Spotlight on REVOLUTION 9 |
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- Опубліковано 20 бер 2024
- Guest Antony Rotunno joins Pop Goes the 60s for an in depth look at the Beatles Revolution 9 form the White Album.
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Revolution 9 is essential to the White Album, and the Beatles catalogue as a whole. Even if one doesn't like the track, The Beatles were all about innovation -- invention new music, and adopting obscure styles from around the world. And you can't get more obscure than "musique concrete." But on a personal level, this track has affected me since childhood. I was born into a house with older siblings who came of age in the 60s, and it was magical to discover the Beatles all at once --- from the early singles to the White Album and beyond. I was mesmerized by it all. And I recall as a child being confounded by Revolution 9. Was it music? Why was it on a pop record? Then again, the album itself had nothing on the cover, and it had no continuous sonic theme, like all their other records. Perhaps Revolution 9 made sense after all. It really made me think about how we define music. And to this day, when I play the White Album, I expect to skip over "Number 9," as I've heard it enough times. But often I find myself entranced by it all over again. It does have the feel of being intentionally composed, as opposed to just being random sound snippets. It seems carefully constructed, to take the listener on a journey. I rank it along with You Know My Name as one of the most bizarre, wonderful and unexpected things the Beatles produced.
"block that kick! block that kick! hold that line! hold that line!" Revolution 9 is very musical to my ears. I never skipped over it when listening to side 4... I enjoy listening to it.
It was Revolutionary. It fits into the White Album perfectly. It was years ahead of what became sampling and innovative music. It grew on me and I listen to it because it takes me back to a point in time. I agree with both of you recognizing its artistic significance.
I would make the white a double record and include Hey Jude , Lady Madonna & the Rock & roll Revolution.
My playlist
Back in the USSR
Dear Prudence
Ob La Di
While my Guitar …
Happiness is a warm gun
I,m so tied
blackbird
piggies
Honey Pie
Julia
Birthday
Heater Skelter
Yer Blues
Mother Nature’s Son
Revolution ( rock version)
Lady Madonna Sexy Sadie
Hey Jude
If ever a song from the White Album had to go, ask anyone, and this would usually be their choice. To all White Album detractors, I say leave it alone! It's what contributes to the White Album's identity as being the most unusual out of all their dozen releases! One moment that I find really stands out to me is when John says "take this brother, may it serve you well", then you hear Yoko's distorted voice like we're hearing her on the telephone. It's as if John's giving us an introduction to his muse and the new phase of music he's diving into. And that is the moment I feel is most telling as to where John was in his life. To me, The White Album is an interactive experience between the band and their listeners. To take Revolution 9 off that album would have been to take that experience away from us. Also, I had to point out the irony of Anthony Rotunno's "headphones album" remark, because The White Album was the last official mono release for a Beatles album! Also his comments about "Revolution 9" as a nightmare, and "Good Night" as the comforting lullaby that follows is my exact view of the sequencing of those two songs. The way the White Album was formatted, I wouldn't change it for the world.
Yes, over the years I have come to the same conclusion. Thanks for the comment!
Thanks for this spotlight.
I listen to “Revolution 9” *every* time I listen to the album. I agree with you it’s a masterpiece and I love it!
I don’t feel the album as a whole experience is complete without it and without it leading to the conclusion of “Good Night,” which to me is a love song / lullaby saying good night and “We love you” to *me* from the Beatles after the existential experience of life from birth to death in “Revolution 9.” I think it’s a whole artistic experience.
I don’t think we’d have “Breathe (In The Air)” / “On The Run” / “Time” without it.
It certainly adds to the experience when listening to the whole album.
Thanks for this discussion, makes you appreciate this sucker (even) more / for the first time / still not at all but stimulating! Side 4 of the White Album is a grower.
Two of my favorite Beatle expertss, discussing my favorite track from one of my favorite albums. Can it get any better? Yes! It is also my birthday! "Take this brother. May it serve you well."
Happy Birthday, Monk!
I am nobody.
Still I wish you happy birthday.
Whatever it is, this, this that you give to me brother... I accept it humble and pi.
It definitely belongs on the White Album as part of the complete mixture without a theme that it is, which somehow was perfectly emblematic of 1968. By this point the Beatles were being taken very seriously and I think (besides the Ono factor), that Lennon felt they had to include the Avant Garde scene to show that they could do anything. It was more coherent in its way than much other experimental music and art. Most of that scene is simply of its time, as it's never really led to any real developments. Avant Garde is really its own genre, shorthand for "something weird and challenging". But hurrah to the Beatles for including it.
