Revolver (UK Stereo)

BEATLES LP SURPRISES

ELECTRONIC sound effects devised on a home tape recorder, another Paul McCartney recording with string accompaniment, and a children’s song which Ringo Starr partly talks! These are some of the surprises on their next LP, revealed to the NME — together with six of the titles — by the Beatles this week.

The electronic sounds produced by Paul and re-recorded in the studio are featured on the track “TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS.” Paul’s “special” solo on the album is called “ELEANOR RIGBY,” on which he is accompanied by violins, violas and cellos — as on “Yesterday.”

Another of the tracks is “YELLOW SUBMARINE,” the number which is partly spoken and partly sung by Ringo. Composers John and Paul describe it as “a children’s song.”

For the first time George Harrison has more than one composition on a Beatles album: he penned three of the numbers. Lennon and McCartney wrote all the remaining eleven.

Three more tracks are “AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING,” “I’M ONLY SLEEPING” and “DR. ROBERT.”

The album is not expected to be released before the end of August or early September. The Beatles are still searching for a title; Paul told the NME that it was to have been called “Abracadabra” until they discovered this title had already been used.

From New Musical Express – June 24, 1966

PAUL’S RIGHT – THEY’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO COPY THIS!

THE Beatles are about to send the British, and possibly the world pop scene off on a tangent. Their new LP, completed before they left for Germany, will set a new direction for popular music.

A wide range of musical influences have been absorbed into the 14 tracks on the album: French horn, trumpet, sitar, violin, Clavicord, viola and piano are just some of the instruments used in addition to the usual three guitars and drums.

Eleven titles out of 14 have been released. Paul’s love of classical music and George’s involvement in Indian sounds, rhythms and counterpoint are highly evident. George plays sitar as a traditional Indian instrument and not as a weird “new” guitar sound.

Here are the tracks revealed so far:

“GOOD DAY SUNSHINE” is written by Paul and John and has a sort of street band sound at times; vaguely reminiscent of a sea shanty at others. Laughter and noises like clinking glasses can also be heard.

“YELLOW SUBMARINE” is a children’s song, by John and Paul, which Ringo sings and talks.

“LOVE YOU TOO” is written by George and features a sitar intro and solos. Goes into fast tempo at the end.

“I WANT TO TELL YOU”, also by George, features Paul playing piano. George sings vocal. “It’s regularly irregular,” says George. “But I didn’t realise this until the others told me.”

“FOR NO-ONE” — by Paul and John, features a beautiful French horn passage that’s brilliant. Ballad with classical overtones, it also features Paul on piano.

“ELEANOR RIGBY” — Paul’s classical sound. Another “Michelle”? String quartet featured behind Paul’s vocal.

“TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS” is the Beatles favourite. It features the electronic sounds that have had so much publicity.

The other tracks so far known are “Doctor Robert”, which features John, “Tax Man”, written and sung by George, “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “I’m Only Sleeping”.

A new direction? A new meaning to pop? Perhaps the musical catalyst that could lift the Beatles out of pop music into a league of their own? For the sound on this LP is going to defeat the bandwaggon-jumpers.

As Paul says: “They’ll never be able to copy this!”

From Melody Maker – July 9, 1966

In the Beatles songwriting factory

TAKE apart that phenomenal song factory that’s called the Beatles and what do you find? A precision organisation with songs of all kinds constantly on the stocks? A closely planned lyrics-music arrangement responsible for the fantastic output of hits? No. More often than not the songs are roughed out in the head of one of the three songwriting Beatles, scribbled on anything from a sheet of toilet paper to the back of a Peter Stuyvesant packet, or just laboriously put together on a battered battery portable tape recorder.

For the Beatles approach to songwriting is faintly haphazard. Which could perhaps be one of the secrets of its spontaneous success. The MM asked the Beatles recently just how they approached the problem of producing 14 new songs for a new album.

“The first thing that happened with the new album,” said John Lennon, “was that Paul and I decided we’d have to get together. We’d been seeing each other socially, but we decided we’d have to get down to some serious work. Getting together is the first step — and it’s not always the easiest. Then when we’ve got together either at my place or at Paul’s house, we start thinking about the songs. One of us usually thinks of a musical phrase or part of a tune in our heads — like Paul did with ’Paperback Writer’. He thought that out in the car on his way to my house.”

