Does anyone actually like 'Revolution 9'? If so...why?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by milco, Dec 1, 2015.

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  1. WorldB3

    WorldB3 Forum Resident

    Location:
    On the continent.
    I like it.

    It's an extension (maybe to the extreme depending on your view) of the randomness that they applied to other songs that made them special or different. Ex: Feedback before I Feel Fine, sampled noises on Tomorrow Never Knows, the sound effects on Good Morning, alarm clock and orchestra on A Day In The Live to name a few. Lyrically there are other examples of randomness or attempts at dadism like I Am The Walrus and Come Together.

    The song itself is still melodic and interesting enough to follow compared to say a piece by Stockhausen who was an influence on the Beatles at the time. By putting the song on the White Album instead of on a less high profile release like Wonderwall the Beatles forced millions of people to Fluxus neo dada noise music at least once.

    It may have lead the way for acceptance of other sample based soundscapes albums that followed like DJ Shadow - Entroducing.
     
  2. coniferouspine

    coniferouspine Forum Resident

    Yeah, I like it in the same way that I love occasionally listening to those recordings of William S. Burroughs "cut ups." Every once in a while I will get a wild hair, I'll pull those out and just revel in how crazy they are. I remember I knew some people that had that Burroughs album Nothing Here Now But The Recordings and a couple of other things by him, and Brion Gysin or whatever. Back in the day we used to get really rather ripped on whatever it was, and sit around on the couch, listening to them and just ... trip out (and laugh a good bit). With "Revolution #9" it's all about the juxtapositions and the ebb and flow, and waiting around endlessly for the "if....you become naked" bit to happen. Which is a real hoot.

    So to me "Revolution 9" is very much like the Burroughs cut-ups and experiments, it was a noble and daring experiment, very far ahead of its time.
     
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  3. I've always considered Revolution 9 the thematic centrepiece of its parent album, being perhaps the best (and certainly most well-known) sonic example of the real darkness that ultimately follows an initially light perceived sensation brought on by LSD. Unlike some of his contemporaries, John seemed to have weathered the storm better than most, able to set his worst experiences to this piece then move on relatively unscathed - not to say that he ever did anything comparable to I Am The Walrus ever again, with Across The Universe proof of just how fragile he'd become. On the other hand, maybe it's just an indulgence too far, a sign of Yoko steering her partner deep into the avant-garde, which he had no place ever venturing to as a member of a fluff pop combo? Furthermore, you could argue that his then-recent adventures with heroin were having a negative effect, this being the most obvious example of his once sharp edge being dulled to a point where he'd push to have anything released, much as with the whole Two Virgins project? Saying that, Revolution would perhaps have been even more potent if "the white album" had retained its originally intended title, further emphasising the loss of innocence, and issued in the form heard in take 20, where a seemingly conventional song dissolves into pure chaos, being a more potent demonstration of the same point as #9 or even What's The New Mary Jane," both more straightforward excursions into the experimental as opposed to taking listeners on a journey.
     
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  4. Vincentrifugal

    Vincentrifugal Forum Resident

    I'm sorry, hate it more today than ever. George should have demanded he get at least two more tracks on the album instead of this waste of time. (And he's always pissy with PAUL?)
    And Paul couldn't convince John to put crap like rev 9 on his other three albums of garbage: life with the lions, wedding album and two virgins.?
    John was delivering a lot of gems to the WA, he too could have given us more SONGS.
     
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  5. Lostchord

    Lostchord Dr. Livingstone, I presume

    Location:
    PoznaƄ, Poland


    [​IMG]

    on a serious note, I think it's kinda brilliant until it reaches the 2'00 mark (the baby breathing) - up to that point the sequencing of the loose bits is more or less thrilling, occasionally dazzling (1'30)

    then it gets more and more ponderous for me, though I also enjoy the little marching band motif, first appearing at 3'10'

    halfway through the song I begin to really lose interest, though
     
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  6. DmitriKaramazov

    DmitriKaramazov Senior Member

    Yeah, heck yeah I like it!

    It does seem to have an ebb and flow to it -- it seems to have a structure and formula to it. It's not "music" per se, but interesting "organized noise".

    Uh, it's cool! I even listen to it in the car!
     
  7. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    I used to not care for it.
    Then I heard Pink Floyd and realized Lennon was ahead of his time.
     
  8. major_works

    major_works This is my Custom Title

    Location:
    Ramsey, NJ, USA
    I like it now. When the 9-year-old me heard it on the then-new Beatles album, it scared the pants off me. I skipped it for many, many years.

    R9 only makes sense once you've come to terms (as much as one can, anyway) with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Go here: http://www.stockhausenmusic.com/ and listen to Stockhausen's Hymnen. Then see if you have an "a-ha!" moment regarding Revolution 9.
     
