Gregory N. Perkins 2010-02-07

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First, the good, and there are a load of good and great songs on this album. John Lennon's timeless vocal and some intriguing mixtures of instruments make "I'm Only Sleeping" one of the best songs on this CD, and an arguably underrated Beatles song. "Eleanor Rigby" is an appropriately haunting tune eerily involving the bad death and burial of an old spinster. I am an unashamed fan of "Yellow Submarine." It is a fun, lyrically fascinating song which also features one of Ringo Starr's most entertaining lead vocals with the band.

Heading the list of hugely overrated songs on this album is "Taxman," one of George Harrison's first major hits with The Beatles. It's lyrically repetitious, and though always timely thematically, it still could have been done better. Perhaps if they had made it bigger instrumentally or used an overall different musical arrangement it would have been crisper. I was never a big fan of Paul McCartney's "Good Day Sunshine" either, as I think it's too cloyingly cheerful and fake. Paul redeems himself mightily with "Here, There and Everywhere." Despite an overly simplistic title, it is a fine examination of the various permutations of romantic love. John Lennon's "Doctor Robert" may have been a veiled reference to the hippie drug culture of the '60's, but I believe it's still one of the most durable songs on this CD. Lastly, "And Your Bird Can Sing" rounds out what is a mixed bag of huge hits and odd misses on this Fab Four album. It is musically interesting, and lyrically up to par, but the enthusiasm and wonderful creativity of, say, "A Hard Day's Night" or "Help!" (the songs, not the albums), just is not there.

Overall, this is a fine Beatles disc whose songs nevertheless fail to completely bowl me over, as a whole. Maybe this was the album taken most directly from its time(at this point, 1966) and thus struggles, albeit in a small way, to be truly timeless. At any rate, it is still worth the time of any music lover to check this CD out, as it is flexible enough to appeal to a wide range of people.

R.E. 2010-02-02

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I am a big Beatle's fan and saw them in concert in Portland, OR 1963. At one point in my life I owned most Beatle's albums, Revolver being one of them. I lost these albums mainly to loaning them out and never getting them back. I think Revolver has some of the best songs that the Beatle's ever wrote. I am also an audio phile and am very particular about recording quality. The remastering of Revolver is very well done. I highly recommend Revolver (remastered). R.E.

Johnny Boy 2010-01-18

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The Beatles' 1966 album 'Revolver' is revolutionary. It's groundbreaking. It's a record that we've never seen anything like before or since. Any positive adjective can describe 'Revolver.' It's otherworldly. But enough of me playing the "Adjective Game," let's get onto the review.

Take yourself back to 1966. The Beatles have just recently released 'Rubber Soul' (the previous year, 1965) and critics are hailing it as their best, most mature record yet. Also released that year was 'Help!,' a soundtrack to the movie which also showed (in my honest opinion, anyway) how much the Fab Four matured in a year.

But by the time '66 rolled around, the Beatles were a fully matured band. They were becoming much more than a "Beat group from Liverpool." Now, they were becoming experimental and ready to change music forever. And that's putting it nicely.

'Revolver' was released in 1966. There were two different track listings. The American release had 11 tracks (three of them had appeared on The Beatles' earlier studio album, 'Yesterday...And Today!,' a highly collectable Beatles record that's extremely rare -- but that's another story), and the British release, which had 14 songs.

When Parlophone/Capitol were rereleasing The Beatles catalogue for CD in 1990, the British edition was released on compact disc, and wisely so.

'Taxman' shows George Harrison at his angriest. It is one of the best anti-tax songs you'll find anywhere, if not, THE best. Harrison's voice is maturing here, and it certainly has matured a lot since the 'Help!' album. What a great way to open up this brilliant masterpiece.

'Eleanor Rigby' has become one of the Beatles' most recognizable and memorable songs. A #1 hit for the Fab Four, the song features Paul McCartney being accompanied by a string quartet. This is not the only time he sang with a string quartet; his 1965 #1 hit 'Yesterday' also featured a string quartet accompaniment. A ton of people have covered this classic, including Ray Charles.

Other songs like 'Love You To' (perhaps the Beatles' first exploration into Indian music, and certainly not their last), 'Good Day Sunshine,' 'Doctor Robert,' 'She Said She Said,' and of course, the #1 hit 'Yellow Submarine' all showed just how quickly the boys were growing up.

Perhaps my personal favorite Beatles song on the album is 'For No One.' Personally, I have always thought that this would have been a truly perfect fit on the band's previous album, 'Rubber Soul.' Right between 'Think For Yourself' and 'The Word.' If only it had been written and recorded in 1965 (sigh)... But it fits very well here too, and it has always been one of my favorites.

