Revolver (Original Recording Remastered)

I do feel after Rubber soul the Beatles could do no wrong and this album is just Gold. I was very excited with the re-done masters, and hearing Yellow Submarine and Elenor Rigby on the Yellow submarine songtrack I was bursting. When my Stereo box set arrived I slipped this album on first. My heart sank I was so dissapointed the same mix with Voices on the one channel and instruments on the other. I don't get it at all. Ok the mono version are the definative versions, as stereo was still in its early stages. These stereo mixes according to our Beatles History were knocked off in an afternoon and George Martin and the other Beatles had nothing to do with the this mix so surley it would be ok to go back place the voices in the centre of the stereo pictrue. In this day and age of i players, listerning in headphones this kind of mix is just not exceptable. So are we gonna get a re balanced version? for one of the best albums ever, it worked with Pet Sounds with a great stereo version made from the original master. Over to you lot at EMI.

Revolver is often left hidden within the shadow of the hugely popular Sgt. Peppers, a shadow that really should not exist. I have always felt that Revolver had the edge over Sgt. Peppers due to its revolutionary aspects and I personally feel it is one of the greatest studio acheivements in music history. Revolver was responsible for the introduction of backward guitar riffs, distorted vocals, as well as the 'proper' introduction of Indian music in the West.

This has lead to Revolver becoming one of the most innovative records ever produced as well as the forefront of the psychedelic era of music, and this can all be highlighted within one of the best psychedelic songs ever made: Tomorrow Never Knows.

Overall, I think it is critical that Revolver is not just seen as a bridge towards Sgt. Peppers, but rather the sturdy foundations of it as well as the foundations for all music that was to follow.

Sometimes the quality of some of tracks pushes this close to being my favourite but that's not really relevant- it's a great Beatles album irrespective, probably in my top three Beatles albums.

'I'm Only Sleeping' is one of my favourite tracks in it's simplicity and beautiful chord changes. The much maligned 'Yellow Submarine' is still a great rabble rouser and breaks up the album nicely. 'Dr Robert' is awesome. Classic rocking song. 'Tomorrow never knows' is cool at the start but slips into pretentious territory as they overdo the backwards guitar effect.

I've already covered the re-masters mono sound on my review of 'Please, Please Me' which is fine for listening on stereo but can sound strange when you crank it up on the headphones. The production in general is not as clear as say 'Rubber Soul' where the instruments are more sperated and clearly defined and in my ears sounds a bit limp at times.

But this is very minor criticism. It's a quality album and far better than the absudly overrated 'Sgt Pepper' (but then in my opinion most are!)