Thanks Matt for this wonderful discussion of Revolution 9. I remember getting the White Album on LP when I was a kid in '88. I would listen to the whole album on many a weekend afternoon. Hey, a bit off topic but I was wondering if you'd ever want to do a vid on Mick Taylor with the Stones. No, and I mean no one has done anything on Mick Taylor, esp. with the Stones. You'd be like one of the first!
I do plan an extensive series on the Stones but probably next year.
Greetings Matt✌️ Nice to see Antony back on Pop Goes The 60"s 👍 and great subject matter on Revolution 9 -To me Revolution 9 is the soundtrack of sorts of the upheavel and chaos of 1968, were 1967 was all about flowers and Love. -But IMO Take 18 would have been better suited for The White Album, for me when I got the box set and upon hearing this take it was such a revelation and in a way I had a better understanding of where Lennon was coming from, Lennon always had this peculiar way of interpreting his ideas in sonic pictures and images, and to understand him and his musical ideas you really had to get deep into his mind to understand what he was getting at, you see this in Tomorrow Never Knows, Strawberry Fields Forever, and Im The Walrus-That was the genius of John Lennon.-One last note: Paul McCartney did something kind of similiar in a ditty called Reception from Back To The Egg, but by 1979 its old hat and nothing to write home about, and Pink Floyd had already done this before. -Also check out a cover version and musical interpretation of Revolution 9 by The Shazam 👍👍
APPLE COULD ALSO GRAB ALL THE VEE JAY/TOLLIE,45 RPM RECORDS, SWAN,ATCO,MGM 45 rpm records and slap the APPLE LABEL,ON THEM and sell them also
This was the most interesting episode I've seen from this channel. The Un Chien Undalou comparison was especially on point.
I would add 'You know my name, look up my number' as one of the songs that is related to Rev #9 as it changes perspectives and sorta jumps and fades emphasis throughout.
I appreciate the comments Ed!
We got a great look at what a Lennon-McCartney avant garde song would look like with You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
I never skip this track. There is so much going on on this track...
The video he may have been talking about was done by the Analogous. It's their own visual recreation of the track done with care. As far as the track itself, I knew a girl who was dearly frightened of it. So ok... To me when I listen to it there's always the familiar departure point and arrival. It's the journey in between the two that is at times new. The mind will play tricks. From 68 on I've always liked it and I've come to realize that it could be the most important track they've ever released.
Appreciate the rack of photo negative Tap “Smell the Glove” covers. Pure DADA
Thank you Matt for doing an entire video on Revolution 9. I'm a big defender of this track and you're both quite right: it's very thoughtfuly constructed for such a challenging piece. It used to really scare me as a little kid (so did Seceral Species if Small Fury Animals.) But I never really skipped it and certainly never would now. It was my intro to experimental music and they had some real guts to put out an 8 minute sound collage on such a high profile album.
Also Antony, you don't have to feel ashamed about "jazz cigarettes", we all know the best way to listen to this track is when you're high as shit ❤
I maintain that Rev 9 is John and Yoko's attempt at creating "audio art". It's ... uh ... 'different'!
This is one helluva fun (and rare) Beatles exploration! When I was in high school, I became pretty much obsessed with the avant garde while at the same time remaining a Beatles nut. I recall I had one record I had that featured Musique Concrete and microtonal music. On cue from Revolution #9, I made my own 'sound effects' tape made on a single track cassette recorder. I made vocal noises, recorded the washing machine, and basically created my own Revolution #9. I showed it to my friends and they just loved it. One of my buddies went as far as saying it was brilliant! I was surprised because the concept had already been done on a professional level by the Beatles. I thought that what I was doing was already a cliche. So, I suppose you can see that this retrospective from two masters of Beatle-ology has taken me on a trip down memory lane. Great to see you and Antony joining forces. I listen to Antony quite often. Nice presentation, guys!
Cheers Vinny!!
@@AntonyRotunnoCheers, Antony! Hope all's well in your world!
Hey Vinnie! Thanks for stopping by. Do you still have that piece you made way back then?
@@popgoesthe60s52 Hey Matt. Unfortunately, every exiting cassette tape I've ever owned is forever gone. Sad loss. There was a lot of interesting old stuff from my deep past in there. Odd thing is, I can't even remember how or why it got lost. Maybe because I moved around a lot in the 90's and the box of cassettes got lost in the shuffle.
I'm a fan of Beatles avant garde stuff, so this fits in to a degree. My beef with it is that it is just too long at 8+ minutes, especially exhausting at the end of a very long album. IMO it could have been edited down to 4 minutes and been much more effective. Nothing wrong with its randomness, but I don't think it develops at all over 8 minutes. Although slightly different context Tomorrow Never Knows works as an aural assault over only 2 1/2 minutes.
I'm fine with Revolution #9. Interesting sound creation. I do find it funny that a short time later Lennon was criticizing side 2 of Abbey road saying " It wasn't even songs" etc...
