History Music / RevolverBeatlesAlbum

Like ''Sgt Pepper'', the White Album and ''Abbey Road'', it has been remixed by Giles Martin from the original tapes, and the remixed version was released in October 2022.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* MelismaticVocals: George does this at the end of the verses of "Love You To" (giving his vocal a vaguely Asian chanting vibe) and Paul pulls off an impressive little run of this nature in his harmony vocal at the very end of "I Want to Tell You".

* MelismaticVocals: In "Love You To" and pulled off by Paul at the very end of "I Want to Tell You".

''Revolver'' is the seventh studio album by Music/TheBeatles, recorded in the spring of 1966 and released that August.

* AntiLoveSong[=/=]BreakupSong: "For No One" is about the end of "A love that should have lasted years".

* Music/GeorgeHarrison - guitar, backing and lead vocals, bass, sitar, tambura, maracas, tambourine, sound effects
* Music/JohnLennon - lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ, harmonium, cowbell, tambourine, maracas, sound effects
* Music/PaulMcCartney - lead vocals, bass, guitar, piano, clavichord, sound effects
* Music/RingoStarr - drums, backing and lead vocals, tambourine, maracas

* OdeToIntoxication: Did you think "Got to Get You Into My Life" was a love song? It is. A love song about how much Paul [=McCartney=] loved to smoke marijuana. (''Beatles '66'' author Steve Turner has an alternate interpretation, suggesting that it's actually about [=McCartney=]'s first LSD experience.)

* WorldMusic: Music/GeorgeHarrison plays sitar during "Love You To", an instrument he learned to master thanks to Music/RaviShankar. He played it earlier during "Norwegian Wood" on ''Music/RubberSoul'' (1965) and would play it again on "Within You Without You" from ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' (1967) and "The Inner Light", the b-side to their 1968 non-album single "Lady Madonna".

* UncommonTime: "She Said She Said" switches liberally between 3/4 and 4/4, with Ringo's jittery drumming adding to the song's freewheeling feel.

* UncommonTime: "She Said She Said" switches liberally between 3/4 and 4/4, with Ringo's jittery drumming adding to the song's chaotic feel.

* UncommonTime: "She Said She Said" switches liberally between 3/4 and 4/4.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: In the post UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan-UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher era, it can be hard to believe that "one for you, nineteen for me" is not an exaggeration; the British government in 1966 really did have a 95% top marginal tax rate.[[note]]That's ''marginal'' tax rate; that is, only your income over a certain very high amount was taxed at 95%[[/note]]

** "Taxman" used the "I Feel Free" method, bundling everything on the left channel, leaving tambourine and cowbell on the right, and filling the center with vocals.

* InTheStyleOf: "Good Day Sunshine" is done in the style of Music/TheLovinSpoonful, in particular their song "Daydream".

Like ''Sgt Pepper'', the White Album and ''Abbey Road'', it's been remixed by Giles Martin from the original tapes, and the remixed version was released in October 2022.

The album was conceived during an unusually long break in the Fab Four's schedule in early 1966.[[note]]They were supposed to film their third movie, ''A Talent for Loving'', during this period, but the project was canceled.[[/note]] Their music had already started becoming more sophisticated on their previous album, ''Music/RubberSoul'', and they took advantage of the free time to develop their sound even further. Also, they spent the better part of three months in the studio (which was unheard of in TheSixties), giving them plenty of time to experiment. ''Revolver'' made Music/GeorgeHarrison more prominent than ever by giving him three songs, including the opening track. (The most he'd ever gotten on their previous albums was two.) It was also the last regular Beatles studio album to have different American and British track listings on original release.

Like ''Sgt Pepper'', the White Album and ''Abbey Road'', it's been remixed by Giles Martin from the original tapes, and the remixed version will be released in October 2022.

** Before settling on ''Revolver'', the group went through several other {{Working Title}}s for the album. One (probably facetious) suggestion from Ringo was ''After Geography'', a play on Music/TheRollingStones' ''Music/AftermathAlbum'' from earlier that year.

