Can you imagine listening to this in 1966. Your mother won't know. I was born in 1968 and first heard tomorrow never knows 25 years later and it blew my mind. If only I was 25 in 1966
Because it wasn't 4 tracks, technically. They brought in tape machines from all over the studio to run the loops, which they would alter the sounds slightly with a pencil. So cool!
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the best song off their best album and as you listen to it more, you'll begin to understand that the chills you're feeling are not because of it's weirdness, but because of it's freshness; it opens your mind to a new kind of song styling and sound craft. On top of that, with "Tomorrow Never Knows", along with "Rain" (another favourite), the Beatles created psychedelic rock. Not just because of the treatment to John's voice and use of loops and backwards guitar, but also the sound of Paul's throbbing bass and, perhaps most importantly, Ringo's drumming, with it's mesmerizing rhythm put so prominently at the front of the mix.
“Rain” is epic, as you state along with John’s other gem “Tomorrow Never Knows those 2 opened the floodgates that later led to “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “A Day in the Life”, “I am the Walrus”’and more
That, along with a day in the Life, Strawberry Fields, I want you (she's so heavy) Norwegian Wood and oh darlin! all at the same level, for me,But for differeent reasons. Obviously
@@JordiPujadesGirona "Rain" and the Revolver album were also recorded (and released) in 1966. But agree that the tracks you suggest were also key components of the emerging psychedelic sound (RIP Jeff Beck).
FUN FACT: the French horn on For No One was played by Alan Civil, the leading French horn player in Britain. He received a phone call from his agent one evening: "THEY want you," she said, "now." A car took him to Abbey Road studios where he found Paul sitting with a recorded track. "I want something classical sounding", he said. Alan spent half an hour in a sound booth improvising to the track. Paul was satisfied and Alan went home. Shortly afterwards, he received a "very fat cheque" for his work. (This comes from a conversation I had with Alan Civil when I met him while working at the BBC in the 70s.)
22:28 John's voice on this section is being run through a Leslie cabinet, which was an accessory for the organ which created a vibrato effect through the use of a spinning disk with ridges on it. No one had ever tried running a human singing voice through one, before this song, of course.
One thing to note is that Rubber Soul took less than 80 hours of recordings while Revolver took over 220. Basically 3 times as long to record. It's probably why Paul walked out of the final recording session early. Revolver is the only album they put out that year. And they spun two singles out during their recording of it. Most groups today couldn't even put out anything remotely as good as Revolver if they had 5 years to record.
That's it. You have to remember The Beatles worked at such a phenomonal pace as we now realise with the The Get Back film. 2 top shelf albums recorded in such a short space of time. They were workaholics.
No matter how many times you listen to this album, it's fresh every time. They might have been at the peak of their creativity during this time. So many different ideas, yet ALWAYS musical and enjoyable.
Indeed, it's my fave by far given their age, their willingness to try new recording techniques. The album covers such a range of genres. It would have influenced so many bands. Ringo's drumming certainly came of age here, Paul's bass lines, just brilliance everywhere. George Harrison's songs being stand outs here with Taxman and I want to tell you, which just makes me think of Oasis and other bands that have copied them.
Revolver is my favorite album of all time but it could have been even better. Rain and Paperback Writer didn't make it on this album. Yellow Submarine had its own album and both of these "missing" songs were better than 3 or 4 other songs that DID make it onto the album.
@@Cryo837 If that’s the case then you can argue that With The Beatles could’ve been better with She Loves You and I Want To Hold your hand or The White Album with the single Revolution and Hey Jude or Sgt Peppers with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane
The irony of Tomorrow Never Knows is that even though it is John's song, only George understood the lyrics, only Paul understood the effects and only Ringo understood the title.😜
I think the phrase "Tomorrow Never Knows" was another one of Ringo's malapropisms, which Lennon greatly appreciated. A Hard Days Night and Eight Days a Week being other examples. The lyrics for TNK are based on a translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead which Lennon was reading at that time. Strangely enough it was actually the first track recorded for the album. It was recorded approximately 2 1/2 years after I Wanna Hold Your Hand - it's just interesting to note how different those compositions are.
Right on. Just one thing, John was reading Timothy Leary's ' The Psychedelic Experience' and it quotes from Book Of The Dead. The Turn off your mind line. And John wrote it based around that. At least from what I read. Amazing though the progress in such a short time. Oh, I like your name. Say goodnight. .....
Your points are accurate, except Eight Days A Week wasn't one of Ringo's sayings. Paul recalled that he asked a chauffeur taking him to John's house, how busy he was. He answered that he was working hard, eight days a week. That inspired the writing of the song.
Note also that, after recording it, the band had to go out on the road and perform the much simpler material from earlier on. It would have been nearly impossible to do tracks like TNK onstage and have them sound like the studio versions, given the technology of the time. Live, the band were two guitars, a bass, and drums, period.
Tomorrow Never Knows is a masterpiece of Emerick and Martin at the mixer! The tape loops, Ringo’s drums as a drone, the distortion of the guitars and the use of John’s vocal through a Leslie speaker. You should watch Get Back, you’ll hear some further songs from their catalogue they never released
Paul drove the experimental nature of the song, and you're right, it would not have amounted to much without Emerick. Lennon was not too fond of the outcome
I remember seeing an interview with George Martin once, where they put a guitar directly into the mixing deck instead of via an amp, and John said "that's a great sound! Can you do that with my voice?" and George Martin replied, "Yes John, but we'd have to make a hole in your throat and surgically attach a jack plug." xD
@@colin8007 Going to respectfully disagree with you on this one. John was the experimental drive on this song. John did the backwards vocals and backwards guitar on both songs rain and I’m only sleeping. As far as the tape loops, John Paul and George all contributed to that. What Paul song had backwards anything or tape loops? Have you listen to anthology version of this? That was even more radical than what ended up on the album.
@@colin8007 John drove the experimental nature of not just this song but the Beatles in general. “Rain” came before this and John had come up with backwards vocals for that one already and Indian like melodic drone for the chorus melody. Without John’s experimental nature we wouldn’t have gotten the surrealist magic of the Sgt Pepper/Revolver Beatles and what came after. Every experimental song on their catalog is written by John, with a few exceptions by George, none by Paul so that tells you all you need to know.Yes, Paul was inspired by John’s unique experimental songwriting to dig for ideas he never came up with on his own songs; everybody had to step up their game to match John’s surrealist vision. On “Tomorrow Never Knows” Paul called him “The Dalai Lennon” as John’s original vision was even more experimental as he envisioned hundreds of Buddhist monks chanting his lyrics and melody from a mountaintop. His imagination was pushing the Beatles (all 4 or 6 of them including Martin and Emerick) way beyond their comfort zone to achieve the soundscapes for his masterpieces and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “A Day in the Life”, “I am the Walrus”, “Rain” is part of what we got from that. Pure alchemy
Honestly, The Beatles could have called it a day with this album and went out on top. There were rumors that it might have happened, but they came back together a few months later to do “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “When I’m 64”, and “Penny Lane”. I think this album gave them the confidence to go out a bit further with “Sgt. Pepper”. I hope that Apple gives us a remix of “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul”. I can only imagine what they will sound like.
I truly do hope you realise, Crystal, just how much pleasure your videos give to people around the world. You brightened my evening (I'm from Manchester UK - about 20 mins drive from Liverpool, where once upon a time 4 lads changed the world) and it's not the first time you have done so. Thank you.
"For No One" is also just amazing. Yes, as you said, a masterpiece--so elegant, yet simple, and going to the heart. And even John Lennon complimented it (I think he said "another of his [Paul's] that I really liked...") :)
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that "And Your Bird Can Sing" is the most underrated Beatles' song ever. It seems like no one really listens to it, maybe because it wasn't a hit. Maybe it's simplistic emotionally ("You don't get me! You don't get meeeeee!), but I've always related to its message of independence. I love the long, drawn-out, elaborate guitar riff, which is something that should have been a trend but never was, except for John's own "Dig A Pony" and maybe Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". Anyway, so glad you gave it so much consideration....
It is NOT "underrated". EVERY track on this LP was played on radio, and a little research would probably find that the LP was #1 on BOTH LP and SINGLES charts. Most people seem to prefer straightforward romantic songs, not knowing how to deal with songs that aren't bogged down in that familiar paradigm.