Very good point. Mr. Lennon’s contradictions are always a wonderful source of humor!
I like the whole White Album, including Revolution #9 and I have since the album was first released when I was 18. I'll always believe that the R#9 was a sonic interpretation of a Transcendental Meditation experience. Anyone who has taken the TM course can recognize the similarities.
You are taught to start the meditation by silently reciting the mantra, as thoughts interfere with the mantra (which they inevitably will) you gently go back to the mantra. The process should be effortless and the interfering thoughts are actually part of the process.
Revolution #9 starts with a voice repeating the phrase, "number nine", similar to how the mantra would be introduced at the start of a meditation. Then, the sound effects, like stray thoughts, start with the voice returning to "number nine" (the mantra).
We’ll said, thank you Gene!
Wonderful to see and hear you both again … a great topic ! Really enjoyed every minute of this .., as always ! Thanks again … 👌
For years I tried to put #9 into a song form that I could comprehend. Always failing and then disliking the track. Then I began to see this as a performance and my acceptance and enjoyment of #9 sky rocketed!
I never like Rev #9 when i started listening to the Beatles. But ive warmed up to it after 30+ years. It does add something freaky to The White Album!!
Matt I had the same experience. It took years to like it… time. But now I think it’s really cool. It’s a small trip.
Rev 9 is a great track. The "white album" would be bereft without it!
Great guest and interview--thanks, Matt.
For all you single White album advocates, my White album has to include the brilliantly audacious Rev.9. So it's length alone precludes any attempt to chop the double down to a single disc . An idea I've never agreed with anyway.
You're right. The whole cantankerous song cycle is what it is. And what it is is the White Album. The chop-it-down to one talk started with George Martin's later musings of his thoughts back when. It doesn't really work, academically, to try and reduce it to a "best of" White Album White Album.
At last!! Thank you, Matt and Antony, for doing this video on "Revolution 9". Back then, I remember that piece was absolutely remarkable. It opened a door to the universe of music, soundscapes, if you wish. Yes, some disliked that piece. But I liked it. Totally. The only thing I did not like about "it" was how it was placed before Good night...(which I like)... Yes, the entire White Album is spooky. Matt, thank you for mentioning Harrison's Wonderwall LP, which I discovered only in the past decade. In total agreement with your point of view, Harrison was very much THERE in the world of soundscapes. Soundscapes like film. This was very much like a sound track to a film. Or a video. A video clip. But having to place a video on these sounds, I am not sure. Better to leave it to our imagination. Thank you.
Thank you Antonio!
@@popgoesthe60s52 fine work, matt, as always.
Antony!!! Yes! Big fan of both of you guys. Thanks for an absolute treasure trove of information and insight. - I seem to get more out of Revolution 9 every time I hear it. I'm to the point now where I find myself looking forward to it, whenever listening to the White Album.
I'm surprised there was no mention of 'The Progress Suite' by Chad & Jeremy on their 1967 album "Of Cabbages and Kings". It's pretty similar to 'Revolution 9' but even longer and not quite as chaotic.
I will cover that track in my History of Chad and Jeremy. Thanks for mentioning it.
Yes! I also think that "The Progress Suite: Fall" was an immediate precursor to "Revolution 9".
Listened to it in the dark with headphones, terrifying.
I’ve never done that! Very daring of you.
@@popgoesthe60s52 I highly recommend it.
Try listening to it on a heavy commute to work (or going home)during rush hour 😂🤣😅
a video on Tim Buckley would be great!
Every Beatles song should be judged for what it is…
Yellow Submarine is a Ringo kids song..and perfect for a kids cartoon..MASTERPIECE..
revolution 9 is a freak out..a sound collage..it’s the Beatles breaking the myth..like the butcher cover..
Take it off the white album and it’s not the white album…
I LOVE IT!!
I always enjoy a good ole chat with Anthony.
I've always loved Revolution 9. The latter half of the White Album goes to dark places, and I couldn't imagine a better way to end the album than this harrowing nightmare vision followed by the exquisite Good Night.
hi matt: I do like Revolution 9 - it was an earthquake to my 14 year old mind when I first heard it after buying the album.
I must also say that the speech volume on this video is a bit low - difficult to hear - is that me or you? please check as i would love to hear it all clearly. thanks D
hi matt - speech volume my problem - new earbuds and now it sounds like everybody is shouting!!!! wonderful conversation.
I somehow managed to get through my life without listening to "Rev 9" until now. I'll take your advice and listen to it more than once to see if deeper meanings emerge. My initial impression is that I now understand where ELO's "Fire on High" came from. :) "Rev 9" also reminds me of "A Small Package of Value Will Be Coming to You Shortly" on Jefferson Airplane's "Baxter's" album and released almost a year before the White Album. As I recall, Matt, you weren't fond of "Package." Where do you think "Rev 9" succeeds while "Package" does not?
