Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Beatles, The
Label: Parlophone Records
Release: 1966
Runtime: 35:32
Rating: 5/5
Few albums have had such a huge impact on music history and enjoyed such respect among music lovers as »Revolver«, the seventh studio album by Liverpool’s most famous foursome, the unforgettable The Beatles. This legendary record was a major turning point in their career, because with it they started writing more complex compositions, with plenty of experimenting with orchestral arrangements, psychedelic rock and traditional Indian music. The folk-rock-flavored predecessor »Rubber Soul« (1965) had already signaled big changes, but it was »Revolver«, where the electric guitar took on an important role, that brought a real revolution to the traditional Beatles sound.
In 1966, before heading into the studio to record this cult album, which according to an original but quickly scrapped idea from manager Brian Epstein was first conceived as their third music-and-film project, the Beatles were already seriously fed up with live shows and the ‘Beatlemania’ that came with them. John Lennon in particular, who right around this time had started helping himself to heaping spoonfuls from the ‘plate’ of psychedelic substances and Eastern mysticism, was sick to the back teeth of the screaming and fainting of hormone-crazed teenage girls, so he grabbed the sudden creative freedom with both hands. Right as the band stepped into its ‘mature era’, the first signs of apathy and weariness with the Beatles began to show in him, although you couldn’t feel it at all in his vocal, instrumental and songwriting contributions, where he kept forming a very successful golden ‘tandem’ with Paul McCartney.
In the past John had been the creative leader and main singer, while on »Revolver« Paul too started taking the lead vocal initiative on an equal footing, becoming just as important a driving force of the legendary ‘Beetles’. The brilliant producer George Martin, who once again also guested as a musician on »Revolver«, proved himself with exceptionally advanced production that was ahead of its time and contributed greatly to the timelessness of the Beatles’ musical legacy. On individual »Revolver« tracks the Beatles started experimenting big time with various sound effects that were innovative for the day and with orchestral arrangements, while squeezing everything out of the recording techniques and instrument technology of the time, slowly paving the way for one of the fundamental elements of progressive rock/art rock.
For the first time, the youngest Beatle, George Harrison, played a more active role as a songwriter on an album, writing and singing three songs on »Revolver«, even though in places he needed John’s help with the lyrics. Slowly the brilliant Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership was getting an equal partner. Among George’s songwriting and vocal achievements on »Revolver« is the opening socially critical evergreen »Taxman«. It’s an energetic, bouncy track with a Paul guitar solo, where the Beatles vent their rage in the lyrics at the tax authorities who were taking most of their earnings, going after the then British Labour prime minister Harold Wilson with all guns blazing. It’s one of the first examples of open social criticism in Beatles lyrics, and there would be more and more of it on later albums.
That’s followed by one of the deepest and most influential pieces of the Beatles’ entire career, the shattering and slightly dark ballad »Eleanor Rigby«, boasting a gorgeous string arrangement based on baroque pop and a moving vocal turn from Paul. The lyrics tell of an elderly (fictional) woman, Eleanor Rigby, who ends up completely alone in her old age. Even after Eleanor’s death nobody comes to her funeral, and the equally lonely priest, Father McKenzie, is the only one keeping watch over her coffin at the burial. This incarnation of atmospheric and arranging perfection showed the wider public on release, certainly surprised by its unexpectedly dark mood, just how big a sonic and songwriting evolution the Beatles had made in less than a year.
»I’m Only Sleeping«, with John taking the lead vocals, is a dreamy track with an ethereal guitar melody and plenty of innovative effects over pleasant vocal harmonies of the kind only the legendary ‘Beetles’ knew how to make. It’s one of John’s first examples of lyrical escapism from the outside world, as the protagonist of the lyrics wants to flee into his dream world and fall asleep in peace, free of pressure from a ‘know-it-all’ environment.
