REVOLVER (August 5,1966)
From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –
Studio album by The Beatles
It reached number one on both the British chart and American chart and stayed at the top spot for seven weeks and six weeks, respectively. The album was re-mastered 9 September 2009 for the first time since its 1987 digital compact disc release. Placed at number 1 in the All-Time Top 1000 Albums and number 3 in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the album is often regarded as one of the greatest achievements in music history and one of the Beatles' greatest studio achievements.
Music
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
The Beatles' unfolding innovation in the recording studio reached its apex with the album's final track. Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" was one of the first songs in the emerging genre of psychedelic music, and included such groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals and looped tape effects. Musically, it is drone-like, with a strongly syncopated, repetitive drum-beat played over a single chord. The lyrics were inspired by Timothy Leary's book, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, although the title itself was inspired by a Ringo Starrmalapropism. The song's harmonic structure is derived from Indian music and is based upon a high volume C drone played by Harrison on atamboura.
Much of the backing track consists of a series of prepared tape loops, stemming from Lennon's and McCartney's interest in and experiments with magnetic tape and musique concrète techniques at that time. According to The 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, some of the longer loops extending out of the control room and down the corridor.
Lennon's processed lead vocal was another innovation. Always in search of ways to enhance or alter the sound of his voice, he gave a directive to EMIengineer Geoff Emerick that he wanted to sound like he was the Dalai Lama singing from the top of a high mountain. Emerick solved the problem by routing a signal from the recording console into the studio's Leslie speaker, giving Lennon's vocal its ethereal, filtered quality (Emerick was later reprimanded by the studio's management for doing this).
A key production technique used for the first time on this album was automatic double tracking (ADT), invented by EMI engineer Ken Townsend on 6 April 1966. This technique used two linked tape recorders to automatically create a doubled vocal track. The standard method 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 the artificial chorus effect.
Contributions and inspirations
Heralding the psychedelic era
According to music critic Richie Unterberger of Allmusic:
In many respects, Revolver is one of the very first psychedelic LPs – not only in its numerous shifts in mood and production texture, but in its innovative manipulation of amplification and electronics to produce new sounds on guitars and other instruments. Specific, widely-heralded examples include the backwards riffs of "I'm Only Sleeping", the sound effects of "Yellow Submarine", the sitar of "Love You To", the blurry guitars of "She Said, She Said", and above all the seagull chanting, buzzing drones, megaphone vocals, free-association philosophizing, and vari-speed tape effects of "Tomorrow Never Knows".
In 1972, Lennon offered some context for the influence of drugs on The Beatles' creativity:
It's like saying, "Did Dylan Thomas write 'Under Milk Wood' on beer?" What does that have to do with it? The beer is to prevent the rest of the world from crowding in on you. The drugs are to prevent the rest of the world from crowding in on you. They don't make you write any better. I never wrote any better stuff because I was on acid or not on acid. — John Lennon, The Beatles Anthology.
According to music critic Jim DeRogatis:
Revolver, Pet Sounds and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, relics of the first era of psychedelic rock and shining testaments to what can be accomplished in the recording studio when folks are fuelled on the potent drug of rampant imagination. — J. DeRogatis, Milk it!: collected musings on the alternative music explosion of the 90s
Cover art and title
The cover illustration was created by German-born bassist and artist Klaus Voormann, 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 images of the group between 1964 and 1966, such as the infamous "butcher cover" for Yesterday and Today. Voormann's own photo as well as his name (Klaus O. W. Voormann) is worked into Harrison's hair on the right-hand side of the cover. In the Revolver cover appearing in his artwork for Anthology 3, he replaced this image with a more recent photo. Harrison's Revolver image was seen again on his single release of "When We Was Fab" along with an updated version of the same image.
The title "Revolver", like "Rubber Soul" before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the "revolving" motion of the record as it is played on a turntable. The Beatles had a difficult time coming up with this title. According to Barry Miles in his book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, the title that the four had originally wanted was Abracadabra, until they discovered that another band had already used it. After that, opinion split: Lennon wanted to call it Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle and Starr jokingly suggested After Geography, playing on The Rolling Stones' recently released Aftermath LP. Other suggestions included Magic Circles, Beatles on Safari, Pendulum, and, finally, Revolver, whose wordplay was the one that all four agreed upon. The title was chosen while the band were on tour in Japan in June–July 1966. Due to security measures, they spent much of their time in their Tokyo Hilton hotel room; the name Revolver was selected as all four collaborated on a large psychedelic painting.
The Beatles' tour of Asia (including Japan, where the Revolver album name was selected) did not feature any songs from that album, and neither did the subsequent last tour (U.S., that August). This was a further indication of how far their studio recordings had diverged from what they were still playing live.
Critical reception ―
Professional ratings
Allmusic ― 5/5
North American Capitol release
The original North American LP release of Revolver, the band's tenth on Capitol Records and twelfth US album, marked the last time Capitol would release an altered UK Beatles album for the North American 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 Capitol compilation, they were simply removed in the North American version, yielding an 11 track album instead of the UK version's 14 and shortening the time to 28:20. This resulted in there being only two songs with Lennon as the principal songwriter, with three by Harrison and the rest by McCartney.
The album's 30 April 1987 release on CD standardized the track listing to the original UK version. Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the 14 track UK version of the album was also issued domestically in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987. The CD was remastered in 2009.
Personnel
According to Mark Lewisohn: The Beatles
John Lennon – lead, acoustic and rhythm guitars, lead, harmony and backing vocals, piano, Hammond organ and harmonium, tape loops and sound effects, cowbell, tambourine, maracas, handclaps, finger snaps
Paul McCartney – lead, acoustic and bass guitars, lead, harmony and backing vocals, piano, clavichord, tape loops, sound effects, handclaps, finger snaps
George Harrison – lead, acoustic and rhythm guitars, bass, lead, harmony and backing vocals, sitar, tamboura, sound effects, maracas, tambourine,handclaps, finger snaps
Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, maracas, handclaps, finger snaps, lead vocals on "Yellow Submarine"Additional musicians and production staff
Anil Bhagwat – tabla on "Love You To"
Alan Civil – French horn on "For No One"
Brian Jones – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Donovan – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Geoff Emerick – recording and mixing engineer; tape loops of the marching band on "Yellow Submarine"
George Martin – producer; mixing engineer; piano on "Good Day Sunshine" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"; Hammond organ on "Got to Get You into My Life"; tape-loops of the marching band on "Yellow Submarine"
Mal Evans – bass drum and background vocals on "Yellow Submarine"
Marianne Faithfull – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Neil Aspinall – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Pattie Boyd – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe, Jurgen Hess – violins; Stephen Shingles, John Underwood – violas; Derek Simpson, Norman Jones – cellos: string octet on "Eleanor Rigby", orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (uncredited, with Paul McCartney)
Eddie Thornton, Ian Hamer, Les Condon – trumpet; Peter Coe, Alan Branscombe – tenor saxophone: horn section on "Got To Get You Into My Life"orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (uncredited, with Paul McCartney)
Track listing
From DM's Beatles Web Site
1. Taxman (2:39)
Recorded: April 20, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England but remade April 21, 1966 with overdubbing on April 22, 1966 and May 16, 1966
John Lennon - tambourine, background vocal
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, background vocal, guitar solo
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –
Studio album by The Beatles
Released ― August 5, 1966
Recorded ― April 6–June 21, 1966,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Psychedelic rock, pop rock
Length ― 35:01
Label Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)
Producer George Martin
Revolver is the seventh studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 5 August 1966 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin. Many of the tracks on Revolver feature an electric guitar-rock sound that contrasts with their previous LP, the folk rock inspired Rubber Soul (1965). In Britain, the fourteen tracks from Revolver were released to radio stations throughout July 1966, "building anticipation for what would clearly be a radical new phase in the group's recording career".
