"Yesterday"...And Today turns 50 on 6/20

I guess it's the greatest hodgepodge album of all time.

 

That's why it's called "Yesterday"...and Today !

 

Yep, the title song and stuff from today.

 

"Dr. Robert"...and Today wouldn't have had the same ring.

 

I'm another one who feels that the album actually flows. Why? No clue....But it works for me.

Also.....Best stereo mix of Day Tripper, period! The "one guitar, two guitar" intro is fantastic!

 

Or Drive My Car Today...

 

I know what you mean, sort-of.

Having been born a bit after the time when The Beatles were still an active group, I got into the albums in a bit more haphazard way than those who were alive to see it all unfold in real time.

While I have always respected and loved Revolver and I have always thought that it is great, it occurred to me recently that its maybe a bit odd that I don't listen to it as much as the some of the others.

When I listened to the mono CD Revolver in my car a few days ago, it occurred to me partly why this is.

Of course, the opening one-two punch of "Taxman" and "Eleanor Rigby" is an unparalleled, stupendously good opening.

Meanwhile, the back half of the album has phenomenal groove and flow: For me, everything from "And Your Bird Can Sing" through the final track, "Tomorrow Never Knows" works exceptionally well in that running order, going out with lots of great music. While historically I might have thought "Dr. Robert" and "I Want To Tell You" to be lesser tracks, they really hold their own for me today, contributing to side two's minimalistic, churning, building resonance.

However. It is those tracks, 3 through 8, most of side one into the first track of side two, where the Revolver concept is a less than perfectly satisfying album for me.

While on Yesterday and Today "I'm Only Sleeping" sounds like a mysterious and bold statement, on Revolver "I'm Only Sleeping" sounds to me like a notch down from the trememdous energy of "Taxman" and "Rigby". The only track on Revolver John had that could have completely matched what preceded in this position would have been "Tomorrow Never Knows", but they were obviously preferring to save that for the closer. (Hmm....Now I'm starting to think how the album might work with TNK in the third position....)

"Love You To", while not as 'great' as most of the others is nonetheless very bold and innovative. So in some sense the US Revolver avoids that slight sense of letdown for me that comes with the UK's first John track, "I'm Only Sleeping". "Love You To" ups the what-the-f*k quotient even further coming out of "Eleanor", so the tension is sustained a bit longer with the US configuration.

But then, on either region's release, "Here, There and Everywhere", "Yellow Submarine", "She Said She Said", "Good Day Sunshine"... these tracks just don't keep up the sense of High Art that was established at the outset and which returns on side 2.

"Here, There and Everywhere" has lost a bit of its luster for me over the years. It's really good and classic, but maybe not 'great' to me. It is "For No One" that is the supreme display of Paul's softer side on Revolver... for me.

"Yellow Submarine" is great, in its way. One of their signature songs. I love the song. But I remember as kid, when I was still getting to know the running order of the albums, being surprised one day to realize it was on Revolver. It doesn't quite fit in with the seriousness of the album. While a break from dead seriousness is often needed in musical works of length, somehow this one is just too out of nowhere for it to really congeal in a way where it sounds like part of the rest of the album to me.

There are times when "She Said She Said" and "Good Day Sunshine" both sound like really great tracks to me and they do have much to offer and provide much to love. But both just sound a bit less ambitious than the rest of the album to me. They might have sounded really fresh on Rubber Soul or Yesterday and Today for that matter, but here--well, they aren't good enough to go near the beginning of the album, and they aren't good enough to be worked into the great run of six tracks that ends the album.

These are quibbles in a way. Revolver is an amazing album. And in a time when nothing like it existed, it must have been a truly jaw-dropping release to behold. But now, 50 years later, in a time where there is enough 'weird' to be found in rock/indie music to last you a lifetime or three, and in some cases, bore you to death, more and more I find myself cherishing most, the Beatles' starker, more vulnerable, more simple expressions of the soul, through songwriting craft, to this day, still never equaled or surpassed.

 

True, cause the tomorrow never knows

 

I think agree with most of what you said. For some reason I think taxman is not that great of a song though.

 

Try the mono version.

 

Exactly. In 1966 I doubt the fans were saying "This album is a total hodgepodge...no flow at all to it whatsoever!" like we can with fifty years of hindsight involved now (talk about yesterday and today, eh?), they just sat down and dug the new Beatles album for what it was.

 

I will agree with you on that. As a first generation fan I was just thrilled to get the new Beatles album and it sounded great. Actually since I was only 11 years old, I probably liked it more than I would have liked the real Revolver which was a little to far out for a young kid.

 

I just posted this on the 'US Revolver' thread. I've always lived in Canada and I've been trying to figure out why I knew from the start that Yesterday and Today was not a regular album. Maybe it was because there was very little hoopla surrounding the release. I remember being surprised to come across the album in a hardware store that sold some records. Also the title seemed very hokey.

 

48 years of how it all came...