Revolver at 60

Sixty years ago today (5 August 1966), what many may feel is one of the finest Beatles' albums was released.

Revolver, the Beatles seventh studio album, came out on EMI a mere eight months after another one of their most acclaimed records, Rubber Soul, which included a three month break the band took at the start of 1966 (the longest break they had seen since 1962).

It was a time when they were starting to explore the themes of eastern philosophy and psychedelia. Also, because they had already decided to not do any more live shows after their upcoming summer tour, it allowed them to be more experimental in their approach and they started to play around with double tracking, reversed tapes and other alternative ways of recording.

We talked about psychedelia, and we can't ignore the fact that drugs played a big part in this phase; George Harrison and John Lennon's ongoing use of LSD had been what tempted them towards that eastern philosophy. They also got Ringo Starr involved, although Paul McCartney (at least then) refused to partake, getting his stimulation instead from London's art scene and counterculture.

With their break concluded, the band rendezvoused at Abbey Road, with George Martin (of course), on 6 April. The first session included an early version of Tomorrow Never Knows, and also spawned two songs that would become a non-album single - Paperback Writer backed with Rain.

Tomorrow Never Knows (official animated video)

By the time they flew out to West Germany in late June, to begin the first part of that final tour, they had already racked up 220 hours of studio time (compared with about 80 for Rubber Soul), got it mixed and had Revolver pretty much ready to go.

The array of instruments they threw at the album was quite impressive; from India came the tambura and tabla, then there was clavichord, vibraphone and a modified 'tack' piano. There were more outside musicians than ever before too; a horn section for Got To Get You Into My Life, Brian Jones of the Stones on Yellow Submarine, a set of string players and noted French horn player Alan Civil on For No One . There were those party sounds on Yellow Submarine, prepared tape loops for Tomorrow Never Knows and backwards guitar on I'm Only Sleeping.

I'm Only Sleeping (official video - a beautiful art video to match the dreaminess of the song)

Side One:

You get Harrison's lambasting of the tax system on Taxman, McCartney's exquisite tribute to loneliness, Eleanor Rigby, and also his ballad inspired by hearing the Beach Boys God Only Knows - the magnificent Here, There and Everywhere. Harrison's love of Indian music seeps into Love You To, which also includes musicians from the Asian Music Circle (and no Lennon at all). Three John Lennon song fragments were joined together to form She Said She Said, which is the one where McCartney apparently stormed out and may not have done the bass part for (and possibly done by Harrison instead).

Here, There & Everywhere (Paul plays this live on MTV Unplugged, 1991)

In Abbey Road Studio recording Revolver

Taxman (official animated video)

Side Two:

We kick off with that most perfect of spring tunes, Good Day Sunshine, bringing with it hints of vaudeville and ragtime styles, and that glorious group vocal effect at the end. Lennon may have later described And Your Bird Can Sing as a bit of a "throwaway", but that does disservice at this great song of frustration and jab at material wealth. Harrison got another look in with I Want To Tell You, where he tried to get a bunch of thoughts out of his head that he had trouble expressing, into song form - the struggle to communicate is matched by his staccato guitar riff. The blues / Motown feeling Got To Get You Into My Life was inspired by McCartney having recently seen a young Stevie Wonder perform, while the closer, Tomorrow Never Knows, throws all of the future experimentation into one song; reverse guitar, looped tape effects, processed vocals and more.

Good Day Sunshine (official animated video)

The famous line drawing and collage album cover was done by their old Hamburg friend, Klaus Voorman (who had recently moved to England to play bass with Manfred Mann). Manager Brian Epstein felt this perfectly captured the experimental tone of the music on the record.

On release, it of course made number one in the UK, staying there for seven weeks. It also made the US top spot and had sold over a million copies there by 24 August. In the 60 years since, estimates range anywhere from 14 to 21 million copies sold (by the time you factor in streaming, re-issues etc).

If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, they were overwhelmed, in less than three months from its release, at least ten of the fourteen tracks had been covered by others, including Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers take on Got To Get You Into My Life, produced by none other than Paul McCartney (which went UK Top 10).

Got To Get You Into My Life (Paul live on Jools Holland, 2007)

Melody Maker had not enjoyed Rubber Soul so much, but found Revolver to be a "brilliant album which underlines once and for all that the Beatles have definitely broken the bounds of what we used to call pop." In the US, while some struggled with the more experimental edge (not to mention the controversy they had recently courted with Lennon's infamous Jesus remarks) - but Ralph J Gleason, jazz critic with the San Francisco Chronicle thought it "the most outstanding pop album in years, possibly the best of all time." More contemporary reviews have aligned with, or perhaps even exceeding, Sgt Pepper, as the most essential Beatles album of them all...

Ten years ago, for its fiftieth anniversary, Greg Kot wrote for the BBC, that Revolver did "everything Sgt Pepper did, except it did it first and often better." So, basically speaking, people were able to grasp and embrace the sounds of Sgt Pepper, because Revolver had already laid the groundwork for what experimental pop could be - the "leap in imagination, the studio-as-instrument adventurousness" had already been done.

As mentioned earlier, time played a big factor. While their first record had been knocked out in half a day, time coupled with the band at their most collaborative and pushing each other artistically, created the perfect canvas.

It has been argued by many, that while both Rubber Soul and Sgt Pepper had many incredible high points (Norwegian Wood, In My Life, A Day In The Life etc), there were also a few "filler" tracks (When I'm 64, Lovely Rita etc) - but Revolver had little wasted space.

And Your Bird Can Sing (official music video - an almost perfect two minutes of pop)