Recorded ― April 6–June 21, 1966,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Psychedelic rock, pop rock
Length ― 35:01
Label Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US)
Producer George Martin
Revolver is the seventh studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 5 August 1966 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin. Many of the tracks on Revolver feature an electric guitar-rock sound that contrasts with their previous LP, the folk rock inspired Rubber Soul (1965). In Britain, the fourteen tracks from Revolver were released to radio stations throughout July 1966, "building anticipation for what would clearly be a radical new phase in the group's recording career".
It reached number one on both the British chart and American chart and stayed at the top spot for seven weeks and six weeks, respectively. The album was re-mastered 9 September 2009 for the first time since its 1987 digital compact disc release. Placed at number 1 in the All-Time Top 1000 Albums and number 3 in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the album is often regarded as one of the greatest achievements in music history and one of the Beatles' greatest studio achievements.
Music
Diversity and innovation in the studio
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Eleanor Rigby" combines Paul McCartney's brand of lyrical imagery with a string octet (a conventional string quartet, doubled) arranged by George Martin under McCartney's direction. Both the lyrics and arrangement are a major departure from the Beatles' prior output.
Although Martin once pointed to Bernard Herrmann's score for Fahrenheit 451 as inspiration for the string arrangement, the film was not released until several months after the recording; Martin later stated he was thinking of Herrmann's score for Psycho. The compression and lack of reverberation given to the strings provides a stark, urgent sound that complements Martin's arrangement.
McCartney originated the song and the name, rejecting his initial choice, "Daisy Hawkins," in favour of a name derived from the Beatles' Help! Costar Eleanor Bron and Rigby & Evens, a wine shop McCartney noticed in Bristol. McCartney initially named the clergyman Father McCartney, but changed it out of concern that the character could be misinterpreted as being the writer's father.
"Eleanor Rigby" is one of the few songs with lyric contributions from all four Beatles. John Lennon laid claim to "40 percent" of the lyrics (which was later disputed), including the line "Wearing a face that she keeps in the jar by the door", though those present at the writing dispute Lennon's claim. Ringo Starr contributed the line "Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no-one will hear", and George Harrison provided the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" hook.
The fact that an actual person named Eleanor Rigby is buried St.Peter Church Cemetery, in Liverpool's Woolton, yards from where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, is a bizarre co-incidence. Also bizarrely, the real Eleanor Rigby lived a lonely life similar to that of the person in the song.
"Eleanor Rigby" was released as a double A-side (with "Yellow Submarine") concurrently with the album.
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Eleanor Rigby" combines Paul McCartney's brand of lyrical imagery with a string octet (a conventional string quartet, doubled) arranged by George Martin under McCartney's direction. Both the lyrics and arrangement are a major departure from the Beatles' prior output.
Although Martin once pointed to Bernard Herrmann's score for Fahrenheit 451 as inspiration for the string arrangement, the film was not released until several months after the recording; Martin later stated he was thinking of Herrmann's score for Psycho. The compression and lack of reverberation given to the strings provides a stark, urgent sound that complements Martin's arrangement.
McCartney originated the song and the name, rejecting his initial choice, "Daisy Hawkins," in favour of a name derived from the Beatles' Help! Costar Eleanor Bron and Rigby & Evens, a wine shop McCartney noticed in Bristol. McCartney initially named the clergyman Father McCartney, but changed it out of concern that the character could be misinterpreted as being the writer's father.
"Eleanor Rigby" is one of the few songs with lyric contributions from all four Beatles. John Lennon laid claim to "40 percent" of the lyrics (which was later disputed), including the line "Wearing a face that she keeps in the jar by the door", though those present at the writing dispute Lennon's claim. Ringo Starr contributed the line "Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no-one will hear", and George Harrison provided the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" hook.
The fact that an actual person named Eleanor Rigby is buried St.Peter Church Cemetery, in Liverpool's Woolton, yards from where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time, is a bizarre co-incidence. Also bizarrely, the real Eleanor Rigby lived a lonely life similar to that of the person in the song.
"Eleanor Rigby" was released as a double A-side (with "Yellow Submarine") concurrently with the album.
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
The Beatles' unfolding innovation in the recording studio reached its apex with the album's final track. Lennon's "Tomorrow Never Knows" was one of the first songs in the emerging genre of psychedelic music, and included such groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals and looped tape effects. Musically, it is drone-like, with a strongly syncopated, repetitive drum-beat played over a single chord. The lyrics were inspired by Timothy Leary's book, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, although the title itself was inspired by a Ringo Starrmalapropism. The song's harmonic structure is derived from Indian music and is based upon a high volume C drone played by Harrison on atamboura.
Much of the backing track consists of a series of prepared tape loops, stemming from Lennon's and McCartney's interest in and experiments with magnetic tape and musique concrète techniques at that time. According to The 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, some of the longer loops extending out of the control room and down the corridor.
Lennon's processed lead vocal was another innovation. Always in search of ways to enhance or alter the sound of his voice, he gave a directive to EMIengineer Geoff Emerick that he wanted to sound like he was the Dalai Lama singing from the top of a high mountain. Emerick solved the problem by routing a signal from the recording console into the studio's Leslie speaker, giving Lennon's vocal its ethereal, filtered quality (Emerick was later reprimanded by the studio's management for doing this).
A key production technique used for the first time on this album was automatic double tracking (ADT), invented by EMI engineer Ken Townsend on 6 April 1966. This technique used two linked tape recorders to automatically create a doubled vocal track. The standard method 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 the artificial chorus effect.
