Received wisdom has always put Sgt. Pepper at the head of the class, but it was Revolver that truly signaled the Beatles' sea change from a functional band to a studio-based ensemble. These changes began before Rubber Soul but came to fruition on Revolver, which took an astonishing 300 hours to produce, far more than any rock record before it. The making of Revolver - hunkered down in Abbey Road with George Martin - is in itself a great Beatles story, but would be nothing if the results weren't so impactful. More than even Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds, Revolver fed directly into the rock 'n' roll zeitgeist, and its influence could be heard everywhere, from the psychedelic San Francisco sound (Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead) to the first wave of post-blues hard rock (Sabbath, Zeppelin) through movie soundtracks and pretty much everything that followed it, including every generation of guitar-based pop music and even heavy metal. More than any record before or after, Revolver was the game-changer, and this is, finally, the detailed telling of its storied recording and enormous impact.
Revolver: How the Beatles Re-Imagined Rock 'n' Roll
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Pop culture historian Robert Rodriguez is an acknowledged expert on all things Beatle.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Without doubt "Revolver" is my favourite Beatles album, so I was intrigued to read this book looking at the making of an album the author puts above "Sgt Pepper" - usually cited as the bands high point. Rodriguez asserts that although Pepper is usually considered the apex of the Beatles creativity, it is actually "Revolver" that is the artistic high water mark - a true group collaboration which pushed the studio's technological limits as far as they could go.
1966 saw the band coming to the end of their touring life (it would later end with the "bigger than Jesus" comment and the chaos that was the Phillipines). However, what allowed the band to actually settle into the studio and create music without pressing time commitments was the lack of agreement of a third feature film, for which Brian Epstein had blocked out three whole months for shooting. Finding themselves without a script, they were left with the space they needed to create a masterpiece. John and Paul were at the exact mid-point states the author, before dominance in the group shifted from John to Paul. Also, this was a time when the members of the band happily experimented (Paul playing lead guitar on "Taxman" for example) without treading on each others toes.
This excellent book begins with what the Beatles were up to in early 1966 and what music their peers were creating, before looking at how the songs were written and then recorded. There is lots of the detail Beatle fans thrive on and examination of the revolutionary innovations used, such as Automatic Double Tracking and use of reversed tape.... Read more ›
1966 saw the band coming to the end of their touring life (it would later end with the "bigger than Jesus" comment and the chaos that was the Phillipines). However, what allowed the band to actually settle into the studio and create music without pressing time commitments was the lack of agreement of a third feature film, for which Brian Epstein had blocked out three whole months for shooting. Finding themselves without a script, they were left with the space they needed to create a masterpiece. John and Paul were at the exact mid-point states the author, before dominance in the group shifted from John to Paul. Also, this was a time when the members of the band happily experimented (Paul playing lead guitar on "Taxman" for example) without treading on each others toes.
This excellent book begins with what the Beatles were up to in early 1966 and what music their peers were creating, before looking at how the songs were written and then recorded. There is lots of the detail Beatle fans thrive on and examination of the revolutionary innovations used, such as Automatic Double Tracking and use of reversed tape.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very interesting book giving a good idea about all the interactions between the Beatles and the rest of the (musical) world. I read the whole book in almost one go.
IMO a nice addition to my collection of Beatle books.
IMO a nice addition to my collection of Beatle books.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By R. JAMES
Format:Paperback
An incredibly detailled book by one of the best Beatlologists in existence. I've been a fab fan since 1978 and thought I knew it all about The Beatles, but Robert brings out so much more info than I knew and its brilliantly written too. Worth buying just for the info on "She Said She Said" (again all new to me). I am currently begging Robert to do a book on all the Beatles albums. If you love fact-based jounalism written by a skilled writer and hardbeat fan - get this, I guaantee you'll ove it.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book. Revolver is my favourite album (there are weeks when I listen to nothing else!). I have long believed that it deserved a book devoted to its creation and this book does a fine job. I found the chapters dealing with the album's musical context particularly interesting, but felt those concerned with drug-taking interrupted the flow of the narrative.
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