Revolver - "my" The Beatles

2/8/11 Revolver – The Beatles

“The Beatles were raw musically, but I think they really had something.”

- Brenda Lee

            Like I said last month, I’ve heard that everybody who listens to music at some time or another goes through a Beatles phase because the variation over time of the Beatle’s style is so wide there’s something there for everyone.  Hard Day’s Night was not The Beatles for me.  Revolver is much closer.  The music is more complex both in the writing and the arranging.  While they’re still all tidbit songs (tightly in the range of 2-3 minutes) there’s more depth in each song here, even though they’re over before some other songwriters would still be getting started.

            While the level of musicianship is drastically higher on this album, the greatest track is the one song on which none of the Fab Four played – “Elanor Rigby.”  Allegedly inspired by a combination of Vivaldi and Bernard Herrmann’s score for Psycho, the string octet is some of the smartest arranging for a pop/rock album ever. Some of the tunes have the same trademark close harmonies, such as on “Here, There and Everywhere.”  While not the most exciting track on the album, it’s still deeper writing than anything on Hard Day’s Night.

Even sleeper tracks are more complex.  For example, “I’m Only Sleeping” is a mediocre tune, but the innovative use of reversed tape on the guitar pushes the boundaries of not only that time, but still has a certain edge to it today.  “Love You To” begins to showcase the influence of Ravi Shankar with distinctive sounds of the sitar and tabla drone dominating this track.  A number of tracks explore complex meter and metrical patterns, such as on “She Said She Said.”  (The guitar work for some reason also sounds sitar-ish on that one, and I’m not 100% sure why.)  And for the most part, it works.  Predating Genesis and other progressive rock bands, they started to do it right.  Their technique, and their writing was equally cutting edge and in some ways, prophetic.

            “Yellow Submarine,” while one of the iconic tracks of the group, never really did anything for me.  The one track where Ringo gets to strut his stuff and sing lead.  Ah well.  Likewise, “Good Day Sunshine” seems to almost be a throwback to their bubblegum pop earlier work, and I’m ok skipping… if it weren’t a mere 2:09 and not worth it.  “Any Bird Can Sing” seems to find a good common ground between the two sounds.  Likewise, McCartney’s guitar chops came a long way by now.  I almost feel bad about most of the disparaging remarks I made about their musicianship earler.  Almost.  I maintain that early Beatles and late Beatles are almost two separate groups that just happen to have the same members.

            “For No One” sound like a precursor to

Abbey Road

– the French horn solo is almost identical to the trumpet part in “

Penny Lane

.”  The style is a little less polished, but definitely indicative of where the band was headed.  On the other hand, “Doctor Robert” sounds like the leftovers on the cutting room floor from “Paperback Writer.”  Two steps forward, and one step back I guess.

            If everyone has their own Beatles to fall in love with, this may be closer to mine.  And I’m not alone – the Rolling Stones Top 500 Albums lists this as #3.  Aparently this is “the” Beatles for a number of others as well.

Up next – Borodin: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2

Next week – Songs in the Key of Life  (Stevie Wonder)