Revolver was recorded between April and June in 1966 and released that August 5th. I was 9 when Revolver came out but the album never wound up in my hands. I'm not sure why. The omission might have had to do with my gift-giving extended family's disapproval of an album named for a gun. Or maybe it was because I was in day camp that July. Or perhaps it was the confusion created by the minuscule gap between Yesterday and Today's release and the arrival of Revolver, not to mention different versions of the album being issued in the U.S. and the U.K.
Yesterday and Today was released only in the U.S. in mid-June 1966, with just 11 tracks. It included songs from the British versions of Help! and Rubber Soul and three new ones from the version of Revolver that appeared only outside North America. All of the songs on Yesterday and Today were new to American ears. My copy came from an aunt, and I played it daily. When the U.S. version of Revolver came out, it had dropped I'm Only Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert. Those had already appeared on Yesterday and Today in June. All three were written primarily by John Lennon, which left the American version of the album with three songs by George Harrison, six by Paul McCartney and just two by Lennon. The release of Yesterday and Today and the abbreviated version of Revolver made a mess of the Beatles' intended audio presentation of the latter album.
As a result, most of my friends never owned Revolver. For us, Rubber Soul led to Yesterday and Today and then to Sgt. Pepper. I didn't hear the unadulterated Revolver until years later, when British versions of Beatles releases became available here in the imports section of record stores. By then, Revolver sounded rather foreign and disjointed, since the musical narrative of the songs had never been stamped onto my childhood memory cohesively like Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today and Sgt. Pepper.
So for me, the new reissue of Revolver is a relatively new and welcome experience on my part. I'm fully familiar with all of the songs now, of course, but as with any Beatles album, there's a story told when one song hands off to the next. Which means I had to listen to the re-mastered album about 25 times to hear how the songs operated as independent creative statements and how they snapped together.
My Super Deluxe edition features five CDs for a total of 63 tracks. There's a new stereo mix of the album by Giles Martin (Sir George's son), an original mono master, two CDs of sessions for the songs and an EP of the single release of Paperback Writer with Rain on the flip side—both in stereo and mono versions. And there's a superb 100-page hardbound book in a 12.56” x 12.36” slipcase.
The new music is astonishingly clear and dimensional, thanks to the astute ear of Giles and the technology developed by Emile de la Rey at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions Ltd. All the new Revolver formats include the album’s new stereo mix, sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes. The physical and digital Super Deluxe collections include the album’s original mono mix, 28 early takes from the recording sessions and three home demos, and a four-track EP with new stereo mixes and remastered original mono mixes for Paperback Writer and Rain. The four LPs and 7-inch EP are on half-speed mastered 180-gram vinyl.
From a music standpoint, Revolver was never a perfect album and that remains the case after many listens. The material ranges from mind-blowing highs to pedestrian lows—albeit the lows are few. In the astonishing category are Taxman, Eleanor Rigby, I'm Only Sleeping, Love You To, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, Doctor Robert, Tomorrow Never Knows, Rain and, most of all, Paperback Writer. In each case, there are edgy contrasts, revolutionary rock statements for 1966 and fascinating song lyrics.
On the sluggish end of the spectrum are Here, There and Everywhere, which sounds like a demo for a kinder Live and Let Die; Yellow Submarine, which now sounds like a children's drinking song; and Good Day Sunshine, which feels dreary and dated. I'm sort of in the middle on Got to Get You Into My Life. This one feels like a prototype for the sound McCartney would achieve with his post-Beatles band Wings and seems light fare wedged between all the others. On the other hand, the song's plastic-sounding horn arrangement gives the song a brash, badass feel that the song itself lacks.
Most fascinating of all on the Super Deluxe package is the studio session material. You get to hear lots of mini audio stories of how songs evolved—the great ones and the few softies. The audio backstory, as always with the Beatles, becomes additional evidence proving how ingenious they were as they worked through song approaches and segments. Not only did they know exactly what they wanted from songs, they thought about it in advance and dug in until their vision emerged gleaming on the conveyor belt. The session work for And Your Bird Can Sing, for example, is a jaw-dropper.
What has always puzzled me is why Paperback Writer never made it onto the British album. Listening back now, I would have used it and Rain and dropped Yellow Submarine and For No One. In some ways, Revolver would have been stronger with these two included and the other two out. Paperback Writer remains one of Paul's finest songs, from the Beach Boys-y a cappella opener to the fade out. Also brilliant is Ringo's unusual drum beat, the song's instrumental thrust and urgency, Paul's throbbing bass, the opening guitar riff (who played it is still unclear), and the vocals throughout. It's a perfect song.
All in all, the new Revolver release is a revelation, especially with its new clarity and sonic detailing. The quality of the songwriting remains startling, the arrangements are fascinating and exotic, there's a new radical rock edge, and the session material holds a bounty of beauty and craft that made this band eternally special and dominant.
