The Beatles - Revolver (1966)

Note: this release was originally purchased as an LP, later replaced by a CD.

1987

Quite simply, my favorite Beatles album. Of course, I wrote those same words earlier on this blog for Abbey Road. Easily the best 35 minutes I'll spend today. It doesn't sound this way to modern ears, but the whole thing was a bizarre studio experiment in multi-tracking, phasers, tape loops, and other tricks to create what we now think of as the characteristic kaleidoscopic Beatles sound. If production tricks were the foci of the album, it probably would have failed, but the songwriting is so good the songs were actually enhanced by the tricks.

I could gush over this collection of songs for days, but that's already been done:

• Listed as #1 in the book Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums (2000)
• VH1 named it the greatest album of all time (2001)
• The readers of Rolling Stone ranked the album the greatest of all time (2002)
• Listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (2005)
• The album was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time (2006)
• Even the Pope loves it! Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See, L'Osservatore Romano (2010)
• Voted 11th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" (2020)
• Entertainment Weekly recently named Revolver the greatest album of all time (2013)
• Ranked at #8 on Pitchfork's list of the 200 Best Albums of the 1960s (2017)

Contemporary reviews from 1966:

• Billboard: "Another sure-fire sales winner"
• CashBox: "A power-packed, groovy release"
• Stereo Review: "a letdown"

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: #1 (6 weeks, Sept 10 - Oct 15, 1966)
• Billboard Pop CD: #3
• CashBox: #1
• CashBox CD: #1
• Record World: #1

Tracks:  Since I did it for Rubber Soul, I will try to rank my top 5 tracks for this album even though all 14 are winners:

5. For No One
4. Eleanor Rigby
3. Good Day Sunshine
2. Tomorrow Never Knows
1. Got To Get You Into My Life

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Even though I had the 1962-1966 & 1967-1970 compilations, Revolver was the first 'regular' Beatles album I ever purchased, mainly because of my love for Got To Get You Into My Life. It was the truncated 11 track US release, but that was good enough at the time.

Paul sang Got To Get You Into My Life when I saw him in 2005. And I had a happy grin on my face for days.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Love (2006)
Let It Be... Naked (2003)
Anthology 2 (1996)
Anthology 1 (1995)
1967-1970 (1973)
1962-1966 (1973)
Abbey Road (1969)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Rubber Soul (1965)
Help! (1965)
Please Please Me (1963)