1001 Albums #60

The Beatles again. Revolver is their seventh studio album. It is unlike any of the previous six albums. It has unique sound effects, Indian flavour and psychedelic induced drug trips. All that in one year’s time. How is it possible that bands in the 60s produced some many albums and today we have to wait at least three years or more. Will I hate Revolver as much as The Beatles other albums?

George Harrison’s “Taxman” is the opening song. It has some interesting sound effects before the songs begin. It feels more “Beatles-esque” than most of the songs, yet I like it because it is predominately Harrison’s voice. As with many of these songs they feature one singer more than their usual harmonies.

One of the best songs is from Paul McCartney “Eleanor Rigby“. A song about loneliness actually sounds like loneliness. It sounds unique in that it has classical style music. The band is not involved in playing the music. This is the McCartney we will get soon with Wings.

I am not a fan of John Lennon at all, but “I’m Only Sleeping” is a fun song about a lazy person who likes to stay in bed. I like the backwards lead guitar the best. The backmasking sounds caused some Christian groups to believe the songs were satanic. That made me laugh. I cannot believe they actually thought the songs were satanic. Lennon’s voice is okay in this song. I thought it was a girl at first.

“Love You To” definitely has Harrison’s stamp on it. He embraced the Indian classical sound in his music more than the others. This song uses the sitar and tabla. It also has minimal use of the other bandmates. Are we seeing a trend on this album?

Who said something about those “Silly Love Songs”? “Here, There and Everywhere” has McCartney’s heart in it. He was the most successful of Fab Four. He knew about love.

The album detours with “Yellow Submarine” or as I called A Song For Ringo. He is the least talented of The Beatles. They were kind enough to write a nonsensical song for his limited vocal ability. He almost gives me hope that I could sing. Unfortunately my shower kicked me out. The detour goes really downhill with “She Said She Said“.

“Good Day Sunshine” from McCartney moves the album back uphill. It could easily be a lesser known Wings song. “For No One” another McCartney song without most of the band. It is odd they were able to make this album as good as it is, since they were not much of a band.

“And Your Bird Can Sing“, “Doctor Robert” and to a lesser degree “I Want to Tell You” are all filler songs that the album could do without and be better for it. Someone said they put those song in the middle towards the end, but I am not sure who it was that said it. Was if George Martin?

Suddenly we are at the end. “Got to Get You into My Life” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” close the album. The former I thought it was a Wings’ song. The latter is a drug induced trip from the mind of Lennon. It was definitely not something they could have reproduced in concert. But they were never going to tour again.

I am surprised to hear myself say that this is actually a great album from The Beatles. I hated all their music, but this album grew on me as I listened to it a few times. It would be so much better without the filler songs. It would be tighter album. Revolver gives us a glimpse into the future of the guys as solo artists. 8/10.