Revolver (Enhanced, Limited Edition, Original Recording Remastered)

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The Beatles

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The Beatles' overall achievement is rivaled by no one. In a course of only seven years, they produced 12 and ½ albums (I don't count YELLOW SUBMARINE as a full album), one of which was a double album, and enough independent singles to make up two other albums. Very prolific, and the single most important band ever to grace the rock'n'roll scene. There is countless debates on what is their most important, but to me every one of those albums from Rubber Soul on (excepting YELLOW SUBMARINE) is a self-contained masterpiece.

That being said, REVOLVER gives us the most balanced view of The Beatles that we ever get. Everything that made The Beatles great is here in the right proportions. We have the three tracks of Harrison, including an Indian song of his, we have the ultimate Ringo song (everyone should know what song I'm talking about here), we have Paul's melodious love songs that would overwhelm his solo career, and we have the standard Lennon experimentation. On no other record do we get such a clear picture of what each Beatle brought into the equation. Everyone of them shine for their individual talents. The direct opposite of this is THE WHITE ALBUM, when The Beatles were in the process of breaking up.

In terms of artistic growth (remember, this was released almost a year after Help!, which was released August 6, 1965 and this August 5, 1965) we knew The Beatles were onto something. It foreshadows everything that will happen on SGT PEPPER, and is as important as its successor. And in terms of what made The Beatles great, this is the record to go too, because it gives you the most balanced view of the most important band in rock'n'roll history.

The qualities of this album have been well-covered. It is a classic. I'm not writing about the content of the album, but rather to recommend all buyers avoid the "Brazil" version that I somehow got ("For sale in Brazil only.") The remastering job on this seems to consist of making the vocals ridiculously loud at the expense of everything else. In particular, "Eleanor Rigby" (all vocals, strings disappear), "And Your Bird Can Sing" (all vocals, guitars disappear) and "Dr. Robert" (all vocals, backing tracks disappear) are extremely disappointing. For some reason, some other tracks ("Got to Get You into My Life") sound fine. There is also audible print-through in a couple spots (where the signal of spooled audio tape transfers from one layer to another), so you get to hear a "ghost" vocal a couple seconds before the real vocal begins. This is fairly shoddy workmanship, and it makes me wonder about the quality of their source tape. I don't know if this is unique to the "Brazil" version (I hope so!), but PLEASE make sure to avoid this one, in any event!

Btw, I am a recording engineer, and for reference, my listening experience is with the original vinyl versions.