Spencer Dryden vs John Lennon is no contest. "Package" was more of an exercise in giving Dryden a writing credit instead of an attempt at a serious artistic statement.
@@popgoesthe60s52I would never disagree that Dryden doesn't hold a candle to Lennon, but I'm still not sure why one composition is better than the other. I've listened to compositions by Cage, Stockhausen, and Verese, and I think Lennon and Dryden were drawing from the same well although interpreting it differently.
@greggildersleeve3484 Dryden’s experimental material in general is childish and weak and simply does not raise itself to an artistic level. I don’t compare the two because there is no comparison. Dryden seemed to approach his pieces as a joke and we are not in on it. None of his “avant-garde” work enhances the overall album, it just detracts from it. Case in point, Chushingura on Crown, which was only put on their "best of' album - not because it was anywhere near their best - but to give him a payday by providing him with a publishing credit on what was understood to be sure sales hit. His Song For All Seasons on Volunteers is very good, however. He should stick to conventional songs.
@@popgoesthe60s52 I actually liked "Chushingura," though I thought it could have been longer. :) It had a creepy/spooky vibe similar to much of "Rev 9." I do see your point about the childish/in-joke quality of some of his material.
Another early example of musique concrète in pop music that comes to mind is the 1967 single versions of Curt Boettcher/Gary Usher's Sagittarius My World Fell Down/Hotel Indescreet. Always makes me laugh to think they would include it on the single versions but not album, would love to see your coverage of Curt Boettcher/Gary Usher one day Matt!
I listened to #9 once as an early teen. It was amusing... one time. It must have been fun to stitch together for John and Yoko. A few years after my #9 initiation, I though I might give it a try on acid but tripping is strange enough, so I elected to spin a Firesign Theater disc instead. Also weird, but funny. That's my #9 story and I'm sticking to it.
I love it! Thanks Peter.
Great episode IMO I listen to all of Anthony’s uploads as well all though he hasn’t posted in awhile
I would never have believed that I could spend over an hour listening to a discussion on Revolution 9.
Bravo, both of you!
That’s high praise! Thank you.
I always felt it made the album complete. The White Album has almost every music genre: rock, heavy metal, country, classical, avant guard etc.
I think you are right. Without it the White would be incomplete.
The whole White Album is an unconscious travel into the world of chaos. First we get chaos as a guest in some of the Beatles' songs: Glass Onion finishes with a warning of some darker things ahead, Wild Honey Pie is an unsettling mock of a song, Don't Pass Me By is a mess, Helter Skelter is a top musical horror. But then the chaos settles in and starts acting as a host on the White Album's territory. And by the time Revolution 9 begins to play you're already prepared for the worse. It’s the sign of the times, which have changed since the Summer of Love.
Great recap of the album! Nicely done.
Trenchantly observed. Gone are the Muppet Beatles of the Ed Sullivan Show. Gone are the granny-glassed paisley Beatles of Magical Mystery Tour. These are the grownup Beatles letting it all hang out. Rock on, Bungalow Bill. And yeah, follow Revolution 9 with the dreamy Goodnight. Discordant juxtapose and real, like life.
When I first heard this back in the day I was more interested in the 'Turn Me On Dead Man' aspect. It was just a noisy sound collage.
A few years later I partook of a specific hallucination invoking drug (one of John's favorites). Later I listened to this track again and I could absolutely understand what was going on here. The noise was precisely similar to the cacophony in my head after partaking of that hallucinogen. Now I hear it as a significant Beatles song. The White Album contained nearly every genre of the time represented. Why not an avant-garde track too? The Beatles' catalog would be diminished by its absence, IMO.
I'm glad you guys mentioned how hooky the track is. Yes, it's a sound collage, but it's one made by one of the best pop songwriters of his generation. He knew enough not to let it get boring, unlike some of the more "serious" composers of that sort of work.
I first heard the White Album around 1976 or 7, when the Manson Family was big news, with the "Helter Skelter" TV-movie and such. So that was the context for me, and #9 and Skelter were very spooky things to listen to. And yes, Cry Baby Cry and the "Can you take me back?" intro add a lot to the vibiness of side 4.
What a fantastic video have you enjoyed UA-cam videos have a wonderful day Matt also Monday is my birthday ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊
Happy birthday!
I'll put myself in the minority and admit I never liked Revoultion 9, but I respect it as a period piece which pushes boundaries. However, I would prefer if the White Album had included tracks like Not Guilty and others left over from the Esher sessions, rather than trying to make a statement.
