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Liner Notes
A weekly column by Tribune pop music critic Curtis Ross
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Published: October 22, 2009
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There was a time when I thought The Beatles, on record at least, were infallible. The notion that each and every note on each and every album wasn't uniformly great was heresy. "Wild Honey Pie"? Well, it's just supposed to be there. "Revolution 9"? Brilliant! Ringo's song? Er …
The truth is, The Beatles weren't perfect and "The White Album" is proof.
Read about the making of the album and you'll learn about bitter feuds, petty rivalries and the general nastiness of four young men who had just about enough of each other.
The album has questionable experiments, cheesy genre exercises and outright filler. But I'd argue that's what makes it the Beatles' best, or at least most representative, album. (Or, at least, my favorite.)
"Revolver" may be as close as The Beatles, or anyone, got to making the perfect rock album. But "Revolver" is the professional portrait with the zits brushed out, the hair combed perfectly and the teeth gleaming.
"The White Album" is a stack of candid photos, some in focus and some not, some pretty unflattering.
For all that, "The White Album" has plenty of amazing music, songs that continue to astound us, move us and rock us. But it's the combination of the great and the not-so that makes the album fascinating, the sound of the greatest band in the world revealed as mortal after all.
Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.
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