They were bound to be on this list, the only questions being what rank and what album. And while I have spent the past ten years attempting to broaden my musical horizons, pushing out into every direction and genre, it’s time for a confession. I have never sat down and listened to a Beatles album in full until this week.
Let the “boos” commence.
Reflecting on it, I think a reason for that was that I thought I’d heard it all. Given that the band had produced so many hits, what else was there really to hear? How could this be “essential” listening when I’d already heard what curators had dubbed “essential”? So you can imagine my excitement and curiosity when I saw that there were not one, but two Beatles albums on this list. This was my chance to dig into a discography that has, up until this point, been boiled down to the smattering of hits that have been spoonfed to me since I’ve been old enough to comprehend what music is. The most prominent questions on my mind were: does this album live up to the hype? Or is it carried by a hefty dose of nostalgia, stellar singles, and the fact that it marks a tonal shift in the Beatles music?
My answer is a lot of both. To the ear of someone who has never listened to a Beatles album, this album sounds like a quintessential mix of what I’ve come to understand as their sound: straight pop rock hits (“Good Day Sunshine” and “Gotta Get You Into My Life”) and their experimentation with psychedelic music (“I’m Only Sleeping” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”). It’s fun to witness a band on the cusp of being something different, although this is a criticism that I also have for the overall product. And while the singles (“Eleanor Rigby”, “Tax Man”, and “Yellow Submarine” to name a few) are absolutely incredible, I was pleased to hear that a lot of the other tracks are just as enjoyable, if not even better! Writing this, I’ve found myself returning to songs like the simplistic, melancholy love ballad “For No One” and the dizzying “She Said She Said” (which was supposedly based on a conversation Harrison and Lennon had with Peter Fonda on LSD and… I would 100% believe it). This album is a snapshot in time, capturing perfectly the cultural tug-of-war of the 1960’s, and the songs themselves are all memorable and instantly catchy, while all feeling like they have their own unique qualities.
This characteristic of the album is a strength, but also my only critique. At times Revolver sounds like a band reaching for the future but also weighed down by the past, a band that doesn’t have the courage to fully embrace the trajectory of their new sound. Given the prominent psychedelic textures of the album, songs like “Gotta Get You Into My Life” and “Dr. Robert” feel a little… off, as if they were recorded for another session and were shoe-horned into this one. This is a minor criticism for an otherwise stellar album and one that, if I can find records of it, will definitely be adding it to my collection.
My rating: 4.5/ 5
The Word and The Song 