I've listened to the song many times - it's very very memorable :) Great discussion...thank you :)
Thanks for this, an entertaining episode. I have actually never skipped Revolution 9, when I was quite young I listened to Pink Floyd Ummagumma & Atom Heart Mother which have experimental aspects to them. These are of course subsequent releases, but I may have heard them first. As you point out, although R9 is a sound collage, it has plenty of change, movement and a variety of and interesting sounds. The White album also came with that collage poster, which to me forms a kind of visual parallel.
As far as precursors you mentioned one Zappa, but there were two significant other ones, "The Great Chrome Plated megaphone of destiny" off We're only in it for the Money and the entire Lumpy Gravy album which was released just a few weeks before the recording of Revolution. These are maybe more composed than Revolution 9 and they're also collages that I find listenable and engaging.
I think the piece is primarily Lennon and obviously Yoko was influential but I suspect that Harrison's input was important. R9 is nothing like Two Virgins or the other experimental works he did with Yoko and it may just have been that having Harrison involved put Lennon more in a Beatles like mind set and trying to make it sound good or interesting. Yoko has said it was basically John, her and George. George always had a musical support role in the Beatles, I suspect that was the case on this track too.
Excellent points comparing R9 to John and Yokos other works around this time. None come close to this level of production, I also like your point about the accompanying poster.
I think that any serious discussion of Revolution 9 needs to explicitly recognize two seemingly-contradictory facts. One the one hand the White Album couldn't possibly be the White Album without it. In many ways, it's the climax of the record, what it all builds to. And The Beatles' legacy is greater for having made it. On the other hand, it really isn't very good. It's something you listen to every now and then on a lark, but it just isn't the kind of piece that calls you back. (Although I did go through a phase of thinking it was kind of cool). Ultimately it has the appeal of a novelty song. It's kind of intriguing because it's so weird. But once you get it, there's no real need to go back again. I seriously doubt that many of those who claim to like the song actually listen to it very often. That doesn't make it unworthy, or bad art even. It's just not good music.
We’ll said, David. Thank you for the insightful comment.
I’d like to see a breakdown of this with John Heatons
When it was released I thought of Rev 9 as pretentious semi solid offensive matter , all these years later I have to admit I still haven't changed my mind.
Sometimes I make Myself aware of things i don't usually deal with, this is one! I don't skip it and I never put it on as a single listen. It is interesting! I did a piece like this in the early 80's. I used recordings and snips of radio broadcast, emergency sounds, party noise, etc.
Antony has a fantastic podcast called Glass Onion !
The Beatles surely were great because they pushed the barriers? They don’t really repeat ? I think it’s like Picasso ? If I dare say, Picasso as with fine Artists dont stay still, because intellectually it’s boring? Pushing boundaries is what they did ? You don’t have to like, but that’s not a reason to reject ?
Excellent explanations from Antony
Fascinating program 👍
I think I listened to it more during the Paul is Dead craze.
Top nine most deranged John Lennon “Revolution 9” vocal snippets:
2:42: “Right! Right! riiiIGHT! RIIIIght … rrr … rrr … mphhh … iiiiii-IIIGHTTT! RI-I-I-I-I-GHT!
3:54: “HUVVVVVvvvv! HUVVVVvvvv!”
4:13: “ALLLL-right …”
4:29: “Nuh! nnnn-Nuh! Muh! Ah-h-h-h-Eh-h-h-h”
5:07: “wuuuohhh-AH-H-H-H!”
5:49: “Mm-DAH! AH-ah … Aaaah-ah … ah-ah … AH-H-H-H-H-hhhh …”
6:05: “Wooooovvvvv-vvvvvv …”
Honestly, I can only come up with seven, but I obviously had to say “top nine” because, I mean, number nine.
Heh, I knew he would show up.
I actually like Number 9. Had a copy of the White Album on tape in my freestyle back then, so I had to hear it every time to not waste batteries. And for a couple of years was it almost the only album I listened to. Revolution no 9 grew on me after a while.
I've never had a problem with the track even when I first heard it when I was very young but ever since I heard Revolution 1 takes 18 and 20 I really wish they'd stuck with the idea of Revolution 1 having a very long fade out with the best parts of Revolution 9 playing over the last five minutes. We still would have gotten an experimental track but it also would have freed up two or three minutes for a more conventional song.
I agree with more of Rev 1 being used. Could have been more assessable.
Yes, agree. 9 on its own is too long and doesn't develop.@@popgoesthe60s52
I dug all Beatle songs! 🎊🌈🎊😎
John was a rock & roller. Revolution 9 is very much a Yoko creation. She was very much aware of "avant-garde" music and sound collage, and directed John towards it. Revolution 9 was a creative collaboration certainly, but one that never would have seen the light of day without Yoko. And we can all be thankful that she doesn`t sing on it...