Another great reaction, Crystal. I grew up in Liverpool at the time of the Beatles' emergence and bought each of their albums as they were released. It's hard to convey our responses to each album as the Beatles took us on their revolutionary journey. They never repeated, they surprised and delivered to the extent that we were all seduced into their progressive world. Hard now to imagine that journey from 'Please, Please Me' to this album 'Revolver' and then, of course, the 'Sgt. Pepper'. It was like being dragged along by the scruff of our necks. That was all in the decade of the sixties and here I am, today, reliving and re-discovering this great phenomenon and your enthusiastic reactions help me in that so a big thank you. One day I mean to write an essay on my music/cultural journey with the Beatles.
BTW: "Got To Get You Into My LIfe" is a love song...a song about Paul's love for weed. Which they were consuming in mass quantities while making this album, so...more weed please! Also, as many have noted in previous reactions, the coolest part of that song is the short guitar riff at the end; so small but SO impactful as a counterpoint to the horns.
Tomorrow Never Knows is my favourite song off the album and Revolver is my favourite Beatles album and second favourite album of all time. I love your reactions and reviews, they have really helped cheer me up. ❤️❤️❤️
I love that almost tribal drum beat in Tomorrow Never Knows. With all the reverse effects and vocal effects it really works to keep the song cohesive. It is like the quintessential late 60's psychedelic song. Considering Lennon prefered the older rock and roll and doo wop style music this kind of trippy experimental stuff came easy for him. Another Beatles timeless masterpiece IMO.
You got it! You felt exactly what Tomorrow Never Knows was intended to convey in the way of emotion, perception, imagery and consciousness. It is great to see people of the younger generation appreciating this music. I don't know many who do and glad you took the time to listen to this.
I appreciate, Crystal, that you can identify and articulate aspects of this music I've heard all my life but as a non-musician have only subconsciously understood. Your explanations always ring true to me!
Dr. Robert was about a real medical doctor who became known for prescribing drugs for celebrities. Your comment at 14:00 makes the point of how John expressed musically the calming effect of the drugs which Dr. Robert prescribed.
The “dental experience” as George called it. Because the real guy was a dentist who put LSD into John, George, Cynthia, and Pattie’s coffee without them knowing to get them high.
There is a belief that the main inspiration for Dr. Robert was Dr. Robert Freymann, a NY doctor known for prescribing drugs to a largely celebrity clientele. In an interview in 1967 Paul says Dr. Robert was a New York fellow who kept New York high. Then In 1980 Lennon claimed he was Dr. Robert.
That was a great pleasure to listen to this review of Revolver, I very much enjoyed it. I'm pleased to say that my top 3 (Here, There and Everywhere, For No One, Eleanor Rigby, And Your Bird Can Sing) were all included in your top 5 😃👌😉
"And Your Bird Can Sing" & "For No One" are two highly overlooked and underappreciated Beatles songs. Glad you gave them both Love. This is maybe the greatest album in history. If "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were on "Sgt. PLHCB like they were supposed to be then "Pepper's" would easily be the greatest Lp ever. So I have to go with "Revolver" as it stands" "Rubber Soul" is high on my list too. Peace ❤
The "eastern" vocal lick at the end of "I want to tell you" is Paul. He often did a similar thing at the end of the vocal break in "If I needed someone" during the 1966 tour.
I love your analysis of these tracks which I have lived with for so many years. You refresh the feelings that I had when I first heard them and remind me why I loved them in the first place.
Such a brilliant album. Just innovative beyond compare. You can go as far as to hear Public Enemy's Bomb Squad in Tomorrow Never Knows' beats and tape loops production. Incredible.
Relistening to this video. Your Beatles breakdowns are enriching, because you are able to put into words things that we Beatle fans can sense but not put into words. Thank you for making these.
I've seen the Grateful Dead play Tomorrow Never Knows as the closer/encore for their concerts a handful of times, and it was always magical! A much under-rated song. It never got as chaotic as on the album but still wonderful!
Ranking Beatles songs is always an impossible task. Congratulations on almost finishing the Beatles journey! If you can't get enough after Free As a Bird and Real Love, I could create a playlist for you with outtakes from the sessions. There is some really interesting stuff in there as well
Honestly, best tracks to me,"Got to get you into my life"and "Tomorrow never knows" cause you can see Paul and John going at it creatively, to me Paul is singing about how great life can be with someone you love and John is like surrender, float downstream, it is not dying, Wow, genius and they actually looped the tape, played the instruments and then backwards with all these instruments, amazing track and then Paul with those horns, heavy guitar! I can see why so many people partner "Rubber Soul" and Revolver as companions or double albums instead of separate! Amazing!
I believe Paul said "Got to Get You Into My Life" was about a drug taking experience. "I was alone, I took a ride. I didn't know what I would find there. Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there." I can't remember if it was about his recent dip into LSD, or his continued preoccupation with weed.
@@robertsaul234 There's been a bit of conjecture about the "weed vs acid" underpinning to this one, but I've got a feeling (no pun intended) that it was, in fact, an ode to acid, based on things I've seen and read here and there.
You are right about Tomorrow Never Knows and the sound of the future. I recall reading a review saying that the sounds on "Tomorrow Never Knows" are not the sounds of tomorrow but the sounds from the middle of next week!
At first listen And your bird can sing was my favourite! The Anthology version that is mentioned in the reactions features George on a 12-string Rickenbacker. Next day they re-recorded the song without the 12 string.... Maybe they thought it was to Byrds-ish? Or not rough enough? Instead George and Paul played the riff simultaniously on 2 6-string guitars creating a full and gritty guitarsound... They essentially made their own 12-string guitar😁😁🎸🎸! And Paul also made another bass track for the new version
I love the Anthology version. Though, small correction, Paul and George are not playing the same riff, the guitars are harmonized, a very early example in rock - something that became much more popular in the 70s
Another wonderful review. The Beatles innovated on every album right from the start - but when you consider that Revolver was just two years (I think) after Beatles For Sale - it is just astonishing. I think we've all enjoyed this journey with you - thank you Crystal :)
You know how some songs you hear once and have such little regard for it--you NEVER want to hear it again? Well--Ive listened to "Tomorrow Ner Knows" ever since 1966 when I was young and I NEVER tire of it. I've heard it thousands of times and it still remains a rites of passage. Thank you Jesus.
That bouncy, driving piano part in "Good Day Sunshine" set the stage for Paul's section of "A Day in the Life" and subsequent songs like ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky."
Considered by many, including myself, to be the best pop album of all time. They quit touring shortly after this album was released. Then they took a well-deserved vacation before working on Sgt Pepper. They had proven to be consistent hit makers so they were allowed to pursue whatever they wanted to do in the studio. This was unprecedented in a business that would normally want to account for every penny. They took their time and experimented. As usual with this band a number of barriers were broken just as new recording techniques were invented. Although they were still a very tight band, you can detect the fracturing that was beginning to set in. John tended towards a rock sound while Paul was pillowing with ballads. Some fun facts: There is a recording out there of John and Paul trying to get through 'And Your Bird Can Sing' and they are goofing around and laughing hysterically throughout. The two stories I had heard is that they were probably a little stoned when they were singing it. They were also using the word 'bird' as an euphemism for penis. Somehow Frank Sinatra works into this story as the target of such lines as 'You tell that you've got everything you want and your bird can sing'. Paul and George did the guitar work because John couldn't sing and play it at the same time, but it does sound very much like John's style. 'Doctor Robert' was based on an actual physician who freely dispensed amphetamines to his patients. It is interesting that you would lump 'I Want To Tell You' with 'Got To Get You Into My Life'. I'd heard that George had noted how he was trying to write a song like 'Got To Get You Into My Life' but didn't quite achieve what was in his head. Still, good job, George! Paul has said that 'Got To Get You Into My Life' is his 'ode to pot'. He really loved his marijuana. The title to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' came from some Ringo said, apparently. The original title was 'Mark I'. John wanted to sing it while suspended upside down from the ceiling and swinging to create vocal effect he wanted. Instead they connected his mic to a Leslie speaker to give that swirling effect on the vocals.
One of the many things I really enjoy about "Dr Robert" is how the verses resolve in the major key of the second degree - then, to begin verse two, the music just steps back down a tone to the original key.
Great, Crystal. Why did it have to end? This is the one Beatles album I could listen to the most and I genuinely think side 2 is the most perfect side of music I've ever heard and you showed why with your stellar appreciation of every song. And Your Bird Can Sing is a standout for me for the incredibly cool guitar lines and harmonies but each track is great for different reasons which is why it's such a stimulating listen.
The mono mix on And Your Bird Can Sing issued on Yesterday And Today had the guitar mixed louder,making it even more awesome!!It is included in The Capiphone Project "Revolver"Mono presentation.
