REVOLVER

Revolver is the seventh studio album by the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966 in the United Kingdom and three days later in the United States. The record spent 34 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, for seven of which it held the number one spot. Reduced to eleven songs for the North American market, Revolver was the last Beatles album to be subjected to Capitol Records' policy of altering the band's intended running order and content. In America, the album topped the Billboard Top LPs listings for six weeks.Revolver marked a progression from the group's 1965 release Rubber Soul in terms of style and experimentation, and heralded the band's arrival as studio innovators. The album's sounds include the incorporation of tape loops and backwards recordings on the psychedelic "Tomorrow Never Knows", the use of a classical string octet on "Eleanor Rigby", and the Indian-music backing of "Love You To". Aside from methods such as varispeeding, reversed tapes, and close audio miking, the sessions for the album resulted in the invention of automatic double tracking (ADT), a technique that was invented by engineers at Abbey Road studios, and was soon adopted throughout the recording industry.In the UK, Revolver's fourteen tracks were released to radio stations throughout July 1966, with the music signifying what author Ian MacDonald later described as "a radical new phase in the group's recording career". The sessions also produced a non-album single, "Paperback Writer" backed with "Rain", for which the Beatles filmed their first on-location promotional films. Together with the children's novelty song "Yellow Submarine", "Eleanor Rigby" became an international hit when issued as a double A-side single. The album's US release coincided with the Beatles' final concert tour, during which they refrained from performing any of the songs live. Upon release, Revolver was praised by British critics as a forward-thinking release, though its reception in the United States was initially muted due to the controversy surrounding John Lennon's contemporaneous statement that the Beatles had become "bigger than Jesus".

This might very well be my favorite Beatles-album. At least it's definitely in top 3. At this point, McCartney (IMO) really took over as the one writing/singing most of the very best songs, as he probably would for the years to come. It was a healthy competion between Lennon and McCartney, but imo McCartney was the winner in the latter half of "The Beatles-era", of course with exceptions. Just look, at his contribution to Revolver: Eleanor Rigby, Here There And Everywhere, Yellow Submarine (he wrote it, Ringo sang it off course), Good Day Sunshine, For No One and last but not least Got To Get You Into My Life (and Paperback Writer from the same session). All great songs. Lennon didn't really write songs as great as these, around this time. Some, or many says that Tomorrow Never Knows is THE track on Revolver, but I don't agree at all. Revolver is also the album, where Harisson appeared as a great song-writer. "Taxman" is among my very favorite Beatles-songs. I simply love it. McCartney plays the guitar-solo on that song. Backwards :-)What do you think of Revolver?

Useless/usefull information:

Got To Get You In To My Life is an ode by McCartney to cannabis.

Mick Jagger said in an interview in NME in 1967:

“ It really began with The Beatles’ “Revolver”. It was a beginning of an appeal to the intellect. Once, you could tell how well a band was doing by the reaction to their sex appeal, but the days of the hysteria are fading, and for that reason there will never be a new Stones or a new Beatles. We are moving after “minds” now, and so are most of the new bands”.

Album Ranking:

1. Revolver

2. Rubber Soul

3. A Hard Days Night

4. Help

5. Please Please Me

6. Beatles For Sale

7. With The Beatles

Niels' Ultimate Beatles Playlist:

1. I Saw Her Standing

2. Love Me Do

3. Please Please Me

4. She Loves You

5. All My Loving

6. I Want To Hold You Hand

7. A Hard Days Night

8. I Should Had Known Better

9. If I Fell

10. And I Love Her

11. Can't Buy Me Love

12. Anytime At All

13. Things We Said Today

14. I Feel Fine

15. Eight Days A Week

16. She's A Woman

17. Every Little Thing She Does

18. Help

19. The Night Before

20. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away

21. You're Gonna Loose That Girl

22. Ticket To Ride

23. I've Just Seen A Face

24. Yesterday

25.We Can Work It Out

26. Day Tripper

27. Drive My Car

28.Norwegian Wood

29.Michelle

30.Girl

31.I'm Looking Through You

32. In My Life

33. Paperback Writer

34. Taxman

35. Eleanor Rigby

36. Here, There And Everywhere

37. Yellow Submarine

38. For No One

39. Got To Get You Into My Life

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by RJhog (Admin) on May 8, 2016 at 2:33pm

Again, I'll definitely take the single (Paperback Writer). I'll say that this is a very good album, although there aren't as many great songs here as there is on Rubber Soul. But it's very solid from beginning to end and is full of above average tunes. And yes, it does feel like and album that was created with a purpose. Eleanor Rigby is one of the greatest Beatles songs. Just stings, no other instruments. Amazing.

Running Album Ranking:

1. Rubber Soul

2. Revolver

3. Help!

4. A Hard Days Night

5. Please Please Me

6. Beatles For Sale

7. With The Beatles

RJ's Ultimate Beatles Playlist:

1. I Saw Her Standing There

2. Please Please Me

3. Love Me Do