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Which Half of The White Album do you prefer?
13 May 2017
2.45pm
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QuarryMan
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Which disc of the 1968 double-LP do you prefer?

Disc 1 is tracks 1-17, Back In The U.S.S.R-Julia . It notably contains While My Guitar Gently Weeps , Happiness Is A Warm Gun , I’m So Tired , Dear Prudence , Blackbird and Martha My Dear .

Disc 2 is tracks 18-30, Birthday to Good Night . It notably contains Helter Skelter , Yer Blues , Mother Nature’s Son , Sexy Sadie and Revolutions 1-9. 

I personally think Disc 1 is superior as it contains more good songs which tend to be more memorable. However it obviously has the advantage as it has more songs.

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14 April 2017
5.06pm
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sir walter raleigh
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I personally prefer half one because of the sequence starting with While My Guitar Gently Weeps through Blackbird . All are some of the best songs on the album. 

Back In the U.S.S.R and Julia are a great opener and closer as well. 

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14 April 2017
5.27pm
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Evangeline
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Sides 3 and 4. Back when that half of The White Album was all I had, I listened to that record twice every single day for 3 months.
It’s imprinted in my head forever.

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14 April 2017
5.40pm
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The Hippie Chick
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Include me on team First Half! 

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14 April 2017
5.46pm
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William Shears Campbell
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If I actually had to choose, I might choose sides 1 & 2. It’s a close call, but the opening to side 1 is one of my favorite Beatles album openers.

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14 April 2017
6.05pm
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The Hole Got Fixed
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I guess the first half. First 4 songs are excellent!

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14 April 2017
6.21pm
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Dark Overlord
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This is a hard question, both discs have great tracks on them as well as throwaways, I think I’ll make a list to check this out:

As you can see on the list, side A is pretty good (with the exception of Wild Honey Pie ), side B kind of sucks, with I’m So Tired being it’s best track, side C is ok, and side D starts of pretty good but those last 2 tracks aren’t so, especially Good Night , in my opinion the worst song The Beatles ever released, ironic considering I think this is their best album, although Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road are pretty close up there. I’m going to mess around with the rules to give my answer. You see, some albums such as Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and The Beatles Rock And Roll Music had side 1 and 4 on disc 1 and side 2 and 3 on disc 2 so people could use it with a record changer, so I am going to treat The Beatles like this, so this is what a record changer version of The Beatles looks like:

In this situation I would prefer the first half because sides 1 and 2 AKA A and C are better than sides 3 and 4 AKA D and B.

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14 April 2017
7.36pm
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sir walter raleigh
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Side 2 features my favorite song Sexy Sadie , but Side one is a more impressive side in my eyes. Despite being less musically diverse than side 2, it has a perfect amount of depth and humor.

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14 April 2017
8.14pm
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ewe2
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This is such a hard question. It’s been many years since I listened to the album in vinyl format, and I’m a little shocked I can still remember the sides. Double albums are such odd balancing acts. I think the jury’s still out on the White Album in that sense, but I honestly can’t do without either half or sides.

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14 April 2017
8.15pm
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Dark Overlord
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The Beatles starts off great, side 1 is really a sight to hear, it’s a shame that Ringo skipped out on the first two tracks, although some sources say that he played a minor role on Dear Prudence .

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15 April 2017
4.30am
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georgiewood
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Evangeline said
Sides 3 and 4. Back when that half of The White Album was all I had, I listened to that record twice every single day for 3 months.
It’s imprinted in my head forever.  

I guess this is when you know you are a die hard Beatle fan. 

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16 April 2017
10.49am
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Martha
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For me, it’s the opposite to sir walter raleigh, the first half features my favourite While My Guitar Gently Weeps but the second half I like more as a whole. 

I just love how many different styles are intertwined. Every song completely contrasts the following and the preceding song. When you listen to the whole side it’s like an adventure with many unexpected turns. 

Additionally, Birthday is one of my favourite openers to a side of a Beatles album in general because I love how crazy and full of energy it is. Good Night is also a nice closing song IMO, though I probably am nearly alone with this opinion, because it is funny on the one hand and on the other hand it also spreads a message of peace.