Contributions and inspirations
Lennon's other contributions included "I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing", "She Said She Said" and "Doctor Robert"
On "I'm Only Sleeping", Harrison played the notes for the lead guitar (and for the second guitar in the solo) in reverse order, then reversed the tape and mixed it in. The backwards guitar sound has been said to "suspend the laws of time and motion to simulate the half-coherence of the state between wakefulness and sleep". The backwards guitar is mixed slightly differently on the American version, which is not included on the American Revolver but on the Beatles Yesterday and Today.
According to Lennon, some of the lyrics of "She Said She Said" were taken almost verbatim from a conversation he had with actor Peter Fonda in August 1965, while he (Lennon), Harrison and Starr were under the influence of LSD at their rented house in Benedict Canyon (in Beverly Hills, California). During a conversation, Fonda said "I know what it's like to be dead," because as a boy he had almost died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
McCartney's "Got to Get You into My Life" was influenced by the Motown Sound and used brass instrumentation extensively. Although cast in the form of a love song, McCartney described the song as an "ode to pot". It was released as a single in the U.S. in 1976, ten years after Revolver, to promote the compilation album Rock 'n' Roll Music on which it appeared. (The vocal in the fade out at the end of the song is different on the mono version than on the stereo version. The last text line "What are you doing to my life?" can only be heard on the mono version). McCartney mentioned in the 1989 radio series McCartney on McCartney that "Here, There and Everywhere" was inspired by the Beach Boys.
McCartney also contributed "Good Day Sunshine", "Yellow Submarine" and "For No One", a melancholy song featuring him playing clavichord and a horn solo played by Alan Civil. He also played lead guitar on two tracks, one being a guitar solo on "Taxman" and the other being a dual guitar part with George Harrison on "And Your Bird Can Sing". The song "And Your Bird Can Sing" is supposedly primarily by John Lennon, however Paul McCartney claims to have helped on the lyric, estimating the song as "80-20" to Lennon.
Revolver was also a breakthrough album for Harrison as a songwriter, and he contributed three songs on the album, including the opening track, "Taxman". The song was a protest against the high marginal rates of income tax paid by high earners like the Beatles, which were sometimes as much as 95 percent of their income (hence the lyric, "There's one for you, nineteen for me"). The "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" referred to in the lyrics are Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, who were, respectively, the British Labour Prime Minister and Conservative Leader of the Opposition at the time. In the Anthology 2 version, the "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" backing vocals were revealed to have originally been "Anybody got a bit of money" repeated rapidly.
Harrison also wrote "I Want to Tell You", about his difficulty expressing himself in words. "Love You To" marked a significant expansion of his burgeoning interest in Indian music and the sitar, which started with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" on Rubber Soul. It was the intro to "Love You To" that was playing in the background when Harrison's character first appears in Yellow Submarine, the animated Beatles film released in 1968.
Ringo Starr's only lead vocal on Revolver is the childlike "Yellow Submarine". McCartney said that he wrote "Yellow Submarine" as a children's song for Starr to sing. With the help of their EMI production team, The Beatles overdubbed stock sound effects they found in the Abbey Road Studios tape library.
On "I'm Only Sleeping", Harrison played the notes for the lead guitar (and for the second guitar in the solo) in reverse order, then reversed the tape and mixed it in. The backwards guitar sound has been said to "suspend the laws of time and motion to simulate the half-coherence of the state between wakefulness and sleep". The backwards guitar is mixed slightly differently on the American version, which is not included on the American Revolver but on the Beatles Yesterday and Today.
According to Lennon, some of the lyrics of "She Said She Said" were taken almost verbatim from a conversation he had with actor Peter Fonda in August 1965, while he (Lennon), Harrison and Starr were under the influence of LSD at their rented house in Benedict Canyon (in Beverly Hills, California). During a conversation, Fonda said "I know what it's like to be dead," because as a boy he had almost died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
McCartney's "Got to Get You into My Life" was influenced by the Motown Sound and used brass instrumentation extensively. Although cast in the form of a love song, McCartney described the song as an "ode to pot". It was released as a single in the U.S. in 1976, ten years after Revolver, to promote the compilation album Rock 'n' Roll Music on which it appeared. (The vocal in the fade out at the end of the song is different on the mono version than on the stereo version. The last text line "What are you doing to my life?" can only be heard on the mono version). McCartney mentioned in the 1989 radio series McCartney on McCartney that "Here, There and Everywhere" was inspired by the Beach Boys.
McCartney also contributed "Good Day Sunshine", "Yellow Submarine" and "For No One", a melancholy song featuring him playing clavichord and a horn solo played by Alan Civil. He also played lead guitar on two tracks, one being a guitar solo on "Taxman" and the other being a dual guitar part with George Harrison on "And Your Bird Can Sing". The song "And Your Bird Can Sing" is supposedly primarily by John Lennon, however Paul McCartney claims to have helped on the lyric, estimating the song as "80-20" to Lennon.
Revolver was also a breakthrough album for Harrison as a songwriter, and he contributed three songs on the album, including the opening track, "Taxman". The song was a protest against the high marginal rates of income tax paid by high earners like the Beatles, which were sometimes as much as 95 percent of their income (hence the lyric, "There's one for you, nineteen for me"). The "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" referred to in the lyrics are Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, who were, respectively, the British Labour Prime Minister and Conservative Leader of the Opposition at the time. In the Anthology 2 version, the "Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" backing vocals were revealed to have originally been "Anybody got a bit of money" repeated rapidly.
Harrison also wrote "I Want to Tell You", about his difficulty expressing himself in words. "Love You To" marked a significant expansion of his burgeoning interest in Indian music and the sitar, which started with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" on Rubber Soul. It was the intro to "Love You To" that was playing in the background when Harrison's character first appears in Yellow Submarine, the animated Beatles film released in 1968.
Ringo Starr's only lead vocal on Revolver is the childlike "Yellow Submarine". McCartney said that he wrote "Yellow Submarine" as a children's song for Starr to sing. With the help of their EMI production team, The Beatles overdubbed stock sound effects they found in the Abbey Road Studios tape library.
Heralding the psychedelic era
According to music critic Richie Unterberger of Allmusic:
In many respects, Revolver is one of the very first psychedelic LPs – not only in its numerous shifts in mood and production texture, but in its innovative manipulation of amplification and electronics to produce new sounds on guitars and other instruments. Specific, widely-heralded examples include the backwards riffs of "I'm Only Sleeping", the sound effects of "Yellow Submarine", the sitar of "Love You To", the blurry guitars of "She Said, She Said", and above all the seagull chanting, buzzing drones, megaphone vocals, free-association philosophizing, and vari-speed tape effects of "Tomorrow Never Knows".
