Customer Reviews
Pick this up while you still can - By: Marc B, 16 Aug 2008 
Imagine how lucky you would feel if you were invited into Abbey Road studio to hear the master tape of the White Album. Well, what this CD version is is the next best thing, a flat transfer of the Abbey Road master tape on CD... no EQ, no noise reduction, no compression or any other Modern mastering techniques that destroy the dynamic range of classic recordings. Is it quieter than a modern CD? Yes, but that's why we have volume knobs.
If the rumours are correct then the Beatles recordings will be re-mastered & re-released, whether good or bad the White album will not sound like this does. We can only hope when they are re-released that the Mono Mix finally gets it's CD debut. It's absolutley scandalous that this has not been available for over 20 years. But for the stereo version, IMO this is the definitive version & the best sounding of all the original Beatles cd's
Total Rubbish! - By: W. Taylor, 17 Jul 2008 
My sister has a copy of this album on CD & I have listened to some of it & I find it all a load of rubbish.
For a start I find all of the names of the songs weird.
For example:
Glass Onion
Wild Honey Pie
Bungalow Bill
Piggies
Sexy Sadie
Savoy Truffle
WTF???
The only songs I like on this album are:
Backin the U.S.S.R & Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, so hence I will rate this 2 stars
If any of the Beatles albums are any good I recommend The Red & Blue Albums (1962-1966 & 1967-1970) because I think that was when the Beatles were at their best.
IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO ................... - By: Mr. Christopher J. Welch, 16 Jul 2008 
By 1968 The Beatles were at a crossroads. Sgt Pepper had been a massive cultural & commercial success but the following years Magical Mystery Tour film had flopped. The death of manager & mentor Brian Epstein had also proven a massive blow, especially to John, & the four band members were growing increasingly distant from each other. George felt completely overwhelmed by both Lennon & McCartney & Ringo was becoming totally fed up with the bickering & in-fighting.
The answer was to release a record - a double album - of new songs. Much of 1968's White Album is made up of basically solo material - the other Beatles acting simply as sidemen - & is as fractured & patchy as this would imply. When it works & the Fabs gel together the results are stunning - 'Back In The USSR', with Paul handling drums, 'Dear Prudence', 'Glass Onion' & 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun'. John's solo 'Julie' is gorgeous & George's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' was a milestone song for quiet one. Paul also shone on the haunting 'Blackbird' & the brilliantly simplistic 'I Will'.
George Martin was quoted as saying that he thought the White Album would have made a brilliant single record - but John & Paul were determined to have their way. So for every 'Long Long Long' & we get the trite 'Piggies', the saccarine sweet 'Honey Pie' & John's simply nuts 'The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill'. Twenty eight variable tracks of inspiration, brilliance, experimentation, rock, pop, reggae, musical hall, self indulgence & throwaway fillers.
That the Beatles also recorded their most successful single of all time - 'Hey Jude' - during these tense sessions is even more amazing.
Not The Beatles finest album but a fascinating listen nevertheles. The sound of a band falling apart.
An incredibly diverse wayward classic - By: Greg Farefield-Rose, 18 Jun 2008 With its plain white sleeve & pared-down arrangements, the White Album was released as something of an antidote to its predecessor Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although it lacks Pepper's cohesion, it has an incredible, unbelievable diversity & is brilliantin places.
Recorded at a time when tensions between The Beatles were at their height, the White Album is also one of the first double albums of new material ever released by a pop or rock band. As with most double discs, there are some critics who say that The Beatles should have cut out the fillers & released a single LP. Whilst I see their argument, I disagree with them - the strength of the White Album is its variety and, though every track isn't a classic, there's only a handful I would consider possibly not worthy of a place on my ipod. Revolution No. 9 for starters obviously...
On to the better music, the highlights for me of the White Album range across several genres. Of the acoustic tracks, Paul McCartney's Blackbird is as majesticin its quiet way as anything the Fab Four ever recorded. Other quieter highpoints include John Lennon's moving ode to his mother Julia & Paul's Mother Nature's Son, hidden away on side 3. Just as MNS fades, the clanging, driving Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey kicksin for two minutes of frenzy followed by the elegant chord changes of Sexy Sadie. Further highlights for me include Back In the USSR, the vaudeville Honey Pie & George Harrison's rather spiteful Piggies though I could also have mentioned several others.
So, the music is largely excellent even though the White Album lacks togethernessin most senses of the term with each song's writer more or less using the other members of the band as session musicians (if at all) on many of the songs. Often not a terribly good atmospherein the studio then, yet the resulting album probably benefits from these tensionsin terms of intra-band competitiveness & the variety of styles present. A wayward classic but a classic nonetheless which is stunningly brilliantin places.
THE BEATLES' ACOUSTIC ALBUM - By: C. Bellegarrigue, 16 Jun 2008 Este fue el mayor ejemplo de como las melodias de los beatles demostraron su origen puramente acustico; todas las canciones fueron compuestas en la India, SIN ELECTRICIDAD, con puras guitarras acusticas tradicionales y bongoes(lastima que aun no existiera el MTV Umplugged) durante los dias del Maharishi; asimismo es el album mas rico en estilos musicales: Rock'n'roll (BACK IN THE USSR), balada acustica (BLACKBIRD), Reggae (OBLA-DI,OBLA-DA), cantico medieval (PIGGIES), Blues (YER BLUES), Cancion de cuna (GOODNIGHT), Heavy Metal (HELTER SKELTER), charleston (HONEY PIE), country (DON'T PASS ME BY), psicodelia (GLASS ONION), incluso ¡el caos en todo su esplendor!! (REVOLUTION 9); tambien se destaca el hecho de ser el unico album doble editado por el grupo, y ser el primer intento de John, Paul, George y Ringo de INDIVIDUALIZARSE y ser reconocidos de manera INDEPENDIENTE.
