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11.42pm
3 October 2008
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Hi folks,
I share the common opinion that Revolver might be the best album by the Fabs. Can you tell what is the reason why so many people think that way?
3.52am
23 July 2008
Offline I guess it's partly a fashion thing – it used to be Pepper that was the masterpiece, and now more people seem to like the White Album .
I guess Revolver had variety and experimentation, more so than any other album. From full-blown Indian music to Tomorrow Never Knows , it was the Fabs, but not as you knew them. And, of course, the songs themselves are absolutely brilliant.
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I was the walrus7.48pm
21 August 2009
Offline I don't know, but for me, Sgt. Pepper is their masterpiece.
I think Revolver has a good variation of songs, from simple songs like I Want To Tell You and Here, There And Everywhere , indian-inspired songs, Tomorrow Never Knows and Love You To , as well as just plain brilliant classics such as Eleanor Rigby and She Said She Said . Basically, it's just a whole bunch of genres in one brilliant album.
To me though, Sgt. Pepper trumps them all. Every song is a automatic classic, and it seems like they shared a common goal on that album- they were one unit. And I love that togetherness.
Revolver attracts many Beatles fans though- perhaps it should be delved into more.
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I was the walrusTongue, lose thy light. Moon, take thy flight… see ya, George!
3.12pm
14 October 2009
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One minute I think it's Revolver , then Abbey Road but currently after listening to the Remasters I'm swayed to pick the White Album ….. It will change of course, but in the end its like asking you to pick your favourtie child; impossible.
From Rubber Soul onwards it was obvious that not only was the music getting better but quality of the musicianship was improving too. McCartney's bass playing being the prime example.
"If we feel our heads starting to swell.....we just look at Ringo!"
1.33pm
11 October 2009
Offline Honestly, they're all good. I know every song off Sgt. Peppers, but the songs I know off Revolver , I absolutely love, And Your Bird Can Sing , Eleanor Rigby , Tomorrow Never Knows etc. The White Album hit a good note when I started listening to it, While My Guitar Gently Weeps , Dear Prudence , Back in the U.S.S.R, Birthday , Helter Skelter . Revolver was their peak album, not to say that after Revolver they made bad music, but when they went downhill as a group.
"Playing those mind games together, pushing the barriers, planting seeds. Playing the mind guerilla, chanting the Mantra, peace on earth."
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"I now declare this bridge open"
8.07am
To me it's also always between Revolver and Abbey Road . Pepper is doubtless a masterpiece, but especially the Lennon and Harrison songs on Revolver have a special appeal. I have to admit that though Pepper is recognized as being the firs concept album of rock history I never really understood which concept stays behind. Maybe somebody can give me a hint 
In my opinion Revolver 's appeal to Beatles fans comes from these Lennon/Harrison songs. These songs require a more distinct approach to Beatles music in order to appreciate their beauty. In this respect McCartney songs are very “open” – it's not difficult to appreciate them because the melody lines follow patterns that are immediately recognizable. In fact most people who are not really fans of the Beatles tend to know more McCartney songs. I started listening to Beatles music with the Red Album , then came For Sale and With (ok, I was 13 at the time). It took me some more years to really appreciate Pepper and Revolver .
5.20am
Oh, I love Revolver . Probably all the songs on there are masterpieces, and it's just so brilliant, starting from Taxman and Eleanor Rigby , then She Said She Said to And Your Bird Can Sing , all the way to Tomorrow Never Knows . It's just fantastic.
7.37am
There's so much going on here. John's trippy experimentation. Paul's formal, classical influences that were no less experiemental. And George coming into his own with three of his strongest songs that were just as experimental and forward-looking as anything by John or Paul.
It's all over the map, and yet it holds together as a coherent statement. It's an aural vignette of that all-too-brief transitional period from pop-rock to psychedelia, when the tape-loopy studio trickery was encroaching, but the catchy hooks were still in abundance.
After 44 years, it still surprises with each listen.
JBL
3.00pm
14 December 2009
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Here in the U.S. Capitol records re-leased their entire catalog in the early seventies on the Apple label. The “Revolver ” ST 1-2576 & ST 2-2576 (no x's in matrix) has a more defined approach on the vinyl version. Great example….the drums/fills on “Got To Get You Into My Life “. Well this early '70's issue on the Apple label has the drums mixed more in the center, really bringing them out. Listen for yourself and you will notice that the drums are kind of buried in the mix, both U.K. stereo/mono and U.S. stereo/mono. Even on the 2009 remaster! If you come across one with Apple labels, look to the matrix # in the run out groove (dead wax). If it's ST 1-2576 (NOT ST 1-X-2576) pick it up and give it a listen!
I'd like to thank the fellows who wrote “Fab Four FAQ” for bringing this to my knowledge.
Sunday's on the phone to Monday, Tuesday's on the phone to me.
10.49pm
14 December 2009
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I gotta agree with everyone who mentions the unprecedented eclecticism of “Revolver ” as one of the major pluses. and have to add that a large part of that is the way the songs are sequenced. No two consecutive songs sound anything alike or have at all similar instrumentation. Also, no two consecutive songs have the same lead singer, and that's something you can't say of any other Beatles album.
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
4.20pm
I never quite understood why some people (including Ringo) seem to think that Rubber Soul and Revolver are so similar.
