Friday, April 26, 2013

The Beatles - Revolver






As I said, I see Rubber Soul and Revolver as being pretty tightly linked together.  Their sounds are very similar in a lot of ways.  I may listen to Rubber Soul slightly more often than Revolver, but not by much. 


  1. "Taxman" - Remember how I said George's song writing would be getting better soon?  Well here it is.  A strong opener to the album and just an all around great song.
  2. "Eleanor Rigby" - Such a depressing song.  It's interesting how Paul seems to operate at extremes, writing things that are really sad or overly sweet.  I tend to go back and forth on this song, but I think that has more to do with whether or not I'm in the mood for it.  It's very good for what it is.
  3. "I'm Only Sleeping" - From the backwards guitar solo to the wonderful dreamlike quality of the vocals, I really like this song.  Don't we all wish we could be this lazy sometimes?
  4. "Love You To" -I had no memory of this song and then I looked it up and saw it was one of George's Indian influenced songs, and it all made sense.  While I respect his willingness to try something different and he no doubt exposed many people to a style they otherwise never would have heard, I'm just not a fan of the droning nature of this type of music.  It's a little too sleep inducing for me.
  5. "Here, There, and Everywhere" - Here's the sweet side of Paul's songwriting.  It's a pretty good one, though not really one of my favorites.
  6. "Yellow Submarine" - I'm sure there are people out there who don't like this song, given how repetitive the chorus can be.  But for me it's just a silly bit of fun and I love the background voices of them mimicking the crew working on the submarine.
  7. "She Said She Said" -Another strong one from John, showing him pushing that harder edge into their music that's always a lot of fun.  It also has quite the interesting story behind it.
  8. "Good Day Sunshine" -This song kind of has the feel of a TV commercial jingle, which is why I'm pretty sure it's been used as one at some point.  It's just a good bouncy kind of song that's fun to sing along to. (I could not resist using the cartoon clip.  How adorable are the cartoon designs?)
  9. "And Your Bird Can Sing" -Another one I first heard through that Shared Vision CD, and another one of my more obscure favorites.  There's also a  great outtake on the second Anthology that features John and Paul giggling hysterically while trying to record overdubs.
  10. "For No One" - A somber song from Paul, which works so well because of its simplicity.  I think you can really hear the sadness of what he's feeling in it.
  11. "Doctor Robert" - Definitely the most obvious of the drug inspired songs on the album, it always makes me wonder about what it was like to live in the 60s, when a lot of those drugs were new and no one really understood what they did or what the long term effects of using them would be, but let's just go for it.  It's such a difference from how things are today with a wealth of information being shared from both sides of the fence.  As far as the song itself, it's good with some great harmonies on that breakdown (middle eight?  I didn't take music theory so I'm guessing that's what it is.)
  12. "I Want to Tell You" - Another one I didn't really remember at all until I heard it again. It's a George song, and it's okay.  I like the lyrics more than the music.
  13. "Got to Get You into My Life" -The horns are really what make this one so distinctive.  It's enjoyable, though not one of my favorites.
  14. "Tomorrow Never Knows" - For a really long time I never listened to this song.  It was too odd for me.  It was only much later that I came to appreciate it for the experimental piece that it is.  All the little tape loops are certainly a predecessor to the electronic music of today.  
So overall a pretty strong album, and another absolute recommendation for me.  While this is the end of my favorite era of the Beatles, we're not going to hit that sharp of a decline from here on out.

1 comment:

  1. +JMJ+

    I had a Revolver casette tape as a child. I think it just confused me. LOL!

    Taxman was a good start, but I wondered why it had such a "rough" opening with someone counting (and someone else coughing!) when it would've been so easy to edit those sounds out. It took me a while to see that The Beatles were working toward a point. =)

    And I can hear the Indian influence not just in George's songs, but on other tracks. I can't say that was a musical direction I was crazy about. Ah, well . . .

    I memorised Eleanor Rigby very quickly as a child, although it made me sad then (and still does today). Going over the tracklist, I see that all the others I can sing off the top of my head are Paul's songs! In general, the lyrics carry the stories, and that does appeal to me.

    John's songs have more interesting melodies, and a lot of deft tricks! But they're also a lot like an abstract painting. Just when you think you recognise a shape . . . you see that you don't! =P

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