In 1972, Lennon offered some context for the influence of drugs on The Beatles' creativity:
It's like saying, "Did Dylan Thomas write 'Under Milk Wood' on beer?" What does that have to do with it? The beer is to prevent the rest of the world from crowding in on you. The drugs are to prevent the rest of the world from crowding in on you. They don't make you write any better. I never wrote any better stuff because I was on acid or not on acid. — John Lennon, The Beatles Anthology.
According to music critic Jim DeRogatis:
Revolver, Pet Sounds and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, relics of the first era of psychedelic rock and shining testaments to what can be accomplished in the recording studio when folks are fuelled on the potent drug of rampant imagination. — J. DeRogatis, Milk it!: collected musings on the alternative music explosion of the 90s
Cover art and title
The cover illustration was created by German-born bassist and artist Klaus Voormann, 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 images of the group between 1964 and 1966, such as the infamous "butcher cover" for Yesterday and Today. Voormann's own photo as well as his name (Klaus O. W. Voormann) is worked into Harrison's hair on the right-hand side of the cover. In the Revolver cover appearing in his artwork for Anthology 3, he replaced this image with a more recent photo. Harrison's Revolver image was seen again on his single release of "When We Was Fab" along with an updated version of the same image.
The title "Revolver", like "Rubber Soul" before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the "revolving" motion of the record as it is played on a turntable. The Beatles had a difficult time coming up with this title. According to Barry Miles in his book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, the title that the four had originally wanted was Abracadabra, until they discovered that another band had already used it. After that, opinion split: Lennon wanted to call it Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle and Starr jokingly suggested After Geography, playing on The Rolling Stones' recently released Aftermath LP. Other suggestions included Magic Circles, Beatles on Safari, Pendulum, and, finally, Revolver, whose wordplay was the one that all four agreed upon. The title was chosen while the band were on tour in Japan in June–July 1966. Due to security measures, they spent much of their time in their Tokyo Hilton hotel room; the name Revolver was selected as all four collaborated on a large psychedelic painting.
The Beatles' tour of Asia (including Japan, where the Revolver album name was selected) did not feature any songs from that album, and neither did the subsequent last tour (U.S., that August). This was a further indication of how far their studio recordings had diverged from what they were still playing live.
Critical reception ―
Professional ratings
Allmusic ― 5/5
Blender 5― /5
The Daily Telegraph ― 5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music ― 5/5
Paste ― 100/100
Pitchfork Media ― 10/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide(2004) ― 5/5
The Rolling Stone Record Guide(1979) ― 5/5
Sputnikmusic ― 5/5
The Beatles had initiated a second pop revolution – one which while galvanising their existing rivals and inspiring many new ones, left all of them far behind. — Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties
In a 1967 article for Esquire, music journalist Robert Christgau called Revolver "twice as good and four times as startling as Rubber Soul, with sound effects, Oriental drones, jazz bands, transcendentalist lyrics, all kinds of rhythmic and harmonic surprises, and a filter that made John Lennon sound like God singing through a foghorn."
In 1997, it was named the third greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.
In 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The same magazine's readers placed it at number 4 of greatest albums of all time in 2006.
In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it the number 1 greatest album of all time, a position it also achieved in the Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums.
In 2002, the readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time.
In 2006, the album was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
In 2006, Guitar World readers chose it as the 10th best guitar album of all time.
In 2007, a PopMatters review described the album's content – "the individual members of the greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time".
In 2010, Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano.
In 2012, Revolver was voted 3rd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It placed behind only the Beatles' own Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
Revolver currently holds the number 3 spot on Rate Your Music's top 1000 albums chart.
The Daily Telegraph ― 5/5
Encyclopedia of Popular Music ― 5/5
Paste ― 100/100
Pitchfork Media ― 10/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide(2004) ― 5/5
The Rolling Stone Record Guide(1979) ― 5/5
Sputnikmusic ― 5/5
The Beatles had initiated a second pop revolution – one which while galvanising their existing rivals and inspiring many new ones, left all of them far behind. — Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties
In a 1967 article for Esquire, music journalist Robert Christgau called Revolver "twice as good and four times as startling as Rubber Soul, with sound effects, Oriental drones, jazz bands, transcendentalist lyrics, all kinds of rhythmic and harmonic surprises, and a filter that made John Lennon sound like God singing through a foghorn."
In 1997, it was named the third greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.
In 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 1 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The same magazine's readers placed it at number 4 of greatest albums of all time in 2006.
In 2001, the TV network VH1 named it the number 1 greatest album of all time, a position it also achieved in the Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums.
In 2002, the readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time.
In 2006, the album was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.
In 2006, Guitar World readers chose it as the 10th best guitar album of all time.
In 2007, a PopMatters review described the album's content – "the individual members of the greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time".
In 2010, Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano.
In 2012, Revolver was voted 3rd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". It placed behind only the Beatles' own Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds.
Revolver currently holds the number 3 spot on Rate Your Music's top 1000 albums chart.
North American Capitol release
The original North American LP release of Revolver, the band's tenth on Capitol Records and twelfth US album, marked the last time Capitol would release an altered UK Beatles album for the North American 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 Capitol compilation, they were simply removed in the North American version, yielding an 11 track album instead of the UK version's 14 and shortening the time to 28:20. This resulted in there being only two songs with Lennon as the principal songwriter, with three by Harrison and the rest by McCartney.
The album's 30 April 1987 release on CD standardized the track listing to the original UK version. Having been available only as an import in the US in the past, the 14 track UK version of the album was also issued domestically in the US on LP and cassette on 21 July 1987. The CD was remastered in 2009.
