The Beatles started out playing straight rock music in the
Liverpool dance halls. They were signed
to the EMI label in 1962 where they met their new producer George Martin. Martin produced 16 number 1 hits with the
Beatles in less than 2 years. Their style
had been catchy pop songs about love up until Revolver. The recordings focused on the four-piece band
of Paul McCartney (bass), John Lennon (guitar), George Harrison (guitar) and
Ringo Star (drums). They had a spotless
image that showed no sign of changing as they saw the end of 1965.
The Beatles took some time off at the end of 1965 wherein
they started to experiment with drugs.
They were also no longer under the pressure of deadlines to release new
material. This led to an expanded pallet
from which to write new songs. They were moving
away from the usual boy, girl love songs they wrote up to that point. Taking pot shots at the taxman, telling
stories of loneliness and wanting to express themselves fueled the lyrical
content of Revolver.
Revolver opens with the Beatles counting in the first track
with sounds of the recording session mingled in the background. This invited the listener into the studio
session on an intimate level thus making the studio itself into an
instrument.
Recording Revolver was in itself an experiment in sound
engineering. Effects like reverse guitar
licks and vocals recorded coming out of a Leslie speaker cabinet to get a
spacey, moving vibe were innovations at the time. Reversing a recording was a time consuming
process of taking the tape of the recorded bit and playing it back in reverse
while re-recording it to another roll of tape.
John Lennon wanted his vocals to “sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from a hilltop”
for the song “Tomorrow Never Knows”, which incorporated the vocal through Leslie
speaker recording process.
Revolver struck me as a musically diverse and impressive
record. The Beatles made timeless music,
relevant to most if not all people. I
can’t believe the amount of talent and creativity expressed through the process
of writing and recording the record. I
will undoubtedly use Revolver as a measuring stick for my future songwriting
and production work.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteI think your blog post is really well-written. It stays interesting throughout the whole blog post. You included a lot of information about the background of the Beatles. I was really impressed with the Revolver album when I first heard it. I agree with you about the creativity of the album. The Beatles really set the standard of rock music at the time. It makes me want to learn as many production techniques as I can. I like how you brought up how the beginning of the album sounds like the opening of a recording session. What is your favorite song from the album?
Good work!
Elise H.