{"id":28,"date":"2024-11-17T21:44:45","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T21:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/?p=28"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:18:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:18:39","slug":"the-white-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomhartley.me.uk\/beatles\/the-white-album\/","title":{"rendered":"The White Album"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve picked 4 songs in a row from the White Album (properly called “The Beatles”), and even taking into account the quirks of my ranking system and the sheer craziness of attempting to rank art at all, I can\u2019t deny that it is far from my favourite Beatles album. And yet it is very popular, so maybe I am wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not much to look at! The cover of the original White Album (strictly called “The Beatles” (which is embossed almost invisibly on the cover). Each copy was uniquely numbered.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To me the album feels bleak and much less coherent than either their earlier work, or their swansong, Abbey Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grief:<\/strong><\/em> Their manager Brian Epstein had died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving them rudderless. Epstein had been a trusted friend and the core of the Beatles very exclusive inner circle. He had taken care of business matters allowing the Beatles to focus on the music and he had played a critical part in their rise to fame. But he had been increasingly marginalized as the Beatles stopped performing live and focussed on increasingly elaborate approaches to recording.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lennon\u2019s mental crisis:<\/strong><\/em> \u201cI\u2019m so tired, I haven\u2019t slept a wink\u201d, \u201cI need a fix cause I\u2019m going down\u201d, \u201cI feel so suicidal\u201d. Lennon looked to be in a psychological turmoil, embarking on an overwhelmingly intense relationship with Yoko Ono. This relationship overshadowed his partnership with Paul and over the course of the next few years would abandon his family, demolish his Beatles persona and then gradually rebuild a new identity around her. By 1970 he wrote explicitly (in the song God): \u201cI don’t believe in the Beatles I just believe in me, Yoko, and me, and that’s reality. The dream is over.\u201d That process began in 1968 during the recording of the White Album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tension:<\/strong><\/em> Ono started coming to recording sessions, stoking tensions with the other band members who had hitherto worked as an exceptionally tight-knit and exclusive team. Musically they still had plenty of ideas, but they were often working separately and going in different directions. Ideas were incomplete and unfinished. Given that the mild-mannered Ringo, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick had all left at different times during the sessions, it sounds as if the studio may have become a rather toxic workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fragmentation:<\/em><\/strong> The Beatles experimental approach to recording probably peaked in 1967 with Sgt Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club band which had more complex arrangements, orchestral instrumentation and effects and more overdubbing than any previous album. Whereas their earliest records had essentially used the 50s approach of recording a performance that took place in a single take, the Beatles and their producer and engineers were pioneering a new techniques. This approach meant that the four band members were not always involved in every song, and when they were, they might not play concurrently but adding layered overdubs. Because they were not always working together the Beatles were starting to go in different directions musically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul enjoyed working in the studio and the process of bringing complex productions from imagination to life. He was increasingly introducing classical and music hall influences including new instruments. The other Beatles, especially John and George did not enjoy the artificiality of the approach and tended to prefer a more stripped down sound, with in Lennon\u2019s case more focus on the words and rhythm, and less on melody and sonics. Harrison was writing strong songs but struggling to get Lennon and McCartney to take his contributions seriously. These artistic differences were starting to undermine the band\u2019s previously rock solid unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spiritual dissatisfaction and division: they had been to study meditation in India, and had very different and not wholly positive experiences at the ashram. Paul and Ringo were unimpressed and left early. Lennon returned later with Harrison, disillusioned when he began to suspect that the Maharishi was not the saintly figure he had seemed. Harrison himself had reservations but had also been inspired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drugs: the Beatles had taken a fair amount of acid in the previous years, but John and Yoko had started using heroin at the time the White Album was being recorded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divorce and break-ups: Lennon was divorcing his wife, Cynthia, and McCartney had split from his long term girlfriend on the eve of their engagement, also in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the White Album is a brilliant album but one that is imbued with the sound of grief, divorce and tension. I think you can hear it; there\u2019s a sort of cold, dry, flat tone and texture that affects most of the songs and there are a lot of discordant, jarring sounds (think of the outro to Glass Onion or the intro to Wild Honey Pie or the whole of Revolution #9). Despite lots of fantastic songs, there\u2019s always going to be something bleak about it for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like the White Album, you may like this by The Analogues who play the whole album live, note for note. Sacrilege, I know, but IMO this live format brings out some of the energy that is slightly missing from the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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