Revolver, Part II

Revolver, the Beatles' response to Pet Sounds, was, arguably, the origin of acid rock, the use of Indian culture and music in rock, the concept of classical music structure being used in popular music and much more. Some say it was the defining moment in the decade when all innocence was lost as the last "civilized" rock band turned to experimentation. Certainly, it was the first attempt the Beatles made to join the new trend of "turning on, tuning in and dropping out". Lennon eccentricities had grown to twisted lyrical and musical interludes that grew in complexity as the years went by. McCartney had developed into a composer who received as much critical acclaim for his classical songs as his popular ones. Harrison, having spent some time in India with Ravi Shankar, brought back new philosophies for life and music. His compositions from that point on, most noticeably "Love You To" and "Within You Without You" (the latter is on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, not Revolver). Ringo, well, no one really knows what was going on with him, but seems to have been pretty happy with the way things were going (who would complain?) As a whole, the Beatles were progressing further and faster than any other group of that era, and certainly more than any other group that was a part of the British Invasion. So, we continue with the songs of Revolver and their general relevance to the music of the late sixties.

As mentioned before, George Harrison returned from India with more than a carton of herbal tea. In his six months (or so) spent with Ravi Shankar, he developed a strong liking for the sitar. Although I can't say I really like "Love You To", it does have its strong points. Its experimental style inspired the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and many other psychedelic bands along the West Coast. "Here, There and Everywhere", the following song, written by Paul McCartney (well, Lennon-McCartney, but mainly Paul McCartney)was one of the sweetest ballads the Beatles ever did. McCartney sings the lead vocal, with the others doing background. The lyrics aren't too complicated, but do follow an interesting pattern (the first verse is about needing his love being here, running her hands through his hair; the second, about her being there, etc.) "Yellow Submarine". Honestly, what were they thinking. Having Ringo sing a children's song on what's supposed to be a ground breaking album? Surprisingly, it works well. The Beatles always were good at making it seem as if they were having fun with their music, and this song only enforces that belief. The song resurfaced from the dead recently with the re-release of the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, a cartoon movie that, although it featured them prominently, had almost nothing to do with the Beatles. "She Said She Said" was Lennon's first notable contribution to the album. The lyrics are about drug experimentation, and the music is as floaty and psychedelic as it gets on this album (with the possible exception of "Tomorrow Never Knows", but we'll get to that later.) John's new look at music had really begun with his experimentation with LSD and marijuana during the filming of Help!, but was never fully realized until the Beatles stopped touring. That, combined with a series of record burnings and bannings in response to his misquoted comment about the Beatles being bigger than Jesus, prompted him to turn to a the idea of spreading personal and social messages of peace and love through his music. "Good Day Sunshine", which started the second side of the album, is another McCartney song accented by backing vocals and instrumental interludes. It was followed by "And Your Bird Can Sing", a Lennon composition that reflected some of the poetry he had used in his recent book A Spaniard in the Works. While creative and inspiring, it was far surpassed by the following McCartney song, For No One. The lyrics were more beautiful and consuming than any others McCartney had written, and the orchestrated music and piano riffs that formed the background were almost on the same level as those used by Brian Wilson during the Pet Sounds recordings. The next two songs, "I Want To Tell You" and "Got To Get You Into My Life", while written by different composers (the former, by Lennon, the latter by McCartney) are very similar to each other and other previously mentioned songs on the album in their use of instruments and harmonious yet sinister vocals. The most important and influential song on the album was, however, the closing "Tomorrow Never Knows". The words came from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which was filled with chants to be used during meditation (or drug experimentation) to achieve certain effects. The winding, reversed guitar tracks accented by a wide variety of incredibly weird sound effects gave this song the distinct characteristics necessary to be defined as the first ever acid rock song (while I'm not certain that other groups weren't doing the same thing, the album predates them by about a year and the Beatles were far better known than any West Coast band, therefore any of their songs would have a much greater influence.)

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