rock sacred cow-ness ever released :)

    Could've been a good 12 track album y'know ;)

    Look Paul, here's how you write a "throwaway" song.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnsN1Lzh85g
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • blacknapkinsblacknapkins Posts: 2,177
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    Happy birthday to one of the most ridiculously overpraised, patchy, self-indulgent piles of rock sacred cow-ness ever released :)

    Could've been a good 12 track album y'know ;)

    Look Paul, here's how you write a "throwaway" song.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnsN1Lzh85g

    Seriously.
    "Information is not knowledge.
    Knowledge is not wisdom.
    Wisdom is not truth.
    Truth is not beauty.
    Beauty is not love.
    Love is not music.
    Music is the best."
    ~ FZ ~
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    blacknapkins wrote:
    Seriously.
    Yes.

    And no, it's not illegal to say that.

    Seriously, I'm astounded that it's held in such high regard. It has some fantastic songs but as an entire work, it's incredibly inconsistent, far too much to be considered the masterpiece that it is for god knows what reason. I mean, for every Happiness is a Warm Gun there's something unforgivable like Rocky Raccoon. I'd rather listened to Rubber Soul or Revolver any day of the week. Bugger that, give me the Red Album compilation over the White Album.

    The only album on which McCartney manages to get away with his penchant for twee pop ditties is Abbey Road, and even on that he pushes it. He wrote fantastic rock 'n' roll songs but his desire to mark himself out as some kind of experimental pop fusionist is excruciating to listen to in my opinion. "Oh look guys, I wrote a little song that sounds like the soundtrack to the Magic Roundabout. Now I'm going to overdub some electronic noise onto it and tell the press I've been listening to Stockhausen and John Cage. I'll shake that screaming girls image one day, I will".

    I never thought I'd see the day when I'd praise I Wanna Hold Your Hand as musical genius but it is, for what it is. I wish Paul had stuck with those kinds of songs and left the weirder stuff to Lennon and Harrison. He always sounds like he's flirting with oddities for the sake of it, not to make good music. The White Album is just too smug for my liking.

    Oh, and this goes for Sgt Pepper's as well. Yup :)

    Sorry if I've crossed a boundary :rolleyes::)
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • pearlzepfanpearlzepfan Posts: 456
    You didn't just say that Rocky Raccoon was unforgivable. That is one of Paul's best songs, easily my favorite on the white album. Anyways I agree with the rest of your comments, that it being too inconsistant to be a masterpiece. But the comment dissing Rocky is absurd.
    "I'm a thief, and I dig it"
  • MojopinMojopin Posts: 216
    I laugh when people put it down. Tee hee.
    "A consistently good band works all the different elements well. A song has to appeal sentimentally, intellectually, physically, viscerally, and dig deep down into your soul and suck you into it. And after that, of course, it'd be a matter of taste." ~ Kim Thayil from Soundgarden
  • blacknapkinsblacknapkins Posts: 2,177
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    Yes.

    And no, it's not illegal to say that.

    Seriously, I'm astounded that it's held in such high regard. It has some fantastic songs but as an entire work, it's incredibly inconsistent, far too much to be considered the masterpiece that it is for god knows what reason. I mean, for every Happiness is a Warm Gun there's something unforgivable like Rocky Raccoon. I'd rather listened to Rubber Soul or Revolver any day of the week. Bugger that, give me the Red Album compilation over the White Album.

    The only album on which McCartney manages to get away with his penchant for twee pop ditties is Abbey Road, and even on that he pushes it. He wrote fantastic rock 'n' roll songs but his desire to mark himself out as some kind of experimental pop fusionist is excruciating to listen to in my opinion. "Oh look guys, I wrote a little song that sounds like the soundtrack to the Magic Roundabout. Now I'm going to overdub some electronic noise onto it and tell the press I've been listening to Stockhausen and John Cage. I'll shake that screaming girls image one day, I will".

    I never thought I'd see the day when I'd praise I Wanna Hold Your Hand as musical genius but it is, for what it is. I wish Paul had stuck with those kinds of songs and left the weirder stuff to Lennon and Harrison. He always sounds like he's flirting with oddities for the sake of it, not to make good music. The White Album is just too smug for my liking.

