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I’m on kind of a Beatles kick after seeing Love in Las Vegas, so I think I’ll plow through all the Beatles albums and post some thoughts. Since the songs are so familiar to me, I’ll rate each from one to five stars, and generate an amusing “Best Beatles Songs” list.

My ratings may seem a bit harsh - but they’re relative to other Beatles songs - two or three star ratings appear often because the four and five star songs are so incredible.

This was the seventh Beatles’ album, and showed a new commitment to experimentation in the studio at the expense of touring. There were also heavy doses of “tea” that were manifesting themselves in the music in varied, enhancing ways.

As a kid, Revolver frankly, freaked me out, as I couldn’t get a handle on the serious subject matter - how could the cute Beatles be talking about being “screwed in the ground” and some girl who knew “what it was like to be dead”? And Tomorrow Never Knows - what the heck was that all about? But as I got older, this admittedly forward-thinking collection became my favorite.

I see this album as the one where the Beatles finally said “screw what everybody else thinks” and decided to just write strange, experimental songs, and let the world try to keep up. This is also the first album where the songwriting styles of John, Paul, and George began diverging into completely different styles: John the serious, introspective, personal songwriter, Paul the vaudevillian stylistic shape-shifter, and George a mystic off on some Indian-inspired voyage he wouldn’t return from until the White Album. The group was changing from four lads who dressed alike - combining to form one unified sound, to four separate identities - still dedicated to the idea of the Beatles but expressing unique personalities.

Taxman

= 4 stars

George is pissed at how much cash is being taken away by the tax folks. No wonder he got property on Maui. Anyhow, it’s got a neat beat and a really cutting guitar solo that is so great it bears repeated twice. George’s vocals finally are up to the match of John and Paul’s background ones.

Eleanor Rigby

= 5 stars

This is Yesterday times two with the addition of John and a more challenging, biting string octet. It’s also an unusually sad song and lyric for Paul. The wail of “all the lonely people” repeated in the background is ingrained in my subconscious.

I’m Only Sleeping

= 5 stars

On this song, John sounds like he’s half asleep and swimming through a smoke filled room, just fine for the subject matter. His voice is changing from the belter of the early albums to a spaced out, remote announcer. There’s some neat slashing acoustic guitar strums and a creepy bass lick to boot. To me, this sounds like the song where John finally shed his Beatlemania roots.

Love You To

= 3 stars

Here’s George with an Indian inspired tune, and something that sounds like a motorcycle. This song confused me as a kid, with George talking about all the perverted, scary people in the world who will fill you with sin. He has a point, and it’s good to see the Beatles moving to a more adult level. But it’s not an awesome song in my book.

Here, There And Everywhere

= 3 stars

I should probably like this song more, but I don’t. The harmonies are appropriately lush, the chord changes all in the right places, but it’s the lovey-dovey subject matter and the slightly out of tune guitar noodling that bumps it down to average.

Yellow Submarine

= 5 stars

A nostalgic, happy fairy tale for an album with a lot of confused, alienated emotions. This is Ringo’s best moment in many ways. There’s even some Monty Python-like verbal clowning around. Was it really a kid’s tune about a Yellow Submarine, or a testament to the isolationist power of drugs? Either way, it’s fun. It inspired a whole cartoon movie adventure to boot.

She Said She Said

= 4 stars

Great song, and the second instance of a different, waltz-like rhythm as a contrasting section (the first being We Can Work It Out). This John “changing rhythm” tactic would come to a head in the future Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite and eventually implode into the fragmentary Happiness Is A Warm Gun. But for now, I love this song with its neat guitar licks and some notable Ringo drumming. The lyrics evoke like a bad drug trip, with someone talking about what it’s like to be dead. Creepy.

Good Day Sunshine

= 5 stars

I love this song, from its tripping fade in vocals. It’s another appropriately restrained Paul vaudeville song, and so I’ll give it the best rating as a fine example. I’d take this one over Your Mother Should Know, or even When I’m Sixty Four any day.

And Your Bird Can Sing

= 3 stars

This is a nice song with a fascinating, slightly distorted and harmonized guitar lick, plus some gorgeous harmonies, but it pales a bit in comparison with the other songs on this album.

For No One

= 4 stars

This is a bit like Elanor Rigby enhanced - the way the French horn wraps around the melody is really beautiful. I think the only reason why I deduct one star is because it begs for a third section - it’s too short.

Doctor Robert

= 3 stars

This song is alright, but I never cared for the “well, well, well” part, despite its pretty harmonies. It sounds like a Rubber Soul out-take.

I Want To Tell You

= 4 stars

A better George song (he’s getting better all the time) that despite being a bit out of tune in places (the high Paul harmony), the odd piano repetition and the beat-single note with those crunchy drums - I’ve always loved. The slight Indian vocal noodling at the end is a nice touch too.

Got To Get You Into My Life

= 4 stars

This is a neat upbeat number with the introduction of a horn section to the Beatles repertoire. The drumming is appropriate, and the high Paul melody is neat, too. The reason I give it 4 stars is because Paul is essentially copying Motown.

Tomorrow Never Knows

= 5 stars

This song still blows my mind, from the one beat off drums to the pulsing, droning bass, to the loops that sound like Indians coming over a hill. The shuttling of John’s vocal through a Leslie organ speaker was truly inspired. The result is an out of body, meditative song that fits the surreal lyrics perfectly. I’m sure they were stoned out of their minds creating this, but in this case it took things to another musical level, and pointed out a new, glorious direction they could follow.

Wikipedia: Revolver

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