The Beatles - Revolver

The Beatles’ music prior to their 1965 album Revolver was catchy pop and folk classics about romantic love as well as songs celebrating sex and sexual love. On Revolver, all three songwriters of The Beatles such as Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison, went beyond writing simple love songs. Rather than writing songs about "holding hands" and "one night stands," Revolver explores loneliness in songs such as “Eleanor Rigby” and “For No One," innocence in “Yellow Submarine” and “Here, There and Everywhere,” and dream-state in “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “I’m Only Sleeping.”

The psychedelic drug LSD (acid), Indian Music, and Art are three distinct approaches from which shaped the music and lyrical content of Revolver. Lennon and Harrison first encountered LSD during the Rubber Soul album, but the drug usage was not apparent in the music or lyrical content of Rubber Soul. Although, Paul McCartney did not take LSD until much later, he was able to evoke aspects of the experience when writing the track "Yellow Submarine," and when helping to shape the quintessential evocation of an LSD trip, "Tomorrow Never Knows."

During the recording of Revolver, Geoff Emerick experimented with new recording techniques such as close mic'ing and ADT, which stood for Automated Double Tracking. ADT allowed for a track to be doubled with out being recorded live. A first of it's kind. Other technologies that were employed on Revolver were Leslie-speaker vocal treatment, tape loops, distorted guitar loops, and sped-up guitars.

One of the innovations found on Revolver is the track "Yellow Submarine," which incorporated the use of special fx and sound design. In the first verse right after the line, “So we sailed into the sun,” you hear the sounds of an ocean in the background. In the second verse right after the line, “And our friends are all aboard,” you hear the sounds of people in a pub. Then in the line “And the band begins to play,” you hear a marching band performing. Another song such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" was one of the first songs in the emerging genre of psychedelic music, which included such groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals, and looped tape effects. John Lennon has described the vocal sound that he envisioned for the track "Tomorrow Never Knows" as Dalai Lamas chanting from a Mountain Top. As a listener, I’ve always been a fan of The Beatles from their earlier, catchy pop era to their later more psychedelic, experimental work such as Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour.

Although Revolver is not one of my more favorite records from The Beatles, I still have the utmost respect for it. The music, lyrical content, studio innovations, and sonic quality were ahead of it’s time. -Revised 10/25/10