Stockhousen was an influence on early Pink Floyd, which were arguably the hippest, most progressive underground band in London in 1967...and we know the Beatles attended at least one or two Floyd concerts at UFO or Middle Earth... I'm not saying that the Beatles weren't aware of Stockhausen as a direct source/influence; no doubt, they were, but long, impressionistic/abstract pieces with few or no lyrics (e.g., Astronomy Domine, Interstellar Overdrive) were part of the underground rock world of the time as well, and the Beatles always monitored the up and coming "competition."
Yes that London club scene was very cutting edge.
Hi Matt...again
Great review talk.
I first listened to Revolution 9 when it came out. In MONO then STEREO. Just to notice the differences.
Have you listened to it the
DELUXE BOX SET?
You can really appreciate it.
Ii can honestly say some of it is quiet disturbing
Great chat as ever
Thank you Graham!
The comparison between Lennon's approach and the Warhol films can be seen in Lennon's microscopic editing of the finished product, excising a few seconds here and there and adding sound effects. He treats the piece just like they would any other Beatle song and in doing so brings a tighter pop sensibility to the Avant-garde genre. Thanks for the shout-out Antony. (Ian Hammond)
I appreciate the comments, Ian!
R9 should be on every beatles fan's top ten song list. of course it isn't
Revolution 9 mug and hoodie please Matt
Revolution 9 is totally successful at telling a sonic story: it has motifs and a defined beginning, middle, and end. Having made my own incredibly pretentious 'noise songs' back in the day, it's not as easy as Lennon makes it seem!
Matt, maybe this was just a project to impress Yoko, and to show he could be avant-garde like Paul. Because Antony is so obsessed with Lennon, he just reads much more into the meaning of it than Lennon ever intended IMO. Cheers!
Revolution 9 sounds even more disconcerting and impactful in the 5.1 version on a surround sound system. The 'Love' soundtrack that George and Giles Martin made for the Cirque du Soleil show, is sensational in 5.1 on a home theatre system, so I'd love to hear what Matt thinks of them.
when I listen to my White LP Mix, I leave half the songs out that I'm not so into. And I leave #9 off as well. However, there are times when I listen to #9 late at night with headphones and a dark beer (preferably Chimay). My view is that, on many recordings, the Beatles would add non-musical sounds to enhance various songs; 'I Feel Fine', 'Taxman', 'Good Morning', etc... It was like they were taking sounds out of a sonic closet. On #9, they are using all the sounds out of the sonic closet. I personally think it is genius that they included it. No other artist took this kind of risk!!!
Agreed. This took balls to release and it’s far from an embarrassment.
Compared to "real" avant garde, watching a saxophonist improvising in front of a fish tank as they swim up and down to make notes, "Revolution 9" is a jaunty ditty. I still don't listen to it that often but glad it's out there. Luckily. embarrassment was avoided by leaving out "It's a goal" from an early version of "Glass Onion" .
"Like everything else he moves on... or he reverts back to Be Bop A Lula." Honestly, this well could be the closest encapsulation of the man's artistic approach I've ever heard.
It maybe a bit reductionist, but it seemed to make sense when I heard myself say it! Thanks Caleb.
John and George each went off and wrote some prose in notebooks and then they recorded them and just brought the tracks in and out over each other.
“Avant Gard Clue”! is printed on the original inner sleeve of George’s Electronic Sound album and on CD reissues.
Haven't got a clue
I've always liked that track, I liked it so much I investigated some avant garde music concrete. I didn't like it generally. "Revolution 9" is somehow more poppy. It is the Beatles after all.
It’s neither a masterpiece nor just some crap sound collage. It’s (for some) unlistenable, it’s (for some) exhilarating. For me, I think parts are good and others less so. Ultimately, no one had put together a collection of, what would later be termed, ‘samples, before. So it IS novel and innovative, so on balance it’s worthy of discussion and not many tracks from the 60s merit that.
Great Topic, but the sound is very bad, volume very low ;(
Sorry about that.
Thanks for this.
I am only a little into the episode, and I know there will be a lot here.
But while it is in my mind, may I please offer up a recommendation to another video to accompany this.
It is a episode from James hardgreaves guitar on UA-cam. It explains the occult meaning behind the track and the influences that you may miss. As I say, I have not heard the full episode yet, so no offence meant.
Second
A small error. Lennon was interviewed several times around the time of MLK's murder and did comment on it on one occasion certainly.
Sorry to jump the gun, but I have always been passionate about this track. Think possibly I am one of the few that doesn't skip it, but skips some songs to get to it.
For me, and this is opinion only, the idea it was thrown together is a little odd considering the sheer perfection of the remainder of their career, and was deliberate in intent.