The Beatles approached the problem of their new album — titled “Revolver” — by writing and recording the songs over a period of about 11 or 12 weeks. John and Paul kicked ideas, musical bits and pieces and words around until they had a basis for a song and then took it into the studio to work on it with George and Ringo.

The 14 tracks on the new LP were created in this way and in fact the last track was written only a short time before it was recorded in the studios. It is without doubt the fertile creativity of John and Paul that’s responsible for most of the mass of musical expression that’s flowed from the Beatles.

George contributed some numbers in the past. But it is only comparatively recently that he’s expanded his songwriting talents into anything approaching a regular flow. Now it seems with three tracks on the new album bearing his name, he’s also emerging as a songwriting force within the Beatles’ coterie. But not without a lot of painstaking effort on his part.

“I’ve been writing songs all the time,” George told the MM. “But when you’re competing against John and Paul you have to be very good to even get into the same league. How do I write a song now? I turn on a tape recorder and play or sing phrases into it for perhaps an hour. Then I play it all back and may get three or four usable phrases or runs from it. When I just had one tape recorder, I’d finish a song and put it onto the tape recorder. Then I’d often throw it away because I thought it sounded awful. Since I’ve bought all the taping and mixing equipment, I can add things and do a lot more. So what seemed on one machine to be a waste of time, sounds possible when mixed and rerecorded and perhaps dubbed.”

What about the lyrics? “This is the hardest part for me. I write them slowly, a word or phrase at a time, changing them about until I get what I want — or as near to it as I can. When the thing is finished, I’m usually happy with some parts of it and unhappy with others. So then I show it to John and Paul, whose opinion I respect. They usually like the part I don’t like. But think that the other part is all wrong.”

But all three Beatles agree that there comes a stage when you have to stop changing things about and settle for the song as it stands. John Lennon said: “There comes a time when you’ve got to stop fiddling about with the song. If you didn’t you’d never get a record out at all. Later, you think of things you could have done with it, but unless you call a halt you’d spend a whole year doing just one track.”

John also said that to ignore commerciality in records was fatal. “I write things that I like. But you have to consider the commercial aspect. It’s no good writing stuff that no one wants to listen to.”

Well, that’s one thing the Beatles won’t have to worry about for a long time yet.

From Melody Maker – July 16, 1966

REVOLVER IN DEPTH – by Peter Jones and Richard Green

WELL, this is it! The latest Beatle LP, aptly called “Revolver”. The production that blokes like RM’s Tony Hall, having been granted advance whispers of some of the tracks, have raved over … and described as easily the most ambitious yet by the incredibly consistent quartet.

It’s a 14-tracker, produced as ever by George Martin, full of musical ingenuity. Controversial, yes! There are parts that will split the pop fraternity neatly down the middle. But: whoever made progress without running the risk of criticism?

Statistically, there are eleven Paul and John songs — three by George (“Taxman”, “I Want To Tell You”, “Love You To”). It comes housed in an intricate black-and-white sleeve, created by Klaus Voorman, former member of the now-disbanded Paddy, Klaus and Gibson unit. No sleeve notes — but a back cover picture of the Beatles chattily relaxing, sporting their dark glasses. George takes lead vocal on three tracks; Ringo on one; Paul on five; John on five. We’ll identify each as we go along. And we’ll offer our individual views of each track.

Side One: “Taxman”, featuring George.

• Jones: Deliberately untidy opening, then a saga of sadness of how the tax collector keeps 19 bob of a Beatle-earned pound. Loved the wild, strident guitar mid-way. Bit repetitive, though.
• Green: Big beat rock ’n’ roll — with sounds of what seems an electric sitar. Yes, I liked it. Good idea.

“Eleanor Rigby” featuring Paul.

• Green: This is really the “Michelle” of the “Revolver” LP. Sounds like an 18th century backing, all those strings.
• Jones: Pleasant enough but rather disjointed, isn’t it? Must admit it’s commercial, but I like more meat from the Beatles. Big praise to someone for laying down those strings.