JazzWax clip: Here's Got to Get You Into My Life (second version/unnumbered mix)...
And here's a promo video with more info...
Yesterday and Today was released only in the U.S. in mid-June 1966, with just 11 tracks. It included songs from the British versions of Help! and Rubber Soul and three new ones from the version of Revolver that appeared only outside North America. All of the songs on Yesterday and Today were new to American ears. My copy came from an aunt, and I played it daily. When the U.S. version of Revolver came out, it had dropped I'm Only Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing and Doctor Robert. Those had already appeared on Yesterday and Today in June. All three were written primarily by John Lennon, which left the American version of the album with three songs by George Harrison, six by Paul McCartney and just two by Lennon. The release of Yesterday and Today and the abbreviated version of Revolver made a mess of the Beatles' intended audio presentation of the latter album.
As a result, most of my friends never owned Revolver. For us, Rubber Soul led to Yesterday and Today and then to Sgt. Pepper. I didn't hear the unadulterated Revolver until years later, when British versions of Beatles releases became available here in the imports section of record stores. By then, Revolver sounded rather foreign and disjointed, since the musical narrative of the songs had never been stamped onto my childhood memory cohesively like Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today and Sgt. Pepper.
So for me, the new reissue of Revolver is a relatively new and welcome experience on my part. I'm fully familiar with all of the songs now, of course, but as with any Beatles album, there's a story told when one song hands off to the next. Which means I had to listen to the re-mastered album about 25 times to hear how the songs operated as independent creative statements and how they snapped together.
My Super Deluxe edition features five CDs for a total of 63 tracks. There's a new stereo mix of the album by Giles Martin (Sir George's son), an original mono master, two CDs of sessions for the songs and an EP of the single release of Paperback Writer with Rain on the flip side—both in stereo and mono versions. And there's a superb 100-page hardbound book in a 12.56” x 12.36” slipcase.
The new music is astonishingly clear and dimensional, thanks to the astute ear of Giles and the technology developed by Emile de la Rey at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions Ltd. All the new Revolver formats include the album’s new stereo mix, sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes. The physical and digital Super Deluxe collections include the album’s original mono mix, 28 early takes from the recording sessions and three home demos, and a four-track EP with new stereo mixes and remastered original mono mixes for Paperback Writer and Rain. The four LPs and 7-inch EP are on half-speed mastered 180-gram vinyl.
From a music standpoint, Revolver was never a perfect album and that remains the case after many listens. The material ranges from mind-blowing highs to pedestrian lows—albeit the lows are few. In the astonishing category are Taxman, Eleanor Rigby, I'm Only Sleeping, Love You To, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, Doctor Robert, Tomorrow Never Knows, Rain and, most of all, Paperback Writer. In each case, there are edgy contrasts, revolutionary rock statements for 1966 and fascinating song lyrics.
On the sluggish end of the spectrum are Here, There and Everywhere, which sounds like a demo for a kinder Live and Let Die; Yellow Submarine, which now sounds like a children's drinking song; and Good Day Sunshine, which feels dreary and dated. I'm sort of in the middle on Got to Get You Into My Life. This one feels like a prototype for the sound McCartney would achieve with his post-Beatles band Wings and seems light fare wedged between all the others. On the other hand, the song's plastic-sounding horn arrangement gives the song a brash, badass feel that the song itself lacks.
Most fascinating of all on the Super Deluxe package is the studio session material. You get to hear lots of mini audio stories of how songs evolved—the great ones and the few softies. The audio backstory, as always with the Beatles, becomes additional evidence proving how ingenious they were as they worked through song approaches and segments. Not only did they know exactly what they wanted from songs, they thought about it in advance and dug in until their vision emerged gleaming on the conveyor belt. The session work for And Your Bird Can Sing, for example, is a jaw-dropper.
What has always puzzled me is why Paperback Writer never made it onto the British album. Listening back now, I would have used it and Rain and dropped Yellow Submarine and For No One. In some ways, Revolver would have been stronger with these two included and the other two out. Paperback Writer remains one of Paul's finest songs, from the Beach Boys-y a cappella opener to the fade out. Also brilliant is Ringo's unusual drum beat, the song's instrumental thrust and urgency, Paul's throbbing bass, the opening guitar riff (who played it is still unclear), and the vocals throughout. It's a perfect song.
All in all, the new Revolver release is a revelation, especially with its new clarity and sonic detailing. The quality of the songwriting remains startling, the arrangements are fascinating and exotic, there's a new radical rock edge, and the session material holds a bounty of beauty and craft that made this band eternally special and dominant.
JazzWax clip: Here's Got to Get You Into My Life (second version/unnumbered mix)...
And here's a promo video with more info...
This story appears courtesy of JazzWax by Marc Myers.
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