No, that's not whitespace, that's the album cover.
The White Album is the unofficial title for The Beatles' album The Beatles (1968). The record owns its nickname due to the completely white album cover.The White Album was the Beatles' first double album. The songs feature a lot of variation in style and mood. Overall the record sounds almost like a compilation record featuring the band members as solo artists instead of a unity. Though not as popular as other Beatle records like Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road, The White Album is still a huge inspiration for numerous rock bands. When something gets compared to The White Album, it's almost invariably a shorthand way of saying "long album with huge Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly variety of styles, inevitably will attract complaints about filler".
Affectionate Parody: Several songs on this album imitate a certain musical style and whether these songs are a homage or a parody (or both) are left to the individual listener's opinion.
Album Filler: George Martin even asked the Beatles to trim it down to one album since he felt there was too much filler, but the band didn't listen, being eager to fulfill their album commitment to the EMI record label as quickly as possible, and being unable to agree which songs to remove (Harrison noted that by that point there was "too much ego" involved).
"Wild Honey Pie" ("HONEY PIE! HONEY PIE!") and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?", widely considered to be WhiteAlbum Filler.
Call Back: The lyrics of "Glass Onion" consist almost entirely of references to the band's previous songs, including "I Am the Walrus", "She Loves You", "The Fool on the Hill", "Fixing a Hole", and "Strawberry Fields Forever". In the case of "The Fool on the Hill", the song even includes a little snatch of flute as a musical echo of the original's introduction.
Hidden Track: "Can You Take Me Back", the song fragment on Side 4 of the White Album (included at the end of "Cry Baby Cry" on modern CD tracks), which to this day doesn't even have an official title.
"Helter Skelter" is a different sort of Last Note Nightmare, as it finishes with Ringo throwing his drumsticks across the room and screaming "I GOT BLISTERS ON MAH FINGERS!!" The version that wound up on the "White Album" was the 18th take of the day. That explains the blisters.
The single, "Revolution", is a much faster and heavier (and louder) version of "Revolution 1". As Giles Martin said on the sleeve-notes for Love, "even today it defines 'distortion'
"Revolution 9". While "Revolution 1" is a nice, slow, relatively tame rock song (especially compared to the harsher single), "Revolution 9" is eight minutes of pure, untapped, minimalist cacophony. A Last Note Nightmare, that really is a nightmare, regardless if it's a whole song...
Minimalistic Cover Art: The Beatles is all white, save for the name of the album embossed onto it, and on some LP printings, a unique serial number stamped on it (going for a bit of irony in something so plain also being unique from every other copy of it). Ever since, fans have called it "The White Album".
Momma's Boy: The titular character of "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" is "the all-American bullet-headed Saxon mother's son." And behind that tough exterior, he really does rely on his mom's defense when people start to question him - hence why he always brings her along on hunting trips "in case of accidents."
One-Scene Wonder: Eric Clapton came to the studio at his friend George's request to play on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". He delivered probably the best guitar solo to ever appear on a Beatles record.
Subverted with "Revolution", a protest about protesters (and specifically those supportive of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, in John's "Chairman Mao" reference".
This may specifically refer to then-recent May '68 general strike and protests in France, where many student protesters marched holding up pictures of Chairman Mao.
The ending of "Long Long Long" is way scarier. A case of Throw It In helps, as a wine bottle on the Hammond organ shook as the last chord played. George added the wailing voice. It sounds like a coffin is closing at a funeral while the widow weeps.
Self-Backing Vocalist: Paul on "I Will" and "Wild Honey Pie". John, who usually didn't do this, had a duet with himself (interpolating lines) on "Julia".
Self-Titled Album: The Beatles, although pretty much everyone knows it better as "The White Album".
"Savoy Truffle" lists a lot of actual flavours of chocolate, and is also a joke about Eric Clapton's weakness for chocolate.
Single Stanza Song: "Wild Honey Pie" and "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" . Also, "Can You Take Me Back", the Hidden Track right before "Revolution 9".
Song Of Song Titles: "Glass Onion" on the White Album name-checks "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am The Walrus", "Fixing a Hole", "Lady Madonna" and "The Fool On The Hill".
Studio Chatter: The end of "Piggies", the beginning of "Revolution 1", and most famously Ringo's "I'VE GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!!!" at the end of "Helter Skelter".
0 reviews