THE BEATLES [AKA: THE WHITE ALBUM]

I will say this right here: this is the only Beatles album that is really a masterpiece, IMO. While they have made a few great albums, none of them comes even near this. Why, exactly? It's hard to say why. You see, while the other great Beatles albums are standard experimental pop stuff, this one stands alone in their catalog, heck, in the whole of rock music. It's an absolute beast that refuses to stay in one place, which I like very much. It also happens to be the most interesting Beatles album too. I think all that explains very well why I think this is the only real masterpiece the Beatles made. There's a really fascinating thing about this album, it seems to be in a strange world all of its own. Unlike other Beatles albums, which usually followed trends, you can't say that about this one. Yes, there are some calm tracks, which some popular bands were switching to at that time (ever since that genius called Bob Dylan guy released John Wesley Harding, which rendered the entire psychedelic rock genre obsolete when it was maybe barely more than a year old), but even then, the insane running order, the fact that The Beatles no longer seem to care about tame experiments and that they were doing the real thing this time around, and that brilliant cover, it all adds up. This is an album of contradictions. There's tension, yet calmness. The focus is on not focusing. The very things that would be ruining every other album enhance the experience. It's all so crazy, how the album revels in its flaws and its quirkiness, and how it's perfect in its imperfectness! It's a parody of the whole idea of an album, and it works! (I hope this is not too confusing.) It's jarring, it's fun, it's completely original and creative. I mean, even Zappa wouldn't make an album like this until a year later (talking about Uncle Meat here, BTW, which is a great favorite of mine, certainly in my top 3 Zappa records), even if I don't really know whether he was influenced by this. Whatever, this an album to enjoy, to freely explore, like The Beatles themselves were doing when they made this record. Also, strangely, I like almost every track here (in fact, the only one I think I don't like is Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da and even that is a pretty ridiculously catchy song even if a few parts make me cringe, so I can't really complain), and some of these I would rank among the very best of The Beatles: Helter Skelter, Back in the USSR (a much more convincing rock and roll song than most of The Beatles' early stuff), Happiness is a Warm Gun, Revolution 9, Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey (SO INCREDIBLY FUN), Glass Onion, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Sexy Sadie, Yer Blues, Julia, and probably one or two others. Conclusion: BEST BEATLES ALBUM EVAR HANDS DOWN