The White Album, Heard in 1968 and Pronounced Boring. And Now?

By Ben Ratliff

As a special segment in this week’s music popcast, we revisit the Beatles’ White Album, which friends with good ears have proclaimed the most exciting restoration work in the newly remastered Beatles catalog. Is it a great record, though? (Come on: be honest.)

Our guest is Nik Cohn, author of books including “Triksta,” “The Heart of the World,” and a pioneering rock critic, who tore a strip off the White Album in a review for The New York Times [pdf] published in December 1968. Back then, at the age of 22, a Briton in love with street culture and disenchanted with the encroachment of high-art aesthetics into pop, Mr. Cohn felt that the Beatles were a rugged little group who’d gone soft. Jeering at its narcissism and lack of direction, he called the White Album “boring almost beyond belief.” He hears more in it now, but he’s still not particularly impressed. I try to hang on to my affection for it. And what do you think?

AudioParamore and Remastering the Beatles (mp3)

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a. doherty October 1, 2009 · 12:38 pm

Dull, but not as bad as Sgt Pepper.

Kurt Hong October 1, 2009 · 12:40 pm

Just as Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, and Revolver have had their turn over the past four decades of being proclaimed the “Best Beatles Album” if not “Best Pop Album Ever”, the White Album will eventually get its due.

It’s not only the most diverse album, by far, that the Beatles made, but also the FUNNIEST (and hence funnest) album, for most of the songs are covers (or: parodies) of almost the entire range of recorded music in the West, including country, blues, jazz, bluegrass, Beach Boys, Dylan, heavy metal, lullaby, even muzak and avant-garde performance art–you’ll find just about everything being given the Beatles treatment, and often the Beatles versions are better than the original! The White Album is a microcosm of Western pop music at the time and into the near future. A true treasure trove.

James Walsh October 1, 2009 · 12:45 pm

The White Album is one of the greatest recordings of all time.

John Lennon October 1, 2009 · 12:48 pm

I prefer Imagine.

Susie Cream Cheese October 1, 2009 · 12:49 pm

A fantastic piece of art. Come on.

Rob Stengel October 1, 2009 · 12:50 pm

This is nonsense. The White Album is, at the very least, George and Paul at their best. You can’t listen to “Blackbird” and “Mother Nature’s Son” without realizing Paul’s ability to write on his own. “Long, Long, Long” is a revelation. These three alone earn The White Album its rightful place among the best Beatles releases.

larnov October 1, 2009 · 12:50 pm

I come back to the White Album every few years and find that it’s a combination of brilliance, excellence and some mere adequacy (which for these guys was still better than 99% of the rest of the pop/rock world, then and now). But it is also clearly the first post-Beatles Beatles album—the work of 4 solo artists doing their own thing, and using the other 3 as support (helluva side band, though). Better a world with the album than not.

Brian Neal October 1, 2009 · 12:50 pm

There’s probably a pretty good reason why the NYT review was largely forgotten and The White Album is considered to be The Beatles’ “White Album”.

Andrew Post October 1, 2009 · 12:51 pm

Mr. Cohn was, and still is, totally wrong about the White Album. The Beatles gone soft? Not at all! Try listening to McCartney’s “Helter Skelter” — a heavy metal song before there was heavy metal, and with a wonderful bit of Beatlesque humor at the very end (“I’ve got blisters on my fingers!”). Listen to “Yer Blues” — one of Lennon’s best songs ever, it both makes fun of and transcends the limits of white-man blues. If you can’t hear the real pain in this song, stick to AC/DC. And the song also includes a sly reference to Dylan’s “Ballad of a Thin Man.” (I guess that went over Mr. Cohn’s head.) Listen to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” — possibly Harrison’s best song, with some of Eric Clapton’s most wrenching guitar playing. Is the album uneven? Of course — This was deliberate on the part of the Beatles, who overrode George Martin’s efforts to tighten up the album and make it a more commercial product. Miles Davis once said that jazz records should be recorded and released with the mistakes left intact, in order to reflect the true spirit of the music. To some extent, this is what the Beatles did with the White Album: Imperfect but brilliant. Required listening.

Bill Matchneer October 1, 2009 · 12:51 pm

I’m with Nick. The Beatles kind of lost me after Revolver. What a great band though.

Doug October 1, 2009 · 12:52 pm

I’m a massive Beatles fan and while The White Album has some spectacular songs on it, it’s a collection of songs by musicians who weren’t collaborating much. For all the greatness of “Blackbird,” “Dear Prudence” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” there’s also the tedium of “Long, Long, Long,” “Wild Honey Pie,” “Savoy Truffle” and “Revolution 9.” ‘Revolver’ and ‘Rubber Soul’ remain The Beatles’ masterpieces – perfect mixes of pop sensibility and experimentation.

dennis October 1, 2009 · 12:55 pm

Unlike a great piece of rock music like the Physical Graffitti album, the White Album sounds worse, not better with the passage time. The humor is dated, and there a sameness to the eclectic range of styles, My opinion anyway.

behrkings98 October 1, 2009 · 12:57 pm

The White Album is the best Beatles album because it has the most Beatles songs.

