REVOLVER

Many state that "Revolver" is the first Progressive Rock BEATLES release, I strongly disagree with this, even though it's an effort to leave behind the good boys Pop hits from the early years, they still don't manage to start a real transition to Psyche or Proto Prog, and the album is way behind "Abbey Road" and even the overrated "Sgt Peppers"

The album starts with "Taxman" and honestly don't get what they pretend, sounds as Proto Punk rather than Proto Prog, the constant repetition of a couple of chords is simply boring,. even when the vocal work is much better than the instrumental.

"Eleanor Rigby" is a great leap, at last the are trying to create an almost Symphonic mood (before Symphonic Rock even existed), the delicate and melancholic string arrangements adds a perfect touch, because unlike other bands who added artificial orchestral intros and codas, here the orchestration is an integral part of the song, just perfect.

"I'm only Sleeping" is an attempt of early Psychedelia, still they can't live the simplicity of early years but they are advancing, not great result, but as I said before, it's an advance. As usual the underrated George Harrison adds the Eastern sound with Indian instruments and interesting arrangements, THE BEATLES are starting to embrace early Psychedelia, with an interesting fusion of Rock and Ethnic music.

"Here, There and Everywhere" is a nice but non transcendental song, somehow they resist to leave the sound that lead them to be the most important band of the early 60's.

"Yellow Submarine" must be the most boring, repetitive and dull song I ever heard, I simply can't understand how a couple of talented composers like Lennon & Mc'Cartney released something so absurd and ridiculous, sounds almost a caricature.

"She Said" is a nice trippy song with the spirit of the late 60's, a huge improvement since the last previous horrendous track or the following song ("Good Day Sunshine") which doesn't interests me a bit.

"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a nice track, not spectacular, but at least have good timing and doesn't bore the listener like "For No One", which despite the wing arrangements sends me to sleep each time I play it.

"Doctor Robert" is a good Rock song with nothing new to offer, but again it's catchy, now, "I Want to Tell You" is a nice example of experimentation, at last THE BEATLES dare to deal with dissonances, entering into a previously unexplored territory (by them), that's what I expected from all the album.

The album ends with the strong "Got to Get You Out of My Life" and the highly experimental "Tomorrow Never Knows", a good closure for an uneven album, with extremely high moments as in "Eleanor Rigby" and others that offer nothing new.

Reviewing "Revolver" wasn't as hard as I thought, but rating it was a nightmare, being that I was between 2 and 3 stars, so I had to use my usual method, first I compared it with ELP's debut which I rated with 3 stars and "Revolver" is light years behind.

But the definitive decision was taken when I noticed that had rated Sgt Peppers with threw stars and "Revolver" is not remotely in the level, so if I want to be honest, can't rate this album with more than 2 stars.

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