George’s short, ethereal trip to an Indian ashram, titled »For No One«, is an innovative example of experimenting with traditional Indian instruments, the sitar, tabla and tambura, with which the Beatles built a bridge between Western and Eastern music. George, a great promoter of Indian classical music, was the first Western musician to learn to play the sitar ‘the proper way’, helped enormously by the mentorship of the legendary Indian musician Shankar. For years there was speculation about whether George really was the one who played the sitar on »For No One«, which he had first introduced on the »Rubber Soul« classic »Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)«, since some thought it was played by an unnamed guest Indian musician, but many musicologists and fellow musicians have confirmed that it really was Harrison on sitar here, so there’s now truly no doubt about it.
»Here, There And Everywhere« is a classic Paul love ballad with romantic vocal harmonies and an exceptionally pleasant guitar melody, whose hypnotic chorus instantly lodged itself in the hearts of many different generations of music lovers. The most beloved, best-known and most folk-song-like »Revolver« classic, though, which was originally conceived as a playful little children’s song, is surely the witty, heartwarming mega-hit »Yellow Submarine«, where John and Paul tailored the main arrangement specially to Ringo’s limited vocal range, and it ended up working incredibly well. One of the best choruses in the entire Beatles history comes with plenty of effects, lovely backing vocal harmonies and orchestral flourishes, which together create a nostalgic, chummy atmosphere in which it’s not hard to picture a yellow submarine on its fantasy voyage beneath the ocean depths. »Yellow Submarine« was such a hit that in 1968 the Beatles made an animated film and an album of music from the film of the same name.
»She Said She Said«, reportedly the last song to find its way onto the album, is a psychedelic rocker with John’s dreamy vocals, its lyrics about the shock after an intense LSD trip (everyone in the band except Paul took part). Members of The Byrds and the famous American actor Peter Fonda were also at the psychedelic ‘party’, and Fonda’s account of a nearly fatal gunshot wound from his childhood supposedly provoked John Lennon so much that he wanted to chase him out of the party. Interestingly, it’s one of the few Beatles creations without Paul’s musical involvement. »Good Day Sunshine«, a thoroughly characteristic love-song effort whose central motif is carried by Paul’s wittily upbeat vocals, is a playfully salty, positive little tune with a sparkling guitar melody and a subtle piano arrangement.
»And Your Bird Can Sing«, with an energetic John behind the mic, is one of the most beloved »Revolver« pieces, with a fun bluesy riff and a hypnotic chorus, where the melodic finesse and never-repeated brilliance of the unforgettable Lennon-McCartney partnership once again come to full expression. The lyrics are said to be Lennon’s sarcastic response to The Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, who at the time was boasting big about his then companion, the well-known pop singer Marianne Faithfull. »For No One« is a love lament that, after the boisterous evergreen before it, delivers a sudden melancholy contrast. Here the Beatles slyly use baroque-tinged wind arrangements in the background which, alongside the central melody carried by Paul’s vocals and piano, help build an almost funereal mood, tied to McCartney’s lyrics about the end of an ‘immortal’ love for his then fiancée, the actress Jane Asher.
The playfully tinted »Doctor Robert«, with John on lead vocals, has simple chords and a psychedelic chorus. The lyrics are dedicated to the enigmatic Doctor Robert, a notorious dealer of ‘colorful pills’ who supposedly introduced the Beatles to the world of psychedelic drugs. His identity is still a source of endless speculation today. Also psychedelically flavored, »I Want To Tell You«, ruled by slightly off-kilter vocal harmonies and a saloon-style piano arrangement, is an emotionally very intense track, but with George’s sarcastic vocals it has a somewhat dark and frustrated pulse, especially compared to the Beatles’ earlier tradition of similar romantic songs.
