Revolver

The Beatles are one of the most influential rock and roll bands of all time.  Originating in Britain, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr took the world by storm in the 60’s with their new, aggressive style.  Revolver is one of their most popular albums and was definitely a turning point in how The Beatles wrote and created their music. 

Up until this album, the band had been fairly streamlined on their approach to music with few outside influences.  As they matured and had more and more life experiences, their outlook on music in general started to change.  One of these life experiences was taking LSD, smoking pot and doing other mind-altering, creativity-inducing drugs.  These influences are apparent on tracks such as Yellow Submarine and She Said She Said.  During these times, The Beatles ventured into more experimental music and lyrics.  Sometimes, it is often hard to appreciate or comprehend what they were trying to accomplish in a song such as Yellow Submarine.

During the making of Revolver, The Beatles wanted to use the studio as a creative tool in their music rather than just a medium for their songs to be recorded.  This is evident especially when one of them is heard counting down numbers as soon as the album starts.  This offers a window for the listener to peer in and hear what happens when the album is actually being created.  Compression was used for the first time as a dynamic effect while recording the record, and George Harrison even played an Indian sitar on some songs, which had never been implemented into this type of music before.  These are just a couple of innovations that happened while recording Revolver.

This album definitely catches my ear as being a complete work of art.  The amount of detail and attention given coupled with the ground breaking innovations that sprouted from the making of the album put it at the top of the list in the company of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time.  One of the most interesting things to me is how everything is panned within the stereo image.  If someone tried to pan things like they did in Revolver today, they would be deemed crazy!  It just goes to show how experimental and novel this album really was.