John was most into experimental music of the Beatles by this time in their history. I believe that's one reason he was so attracted to Yoko Ono, an avant-garde artist.
@@TheAlibabatree They were all along listening to everything. "Goodnight," on "The Beatles" ("White" LP) is a reversal of the chords in a classical piece.
Not at this time, no. John was living the family life with Cynthia and Julian at Kenwood, Paul was the only one who remained in London as a relatively free man (despite being with Jane), and was getting into Stockhausen and hitting the clubs and being involved in the underground scene. I believe Paul was most instrumental in using tape loops for TNK but that's not to say that when they were in the studio they weren't all experimenting.
Another idea on what to do next: go through these solo albums from the guys: George's "All Things Must Pass", John's "Imagine", and Paul's "McCartney" albums. Then go through the "Get Back" documentary. A lot of the songs that end up on those albums start popping up during "Get Back", so you might wanna be familiar with their finished versions first. But "Get Back" is absolutely incredible. Being able to see who the guys were, how they interacted with each other, and how they came up with and worked through songs is just amazing to watch.
I think Plastic Ono Band and Ram are considered better, though they definitely have more of an “indie” sound, which is quite different from most of the Beatles records.
@@TheAlibabatree Agreed. I don't think those are the "best" albums....they're just the ones with songs that pop up in Get Back. Then after Get Back, Crystal could go on to other albums.
I think you got to start with the firsts, not the bests. The interesting thing to compare and contrast is where they were musically at the point of breakup. So McCartney, All things Must Pass and Plastic Ono Band (plus Ringo's Sentimental Journey, if you must -- his first real solo album doesn't come out until 1973).
Tomorrow Never knows is about the experience of Death itself, it is based on The Tibetain Book Of The Dead, which John had read at the time. The innovations to achieve those sounds are too numerous to break them all down, but suffice it to say they had to use many tape decks, all feeding into the central tape reel, via a primitive 4 track console (Yes this was recorded on 4 tracks). As the song was playing, each Beatle Member, and other participants, had 1 loop, on one tape, and they would fader a sound in and out, whenever they felt like it. Those tape loops were recordings that the Beatles themselves recorded at home or took from various recordings, slowed them down, or sped them up, stretched them, did whatever, then cut those (physically) into loops. John's voice, on the second part, after the "solo" was fed through a Leslie amplifier (which was an amp that had a rotating speaker in it, and was mostly used to give vibrato to Hammond organs and the likes) Anyway John told some of the techs, George Martin that he wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from the top of a mountain, yet sound perfectly clear. They eventually came up with the idea to just feed his vocals through that Leslie amp, and you got that sort of megaphone-ish sound. Anyway there were no voice filters to use back then, all effects had to be done mechanically, not at all like today, where you just go, Oh I want to sound like a robot, and poof, you use a computer app and effect. This sounded extremely futuristic at the time and very alien lol It kinda still does to this day, imagine the ppl who'd never hear anything like that back in 1966 felt, upon hearing that! :D
You have motivated me to begin working on a UA-cam page devoted to sharing what it was like to experience the Beatles era from beginning to end, listening to each song for the first time, then drawing “life” from every song until the release of the next album. I can’t break down the specific elements of each song as an educated musician, only as a man who was fortunate to have the Beatles provide the soundtrack of my preteen to early teen years, starting with the phenomenon of the Beatles pulling us out of the fear and depression following President Kennedy’s assassination.
This album is one of my top three from the Beatles. Side two always holds a special place for me since a lot of the songs are my dad’s favorites. So I always think of him telling my sister and I about his experiences he and his brother had when the album was released.
You can't imagine how amazing this music sounded when it hit in the mid-sixties. It probably changed my idea of music more than any music I had ever heard before. This music from the Beatles stood the musical world on its head. Tomorrow Never Knows - MIND BLOWN! The B sections in all the Beatles songs are like the chocolate covered cherries in the candy box. I think those dreamy parts in Dr. Roberts are like the musical description of an acid trip. I bet your Beatles top ten winds up being a top 20 or 30 or......!!!
GDay Sunshine was inspired by The Lovin' Spoonful - Daydream ..George upped his game on this album ,he really put it all in those 3 songs as good as John and Paul ...Taxman the opener ,it is kickin .. . Ringo showed that he was a bad ass drummer on The Void . Revolver is the session that brought out the best of the band to the top tier studio recording band that said forget the live shows ,they didn't need that anymore ..
Here's the thing: listen to "Hard Days Night" and then "Tomorrow Never Knows. The world of music was a black and white TV when The Beatles came on to the scene. When they left, music was technicolor. That's their legacy, and that's why they're simply the most influential band in the history of rock and roll.
Naturally there’s no talk about the organ part at the end of each verse (except the fourth) no chat about the cool piano outro. No one ever does. I can talk about this song for hours.
"It feels like I just stepped into the future" So did everyone who heard it for the first time in 1966. It was out of this world. Totally unlike anything anywhere else. It still is. That track marked the point where they left behind the love songs, traditional pop style and moved on to create something new that people had never heard before or even imagined.
"Got To Get You Into My Life" was released as a single in Noth America in 1976 with "Helter Skelter"as it's B side, to promote a new compilation album. It reached number 7 in the U.S. and was a number 1 hit in Canada.
Can I just say how cool it is that The Beatles from 1966 can still challenge music listeners in 2022? Such is the brilliance of Tomorrow Never Knows (and many others, of course.)
What an incredible series this has been! It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a ride but I enjoyed every second of it! One of my favourite series to be a part of on UA-cam, you deserve all the best Crystal! Peace + love to you here, there and everywhere!!😃👍☮️❤️
And Your Bird Can Sing is probably my favorite song on the album. It comes down to it or Taxman. I think the lyrics are interesting and funny, and the vibrant, uptempo guitars send it over the top.
La verdad es que tenes una capacidad de análisis que me impresiona! Ves tantas cosas y tantos detalles que me hacen seguir aprendiendo de sus canciones luego de llevar más de 50 años disfrutando de The Beatles
That French horn solo - such an unusual pick in a song from a "rock" band - based on pitch , i had assumed ... flugelhorn. I should have known better, but i got fooled.
Since the first moment I heard it still standing to this day, Revolver remains my #1 favorite Beatles LP. There's just so much near-immaculate songwriting, performance, recording/engineering (shout out to Geoff Emerick [RIP]), and presentation. Every song is is bang-on (yes, even Yellow Submarine, which I think has one Ringo's best sounding drum recordings). The unified group comradery is at its peak. And of course, the (literally) rule-breaking experimentation in recording techniques that both shattered old standards and invented new ones (close-mic drums, heavy compression/limiting, vari-speeds and ADT [automatic double tracking, invented by EMI tech Ken Townsend SPECIFICALLY FOR the Beatles to expedite the often-tedious work of vocal double tracking], incorporations of tape loops and more. I love every moment of this album, and I can honestly say it was a significant influence on me becoming a professional musician and audio engineer. Very much enjoyed your reaction and analysis of this masterpiece. Glad to see you enjoyed the album entire. Cheers!
Oh that giggling version is just the best to listen to. Whenever I feel miserable I force myself to listen to it, and I always have a massive smile on my face by the end.
You should try listening to solo beatje projects i suggest starting with : “Maybe im amazed” McCartney “ what is life “ &” my sweet lord” harrison “ instant karma” & “love” lennon I think harrison will really amaze you
It was actually entertaining again and also interesting to listen to you, Crystal - you brought a lot of enthusiasm and many new thoughts into it. Thanks! I listen to the songs from 1965 on more often than the ones before that, but even those have their charm!
Thank you sooooooo much! Damn the Beatles for only being together for 8 years with their poultry 11 albums. Still would love to see you do covers. Love your work ❤️🧚🏽♂️🌹
Reaching the end of the Beatles catalogue could be a new beginning, Crystal. Would love to see you start on the solo work. Could be quite a journey....