  9. InStepWithTheStars

    InStepWithTheStars It's a miracle, let it alter you

    Location:
    North Carolina
    Well, it's a very effective piece in channeling what it was meant to: it does sound like a revolution. The atmosphere, all the voices, the creepy pseudo-plot... it works exceptionally well in that sense of the concept piece.

    that said... it sounds horrible on the album. Had it been a one-off EP or something like that it would be much more fondly remembered. But it interrupts the white album (which I don't really even like anyway) for eight minutes of non-music. I can appreciate it for what it is, but what it does to that (in my opinion, already severely flawed) album...

    In a word, I suppose: misplaced. I know that's not what that word means, but I don't think there's one single word that describes all that stuff I said. If there is, I either don't know it or have forgotten it.
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2015
  10. kozy814

    kozy814 Forum Resident

    I like it. I skip it from time to time.
     
  11. fuse999

    fuse999 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Abstract
     
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  12. willy

    willy hooga hagga hooga

    Heavens to Betsy ........ :yikes:
     
  13. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Not coincidentally, Civilization Phase III and Lumpy Gravy are two of my least favorite things in Zappa's oeuvre.
     
  14. mikrt17

    mikrt17 Life has surface noise.

    Location:
    BROADSTAIRS UK
    I find it interesting but don't listen to it often because it's not music but it's an
    unusual experiment and a cleaver feat of engineering.
     
  15. seacliffe301

    seacliffe301 Forum Resident

    I like it, always have.
    I was 10 when I got the album Christmas of '68. It certainly was dark & weird, but intriguing none the less.

    When the "Paul is Dead" thing was going on, and it was put under a microscope, it scared the hell out of me. I would occasionally put on as I was going to sleep. Eery for sure.
    Somewhere in my tape collection I have an earlier mix of it. Half of the overdubs had not yet taken place, leaving much of the verbiage bare. Some of it is down right spooky.

    I get that most of the listening public (and half the Beatles) would have preferred it been left off, but like someone else pointed out, it wouldn't be the White Album without it.
     
  16. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I'll admit it:
    When I first listened to it, on my cassette purchase of the White Album, back in the late-'70's, I was a few minutes into it, thinking , 'get to the SONG already'!
    BUT..... now, I can place it as the 'ground zero' of my fondness for 'strange'!
    It wasn't until 1985, when I heard "Lumpy Gravy" did I feel a certain fondness for 'total abstraction' in my 'rock'!
    And, while both "Rev. 9" & "Lumpy Gravy" seem totally dis-jointed, and provide, for some, nothing but 'strangeness-for-strangeness-sake", the one band that took this 'style', and gave it meaning & emotion was........ NEGATIVLAND!
    Their 'piece', "Helter Stupid" is a 'must-hear' for anyone who feels you cannot make such strangeness make a point!
    Negativland member Don Joyce (RIP) managed to make a 'solo' album, using the same 'style' to remark on WWII, titled "We'll Be Right Back".... another 'must-hear'!
     
  17. helter

    helter Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    It's what made the Beatles great.........no boundries ........always pushing the envelope for yet another new sound
     
  18. 93curr

    93curr Senior Member

    I always liked it, right from the first time I heard the album (9? 10? years old) I've never once skipped over it.
    Why would non-music frighten anybody? It's a great sound collage.
     
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  19. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Avant garde sound montage art piece. :righton:

    I'm sure it was Yoko's idea as she was that kind of artist.
     
  20. Jerquee

    Jerquee Take this, brother, may it serve you well.

    Location:
    New York
    I love it.

    If one can deal with the idea, it's very well done. It has a nice trajectory and flow despite the lack of traditional musical ideas.
    As far as early electronic music/concrete goes, it's far more interesting than the rest.
     
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  21. Maidenpriest

    Maidenpriest Setting the controls for the heart of the sun :)

    Location:
    Europe
    Love it, from the minute I heard it as a kid (like the man pissing on your head if you listen with Headphones :) ), so many little things to listen to and I never get bored or skip it, theey are standing still
     
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  22. pez

    pez Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    Think it is interesting on its own in the same way that horse latitudes by the doors is. Neither sit well in an album of music to me though.
     
  23. Reader

    Reader Senior Member

    Location:
    e.s.t. tenn.
    Excellent!! Thanks for posting.
     
  24. lennonfan1

    lennonfan1 Senior Member

    Location:
    baltimore maryland
    The Beatles proof that they could throw out whatever and however they wanted. They were a challenge. I've always liked it, it didn't freak me out nearly as much as 2000 light years from home by the Stones.
     
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  25. Edgard Varese

    Edgard Varese Royale with Cheese

    Location:
    Te Wai Pounamu
    When I was kid I was frightened of it, but I like it now. It really holds my interest when I listen to it, and it does have a certain kind of "rhythm".
     
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