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Cover artwork
Revolver was the second Beatles album, after Rubber Soul, to not feature the group's name on the front cover. The black-and-white artwork was by Klaus Voormann, a musician and artist whom The Beatles befriended in Hamburg. It was made up partly of pen drawings, with collage sections including photographs by Robert Whitaker and Robert Freeman. Whitaker also took the photograph on the rear of the LP.
Klaus had been a great friend since Hamburg days - he'd been one of the 'exis', the existentialists whom we'd got to know then. We knew he drew and he'd been involved in graphic design; I must admit we didn't really know what he did, but he'd been to college. We knew he must be all right and so we said, 'Why don't you come up with something for the album cover?'
He did, and we were all very pleased with it. We liked the way there were little things coming out of people's ears, and how he'd collaged things on a small scale while the drawings were on a big scale. He also knew us well enough to capture us rather beautifully in the drawings. We were flattered.
Anthology
John Lennon telephoned Klaus Voormann, inviting him to work on The Beatles' artwork. He visited the group in the studio, where they played him the Revolver recordings for inspiration.
The artist chose black and white in an act of rebellion against the fashion for psychedelic covers. He worked from his studio at 29 Parliament Hill, London, where for two weeks he developed his concepts using pen and ink.
Voormann wanted The Beatles' hair to be the focus, and drew likenesses of the group from memory. He then placed photos in and around the drawings.
John, Paul and I devoted an evening to sifting through an enormous pile of newspapers and magazines for pictures of The Beatles, after which we cut out the faces and glued them all together. Our handiwork was later superimposed onto a line drawing by Klaus Voormann, their old friend in Hamburg.
Friend to The Beatles
The Beatles loved Voormann's "scrapbook collage" artwork, and the group's manager Brian Epstein was so overcome that he cried tears of joy. Voormann's payment for the album cover was just £40. He did, however, win Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts in 1967.
Bizarrely, in Russia the album was issued with a different collage adorning Voorman's drawings.
The title
Revolver was named after the motion of a vinyl record as it was played, although there is an obvious double meaning which pleased the group.
It's just a name for an LP, and there's no meaning to it. Why does everyone want a reason every time you move? It means Revolver. It's all the things that Revolver means, because that's what it means to us. Revolver and all the things we could think of to go with it.
The Beatles had some trouble settling on a name; their original title was Abracadabra, though this was later discarded.
Revolver did not mean a gun, but something that revolves, like a record. Johnny Dean, editor of Beatles Monthly, was with them on the night of 24 June 1966 in a Munich hotel room when they named the latter. At first they had all four wanted to call it Abracadabra, but someone had already used it. Pendulums and Fat Man and Bobby were other ideas. Ringo suggested having a joke with the Rolling Stones by calling it After Geography since the Stones had just done Aftermath! John proposed Beatles on Safari and Paul came up with Magic Circle. John changed this to Four Sides of the Circle and Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle, which somehow led them to Revolver.
Many Years From Now
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Probably their most consistently great album (every song is great.) I actually prefer The White Album & Sgt. Pepper but I can understand why a lot of people think Revolver is their best.
Revolver is the best, but not far behind in my opinion is Abbey Road, Rubber Soul and the White Album. Sgt. Pepper is great just because of the impact that it had, but Revolver was an absolute great album. If you want to go to school, listen to Revolver.
My favorite album. Revolver shot me gently when i am hearing it...
Is the perfect album for play it in a sunny day, song by song.. Whit a couple of beers and maybe some weed.
I love it... Thanks Beatles!
Who was George Martin talking to in his first quote on the second page? John, George, or someone else?
I should have made that clearer. That was George M talking about John. I'll clarify the section now.
One of my favorites simply for the Harrison song "Taxman". All the songs are amazing but that one takes the gold medal in my opinion! I've read that Harrison had written "The Art of Dying" from his first solo record during this year of their career. He was obviously coming into his own as a composer at this time. The only fault of The Beatles in my opinion was not including more of Harrison's songs on each album.
For this particular album, the Beatles didn't have any more time for more recording even if there were more songs that were ready. They were back on the road again.
They began their tour of Germany and the Far East almost immediately after Revolver was finished.
Phil Collins called Revolver the album that everyone else is still trying to make.
The same Phil Collins who ruined "Tomorrow Never Knows"?
Yeah, the very same who obviously tried to pay them respect.
It's not his fault nobody else ever was and is capable of pulling off something as insanely cool as TKK.
... boggling that someone is citing Phil Collins in an homage to The Beatles. Or do we next get to find out what Cliff Richard has to say on the subject ;o)
I think the point is that it's a remarkably apt quote, no matter who said it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say robert is not necessarily a raving Phil Collins fan. (Who isn't, though, really?)
No, I'm not a raving Phil Collins fan - nontheless you can't deny his success musically - so I think he has standing to make the statement, regardless of whether one likes his music or not.
Plus Phil did have a role in A Hard Days Night - anybody here know that?
If you want to talk about Phil Collins, please head to the forum. Let's keep this page for discussions about Revolver.
yes - he needs to try harder!
Personally I wasn't convinced by that cover either.
But - he DID cover TNK and NOT, say "Lucy in the sky" or "Here, there and everywhere" or "Help" or something as obvious. He tried and covered their most progressive song ever.
Respect, Phil, for that!
maybe he should have done Yesterday
Maybe Phil should have just left the Beatles alone, or cover a Ringo track since he was after all a drummer. I can hear him now singing, 'I'm sorry that I doubted you, I was so unfair. You were in a car crash, and you lost your hair.'
The original U.S. version of this does not have enough Lennon songs. The "Butchers" did him wrong.
It´s a great album, very very good, Eleanor Rigby, For No One, here there and everywhere, i´m only sleeping, she said she said, tomorrow never knows, and your bird can sing, good day sunshine, got to get you into my life, all excelent songs, and similar songs, songs that fit with each other, amazing album
Great album. Includes some of the best pure pop ever recorded (Good day Sunshine etc...) to the psychedelic brilliance of Tomorrow Never Knows.
Macca was right- "they will never be able to copy this"
I think that it was important that they were still touring when this was made; part of secret is that they are a band and not a few song writers treating the other band members like session players.
Great album and their best up to that point but I've always found this album a bit overrated amoung Beatles fans who rate it the best Beatles album ever. To me there seems to be a fair amount of "filler" on it. I don't particularly think George's songs are the best. Even Taxman gets a bit monotonous after awhile. The albums that came after Revolver are better in my opinion. Still a great album though.
I prefer Revolver to Sgt. Pepper's. George is my favorite Beatle, and he is extensively involved on Revolver (especially when compared to his seemingly disinterested and limited role on Pepper). However, I have never been a fan of Harrison's Love You To. I wish they had recorded and included Isn't It A Pity (which George later noted was available but rejected by John) as George's third track for Revolver. Love You To could have been held over for Yellow Submarine or some later B-side. George's guitar work on Revolver is fantastic. He also had prominent backing vocals on much of the LP (Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Sub, She Said She Said, And Your Bird Can Sing). Great stuff.
The Beatles best album. Period. Many people (critics, publications, etc.) are coming around to this. Pepper, while great, hasn't dated nearly as well as this gem.