Revolver by The Beatles Classic Album Review

Post

Subscribe

Revolver by The Beatles – Classic Album Review

All right, I've started something here. My review of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was barely up for half a day when I received a DM on Twitter asking what Beatles album I was going to do next.

Wow, that was amongst the quickest responses I have ever received. And it's a tough call. There are a number of Beatles albums that are easily classified all-time classics, so what do I do? Well, I looked over my collection and the album I felt like listening to was the one I decided to do next.

This is Revolver by The Beatles (1966).


My personal story (feel free to skip this paragraph): While I knew snippets of songs, I knew in their entirety exactly two songs from this album – 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Yellow Submarine' – although I had heard the decent Phil Collins cover of 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. It was not until I bought every Beatles album on CD (in a special box with a roll-up lid) in the mid-90s that I heard it all. Despite finally having Sgt. Pepper's on CD, this was the CD that got played to death. Why? Because it contains the song that is now my favourite ever Beatles song. Simple.

But Revolver is far from a one-track album. There are some majestic songs here. No, it's not perfect, but it is still incredibly good. Amazingly so. This was the album that preceded Sgt. Pepper's, and it is easy to hear the burgeoning studio experimentation and lyrical complexity starting to come through. And I think every single song on this album has been covered by some-one somewhere … and I reckon I own a cover version of nearly every song on this album. Yes, I'm sad. I admit it.

Having said all that, when discussing the albums of the Beatles, this one gets short shrift. That's not fair. This is a truly great album. So let's look at it, shall we?

'Taxman' To show how confident the Beatles had become, and how good the whole band was, they opened with a song written by George Harrison, an acerbic look at government taxation and as angry a song as the Beatles ever recorded. The fact that it is a really strong opener shows that Harrison's talent was finally starting to be allowed to shine. This is a great rock song.

'Eleanor Rigby' One of the best Beatles songs lyrically, if not the best. The story it tells is quite depressing and yet it hooks you. This goes beyond song-writing into pure poetry. Eleanor Rigby is an old spinster, Father McKenzie is a priest "writing a sermon that no-one will hear" and then the good Father presides over Eleanor's funeral. The world is a lonely place and for some people it remains that way. How far removed from 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' can you get? On any other album, this would have been an unmatchable highlight. But this is the Beatles… Still, one of their very best, and the hard rock cover by Zoot is awesome as well.


But how about that for a one-two punch of opening tracks? Railing against the government and then highlighting perpetual loneliness. This is not a standard album at all. Already. So amazing.

'I'm Only Sleeping' And we go into the psychedelia with a song about… being on drugs? I think? Lennon's voice just floats along and then there is a brief but intriguing guitar solo by Harrison that is really trippy. This is a song of its time, I understand that, but I still really like it.

'Love You To' Harrison is back, and we see the beginnings of his love with Indian music (after the sitar used in Rubber Soul's 'Norwegian Wood'). What a stunning track. I mentioned in my review if Sgt. Pepper's how much I enjoy some good Indian music – this is some good Indian music. I do understand this song is not for everyone, but I really enjoy it. The sitar playing is stunning. So glorious.

'Here, There And Everywhere' A little sappy, I know, and a one of the lesser songs on this album. Not bad, just nothing great. I saw an interview where McCartney said it was written in response to the Beach Boys' 'God Only Knows', which in turn was written in response to the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. Convoluted, but also diluted. Okay track.

'Yellow Submarine' You know, I want to dislike this simplistic, child-like song, but I can't. It is really too full of fun, and Ringo's voice is perfect for it, along with the sound effects and the extra instruments peppering it. Come on, who doesn't know the words? And if you listen to it, try not to at least mentally sing along. I once started to sing this song in one of my adult education classes, and soon had 20-odd grown men joining in. And, let us not forget, it also led to a truly bizarre animated feature film…


'She Said She Said' We go into some great guitar-playing, weird lyrics and proof that Ringo Starr was a much better drummer than he is generally given credit for. Psychedelic and rocking, this is a song that would well be considered great on too many other albums of the era.

'Good Day Sunshine' On the LP version, this opens side two, and what an opener it is. On the surface, this is a song about celebrating life; underneath it all, is there a subtle hint of drug referencing? Piano and a driving drum-beat push the song along. It has an almost music hall feel about it, a precursor to the more blatant appropriation of that style on Sgt. Pepper's to come. Completely different sentiment to the openers on side one!

'And Your Bird Can Sing' A song with great guitar, uplifting vocalisations, and a lyrical theme of not being understood. Yin and yang right there. Another of the highlights of the album, and a song that does not get the love it warrants. Mind you, if anybody else had released it, it would have been considered a classic, but when faced with the Beatles' vast canon of awesomeness… Sometimes these things are not fair. But these lyrics – just superb.

'For No One Slightly depressing break-up song that is one of the least songs on the album. I think it misses the guitars to go with the piano and horn section. Just needed something to drive it along a little bit more. As it is, it is another soppy song, the sort that would become associated with McCartney in his later years all too often.

'Doctor Robert' Ostensibly a song about a drug dealer who knows what to give to make you feel better, this song is rockier than the track it follows, and this probably makes it seem a little better than it might otherwise appear. Still, a decent rocker from the guys.

'I Want To Tell You' A third Harrison composition! The lyrics paint a picture of a man confused by many things, and the musicianship drives it along at a glorious pace, with a powerful backing rhythm behind it. One of Harrison's works that is rarely considered nowadays, this is yet another strong track from the man.

'Got To Get You Into My Life' And we have a jump in sound here, as stylings that are reminiscent of maybe the Motown of the time (with brass punctuations and lots of vocal harmonies) come to the fore. This is another great track, possibly better known through the cover versions of it, especially by Cliff Bennett, and Earth Wind and Fire. But this track shows that their vocal synchronisation and harmonies were a part of the magic that made the Beatles' sound so unique.

'Tomorrow Never Knows' I have to be careful here. This is my favourite Beatles track of all time. From the moment I first heard it, with Ringo's driving drum, the weird sound and tape effects, the way the voice sounds, all of it, I was entranced. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this is where popular music changed. Now we were not just playing instruments and singing songs, we were creating sounds and noises that were music in and of themselves, and it got into you. The lyrics are about mysticism, not about love or people. This is not a track I use to work out to – this is a track I put on and then sink beneath the headphones to adore. I have heard interviews since I discovered this song for myself with so many artists of the 60s who cite this one song as being the single song that changed it all. One song. And yet today's music lovers would not even have heard of it. Shame because this is one of the single greatest songs ever recorded. Full stop.


Where Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band changed what could be done with the album concept and format, and rock and pop music in general, the start of the process can be found here, on Revolver. For that reason, it might even be a little more accessible to many people. But there is still no denying that this is a strong album and deserving of the appellation "classic". This is brilliant.

And it has 'Tomorrow Never Knows' on it.

It's cool. You need to hear this. Music did not start with the Beatles. But maybe, just maybe, modern music did.


#bands
#music
#performing_arts
#pop_culture
#vintage_retro
%wneverywhere