Personnel
According to Mark Lewisohn: The Beatles
John Lennon – lead, acoustic and rhythm guitars, lead, harmony and backing vocals, piano, Hammond organ and harmonium, tape loops and sound effects, cowbell, tambourine, maracas, handclaps, finger snaps
Paul McCartney – lead, acoustic and bass guitars, lead, harmony and backing vocals, piano, clavichord, tape loops, sound effects, handclaps, finger snaps
George Harrison – lead, acoustic and rhythm guitars, bass, lead, harmony and backing vocals, sitar, tamboura, sound effects, maracas, tambourine,handclaps, finger snaps
Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, maracas, handclaps, finger snaps, lead vocals on "Yellow Submarine"Additional musicians and production staff
Anil Bhagwat – tabla on "Love You To"
Alan Civil – French horn on "For No One"
Brian Jones – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Donovan – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Geoff Emerick – recording and mixing engineer; tape loops of the marching band on "Yellow Submarine"
George Martin – producer; mixing engineer; piano on "Good Day Sunshine" and "Tomorrow Never Knows"; Hammond organ on "Got to Get You into My Life"; tape-loops of the marching band on "Yellow Submarine"
Mal Evans – bass drum and background vocals on "Yellow Submarine"
Marianne Faithfull – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Neil Aspinall – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Pattie Boyd – background vocals on "Yellow Submarine" (uncredited)
Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe, Jurgen Hess – violins; Stephen Shingles, John Underwood – violas; Derek Simpson, Norman Jones – cellos: string octet on "Eleanor Rigby", orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (uncredited, with Paul McCartney)
Eddie Thornton, Ian Hamer, Les Condon – trumpet; Peter Coe, Alan Branscombe – tenor saxophone: horn section on "Got To Get You Into My Life"orchestrated and conducted by George Martin (uncredited, with Paul McCartney)
Track listing
From DM's Beatles Web Site
1. Taxman (2:39)
Recorded: April 20, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England but remade April 21, 1966 with overdubbing on April 22, 1966 and May 16, 1966
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, background vocal, guitar solo
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
2. Eleanor Rigby (2:08)
Recorded: April 28, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with vocals overdubbed April 29, 1966 and another McCartney vocal added June 6, 1966
John Lennon - harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal
George Harrison - harmony vocal
Session musicians - four violins, two violas, two cellos
John Lennon - harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal
George Harrison - harmony vocal
Session musicians - four violins, two violas, two cellos
3. Love You To (3:01)
Recorded: April 11, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with overdubs added April 13, 1966
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal
Anil Bhagwat - tabla
Session musicians - other instruments
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal
Anil Bhagwat - tabla
Session musicians - other instruments
4. Here, There and Everywhere (2:26)
Recorded: June 14, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with overdubs added June 16-17, 1966
John Lennon - background vocal
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal, acoustic guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar, background vocal
Ringo Starr - drums
John Lennon - background vocal
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal, acoustic guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar, background vocal
Ringo Starr - drums
5. Yellow Submarine (2:41)
Recorded: May 26, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with special effects overdubbed June 1, 1966
John Lennon - acoustic guitar, background vocal, blowing bubbles through a straw
Paul McCartney - acoustic guitar, background vocal
George Harrison - tambourine, background vocal, swirling water in a bucket
Ringo Starr - lead vocal, drums
Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Alf, Geoff Emerick, Patti Harrison and studio staff - chorus on fadeout
Session musicians - brass band
John Lennon - acoustic guitar, background vocal, blowing bubbles through a straw
Paul McCartney - acoustic guitar, background vocal
George Harrison - tambourine, background vocal, swirling water in a bucket
Ringo Starr - lead vocal, drums
Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Alf, Geoff Emerick, Patti Harrison and studio staff - chorus on fadeout
Session musicians - brass band
6. She Said She Said (2:37)
Recorded: June 21, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England
John Lennon - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney - bass guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
John Lennon - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney - bass guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
7. Good Day Sunshine (2:10)
Recorded: June 8, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with overdubs added June 9, 1966
John Lennon - harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - lead vocal, bass guitar
George Harrison - harmony vocal
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - piano
John Lennon - harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - lead vocal, bass guitar
George Harrison - harmony vocal
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - piano
8. For No One (2:02)
Recorded: May 9, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with the vocal overdubbed May 16, 1966 and the French horn solo overdubbed May 19, 1966
Paul McCartney - lead vocal, bass guitar, piano
Ringo Starr - drums, tambourine
Alan Civil - French horn
Paul McCartney - lead vocal, bass guitar, piano
Ringo Starr - drums, tambourine
Alan Civil - French horn
9. I Want to Tell You (2:30)
Recorded: June 2, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with bass guitar overdubbed June 3, 1966
John Lennon - tambourine, harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, piano, harmony vocal
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
John Lennon - tambourine, harmony vocal
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, piano, harmony vocal
George Harrison - double-tracked lead vocal, lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
10. Got to Get You Into My Life (2:31)
Recorded: April 7-8, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with overdubs added April 11, May 18, and June 17, 1966
John Lennon - tambourine
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal, bass guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - organ
Eddy Thornton - trumpet
Ian Hamer - trumpet
Les Conlon - trumpet
Alan Branscombe - tenor saxophone
Peter Coe - tenor saxophone
John Lennon - tambourine
Paul McCartney - double-tracked lead vocal, bass guitar
George Harrison - lead guitar
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - organ
Eddy Thornton - trumpet
Ian Hamer - trumpet
Les Conlon - trumpet
Alan Branscombe - tenor saxophone
Peter Coe - tenor saxophone
11. Tomorrow Never Knows (2:57)
Recorded: April 6, 1966 at Abbey Road, London, England with overdubs added April 7, 1966 and April 22, 1966
John Lennon - lead vocal, tambourine, tape loops
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, tape loop (bird sounds)
George Harrison - lead guitar, sitar
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - piano
This is where the line is drawn in the sand. While a growing number of Beatles enthusiasts exclaim that they have grown to like their entire catalog, most are still divided into two camps – the early Beatles or the later Beatles. Those who were adolescents or teens who remember being transfixed to their television sets on February 9th, 1964 to see these new British icons on the Ed Sullivan Show usually prefer hearing songs like “She Loves You” over the music that they explain away as “when they got weird.” On the other hand, the “flower children” of the late 60’s claim that they got “turned on” to The Beatles’ later psychedelic period and explain away their ‘mop-top’ days as “bubblegum crap.” Then there is the growing number of later generation fans who also gravitate toward their later period, eventually discovering that the early years had much merit as well.
One might ask, though, what marks the dividing line between the early period and the later period. There is such an obvious chasm between, for instance, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Come Together” that if someone had been living under a rock and had not known better, it could easily have been perceived that these were two completely different bands when in fact they were the exact same songwriters, musicians and singers. Their growth and maturity was gradual as we can hear ourselves by listening through their catalog chronologically, but there must certainly be a discernible point in time where they, so to speak, ‘switched over.’
Then came “Revolver.” This is where the line is drawn in the sand.
John Lennon - lead vocal, tambourine, tape loops
Paul McCartney - bass guitar, tape loop (bird sounds)
George Harrison - lead guitar, sitar
Ringo Starr - drums
George Martin - piano
From The Beatles Music History
This is where the line is drawn in the sand. While a growing number of Beatles enthusiasts exclaim that they have grown to like their entire catalog, most are still divided into two camps – the early Beatles or the later Beatles. Those who were adolescents or teens who remember being transfixed to their television sets on February 9th, 1964 to see these new British icons on the Ed Sullivan Show usually prefer hearing songs like “She Loves You” over the music that they explain away as “when they got weird.” On the other hand, the “flower children” of the late 60’s claim that they got “turned on” to The Beatles’ later psychedelic period and explain away their ‘mop-top’ days as “bubblegum crap.” Then there is the growing number of later generation fans who also gravitate toward their later period, eventually discovering that the early years had much merit as well.
