The sound to "Paperback Writer" is interesting. It's crunchier than anything on Rubber Soul but not really worse, still clear and well-balanced. The song itself is pretty annoying. It would probably be a decent song if they weren't doing that stupid "Paaaaaaperback Wriiiiiiteeerrrr" whining throughout the song. "Rain" is just as annoying, but in a more droning sense. What a terrible single to release on the heels of Rubber Soul. I hope Revolver is better.
Certainly a nice strong start on the album, "Taxman" and "Eleanor Rigby". The songs don't really fit together and "Eleanor Rigby" with its unconventional (for a rock album) string arrangement should probably be more towards the middle of the album, but they're really good songs so right away Revolver has got me in a good mood.
It falls apart quickly though. "I'm Only Sleeping" is a mess, and "Love You To" is really heavy on the Hindi influences- a bit overindulgent for a rock album. "Here, There, and Everywhere" is a lovely little tune, which is followed by a nice dose of WTF by the name of "Yellow Submarine". I guess it's fun and goofy, but it's out of place being so upfront on Revolver. It's also stuffed with loud overdubbed sound effects. "Yellow Submarine" would have made for a better non-album single.
Side 1 ends with the disjointed "She Said She Said". I've avoided doing song-by-song descriptions thus far in my Beatles journey but it's tough to ignore how uneven the first half of Revolver is.
This is unfair, but "Good Day Sunshine" has just become so ubiquitous and cliche that I can't like it at all anymore. I wonder if The Beatles knew when they recorded it that it would be used in like 85% of all commercials and movies about being sunny and happy for the rest of time. If I knew that while I was recording a song I don't know what I'd do. On the one hand I'd be assuring myself royalties money for the rest of my life. On the other hand I'd be seen as the guy who wrote "That Song" by some sneering members of society. I don't know if I could live with that.
The B-side is much more coherent with the exception of the closing track "Tomorrow Never Knows". It's a trip for sure, but is mostly noise. All together I'm pretty disappointed by Revolver and its preceeding single. My guess is most people view Revolver as a musical leap forward. Much of the music does have new instrumentation, shifting beats, and expanded influence. But it's not nearly as well grounded as Rubber Soul or A Hard Day's Night. I think it's pretty sloppy.
Hopefully this is just a trial run of something better coming in the later albums. Hopefully The Beatles focused on the stronger parts of this collection to expand on and not the crud. 2 stars.
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