“I’m Only Sleeping”, featuring John.

• Jones: John seems somehow in the middle of a change of mood here. Very good backing harmonies, I thought, and the lyrical idea comes over well. Melodi-cally, straighter than usual. Funny string wails or something — Lord knows what it is. Electric bagpipes?
• Green: Don’t like the song so much as the musical content. It’s pretty ingenious. Yep. I liked it a lot for the ideas.

“Love You To”, with George.

• Green: Ah, this is the one with Anil Bhagwat — on tabla, it says on the sleeve! Suppose there’ll be the old outcry about the sitar back, but it isn’t! Starts like a classical Indian recital, then a bit of normal beat. This is great. So different. Play it again! Best so far.
• Jones: I’d need to hear this a few times more before really getting it. But it’s rather a good tune. This really is a different album — already.

“Here, There and Everywhere”, with Paul.

• Jones: This is the one already covered by single artistes. Very romantic and sort of muted Beatle-harmonies. Paul’s voice is dead right for it. The stuff that standards are made of.
• Green: Yes, romantic and sung with great feeling. Soft and light and rather attractive. Touch of the sadnesses. Tear-jerker, one might say.

“Yellow Submarine”, starring Ringo.

• Green: Ringo almost speaking a children’s story — slightly folksey backing, I suppose. Sort of Beatle “Puff the Magic Dragon” in a way. Will be very big at about 9.30 on a Saturday morning on the Light Programme.
• Jones: O.K., I suppose. Ringo’s got a good personality. But I’m not really struck… except to say it does underline their versatility.

“She Said She Said”, with John.

• Jones: One of those rough-smooth sort of group jobs. Fairly standard sounds, but I liked the guitar figures and also the construction of the song. This’ll be very popular indeed.
• Green: Rather bluesy, I think, with heavy accent on guitars for the atmosphere. Guitars on those telling repetitive phrases. Yes. I liked it.

Side Two: “Good Day Sunshine”, with Paul.

• Green: Sounds like muffled piano or something. Call it subdued rag-time. I think that’s what I mean to say. Another one I like a lot. Like Paul’s singing, too.
• Jones: Reminds me somehow, structurally, of some of the Spoonful stuff. Yes, Paul’s great. A voice with character, power… but also subtlety. Watch the fade-finish.

“And Your Bird Can Sing”, with John.

• Jones: This is different again. Sort of song that grows on you — I’ve a feeling this could be well-covered by other outfits.
• Green: Typical Beatles, this. Stronger than most of the others. Bass reminds me of “Paperback Writer”… could have been written about the same period of thinking. This is the Beatles as we best know them.

“For No One”, with Paul.

• Green: Rather on the “Eleanor Rigby” lines in the semi-classical music form. The way the horn (Alan Civil) comes in is marvellous. A short track.
• Jones: Yes, I liked this for the gentleness of the approach. Very melodic and you’re dead right about the use of the horn. This really is an unusual album… all the way.

“Dr. Robert”, with John.

• Jones: If you listen to the lyrics, this is strong enough. But it doesn’t seem to build in the usual Beatle way.
• Green: I think the boys can do better — have, in fact, elsewhere. I think it’s monotonous. But I liked the organ. Bit Dylanish. Came too late to save it for me, though.

“I Want To Tell You”, featuring George.

• Green: Well-written, produced and sung. Love the harmonising. That unusual piano… very good.
• Jones: Nicely plodding instrumental lead in here, and the vocal line is very strong. The deliberately off-key sounds in the backing are again very distinctive. Adds something to a toughly romantic number.

“Got To Get You Into My Life”, featuring Paul.

• Jones: Another advanced bit of fanfare-stuff early on. The big band brassiness behind them here. Shows how a Beatle-song stands up to the full band treatment. One of my favourites.
• Green: Yes, I like the big-band stuff. Helps them swing even more.

“Tomorrow Never Knows”, with John

• Green: Very weird indeed. A buzzing going through it, lot of yells and giggles and so on, organ breaking in. Everything but the kitchen sink… except I think I heard THAT too. Most off-beat of them all. Must say I liked it.
• Jones: You need some sort of aural microscope to get the message from this. But it’s darned compelling listening. Wonder if any of it is a joke to confuse reviewers. Very advanced.

