Week 25
Date: Jun 17th, 2019
Motion: THB that the Beatles Is the Best Album by the Beatles
Role: Secretary (opp.)
NB. A record by the Beatles, The Beatles, is also known alternatively as the White Double or the White Album. Occasionally it may also be called Nameless, Blanko, Snow White or something to that effect.
Dear Gathering, Ladies, Gentlemen and Judge,
We have heard an interesting vindication of the White Album by the Beatles, which could best be summed up with the contents of the following essay by Dorian Lynskey about its merits. Our side does not believe that the White Album by the Beatles would be their best. The simple reason is that the album lacks coherence and cohesion that reflects the turmoil the band went through at the time. Let me elaborate.
ARC OF CREATION OF AN ARTIST
The career of the Beatles can be divided into two halves, roughly: the time when the lads were collaborating tightly and the period when egos, finances and girlfriends began to drive a wedge between the members.
I would say that Magical Mystery Tour was the last great record the band made and the White Album was the first bad one they made. But the trouble with the last three records, the White Double, Abbey Road and Let It Be is really that they are one and the same gestation of a record spread onto three LPs. The material is un-even and homogeneous in its heterogeneity throughout. This means that at that point there was not even an attempt at trying to create any cohesive albums anymore. Every member, Ringo included, is contributing material, and it’s only half-cooked. Sketches for songs pass for actual songs.
The whole thing reminds us of another European artistic great, Hergé, whose last Tintin album was merely a storyboard for a “real” Tintin album, but ultimately was published as his last work of art, Tintin & Alph-Art. People have forgotten how much time and energy Hergé really put into a Tintin album; why, he used to have a studio of aides, colourists and draughtsmen and -women at his disposal, among whom he also found his second wife.
POWER OF A GOOD CURATOR
The truth about the last three records was that great records could have been culled and curated from the material that the band composed and compiled after 1967, and released between 1968 and 1970. That would have required, at any rate, someone capable of making such magisterial and executive decisions. That curator could have chosen, for example, to have three solo albums released seemingly under the Beatles brand, i.e. one by Paul (what became The White Album), one by John (what became Abbey Road) and one by George (what became Let It Be). But honestly, some other kind of aural, semantic or visual overarching theme would have been better. At the same time, lest we forget, the Kinks, led by the Davies brothers, in addition to other of the era’s peer groups, did manage to design and release concept albums. George Martin would not have been the ideal curator, as he had his hands full delivering all the sonic solutions that the band demanded in the studio, on behalf of EMI-Parlophone.
SECRET TURNING POINT: DEATH OF MANAGER
It seems more and more to be so that the loss of manager was the loss (and undoing) of the Beatles. Brian Epstein (1934 – 1967) could have been the executive voice who could have curated the “good” albums out of the uneven material that the band yielded between 1967 and 1970. It must be no coincidence that the band went into its diagnostic decline after Epstein’s death. Up until that point, everything had been fine, the drug use of the band notwithstanding. Substance abuse and money could break other bands up, but not the Beatles. They were too hard-wired for that.
So, why is the White Album hailed as the band’s best? It can be so that people were just slow to catch up. In the beginning, the Beatles were a live act and a radio act, whose records were being sold on the side as well. But fewer actually bought them with their own money. The first instance when an album launch was an “Event” was when Sgt. Pepper was released in the June of 1967. After that, people perhaps felt that all the other album releases were events as well and felt obliged to buy every one of them. Also, they had more money at their disposal, as the economy had growth digits like the People’s Republic of China today. People tend to value what they own. Because more people own the three last albums than the first three albums, or albums in between, they think that the latest are the best albums the band ever produced.
And they could not possibly be right about that.
Thank you.
A thorough selection of album sleeves and titles as produced by the Beatles; in the southeastern corner, the last one.
Arvio: Puheeni on melko asiaankäyvä ja perusteellinen ja siinä on monia faktoja, jotka olen yrittänyt saada oikein. Mahdollisena uutena informaationa esitän managerin osuuden kokonaisuudessa ja hänen liian aikaisen poismenonsa. Paljon riippuu siitä, mitä edellä olevat ovat sanoneet, olisiko tämä puhe parempi sihteerin vai edustajan roolissa, kun riviedustajan tulisi kuitenkin sanoa jotakin luovaa, ehkä juuri tuota. Toisaalta sihteerinkin on syytä jotenkin poiketa puheenjohtajan annista (tauto)loogisista syistä, joten katson, että tämä puhe on sihteerin puheeksi sopiva.
Polar Ice Standpoints Society 