One might ask, though, what marks the dividing line between the early period and the later period. There is such an obvious chasm between, for instance, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “Come Together” that if someone had been living under a rock and had not known better, it could easily have been perceived that these were two completely different bands when in fact they were the exact same songwriters, musicians and singers. Their growth and maturity was gradual as we can hear ourselves by listening through their catalog chronologically, but there must certainly be a discernible point in time where they, so to speak, ‘switched over.’
Then came “Revolver.” This is where the line is drawn in the sand.
Origin Of The Album ―
“The Beatles had come into the ‘Revolver’ sessions completely refreshed and rejuvenated after a few months off recharging their batteries,” stated engineer Geoff Emerick, adding, “It was just magic, pure serendipity.”
The beginning months of both 1964 and 1965 were both spent writing and recording songs for a motion picture they were to star in followed by the actual filming of the movie. While plans were in the works for a United Artists follow up to the previous years’ blockbuster movie “Help!” (a western derived from the book “A Talent For Loving” was considered but then scrapped), this didn’t materialize. With no need to hurry into the recording studio, no tour scheduled until June, and an almost empty schedule, the group had time to ‘recharge their batteries.’ With “Rubber Soul” monopolizing the top of the album charts worldwide in the early months of 1966, and with radio airplay of “We Can Work It Out,” “Day Tripper,” “Michelle” and “Nowhere Man” (among others), they could now sit back a little and enjoy their labors.
After experiencing the ‘rush job’ of putting together sixteen new compositions within a month’s time for their previous album (and accompanying single), they primarily used this ‘down time’ to hone their songwriting craft. They also were developing ideas sonically for use in the recording studio. “One thing’s for sure,” Lennon stated in early 1966, “the next LP is going to be very different…Paul and I are very keen on this electronic music.” George Harrison relates: “We gained more control each time that we got a Number One, and then when we’d go back in the studio we’d claw our way up until we took over the store.”
Given their disenchantment to live performances by this time, they gave little attention to whether they would be able to perform these new compositions on stage. In fact, they seemed to purposely record music that couldn’t be reproduced live. Their distaste for touring left them with the unanimous opinion that the studio is where they wanted to experiment, which appeared extremely exciting to them. “We spend more time on recording now because we prefer recording,” George explained in 1966. “This time, for our new album, our record company let us use the studio almost whenever we wanted, so that we could work on until we were satisfied.”
As history testifies, the results were extraordinary. What most people viewed as the standard Beatles formula, comprising two guitars, bass and drums, was more often than not thrown by the wayside. Instead, we had a predominant brass section, Indian instruments, tape loops, backward guitars, comical sound effects, a French horn solo, and strings. While the previous years’ “Yesterday” had definitely broken new ground by utilizing a string quartet to accompany Paul on acoustic guitar, “Eleanor Rigby” was the first Beatles track to have no guitar at all, not to mention the absence of any Beatle playing any instrument.
Since the group could now use their clout to name their own albums, they pooled their ideas while they were on their brief international tour just after the album was recorded. Barry Miles relates the details in his book “Many Years From Now”: “Johnny Dean, editor of ‘Beatles Monthly,’ was with them on the night of 24 June, 1966, in a Munich hotel room…At first they had all four wanted to call it ‘Abracadabra,’ but someone had already used it. ‘Pendulums’ and ‘Fat Man And Bobby’ were other ideas. Ringo suggested having a joke with The Rolling Stones by calling it ‘After Geography’ since the Stones had just done ‘Aftermath!’ John proposed ‘Beatles On Safari’ and Paul came up with ‘Magic Circle.’ John changed this to ‘Four Sides of the Circle’ and ‘Four Sides Of The Eternal Triangle,’ which somehow led them to ‘Revolver.’” In any case, the title has nothing to do with a gun (as I always thought) but, as Ringo explained in 1966, "revolving, because the record goes round.”
“The Beatles had come into the ‘Revolver’ sessions completely refreshed and rejuvenated after a few months off recharging their batteries,” stated engineer Geoff Emerick, adding, “It was just magic, pure serendipity.”
The beginning months of both 1964 and 1965 were both spent writing and recording songs for a motion picture they were to star in followed by the actual filming of the movie. While plans were in the works for a United Artists follow up to the previous years’ blockbuster movie “Help!” (a western derived from the book “A Talent For Loving” was considered but then scrapped), this didn’t materialize. With no need to hurry into the recording studio, no tour scheduled until June, and an almost empty schedule, the group had time to ‘recharge their batteries.’ With “Rubber Soul” monopolizing the top of the album charts worldwide in the early months of 1966, and with radio airplay of “We Can Work It Out,” “Day Tripper,” “Michelle” and “Nowhere Man” (among others), they could now sit back a little and enjoy their labors.
After experiencing the ‘rush job’ of putting together sixteen new compositions within a month’s time for their previous album (and accompanying single), they primarily used this ‘down time’ to hone their songwriting craft. They also were developing ideas sonically for use in the recording studio. “One thing’s for sure,” Lennon stated in early 1966, “the next LP is going to be very different…Paul and I are very keen on this electronic music.” George Harrison relates: “We gained more control each time that we got a Number One, and then when we’d go back in the studio we’d claw our way up until we took over the store.”
Given their disenchantment to live performances by this time, they gave little attention to whether they would be able to perform these new compositions on stage. In fact, they seemed to purposely record music that couldn’t be reproduced live. Their distaste for touring left them with the unanimous opinion that the studio is where they wanted to experiment, which appeared extremely exciting to them. “We spend more time on recording now because we prefer recording,” George explained in 1966. “This time, for our new album, our record company let us use the studio almost whenever we wanted, so that we could work on until we were satisfied.”
As history testifies, the results were extraordinary. What most people viewed as the standard Beatles formula, comprising two guitars, bass and drums, was more often than not thrown by the wayside. Instead, we had a predominant brass section, Indian instruments, tape loops, backward guitars, comical sound effects, a French horn solo, and strings. While the previous years’ “Yesterday” had definitely broken new ground by utilizing a string quartet to accompany Paul on acoustic guitar, “Eleanor Rigby” was the first Beatles track to have no guitar at all, not to mention the absence of any Beatle playing any instrument.
