The Beatles: Revolver (1966)
(I had to include both front and back covers, because that back cover photo is just so cool)
Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
I'm Only Sleeping
Love You To
Here, There and Everywhere
Yellow Submarine
She Said She Said
Good Day Sunshine
And Your Bird Can Sing
For No One
Doctor Robert
I Want to Tell You
Got to Get You into My Life
Tomorrow Never Knows
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The Beatles have been called the first prog rock band. Not everyone agrees with this, and obviously it would ultimately depend on your definition of prog, although nobody ever seems to agree on that, either. But most definitions include the idea of pushing the boundaries of rock and roll, the incorporation of other genres, unconventional song structures, and unusual instrumentation.
Revolver has all of this, and more. The Beatles started pushing the limits with
Rubber Soul, but they burst them wide open here.
Everyone knows that most Beatles songs were written by Lennon & McCartney, but
Revolver opens with a George Harrison song, the first and only time that this would happen. And it's a good one. "Taxman". A great, catchy beat; Paul and Ringo playing tightly off of each other, wicked lyrics, and an even more wicked lead guitar. I used to think that "one for you, nineteen for me" was hyperbole, but The Beatles were in the 95.6% tax bracket! We have nothing even close to that in the United States. George's songs have a very different sound to them, and leading off the album with one of his three songs let listeners know right away that yes, they should continue to expect the unexpected from The Beatles.
Speaking of which... how about three voices and a double string quartet? "Eleanor Rigby" has no drums, guitars, or keyboards. Instead, we have Paul singing lead, John and George singing backgrounds, and four violins, two violas, and two cellos providing the backdrop. At barely two minutes, it is an amazing tour de force, an example of The Beatles doing what had never been done before, or since, and even scoring a hit single with it.
"I'm Only Sleeping" is the first "regular" Lennon-McCartney song on the album, but we're three songs in and we still haven't heard a single song about love or girls or relationships. It's a song about wanting to stay in bed and sleep, and even though we've all been there, what in the heck is going on here? This is The Beatles, right? Where's "Love Me Do" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand"?
"Love You To". Ah, a love song, finally. Except... what's this? Sitar, tambura, tabla, hand drums? The second George Harrison song on the album is a direct reflection of his fascination with Indian music. The droning, the monotonic feel. I don't particularly like this song, but I admire the guts it took for them to put it on their album.
"Here, There, and Everywhere" is the fifth song on the album, and the first Lennon-McCartney love song. It is a beautiful ballad by Paul. (It's no secret that many of the songs credited to Lennon & McCartney were in fact mostly or entirely written by one or the other.) Acoustic and electric guitar, no bass, and drums played with brushes, this is the mellowest song on the album.
Something The Beatles didn't shy away from was good old English whimsy. "Yellow Submarine", sung by Ringo, is a silly song about living in a submarine, but it has a great, sing-a-long chorus and was yet another hit.
"She Said She Said" is a John Lennon composition, written after an acid trip, about a conversation with someone who said she knows what it's like to be dead. It has an odd meter and beat to it, but Ringo and Paul keep things bouncing along, John and George have some awesome harmonies, and it's another great, catchy song. And if you're listening on vinyl, this is the end of Side One.
Paul's "Good Day Sunshine" opens Side Two with a song about being in love, and it's a sunny day. Happy and upbeat almost to the point of being cheesy, it's hard to listen to this one and not tap your feet anyway. No guitars, just piano (played by George Martin), bass and drums, so we're over halfway through now and still no "regular" Beatles love song.
Okay fine, there's no point in keeping up the charade any further. There are no "regular" Beatles love songs on this album. This is
Revolver. The Beatles were halfway through their career by now and they were not some teenybopper boy band. They had matured as musicians and writers and were looking for different challenges, and they dared their audience to keep up with them.
"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a John Lennon song that he didn't actually like very much. He considered it a throwaway, but it's a great, catchy song. It's also one of the few songs on this album with standard, guitars, bass, and drums for instrumentation. As such, Paul and Ringo are their usual psychic-linked rhythm section, John and George's guitars sound great, and the vocal harmonies are tight, as always. What's not to love?
"For No One" is an upbeat song with deceptively meloncholy lyrics. It's a Paul song, another one of his experiments (or indulgences), with him singing and playing piano, bass, and clavichord. Ringo provides the drums and percussion, hired gun Alan Civil takes the French horn solo, and John and George sat this one out.
To put it bluntly, "Doctor Robert" is the guy who makes you feel better, and he does this by providing whatever drug(s) you need. This was the 60's, after all. Beatles scholars and others who hung out with The Beatles at the time all agree that Doctor Robert was a real man, Dr. Robert Freymann, who had a prescription pad and wasn't afraid to use it, as long as you had the cash. John Lennon claimed in interviews that he himself was "Doctor Robert" and he wrote the song. So who knows?
"I Want to Tell You" is George's third contribution to
Revolver, and it's another good one. It bangs along, it's catchy, and it's got some really weird chords. I love Paul's piano work on this one. His dissonant sevenths really drive this one.
"Got to Get You into My Life" is one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs. There's a rhythm guitar, but what really moves the song along are the horns. The horns open the song and provide the chordal structure throughout. Yes, we have bass and drums as well, and the aforementioned rhythm guitar, but even when the guitar takes the break just before the final reprise, it's still just echoing the horn part that opened the song. What a great song.
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the other song with a strong Indian influence, but this one's from John. It's not quite purely in the Indian format; the songs drones in C but there's a definite subtonic (B-flat) shift halfway through the verse, even though the bass stays on C. After George, John seemed to embrace the Indian music and culture the most. It's an unusual song, but as has been pointed out a few times, there aren't a lot of regular songs on this album.
Revolver really pushed things, far. When people talk about The Beatles' influence on popular music, some might be thinking about that great medley on
Abbey Road or the amazing songwriting on
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but the first thing I think of is this album. 14 songs, all in the two-to-three-minute range, but look at the variety. String quartet, horns, sitar and tambura, French horn, piano and no guitars, songs based entirely on a single chord, or with odd, run-on cadences. It's almost not even a rock and roll album, but somehow it is still most definitely a rock and roll album. That was the genius of The Beatles.
Rubber Soul had a sitar on one song, and some unusual structures, but
Revolver makes it and every other rock album before it (and many that have come after it) look tame by comparison. This album is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
Topic: The Beatles - Rubber Soul (Read 5224 times)
