'The Beatles' - The White Album Listening Thread - Your thoughts

[milt]

Got my shipping notice last nite(Friday) from Amazon.jp.
Arriving Monday!
They originally shipped me the made in Germany version & I had worked out a return with shipping reimbursed,
but I'm having Thanksgiving with some old friends & decided to give it to them as an early Christmas present & skip the hassle.

 

[marpow]

That's exactly how mine is setup too...the Wendy Carlos arrangement.

That link is cool.

 

[Spock]

Received my copy today - sounds great!! So much better than Sgt Pepper

 

[Philip Spinner]

I listened to the stereo CD's on headphones last night. I heard little things for the first time. The track that surprised me the most was Helter Skelter. I heard voices toward the end that I never heard before. Perhaps some of them were experienced by Charles Manson.

 

[kap'n krunch]

Received my copy today - sounds great!! So much better than Sgt Pepper

I respect opinions.. now as I said, it s NOT that different from SPLHCP mix..prove me wrong!

 

[jdmack]

I respect opinions.. now as I said, it s NOT that different from SPLHCP mix..prove me wrong!

My observation is that in the SPLHCB mix, almost everything that is in the rear channels is also in the front channels. It's almost like the available track positions are front and side rather than front and rear. In the "White Album" mix, lots of things are in the rear channels which are either absent from or very low in the front channels.

 

[Spock]

I respect opinions.. now as I said, it s NOT that different from SPLHCP mix..prove me wrong!

The worst with the Sgt Pepper - is the sound quality/eq - it's very much in your face and harsh. On my system it sounds really bad - listening fatigue comes very fast.

This is not a problem with The White album!!

 

[marpow]

Hip Hip Hooray, my copy from Japan finally arrived today. I had arthroscopic hip surgery today, sore and a little loopy so I will spend some cherished moments reading the White album this evening and I will save listening when I can concentrate better. Shipped from CDJapan in gorgeous condition.

 

[GOS]

Hip Hip Hooray, my copy from Japan finally arrived today. I had arthroscopic hip surgery today, sore and a little loopy so I will spend some cherished moments reading the White album this evening and I will save listening when I can concentrate better. Shipped from CDJapan in gorgeous condition.
View attachment 36696

Awesome, I'm happy for you my good man. I surely hope you enjoy what you hear. I know I do......I think you will too!

 

[marpow]

I have now read the entire book and just finishing Disc 6 of 6. The SHM CD’s sound great as they should but regardless of sonic quality, more important is the content. Discs 3-6 are a White Album history lesson, very good. I rarely read the books of big box sets, I always to all the discs, and maybe this afternoon I’ll be in good frame of mind for 5.1 listening. The notes on all the tracks are superb. I accidentally ordered two sets from CDJapan, and I did the same thing accidentally with Sgt. Pepper, both the Japanese versions. Either I am too excited with Beatles or CDJAPAN has a poor cancelling program. I know the answer and it is me and them.

 

[The Bright Side]

Hey guys! I was able to listen to this 5.1 mix and while I think it's exquisitely done and the sound quality is fantastic, I just couldn't finish it.

I've been familiar with Sgt Pepper for the longest part of my life, I enjoy Abbey Road (have a fan-made 5.1 mix from Rock Band multis), and of course Love. I also really like the 5.1 tracks from the various DVDs and Blu-Rays. I wasn't familiar with the entirety of the white album before, though, and to be honest I don't quite get how this is supposed to be awesome. I got as far as somewhere on side 4 before I finally gave up. There's so much dissonance, random screeching/yelling/noise on this album, it just got on my nerves. I don't know what they were thinking/smoking.

It's like watching the 3rd of 4th season of Monty Python's Flying Circus!

I guess I must be missing something. I think I'll give it another shot or two but right now, I'm turned off. Listening to Sgt Pepper while I type this, much better even though the mix is inferior

 

[~dave~~wave~]

My local Barnes & Noble has both The White Album and Sgt. Pepper marked as 40% off in-store only (Black Friday). White Album is $107 and Sgt. Pepper is $89. There's also a 25% off coupon you could use on either. Had multiple coupons and got both for around $140.

It's true!
Found the printable coupon on B&N homepage, paid $80.99 + tax!
(Could have saved another $11 with a B&N membership.)

Thanks, sjcorne, a wonderful Black Friday score!

 

[SHB]

Wow! Great deal. Enjoy.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Wow! Great deal. Enjoy.

Welcome to the forum

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

My vote for Surround album of the year.

Standout tracks for me:

Dear Prudence...

...and the rest...LOL

 

[edisonbaggins]

My vote for Surround album of the year.

Standout tracks for me:

Dear Prudence...

...and the rest...LOL

Yeah, it's a real juggernaut. Glad an affordable situation came along this early (bought two Black Friday copies and will flip one)!

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

Yeah, it's a real juggernaut. Glad an affordable situation came along this early (bought two Black Friday copies and will flip one)!

I paid $148.80 with tax (and free shipping) for one box set and it is worth every penny.

 

[Quadrophiliac]

Just a heads up this one is available on Amazon.ca for $139.99 CAD right now.

 

[salsdali]

There's so much dissonance, random screeching/yelling/noise on this album, it just got on my nerves. I don't know what they were thinking/smoking.

The random "noise" is what makes all The Beatles albums great IMO.

Remember, this was back then when "music" was very conventional. No other artists would dare to go out side the box for fear of reprimand.

It's like Michael J Fox playing Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode in Back to the Future and putting a modern take on it. The audience just stands there stunned with jaws dropped.

Or

Pink Floyd soon after this release incorporating these random sounds as their M.O. into their ablums. I mean, where do you think Pink Floyd got their inspiration to do that?

Or was it the other way around? lol

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Some info from the more tech savvy folks here would be appreciated on this. A couple of pics I took while playing TWA on my Oppo; and been wondering about any significance with the audio bit rate. I would assume that the higher the audio bit rate the higher the fidelity. One pic shows Dear Prudence with Dolby True HD and the other with DTS-HD MA. Actually on this disc the rates are very close and vary (~6-8 Mbps) as the song plays through. On other discs there can be rather significant differences. What I found really interesting is on the new "Jethro Tull This Was" disc the rates are "Dolby - 437 Kbps vs. DTS - 1.5 Mbps" and they stay static during the whole album? Thoughts???

When I ripped this I decided to go with the Dts version because of what has been mentioned earlier that the sound is brighter and slightly harsher than the Dolby; and reflects a truer sense of what GM & the Beatles wanted it to sound like (within the times of social unrest - the war etc?) I always listen carefully to different albums in surround to decide which format I'll like best to rip; and sometimes it's actually Dolby over Dts.