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The Beatles Remasters Part 7
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The Beatles evolve again on Revolver
From the scathing political commentary of “Taxman” to the floating, dream-like aura of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” Revolver is in a league of its own. Each song breathes life into both the latter and the next, and it was a landmark record for its introduction of automatic double tracking, and some argue that this was the first truly psychedelic album in mainstream music. The “Paperback Writer / Rain” single from June 1966 served as the bridge between Rubber Soul and Revolver, which was released in August ’66. The single and Revolver introduced new sounds of swirling rock guitars to the concept that the Beatles had introduced on Rubber Soul.
McCartney shows his pop craftsmanship with one of his most touching ballads, “Here, There, and Everywhere,” and with the upbeat and bouncy “Good Day Sunshine.” “Eleanor Rigby” is a song of desolation, with its brooding strings and “look at all the lonely people” chant, and “For No One” is probably the greatest of McCartney’s ominous masterpieces. Lennon continues his drug-induced songwriting from Rubber Soul with allusions to sleep-like comas and even death on the brilliant “I’m Only Sleeping,” “She Said, She Said,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” His “Dr. Robert” is a metaphor for drugs, as is McCartney’s “Got to Get You Into My Life,” which he has admitted to writing as a direct ode to marijuana. “Yellow Submarine” was written for Ringo as a children’s song, and George Harrison made more contributions to this album than any other prior Beatles album. His distinctive sitar was back for the spacey “Love You To,” and his “I Want to Tell You” featured a fine example of the double-tracked vocals that made this album so innovative.
No song on Revolver was ever performed live by the band. They only toured once more after its release, and the sounds on such songs as “Tomorrow Never Knows” were simply impossible to recreate by four men in a live atmosphere. The gathered thought of the time was that the band had reached its creative pinnacle, but that assumption was disproved with the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band the following year. Revolver also proved to be the last Beatles album that had different track listings in the UK and US. The stereo version of the remaster once again offers new sounds not necessarily heard prominently on the mono, but both versions sound crisp and clear. Although it is not widely considered their ultimate masterpiece, Revolver has been in the top five of several major magazines' lists of the greatest rock albums ever recorded. As subjective as those types of lists can be, it is hard to argue with this choice.
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