Alright, I’ve got two copies of this one, both the stereo mix on CD. There’s notable differences between the two, which I’m going to focus on because trying to come up with some kind of original thought on this album is insane and pointless.

But isn’t this whole thing insane and pointless? One day someone might sit me down and say, “Look, you’ve proved your point or whatever with this record review thing. Why not [do this other thing], we’ll pay you. Real job, it’ll keep you busy. I understand this blog thing is the closest thing you’ve had to a desk job and that you only keep doing it to keep from going completely insane, but that’s enough for us. Just forget it.” I might go for that. Not counting on it, but I sure haven’t turned down such an offer. But how could I make sure, even once ensconced within the cushy chair of seated gainful employment, I don’t fully lose it for good? Most people have some thing, I’m sure you’ve said it: “If I didn’t have _____ I’d go crazy!” Would you? You’d go crazy. You’d take off all your clothes, jump out of a window screaming, run down a crowded street on broken ankles and among horrified onlookers, cut your throat with a butter knife. I’ve never done any thing quite like that. But I keep blogging just to be sure.

Maybe it’s in bad taste to bring up such things in a review of this particular album, as it somehow inspired Charles Manson to…go crazy. I’m not making any effort to unravel any of the lyrics or themes on this thing except to say as an artist, you can never second guess what your supposed message could be or what it could inspire in a crazy person, because they can literally make anything mean anything. I mean Helter Skelter is about an amusement park ride. Paul’s just really enthusiastic about it. But there I go with stuff you can read elsewhere.

I bought the first version in ’94, I remember that’s when I got a CD player and the Beatles albums were some of the first ones I got. Came in a longbox, two single CD cases. I got tired of them getting separated because when I listen to this thing it’s gotta be all the way through every time. So when they started making the dual cases I put them together. I still prefer this to the fancy slipcase foldout deal of the new reissue, and the minimalist Parlophone labels are far…uh, don’t wanna say “superior”…they tie the whole design together. The new one also has some new photos and notes, who cares. I like the zero meta commentary of the first reissue. You can make whatever you want of it. Hopefully it’s not a paranoid, murderous fantasy that you tragically manifest, but what are the odds of that, more than once. Not something you should worry about. Sorry, I keep bringing it up.

Really, it’s not something I used to think about when I listened to the thing. I’m not listening to it right now. Usually when I do these things, I put the record on repeat the whole time until I’m done with it. I prefer not do that now because there’s just so many paths to go down that could go on forever and I used to have this thing where I listened to it every year on my birthday, which is so corny it’s embarrassing to admit and I also used to get very drunk for this which I try not to do at all anymore so why bum myself out with a half-assed experience.

I try to put the whole thing entirely in it’s own context. No, you can’t cut it down to one disc, or listen to it doing the dishes or anything else. You gotta lay down and put the headphones on and every stupid thing is intentional and important. It’s a conceptual album with no concept. It’s a kind of story, like a David Lynch movie. Some things are better left unexplained. It’s just pure experience.

But I’m going to point out one major beef with the remaster, and it’s got nothing to do with compression or any kind of audiophile thing which is maybe there if you really get into that but it’s just one song I notice a big difference: While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Because that is one of those songs that is just such a classic rock pop song, you know this song even if you never sat down and really listened, and everyone makes a big deal about the Clapton solo but I do not give a fuck about that—it’s that the way it’s originally recorded is so crazily cacophonous with that high-pitch organ drone, it’s almost painful. That really blew me away more than anything, that they got away with that sounding like it did. Of course on the remaster, they went back to the original tapes and turned the organ down. Wow. That pretty much says it all.

So, if you don’t have this, I really think you need the non-remastered version. On Amazon the only option for that right now is the 1990 reissue on cassette. That’s probably not worth it. Look around. I’ll eventually try to get an old vinyl copy if I can find one in good shape at a reasonable price. It depends if I live long enough to eventually get paid. Might be worth it.

%