Good morning, and a happy Golden plus
one anniversary Saturday to you all, for your enjoyment, click here and experience this fabulous LP:
Released in 1966, Revolver has been
prized as one of best albums our acclaimed Beatles ever made. Innovative is an
understatement, so much so, the lads drifted from their fascination formula.
Example, George was blown away he had
been given the green light for three tracks, Taxman, Love You Too, and I Want
to Tell You, spotlighting his musical composition style. A little side
note––Harrison had a different approach how he wrote his songs compared to John
and Paul. John usually started on lyrics, being a witty personality having a
way with words, then added music to the lines of rhymes. Paul usually started
with a melody, attach the flair to complementary chords, and build lyrics
around the lead vocal to fit the notes necessary syllables. George,
however, would first figure out a nice combination flow of chords patched
together, then try tasteful melody patterns well-suited to circle around the
triads sequence, and then integrate matching words. I use the same method as
George when writing my own songs.
Another example how the fascination
formula took a back-seat is Yellow Submarine. A standard policy that helped
propel the Beatles sales often consisted pushing out a hot, top of the charts
single, to pave the way for a new album. By tradition, John insisted their new
albums should allow for all new tracks without the latest two 45rpm songs
issued beforehand. He took a stand it was like charging their fans twice and
whenever possible he snubbed the practice. However, no such single of totally
different songs to counterpoise a scramble for Revolver existed. Unlike the
last time where on a Friday, December 3rd to be exact, Day Tripper/We Can Work
It Out, the first ever pronounced double A-side single, opened massive
purchasing power floodgates straight to Rubber Soul, a separate Yellow
Submarine/Eleanor Rigby disk, which both were included on the new album, was
pressed into a 45 single and issued alongside Revolver, also on a Friday,
August 5th. . . coincidental matching this fiftieth-year anniversary by falling
on a Friday. Brian Epstein demanded the course of action to pressing the
single in haste, believing it had enormous commercial appeal, and didn’t like
the idea another recording artist might lift it high on the charts. In
addition, Yellow Submarine positioned for the first time, Ringo to sing
lead on a hit single, reaching number 1 in the UK and number 2 in the States,
at which management assumed John’s remark how the Beatles were more popular
than Jesus quote, must have slowed sales. But all the same, the hit single
ended up on the album and that alone caused the 45 disk a road to nowhere.
Since the band no longer covered
tunes by people they idolized, Paul felt pressure to whip up something for
Ringo. As was the custom, his lead vocal got featured on one song per album.
Paul hit it out of the park convinced a children’s song could shine a brighter
star on Mr. Starr. This simple little ear-catching tune took more hours in the
studio than recording the Beatles entire first album. A few of the reasons make
perfect sense, in that the night they started, George Martin was home bedridden
from a wicked dose of food poisoning, which was like showing up at work and finding
a message from your boss saying, “Hold down the fort as best you can, I’m away
on personal business.” And of course, all those sound effects throughout
the song had to be found, tested, and perfected taking lots of precious studio
time. Plus, we can’t forget the chorus of people invited to sing along––you
know, the friends Ringo sings about that are all aboard. For instance, that’s
Pattie Harrison voicing the loudest shrill on the second verse, even though her
husband George never contributed with a guitar, but instead played tambourine,
sang vocals and used sound effects. Staff from the studio inner office received
invites to join the choir with Mrs. Harrison, including phone calls for
Donovan, Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger, and Brian Jones. Did you know
Revolver had a ridiculous working title called, Abracadabra? Thank God some
other musical group already had chosen that name as an earlier label, so it
ended up tossed. With tongue in cheek, Ringo suggested After Geography as a
response to the Rolling Stones recent album, Aftermath. Some idiot
suggested Beatles on Safari, can you believe it? Maybe a prayer to ride the
same wave as Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds studio album that made a huge splash on
May 16, 1966. Perhaps Thinking of Linking Surfing Safari. Finally, a title
struck promise, Four Sides of a Circle, and from there came Revolver. Longtime
friend, Klaus Voorman was asked to use his artistic talent and design the
cover. He did for 40 English pounds and later that year, won the Grammy for
best cover art. This award opened doors to freelance design covers for other
pop groups such as the Bee Gees, who requested his service for their first
album. . . if he wasn’t away touring as the bass player for Manfred Mann. I got
to meet Klaus at a Los Angeles Beatlefest event in the mid-70s. There I learned
he had turned down invitations to play bass for the Hollies and the Moody
Blues. He went on to say he became a session musician near the Fall of 1969 and
moved to Los Angeles in 1971. I guess we both were members of Musicians Union
local 47 in Hollywood by then.
Hey, although Revolver entered the
Record Shops just before the band took flight for their last North American
Tour, not a single track from the new release found a spot on the show. The
boys admitted they were too difficult to perform live. Ugh, pulling out the old
songs routine must have been a downer compared to the vast improved material
just recorded and surely added a sour note on the amount of reasons as to why
continue stadium concerts. I bet they all could have pulled off my favorite
song from the album, And Your Bird Can Sing, in front of fifty thousand ticket
holders––it’s number nine on the playlist. I’ve got a feeling this was also
John’s favorite new song at the time.
Inside my novel, Beatlemaniac, I’ve
written a section of dialog between two characters that spells out an eerie
theme connecting many of the 14 tracks from Revolver in a dark way. Sorry, no
spoilers will ever come from me. Just three dollars will pave the way unfolding
the mystery. See My Shop page for details.
An ending thought in closing to
ponder. It seems the playfulness humor that so easily bounced off each other
brought the four Beatles back to their roots inside the studio and just like
the first album Please, Please Me blasts the sendoff rocker, I Saw Here
Standing There, into orbit through the speakers with a four count, likewise we
hear Taxman given a same four-count uttered by Paul, to jumpstart the music
onward.
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus the blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my
novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the My Shop tab near the top of this page
for full details.
Enjoy the weekend!
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