I've always found "Octopus' Garden" to be a pretty average song. I mean, as far as Abbey Road goes. Then I heard the version on Love. Slowed down and mashed up with "Good Night," all of a sudden, Ringo sounds majestic. And perfect. It's moments like this and the seamless transition from Rubber Soul classics "Drive My Car" to "What You're Doing" to "The Word," all in one track that make this the most important Beatles release in over 30 years.\nLove is the perfect word for this compilation album. George Martin -- "the fifth Beatle" -- has done it again. It's not a best-of Beatles love songs collection or a re-hash of old songs like the Beatles 1 album. It's a mash-up, similar to what Danger Mouse tried to do when he created the Gray Album, which combined Jay-Z's Black Album with the Beatles' White Album, only ... this one is good. Really good. And who better to take on the imposing task of messing with the master tapes of all-time classic Beatles songs than Martin, with help from his son Giles? \nFor the first couple of listens through, anyone with a passing Beatles knowledge will have fun picking out the individual drum parts, guitar riffs and vocals. But Love is not a novelty album. It's the perfect cure for fans that haven't put on a Beatles album in years because they have listened to them too much (if that's possible). Not one track is the same as how it was when originally released. Created for a Cirque du Soleil performance, I can't wait to see how the show matches up with the album, but unlike the new Tenacious D soundtrack, this album stands alone quite well. And it will likely stand the test of time as it only gets better with each additional listen. \nStarting with a haunting bare vocal version of "Because," the album has 26 tracks, but has nearly double that thanks to the many flourishes of parts of songs mixed in here and there. While some songs go nearly untouched, others are beautifully strewn together mixes. On first listen, the one that stood out is a combination of the sitar in "Within You, Without You" with the vocals of "Tomorrow Never Knows" before segueing into the full "Within You, Without You." Martin makes the whole process feel effortless. \nWhen IU Beatles professor Glenn Gass told my class that he used to have past classes create their own White Album by turning the two-disc classic into one unstoppable force of an album, I thought I'd give it a try. Before I drown in your E-mails saying it's sacrilegious to mess with the album, I want to say that at Thanksgiving I gave thanks for every minute of the White Album. OK, maybe not Yoko's input on "Revolution 9" or her voice on "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill." I'm not even trying to create a definitive version. Everyone has their own favorites. As Paul once said, "Come on, It's the Beatles White Album." But let's see if I can't create something interesting here -- in the spirit of Martin's beautiful Love.
My White Album\n1. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" -- This may be a surprising first pick for most people, but it really gets the album started with a bang and it's high energy "Come on, Come on" always gets me geeked. \n2. "Sexy Sadie" -- I'm not going to make a bringing "Sexy Sadie" back joke. I swear. \n3. "Helter Skelter" -- Kicking the energy up again, the manic, wild guitar feeds right into what the weeping Beatles' instruments must have felt after these sessions. \n4. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" -- Clapton is God. George Harrison's first truly great song is helped out by a sick Clapton solo. \n5. "Happiness is a Warm Gun" -- It has everything -- a mocking of gun culture and sexual innuendo about putting your finger on her trigger. \n6. "Julia" -- John's emotional song to his deceased mother always reminds me of my own mom, and it transitions perfectly into the raw John feelings on the next song. \n7. "Yer Blues" -- Raw, ethereal, John at his best. A pre-cursor to the yelling John on Plastic Ono Band and continuing in the tradition of ending side one with a depressing John song. (see "She Said, She Said.")\n \nSide Two\n8. "Back In the USSR" -- What better way to kick off the back side of the album then with the airplane taking off on the hard rocking surf-rock track? \n9. "Revolution" -- Not Revolution no. 9 with Yoko, or even the one on the White Album. The single, hard rocking, distorted guitar rock one. You can't have a revolution with slow guitar. \n10. "Why Don't We Do it in the Road" - Seriously, why don't we? I can't believe this song didn't provoke widespread street loving. It kicks ass. \n11. "Black Bird" -- It's a classic, and it would be a sham if I didn't put it on here. A perfect acoustic song. 12. "Long, Long, Long" -- A wonderfully slow, reflective song on connecting with a lost love; another wonderful George song.\n13. "I'm So Tired" -- Winding down the album with John's late-night feeling of being too tired to sleep is something I can always identify with. And what better way to wrap it up?\n \nDilemmas -- I really fought the urge to put "Goodnight" at the end. It was made to finish the album, but I just don't think it fits. It's too airy and I never want to listen to it. I was sad to cut "Birthday" and "Glass Onion," but had no problems ignoring the plea of "Don't Pass Me By." All in all, the White Album is the White Album, and I never would actually take these songs off the Beatles catalog. \nAs John said, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me." If I cut your favorite song or did this completely different than you would have, feel free to E-mail me your best shot at the White Album.