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16 April 2017
4.53pm
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WeepingAtlasCedars
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Martha said
For me, it’s the opposite to sir walter raleigh, the first half features my favourite While My Guitar Gently Weeps but the second half I like more as a whole. 

I just love how many different styles are intertwined. Every song completely contrasts the following and the preceding song. When you listen to the whole side it’s like an adventure with many unexpected turns. 

Additionally, Birthday is one of my favourite openers to a side of a Beatles album in general because I love how crazy and full of energy it is. Good Night is also a nice closing song IMO, though I probably am nearly alone with this opinion, because it is funny on the one hand and on the other hand it also spreads a message of peace.  

You’re not alone on that one, Martha! I think Good Night is an excellent closer; it’s nice to have a calm, quiet ending to a rather adventurous album. 

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14 May 2017
3.01am
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Shamrock Womlbs
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I just love this album as it is from head to toe. Each and every half of it.

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14 May 2017
4.22am
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QuarryMan
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Wow, I’m honestly surprised Good Night gets so much hate. I don’t particularly love it, but to me it’s certainly not the worst thing the ever released. @Dark Overlord have you listened to What Goes On recently? That’s pretty awful in my book. Since I don’t hate anything on this album, I’ll just list the 7 best songs from each side and the 3 worst ones.

Disc 1

Best

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Dear Prudence

Back In The U.S.S.R 

Happiness Is A Warm Gun

Blackbird

I’m So Tired

Martha My Dear

Worst

Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?

Don’t Pass Me By

Wild Honey Pie

Disc 2 

Best

Yer Blues

Mother Nature’s Son

Long, Long, Long

Sexy Sadie

Revolution 1

Helter Skelter

Honey Pie

Worst

Honestly this side doesn’t have anything that bad on it. A lot of people hate Rev9 but I don’t mind it.

 

In conclusion then, disc 1’s best songs > disc 2’s best songs, but it has more bad songs.

Agreed?[sp_show_poll id=”183″]

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I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
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20 June 2017
11.19pm
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Elementary Penguin
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Disc 1 is my favourite but I do think it goes a little downhill after Blackbird and it starts to become more filler tracks. I do enjoy Disc 2 but I think it has a lull in the middle but in my opinion it starts and ends well.

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21 June 2017
7.16pm
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Dark Overlord
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I like side 1 and side 3 the best, that’s where all of the well thought out meat is, sides 2 and 4 have a couple of good songs but are mostly filler.

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22 June 2017
3.31am
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Flyingbrians
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It’s too difficult for me to say which of the two disks so i’ll list my favourite sides in order alongside some key tracks from each. 

My list:

Side 1 – Has the bulk of the best songs on the album (Dear Prudence , Happiness Is A Warm Gun , Glass Onion , While My Guitar…)

Side 3 – This is close to being my favourite since I like every song. It’s the rockier of the four sides (Yer Blues , Helter Skelter , Sexy Sadie , Everybody’s Got Something …)

Side 4 – Great closing side to the album and the most strange. Really not a fan of Honey Pie though (Rev 9, Rev 1, Cry Baby Cry , Savoy Truffle )

Side 2 – The patchiest of the four sides and the one with the most ‘filler’ tracks. Still some gems though (Julia , I Will , Blackbird , I’m So Tired )

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15 December 2017
5.29am
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Father McKenzie
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I actually prefer Disc 2, (although both are great) but Disc 2 edges it for me. I really like Monkey,Helter Skelter ,Cry Baby Cry ,Long x3,Sexy Sadie from this album,so that’s why I’m going for Disc 2. I adore While My Guitar Gently Weeps also, and wish that was on Disc 2. 

 

Simple solution to that: make a playlist on my iPodpaul-mccartney-thumb_gifa-hard-days-night-george-10

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16 December 2017
7.09am
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Zig
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This question made me realize that I did not break down the White Album by halves until I owned the cassette tape. Until then, I broke it down by album Side, or quarters (criteria = how many times did I have to get up and change the Sides?).

If forced to choose one half, I would go with the first. That is no easy decision when considering the only track on this album in my Top 10 is Yer Blues .

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