Crystal, seeing how happy this album makes you feel is truly beautiful and inspiring! 😊 I’m going to try not to be monotonous with my thoughts of these tracks. I love how the first 4 tracks end on a different note than how it started. Not sure if that was intentional, but it’s so cool. “Good Day Sunshine” feels like a throwback to the “Help!” album, but such a happy, bouncy tune. “And Your Bird Can Sing”, love those distorted guitars and harmonies. “For No One” is almost classical rock. And, that French horn by Alan Civil is so killer. It foreshadowed “Penny Lane” to me. “Dr. Robert” has great guitars, too, and I love the “well, well, well, you’re feeling fine” part with the boys sounding like a Christmas choir. It really does replicate the feeling of being high or on a high. “I Want To Tell You”, oh how I love this. That E7 major key when George sings “when you’re here, all those words they seem to” is very similar to the key in “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” right before the “she’s so…” part. And Paul’s vocal at the end eerily sounds like an Indian instrument. So cool. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is my favorite Beatles song. Ever. I love it. Those horns. That bass. The drums and guitar. Paul’s vocals. Supposedly, it was an ode to marijuana, but I always hear it as an ode to a lady. LOL If you ever get to hear the mono mix, I highly recommend it. Last but not least, “Tomorrow Never Knows”. My second favorite Beatles track of all-time. The birth of sampling. Tape loops, backwards guitar, Indian drones, Ringo’s drumming. One of my proudest moments years ago was requesting this song on a local classic rock station and they played it! It’s so weird and so unique. I love it. The mono mix of this is also superb. I love this album so much.
Crystal, thank you for making my day a "Good Day Sunshine." I like your beautiful refined musical appreciation of the Beatles' music. It is music I myself came of age with and meant so much to me. And yes, "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a trip. I love the backwards warbling instruments that sounds like swarms of seagulls or menacing wild Indians on the warpath. Thanks for all the great reviews. Hope you do a few select solo Beatle albums, like Lennon's first two, and Harrison's brilliant triple LP. Thanks again for all the great review videos.
I've long thought that Revolver was the Beatles' creative and artistic pinnacle, even though there's lot of competition and thus a host of valid alternative opinions on that one. My personal favourite track is For No One, where a guy reflects on his girlfriend's indifference to him while failing to recognise his own indifference to the relationship ("a love that should have lasted years" - hardly an expression of devastation). But what I hadn't realised until watching Crystal's review is how cleverly the last 3 tracks sum up the "Acid" feel to the album. "I want to tell you" is Harrison's ode to acid, while "Got to Get You into My Life" depicts McCartney's fondness for acid, but in a totally different way. The Lennon finishes the album with "Tomorrow Never Knows", a track that draws heavily on Timothy Leary's Book of the Dead while sounding for all the world like an acid trip. And by the way, there are also arguments for virtually any track on the album being ranked as the best - that's how good it is.
What's abundantly evident on Revolver is that John has fallen down the LSD rabbit hole. He was always getting hooked on the "next big thing" ... he would move on to Transcendental Meditation, heroin, Yoko, primal scream therapy . . . and that's all before his 30th birthday in 1970. The combination proved fatal to his muse. He was never the same artist after the "Imagine" album, which used up the last of his Beatles-era leftovers.
Those tape loops are just amazing. One thing that was NOT on a loop was the drums. Ringo sat there for the length of the song, and didn't miss a beat. No Sudden leaps into a fill, no distraction from the mess going on around him. Just steady solid Ringo doing what the song needed. That's craftsmanship. If you want to hear Beatles with fresh ears, please do the 'Love' album. It is isolated tracks of 100% Beatle music mashed together in a blindingly creative way. (OK, purists, there's a couple of seconds of strings not from the lads.) Giles Martin mixed it for the Cirque de Soleil tribute. It feels like a brand new Beatles album, really.
American guitarist Joe Walsh sought to master the solo on "And Your Bird Can Sing", believing that Harrison had played it in a single take. Walsh, who married the sister of Starr's second wife, Barbara Bach, said he only discovered that it consisted of two parts when discussing with Starr how he had spent years laboring over the solo. Walsh concluded, "I think I’m the only guy who can play it - including George."
The working title for TNK was "The Void". I don't think the group had yet discovered LSD when Revolver was recorded in the spring-summer of 1966, but the album's final track sounds like the product of hallucinogens. Sgt. Pepper, early the next year, was done under the influence. Lennon claimed to have taken hundreds of acid trips. His voice is run through a revolving Leslie speaker.
Crystal, I absolutely LOVE watching your Beatles reactions. It makes me wish the band had made *50* albums for you to examine and interpret for us! But, since they didn't, I will just have to go back and rewatch your reaction videos over and over and over again -- just like we all listen to Beatles songs again and again, year after year, decade after decade. 😍
@@analogblues She hasn't heard unreleased stuff like "What a Shame Mary Jane had a Pain at the Party," and songs they wrote but never used ["Leave My Kitten Alone" etc [see Chronology albums from the 1990's]. She has not watched their movies....BBC radio performances....or purchased a Beatles lunch pail for school 🤣. She's great...
I find that if I like a song a lot immediately I soon tire of it. Some songs take multiple listens as you continue to connect to it. That happens a lot with the Beatles. I was put off a big by Sgt. Pepper on the first listen. It soon grew on me, or maybe I grew into it. It is a wonderful listen.
Wow that is exactly the perfect way to put it!!! That has summed up my experience! Some of my automatic favorites have grown stale and some songs I didn’t “get” I ended up really resonating with!
I was put off at first by the White Album because there was so much to take in. It was overwhelming and so different from their earlier work. Now it's probably my favorite Beatles album.
Totally agree, I remember as a 16 yr old back in 1967 hearing Strawberry Fields Forever for the first time, I thought it was awful, now I think it's one of the best records ever made. Having said that, I liked Hello Goodbye when I first heard it, and still never tire of listening to it.
Makes me think of that scene in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” when he explains to his wife how he fell in love with the music of John Coltrane after initially hating it, but he kept playing it again and again.
I love see people faces when they listen Tomorrow Never Knows by the first time and they are like "What the hell is going on here?" 😂 That song still sounds futurist even now.
when i received Revolver for Christmas i played "good day, sunshine" first. not knowing what to really expect i flipped the album over and started with "taxman". still haven't recovered 56 years later.
How they made Tomorrow Never Knows in 1966 on four tracks is astounding. Masterpiece.
Amen
Agreed
It’s difficult to get people to understand today just how revolutionary this track (and other songs/artists) were at the time they came out.
Can you imagine listening to this in 1966. Your mother won't know. I was born in 1968 and first heard tomorrow never knows 25 years later and it blew my mind. If only I was 25 in 1966
Because it wasn't 4 tracks, technically. They brought in tape machines from all over the studio to run the loops, which they would alter the sounds slightly with a pencil. So cool!
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the best song off their best album and as you listen to it more, you'll begin to understand that the chills you're feeling are not because of it's weirdness, but because of it's freshness; it opens your mind to a new kind of song styling and sound craft. On top of that, with "Tomorrow Never Knows", along with "Rain" (another favourite), the Beatles created psychedelic rock. Not just because of the treatment to John's voice and use of loops and backwards guitar, but also the sound of Paul's throbbing bass and, perhaps most importantly, Ringo's drumming, with it's mesmerizing rhythm put so prominently at the front of the mix.
“Rain” is epic, as you state along with John’s other gem “Tomorrow Never Knows those 2 opened the floodgates that later led to “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “A Day in the Life”, “I am the Walrus”’and more
Psychodelic sound began at early 1966 with the releases of "Eight miles high" by The Byrds and "Shapes of things" by The Yardbirds.
@@JordiPujadesGirona don't forget the first album by the 13th floor elevators in about 1966. They even had that word in the album title
That, along with a day in the Life, Strawberry Fields, I want you (she's so heavy) Norwegian Wood and oh darlin! all at the same level, for me,But for differeent reasons. Obviously
@@JordiPujadesGirona "Rain" and the Revolver album were also recorded (and released) in 1966. But agree that the tracks you suggest were also key components of the emerging psychedelic sound (RIP Jeff Beck).
FUN FACT: the French horn on For No One was played by Alan Civil, the leading French horn player in Britain. He received a phone call from his agent one evening: "THEY want you," she said, "now." A car took him to Abbey Road studios where he found Paul sitting with a recorded track. "I want something classical sounding", he said. Alan spent half an hour in a sound booth improvising to the track. Paul was satisfied and Alan went home. Shortly afterwards, he received a "very fat cheque" for his work. (This comes from a conversation I had with Alan Civil when I met him while working at the BBC in the 70s.)
22:28 John's voice on this section is being run through a Leslie cabinet, which was an accessory for the organ which created a vibrato effect through the use of a spinning disk with ridges on it. No one had ever tried running a human singing voice through one, before this song, of course.
One thing to note is that Rubber Soul took less than 80 hours of recordings while Revolver took over 220. Basically 3 times as long to record. It's probably why Paul walked out of the final recording session early. Revolver is the only album they put out that year. And they spun two singles out during their recording of it. Most groups today couldn't even put out anything remotely as good as Revolver if they had 5 years to record.
