#29 The Beatles, 'The Beatles' (1968)
Previously #10
AKA ‘The White Album,’ the Top 10 is crumbling in on itself. The Beatles’ ninth record was largely written at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The course was led by the controversial Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was a way for the band to “get away from everything,” in Lennon’s own words. Following their album, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ a landmark in production, ‘The White Album’ is a back to basics type record for the world’s biggest band, stripping back their huge production for this one. It was an incredibly prolific time for the band, but also a time of massive friction. Lennon’s new partner, Yoko Ono, would sit in on majority of the recording sessions, breaking the band’s policy of no wives or girlfriends in recording sessions. Her presence would cause friction between Lennon and McCartney and the famous songwriting pair began to feel major disdain for each other’s compositions; Lennon criticising McCartney’s songs such as ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ and ‘Honey Pie’ as “Granny Music,” while McCartney felt that Lennon’s music as “harsh, unmelodious and deliberately provocative.” But they weren’t the only two at odds, producer George Martin would take a sporadic vacation, engineer, Geoff Emerick quit mid-session and Ringo left the band for 2 weeks. And all the while, the band’s youngest member was quietly forging his own way as an incredible songwriter in the shadow of two of history’s best.
George Harrison’s ‘Long, Long, Long’ and ‘Savoy Truffle’ are two of the record’s best songs, but it was ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ that really showcased Harrison’s talents as a songwriter and vocalist. Unable to make his guitar weep quite as he wanted, he invited friend, Eric Clapton to play the solo. Also of note is in the inclusion of Ringo’s first composition, ‘Don’t Pass Me By.’ There’s too many tracks on the double LP to individually criticize but so many of my favourites are contained within these 4 sides; ‘Dear Prudence,’ ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun,’ ‘I’m So Tired,’ ‘Blackbird,’ ‘I Will,’ ‘Julia,’ ‘Birthday,’ ‘Yer Blues,’ ‘Sexy Sadie,’ ‘Helter Skelter,’ ‘Revolution 1’ and ‘Good Night.’ It’s pretty much a perfect record. The irony is that while the band was imploding, they were writing and recording some of the greatest songs of their career. A lot of these songs would define the sounds each member’s subsequent solo careers. It’s a collection of solo songs, for the most part, with contributions from members of the Beatles (some songs don’t even feature all the members).
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