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Customer Reviews
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Terrific!
After shifting gears with RUBBER SOUL, The Beatles turned out another classic album in REVOLVER. Split into two albums when first issued in the US (YESTERDAY AND TODAY -- initally with the "Butcher shop" cover and then switched to the Steamer trunk cover of the lads -- and REVOLVER with less songs. YESTERDAY AND TODAY used some tracks off REVOLVER'S UK release such as "Dr. Robert" and some 45 singles that had not been collected elsewhere such as "Paperback Writer", "We Can Work it Out"). There are a number of really stand out songs on this one: Harrison's "Taxman", Paul's "Got to Get You into My Life", John's "She Said, She Said" (reputedly inspired by an acid party where Lennon heard Peter Fonda utter the line "I know what it's like to be dead."). Also are the eeriely sad "Eleanor Rigby" and the jaunty "Yellow Submarine" and "Good Day Sunshine". Topped off with the grand finale, "Tomorrow Never Knows" (a psychedelic song if ever there was one.) A Good time is guaranteed for all.
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Cornucopia
Released in August, 1966, at roughly the same time the Beatles stopped touring for good, "Revolver" remains amazing in its sheer variety. The songs are all over the map: Paul McCartney pays tribute to Motown with the horn-driven "Got To Get You Into My Life"; Ringo sings about the joys of living in a "Yellow Submarine" (later the basis for their delightful third motion picture); George Harrison expresses his Indian interests in "Love You To" (and delivers a jab to the Inland Revenue with "Taxman"); and John Lennon explores his own head with "She Said She Said" and the astonishing "Tomorrow Never Knows", in which his voice, filtered through a revolving Leslie speaker, is combined with backward-masking to create an eerie masterpiece, unlike anything heard from a pop group before, even the Fab Four themselves. This new, far more complex music could not have been successfully duplicated onstage, and the group thereafter left live performing behind. Now, the recording studio was their painter's canvas, and would remain so for the remainder of the group's existence.
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Haunting, Creative and Truly Enveloping
With haunting melodies like "I'm Only Sleeping", "Eleanor Rigby", "Good Day Sunshine" and "She Said She Said" to name just a few, this is a very pleasing Beatles effort to listen to. If anyone needed proof that there's more to the Beatles than their hits, look no further. This album fluctuates effortlessly between vocal-centered pieces and George Harrison's much-loved sitar-driven melodies, and here I've only scraped the surface of the creativity that goes into the instrumentation.
For Revolver is a creative album, a joy to listen to and to take in. The melodies are a true musical mind-scape, ranging from easy-going melodies to the mysterious sound effects of "Tomorrow Never Knows". It is, finely put, a mystery of an album in itself. A truly solid piece of music-making, a year before Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which is generally considered a cornerstone in that area. Revolver is a very special album to me, and as I hear "I'm Only Sleeping" drifting through my mind yet again, I can see why.
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An Excellent, Diverse, Power Pop Album
Easily one of the Beatles best albums! Diverse songwriting styles are showcased with each song seemingly having a different style yet they blend perfectly with each other. Of course in charge of the production was George Martin as always. It's amazing how much ground this album covers given the fact that none of the fourteen songs featured actually lasts more than three minutes and a half!!
By the time this album was released in 1966 the band's sound had evolved a lot indeed. Especially when you think that their debut collection was released just three years earlier!
Let's start with guitarist John Lennon who sings five songs here. The first is "I'm Only Sleeping" with a simple band sound of drums, bass, and a lone dominating acoustic guitar is one of the album's best cuts. But, for me, the highlight comes in the middle when Harrison steps in to play an awesome backward guitar solo overdub! Next comes "She Said She Said" with it's lyrics based on an LSD trip is pure power pop with it's loud, bright sounding rhythm guitar and cool lead guitar work thoughtout too! You could say this is early hard rock at it's finest! After that we go into "And Your Bird Can Sing" with a stunning melodic lead guitar intro by Harrison, great vocals and rhythm guitar from Lennon, and memorable bass from McCartney combine to create another power pop classic!
