The Beatles – Revolver
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In 1966, John Lennon was tired of hiding his own opinion on various topics. He turned 26 that year, old and wise enough to take responsibility for his own views. Lennon announced in an interview that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus at the time and that Christianity would disappear. Nobody at that time (March) paid any attention to it, but when the Beatles visited America five months later as part of their (last) world tour, the statement was magnified and several radio stations decided to boycott Beatles records and one station even called for collect and burn all Beatle records. The Klu Klux Klan took the opportunity to once again threaten the Beatles with death. Earlier, their performances in the Budokanhal in Tokyo had caused general outrage and death threats. Later, the matter with the Marcos family, dictator of the Philippines, was added. Without the Beatles' knowledge, it was agreed with this family that the boys would pay them a courtesy visit. However, the Beatles knew nothing about it, and were literally kicked out of the country. Also the cover of their American LP, titled Yesterday .... And Today would cause problems. The Beatles had themselves photographed for this cover with bloodied and decapitated baby dolls. After 60,000 copies had already been delivered to retailers, Capitol decided to take the plates back and put a new cover around them.
Against this background, the LP Revolver appeared. No Beatles would ever play live as a group. It is typical that Ringo still performed the three year old I Wanna Be Your Man during this 1966 tour. The technique at the time simply did not allow the Beatles to play songs with complicated tape loops or distorted instruments. The opening song Taxman is by George Harrison, and was written after he was told how much he had to pay each year in tax. There are two more Harrison songs on Revolver, namely Love You Too and I Want To Tell You. Eleanor Rigby, written by McCartney, is a sequel to Yesterday, with a faster tempo and strings. Other McCartney highlights are the sensitive Here, There And Everywhere and the complete with blazers, swinging Got To Get You Into My Life. Good Day Sunshine and the ballad For No One are also from McCartney. He is also responsible for Ringo's song on Revolver: Yellow Submarine.
Lennon wrote, with or without McCartney, I'm Only Sleeping, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing, Doctor Robert and the mystical Tomorrow Never Knows.
Of And Your Bird Can Sing, a rocker a la Run For Your Life, Lennon himself would later say that it was such a disposable song again. I myself never agree with this because I like to hear Lennon perform these kinds of songs. Doctor Robert is about a doctor in New York who was able to supply pills throughout the city. Revolver's capstone is grand, with Tomorrow Never Knows. To be honest, I had a hard time with it at first. It wasn't until much later that I got affected. Play the song as loud as possible and it might hit you.
Just like during the Rubber Soul sessions, the Beatles recorded two songs for the new single: Paperback Writer and Rain.
Review
AllMusic rating:AllMusic users:Artist: The BeatlesLabel: ParlophoneFormat: LPUnits: 1Country: WorldwideGenre: Pop & RockStyle: Pop Rock, Psychedelic RockA1 Taxman
A2 Eleanor Rigby
A3 I'M Only Sleeping
A4 Love You To
A5 Here, There And Everywhere
A6 Yellow Submarine
A7 She Said She Said
B1 Good Day Sunshine
B2 And Your Bird Can Sing
B3 For No One
B4 Doctor Robert
B5 I Want To Tell You
B6 Got To Get You Into My Life
B7 Tomorrow Never Knows