60. The Beatles - Revolver

Artist: The Beatles
Album: Revolver
Year: 1966

It's often been noted that The Beatles' Rubber Soul was a transitional album between their poppy, (some might say) immature early music and their more refined, varied, and experimental later music. For me, Rubber Soul was the culmination and natural endpoint of that early material, the first album where the band truly perfected their songwriting craft.

In my opinion, Revolver is the transition album. This is where the drugs started to kick in. This is also where you can really begin to see the fissures in songwriting ideology which would eventually lead to the band's untimely demise. In case it's not entirely clear, I find Revolver to be something of an overrated album in the band's near-perfect oeuvre. That said, this "overrated" album is still a masterpiece in its own right.

It amazes me that this is the same band that played the Ed Sullivan Show only TWO years prior. The advancement in songwriting and the innovation of their music in such a short span is virtually unparalleled. I think Radiohead would pull off a similar transformation in the 1990's, and in fact I think there are a number of comparisons to be drawn between the two bands' discographies. But that's a topic for another time.

Anyhow, great album, Revolver is. I don't love it like I love Rubber Soul, but there's a metric crapton of amazing songs here. "Taxman" is one of George Harrison's best contributions, a cynical little opus. These boys are really growing up. Two years ago it was all about girls; now they aren't happy about having to pay taxes? Anyhow, Ride would go on to rip off "Taxman" on their 1990 album Nowhere. I hope that album made this book. I could look ahead, I suppose, but I'm feeling lazy.

What else is here? Oh, "Eleanor Rigby." String octet, morose lyrics, great song, yada yada yada. The stuff of legend. "Here, There, and Everywhere," saccharine harmonies galore. "She Said She Said," Byrds-ish psychedelia. "And Your Bird Can Sing," great little pop song, probably one of the most underrated in the band's history. "Got to Get You Into My Life," some messing around with time signatures, cool. Chicago would totally ape this sound later. "Tomorrow Never Knows," one of the best album closers of all time, a weird, somewhat frightening cut of early psych-rock.

I can do without a few cuts here. "Yellow Submarine" is one of the dumbest songs ever. "Good Day Sunshine" is a little too "early Beatles" for this album in my estimation. It's catchy but a bit of a trifle among the much superior material here. "Love You To" is a little experimental track of sitar music that somehow made the cut here even though it's completely out of place, disrupting the flow of the album.

I guess I can sum up my feelings on Revolver like this:

The John stuff - Great
The George stuff - Hit or miss
The Paul stuff - Not his best outside of "Eleanor Rigby," which is a masterpiece.
The Ringo stuff - Meh

And I'd say in general I'm a Paul/John/George fan in equal measure. So this album is a little uneven for me. They'd even it back out the next time out, when their warped pop vision would come to full fruition.

Rating: Indispensable