Since the group could now use their clout to name their own albums, they pooled their ideas while they were on their brief international tour just after the album was recorded. Barry Miles relates the details in his book “Many Years From Now”: “Johnny Dean, editor of ‘Beatles Monthly,’ was with them on the night of 24 June, 1966, in a Munich hotel room…At first they had all four wanted to call it ‘Abracadabra,’ but someone had already used it. ‘Pendulums’ and ‘Fat Man And Bobby’ were other ideas. Ringo suggested having a joke with The Rolling Stones by calling it ‘After Geography’ since the Stones had just done ‘Aftermath!’ John proposed ‘Beatles On Safari’ and Paul came up with ‘Magic Circle.’ John changed this to ‘Four Sides of the Circle’ and ‘Four Sides Of The Eternal Triangle,’ which somehow led them to ‘Revolver.’” In any case, the title has nothing to do with a gun (as I always thought) but, as Ringo explained in 1966, "revolving, because the record goes round.”
The Beatles in EMI Studios recording "Revolver," 1966
Recording The Album ―
The Beatles had been pushing the envelope more and more up to and including 1965, always wanting to be inventive in the recording studio. “At the start, I was like a master with his pupils, and they did what I said,” remembers producer George Martin in his book “All You Need Is Ears.” “They knew nothing about recording, but heaven knows they learned quickly. And by the end, of course, I was to be the servant while they were the masters.”
Along with this, a change in engineers meant more experimentation. Norman Smith had been The Beatles’ designated engineer throughout their recording career up to this point but he aspired to make the jump to producer, which he was promoted to shortly after “Rubber Soul” was complete. Being nearly the same age as George Martin and of the same play-by-the-rules mentality, Smith found it quite hard to satisfy the groups’ requests for innovation.
Not so with his designated replacement, the nineteen-year-old Geoff Emerick, who loved “tinkering with the controls of the mixing board and coming up with new sonic innovations,” as he states in his book “Here, There And Everywhere.” He continues: “Fortunately, The Beatles were utterly receptive to the idea of breaking all the rules by the time I started engineering for them.”
With time on their hands and their inspirational juices flowing, The Beatles spent nearly eleven weeks in the studio creating the sixteen tracks that became “Revolver,” these sessions also including the early summer single “Paperback Writer” backed with “Rain.” As usually was the case, they began proceedings with a John Lennon composition, this one tentatively titled “Mark I” but eventually bearing the Ringo-inspired phrase “Tomorrow Never Knows.” This first session was on April 6th, 1966.
The final mixing session for the album on June 21st of that year revealed that they were one song short, therefore they re-entered the studio on that day to record one final song; another Lennon classic called “She Said She Said.” Three days later they were in West Germany beginning their brief international tour with their recent album finally in the can.
While the length of time used to record this album appears to be a little over twice the time needed for their previous album (“Rubber Soul” taking approximately one month), the actual time spent in the studio was greatly increased, most sessions going well into the early morning of the next day. Geoff Emerick recalls: “We were having a good time, but because we were constantly trying new things, it was also a lot of hard work. In fact, my strongest memory of those sessions is how utterly draining they were. Most EMI sessions weren’t allowed to run past 11 pm, but The Beatles were big enough by then that all the rules went by the wayside. They could work as late or as long as they wanted to – and we had to be there with them the whole time.”
Even pre-rehearsals were done away with, the group preferring to come into the studio cold. “Incredibly, all the tracks on the album were created in the studio before my very eyes,” Emerick recalls. “The Beatles had done no rehearsing beforehand; there had been no preproduction whatsoever. What an incredible experience it was to see each of the songs develop and blossom within the confines of those four walls!”
TAXMAN
ELEANOR RIGBY
LOVE YOU TO
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
YELLOW SUBMARINE
SHE SAID SHE SAID
GOOD DAY SUNSHINE
FOR NO ONE
I WANT TO TELL YOU
GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
*PAPERBACK WRITER
*RAIN
Recording The Album ―
The Beatles had been pushing the envelope more and more up to and including 1965, always wanting to be inventive in the recording studio. “At the start, I was like a master with his pupils, and they did what I said,” remembers producer George Martin in his book “All You Need Is Ears.” “They knew nothing about recording, but heaven knows they learned quickly. And by the end, of course, I was to be the servant while they were the masters.”
Along with this, a change in engineers meant more experimentation. Norman Smith had been The Beatles’ designated engineer throughout their recording career up to this point but he aspired to make the jump to producer, which he was promoted to shortly after “Rubber Soul” was complete. Being nearly the same age as George Martin and of the same play-by-the-rules mentality, Smith found it quite hard to satisfy the groups’ requests for innovation.
Not so with his designated replacement, the nineteen-year-old Geoff Emerick, who loved “tinkering with the controls of the mixing board and coming up with new sonic innovations,” as he states in his book “Here, There And Everywhere.” He continues: “Fortunately, The Beatles were utterly receptive to the idea of breaking all the rules by the time I started engineering for them.”
With time on their hands and their inspirational juices flowing, The Beatles spent nearly eleven weeks in the studio creating the sixteen tracks that became “Revolver,” these sessions also including the early summer single “Paperback Writer” backed with “Rain.” As usually was the case, they began proceedings with a John Lennon composition, this one tentatively titled “Mark I” but eventually bearing the Ringo-inspired phrase “Tomorrow Never Knows.” This first session was on April 6th, 1966.
The final mixing session for the album on June 21st of that year revealed that they were one song short, therefore they re-entered the studio on that day to record one final song; another Lennon classic called “She Said She Said.” Three days later they were in West Germany beginning their brief international tour with their recent album finally in the can.
While the length of time used to record this album appears to be a little over twice the time needed for their previous album (“Rubber Soul” taking approximately one month), the actual time spent in the studio was greatly increased, most sessions going well into the early morning of the next day. Geoff Emerick recalls: “We were having a good time, but because we were constantly trying new things, it was also a lot of hard work. In fact, my strongest memory of those sessions is how utterly draining they were. Most EMI sessions weren’t allowed to run past 11 pm, but The Beatles were big enough by then that all the rules went by the wayside. They could work as late or as long as they wanted to – and we had to be there with them the whole time.”
Even pre-rehearsals were done away with, the group preferring to come into the studio cold. “Incredibly, all the tracks on the album were created in the studio before my very eyes,” Emerick recalls. “The Beatles had done no rehearsing beforehand; there had been no preproduction whatsoever. What an incredible experience it was to see each of the songs develop and blossom within the confines of those four walls!”
Artist Klaus Voormann displaying his "Revolver" cover and Grammy Award
Cover Art ―
“The photographer Bob Freeman is working on the possibility of a revolutionary sleeve jacket for the album. He’s talking about (having) it done in silvery color, or put out just like a photo negative.” This proposed idea, as explained in early 1966 by George Harrison, obviously never came to fruition.
A new idea immerged from a recollection the group had of their first meeting with Klaus Voormann in the summer of 1960. While on stage at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany, Klaus approached the stage in order to make contact with this new band that he had just recently discovered. Philip Norman, in his book “Shout,” explains the account: “Shy and unsure of his English, he took with him a sleeve he had designed for an American record, ‘Walk, Don’t Run.’ In a break between sessions he went over to the leader – so he had already identified John Lennon – and in halting English tried to explain about the design. John only muttered, ‘Show it to Stu – he’s the artist round here.’”
