SPILL RETRO REVIEW: THE BEATLES – REVOLVER

THE BEATLES
REVOLVER
PARLOPHONE

ORIGINAL RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 5, 1966

Let’s turn the year back to 1966. A year of many things. More specifically, a year of great albums. Pet Sounds. Blonde on Blonde. Last but certainly not least, we have Revolver. Revolver is the seventh studio album in The Beatles discography and one of the most fascinating. Each song on this album feels like a more innovative spin on Rubber Soul in almost every aspect. It is a roller coaster bursting in all directions, with uncontrolled and varied angles. It is simply rotating, much like a record player. Though, this time in all directions.

The opening track, “Taxman”, is a standout and bold opener, perfectly conveying this element of fearlessness. First of all, it starts with the countdown that The Beatles previously employed in Please Please Me, possibly hinting at the fact that they are different bands in some way. This is not a fun Beatles record, but rather an experimental one. This is a record that bursts with variety at every turn. It sounds unique and unlike anything else heard today. It is unique, bold, and all at once, so precise. We have tracks like “Got To Get You Into My Life”, a song that screams to the hilltops with passion, as well as quieter, more atmospheric tracks like the iconic and mesmerising “Eleanor Rigby”. This generally works because of the quality on display. Most tracks succeed in their displays, shedding light on what music can do, and has done, since this album’s release.

If there was one single thing holding this record back, it would be its cohesiveness. Revolver throws directions like there’s no tomorrow, but never balances them as a whole. Simply put, it feels more like it would work better as a compilation. Overall, it ends up feeling only slightly jumbled. Switching from the fun and more kid-friendly “Yellow Submarine” to the more experimental, depressing, and distinctive “She Said She Said”, feels like a jolt in a bad way. Though that is not to say the album does not have its good transitions, such as the perfectly timed switch up from “Eleanor Rigby”, to the equally haunting and melodic “I’m Only Sleeping”. Overall, that issue aside, this is one of the most daring albums The Beatles made.

Revolver is a timeless album filled with evolution for a band that already reached the top and somehow found another way to innovate with a whole new type of playing field. It is a work that speaks to the power of music and, more precisely, the power of art itself. Revolver resembles a completed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with an unorganized tracklist. It has so much quality, but what it misses, only slightly, is cohesiveness. Sometimes tracks flow together, and sometimes they simply don’t, making for an almost abrupt experience. Nevertheless, this only takes you temporarily away from an unforgettable experience.

Overall, Revolver is a bold challenge for music to catch up to what lies beyond, and what lies beyond is nothing, even now, but The Beatles.

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