So
far as classic albums go, The Beatles’ 1966 effort, Revolver, has to rate right
up there with the very best of them. Although often pushed hard by Sgt Pepper,
Abbey Road, and the White Album when those ubiquitous “Beatles’ Best” lists are
compiled, the general consensus is that Revolver is the one to have best stood the
test of time. The one that still resonates most some 50-plus years on, and perhaps
even one of the rare few that has improved with age.
Certainly, for my money,
it is the most consistent studio set The Beatles ever released, and it does
tend to showcase the band at its formidable peak. Rather
than go into too much detail here - after all, if you’re reading this you’re
unlikely to need an introduction to the band or what it sounds like - I’ll just
list the key tracks to be found on Revolver:
‘Taxman’
(the opener), ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘I’m Only Sleeping’, ‘Here, There and
Everywhere’, ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’, and the feted closer ‘Tomorrow
Never Knows’. Then of course there’s Ringo’s most famous composition, the
throwaway studio sing-along, ‘Yellow Submarine’. A little bit of something for
everyone there and some terrific stuff from one of the most important bands of
all-time.
Any
serious music consumer ought to be ashamed (yep, ashamed!) if they don’t already
own a copy of Revolver. Buy it, download it, steal it from your parents, do
whatever you need to do, but make sure a copy in some format is never too far
from your fingertips. That’s all you really need to know.
For the first two
decades following its 1967 release, a good number of commentators duly rated
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as not only a landmark work for The
Beatles, but as something close to the “greatest album of all-time” … as though
it’s actually even possible to evaluate such a thing – see various NME polls
and magazine lists across several generations.
But time allows for
reassessment, and some 50 years on from its release, we’re afforded a much wider
screen perspective on just where Sgt Pepper might sit, and it’s probably fair
to say the subsequent couple of decades have seen the album somewhat downgraded
from its original untouchable status.
There is no
question that the album is a work of art – musically, conceptually, and within
the overall context of its time. I don’t think it’s always fully appreciated
how much The Beatles improved as a band after making the decision to stop
touring and performing live in 1966. The Sgt Pepper album in many respects
captures that new found sense of creativity and freedom, unburdened as the band
undoubtedly was from the more immediate and intense pressure of performing
before an adoring public on a regular basis.
Not having to worry
about how the music would translate on stage or in a live environment threw up
a raft of new sonic possibilities for the band. Musical ideas that an equally adventurous
(producer) George Martin was also keen to explore further. In a way, the
shackles had been released, and the music of The Beatles was evolving way beyond
the short sharp three-minute bursts of pop perfection it had relied so heavily
on in the past.
Yet, curiously, it’s
rarely an album I can play in its entirety without resorting to skipping the
odd track. Despite the presence of some real gems, it feels a little patchy, or
almost as though there’s actually too much going on in places. A side effect, a
downside, or a problematic consequence of that level of experimentation,
perhaps. I remain a fan of the album, and I’m not denying it showcases a remarkable
amount of sheer genius, but I’m also pretty sure that it’s not even the best
Beatles album out there (see Revolver), let alone the greatest of all-time.
Many tracks have endured
to become classic rock standards: ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘Lucy
In The Sky With Diamonds’ and the masterful ‘A Day In The Life’ (clip below), in particular.
But generally the album is fleshed out with quirky novelty cuts – I’ll stop
short of calling it “filler” because this is The Beatles after all – with the
likes of ‘Lovely Rita’, ‘When I’m Sixty Four’, and ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr
Kite’ all unlikely to have made much sense beyond the context of this album.
I also think Sgt Pepper
could have been improved by the inclusion of ‘Strawberry Fields’, the superb
single of the same year, a song that embraced the flower power counter-culture ethos
of 1967 quite unlike any other, one that wound up on the less celebrated
Magical Mystery Tour release.
Nonetheless it
remains an excellent album, a collectable, and a genuine timepiece … even if
it’s not quite the unsurpassed piece of work it was once considered to be.