We see the proof of your last statement all the time. An artist releases an album 5 or 6 years after the last album, and it's meh.
McCartney threw a hissy and walked out when they recording She Said etc. George played bass.
Nowadays takes 220hrs for one hit from an artist. Well at least in the 80's/90's
That's it. You have to remember The Beatles worked at such a phenomonal pace as we now realise with the The Get Back film. 2 top shelf albums recorded in such a short space of time. They were workaholics.
They put out 12 masterpieces in 8 years that’ll never be done again by anyone
No matter how many times you listen to this album, it's fresh every time. They might have been at the peak of their creativity during this time. So many different ideas, yet ALWAYS musical and enjoyable.
Indeed, it's my fave by far given their age, their willingness to try new recording techniques. The album covers such a range of genres. It would have influenced so many bands. Ringo's drumming certainly came of age here, Paul's bass lines, just brilliance everywhere. George Harrison's songs being stand outs here with Taxman and I want to tell you, which just makes me think of Oasis and other bands that have copied them.
Revolver is my favorite album of all time but it could have been even better. Rain and Paperback Writer didn't make it on this album. Yellow Submarine had its own album and both of these "missing" songs were better than 3 or 4 other songs that DID make it onto the album.
@@Cryo837 If that’s the case then you can argue that With The Beatles could’ve been better with She Loves You and I Want To Hold your hand or The White Album with the single Revolution and Hey Jude or Sgt Peppers with Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane
The irony of Tomorrow Never Knows is that even though it is John's song, only George understood the lyrics, only Paul understood the effects and only Ringo understood the title.😜
I think the phrase "Tomorrow Never Knows" was another one of Ringo's malapropisms, which Lennon greatly appreciated. A Hard Days Night and Eight Days a Week being other examples. The lyrics for TNK are based on a translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead which Lennon was reading at that time. Strangely enough it was actually the first track recorded for the album. It was recorded approximately 2 1/2 years after I Wanna Hold Your Hand - it's just interesting to note how different those compositions are.
Right on. Just one thing, John was reading Timothy Leary's ' The Psychedelic Experience' and it quotes from Book Of The Dead. The Turn off your mind line. And John wrote it based around that. At least from what I read.
Amazing though the progress in such a short time.
Oh, I like your name. Say goodnight. .....
Your points are accurate, except Eight Days A Week wasn't one of Ringo's sayings. Paul recalled that he asked a chauffeur taking him to John's house, how busy he was. He answered that he was working hard, eight days a week. That inspired the writing of the song.
There's a UA-cam video of Ringo saying this and John laughing hysterically
@@Amadeusthegreat100 I just got that book.
Note also that, after recording it, the band had to go out on the road and perform the much simpler material from earlier on. It would have been nearly impossible to do tracks like TNK onstage and have them sound like the studio versions, given the technology of the time. Live, the band were two guitars, a bass, and drums, period.
Tomorrow Never Knows is a masterpiece of Emerick and Martin at the mixer! The tape loops, Ringo’s drums as a drone, the distortion of the guitars and the use of John’s vocal through a Leslie speaker.
You should watch Get Back, you’ll hear some further songs from their catalogue they never released
Paul drove the experimental nature of the song, and you're right, it would not have amounted to much without Emerick. Lennon was not too fond of the outcome
Lennon has stated that he envisioned a thousand monks chanting
I remember seeing an interview with George Martin once, where they put a guitar directly into the mixing deck instead of via an amp, and John said "that's a great sound! Can you do that with my voice?" and George Martin replied, "Yes John, but we'd have to make a hole in your throat and surgically attach a jack plug." xD
@@colin8007 Going to respectfully disagree with you on this one. John was the experimental drive on this song. John did the backwards vocals and backwards guitar on both songs rain and I’m only sleeping. As far as the tape loops, John Paul and George all contributed to that. What Paul song had backwards anything or tape loops? Have you listen to anthology version of this? That was even more radical than what ended up on the album.
@@colin8007 John drove the experimental nature of not just this song but the Beatles in general. “Rain” came before this and John had come up with backwards vocals for that one already and Indian like melodic drone for the chorus melody. Without John’s experimental nature we wouldn’t have gotten the surrealist magic of the Sgt Pepper/Revolver Beatles and what came after. Every experimental song on their catalog is written by John, with a few exceptions by George, none by Paul so that tells you all you need to know.Yes, Paul was inspired by John’s unique experimental songwriting to dig for ideas he never came up with on his own songs; everybody had to step up their game to match John’s surrealist vision. On “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Paul called him “The Dalai Lennon” as John’s original vision was even more experimental as he envisioned hundreds of Buddhist monks chanting his lyrics and melody from a mountaintop. His imagination was pushing the Beatles (all 4 or 6 of them including Martin and Emerick) way beyond their comfort zone to achieve the soundscapes for his masterpieces and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “A Day in the Life”, “I am the Walrus”, “Rain” is part of what we got from that. Pure alchemy
Tomorrow Never Knows is an example of a mature song in a genre that hasn't been invited yet. Big props to the studio team (Martin et al.) on this one
Revolver is forever evolving! It’s on its own pedestal! A level above ANY other album ever made!
Honestly, The Beatles could have called it a day with this album and went out on top. There were rumors that it might have happened, but they came back together a few months later to do “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “When I’m 64”, and “Penny Lane”. I think this album gave them the confidence to go out a bit further with “Sgt. Pepper”. I hope that Apple gives us a remix of “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul”. I can only imagine what they will sound like.
Soon
They DID go out on top
I truly do hope you realise, Crystal, just how much pleasure your videos give to people around the world. You brightened my evening (I'm from Manchester UK - about 20 mins drive from Liverpool, where once upon a time 4 lads changed the world) and it's not the first time you have done so. Thank you.
"For No One" is also just amazing. Yes, as you said, a masterpiece--so elegant, yet simple, and going to the heart. And even John Lennon complimented it (I think he said "another of his [Paul's] that I really liked...") :)
Such an underrated song. Maybe it's the subtle nature of the tune. It's become my second favorite of theirs, overall.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that "And Your Bird Can Sing" is the most underrated Beatles' song ever. It seems like no one really listens to it, maybe because it wasn't a hit. Maybe it's simplistic emotionally ("You don't get me! You don't get meeeeee!), but I've always related to its message of independence. I love the long, drawn-out, elaborate guitar riff, which is something that should have been a trend but never was, except for John's own "Dig A Pony" and maybe Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog". Anyway, so glad you gave it so much consideration....
It is NOT "underrated". EVERY track on this LP was played on radio, and a little research would probably find that the LP was #1 on BOTH LP and SINGLES charts.
Most people seem to prefer straightforward romantic songs, not knowing how to deal with songs that aren't bogged down in that familiar paradigm.
Another great reaction, Crystal. I grew up in Liverpool at the time of the Beatles' emergence and bought each of their albums as they were released. It's hard to convey our responses to each album as the Beatles took us on their revolutionary journey. They never repeated, they surprised and delivered to the extent that we were all seduced into their progressive world. Hard now to imagine that journey from 'Please, Please Me' to this album 'Revolver' and then, of course, the 'Sgt. Pepper'. It was like being dragged along by the scruff of our necks. That was all in the decade of the sixties and here I am, today, reliving and re-discovering this great phenomenon and your enthusiastic reactions help me in that so a big thank you. One day I mean to write an essay on my music/cultural journey with the Beatles.
BTW: "Got To Get You Into My LIfe" is a love song...a song about Paul's love for weed. Which they were consuming in mass quantities while making this album, so...more weed please! Also, as many have noted in previous reactions, the coolest part of that song is the short guitar riff at the end; so small but SO impactful as a counterpoint to the horns.
Tomorrow Never Knows is my favourite song off the album and Revolver is my favourite Beatles album and second favourite album of all time. I love your reactions and reviews, they have really helped cheer me up. ❤️❤️❤️
What's your favorite album?
I love that almost tribal drum beat in Tomorrow Never Knows. With all the reverse effects and vocal effects it really works to keep the song cohesive. It is like the quintessential late 60's psychedelic song. Considering Lennon prefered the older rock and roll and doo wop style music this kind of trippy experimental stuff came easy for him. Another Beatles timeless masterpiece IMO.
He was writing "experimental trippy stuff" as a child, pre-drugs.
Tomorrow Never Knows: appreciate Ringo. He didn't need a click track to play along with tape loops.
Ringo's a jobber, he gets mad enough when one of the other guys plays the drums, he's not letting a machine do it for him.