Summing-up: Green didn’t like the Beatles last LP, but this one is pretty well dead right for him. It’s an excursion, we felt, into the realms of musical fantasy. Ridiculous, parts of it… in the nicest way.

Note: “Revolver”, Parlophone PMC 7009 (Stereo version PCS 7009). Out Friday.

From Record Mirror – July 30, 1966

BEATLES BREAK BOUNDS OF POP

PAUL WAS right — they’ll never be able to copy this one! And the reasons are not the electronic effects, George’s stunning use of the sitar, or Paul’s penchant for the classics. It’s because the Beatles individual ersonalities are now showing through loud and clear. Only a handful of the 14 tracks are really Beatle tracks. Most are Paul tracks, John tracks, George tracks, or in the case of “Yellow Submarine”, Ringo’s track.

There are still more ideas buzzing around in the Beatles’ heads than in most of the pop world put together. A lot of them have been poured into “Revolver”, and the result is, like “Rubber Soul”, a veritable gold mine of ideas which the lesser fry will frantically scramble over.

John, Paul, George and Ringo are obviously enjoying the heady freedom of being able to translate their every whim onto record. But the freedom is not abused, and George’s fascination for Indian music, Paul’s liking for classical effects, and the discriminate use of electronics are put to good use.

The tracks are:

TAXMAN: Electronic opening, but develops into strong backbeat with heartfelt lyrics about the taxman. Composer George takes vocal lead.

ELEANOR RIGBY: McCartney among the classics. Paul sings against firm, rhythmic string backing. Charming song which is one of the best of the album.

I’M ONLY SLEEPING: Mid-tempo with intriguing harmonies led by John. Clever yawning effects to highlight “I’m only sleeping” lines.

LOVE YOU TO: George goes the whole Indian hog. Virtually straight Indian sound, complete with tabla drummer, and tremendous sitar part by George. Fascinating mixture of minor melody with Indian accompaniment. One of the most striking tracks.

HERE, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE: Gentle, languid sound with Paul’s voice leading on quite a beautiful melody.

YELLOW SUBMARINE: Ringo’s song for the kiddies, with catchy, join-in-the- chorus singalong bit. Dubbed-in noises underline “and our friends are all aboard” and “the band begins to play”. Completely disarming.

SHE SAID, SHE SAID: Great Lennon vocal, and once again the Eastern influence creeps in the opening chord and odd bits of chord-bending in the backing.

GOOD DAY SUNSHINE: The Beatles answer to “Sunny Afternoon”? Paul in good-time mood over pub piano (himself or George Martin?). Ends a bit sharpish though.

AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING: Beaty mid-tempo with another fine Lennon lead. More like the usual Beatles.

FOR NO ONE: Signs of Dylan emerge in Paul’s voice here. Solo vocal over piano accompaniment, and a horn solo too.
Playing counterpoint with the melody.

DR ROBERT: Mysterious lyrics partly obscured by obtrusive, but firmly swinging backing. Lennon leads again, singing a message no doubt loaded with significance. What significance though?

I WANT TO TELL YOU: Another George composition Which includes a touch of the bitonalities with a piano figure which resolves into tune for nicely spread harmonies.

GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE: The Beatles-plus-jazzmen track. Urgent Paul vocal supported by rifting trumpets. Nice bluesy break when Paul shouts title, and a pounding finished with the trumpets reaching for the high ones.

TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS: Another Indian opening, dubbed-in electronics and a superb rhythmic figure. Lennon’s voice sounds as if it’s coming from Abbey Road, and although the end product is impressive there’s a danger that what might have been the outstanding song of the set is smothered.

“Rubber Soul” showed that the Beatles were bursting the bounds of the three-guitar-drums instrumentation, a formula which for the purposes of accompaniment and projection of their songs was almost spent. “Revolver” is confirmation of this.

They’ll never be able to copy this. Neither will the Beatles be able to reproduce a tenth of this material on a live performance. But who cares? Let John, Paul, George and Ringo worry about that when the time comes.

