The Beatles
The Beatles

Release Date: 1968 | Tracklist

Double albums have always been an anomaly for me. I can never look at them the way I would look at single albums, and I can never listen to them the same way, either. It’s difficult to understand exactly why a second piece of vinyl can so radically change my perception of a work of music. What is the difference? Tangibly, there isn’t one. Strictly speaking, music should not be affected by the amount of other music surrounding it. But when an artist goes out on a limb and decides to record a double album, something changes.

I’m going to say that this difference is that, for me, a double album isn’t a collection of songs in the conventional sense. It is an artistic statement, a musical destination to travel to. The songs themselves become less important than the overall picture. The best double albums are the ones that demand to be played through cover-to-cover. During a great double album, the listener does not want to skip a single track because weak as the track may be, it is a vital part of the experience of the album and without it, something would be missing. Albums like this take some getting used to; they often take a long time and many listens to properly understand and appreciate. However, once one has broken that barrier, the double album offers a rich, deep listening experience like no other. Successfully creating such an album is a very difficult task suited for only the most adventurous and talented bands.

So then what better band to record a timeless double album then the Beatles, arguably the most adventurous and talented band the world has ever known? None, of course. Of every double album I have heard, none has been quite as marvelous as the White Album in terms of overall effect. As such, I don’t think I have ever heard an album that took me as long to get into as this one. And it was immensely rewarding. In my mind I place this masterpiece on a pedestal where it sits alone, unlike any other piece of music ever recorded.

The story behind the album is famous. In 1968, the Summer of Love was over and the “hippie” movement was coming to a close. As such, The Beatles wanted to strip down from the trippy, psychedelic excesses of their 1967 albums, concentrating on simpler, worldlier music. However, the band was in a fractured state of turmoil at the time and they fought constantly during the album’s creation. In both songwriting and recording, there was very little collaboration between the band's members on The White Album, but each member was at the absolute peak of his powers. This gives the album an initially disjointed feel, but in time the tracks start to form an overall picture.

The White Album is well-known to be staggeringly, immensely diverse. It can be viewed as a literal encyclopedia of musical styles and genres. And, as the cliché goes, the Beatles had the talent and creativity to master every one of them. Piano pop, hard rock, psychedelia, folk, heavy metal, show tunes, doo-wop, country, classical, blues, avant-garde sound collages, Disney-style lullabies? You name it; it’s here. While I may not be a fan of all of these styles, they all contribute greatly to the experience, and even from a purely technical standpoint, the album contains no poorly-written or poorly executed songs bar maybe a few experimental tracks. With thirty songs total, that amounts to a massive amount of well-crafted music, and I wouldn’t change a note of it. The highlights? Even selecting highlights betrays the nature of the work, but if I was forced to choose, I would say that the moments of the album that I enjoy the most are the exquisite acoustic ballads throughout such as "Julia" and "Mother Nature's Son," as well as the brilliant, multipart “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.”

So, what exactly is this “overall effect” I keep mentioning? It's not easy to describe. The White Album, when taken in two discs as prescribed, is a journey through time and space, to all sorts of styles of music throughout the world. After you’ve gone through the whole thing, track for track, experiencing all the styles and lyrical stories, you really get the feeling that you’ve witnessed something monumental. The experience is truly spectacular, and it never gets tiresome. I have listened to this album many, many times, and I plan on listening to it much, much more in the future. It is a transcendent musical journey that anyone can enjoy, regardless of tastes and genre preferences.

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4.4 superb