He WAS the click track! 🤪
they added the tape loops after recording the drums and bass ;)
You got it! You felt exactly what Tomorrow Never Knows was intended to convey in the way of emotion, perception, imagery and consciousness. It is great to see people of the younger generation appreciating this music. I don't know many who do and glad you took the time to listen to this.
I appreciate, Crystal, that you can identify and articulate aspects of this music I've heard all my life but as a non-musician have only subconsciously understood. Your explanations always ring true to me!
Dr. Robert was about a real medical doctor who became known for prescribing drugs for celebrities. Your comment at 14:00 makes the point of how John expressed musically the calming effect of the drugs which Dr. Robert prescribed.
The “dental experience” as George called it. Because the real guy was a dentist who put LSD into John, George, Cynthia, and Pattie’s coffee without them knowing to get them high.
There is a belief that the main inspiration for Dr. Robert was Dr. Robert Freymann, a NY doctor known for prescribing drugs to a largely celebrity clientele. In an interview in 1967 Paul says Dr. Robert was a New York fellow who kept New York high. Then In 1980 Lennon claimed he was Dr. Robert.
Yes: John said "Dr. Robert" was about a New York doctor who provided them amphetamine for their US tours.
More than one book in my Beatles library has described the real Dr. Robert as nothing more than a Quack.
Not my favourite Beatles album but it has so many high points - it's impossible not to love it. Just shows how masterful they really were!
That was a great pleasure to listen to this review of Revolver, I very much enjoyed it. I'm pleased to say that my top 3 (Here, There and Everywhere, For No One, Eleanor Rigby, And Your Bird Can Sing) were all included in your top 5 😃👌😉
"And Your Bird Can Sing" & "For No One" are two highly overlooked and underappreciated Beatles songs.
Glad you gave them both Love. This is maybe the greatest album in history.
If "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were on "Sgt. PLHCB like they were supposed to be then "Pepper's" would easily be the greatest Lp ever.
So I have to go with "Revolver" as it stands" "Rubber Soul" is high on my list too.
Peace ❤
The "eastern" vocal lick at the end of "I want to tell you" is Paul. He often did a similar thing at the end of the vocal break in "If I needed someone" during the 1966 tour.
I love your analysis of these tracks which I have lived with for so many years. You refresh the feelings that I had when I first heard them and remind me why I loved them in the first place.
Don't forget the Beatles Anthology Albums! They contain many songs that were never released despite the unbelievable quality they had !!
Such a brilliant album. Just innovative beyond compare. You can go as far as to hear Public Enemy's Bomb Squad in Tomorrow Never Knows' beats and tape loops production. Incredible.
Relistening to this video. Your Beatles breakdowns are enriching, because you are able to put into words things that we Beatle fans can sense but not put into words. Thank you for making these.
I've seen the Grateful Dead play Tomorrow Never Knows as the closer/encore for their concerts a handful of times, and it was always magical! A much under-rated song. It never got as chaotic as on the album but still wonderful!
For No One is one of my favorite Beatle's songs- second to only A Day in the Life. I'm glad you gave it such an in-depth appreciation!
Although Eleanor Rigby is another stellar, very Beatle-esque tune.
u explain Beatles so well, and lot of things I was not aware of, but when u say it, it makes sense. That is why we love Beatles so much.
Ranking Beatles songs is always an impossible task. Congratulations on almost finishing the Beatles journey! If you can't get enough after Free As a Bird and Real Love, I could create a playlist for you with outtakes from the sessions. There is some really interesting stuff in there as well
More important than outtakes are the live BBC recordings: they were a kick-assed band live.
Seems to me there is never an end to the Beatles journey...
@@thomastimlin1724 The live BBC recordings are more important than outtakes.
Honestly, best tracks to me,"Got to get you into my life"and "Tomorrow never knows" cause you can see Paul and John going at it creatively, to me Paul is singing about how great life can be with someone you love and John is like surrender, float downstream, it is not dying, Wow, genius and they actually looped the tape, played the instruments and then backwards with all these instruments, amazing track and then Paul with those horns, heavy guitar! I can see why so many people partner "Rubber Soul" and Revolver as companions or double albums instead of separate! Amazing!
I believe Paul said "Got to Get You Into My Life" was about a drug taking experience.
"I was alone, I took a ride. I didn't know what I would find there. Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there." I can't remember if it was about his recent dip into LSD, or his continued preoccupation with weed.
@@robertsaul234 There's been a bit of conjecture about the "weed vs acid" underpinning to this one, but I've got a feeling (no pun intended) that it was, in fact, an ode to acid, based on things I've seen and read here and there.
@@casemaker1 I agree. Besides, Rubber Soul was the pot album.☮
You are right about Tomorrow Never Knows and the sound of the future. I recall reading a review saying that the sounds on "Tomorrow Never Knows" are not the sounds of tomorrow but the sounds from the middle of next week!
We all love the Beatles but your vocabulary and music intelligence makes us appreciate them even more. I'm so happy I found yer channel.
And Your Bird Can Sing was the intro to the second season of the cartoon series.
yeah that cartoon was so influential on so many of us...
The guitar solo in the middle of the song is amazing, I would listen to it a thousand times....and of course I love your voice Crystal
At first listen And your bird can sing was my favourite! The Anthology version that is mentioned in the reactions features George on a 12-string Rickenbacker. Next day they re-recorded the song without the 12 string.... Maybe they thought it was to Byrds-ish? Or not rough enough? Instead George and Paul played the riff simultaniously on 2 6-string guitars creating a full and gritty guitarsound... They essentially made their own 12-string guitar😁😁🎸🎸! And Paul also made another bass track for the new version
I love the Anthology version. Though, small correction, Paul and George are not playing the same riff, the guitars are harmonized, a very early example in rock - something that became much more popular in the 70s
Another wonderful review. The Beatles innovated on every album right from the start - but when you consider that Revolver was just two years (I think) after Beatles For Sale - it is just astonishing. I think we've all enjoyed this journey with you - thank you Crystal :)
Tomorrow never knows is a track that is 60 years ahead of it's time. It's always reminded me of the EDM/DJ music of the 90s and 2000s.
yeah has a Massive Attack vibe.
You feel the music in a very special way. Thanks, you bring forth a lot of details I wasn’t aware of
We appreciate you! It’s been fun. You’ve really worked hard and it shows. Take care thank you 🙏🏻
You know how some songs you hear once and have such little regard for it--you NEVER want to hear it again? Well--Ive listened to "Tomorrow Ner Knows" ever since 1966 when I was young and I NEVER tire of it. I've heard it thousands of times and it still remains a rites of passage. Thank you Jesus.
That bouncy, driving piano part in "Good Day Sunshine" set the stage for Paul's section of "A Day in the Life" and subsequent songs like ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky."
Hey Crystal your eyes are lovely ! Your new choice of make up is gorgeous - well done toots ! 😹
Considered by many, including myself, to be the best pop album of all time.
They quit touring shortly after this album was released. Then they took a well-deserved vacation before working on Sgt Pepper.
They had proven to be consistent hit makers so they were allowed to pursue whatever they wanted to do in the studio. This was unprecedented in a business that would normally want to account for every penny. They took their time and experimented. As usual with this band a number of barriers were broken just as new recording techniques were invented.
Although they were still a very tight band, you can detect the fracturing that was beginning to set in. John tended towards a rock sound while Paul was pillowing with ballads.
Some fun facts:
There is a recording out there of John and Paul trying to get through 'And Your Bird Can Sing' and they are goofing around and laughing hysterically throughout. The two stories I had heard is that they were probably a little stoned when they were singing it. They were also using the word 'bird' as an euphemism for penis. Somehow Frank Sinatra works into this story as the target of such lines as 'You tell that you've got everything you want and your bird can sing'.
Paul and George did the guitar work because John couldn't sing and play it at the same time, but it does sound very much like John's style.
'Doctor Robert' was based on an actual physician who freely dispensed amphetamines to his patients.
It is interesting that you would lump 'I Want To Tell You' with 'Got To Get You Into My Life'. I'd heard that George had noted how he was trying to write a song like 'Got To Get You Into My Life' but didn't quite achieve what was in his head. Still, good job, George!
Paul has said that 'Got To Get You Into My Life' is his 'ode to pot'. He really loved his marijuana.
The title to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' came from some Ringo said, apparently. The original title was 'Mark I'. John wanted to sing it while suspended upside down from the ceiling and swinging to create vocal effect he wanted. Instead they connected his mic to a Leslie speaker to give that swirling effect on the vocals.
Excellent analysis, Crystal!!
