Revolver [Enhanced]

REVOLVER was considered Just Another Beatles Record when it was released in August 1966 and to some was considered their swan song in the dying days of Beatlemania. However, REVOLVER has stood the test of time and today outshines SGT. PEPPER. The reason is that the 1987 CD release ignored the inferior 11-track U.S. version of REVOVLER (omitting John's I'm Only Sleeping, And Your Bird Can Sing, Dr. Robert) and belatedly presented to North Americans the complete British 14-song album.

REVOLVER represents The Beatles at the top of their game. The level of composition is at its highest, outshining PEPPER and everything that followed. There is not a weak song here, lyrically or musically. The instrumentation by all four Beatles reaches its peak. Ringo, especially, earns top marks songs like She Said She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows. Lastly, the level of experimentation and breath of style is staggering. There are so many styles of music on REVOLVER, from classical to Indian raga to ballad to hard rock to soul and sampling (then called "tape loops") that the album almost bursts at the seams. Above all, this is a group effort which is lacking in later records such as the The White Album.

George takes a quantum leap forward on REVOLVER. He kicks off an album for the first time with Taxman, which features some of the sharpest lyrics ever to appear in a Beatles' song. Taxman signals that this is no Beatles album like any other. The lyrics are not cute, but bitter and biting, backed by one of Paul's best-ever bass lines (copped by Beck in The New Pollution). George's anger is also heard in the Raga-ish Love You Too, a rocking song that left many fans puzzled in 1966, but which has aged better than Within You Without You. His I Want To Tell You is a fine contribution to side two.

Paul displays his melodic, gentle side with two of his finest love songs, Here There and Everywhere and For No One, which feature exquisite vocals in the former, and a sparse but mournful arrangement in the latter. Unlike Michelle, Paul here avoids sentimentality and achieves beauty. Got To Get You Into My Life is a driving number featuring towering horns a la Stax, and actually describes an early pot experience (not acid as widely believed). Yellow Submarine (sung by Ringo) is a fun children's song, and Good Day Sunshine is also lighthearted and catchy without being shallow.

Most of all Eleanor Rigby stands as Paul's masterpiece, more mature in lyric and arrangement than Yesterday and not melodramatic and overproduced like the later She's Leaving Home. Rigby remains one of the Beatles' best lyrics and perhaps their most haunting tune. It never ages.

John too reaches a peak with REVOLVER. I'm Only Sleeping is an introspective song featuring backward guitars and confessional lyrics. She Said She Said recounts an acid trip in L.A. with Peter Fonda, and features some of Lennon's most harrowing imagery and stunning guitars-and-drums. And Your Bird Can Sing and Dr. Robert are fine rock songs.

Tomorrow Never Knows is the stunning conclusion to the album, full of tape loops, Ringo's hypnotic drumming and otherworldly lyrics inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Nothing ever sounded like this before and arguably not since.

REVOLVER is the culmination of four talents peaking at the same time. Others will insist on PEPPER as the definitive Beatles statement, but PEPPER has weaker songs, is self-consciously psychedelic, and is lopsided, favouring McCartney. REVOLVER sounds as fresh today as in 1966, and stands at the pinnacle of the Beatles' recording career. This is my favourite Beatles album and I never tire of playing it. Few albums by any band continue to sound fresh.

All Beatles albums have their qualities, but if there is one Beatles record you must pick up, this is the one.