The Beatles arrive in New York City TODAY!! | Page 27 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

pepperland said
Still saving up for the LP though…  Has anyone got their hands on a copy yet? 

YES!  I just got Revolver  yesterday– I had to wait to get my allowance, but some of my friends got it as soon as it hit the record shops. It’s… oh dear, where do I begin? Well, I really have no words to describe it. 

First, the cover: it’s this GEAR line drawing of the Beatles with long hair tangled up all over the image, mixed with a collage of cut-out photos– all in black-and-white, but it somehow manages to be way more groovy than any other cover I saw in the shop (or perhaps I’m just biased). I’ve spent hours staring at it, yet I keep finding new little details. It’s signed ‘Klaus O.W. Voormann’– anyone have a clue who he is? The name seems vaguely familiar. Anyway, he’s an amazing artist! 

Next, the music. I know I said this last time around, but I really have never heard anything like it. Truly. I thought Rubber Soul was out there, but this is truly something else. Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

I bring it home when everyone else is out of the house. After the last single, I’ve safer giving Beatles records their first listens alone. After inspecting the cover for some time, I put the LP on the turntable. Is my record defective?!  It starts with weird studio-chatter noises, a count-up that sounds like George, someone coughs, shouts, and then– phew!– the opening song is away; it’s called ‘Taxman ‘, and it’s all about how the taxman is going to take all your money. If only all taxmen were as handsome as George!  

Next are ‘Eleanor Rigby ‘ (which peppy described), ‘I’m Only Sleeping ‘ (which sounds rather like ‘Rain ‘, the last B-side), and ‘Love You To ‘ (this one startles me the most on the first side– it’s really exotic-sounding, like the Indian music in Help ! only a whole song of it, with George droning on about death and making love– I’m glad I waited till my folks were all gone to play this LP ). Then comes my favourite so far, a gorgeous, dreamy Paul ballad called ‘Here, There And Everywhere ‘. It’s just beautiful, that’s all– and despite my staunch loyalty to George, I admit I am having fantasies of staring dreamily into Paul’s lovely hazel eyes whilst he croons the song to me . After that is ‘Yellow Submarine ‘ (which has these really cool sound effects that make you feel like you’re really under the sea and aboard a submarine with all your mates) and the the last song on side 1, ‘She Said She Said ‘ (the lyrics of which makes absolutely no sense to me– ‘I know what it’s like to be dead… and you’re making me feel like I’ve never been born’?!) 

Look around to make sure everything in the house is still quiet and, with some apprehension, turn the record over. Needle on, spinning up. Low rumbly piano notes (phew, nothing too scary– yet), and then the Fabs launch into the aptly titled ‘Good Day Sunshine ‘ (this one I cannot help but dance to– a winner in my book! ). Then ‘And Your Bird Can Sing ‘ (which has a wonderful biting riff that sounds, to my ears, impossible for humans to play– what dextrous fingers our lads have! The end confuses me– is the song over? It just cuts off, leaving us with a few noodley bass notes that fade away) and ‘For No One ‘ (this one sounds like my dad’s classical records, with harpsichord and French horn, but it’s a beautifully heartbreaking song). ‘Doctor Robert ‘ (this one is strange, I don’t get it at all), ‘I Want To Tell You ‘ (I get this one very much– George sings about awkwardness around someone you fancy but your words won’t come out right, with a clumsy, discordant riff to match), and ‘Got To Get You Into My Life ‘ (this one sounds cool– another upbeat number) are next, and then the last song on the side– well, this one is even more of a shocker than ‘Love You To ‘. It’s called ‘Tomorrow Never Knows ‘, and I don’t think I shall ever know either– John sings this one like he’s on a distant hilltop, to an indescribable accompaniment of pretty much exclusively weird and backwards-sounding noises– Rain taken to the next level, times three. I can make no sense of it, and just know that this one would have this record out of the house in three seconds flat were my parents to catch wind of it. 

And then that’s it, then end of the record. Needle goes back to its perch, the LP into its sleeve, and silence reigns, leaving me wondering what on Earth I just listened to. 

I can’t decide if I love it or hate it– it’s so strange and otherworldly, like the ‘Paperback Writer ‘/’Rain ‘ single times ten, but it’s intriguing as well… all I know is, I shall be listening to it a lot more. 

Also, can someone explain to me what’s happened in the US? I heard that one of the Beatles said a controversial something or other and I’m not really clear on what it was.  

I heard it was something John said, but more than that I have no clue. 

Where is Pepperland ? Is that where they grow peppers? 

All anyone at school can talk about is the new LP! Everyone who’s anyone has got it already, or at least heard it. I’ve been listening to it obsessively for the past week or so, and it’s really growing on me — though it’s a far cry from the Beatles I first fell in love with, almost four years ago (wow! That long already?!). It’s setting up to be my favourite album ever, although of course I usually do say that about every new Beatles LP when it comes out.  Some, however, are not so sure — a girl I talked to yesterday thought it was ghastly, that she had begun to wonder if her mother wasn’t right after all about our lads being ‘dangerous’ and ‘disreputable noisemakers’. My friend and I just shook our heads in disbelieving dismay and walked off. 

My friend’s older brother called it ‘polarising’ — some fans are going to love it, but they’ll lose fans as well. As for myself? Well, when I listen to, say, ‘Tomorrow Never Knows ‘, I don’t quite know. Maybe I’m amazed.  

One thing’s for sure: love it or hate it, this LP is like nothing else ever done, anywhere! I wonder what people of the future will think about it? My friend and I were discussing it; of course our parents don’t think that, fifty years from now, anyone will still love the Beatles as they do now — ‘Now, Elvis, on the other hand,’ said my friend’s mum — but my friend and I hope that they will at least remember the Fab Four as something special. What do you think?