One of the many things I really enjoy about "Dr Robert" is how the verses resolve in the major key of the second degree - then, to begin verse two, the music just steps back down a tone to the original key.
Great, Crystal. Why did it have to end? This is the one Beatles album I could listen to the most and I genuinely think side 2 is the most perfect side of music I've ever heard and you showed why with your stellar appreciation of every song. And Your Bird Can Sing is a standout for me for the incredibly cool guitar lines and harmonies but each track is great for different reasons which is why it's such a stimulating listen.
The mono mix on And Your Bird Can Sing issued on Yesterday And Today had the guitar mixed louder,making it even more awesome!!It is included in The Capiphone Project "Revolver"Mono presentation.
John was most into experimental music of the Beatles by this time in their history. I believe that's one reason he was so attracted to Yoko Ono, an avant-garde artist.
Those loops were made by Paul.
All Paul. He was exprerimenting with tape loops and was interested in the avant-garde culture around that time.
@@monnyxbbg Definitely not “all Paul”. They were both experimenting quite a bit at the time.
@@TheAlibabatree They were all along listening to everything. "Goodnight," on "The Beatles" ("White" LP) is a reversal of the chords in a classical piece.
Not at this time, no. John was living the family life with Cynthia and Julian at Kenwood, Paul was the only one who remained in London as a relatively free man (despite being with Jane), and was getting into Stockhausen and hitting the clubs and being involved in the underground scene. I believe Paul was most instrumental in using tape loops for TNK but that's not to say that when they were in the studio they weren't all experimenting.
Another idea on what to do next: go through these solo albums from the guys: George's "All Things Must Pass", John's "Imagine", and Paul's "McCartney" albums. Then go through the "Get Back" documentary. A lot of the songs that end up on those albums start popping up during "Get Back", so you might wanna be familiar with their finished versions first. But "Get Back" is absolutely incredible. Being able to see who the guys were, how they interacted with each other, and how they came up with and worked through songs is just amazing to watch.
I think Plastic Ono Band and Ram are considered better, though they definitely have more of an “indie” sound, which is quite different from most of the Beatles records.
I think a lot of us would like to see just what you suggest here. They;d make for great reaction videos.
@@TheAlibabatree Agreed. I don't think those are the "best" albums....they're just the ones with songs that pop up in Get Back. Then after Get Back, Crystal could go on to other albums.
I think you got to start with the firsts, not the bests. The interesting thing to compare and contrast is where they were musically at the point of breakup. So McCartney, All things Must Pass and Plastic Ono Band (plus Ringo's Sentimental Journey, if you must -- his first real solo album doesn't come out until 1973).
Tomorrow Never knows is about the experience of Death itself, it is based on The Tibetain Book Of The Dead, which John had read at the time.
The innovations to achieve those sounds are too numerous to break them all down, but suffice it to say they had to use many tape decks, all feeding into the central tape reel, via a primitive 4 track console (Yes this was recorded on 4 tracks).
As the song was playing, each Beatle Member, and other participants, had 1 loop, on one tape, and they would fader a sound in and out, whenever they felt like it. Those tape loops were recordings that the Beatles themselves recorded at home or took from various recordings, slowed them down, or sped them up, stretched them, did whatever, then cut those (physically) into loops.
John's voice, on the second part, after the "solo" was fed through a Leslie amplifier (which was an amp that had a rotating speaker in it, and was mostly used to give vibrato to Hammond organs and the likes)
Anyway John told some of the techs, George Martin that he wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from the top of a mountain, yet sound perfectly clear.
They eventually came up with the idea to just feed his vocals through that Leslie amp, and you got that sort of megaphone-ish sound. Anyway there were no voice filters to use back then, all effects had to be done mechanically, not at all like today, where you just go, Oh I want to sound like a robot, and poof, you use a computer app and effect.
This sounded extremely futuristic at the time and very alien lol
It kinda still does to this day, imagine the ppl who'd never hear anything like that back in 1966 felt, upon hearing that! :D
Excellent breakdown! TNK deserves its own book to break down all the details. Truly alien chaos like nothing before or since.
You have motivated me to begin working on a UA-cam page devoted to sharing what it was like to experience the Beatles era from beginning to end, listening to each song for the first time, then drawing “life” from every song until the release of the next album. I can’t break down the specific elements of each song as an educated musician, only as a man who was fortunate to have the Beatles provide the soundtrack of my preteen to early teen years, starting with the phenomenon of the Beatles pulling us out of the fear and depression following President Kennedy’s assassination.
This album is one of my top three from the Beatles. Side two always holds a special place for me since a lot of the songs are my dad’s favorites. So I always think of him telling my sister and I about his experiences he and his brother had when the album was released.
Its been a fun Journey, thanks for sharing your experience of this amazing music called the Beatles!
You can't imagine how amazing this music sounded when it hit in the mid-sixties. It probably changed my idea of music more than any music I had ever heard before. This music from the Beatles stood the musical world on its head. Tomorrow Never Knows - MIND BLOWN! The B sections in all the Beatles songs are like the chocolate covered cherries in the candy box. I think those dreamy parts in Dr. Roberts are like the musical description of an acid trip. I bet your Beatles top ten winds up being a top 20 or 30 or......!!!
GDay Sunshine was inspired by The Lovin' Spoonful - Daydream ..George upped his game on this album ,he really put it all in those 3 songs as good as John and Paul ...Taxman the opener ,it is kickin .. . Ringo showed that he was a bad ass drummer on The Void . Revolver is the session that brought out the best of the band to the top tier studio recording band that said forget the live shows ,they didn't need that anymore ..
Here's the thing: listen to "Hard Days Night" and then "Tomorrow Never Knows. The world of music was a black and white TV when The Beatles came on to the scene. When they left, music was technicolor. That's their legacy, and that's why they're simply the most influential band in the history of rock and roll.
Naturally there’s no talk about the organ part at the end of each verse (except the fourth) no chat about the cool piano outro. No one ever does. I can talk about this song for hours.
"It feels like I just stepped into the future" So did everyone who heard it for the first time in 1966. It was out of this world. Totally unlike anything anywhere else. It still is.
That track marked the point where they left behind the love songs, traditional pop style and moved on to create something new that people had never heard before or even imagined.
"Got To Get You Into My Life" was released as a single in Noth America in 1976 with "Helter Skelter"as it's B side, to promote a new compilation album. It reached number 7 in the U.S. and was a number 1 hit in Canada.
Can I just say how cool it is that The Beatles from 1966 can still challenge music listeners in 2022? Such is the brilliance of Tomorrow Never Knows (and many others, of course.)
What an incredible series this has been! It’s been an emotional rollercoaster of a ride but I enjoyed every second of it! One of my favourite series to be a part of on UA-cam, you deserve all the best Crystal! Peace + love to you here, there and everywhere!!😃👍☮️❤️
Danke! Please come back!
Excellent singing voice Crystal. Two thumbs up☝👍
After Free As A Bird & Real Love, you are not entirely done yet. You should also give the BBC releases and the three Anthology albums a listen.
And Your Bird Can Sing is probably my favorite song on the album. It comes down to it or Taxman. I think the lyrics are interesting and funny, and the vibrant, uptempo guitars send it over the top.
La verdad es que tenes una capacidad de análisis que me impresiona! Ves tantas cosas y tantos detalles que me hacen seguir aprendiendo de sus canciones luego de llevar más de 50 años disfrutando de The Beatles
That's an amazing album, and "Tomorrow Never Knows" is an innovative and excellent song.
That French horn solo -
such an unusual pick in a song from a "rock" band - based on pitch , i had assumed ... flugelhorn. I should have known better, but i got fooled.
Since the first moment I heard it still standing to this day, Revolver remains my #1 favorite Beatles LP. There's just so much near-immaculate songwriting, performance, recording/engineering (shout out to Geoff Emerick [RIP]), and presentation. Every song is is bang-on (yes, even Yellow Submarine, which I think has one Ringo's best sounding drum recordings). The unified group comradery is at its peak. And of course, the (literally) rule-breaking experimentation in recording techniques that both shattered old standards and invented new ones (close-mic drums, heavy compression/limiting, vari-speeds and ADT [automatic double tracking, invented by EMI tech Ken Townsend SPECIFICALLY FOR the Beatles to expedite the often-tedious work of vocal double tracking], incorporations of tape loops and more. I love every moment of this album, and I can honestly say it was a significant influence on me becoming a professional musician and audio engineer.
Very much enjoyed your reaction and analysis of this masterpiece. Glad to see you enjoyed the album entire. Cheers!