Still phenomenal today, »Got To Get You Into My Life« is an R&B-salted rocker with a pompous orchestral arrangement and a wonderful vocal performance from Paul, while its lyrics, on one of the more overlooked »Revolver« achievements, are said to be dedicated to marijuana. The most experimental, innovative and therefore visionary piece on »Revolver« sits right at the end as a psychedelic trip-out called »Tomorrow Never Knows«, for which John, who wanted to sound like a Dalai Lama chanting on top of a Himalayan mountain, found inspiration during an especially intense LSD trip. Numerous avant-garde psychedelic and dissonant sound manipulations in the background create an ethereal, mystical atmosphere. It’s yet another groundbreaking piece, since it was one of the first fully psychedelic rock songs in history. The eccentric, sensitive John and the idealistic George, even while making psychedelic trip-outs like »Tomorrow Never Knows«, grew more and more enthusiastic about Eastern mysticism, which showed in both their music and their private lives, while Paul and Ringo were a bit less excited about visiting Indian gurus and ashrams.
»Revolver«, one of the best and most important albums in the history of rock music, marked the start of a new era for the Beatles. Artistically, it was beyond doubt priceless, and it had a gigantic influence on countless generations of musicians to come. John’s controversial statement that ‘the Beatles are bigger than Jesus’ sparked an outraged reaction from American religious fanatics, who, Inquisition-style, started burning Beatles records on bonfires. That was probably one of the main reasons »Revolver« didn’t get as much media pomp and excitement on the other side of the Atlantic on release as was usual, even though in the US too, like everywhere else in the world, this timeless masterpiece became a big hit. It also has to be taken into account that, contrary to their usual practice, the Beatles didn’t go for any special promotion for the release of »Revolver«, as they normally did with every new album.
The concert tour of Asia, during which they didn’t play a single »Revolver« song, only older hits from the ‘Beatlemania’ days, was their last, as for the rest of their career they became a studio band. It’s hard to believe that a band that, thanks to growing disagreements between its members, began falling apart before the eyes of the whole world was at the same time making better and more advanced compositions, since in just a few years they traveled the evolutionary path from a teenage pop attraction without precedent in music history to a visionary art-rock phenomenon that played a key role in the birth of numerous rock genres.
Lineup
John Lennon – vocals, backing vocals, guitar, piano, Hammond organ, harmonium, sound effects
Paul McCartney – vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar, guitar, piano, sound effects
George Harrison – vocals, backing vocals, lead guitar, bass guitar, sitar, tambura, sound effects
Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, lead vocals on “Yellow Submarine”
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Anil Bhagwat – tabla on “Love You To”
Alan Civil – French horn on “For No One”
Brian Jones – backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine” (uncredited)
Donovan – backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine” (uncredited)
Geoff Emerick – recording, sound engineer, marching band sound effect on “Yellow Submarine”
George Martin – producer, sound engineer, piano, Hammond organ, marching band sound effect on “Yellow Submarine”
Mal Evans – bass drum and backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine”
Marianne Faithfull – backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine” (uncredited)
Neil Aspinall – backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine” (uncredited)
Pattie Boyd – backing vocals on “Yellow Submarine” (uncredited)
Tony Gilbert – violin
Sidney Sax – violin
John Sharpe – violin
Jurgen Hess – violin
Stephen Shingles – viola
John Underwood – viola
Derek Simpson – cello
Norman Jones – cello
Eddie Thornton – trumpet
Ian Hamer – trumpet
Les Condon – trumpet
Peter Coe – tenor saxophone
Alan Branscombe – tenor saxophone
Production
George Martin
Track list
1. Taxman (2:39)
2. Eleanor Rigby (2:07)
3. I’m Only Sleeping (3:01)
4. Love You To (3:01)
5. Here, There and Everywhere (2:25)
6. Yellow Submarine (2:40)
7. She Said She Said (2:37)
8. Good Day Sunshine (2:09)
9. And Your Bird Can Sing (2:01)
10. For No One (2:01)
11. Doctor Robert (2:15)
12. I Want to Tell You (2:29)
13. Got to Get You into My Life (2:30)
14. Tomorrow Never Knows (2:57)