The Beatles spent 24 sequencing the album and there is no suggestion that this artwork was ever to be taken off the table.
I would also say, in advance of your discussion fully heard that although this is John, George and Yoko. Paul beat him to it with Carnival of Light. Not that it matters, but perhaps the competition to be most avant-garde was as strong as that on writing more easily digestible material?
I was given my own copy of the White Album for '75 Christmas, when I was nine (I have older Beatlemania-era siblings and one of them already had the album, so I was familiar with it). Listening to it over and over, I was fascinated, as up to that point I had focused more heavily on the group's early output. I NEVER skipped tracks -- although I do realise now that I wasn't quite ready for some of them, especially John's songs. Around the time that I got the album, my eldest sister told me about the absurd "Paul is Dead" thing and the purported clues to be found in "Revolution 9." I pored over the track and of course played the title line backed to hear "Turn me on, dead man." The combination of the hypnotically repeated title and the funereal sounds in the background at the beginning actually frightened me -- but, then again, so did the enigmatic string passage at the end of "Glass Onion" and the unlisted "Can You Take Me Back" (hey, Pink Floyd's "Money" scared the hell out of me in the same period) -- but, nevertheless, I found "Revolution 9" incredibly compelling. I'm one of those people who strongly disagrees with the notion -- held famously by George Martin, among others -- that the White Album should have been a single LP. For me, a large part of the genius of the album is its multifariousness. At a time when other bands were straggling along, still trying to come up with psychedelic sounds to match _Revolver_ and _Sgt Pepper_ , The Beatles were light years ahead -- the record's cover itself proclaims this, always appearing to me to be a rejection of psychedelic garishness. The content represents each member's influences, leanings and delvings -- which I love, as it took all four of them to be The Beatles. My only source of disappointment is that the record as a whole wasn't more of a group effort. ... In any case, my sis and I still say, "The Watusi ... The Twist," "Eldorado," "Take this brother -- may it serve you well," etc. at odd moments.
Much thanks for a highly in-depth, insightful discussion of probably the most controversial Beatle track!
I love the Topic but the Audio is very bad on this post! Volume too low
I wish I could listen to Revolution 9 backwards.
So after watching this discussion I played the White Album in its entirety. 😁 Edit: Twice 😉😉
Revolution #9 and You Know My Name - the misunderstood masterpieces.
Is Carnival of Light considered the "prelude" to Revolution 9??
Have you ever heard Carnival of Light?
I haven’t heard it.
To me Revolution #9 is an experimental sound collage…calling it a “song” is kind of giving it an incorrect title. I enjoy it quite a bit , I was never put off by it even when my family first had the White album in 1968 when I was 15. I always think its an interesting audio collage…I think its right that they used a lot of the techniques employed in previous songs as they became more experimental but here they just did away with the SONG part! I know a lot of folks just can’t take the abstraction of it…. I AM totally with your guest on Apocalypse Now ..and SPACE ODYSSEY LOVE BOTH OF THOSE.
#9 sits for me on the same “mind shelf” with You Know My Name, Look Up the Number.
Fan.
I hate Revolution #9.
Same fan.
Where is Carnival of Light?
Exactly 😂🤣😅👍 -if Carnival Of Light ever see's the Light of day I think it should be on The Magical Mystery Tour box set, it would be perfect for that future release.
Some would have complained, "I bought a Beatles album to hear Beatles music. This is just noise to fill out a double album." I'm not saying I agree with that, but I do think Rev 9 would have been better received if it had been released separately from Beatles music.
Revolution 9 is The Beatles heaviest track...next to I Want You and Helter Skelter
Kinda like 'The Ballad of John and Yoko', Revolution 9 feels more like a proto song from John Lennon's solo career that could have fit better on one of his lesser albums post Imagine than on a Beatles album.
If the albums ended up as a single lp Revolution 9 would have been discarded or it would have had a very negative affect on it at best. I had fun listening to it occasionally, but I wish Across the universe, Not guilty and Hey Bulldog were included instead.
When the White Album was released, I was 18 years old and the Beatles were my favorite band by far and, as far as I was concerned they could do no wrong. The White Album changed my mind about that -- they could do wrong. I was tremendously disappointed with what I then considered flotsam and jetsam combined with pleasant enough fluff, plus some scattered masterpieces. On further acquaintance, I realized that all of the best stuff came from John Lennon. If you take all of Lennon's compositions sequenced just as they are, you have a powerhouse single album, perhaps better than any of his solo efforts, although Plastic Ono Band would run it close. Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Buffalo Bill, Warm Gun, So Tired, Julia, Yer Blues, My Monkey, Sexy Sadie, Revolution 1, Cry Baby Cry, Revolution 9, Good Night. Isn't that dynamite with a capital D? Putting all of McCartney's contributions together would give you a typical McCartney solo effort -- one top notch number (Blackbird) with a grab bag of more or less pleasant tunes, and some outright embarrassing drek. Revolution 9 was truly revolutionary, nothing like that had been heard before in the pop world, unless you consider Mothers of Invention pop.