Ive thoroughly enjoyed your experience through the Beatles catalogue. Loving the extra dives. ❤️From UK
I actually prefer the version of "Your Bird Can Sing" from "Anthology". You hear giggling and it sounds like they are having a blast.
I’ll definitely have to give it a listen!!! Exciting :)
A friend of mine says those are marijuana giggles. He's probably right. LOL
@@CrystalMarieShannon I like the vocal on the Anthology version much better.. Just beautiful...
Oh that giggling version is just the best to listen to. Whenever I feel miserable I force myself to listen to it, and I always have a massive smile on my face by the end.
@@CrystalMarieShannon Yes, you absolutely have to. If you want a UA-cam link, here's one: ua-cam.com/video/bf22VR71ags/v-deo.html
You should try listening to solo beatje projects i suggest starting with :
“Maybe im amazed” McCartney
“ what is life “ &” my sweet lord” harrison
“ instant karma” & “love” lennon
I think harrison will really amaze you
No, he won't. Crystal already loves Harrison!😄
It was actually entertaining again and also interesting to listen to you, Crystal - you brought a lot of enthusiasm and many new thoughts into it. Thanks!
I listen to the songs from 1965 on more often than the ones before that, but even those have their charm!
Thank you sooooooo much! Damn the Beatles for only being together for 8 years with their poultry 11 albums. Still would love to see you do covers. Love your work ❤️🧚🏽♂️🌹
"WHAT GOES ON!" I LITERALLY LOLED😂
Crystal gets it. So cool.
Your ears are able to hear all of it. Well done.
Obviously the greatest band of all time
Paperback Writer/Rain single was recorded during the Revolver sessions.
Reaching the end of the Beatles catalogue could be a new beginning, Crystal. Would love to see you start on the solo work. Could be quite a journey....
Ringo's the guts of the Beatles.
yeah, it would be hard to imagine a band called Beat-les without a top-notch drummer.
Crystal, seeing how happy this album makes you feel is truly beautiful and inspiring! 😊 I’m going to try not to be monotonous with my thoughts of these tracks.
I love how the first 4 tracks end on a different note than how it started. Not sure if that was intentional, but it’s so cool. “Good Day Sunshine” feels like a throwback to the “Help!” album, but such a happy, bouncy tune. “And Your Bird Can Sing”, love those distorted guitars and harmonies. “For No One” is almost classical rock. And, that French horn by Alan Civil is so killer. It foreshadowed “Penny Lane” to me.
“Dr. Robert” has great guitars, too, and I love the “well, well, well, you’re feeling fine” part with the boys sounding like a Christmas choir. It really does replicate the feeling of being high or on a high. “I Want To Tell You”, oh how I love this. That E7 major key when George sings “when you’re here, all those words they seem to” is very similar to the key in “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” right before the “she’s so…” part. And Paul’s vocal at the end eerily sounds like an Indian instrument. So cool. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is my favorite Beatles song. Ever. I love it. Those horns. That bass. The drums and guitar. Paul’s vocals. Supposedly, it was an ode to marijuana, but I always hear it as an ode to a lady. LOL If you ever get to hear the mono mix, I highly recommend it.
Last but not least, “Tomorrow Never Knows”. My second favorite Beatles track of all-time. The birth of sampling. Tape loops, backwards guitar, Indian drones, Ringo’s drumming. One of my proudest moments years ago was requesting this song on a local classic rock station and they played it! It’s so weird and so unique. I love it. The mono mix of this is also superb. I love this album so much.
Crystal, thank you for making my day a "Good Day Sunshine." I like your beautiful refined musical appreciation of the Beatles' music. It is music I myself came of age with and meant so much to me. And yes, "Tomorrow Never Knows" is a trip. I love the backwards warbling instruments that sounds like swarms of seagulls or menacing wild Indians on the warpath. Thanks for all the great reviews. Hope you do a few select solo Beatle albums, like Lennon's first two, and Harrison's brilliant triple LP. Thanks again for all the great review videos.
I've long thought that Revolver was the Beatles' creative and artistic pinnacle, even though there's lot of competition and thus a host of valid alternative opinions on that one. My personal favourite track is For No One, where a guy reflects on his girlfriend's indifference to him while failing to recognise his own indifference to the relationship ("a love that should have lasted years" - hardly an expression of devastation). But what I hadn't realised until watching Crystal's review is how cleverly the last 3 tracks sum up the "Acid" feel to the album. "I want to tell you" is Harrison's ode to acid, while "Got to Get You into My Life" depicts McCartney's fondness for acid, but in a totally different way. The Lennon finishes the album with "Tomorrow Never Knows", a track that draws heavily on Timothy Leary's Book of the Dead while sounding for all the world like an acid trip. And by the way, there are also arguments for virtually any track on the album being ranked as the best - that's how good it is.
What's abundantly evident on Revolver is that John has fallen down the LSD rabbit hole. He was always getting hooked on the "next big thing" ... he would move on to Transcendental Meditation, heroin, Yoko, primal scream therapy . . . and that's all before his 30th birthday in 1970. The combination proved fatal to his muse. He was never the same artist after the "Imagine" album, which used up the last of his Beatles-era leftovers.
Those tape loops are just amazing. One thing that was NOT on a loop was the drums. Ringo sat there for the length of the song, and didn't miss a beat. No Sudden leaps into a fill, no distraction from the mess going on around him. Just steady solid Ringo doing what the song needed. That's craftsmanship.
If you want to hear Beatles with fresh ears, please do the 'Love' album. It is isolated tracks of 100% Beatle music mashed together in a blindingly creative way. (OK, purists, there's a couple of seconds of strings not from the lads.) Giles Martin mixed it for the Cirque de Soleil tribute. It feels like a brand new Beatles album, really.
American guitarist Joe Walsh sought to master the solo on "And Your Bird Can Sing", believing that Harrison had played it in a single take. Walsh, who married the sister of Starr's second wife, Barbara Bach, said he only discovered that it consisted of two parts when discussing with Starr how he had spent years laboring over the solo. Walsh concluded, "I think I’m the only guy who can play it - including George."
Love your videos. Keep 'em coming.
The working title for TNK was "The Void". I don't think the group had yet discovered LSD when Revolver was recorded in the spring-summer of 1966, but the album's final track sounds like the product of hallucinogens. Sgt. Pepper, early the next year, was done under the influence. Lennon claimed to have taken hundreds of acid trips. His voice is run through a revolving Leslie speaker.
Crystal, I absolutely LOVE watching your Beatles reactions. It makes me wish the band had made *50* albums for you to examine and interpret for us! But, since they didn't, I will just have to go back and rewatch your reaction videos over and over and over again -- just like we all listen to Beatles songs again and again, year after year, decade after decade. 😍
I really wish there more studio recordings for her to listen to, as well! I'm sad our Beatles journey with her is coming near its end.
@@analogblues She hasn't heard unreleased stuff like "What a Shame Mary Jane had a Pain at the Party," and songs they wrote but never used ["Leave My Kitten Alone" etc [see Chronology albums from the 1990's]. She has not watched their movies....BBC radio performances....or purchased a Beatles lunch pail for school 🤣. She's great...
I find that if I like a song a lot immediately I soon tire of it. Some songs take multiple listens as you continue to connect to it. That happens a lot with the Beatles. I was put off a big by Sgt. Pepper on the first listen. It soon grew on me, or maybe I grew into it. It is a wonderful listen.
Wow that is exactly the perfect way to put it!!! That has summed up my experience! Some of my automatic favorites have grown stale and some songs I didn’t “get” I ended up really resonating with!
I was put off at first by the White Album because there was so much to take in. It was overwhelming and so different from their earlier work. Now it's probably my favorite Beatles album.
Totally agree, I remember as a 16 yr old back in 1967 hearing Strawberry Fields Forever for the first time, I thought it was awful, now I think it's one of the best records ever made. Having said that, I liked Hello Goodbye when I first heard it, and still never tire of listening to it.
Makes me think of that scene in “Mr. Holland’s Opus” when he explains to his wife how he fell in love with the music of John Coltrane after initially hating it, but he kept playing it again and again.
"...if I like a song a lot immediately I soon tire of it." That is a symptom of the record industry's main mantra: "If it smells, it sells." lol
I love see people faces when they listen Tomorrow Never Knows by the first time and they are like "What the hell is going on here?" 😂
That song still sounds futurist even now.
when i received Revolver for Christmas i played "good day, sunshine" first. not knowing what to really expect i flipped the album over and started with "taxman". still haven't recovered 56 years later.
Crystal and The Beatles changed my life forever!!😃👍☮️❤️