Rubber Soul was definitely leaps and bounds ahead of Help ! and was The Beatles' best album to date, but Revolver signified a quantum leap in musical exploration and expression for the lads. I mean, compare any track on Rubber Soul to “Tomorrow Never Knows ,” “Eleanor Rigby ,” or even “Yellow Submarine .” The dissimilarities are striking and yet…it also seemed lke a natural progression for them.
Quite simply, Revolver is the greatest album of all time.
11.34pm
Elsewhere Man said:
I never quite understood why some people (including Ringo) seem to think that Rubber Soul and Revolver are so similar.
Rubber Soul was definitely leaps and bounds ahead of Help ! and was The Beatles' best album to date, but Revolver signified a quantum leap in musical exploration and expression for the lads. I mean, compare any track on Rubber Soul to “Tomorrow Never Knows ,” “Eleanor Rigby ,” or even “Yellow Submarine .” The dissimilarities are striking and yet…it also seemed lke a natural progression for them.
Quite simply, Revolver is the greatest album of all time.
George also said that on one of the Anthologys, but he also said it had been awhile since he listened to it.
When I heard him say that I couldn't see the resemblance.
12.11pm
31 March 2008
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What George said in Anthology (page 212):
Revolver was accepted well. I don't see too much difference between Rubber Soul and Revolver . To me, they could be Volume One and Volume Two.
Ringo:
Revolver has that quality of Rubber Soul because it's the follow-on. We were really starting to find ourselves in the studio. We were finding what we could do, just being the four of us and playing our instruments. The overdubbing got better, even though it was always pretty tricky because of the lack of tracks. The songs got more interesting, so with that the effects got more interesting.
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2.19am
26 January 2010
Offline I kind of understand what they mean. If you listen to Help and Sgt Pepper , the albums before and after Rubber Soul and Revolver (like i had to tell you lot that!!), they are nothing like either of those albums. Whereas. i think songs like Norweigan Wood or Girl would not have been out of place on Revolver . Put in that context i can understand what they mean. Those two albums were bang in the middle of early Beatles and late Beatles. Don't you think?
Onward my friends, and glory for the thirty ninth!!
8.45am
1 December 2009
Offline I think it's the precise dividing line between early and late, as much is possible. There's a clear progression (and how!) from Help ! to Sgt. Pepper 's, but I think the leap from RS to R is a bigger leap than from H! to RS, and arguably than that from R to SP. Practically all of RS could theoretically be accurately reproduced onstage – if the band added Billy Preston and maybe another guitarist/bassist. Revolver ? No way. Even if they added a string octet, Indian musicians and a horn section, they still wouldn't be able to deal practically with the various sound effects and tape manipulations outside of the studio.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
9.56pm
I’m part of generation that was actually educated in The Beatles; and I remember vividly (since it’s just four and a half years ago) that we discussed Sgt. Pepper to some extent in class. I only ‘graduated’ from Dutch ‘grammar school’ two and a half years ago, and we had a teacher that liked sixties music. So, apart from it being on the curriculum, she really enjoyed teaching us these things, and not in music class, but in history of art class, in fifth year (in Holland, that’s when your 16/17 years old)! Quite recently, I got hooked on The Beatles, and started buying their albums; and listening to them quite carefully (putting quite some hours into it, too!) So, having learned that Sgt. Pepper was the Beatles’s masterpiece, I considered it to be so when listening to it. However, after listening to Revolver next, the two albums seem to me to be in the same league. I really got excited when listening to Revolver , but didn’t got more excited when listening to Sgt. Pepper . I agree with the above opinions that it’s basically a fashion thing. Sgt. Pepper has the reputation, but to me Revolver has it all. Don’t mean to be sacrilegious, but to me Revolver is real, sheer spur-of-the-moment brilliance (which it is not, considering the amount of time they put into it, getting it right), and Sgt. Pepper seems to be a showpiece–a brilliant, defining showpiece surely, but less thrilling than Revolver . If that makes sense.
8.29am
26 January 2010
Offline So Imagine being an American fan and getting Yesterday and Today which had songs from Help , Rubber Soul and Revolver on. I wonder if Beatles fans back then could seperate the different stages of The Beatles career on that one album? What a travesty!
Onward my friends, and glory for the thirty ninth!!
5.31pm
Sgt. Pepper has the reputation, but to me Revolver has it all. Don’t mean to be sacrilegious, but to me Revolver is real, sheer spur-of-the-moment brilliance (which it is not, considering the amount of time they put into it, getting it right), and Sgt. Pepper seems to be a showpiece–a brilliant, defining showpiece surely, but less thrilling than Revolver . If that makes sense.
It makes perfect sense!
10.51am
27 February 2010
Offline I don’t know… I tend to think that “White Album ” is their best record, but at that point, the dream was almost over… Yeah, maybe Revolver is the best.
I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon
12.34am
27 March 2010
Offline paulsbass said:
Revolver : strongest song collection
Abbey Road : most albumiest album
White Album : most diverse
Rubber Soul : most fun
A Hard Day’s Night : best early album
Sgt. Pepper ‘s: highest impact
So, Abbey Road is the best “album” overall, but they all have something special.
i agree, and i love how you separated them into categories… that’s how their songs should be sorted too, i think. there’s no album that’s better than another, and no song that’s better than another, in my opinion. (Revolution 9 could be an exception..
) just better at something.
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