Good comments John - thank you!
Like side 2 of Da Capo did anyone ever play this more than once? I've just sampled bits of this mess on Spotify. I'll retire gracefully from here Matt.
Hate to be a contrarian Matt, but I've always found Rev. 9, to be the epitome of the self-indulgence, that for me, mars so much of the White Album. I've never been much of a fan of that album, to be frank, for that very reason. Lennon should have put it on one of his other avant-garde albums with Ono with the rest of their "material". It certainly didn't belong on a Beatles album, and that argument could be made for much of the material on the White album. Didn't like it when it came out and find it even more annoying now. Hard to believe they put this on, while leaving George's excellent Not Guilty off. At least we were spared the equally obnoxious What's the New Mary Jane. Thanks for another fine video.
Hey 750 - I agree that “self-indulgent” is a completely appropriate description. I suppose the reason I’ve only listened to it all the way that out
10 times is due to the over indulgent nature of the whole piece.
1:01:00 Yes, I'm always skeptical of the word "Challenge" as an aesthetic justification, though I appreciate innovation will think outside the box to extend our parameters. I just don't like that word related to aesthetics because it implies *shocking* the listener/viewer/reader has automatic aesthetic merit.
It's also a red flag in job ads: looking for a recruit who enjoys a "challenge" means some chump who likes more hours for less pay. Same red flag as a job promotion for some chump who is "aggressive" - - ppl who meet those requirements deserve all bad karma. Challenging & aggressive? clinical psychopaths apply within.
So although I appreciate 1950s political anarchy behind Situationism looking to disrupt rush-hour with a performance piece, aesthetics get blurred when part of the assessment is whether it was disruptive.
If someone is shocked at a purported art work, this is irrelevant to my assessment of whether the piece is any good. The motivation of shocking people is for adolescents deprived of mummy & daddy's attention.
I never equated those to terms, which have quite different meanings to me, which is probably why i didn’t use the term “shocking” to describe this track. I think the challenge (as with much of Zappa’s work as well) is to just get through the song.
As far as I’m concerned, if you put a track in an album that is just noise and completely incoherent and the artist doesn’t bother to fill you in the concept ; it’s automatically considered filler. During this time, Lennon was overindulging in heroin and marijuana. I’m pretty sure he was getting a sick kick out of taking up space in the album that Paul wouldn’t get. Musicians should stop doing this since it really brings the White Album down in the ranking of GOAT Beatles albums. If the Beatles got rid of the filler, this album would easily tie with Abby Road or Revolver as among the GOAT Beatle Albums. In my opinion it’s always 1. Rubber Soul; 2. Revolver; 3 Abby Road
Fair bit of 'filler' on your 1,2 & 3 (Lennon always confirmed this!).
@@graniterhythm53 I take whatever Lennon says with a grain of salt. Even then, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Abby Road’s filler is a better album that any album made by John Lennon solo. What do you consider filler in 1-3?
@@jblassio Well, I try to respect the musician/composer point of view regardless of how much I might enjoy a song. So, What Goes On, Wait, Run For Your Life, Yellow Submarine, Good Day Sunshine, I Want To Tell You, Maxwell, Octopus's Garden, come to mind. There was always 'filler' on Beatles' albums due to the democratic make up of the unit! All their solo work also had plenty of 'filler'.
@@graniterhythm53 all better tracks than Lennon’s solo work.
@@jblassio It's always subjective but methinks you might be in a minority of one with that assessment!
Whilst I appreciate the research this guy has done, it is a total waste of time and of no interest to anyone, I learnt a lot of stuff I never wanted, needed or requested. Just an opinion
Your opinion is always welcomed, Ray. Love ya!
Its Altogether Pointless 😅🤣😂
Too long clip Mate
Let me start by saying that I am a person who likes The Beatles 2nd tier songs, I prefer Flying or Your Mother Should Know or Good Morning, Good Morning over Hey Jude or I Want To Hold Your Hand, etc. My favorite Beatles song is Hey Bulldog, can't get much more 2nd tier than that. But, having said that, I cannot get behind Revolution 9, it is a self-indulgent, disharmonious mess that would not surprise if was done by Philip Glass or maybe Art Of Noise. Although, I guess The White Album was the perfect record for Revolution 9 to be on, considering the disparate group of songs included on the album.
We’ll said, I appreciate the comments!