Capitol 2576
Producer: George Martin
Track listing: Taxman / Eleanor Rigby / Love You To / Here, There and Everywhere / Yellow Submarine / She Said She Said / Good Day Sunshine / For No One / I Want to Tell You / Got to Get You into My Life / Tomorrow Never Knows
September 10, 1966
6 weeks
On Revolver, the Beatles continued the musical evolution that would reach its apex on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Most consider Sgt. Pepper‘s to be the band’s masterpiece, but when asked about his favorite Beatles album, producer George Martin says, “Pepper’s is one of them, but not the favorite. I like Rubber Soul and I love Revolver.”
Revolver was the last Beatles album to be altered for American release; three songs that appeared on the British version — ” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Doctor Robert,” and “And Your Bird Can Sing” — had already been plundered for use on the U.S.-only “Yesterday”… and Today , and were therefore deleted from the American version of Revolver. From this point onward, all Beatles albums would have identical tracks on each side of the Atlantic.
The album showcased three writing contributions by George Harrison, his most to date. His “Taxman” was chosen to open the album, marking the first time one of his songs had been used to kick off a Beatles album. Says Harrison, “That was my dig at the government. In the early days, we were always struggling. We never had money for years, then eventually we started to make some. And in those days, there used to be 20 shillings in the pound, and out of those 20 shillings, they took 19-and-half for tax. They were just bleeding us. I was so pissed off, I wrote that song.”
Ringo Starr’s lead-vocal contribution, “Yellow Submarine,” would later serve as the inspiration for the Beatles’ animated film of the same name. The soundtrack album that accompanied the film reached number two on the album chart in February 1969.
Elsewhere on Revolver, the Beatles continued their musical experimentation, breaking new ground on tracks such as “Eleanor Rigby” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” None of the Beatles actually played on the former song. Instead, an eight-piece string section was used to provide instrumental support. “Tomorrow Never Knows” included sitar and such psychedelic studio trickery as backward tape loops. “We had gotten really into recording more,” says Harrison. “I think our ears had been tweaked up. It may have had something to do with the jazz cigarettes people were smoking in them days. There was something in the air. In California, there was a lot happening with The Byrds. There was just a buzz going on. We were able to hear things we never heard before.”
As a result, the Beatles began to experiment more in the studio. “We’d always look for different sounds on stuff,” says Harrison. “If we got stuck there was a cupboard underneath the stairs of the number two studio in Abbey Road. It was full of these weird little drums, percussion things, tambourines, horns, and bells and all kinds of stuff. A lot of the sounds you hear on the records is just because, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention.”
The Beatles played their final formal concert on August 29, 1966, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The band couldn’t have been hotter on the charts than they were at the time: Revolver hit the top in a mere two weeks, making it the Beatles’ fastest climbing chart-topper since Beatles ’65, their second Number One album in less than two months, and their third ace of 1966.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of September 10, 1966
1. Revolver, The Beatles
2. Doctor Zhivago, Soundtrack
3. What Now My Love, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Bras
4. Somewhere My Love, Ray Conniff & the Singers
5. The Sound of Music, Soundtrack