First time listeners review The Beatles White Album

Millions of people have listened to the double album and it is ranked as one of The Beatles best and one of the best double albums ever made.

Here are three first time listeners to the album and these are their reviews.

Do you agree? Or do you disagree?

REVIEW: Silvan who runs Silvan's Van in Taunton Town Centre

Just finished listening beatles disc 2, I think this album (white) is pretty good. I feel genuinely happy and positive, it is easy to listen and funny sometimes. It seems the white album ambitious, with humour and curiosity along side it. 30 different song and each one of them different than other. I still think my favourite is (Buffalo Bill) very catchy.

I don’t think I have heard it as I tend to listen to radio stations that play a current selection of music or CDs of favourite singers. I don’t think it changed my opinion as I didn’t really have an opinion of the Beatles to start with, I did find it more uplifting than I would have thought.

Would I buy this album? I think I may consider. 

Review: Jess Chaffey, Editor of Somerset Living

The Beatles were not part of my music library growing up. If I wasn’t asked to write this short review, they probably wouldn’t have ever been a part of it. Before I listened to the album, all I knew about the Beatles was from their Wikipedia page. They were a rock band formed in the 1960s and most definitely popular way before I was even born.

I really enjoyed the song “Blackbird”, as I have vague memories of hearing it as a child. This is one of the slower songs with words that can be heard more clearly throughout. Maybe that says something about my taste in music – I am not a rock fan nor have ever been one, so these calmer songs are ones that I enjoyed listening to.

Listening to “Revolution 9” was not a pleasant experience for me. The collage of sound was confusing and almost eery, with the noises not just fading from one to another but clashing crashing against each other.

Listening to the album, it is clear that they are a key part of music history and their songs are much more complex than I ever believed. When you first listen to the album, the meanings of the songs are unclear. To find out the meaning, you have to listen and research the song and then it takes on a whole new meaning. Not only is the album a complex mix of genres, the songs are a complex mix of meanings too. Overall, my journey spent listening to the Beatles was certainly an experience, but not one I am sure to embark on again anytime soon.

REVIEW by Mark Watts who runs the Spud Shack in Taunton Town Centre

To set the scene, like most people, I’ve heard tracks from The White Album, but I’ve not listened to the whole thing from start to finish.

So this was my mission.

The album starts in familiar surroundings with Back in the USSR.  Well known and liked by myself, however, after the uplifting “oh la Dee oh la da” it goes strange.  Honey Pie and Bungalow Bill are not for me.  I’m sure The Beatles purists will have plenty to say about them being groundbreaking, but not for me, just plain right weird.

The album then gets back on track (see what I did there) with some absolute classics including one of my favourite Beatles songs of all time ... Blackbird.The album ebbs and flows quite well with lots of songs, I have to be honest and say, that I don’t know, mixing with songs that everybody knows.

Would I rush to listen to the album again whilst I prepare potatoes on the Spud-Shack?  My answer would be no, not in its entirety, but it still has some cracking tracks which like so much of the Beatles material stand the test of time.