REVOLVER

This album is where McCartney begins to dominate. I believe he isn't always given the credit he deserves for taking over leadership of the Beatles when they were entering their most creative phase. He dominates here in the songwriting, with five absolutely amazing tracks, which are the best on the album. 'For no-one' is complete genius, as is the orchestral 'Eleanor Rigby'. Both these songs and the piano progressions on the happy and effective 'Good day sunshine' show some classical influence in Paul's writing. He also has the ballad 'Here there and everywhere' which is beautiful and has lovely harmonies. 'Got to get you into my life' also utilises a brass section and is his only upbeat song here, about drugs. He has one miss. He is the main writer of the Ringo sung 'Yellow Submarine'. I know it has cult status and is so well known now, but I think this should have been a B side, with Paperback Writer and Rain coming on the album instead. Paul is also worthy of note, as he plays the lead guitar on Taxman, a huge positive for this song, Harrison's first of three excellent compositions. He also worked on the tape loops for 'Tomorrow never knows' and was apparently more into the avante garde scene well before John. Indeed, 'Carnival of Light' was only a year away. George's other two contributions are also successful. I love 'Love you to'. It is so relaxing and transports me to a land of bliss, something modern music just cannot do for me. 'I want to tell you' took some time to grow on me, as it is very dissonant, but I really like it now. John's four remaining tracks are ok, but nowhere near Paul's standard. It seems to be the same sound for all of them, electric guitars and all songs taken at mid tempo. That's not to say I don't like them. I like the backwards guitar in 'I'm only sleeping' and the melody and harmony vocals from George in 'She said she said'. But when you get to the same sound for 'And your bird can sing' then again for 'Doctor Robert', I start to feel Lennon should have experimented with a different style, as Paul just is brimming over with ideas. It is no wonder that Paul took over from this stage and was to totally dominate 1967 and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the Beatles career.