Revolver (album)
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Template:Album infobox Revolver was the Beatles' seventh album in three years, released on August 5, 1966. The album showcased a number of new stylistic developments which would become more pronounced on later albums.
Revolver is critically acclaimed as one of the best albums of the era, and of all time. In 1997 it was named the 3rd greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 2, while in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 1. Revolver was also voted the best album of all time in the Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums [1] (http://archives.cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/04/britain.albums/). A Pop Matters review described the album as "the individual members of the greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time" [2] (http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/b/beatles-revolvermft.shtml), while Ink Blot magazine claims it "stands at the summit of western pop music" [3] (http://www.inkblotmagazine.com/rev-archive/beatles2.htm).
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American release
The original US LP release of Revolver marked the last time Capitol would alter an "established" UK Beatles album for the US market. As three of its tracks: "I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" had been used for the earlier "Yesterday" ... and Today compilation, they were simply deleted here, yielding an 11 track album instead of the UK's 14. The CD era standardizes this album to the original UK configuration.
Songs
Harrisongs
George Harrison contributed three songs on Revolver including the opening track "Taxman" (which Lennon also contributed to, albeit reluctantly). The "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" in the lyrics refer to Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, who were respectively the British Labour Prime Minister and Conservative opposition leader of the time. The song refers to the rates of income tax paid by high earners like the Beatles, which were sometimes as high as 90% of their income. This would lead to many top musicians becoming tax exiles in later years.
Harrison also wrote "I Want to Tell You", a haunting love song about the disarray of being unable to confess a longing for someone, and "Love You To", a continuation of his experimentation with Indian music and the sitar, which started with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" on 1965's Rubber Soul.
Drug Culture
The lightest track on the album is "Yellow Submarine", which was deliberately written as a psychedelic children's song by McCartney for Ringo; it includes uncredited songwriting and vocal contributions by Donovan, who had become a close friend of the group. Faithful Beatles roadie Mal Evans also sang on the track, which made use of a number of stock sound effects the group found in the Abbey Road taped sound effects library, many of which had been collected by George Martin for his production of comedy recordings by The Goons. In addition, Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones can be heard clinking glasses in the background.
However, despite its childlike nature, "Yellow Submarine" and "Doctor Robert", by Lennon, also reflect the growing drug culture of the 1960s. The character Doctor Robert is thought to be a conflation of several people, including the Beatles' dentist (who first supplied them with LSD) and London art dealer Robert Fraser, who was a close friend of the group and who occasionally provided the group with drugs.
Lennon's experiments
Lennon contributed 5 songs on the album. "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "She Said, She Said", are two guitar-laden tracks with swirling melodies. Lennon later explained that "She Said, She Said" had been inspired by remarks he recalled from an LSD trip he had taken in Los Angeles with other musician friends and young film star Peter Fonda. According to Lennon, under the influence of the drug, Fonda had been repeating over and over "I know what it's like to be dead", to which Lennon acerbically replied, "Who put all that shit in your head?". This exchange, with minor changes, formed the core of the song.
On "I'm Only Sleeping", Harrison played the notes in reverse order, then reversed the tape and mixed it in. This song is Lennon's comment on the futility of hastiness in the modern world, when compared to someone relaxed by drugs.
However, the experimentation in these songs appears eclipsed by Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows", which was one of the first songs of psychedelia, and included such groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals and looped tape effects.
Much of the backing track consists of a series of prepared tape loops, stemming from Lennon and McCartney's interest in and experiments with magnetic tape and musique concrète techniques at that time. According to Beatles session chronicler Mark Lewisohn, Lennon and McCartney prepared a series of loops at home, and these then were added to the pre-recorded backing track. This was reportedly done live in a single take, with multiple tape recorders running simultaneously, and some of the longer loops extended out of the control room and down the corridor.
Lennon's processed lead vocal was another innovation. Always in search of ways of enhancing his voice, he gave a directive to EMI engineer Ken Townshend that he wanted to sound like he was singing from the top of a high mountain. Townshend solved the problem by splicing a line from the recording console into the studio's Leslie speaker, giving Lennon's vocal its ethereal filtered quality -- although he was subsequently reprimanded by the studio management for doing so.
Another key production technique used for the first time on this album was Automatic double tracking (ADT), invented by Townshend on 6 April 1966. This technique used two linked tape recorders to automatically create a doubled vocal track, replacing the standard method, which was to double the vocal by singing the same piece twice onto a multitrack tape, a task Lennon particularly disliked. The Beatles were reportedly delighted with the invention and used it extensively on Revolver. ADT quickly became a standard pop production technique and led to related developments including phasing, flanging and chorus.
McCartney's melodies
Compared to Lennon's hard rock experimentation, McCartney composed six diverse songs, all considered popular music standards.
The most famous is "Eleanor Rigby" which was released as a single (as a double A-side with "Yellow Submarine") concurrently with the album. This song contains McCartney's lyrical imagery and an intense and sometimes frightening string arrangement (scored by George Martin under McCartney's direction), which was inspired by the Bernard Herrmann score for Francois Truffaut's film Fahrenheit 451. Ringo has admitted to contibuting the line "Father McKenzie, writing the words to a sermon that no-one will hear."
"Got to Get You Into My Life" was a Motown experiment and tribute that used brass instrumentation extensively; although cast in the form of a love song, McCartney has since revealed that the song was actually an ode to marijuana. It was released as a single in 1976, ten years after the release of the album.
McCartney also contributed "For No One" (written for his then girlfriend, Jane Asher), a melancholy song, featuring a horn solo played by Alan Civil, "Good Day Sunshine", a cheery Lovin' Spoonful mockery and the epic "Here, There, and Everywhere", written in the style of the Beach Boys.
Cover
The cover illustration was created by German-born bassist and artist Klaus Voormann, who was one of the Beatles' oldest friends from their days at the Star Club in Hamburg. Voormann's illustration, part line drawing and part collage, included photographs by Robert Whitaker, who also took the back cover photographs and many other famous images of the group between 1964 and 1966, including the infamous "Butcher cover" for "Yesterday" ... and Today.
Track listing
Side one
- "Taxman" (Harrison) SAMPLE (184k)
- "Eleanor Rigby" (Lennon-McCartney) SAMPLE (134k)
- "I'm Only Sleeping" (Lennon-McCartney) SAMPLE (158k)
- "Love You To" (Harrison)
- "Here, There, and Everywhere" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "Yellow Submarine" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "She Said She Said" (Lennon-McCartney)
Side two
- "Good Day Sunshine" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "And Your Bird Can Sing" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "For No One" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "Doctor Robert" (Lennon-McCartney)
- "I Want to Tell You" (Harrison)
- "Got to Get You Into My Life" (Lennon-McCartney) SAMPLE (149k)
- "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Lennon-McCartney)
External links
- Album Lyrics (http://beatles-lyrics.org/revolver/)
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