The Best Album Ever Recorded

What would you consider the best album ever recorded?

I’ve heard numerous votes for Paul Simon’s Graceland.

My brother would likely go with a Bob Dylan or Led Zeppelin album.

My father’s choice is The White Album, by the Beatles, and so I bought him the remastered edition for Christmas. My dad knows the album down to the last cymbal crash and therefore could actually tell the difference between the original recording and the remastered edition. Only a true Beatles fan…

It’s amazing what a little music can do to improve an otherwise stressful holiday. This is because my dad and I don’t get along. This is just a fact. We disagree on nearly everything, and I make no secret of my opinions, which can get a little old for the listener, I’m told.

However, the Beatles have a uniting power. On Christmas Day, after my dad opened his new Beatles CD we popped it in the stereo and listened to the whole thing sitting next to the fire and perusing the liner notes.

Listening to the Beatles allowed us to forget our disagreements and simply spend time together. He told me where he was when he found out that John Lennon had been shot and how somber the mood was at the bar that night. He told me of the time he and his friends skipped class to go and hear the release of the new Beatles album. We talked about which songs were our favorite on the album, and even which lyrics were the best.

Though Christmas had the potential to look like a Beatles recording session, with disagreements abounding and a Ringo Starr-like exit, listening to their music apparently has the power to bring people together. Their album was the gift that keeps on giving. Awwwww.

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