Does this review focus on the stereo remaster or the mono? I think the stereo sounds fantastic (right off the bat with that airplane landing). Mono hasn’t arrived in my mailbox yet.

Hipnick October 1, 2009 · 12:57 pm

Agreed: nothing is quite as dull as Sergeant Pepper by Beatles standards…although “Let It Be” was a pretty flaccid affair as well.

ron jacobs October 1, 2009 · 12:58 pm

The White Album, along with the Stones Beggar’s Banquet, and Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland are the ultimate rock triptych. All of them released in 1968, they reflected and isnpired the multitude of emotions, politics, and discourse pervading western culture at the time, especially the counterculture. The White Album made it clear that the Beatles could not only rock with the best of them, but could also turn a beautiful tune. Those who were bored with it didn’t really get it. Those who still listen to it on a regualr basis did get it. Too bad for Mr. Cohn.

Chester October 1, 2009 · 12:59 pm

A good album but not their best. That, IMO, would be Rubber Soul.

Sgt. Pepper is and was vastly overrated — one of their weakest efforts.

edbermac October 1, 2009 · 12:59 pm

Boring? The reviewer was nuts then and he’s nuts now. Of the 30 songs I’d say that Glass Onion, Wild Honey Pie, Rocky Raccoon are the only songs I’d skip past. I even like Revolution 9!

senorplaid October 1, 2009 · 1:01 pm

Not that I’m a huge White Album guy anyway, but obviously Cohn was not a neutral reviewer, per se, so his point of view was skewed by his personal bias. I could be totally wrong about this, but without doing any research, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Cohn also ripped The Who for the same reason — they were great till Tommy — along with, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and every other act that tried to do something beyond three minutes of three-four time.

Different strokes for different folks.

DL, Pittsbugh October 1, 2009 · 1:02 pm

There are several songs that stand up well and are among the better ones by the Beatles, but not necessarily their very best: Back in the USSR, Dear Prudence, Happiness Is a Warm Gun, Blackbird, Mother Nature’s Son, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide…, Revolution 1, I’m So Tired.

There are also several others that are enjoyable or have merits: Julia, Long Long…, Cry Baby Cry, Sexy Sadie, Glass Onion, Yer Blues, I Will, Piggies, While My Guitar…, Why Don’t We Do It…

George Martin said there was too much filler and it would have made a great single album if only the best work had been used.

It’s also useful to keep in mind that this album was the main one to feature John’s acoustic guitar finger-picking work, which was his own version of styles Donovan showed him in India. The group was also quite fragmented at the time, so there are only a few true group recordings here, with most being essentially solo efforts.

Ashley Simpson October 1, 2009 · 1:03 pm

Who are the Beatles?

Bobbickels October 1, 2009 · 1:05 pm

Would have been perfect if they cut out the filler and released it as a single album.

Rocky October 1, 2009 · 1:05 pm

Helter Skelter, Birthday, Happiness is a Warm Gun,; boring? In it’s diversity of styles and moods, “The White Album” stands as one of the most revealing, creative products of the rock era. A sampler of cultural genius.

chris October 1, 2009 · 1:06 pm

When I was a teenager in the late 70’s my favorite group was the Beatles. (They still are.)

My two favorite albums were Abbey Road
and the White Album. Of course I liked their other stuff, especially everything from Revolver/Rubber Soul on.

The number of fantastic songs in the White Album is amazing.

I think music critics sometimes just like to hear themselves talk. Music is SO subjective. How can you say this is better than that. You can say I like this better than that. But that is just your opinion.

In the White Album and Abbey Road you hear the mature evolved Beatles (as they started to break apart as a band). In my opinion, their best work.

owlafaye October 1, 2009 · 1:06 pm

What a lot of people have not come to grips with is the fact that the Beatles as composers of music, have earned a niche in the histroy of fine musical composition.

I grant you, some pieces may not make the grade but overall, they are fine musicians and their entertaining natures persevere.

P.S. October 1, 2009 · 1:09 pm

Directionless and narcissistic? Isn’t that a big part of rock and roll? What do you want? The White Album ranks as the third or fourth best Beatles album, behind Revolver and Rubber Soul (with either Help! or Abbey Road up there, too). There’s a lot of musical variety on it, and it has a bit of an “arty” feel, but it rocks (still), its funny, and the ballads are beautiful.