The second disc of The White Album is definitely the weak one. The inclusion of the horrible ‘Revolution 9’ alone keeps this one out of my CD player. ‘Honey Pie,’ ‘Yer Blues’ and ‘Good Night’ only drag it down more.
But it does have its moments. ‘Birthday’ is an enjoyable rocker, and ‘Helter Skelter’ is one of the most crazily unexpected successes in their catalog. ‘Mother Nature’s Son’ and ‘Revolution 1’ are also more than worthy.
But my favorite track on this disc is Lennon’s ‘Sexy Sadie.’
The one and only George Harrison tune in my Beatles series, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is also one of my all-time favorite songs by the band. It’s very different in style and feel than most Beatles songs, which is part of its charm.
The Beatles (or The White Album, as it’s popularly known) is ironically titled… the first album named after the band itself showcases the group at its most splintered. While past Beatles efforts were very much a collaborative effort, much of this album wasn’t even recorded with the full band present.
I consider Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the most overrated Beatles album.
In one sense, it’s not overrated at all — it most certainly changed the face of popular music, redefined the ‘concept’ album and became the unofficial soundtrack of the Summer of Love. in the historic sense, the impact of this album can’t be questioned.
But when it comes down to the actual songs… eh.
Following the remarkable artistic success of Rubber Soul, The Beatles put the pedal to the metal and delivered what many consider their finest album, Revolver. This album was voted the best album of all time in a recent VH-1 survey of hundreds of critics and musicians, and it’s easy to see why. Revolver is a perfect blend of the pop-rock mastery of the band’s early work and the studio trickery they would indulge in more on future albums.
It also contains such classic tunes as ‘Here, There and Everywhere,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ ‘Good Day Sunshine’ and ‘Got to Get You Into My Life,’ not to mention a host of lesser-known gems.
Bolt promises to be the final non-Pixar computer animated film released by Disney, and it’s not a bad way to go out. Pixar films remain on a whole other level, cinematically and in terms of resonance, but there is certainly a place for solid family entertainment of a more pedestrian nature.
Bolt is certainly pedestrian, borrowing elements from everything from Toy Story 2 to The Truman Show, and there isn’t a moment you don’t know exactly where it’s going. But it’s also funny, exciting and charming and a perfectly nice way to spend an afternoon with your kids.