Meanwhile, this is a brilliant album which underlines once and for all that the Beatles have definitely broken the bounds of what we used to call pop.

From Melody Maker – July 30, 1966

Thinking pop

“TURN off your mind; relax and float downstream: it is not dying. Lay down all thought; surrender to the voice: it is shining. That you may see the meaning of within: it is being.”

A curious sort of poetry, and the Beatles devotee might detect the hand of John Lennon. These are the words of the most remarkable item on a compulsive new record, the Beatles’ latest LP (Parlophone stereo PCS 7009 ; mono PMC 7009), called, in a typical punning way, “Revolver.” The song I quote, “Tomorrow never knows,” is musically most original, starting with jungle noises and Eastern-inspired music which merge by montage effect into the sort of electronic noises we associate with beat music. Then Lennon moaning out the words above, which in their sinister way define the real point of the song: pop-music as a substitute, both for jungle emotions and for the consolations of religion. After all, teenagers are not the only ones who through the ages have “turned off their minds” and “surrendered to the voice,” whether to the tribal leader, the priest, or now the pop-singer. Thank goodness Lennon is being satirical: at least one hopes so.

In studying Beatles philosophy one does of course have to distinguish between the natural acquisitiveness of George Harrison in “Taxman” and Lennon and McCartney and their rather lefter-wing views. But all three creative Beatles habitually go outside the realm of sloppy lovetheme, and find inspiration instead (as serious artists always must) in specific feelings and specific experiences. “Dr Robert,” for example, is a brilliant send-up of an expensive doctor-psychiatrist (which Beatle went to him one wonders?). “Well, well, well, you’re feeling fine,” the doctor is made to say, and the link with what the Beatles think of as prepackaged religion is underlined by the Victorian hymn-tune accompaniment below.

Even the already ubiquitous “Yellow submarine” is specific in its simplicity, and a number like “I’m only sleeping” brings a vivid picture of the pop-world: the late-sleeping Beatle being jolted into consciousness — nicely illustrated in the repeated jolting back to life of the music. “Eleanor Rigby” (with “square” string octet accompaniment) is a ballad about a lonely spin-ter who “wears the face that she keeps in a jar by the door” and about Father McKenzie “writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear,” the verses punctuated by wailing cries of “Look at all the lonely people: where do they all come from ?”

There you have a quality rare in pop music, compassion, born of an artist’s ability to project himself into other situations. Specific understanding of emotion comes out even in the love songs — at least the two new ones with the best tunes, both incidentally sung by Paul McCartney, the Beatle with the strongest musical staying power. “For no one” uses Purcellian tricks to hold the attention, a gently-moving, seamless melody with a characteristic descending bass motif, over which half way through there emerges a haunting descant, beautiful by any standards, Alan Civil, no less, playing the French horn.

It is not just a question of the Beatles and Paul McCartney in particular paying lip service to classical values. “Here, there and everywhere” brings yet another Beatles tune that like “Yesterday” or the best of Ellington, Cole Porter or Sandy Wilson (taking highly contrasted examples) can be demonstrated by the most hide-bound analysis to be a good melody. After the unexpected success of “Yesterday” I shall be interested to see whether this new “sweet” number with its rising fifths and sevenths (forbidden interval in “pop”) again vindicate the perception of popular taste. The Beatles’ whole success, based demonstrably on musical talent, is a fair vindication in itself.

From The Guardian, August 15, 1966

BEATLES NEW revolutionary 14 shot sure-fire hit “REVOLVER”

FROM first song – ideas to actual pressing, “Revolver”, the Beatles’ new LP, has taken the best part of six months to put together. “Fantastic”, “A new advance in pop music”, “Uncopyable” it received the accolade of success from “in” people, who’d heard various tracks, long before the different-type cover (specially drawn by Klaus of Paddy, Klaus and Gibson) was first seen in the record shops.

It’ll be released on August 5th and DJs will be starting to give you previews and plays of the songs around the time this edition of “B.I.” hits the newsstands so I won’t give you a track-by-track report. But it is very revealing to hear what the boys, themselves, think of their latest offering of big, black wax.

