Customer Reviews:
 There are reissues, and there are reissues... November 27, 2008
Barrett Benton (New York)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's sort of amusing to write about an album that (1) has long been reviewed to death, (2) most everybody already has an opinion about (mostly positive, I'd gather), and (3) which, near as I can tell, you haven't been able to buy on vinyl in a little under a dog's age. Whatever...
Right about the time EMI and the Boys sorted out their differences and greenlighted the CD release of the Beatles' catalog (anybody remember the feeding frenzy THAT created? Wait till you can get the stuff via iTunes and/or here at Amazon...oh yes, it's no longer *if* it'll happen, just exactly *when*), there was also a limited-edition, Direct Metal Mastered reissue of The White Album, serial-numbered on the cover, like the original, and, for good measure, pressed in white vinyl, and included a poster and additional Beatle-tchotchkes. I skipped buying the CD release in favor of this LP set, wondering if I was making a dumb move.
Now I'm wondering how much this thing is worth right now, although I'm not keen on getting rid of it. (Yep, I still love vinyl, even though I've been down with the CD and iPod thing for a while, too).
The music? After all this time, what can *I* add? :-)
The quality of the pressing, as to be expected, is whisper-quiet. The remastering job was well-done as well.
Something for collectors (and would-be collectors) to keep an eye out for.
If you're lucky enough to grab this, do so! October 12, 2008
Allison M. Paul (ummm...)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As if you didn't know, the Beatles sound better on LP.
This is an awesome album and I was shocked to find it so inexpensive.
For any record collector or enthusiast, get this album... but you probably already have it.
 The Paul, John, George and Ringo album April 16, 2009
Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth)
Barely a year after the triumph of SGT. PEPPER'S and their subsequent numerous Top 40 singles, the unparalleled and cohesive unit that was the Beatles lay in total disarray. Cooperation and co-inspiration between band members had given way to backbiting and blatant avoidance. This sad turn of events was unintentionally chronicled in the double-record set known as the WHITE ALBUM.
These recordings are not so much the Beatles as they are John and friends, Paul with backup, etc. Quality on the WHITE ALBUM varies widely. The excellence of "Mother Nature's Son," "I'm So Tired," "Long, Long, Long," Blackbird," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Yer Blues" is offset by throwaway trivialities like "Wild Honey Pie," "Savoy Truffle," "Martha My Dear," "Don't Pass Me By" and "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey."
John Lennon comes off worst here, for several reasons. Because some were busily parsing his songs for hidden meanings, John responded by creating nonsensical lyrics for many of his WHITE ALBUM contributions. "Glass Onion," "Happiness Is A Warm Gun," "Cry Baby Cry" and others are the result of his ill-advised playfulness. The inclusion of Yoko Ono in the chorus of "Bungalow Bill" was as much in error as was the chorister who kept singing "Buffalo" instead of "Bungalow." "Revolution #9," Lennon's Opus Dopus, defies description even as it defines drugged-out excess.
Paul McCartney's Dylanesque storytelling ("Rocky Raccoon") makes his schmaltzy side ("Honey Pie") that much more of an enigma. George Harrison's few efforts are fairly consistent and clearly demonstrate his too-long overlooked talents. Ringo's "Goodnight" lullabye lies in stark contrast to the jarring "Revolution #9" aural nightmare that directly precedes it.
And as for dreams, the WHITE ALBUM sessions are an eyes-wide-open indicator that the Beatles dream would soon be over.
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