Revolver (Beatles album)

This article is about the Beatles album. For other albums with the same title, see Revolver (disambiguation).

Untitled

Revolver is the seventh album by English rock group The Beatles, released on 5 August 1966. Many of the tracks on Revolver are marked by an electric guitar-rock sound, in contrast with their previous, folk rock inspired Rubber Soul. 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.

Placed at 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 rock music history and one of The Beatles' greatest studio achievements.

Music

Melodic diversity and innovation in the studio

"Eleanor Rigby"

Main article: 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 claimed 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 by Rigby & Evens, a wine shop McCartney noticed in Bristol. The fact that an actual person named Eleanor Rigby is buried in Liverpool's Woolton Cemetery is a bizarre coincidence. McCartney initially named the clergyman Father McCartney, but picked the name MacKenzie out of a phone book, 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, 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.

"Eleanor Rigby" was released as a double A-side (with "Yellow Submarine") concurrently with the album.

"Tomorrow Never Knows"

Main article: Tomorrow Never Knows

The Beatles' unfolding innovation in the recording studio reaches 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. 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 Starr malapropism.

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 EMI engineer Geoff Emerick that he wanted to sound like he was 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 (he 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 "Dr. 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 a little 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 US 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 also contributed "Here, There and Everywhere", "Good Day Sunshine", "Yellow Submarine" and "For No One", a melancholy song featuring him playing clavichord and a horn solo played by Alan Civil.

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 guitar solo is actually played by McCartney. 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, "Mr. Wilson and Mr. Heath" were replaced with "Anybody got a little money". 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").

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 the Harrison character first appears in Yellow Submarine, the animated Beatles movie 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 varispeed 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.

— The Beatles Anthology

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 Magical 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.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
BBC	(Positive) link
Blender	link
Pitchfork Media	(10.0/10.0) 2009
PopMatters	link
Rolling Stone	link
Sputnikmusic	link

Revolver is often cited as one of the greatest albums in music history. In 1997, it was named the 3rd 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 2006, Q magazine readers placed it at number four, while in 2000 the same magazine placed it at number one in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2001 the TV network VH1 named it the number one greatest album of all time, a position it also achieved in the Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums. A PopMatters review described the album as "the individual members of the greatest band in the history of pop music peaking at the exact same time", while Ink Blot magazine claims it "stands at the summit of western pop music." In 2002, the readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number three 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. It was ranked 10th on Guitar World's (Readers Choice) Greatest 100 Guitar Albums of All Time. In 2006, the album was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time. In February 2010, Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Taxman" (George Harrison)	Harrison	2:39
2.	"Eleanor Rigby"	McCartney	2:08
3.	"I'm Only Sleeping"	Lennon	3:02
4.	"Love You To" (Harrison)	Harrison	3:01
5.	"Here, There and Everywhere"	McCartney	2:26
6.	"Yellow Submarine"	Starr	2:40
7.	"She Said She Said"	Lennon	2:37

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Good Day Sunshine"	McCartney	2:10
2.	"And Your Bird Can Sing"	Lennon	2:02
3.	"For No One"	McCartney	2:01
4.	"Doctor Robert"	Lennon	2:15
5.	"I Want to Tell You" (Harrison)	Harrison	2:30
6.	"Got to Get You into My Life"	McCartney	2:31
7.	"Tomorrow Never Knows"	Lennon	2:57

Capitol release

The original US LP release of Revolver, the band's tenth on Capitol Records and twelfth US album, marked the last time Capitol would alter an established UK Beatles album for the US 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 deleted in the US version, yielding an 11 track album instead of the UK version's 14 and shortening the time to 28:20.

The album's 30 April 1987 release on CD standardised 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.

Personnel

According to Mark Lewisohn

The Beatles

• George Harrison: lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; lead, harmony and background vocals; sitar; sound effects; maracas, tambourine, handclaps and finger snaps.
• John Lennon: lead, rhythm and acoustic guitars; lead, harmony and background vocals; piano, Hammond organ and harmonium; tape loops and sound effects; cowbell, tambourine, maracas, handclaps and finger snaps.
• Paul McCartney: lead, harmony and background vocals; lead, acoustic and bass guitars; piano and clavichord; tape loops and sound effects; handclaps and finger snaps.
• Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, maracas, handclaps and finger snaps; lead and background vocals.

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; 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)
• Produced by George Martin
• Engineered by Geoff Emerick
• Mixed by George Martin and Geoff Emerick

References

• "The All Time Top 3000 Albums". Acclaimed Music. 2007a. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
• "List of Revolver Accolades". Acclaimed Music. 2007b. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
• "Ringo Starr Reminisces About the Boys in the Band — and Gives Jonathan an Impromptu Haircut". BBC News. 2004. Retrieved 19 November 2007. {{cite news}}: More than one of |work= and |newspaper= specified (help); Unknown parameter |dat= ignored (help)
• "'Revolver' by the Beatles, 1966". BBC News. 15 February 2002. Retrieved 20 November 2007. {{cite news}}: More than one of |work= and |newspaper= specified (help)
• "Return To London From America 2/22/1964". Beatles Interview Database. 22 February 1964. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
• "Revolver — Eleanor Rigby". Beatles Interview Database. 2007. Retrieved 9 March 2007.
• "Beatles, Radiohead albums voted best ever". CNN. 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
• Gould, Jonathan (2008). Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America. London: Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-7499-2988-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• "The Beatles: Revolver: Ink Blot Magazine Review". Ink Blot Magazine. 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
• Irvin, Jim. "Different Strokes". Mojo. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles: Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Medsker, David (2007). "The Beatles: Revolver — PopMatters Music Review". PopMatters. Retrieved 19 November 2007. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Norman, Philip (2008). John Lennon: The Life. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-075401-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 1 November 2003. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
• Ryan, Kevin; Kehew, Brian (2006). Recording the Beatles. Houston, TX: Curvebender. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tyrangiel, Josh; Light, Alan (13 November 2006). "The All-Time 100 Albums". Time. Retrieved 20 November 2007. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Unterberger, Richie (2009). "British Psychedelic". Allmusic. Retrieved 25 November 2009. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• "2001 VH1 Cable Music Channel All Time Album Top 100". VH1. 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2007.

External links

• Beatles comments on each song
• Recording data and notes on mono/stereo mixes and remixes
• A free ebook about the making of Revolver
• Revolver (UK Release) at MusicBrainz