My thoughts on why 'Revolver' has eclipsed 'Pepper' as the Beatles' masterpiece

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by action pact, Sep 11, 2018.

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  1. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    I seem to recall that the Penguin Guide had already pegged "Revolver" as The Beatles' true masterpiece by the mid-1970s.

    But I have no quarrel with the original post.
     
  2. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    Also, when Rolling Stone did their first ranking issue in 1987 it was to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the magazine. So albums like Pet Sounds and Revolver were not included.
     
  3. Jlbrach

    Jlbrach Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    IMHO Rubber Soul is better than both!
     
  4. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    :laugh:

    Fair enough.
     
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  5. It may not be filler, but it's a skipper for me. It will remain forever submerged on my music system.

    If Revolver had Rain and Paperback Writer instead of Yellow Submarine and Dr. Robert, it would be the greatest album ever recorded by anybody. It may be, anyway.
     
  6. This is what I've always thought about Abbey Road. Aside from the side two suite, it sounds kind of like a collection of solo tracks and leftovers.
     
  7. correctodad

    correctodad Forum Resident

    I have to agree with you about Abbey Road. A couple of great songs on Side 1 but very disjointed. For me however the real breakup album is Let It Be. I find that almost too depressing to listen to.
     
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  8. Rock66

    Rock66 Forum Resident

    When I was in my teens the first two Beatles LP I purchased were Sgt. Pepper Then Revolver. Sgt. Pepper because it had a reputation (mid 70s). A few weeks later I started to note which songs I liked were on what albums and Revolver won the contest. Revolver is really the last great rock album and Pepper is the signal that rock music was moving to a more dramatic phase. Anyway, both are good. You'll pick the one you want to listen to based on your mood and which highlights you want to hear (A Day in The Life vs. Tomorrow Never Knows. Hmm ...)
     
  9. The Bishop

    The Bishop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dorset, England.
    I played the 2009 Revolver just a couple of days ago and I was surprised at how good the stereo mix is.

    Better than the stereo Sgt. Pepper...until the remix, that is, which I really love.

    However, much as I love Revolver, Sgt. Pepper is the very Toppermost, the greatest of them all, and so, cannot be beat.
     
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  10. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Yeah, but at least it gives the illusion that they were working together. The White Album sounds like they were all working totally separately.
     
  11. The Bishop

    The Bishop Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dorset, England.
    Nice try. But no cigar.
     
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  12. Crawlin From The Wreckage

    Crawlin From The Wreckage Custom Titled

    Location:
    Canada
    I absolutely agree. I've said this for decades and have only narrowly escaped bodily injury for my trouble...just kidding. But, yes. Sgt Pepper was style over substance. It had whiz-bang artwork. Bright, brighter colours. A gatefold with close-ups of the principles. Lyrics printed on the back cover. Inside, a paper sheet with cut-outs. All extremely flash for 1967. It had many people so bamboozled, they actually wanted to make it into a "concept album" - which it never was.

    Revolver is track-for-track the pinnacle of Beatledom. It's also an album for grown-ups. No fantasy Sgt Pepper band, no moon, spoon and holding hands here. The album starts out with a song about Taxes, fer cryin' out loud. What 14-16 year old knows or wants to know about that, eh? Eleanore Rigby? Chamber music - cellos! Love You To - hello, West. Say hi to India. And Dr. Robert. Drugs, anyone? And do I really need to go on to She Said She Said? I know what it's like to be dead from the Tibetan Book. Yeah, that's one for the kids, alright.

    The only song that doesn't fit is Yellow Submarine. That would have been better saved for the film. But other than that? The perfect Beatles album.
     
  13. maui jim

    maui jim Forum Resident

    Location:
    West of LA
    Your last sentence interests me because I have children in that range plus older and they favor Revolver. I attribute it to my son being an avid reader of Pitchfork and my two daughters to playing Rockband back in the day. Their fave song from the game is And Your Bird... I may have also tipped the scale to be playing boots like Revolving and other outtakes from Revolver. And I didn’t have as many of Pepper outtakes outside Pepperland
     
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  14. ZenArcher

    ZenArcher Senior Member

    Location:
    Durham, NC
    Revolver revolutionized songwriting. Pepper revolutionized musical texture and production.
     
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  15. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I've always thought they put Lucy where it is as a follow up to the getting high reference in Friends. Is that lost on people today? I think it was very much part of what they were conveying to the audience at the time. the idea being the album is not only a variety show but a trip.
     
