Except that “the up-tempo one with the fuzzed-out guitars and the screaming and hollering” isn’t on The White Album. It’s the flip side of the “Hey Jude” single, and eventually showed up on the U.S.-only “Hey Jude” album (originally released as “The Beatles Again)”.
The version of “Revolution” that’s on The White Album is the slower, acoustic-based one with the “shoobee-doo-wops” on it.
Incidentally, The Beatles also recorded (but never commercially released) yet another version of “Revolution” for a video performance. This one combines the loud, electric approach of the single with Paul and George’s “shoobee-doo-wops” and some extra harmonies added in. It was aired on TV at the time the single was first released. I always wished they had put that one out on record as well.
If you want to hear something really interesting, if you ever get the opportunity, listen to the mono mixes of The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper. I don’t think I’m exaggerating a bit when I say it’s like listening to entirely different albums. A couple years ago, when I was laid up following ortho surgery on my leg, a friend gave me a tape of the mono Pepper, and I was mesmerized. The absence of all the stereo trickery really strengthened the songs as songs. The “white album” mon version I heard in a Lakewood, Ohio record store (Platter Puss Records, for any NE Ohioans reading the thread), and it was fascinating.
In 99% of the world’s mind, stereo is sort of an automatic. What they don’t realize is that all Beatles albums, at least up to and including Sgt. Pepper, were meant to be heard in mono. This was the dominant format of the day; it was still rare for rock ‘n’ roll listeners to have stereo set-ups in those days.
The Beatles themselves spent two weeks intimately involved with the mono mix of Pepper. Then once this was done, the stereo mixing was relegated to an underling, who finished it in a day with no involvement whatsoever on the part of The Beatles.
Yet it is this version that universally stands now as THE Sgt. Pepper. You can hear the “real” version only if you have the original LP release or a bootleg CD made from it. This is a crime against nature.
I recently received a CD-R of the mono Revolver, and it absolutely kicks ass! So dense and solid, and again, there are significant differences from the stereo mix on many of the tracks (“I’m Only Sleeping,” “Got to Get You Into My Life” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” in particular).
I’ve read about but not ever actually heard the mono “White Album.” My understanding was that the differences are significant only on a few of the tracks (“Don’t Pass Me By” was one, as I recall). This album was released in mono in the UK but never in the U.S.
P.S. I’ve been to Platter Puss in Lakewood. Great shop!
I’m not a fan of Revolution#9, but I do like Revolution, the original.
The White Album is pretty much a mixed bag. You’ve got the goodies, like Dear Prudence, Goodnight, I Will, Obla Di Obla Da, Julia.
Hey, not every song in the Beatles catalogue is going to be the best. But what I love best about the group is their sheer versitility-from something like I Wanna Hold Your Hand to something like Strawberry Fields Forever…
Quite a change.
A long time ago, a naive freshman disc jockey at WUMS at the University of Mississippi thought that he was cueing up the fast version of Revolution, when he actually had brought up #9, with which he was not familiar.
Imagine the seconds turning into minutes as I, er, he waited for the fuzzy guitars to start up
I love the Beatles, but I agree that the white album could’ve been combined to make one absolutely kick-ass record. I mean, it’s great now, but cut out crap like “Martha My Dear” (a song Paul wrote about his bloody DOG!), “Wild Honey Pie,” and a lot of the second disk–including “Revolution 9.” Anyone who believes the Beatles can’t rock should listen to songs like “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey” and “Helter Skelter.”
Count me in the camp that likes “Rocky Raccoon.” I just love the way lyrics are tacked on. Like “Her name was Magill, she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancy.” I think “Happiness is a Warm Gun” is pretty hilarious. I’d like “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” better if Yoko didn’t sing on it. And the pseudo-Beach Boys sound of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” is pretty funny.
And in case anyone was wondering–their best album is Abbey Road and their best song–well, hell, they’ve got sooo many good 'uns, I can’t choose. It depends on what mood I’m in.