A short story of a great album
Rolling Stone, a few years back, listed the Top 500 albums of all time. Not surprisingly, The Beatles had most of their albums make the list. Of the Top 5, Rubber Soul was #5 and Revolver ranked #3. These two albums, released December 1965 and August 1966 respectively, began to show that there was absolute substance to the maturing group. The groundbreaking levels of melodies, lyrics, and production was far above what had been already produced by the band during the previous three years, which even then, was far above all other pop music production, as underscored by Beatlemania. The group spent the months between November 1966 and May 1967 out of ther spotlight, other than a release of the double A-side single Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, which, as previous singles in America, hit #1. But in England, "Please Release Me" by Englebert Humperdinck kept this single from the #1 slot (although the unit sales were more!). So this, along with the Fab's out of the spotlight, led one critic to write that the group had peaked, and with their touring days over, they could no longer be a group, that they were finished. He was in for a surprise. The only thing The Beatles were finished with was putting the finishing touches on the tracks that would make up the album Rolling Stone put at #1 of all time. With the previous two albums being a precursor, the group began to use the studio as a canvas; the were painting pictures in sound. And what sounds! Horns, comb and paper, alarm clocks, dog whistles, Indian musicians, symphony musicians, animal noises, tape loops, pump organs, and of course, the trusty guitars, bass, and drums. Inspiration for songs ranged from breakfast commercials and changing weather to preschool drawings. Their producer, George Martin, used the technology of 1967 (i.e four track tapes) to realize John's wish to have people "smell the sawdust" on "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite", as well as figure out how to make a single piano chord last about 45 seconds, and how to make Paul sound like a teenager in "When I'm 64". George was able to take a foreign style of music (and musicians) and translate, with great success, the drones of asian instruments to a western music piece. The styles of music presented ranges from hard rock (listen to the riffs on the title track!) to the strings (and sly lyrics of Bye-Bye/Buy Buy)of "She's Leaving Home", ragtime, and of course, the psychedelic. Two of the strongest tracks, "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and "A Day In The Life" took not only the Beatles music to new heights, but set the bar for all other bands far too high to reach. The Beatles point out The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" was a huge inspiration. But Brian Wilson knew that when he heard it, SPLHCB trumped the best he could do. And Ringo: his vocals for "With A Little Help From My Friends" and drumwork (imagine the power of three beats of a bass drum on "Lucy" show exactly why he was the perfect last piece of the fab four puzzle. Johnny Rivers sang "All summer long we were dancing in the sand, and the jukebox kept on playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonley Hearts Club Band" and Jimi Hendrix was playing the title track three days after the albums release as part of his stage show. Bob Dylan said he now knew the Beatles didn't want to be cute anymore. And if Shrek's remark about Sgt Pompous's Fancy Pants Band 4 decades later doesn't show the staying power of the album, ask yourself where Rolling Stone placed this album.Read full review
