First released: 1968, November 25

Original Vinyl Recording Remastered (2012)

Sheet music, guitar tabs, song books at Sheetmusicplus.com

This album was completely brilliant. My only wish was that the Beatles would have included "Hey Jude", "Junk", "Hey Bulldog", "The Inner Light", and "Lady Madonna" on the album, and would have left off "Revolution 9", "Wild Honey Pie", "Why Don't We Do It In The Road", and "Don't Pass Me By". Then, the album would have been perfect. In any case, it is my favorite Beatles album.

Very good album, the Beatles' best, by far. The best song in my opinion is the underrated "Long Long Long".

On first listen, these songs are as bizarre as they come. After a few times through, the songs catch on. The only one on here that I'll never understand is Revolution No. 9. Savoy Truffle is another catchy, underrated Harrison song, along with the pseudo-kiddie Piggies. Yer Blues and the pioneering Helter Skelter are remarkably un-Beatle-like, and that alone nearly qualifies them as some of the greatest on the album. Blues, heavy metal, ska, country-western, folk, and countless other styles are somehow meshed together, and the number of songs on here is unbelievable, when you factor in the 8+ minute Rev. No. 9. Who says you can't have 9 songs on one side? This refreshing change of direction makes brings the album to life.

Each song on the sprawling double album The Beatles is an entity to itself, as the band touches on anything and everything they can. This makes for a frustratingly scattershot record or a singularly gripping musical experience, depending on your view, but what makes the White Album interesting is its mess. Never before had a rock record been so self-reflective, or so ironic; the Beach Boys send-up "Back in the USSR" and the British blooze parody "Yer Blues" are delivered straight-faced, so it's never clear if these are affectionate tributes or wicked satires. Lennon turns in two of his best ballads with "Dear Prudence" and "Julia"; scours the Abbey Road vaults for the musique concrete collage "Revolution 9"; pours on the schmaltz for Ringo's closing number, "Good Night"; celebrates the Beatles cult with "Glass Onion"; and, with "Cry Baby Cry," rivals Syd Barrett. McCartney doesn't reach quite as far, yet his songs are stunning — the music-hall romp "Honey Pie", the mock country of "Rocky Raccoon", the ska-inflected "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and the proto-metal roar of "Helter Skelter." Clearly, the Beatles' two main songwriting forces were no longer on the same page, but neither were George and Ringo. Harrison still had just two songs per LP, but it's clear from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," the canned soul of "Savoy Truffle," the haunting "Long Long Long," and even the silly "Piggies" that he had developed into a songwriter who deserved wider exposure. And Ringo turns in a delight with his first original, the lumbering country-carnival stomp "Don't Pass Me By." None of it sounds like it was meant to share album space together, but somehow The Beatles creates its own style and sound through its mess. — Stephen Thomas Erlewine