* WordSaladLyrics: The enigmatic lyrics of "And Your Bird Can Sing" are very open to interpretation. Jonathan Gould (author of ''Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America'') theorizes that John intended them as a TakeThat to Music/FrankSinatra for Ol' Blue Eyes' criticism of The Beatles and rock music in general.[[note]]Sinatra underwent some evolution on this, covering the Beatles' "Something" and striking up a friendship with Music/DavidBowie in the mid '70s.[[/note]] Musicologist Alan Pollack instead suggested they reflect a kind of mid-life crisis John was undergoing at the time, also hinted at in his infamous Maureen Cleave interview. Another theory is that the song is a TakeThat to Music/TheRollingStones' Music/MickJagger and the "bird"[[note]]"Bird" being English slang for a young woman at the time[[/note]] in the song referred to his then girlfriend, Music/MarianneFaithfull. As noted in NonSequitur above, however, the main source of the Word Salad is in the lines that start with "and your bird...", without which the song would be a pretty straightforward condemnation of {{Pride}} and materialism.

** Before settling on ''Revolver'', the group went through several other {{Working Title}}s for the album. One (probably facetious) suggestion from Ringo was ''After Geography'', a play on Music/TheRollingStones' ''Music/{{Aftermath}}'' from earlier that year.

* TaxmanTakesTheWinnings: "Taxman" is a scathing critique on taxes - in particular, the British government’s then-highest income tax band (95%).

* NonSequitur: "And Your Bird Can Sing" actually makes sense if you ignore the lines that start with "and your bird..." For example: "You tell me that you've got everything you want, but you don't get me. You say you've seen seven wonders, but you can't see me."

** Several songs have little or no precedent in The Beatles' previous music. They'd used a sitar on ''Rubber Soul''[='=]s "Norwegian Wood", but "Love You To" was overtly influenced by Indian music and philosophy. "Got to Get You Into My Life", a tribute to Creator/{{Motown}}, Creator/StaxRecords and {{Soul}} Music in general, marked the group's first use of a horn section. (Music/EarthWindAndFire would later cover the song, bringing things full circle.) Meanwhile, "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the band's first excursion into AvantGardeMusic; it anticipates ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum'''s "Revolution #9", as well as John's early collaborations with Music/YokoOno.

* SillyLoveSongs: The Beatles were turning away from this trope, but Paul provides two straight examples, "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Good Day Sunshine". "Got to Get You Into My Life" ''seems'' like a love song, but is actually a disguised ode to marijuana.

* AbsenteeActor: Several tracks have at least one Beatle missing.
** Music/JohnLennon doesn't appear on "Love You To".
** "For No One" has only Music/PaulMcCartney, Music/RingoStarr and French horn player Alan Civil.
** "She Said She Said" does not feature Paul, who walked out of the studio in a huff after arguing with John about the arrangement. It is one of only a scattered few songs in the Beatles catalogue where Paul doesn't play, "Julia" and "Good Night" from The White Album being two more.

** "She Said She Said", the last track recorded, probably counts as well. Paul once told a biographer that he left the session in a huff after arguing with the other Beatles, leaving George to cover for him on bass. The style of bass on the song ''is'' noticeably different from most of the rest of the album. There's no official documentation to support it, but most Beatles experts, including Robert Rodriguez, seem to agree that Paul isn't on the finished version.

** "She Said She Said", the last track recorded, probably counts as well. Paul once told a biographer that he left the session in a huff after arguing with the other Beatles, leaving Music/GeorgeHarrison to cover for him on bass. The style of bass on the song ''is'' noticeably different from most of the rest of the album. There's no official documentation to support it, but most Beatles experts, including Robert Rodriguez, seem to agree that Paul isn't on the finished version.

''[[Magazine/TimeMagazine Time]]'' magazine included the album in their [[TimeAllTime100Albums 2006 list of 100 timeless and essential albums]]; it was listed at #3 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] [[Music/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums of All Time]], and at #2 on ''Magazine/{{NME}}''[='=]s [[UsefulNotes/NME500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime similar list]]. Because of this it is currently the 2nd-most-acclaimed album according to Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of various critics' lists]]. Hits from the album include "Taxman", "Eleanor Rigby", "Got to Get You Into My Life", and "Yellow Submarine".

The album is the subject of two books: ''[[http://revolverbook.co.uk/ Abacadabra!: The Complete Story of the Beatles' ''Revolver'']]'' (2006), an e-book by Ray Newman, and ''[[http://revolverbook.com/revolver Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll]]'' (2012) by Robert Rodriguez (the music writer, not [[Creator/RobertRodriguez the filmmaker]]). It also receives a lot of coverage in Steve Turner's ''[[https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062475480/beatles-66 Beatles' 66: The Revolutionary Year]]'' (2016).