I went to Germany with them and was sitting in their Essen dressing room when the very first acetate cutting of their complete new LP was delivered. The Beatles had already played various tracks over to me on a small tape recorder but the quality wasn’t good. Now we could hear the real thing.

Road Manager, Mal Evans, produced a record player almost magically out of his apparently inexhaustible supply of equipment. The disc was slipped on and we listened. The Beatles react to playbacks in different ways. Ringo tends to sit glumly contemplating the paint on the opposite wall, while John cocks his head as he listens as though his contact lenses make it difficult for him to hear properly. George sits calmly through most numbers reacting strongly whenever a Harrison composition turns up. Paul moves the whole lime, congratulating various musicians on the session and conducting difficult passages with that stabbing left forefinger of his. “That’s Alan Civil – fantastic horn player“, etc. Few people realise the importance to the Beatles’ recordings of that vital linger; it’s baton, extra instrument and point-maker supreme of their sessions.

The Beatles are always worried about new recordings. Later on it becomes old history and it doesn’t matter very much to them what anyone says, but, first reactions of people they know are important to them. But, what did the Beatles think themselves? “Bloody difficult!” was John’s blunt answer to the question of whether it had been hard to write the numbers for the new one.

And George seemed to be speaking for all of them when he said “I was never really satisfied with any of our albums until ‘Rubber Soul’. Of course, all our earlier LPs were finished in a rush. This time our record company let us use the studio almost whenever we wanted so that we could work on until we were satisfied. I think the result is worth all the trouble we took.“

Paul turned out to be another Beatle who was not happy with their early long-players. “There was nothing you could keep playing them for“, he insisted. A statement that I, and no doubt millions of others, will thoroughly disagree with.

Apart from featuring the sitar on several numbers George has. of course, contributed three numbers for the new one. His early “Don’t Bother Me” seemed to be a flash-in-the-pan for, as the months passed, nothing much else came from his pen. But that’s all changing fast. He’s giving the others problems though. His “I Want To Tell You” proved very difficult for them to learn.

“I kept on getting it wrong“, Paul told me, “because it was written in a very odd way. It wasn’t four-four or waltz time or anything. Then I realised that it was regularly irregular, and after that we soon worked it out.“

John and Paul are obviously very pleased that George is producing more songs because the strain on them has been getting very tough recently, Three singles and two LPs a year means 32 new numbers every 12 months, which is quite a pile of tunes.

The “uncopyable” tag certainly doesn’t seem to be correct because Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Housers recorded “Got To Get You Into My Life” on July 14lh and 15th. The Fourmost are also reported to be working on one of the numbers for their next single.

On their arrival in Germany at the start of their recent tour the Beatles were faced with a unique problem. Six months of “Revolver” thinking meant that they hadn’t played any of their old numbers for over half-a-year. So, on arrival at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich. Paul quickly organised rehearsals. Even so, when they finally went on stage at the Circus Krone the following evening,

their new, bottle-green suits and watered silk lapels couldn’t hide the slightly rusty way in which their act started. But the very first number “Rock And Roll Music” blew the cobwebs out of their heads and they were away. Their second performance at the Circus Krone was one of the best I’ve ever seen them give. All the Beatle magic was present with Paul introducing “Baby’s In Black” as “Ein Waltz”, which they then proceeded to play literally waltzing around the stage. This was followed by John doing one of his goon acts while introducing “I Feel Fine” as a “tango”. Even George tried to push Paul onto his knees while he was storming through ”I’m Down” at the close. The tour roared on through Essen. Hamburg, Tokyo’s Nippon Budo-Kan, ending in their biggest-ever two-show concert at the Manila Football Stadium.

Beatle tours will undoubtedly get fewer as the famous four concentrate more on films and recordings. But with the 14 explosive bullets loaded into their latest album: “Tax Man”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “I’m Only Sleeping”, “Love You Too”, “Here, There And Everywhere”, “Yellow Submarine”, “She Said, She Said”, “Good Day Sunshine”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “For No One”, “Dr Robert”, “I Want To Tell You”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, nobody’s going to say anything nasty about it like “Philippines” for example!

From Beat Instrumental – August 1966