    Oh, and this goes for Sgt Pepper's as well. Yup :)

    Sorry if I've crossed a boundary :rolleyes::)

    Nice rant, but I was agreeing with you.
    "Information is not knowledge.
    Knowledge is not wisdom.
    Wisdom is not truth.
    Truth is not beauty.
    Beauty is not love.
    Love is not music.
    Music is the best."
    ~ FZ ~
  • SlowFadeSlowFade Posts: 75
    I agree with the over-rated comments. It's a good record, but not great, and it really has no flow.....it's their stadium arcadium.
  • DewieCoxDewieCox Posts: 11,430
    Like many have said before, too much rubbish. It could have been the Beatles best album, but instead it's probably more like their 5th best.
  • Cropduster84Cropduster84 Posts: 1,283
    It's not their best album by a long shot.....


    But I find it their most interesting.....
    'The more I studied religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.' - Sir Richard Francis Burton
  • Gonzo1977Gonzo1977 Posts: 1,696
    Jeremy1012 wrote:
    Yes.

    And no, it's not illegal to say that.

    Seriously, I'm astounded that it's held in such high regard. It has some fantastic songs but as an entire work, it's incredibly inconsistent, far too much to be considered the masterpiece that it is for god knows what reason. I mean, for every Happiness is a Warm Gun there's something unforgivable like Rocky Raccoon. I'd rather listened to Rubber Soul or Revolver any day of the week. Bugger that, give me the Red Album compilation over the White Album.

    The only album on which McCartney manages to get away with his penchant for twee pop ditties is Abbey Road, and even on that he pushes it. He wrote fantastic rock 'n' roll songs but his desire to mark himself out as some kind of experimental pop fusionist is excruciating to listen to in my opinion. "Oh look guys, I wrote a little song that sounds like the soundtrack to the Magic Roundabout. Now I'm going to overdub some electronic noise onto it and tell the press I've been listening to Stockhausen and John Cage. I'll shake that screaming girls image one day, I will".

    I never thought I'd see the day when I'd praise I Wanna Hold Your Hand as musical genius but it is, for what it is. I wish Paul had stuck with those kinds of songs and left the weirder stuff to Lennon and Harrison. He always sounds like he's flirting with oddities for the sake of it, not to make good music. The White Album is just too smug for my liking.

    Oh, and this goes for Sgt Pepper's as well. Yup :)

    Sorry if I've crossed a boundary :rolleyes::)


    I guess you just had to be there :)

    It was an incredible album for it's time.

    There wasn't another band on the planet that had the balls to put something like this out there in 1968...(Maybe the Kinks)

    Sgt. Pepper usually gets the nod...But I truly believe that the White Album was The Beatles most adventurous album.

    Sure there is some weird tracks...But I love them

    Just like I love the weird tracks off of Vitalogy....It's what makes the album what it is.

    "It's the Fucking Beatles White Album"
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    well i guess i best go out and by this white album you all speak of. :)


    it took me a long long time to buy abbey road. this better be worth it cause i hate wasting my money on crap music. :p:D
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • iamicaiamica Chicago Posts: 2,628
    This is probably my favorite Beatles album, right next to Sgt. Pepper. So many great songs...While My Guitar Gently Weeps...Blackbird...I just love it.
    Gonna go listen to Helter Skelter now...
    Chicago 2000 : Chicago 2003 : Chicago 2006 : Summerfest 2006 : Lollapalooza 2007 : Chicago 2009 : Noblesville (Indy) 2010 : PJ20 (East Troy) 2011 : Wrigley Field 2013 : Milwaukee (Yield) 2014 : Wrigley Field 2016
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    Gonzo1977 wrote:
    I guess you just had to be there :)

    It was an incredible album for it's time.
    Worst way of approaching music ever.

    Music is not a museum. If an album can't transcend its time so 20 year-olds like myself, viewing it objectively without the nostalgia and vague sense of historic importance, will also be blown away, it is not the masterpiece everyone says it is. Appraising the music itself, it is an inconsistent if interesting album.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • Jeremy1012Jeremy1012 Posts: 7,170
    blacknapkins wrote:
    Nice rant, but I was agreeing with you.
    My bad.
    "I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
  • leftofthedialeftofthedia Posts: 5
    As much as I love this record it's actually good to see some of you bring it down from it's high pedestal. Yeah some of the songs seem like filler, but I think the great standouts make up for it and excuse them. I hope you can admit there are still some songs on each side of the records that stand strong 40 years later. Even 'Revolution #9', for how it blends into the album closer 'Good Night'.
    I wasn't alive in 1968 but it sounds like the country needed an album like this(except for a few 'family members', unfortunetly).
    Also, I have never listened to this album at 3 in the afternoon with the sun shining, Always in the middle of the night, try some wine, then let me know if your opinion is still the same.
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