Since Klaus had since become close friends with the group, even temporarily securing a management deal with Brian Epstein for his act “Paddy, Klaus & Gibson,” he was inevitably asked to design a cover for The Beatles album “Revolver.” “My design is not sick or horrible,” Klaus comments, “it’s way out and funny.” He even thought to include a small picture of himself (within George’s hair) along with the legend “”Klaus O. W. Voormann 66” (his initials standing for Otto Wilhelm).
John’s close childhood friend Pete Shotton recalls how he even had a small part in the design of the albums’ cover. “The ‘Revolver’ sleeve design which, rather like the record itself, consisted of a surrealistic montage. John, Paul and I devoted an evening to sifting through an enormous pile of newspapers and magazines for pictures of The Beatles, after which, we cut out the faces and glued them all together. Our handiwork was later superimposed onto a line drawing by Klaus Voormann, their old friend in Hamburg.”
The back cover consists of a photograph taken by Robert Whitaker in May of 1966 in EMI Studios, the group all wearing sunglasses even though it appears that the room was darkened for the shot. The American copies of the album feature the credit “Prepared for release in the U.S.A. by Bill Miller,” apparently being the person in charge of deleting three Lennon vocal songs from the album to include on the previous American release “Yesterday…And Today.”
The front cover for “Revolver,” this being the second album not needing to mention the name “Beatles” anywhere (it is included in very small print on the back cover), ended up winning a Grammy Award for “Album Cover of the Year” in 1966.
“The photographer Bob Freeman is working on the possibility of a revolutionary sleeve jacket for the album. He’s talking about (having) it done in silvery color, or put out just like a photo negative.” This proposed idea, as explained in early 1966 by George Harrison, obviously never came to fruition.
A new idea immerged from a recollection the group had of their first meeting with Klaus Voormann in the summer of 1960. While on stage at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany, Klaus approached the stage in order to make contact with this new band that he had just recently discovered. Philip Norman, in his book “Shout,” explains the account: “Shy and unsure of his English, he took with him a sleeve he had designed for an American record, ‘Walk, Don’t Run.’ In a break between sessions he went over to the leader – so he had already identified John Lennon – and in halting English tried to explain about the design. John only muttered, ‘Show it to Stu – he’s the artist round here.’”
Since Klaus had since become close friends with the group, even temporarily securing a management deal with Brian Epstein for his act “Paddy, Klaus & Gibson,” he was inevitably asked to design a cover for The Beatles album “Revolver.” “My design is not sick or horrible,” Klaus comments, “it’s way out and funny.” He even thought to include a small picture of himself (within George’s hair) along with the legend “”Klaus O. W. Voormann 66” (his initials standing for Otto Wilhelm).
John’s close childhood friend Pete Shotton recalls how he even had a small part in the design of the albums’ cover. “The ‘Revolver’ sleeve design which, rather like the record itself, consisted of a surrealistic montage. John, Paul and I devoted an evening to sifting through an enormous pile of newspapers and magazines for pictures of The Beatles, after which, we cut out the faces and glued them all together. Our handiwork was later superimposed onto a line drawing by Klaus Voormann, their old friend in Hamburg.”
The back cover consists of a photograph taken by Robert Whitaker in May of 1966 in EMI Studios, the group all wearing sunglasses even though it appears that the room was darkened for the shot. The American copies of the album feature the credit “Prepared for release in the U.S.A. by Bill Miller,” apparently being the person in charge of deleting three Lennon vocal songs from the album to include on the previous American release “Yesterday…And Today.”
The front cover for “Revolver,” this being the second album not needing to mention the name “Beatles” anywhere (it is included in very small print on the back cover), ended up winning a Grammy Award for “Album Cover of the Year” in 1966.
American "Revolver" back cover
Success Of The Album ―
America received the amazing privilege of receiving two full Beatles albums in 1966 within only two months time. The predecessor to “Revolver,” the make-shift Capitol album “Yesterday…And Today,” was officially released on June 20th of that year and quickly jumped to the #1 spot on the Billboard album charts for five weeks, being replaced in the top spot by “What Now My Love” by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.
This Beatles album, however, quickly fell down the charts as their newest creation, “Revolver,” was released on August 8th, pushing the same Herb Alpert album out of the #1 spot in only its second week on the chart (jumping from #45). It stayed at the top for six weeks, spending a total of 14 weeks in the top ten. It sold over five million copies in the US, compared to two million for their previous album.
Even though the title “Revolver” was not intended to refer to a gun, Capitol apparently thought it did. They prepared in-store posters that included the bold legend “BANG!” to promote the release of the album, the identical ad being featured also in Billboard magazine. At the bottom of the poster they informed the public that the album included both sides of their latest single, using an early artists rendition of a “Yellow Submarine” which is quite unlike the friendly animated sub we’re all used to seeing from the 1968 movie. ― Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski
CLICK ON THE SONG TITLES BELOW TO READ THE IN-DEPTH HISTORY OF THE SONGS ON "REVOLVER"
America received the amazing privilege of receiving two full Beatles albums in 1966 within only two months time. The predecessor to “Revolver,” the make-shift Capitol album “Yesterday…And Today,” was officially released on June 20th of that year and quickly jumped to the #1 spot on the Billboard album charts for five weeks, being replaced in the top spot by “What Now My Love” by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass.
This Beatles album, however, quickly fell down the charts as their newest creation, “Revolver,” was released on August 8th, pushing the same Herb Alpert album out of the #1 spot in only its second week on the chart (jumping from #45). It stayed at the top for six weeks, spending a total of 14 weeks in the top ten. It sold over five million copies in the US, compared to two million for their previous album.
Even though the title “Revolver” was not intended to refer to a gun, Capitol apparently thought it did. They prepared in-store posters that included the bold legend “BANG!” to promote the release of the album, the identical ad being featured also in Billboard magazine. At the bottom of the poster they informed the public that the album included both sides of their latest single, using an early artists rendition of a “Yellow Submarine” which is quite unlike the friendly animated sub we’re all used to seeing from the 1968 movie. ― Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski
CLICK ON THE SONG TITLES BELOW TO READ THE IN-DEPTH HISTORY OF THE SONGS ON "REVOLVER"
TAXMAN
ELEANOR RIGBY
LOVE YOU TO
HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE
YELLOW SUBMARINE
SHE SAID SHE SAID
GOOD DAY SUNSHINE
FOR NO ONE
I WANT TO TELL YOU
GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
*PAPERBACK WRITER
*RAIN
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