In "Doctor Robert" a straightforword rock style is showcased with distorted guitars that is nothing short of excellent. In the middle an organ comes in for a nice change. Listen carefully at the end for that awesome arpeggiated, bright-sounding, distorted guitar!! Too bad it fades so quickly!! Now it's on to, by far, the most avant-garde inspired song on the album "Tomorrow Never Knows" that utilizes strange sound effects, a backward guitar solo and a tape loop producing what sounds like a seagull while Ringo keeps it all together with his steady drumming. On top of that Lennon sings some apparently drug inspired lyrics. Very innovative experiment to say the least!
Let's move on to bass player Paul McCartney who also gets to sing in five songs. "Eleanor Rigby" is a stunning two minute neo-classical piece with psychedelic lyrics but it's the great string arrangement by George Martin that really steals the show here! Now it's on to "Here, There, And Everywhere". This got to be one of the band's best love ballads ever! Paul lead vocals harmonize perfectly with the background vocals throughout the song's haunting melodies.
A nice change of style comes up in "Good Day Sunshine" with it's prominent grand piano and the good time feel of the lyrics but it's already time for another sharp turn and we find "For No One". Nice chord progression played on harpsichord, and after a haunting chorus, a really cool horn solo is included in the middle of the second verse played by session musician Alan Civil. The last one is the seemingly Motown inspired "Got To Get You Into My Life" with a memorable vocal by Paul but the most important thing here got to be it's unforgettable brass arrangement!! Without this the song's impact would have been greatly diminshed!
George Harrison contribued three drastically different songs. "Taxman", the album's opener, is an awesome rocker that's made even better by it's aggressive guitar solo in mixolydian! "Love You To" is by far the most ambitious in which he trades the guitar in favor of the sitar. The result is mesmerizing fusion of Indian and rock music. Note the distorted guitar that comes in for the chorus. Finally "I Want To Tell You" is surpirsingly pop sounding after the more ambitious previous song. It starts with a cool riff. No matter how poppy it may sound there's still room to experiment. This time it comes in that slightly dissonant chord used throughtout.
Drummer Ringo Starr got only got one song to sing: "Yellow Submarine". Probably one of the most popular of this album that later was included in the movie of the same name.
So there you have it! An essential album for the rock fan to say the least!!
Thanks for taking the time to read!
Later...
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A Rock & Roll Masterpiece
What happens when you get four guys from Liverpool, songs like "Taxman", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" and throw in some LSD here and there? You get a rock & roll classic my friend. Revolver was released when rock music was wedged between Folk and Psychedelia, so it should sound way ahead of its time. Does the album stand for the test of time? Read on for my review!
From the opening proto-punk riff of Taxman to the childish nature of Yellow Submarine to the Syd Barret era-Pink Floyd of Tomorrow Never Knows, this album, like I said before, was ahead of its time. Not one song of this album is filler, even Yellow Submarine doesn't get old! George Harrison shines on this album from the bitterness of Taxman to the spiritual Love You To to the difficulty of expressing himself on I Want To Tell You. Paul McCartney also does a superb job with songs like Here There and Everywhere (inspired by "God Only Knows"), the devil may care attitude of Good Day Sunshine to the bitter For Know One and praising pot, that's right POT on Got To Get You Into My Life. Ringo's voice fits Yellow Submarine perfectly and his drumming is fantastic! He keeps it simple yet does a drum fill nice suitable to the songs he's playing. A very UNDERRATED drummer in rock. And who could forget the man himself... John Lennon. His song writing is without a doubt spectacular! Every song that he wrote here is amazing! Seriously, I'm Only Sleeping, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, Doctor Robert, and of course, Tomorrow Never Knows. So what are you waiting for? Got out and buy this rock centerpiece. No classic rock fan should be without this album!
Recomended Tracks: Taxman, I'm Only Sleeping, Love You To, She Said She Said, Tomorrow Never Knows
see more![: Revolver [UK]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510D51P8YKL._SL160_.jpg)