But perhaps technically the best song on the album is the last song. 'Tomorrow Never Knows' gave listeners a great taste of what was to come. In fact, a perfect taste of things to come. "Turn of your mind, relax, and float down stream..." is one of the best lines ever written in the history of the psychedelic rock genre, bar none. If you listen, you can hear traces of what the band would explore even further with on their next album, 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'

And that's part of the charm of 'Revolver.' The Beatles explore with so many different styles here. Folk rock ('I'm Only Sleeping'), baroque pop rock ('Eleanor Rigby'), psychedelic rock ('Tomorrow Never Knows'), and blues rock ('Got to Get You into My Life'), among others. I'm quite convinced the Beatles took more chances with 'Revolver' than any other album, even 'Sgt. Pepper.' It's just so experimental.

Overall, you don't have a rock and roll collection until you have 'Revolver.' It's a fact. This is one of The Beatles' finest moments and well deserving of a thousand stars (five stars doesn't even touch how I feel about this album). You need to have 'Revolver' in your record collection, regardless if it is big or small. It should be a felony not to.

Highly, highly, highly, highly recommended to anybody who appreciates great music regardless of the genre.

ENJOY!!!

Morten Vindberg 2010-01-13

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Revolver was the last album the Beatles released before they stopped touring. None of the songs from the album were included, as far as I know, on the group's live repertoire - apart from "Paperback Writer" which was recorded during the same sessions, but which was not included on the album.

Musically it is a very varied album, spanning over many different genres, a development which should continue on the next album "Sgt Pepper". The new psychedelic wave which emerged around 1966 is apparent on several tracks, especially on Harrison's and Lennon's songs. McCartney's songs range widely from Motown ("Got to Get You Into My Life"), over classic-inspired pop("Eleanor Rigby") , to pure-pop balladry ("Here, There and Everywhere")

Harrison, in charge of opening track "Taxman", demonstrates many places on the album his recent interest in Indian music, not least his own "Love You To." Among Harrison's three contributions, I find "Taxman" by far the greatest, though one must acknowledge his ability and desire to seek new paths with his two other songs.

Psychedelia is evident on Lennon's songs "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "She Said, She Said". Both are among the most important songs on the album, without being melodically as strong as Lennon's best. The other three Lennon songs, "And Your Bird Can Sing", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Dr. Robert" are more classic rock / blues, - though with very innovative guitar solo on "I'm Only Sleeping".

McCartney's songs are especially ranging far. His love of sentimental ballads is reflected on the beautiful "Eleanor Rigby" and "Here There and Everywhere". It is worth noting that McCartney with "Eleanor Rigby" demonstrates ability of lyrics with food for thought. McCartney vocally displays great form on the Motown-inspired "Got To Get You Into My Life". "Good Day Sunshine" is also a good number, with elements from both the music-hall and Motwn.

Ringo sings the silly "Yellow Submarine", which of course was extremely popular at its time, and even today is a popular melody for football chants.

Despite the album's versatility, it works fine as a whole, and like most of the group's output, it has become a milestone in rock history.

Jon Renlhom 2010-01-11

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

The Beatles revolutionized music. They took influence from earlier rock and roll greats like Buddy Holly, as well as innovating themselves. Quite simply popular music was changed with the enormous success of The Beatles. They made six albums before Revolver and with each one the Beatles' own writing became more sophisticated. George Harrison in particular comes into his own on this album, with three songs, "Taxman", "Love You Too", and "I Want To Tell You", my personal favorite. Paul McCartney's Eleanor Rigby is an absolutely beautiful piece of music. The string section is beautiful and sounds like a film score from a film for that time. Ringo Starr sings lead on the silly but classic "Yellow Submarine". John Lennon's "Tommorow Never Knows" ends the album with music unlike ANYTHING anyone was making in 1966. Three of Lennon's songs were removed from the original US pressing and placed on another album. They are "I'm Only Sleeping" a song about Lennon preferring to stay in bed, "And Your Bird Can Sing", and "Doctor Robert". Unfortunately, due to this removal, the album did not gain as much of a status as a great like Sgt. Pepper's or Rubber Soul. With the issue of the album on CD in 1987, its status as a classic grew and many people call it their favorite Beatles' album, including myself.

This 2009 remastered edition has great sound. Unlike many newer remasterings, the sound has not been completely brickwalled and overcompressed. It is louder then the older, tinny-sounding CD, but not in a way as to destroy and distort the sound. This was the first Beatles' album, in my opinion, to have a very good stereo mix. The early albums feature a bit too much separation for mine and many others' liking. The packaging is very well designed and is a digipack. The booklet has historical and recording notes, as well as pictures from the period of the group. The CD face replicates a 1960s Parlophone LP. The back cover replicates the UK LP sleeve (Long Play 331/3 RPM, Emitrex Record Cleaner, etc.) It's all very nice looking. I highly recommend this new 2009 remaster, either to replace your old 1987 disc, or especially if you don't have a copy. It's an essential album!