The Beatles – The Beatles

Original press sounds amazing still better than the remasters .

Grabbed a fairly ratty copy of this, it cleaned up beautifully and the sound I was able to coax out of these 53 year old grooves is downright astonishing. Mine has a few scratches and dings, yet surface noise is very, very minimal.

I used to be in the "shoulda been 1 LP" camp, I'd get a bit bored with White album on digital - that was before I picked up a vinyl copy. Sitting down and listening to all four sides - I now have a newfound appreciation for this ramshackle, scattershot, yet utterly brilliant masterpiece. I really felt I'd been on a journey.

My copy of this one had J46 #4 which I don't see as a listed variant. Should I just add it to the variants in the database? All the other identifiers match correctly.

When opening up the gatefold I noticed that the inside is upside down. Is that normal? I have determined that I have this pressing based on the way the number is on the front cover and how the labels look. Etchings are variants though.

As unpopular as the opinion may be, I'm with George Martin who claimed this would have been better edited down to one album.
My reflections some forty four years after this album's release: John Lennon simply KICKS ASS on this album. The curiously simple "Dear Prudence" has only become better with age. "I'm So Tired", "Yer Blues", "Sexy Sadie" and the magnificent "Happiness is a Warm Gun" are Beatles' (and Lennon) classics. The acoustic version of "Revolution" is a vast improvement over the electric one. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide" is joyful, rocking nonsense, while McCartney's "Helter Skelter" and "Birthday" are just nonsense. McCartney slips into terminal cuteness with the awful "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" and the fairly minor "Rocky Raccoon".

McCartney scores high for "Back in the USSR". "Martha My Dear" and "I Will" may be minor songs, but McCartney's charm shines through on these numbers, as well as "Honey Pie" and "Mother Nature's Son".

Now for the garbage. The following songs should have been doomed to unreleased acetates: "Don't Pass Me By" (terrible mix of violin and organ), "Revolution 9" (remains an uninteresting collection of sound effects), "Wild Honey Pie" (simply awful), "Long Long Long" which is essentially Harrison masturbating. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" may be considered classic, but the song has long since bored me and it is painful to listen to now.

Guilty pleasures: Paul's vocal on "Why Don't We Do It In The Road". Lennon's hauntingly hip "Cry Baby Cry" and Harrison's spirited "Savoy Truffle". "Goodnight" is terribly hokey but in the universe of the Beatles, the song strangely works.

I did say John Lennon kicked ASS on this album, didn't I?