ALBUM REVIEW: The Beatles - Revolver

    After the landmark album Rubber Soul, The Beatles had not only raised the expectations of their own music up, but the expectations of pop music from there on - let it be known that Rubber Soul was no ordinary Beatle album at the time, but a departure towards a more creative and studio-minded image of the group, and their vision of the album as an artistic expression of work became enticing to every artist who was within earshot of The Beatles (being virtually everyone). Following that, however, manager Brian Epstein planned for '66 to be business as usual with another Beatles film and all, but The Beatles themselves had a different idea - instead of any filming, all proposals were rejected and the group took a three-month long break from being Beatles, an unprecedented act for a pop group, and when they returned, they looked towards the studio as their next instrument to conquer. 1966 was a changing time, and with new outside influences in the form of American and Indian music (as well as a healthy dose of psychedelics), The Fab Four looked to make their next album their most different release yet. Revolver is, with a healthy amount of confidence, The Beatles' most groundbreaking album - the group is flipped on its head here, and the result is a delve into the psychedelic, introspective, and wild reaches of what was possible at EMI in the mid 1960s, and the result may be the group at their pinnacle.

    It should be noted that the landscape The Beatles were now operating in was far different than the one even in Rubber Soul times - refreshed from their break, every member was eager to find out what they could do with their little studio, and it helped that some fresh blood behind the console was there. Geoff Emerick was a young nineteen-year-old recording engineer that The Beatles had brought on at the very beginning of the sessions, and its his expertise that has, in many ways, contributed to the most experimental and adventurous of The Beatles' music - hell, he's one of my votes for that coveted "Fifth Beatle" title, and frankly I find him undersold sometimes in their history. More than just having a technically proficient engineer in tandem with their knowledgeable producer George Martin, but the music had taken The Beatles' influence and worn it on their sleeve, and some of that influence crept in. In the middle of recording for Revolver, The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds to an unsuspecting public in May - I'm not here to debate whether Pet Sounds is better than this album or that album, but what is undeniable is that it flipped The Beatles, particularly Paul McCartney, and it's said that that influence crept into some moments on Revolver. More than anything, this freedom resulted in the evolution of new techniques used throughout the recording world; reversing tape, vari-speed, flanging, and liberal use of a Leslie speaker all created an album that's definitively steeped in the attitude of "Try it out!", and it makes it all the more fascinating.

     The Beatles also used the ample studio time to expand their palette to reach outside of their typical live setting - a song like the fully orchestrated ballad to loneliness of "Eleanor Rigby" is not only impressive by single standards, but in many ways was still a fresh idea by 1966 even with Pet Sounds on the market. Other moments like George's "Love You To" are filled with Indian flavors that Harrison will explore on his own later throughout The Beatles and his own catalog. George really beings getting a slice of the pie on this album, with 3 songs to his name - the most on any Beatles album up to this point - and each one brings a new dynamic to The Beatles, from the roaring political cut "Taxman" with a fantastic Paul solo to boot or the glorious love song "I Want to Tell You", both of which contain further influence from Hindustani music in much more subtle ways. Really, each member has their own sort of "sound" on this record, and each one delivers. John's cuts generally range more on the explorative and psychedelic, be it the reversed solo and narcoleptic ode of "I'm Only Sleeping", the tight Rubber Soul-tinged rock of "Doctor Robert" (an ode to his dentist who dosed him and George with LSD), the chaotic and palpable rock of "She Said She Said", and the climactic Tibetan Book of the Dead finale in "Tomorrow Never Knows", The Beatles' most creative and boundary-pushing work up to that point. Paul's brand of pop is as sweet as ever, though, and one would be foolish to shake a stick at such beautiful cuts like "Here, There and Everywhere", "Good Day Sunshine", or the heartbreaking power of "For No One" merely because they don't push the boundary as much as John's cuts. Even more straightforward moments such as "Yellow Submarine" or "Got to Get You Into My Life" are stewed in a certain kind of zaniness for the former and with the latter being an overt anthem to drugs - "Did I tell you I need you every single day of my life?" Somehow, someway.

     Soon after Revolver finally released, The Beatles put an end to touring in tandem with a big ol' break for each member to focus on side projects; John starred in How I Won the War; Paul worked on The Family Way soundtrack; George took a trip to India; Ringo spent time with family. For a while, rumors spread that The Beatles had broken up, but by next year the public would be proven oh so wrong. Revolver is The Beatles' birth as a studio group, unrestricted by the idea of playing songs live and free to go wild with their new fancy tape toys - couple Revolver with their "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" single (the latter usually affirmed as one of the group's greatest songs), and you have the birth of the second leg of The Beatles' career, and what follows is the stuff of real myth-making. Revolver remains a snapshot of The Beatles as a powerhouse, collaborating and playing at their tightest to result in a motherfucker of an album that in many ways remains the most boundary-pushing Beatles album of their all-too-short careers. Of course, there is their next album...

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Revolver.