The BEATLES "Revolver"

Original released on LP Parlophone PMC 7009 (mono)

(UK 1966, August 5)

The musical direction the Beatles appeared to be taking with "Rubber Soul" changed quickly with "Revolver". Released eight months after "Rubber Soul", this album contains brilliant, diverse music and moves further into the realms of fantasy. "Revolver" contains some rather interesting social statements from the Beatles in the form of George Harrison's sarcastic comments on "Taxman" and Paul McCartney's sad tale of loneliness on "Eleanor Rigby". Various flights of fantasy and strange lyrics feature on a range of titles from the sing-along "Yellow Submarine" to the weird and frightening "Tomorrow Never Knows". The sleeve shows a collage of drawnings (by Klaus Voormann) and photographs of the Beatles (including two of the photographs previously used on the back of "Rubber Soul"). A collection of faces, as on the inner photograph of the "Beatles For Sale" album, is again used just as it would be used again even more effectively on the sleeve of the "Sgt. Pepper's" album. Although fans did not realise at the time, the Beatles were to give their last full concert three weeks after the release of this album. Their music had progressed to such a point that with "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" it had become almost impossible to reproduced live. (Jeff Russell in "The Beatles Album File and Complete Discography")