Album: Revolver
Band: The Beatles
Year Released: 1966
I really got into this album...
Winter 2009
Favorite songs include...
“Eleanor Rigby”
“For No One”
Why it’s so good...
It took me a very long time to appreciate Revolver. For so long I had heard how it was one of the greatest albums ever made. How many great musicians it inspired, most notably The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. It’s the beginning of The Beatles' transformation to the revolutionary artists they’re now famous for being.
But if I were trying to help someone understand why this album is so good, I’d simply put it on.
It’s an album that does the speaking for itself.
The strings of “Eleanor Rigby”, the pristine harmonies of songs like “Good Day Sunshine” and “She Said She Said”, or the rock spirit of songs like “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Taxman”. It all delivers.
It’s without a doubt Paul McCartney’s best collection of songs. Once I made a mix of Paul-only Beatles songs for a friend and every McCartney song on Revolver made it on the mix, because each is flawless and so unique to his style.
And an aspect that some may not appreciate but I love is the quality of the recording. I really feel like this is one of the most crisp sounding recordings ever made. The tone of the guitars is perfect, the drums are punchy but not overwhelming, and the vocals were recording in such a way to make them feel intimate. And let’s face it, every string recording since has just been mimicking “Eleanor Rigby”.
Plus, you can’t go wrong with a solid French horn solo (“For No One“).
Fantastic pick, I agree with all points. And I must mention my own favorite track from it, "I'm Only Sleeping" - one of John Lennon's best Beatles' songs.
ReplyDeleteSolid track. And the first to use reverse guitar sound, which was later stolen by every 1960s act.
ReplyDelete