The moment Ginger Baker heard The Beatles’ ‘White Album’
Ginger Baker approached music on his own terms. Even though he may have been one of the greatest rock drummers in his field, he was always trying to become more entrenched in the world of jazz, playing various jazz fills when working on his most celebrated work with Cream. Then again, Baker was never good at picking musicians out of a lineup, and his first time hearing The Beatles’ White Album was one of his many instances of not realising the genius in front of him.
Before Baker became a mainstream success, the Fab Four were already opening listeners’ minds to what could be done with proper rock and roll. Compared to the sounds of blues that were still emanating from London, the chemistry between John Lennon and Paul McCartney created songs that seemed to come out of the air on albums like Rubber Soul and Sgt Peppers.
When Baker first became aware of the band, he was still a member of the Graham Bond Organisation. Being a testing ground for Cream with future bandmate Jack Bruce, the band were known for playing a mixture of blues with a pop flair, which led to Baker taking it all the way with Eric Clapton behind the fretboard later on songs like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.
Although he could play like no one else, Baker was never one for compliments when it came to the biggest bands in the world. While he may have been friendly with artists like Charlie Watts from The Rolling Stones, Baker was always infuriated by other bands who couldn’t play to the best of their abilities, famously saying that John Bonham of Led Zeppelin couldn’t swing to save his life.
When picking out the different flavours of the day back in 1968, though, Baker was given The White Album and had no idea what to make of it. Even though he had been accustomed to what The Beatles could do, he didn’t think that the music on those two records was made by the same people who did ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.
Even though Baker could pick out his own style of playing on record, he had no idea what kind of band he was listening to, saying, “I’m not good at guessing. George Harrison brought The Beatles’ double album to play to me when we were in Los Angeles. After he had played me about three sides, I said, ‘George, who’s this?’”.
When listening to the double album juggernaut, no one would have blamed Baker for not knowing who was playing on the record. Throughout every song, every single member of the band had practically made their own solo songs, using the rest of the band as impromptu session musicians to get the tracks off the ground.
Although every Beatle usually did their best to collaborate with each other, many songs were catered to different styles. The fans of hard rock could appreciate Paul McCartney’s ‘Helter Skelter’, the mellow crowd could appreciate the sounds of George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ or John Lennon’s ‘Dear Prudence’, and those with non-functioning eardrums could probably get through a song like ‘Wild Honey Pie’ without wincing. Baker may have gotten a short introduction to what The White Album had to offer, but the final product feels more like four albums shoved against one another than a fleshed-out piece.
