Is Revolver the greatest rock album every recorded? This is a question that will be asked and answered for many years still. At this point the Beatles were basically done with touring and catering to the fans. They would spend more time in the studio then every before and try many new techniques and styles in order to make the music they wanted to make. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album as the 3rd greatest album of all time (behind Sgt. Peppers at no. 1 and the Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds at no. 2). The question of which is a better album, Sgt. Peppers or Revolver may hinge only on the fact that Sgt. Peppers seems to work better as a whole unit, where Revolver has better music and much more experimentation.
A major new technique on this album is called automatic double tracking. In the past singers would often sing the song and then sing it a 2nd time to create a doubled vocal track. John Lennon hated doing this, and when and EMI engineer came up with this technique, they adopted it immediately. It allowed him to sing once and using two linked tape recorders it could automatically make the double track. On the song I’m only sleeping, George played the notes for the lead guitar in reverse order and then they reversed the tape and mixed it in. Finally with Tomorrow Never Knows, they recorded many tape loops of different sounds and added them to the pre-recorded backing track. Also the John’s distant vocals were produced by sending his vocal into a speaker in the room and then recorded from the speaker.
Another important aspect of Revolver is that it is one of the first psychedelic albums. Many of the songs were done in this psychedelic mode, specifically the backwards riffs of I’m Only Sleeping, the sound effects in Yellow Submarine and the sound effects in Tomorrow Never Knows.
Does all of this make the album the best rock album? I cannot say for sure, but without a doubt it is one of the greatest ever and it changed the face of pop/rock music forever.
Taxman – Mono. The vocals are back in the center where they belong, but the music is almost all out of the left, so the right had nothing (except the great psychedelic guitar solo in the middle of the song).
Eleanor Rigby – Mono (by far!). This song is probably the best example of poor stereo mixing. Although the strings sound much better in stereo, Paul’s solo is only out of the right, and in the first verse he comes in a tad too late (as well as the first second of the verse coming out of both speakers and then cutting out of the left). In 1999 a stereo remix was done and this was corrected in stereo. Why did they not do it here!
I’m Only Sleeping – Tie. In fact the two mixes are so similar you can hardly hear a difference.
Love You Too – The mono edges out the stereo slightly here. The Sitar sounds better in the stereo but there is not much coming out of the right side.
Here, There And Everywhere – Mono again. The vocals are in the center in the stereo which is good but the instruments are only in the right and the backup vocals in the left. Sounds awkward in stereo.
Yellow Submarine – Mono. Almost everything is out of the right in the stereo except the drums, incidental sounds, and the brass band.
She Said She Said – Stereo wins. The first really great stereo mix on the album, the vocals are in the center and the music is well balanced between the two sides.
Here are both versions of Eleanor Rigby plus as an added bonus the version from the 1999 remixed Yellow Submarine songtrack. You Choose!
Enjoy!
Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yePeXWET_t8]
Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JEXaVDa64g]
Yellow Submarine Songtrack (please note this will start playing so you need to click play and then pause to stop it)
[livevideo id=4258801E1BA640D693349D4C1BCB7716/342091/eleanor-rigby.aspx]