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  16. correctodad

    correctodad Forum Resident

    That's because mainly they were. It's still a bloody great album though and I'm eagerly awaiting the 50th Anniversary edition (but that takes me to another thread).
     
  17. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    I think Revolver and Pepper's are closely linked, but each have their own ''personality''.
    I always regard Revolver as the 'cool' album, Pepper's as the much 'warmer' counterpart. Song for song Revolver is better, Sgt. Peppers is the album I listen to more often.
     
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  18. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Sgt. Pepper is still the group's studio watershed moment. Even more so than Revolver, which is just a very, very strong Beatles album.

    Revolver has better songs overall, but Pepper hangs together and segues much better as a cohesive album.
     
  19. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Africa
    If Revolver got a much needed remix then I would prefer it to Sgt Pepper. Pepper has 2 good mixes - the mono and the remix. Revolver only has 2 poor mixes. It needs a remix. It would become my favourite Beatles album.
     
  20. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Well put.
     
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  21. Chemguy

    Chemguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Western Canada
    Well, Rubber Soul beats them both, anyway...
     
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  22. coniferouspine

    coniferouspine Forum Resident

    I'd say Lennon was a lot more "checked out" and passive on Pepper than he was on Revolver. Revolver was still in the beginning of the period of him up in the attic at Kenwood, getting crazy and taking risks. By the time of Pepper he was more withdrawn, playing less guitar, singing fewer harmonies, contributing less to Paul's songs, and generally doing less of everything in the studio. He was withdrawing, cocooning even, writing less (he seems to have had fewer musical ideas to choose from), and the withdrawal got much more pronounced after he did How I Won The War and got back from Spain. That's the big difference I see between the two. Revolver has the overall better balance between the strengths of all four of them, working together, because on Revolver Lennon is a presence very much in the thick of things, instead of riding passively along in the front passenger seat next to Paul, like he does for so much of Pepper.
     
  23. If I Can Dream_23

    If I Can Dream_23 Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    That I don't agree with at all. I mean I see what you mean, but I feel that Pepper is the more mature and fun record. If those are the two things needed to make something great? Which I don't think they even are but...

    Just the lyrics to "Within You, Without You" alone are, to me, more profound, wise and lasting than most anything said on "Revolver". In fact there are more great/adult/and yes fun "lyrical lines" on Pepper, as a whole, in my view.

    In fact, I always thought Pepper was a very intentional "adult album" from what they were doing before, just by its very creation and aim. No nudity on the cover though. As far as I know. :D

    It's true that they wrapped that maturity and desire for creative independence in a largely fun and dazzling stylistic framework, through a lens of love, roleplay and idealism, but that's a sign of their growth, not a sign of the reverse. I believe it still is. They were abandoning their youth and were now older and wiser. That they were also more imaginative does not detract from the fact that it is a very adult/contemplative album. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2018
  24. I've always felt like Pepper was much more than the sum of its parts. Where Revolver, for the most part, has much more interesting and inventive parts (songs), that also aren't just novel for novelties sake.

    IMHO, the only semi-dud on Revolver is "Doctor Robert" - but it's still a perfectly OK song. "Yellow Submarine" I go back and forth about. It's hardly a dud, but it's very nature makes it a song I'm not wanting to hear anywhere near as often as the rest.

    Now there aren't any true duds on Pepper, but nor are there very many unabashedly fantastic songs either (other than "Day In The Life" perhaps, an argument I wouldn't make, but wouldn't ague against either). "She's Leaving Home" is quite lovely, I'll admit. And I do think there's a lot of interesting innovation going on with "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!". But then damn near EVERYTHING ELSE is more like "Yellow Submarine" - songs that don't seem to have anything left to reveal.

    Plus, Revolver has three quite wonderful Harrison tunes, and that ups the value of any Beatles album, far as I'm concerned.

    I could wax poetic more specifically about most of the individual songs on Revolver, but suffice to say that most of them seem fresher and more relevant today, than much of anything on Pepper. Whether I would have said that back in the day, I have no idea. I wasn't born until 1969, and didn't really get my first exposure to the Beatles until junior high (early 80's for me).

    I've nearly ALWAYS felt like Pepper was pretty overrated. That's not meant as a knock on Pepper as much as it is a knock on just HOW overrated I think it was generally thought to be all through the 80's and 90's. