Published on Mar 8, 1997
(Editor’s note: This review was written when I listened to my
old American-released record of Revolver
. The CD version presently available is based on the British
release, and has songs that aren’t included in this review. I
didn’t forget about them; I just didn’t have them to work
with.)
Were The Beatles the world’s greatest rock and roll band?
I don’t claim to have the answer, nor am I willing to expose
myself to any possible barrage of flame mail if I voice my own
opinion on the subject. But I do know the Fab Four were a very
experimental band for their time – one listen to
Revolver proves that.
Sure The Beatles could have played it safe and kept recording
peppy hits like the opening number, “Taxman.” But that would have
gotten boring real quick, and the all-out rock numbers are
extremely limited on this one.
Instead, you have The Beatles continuing their delve into
ballads, as witnessed by “Eleanor Rigby,” one of the band’s songs I
never get tired of hearing. Paul McCartney’s vocals create a sense
of helplessness the band wanted to convey, but it stops short of
calling us to change our ways.
Perhaps the biggest influence is the Middle Eastern flavor
injected into the band by George Harrison. “Love You To” and
“Tomorrow Never Knows” have a distinct feel unlike any Beatles song
to that point, and they are able to carry the melody well. However,
as on much of
Revolver, I would dare to say that George Martin’s
production hand slipped a bit – I don’t know if it got fixed on the
CD, but there is way too much treble on the record. (
Yes, I still listen to records – as Nicolas Cage said in
The Rock, “These sound better.”)
What also sets
Revolver apart from other Beatles albums of that point is
the looseness of the songwriting. Not to say the boys were tense in
the studio before (they weren’t), but that
if-it-fails-to-hell-with-it attitude carries over into the
songwriting. Who would have expected that they could pull off
“Yellow Submarine” – with Ringo Starr on lead vocals, no less – and
make it a damn good song? In the mid-’60s, maybe… but it still is
amusing and fresh in 1997.
A whole new approach to the music is also heard on “Good Day
Sunshine” (which I still tie in with the Beatles cartoon show I
used to watch in my childhood) and “Got To Get You Into My Life.”
The loveable moptops had reached musical puberty, and were aging
quite well.
This is not to say there aren’t one or two clunkers on
Revolver – I just can’t get into “She Said She Said” or “For
No One,” and “Here, There And Everywhere” sounds like a re-write of
“In My Life.” Still, these flaws are minor.
It really seems like John Lennon took a back seat on this album
– he sings lead on only two of the cuts (though it doesn’t sound
like Harrison on the pipes on “Taxman”). Whether this was
intentional or not I don’t think we’ll ever know.
Someone beginning to get into The Beatles would probably be told
to first pick up
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and
Abbey Road to wet their whistle. I would argue that
Revolver should be a close third. The Beatles abandon safety
and begin exploring other areas of the musical rainbow – and they
pull it off with remarkable ease.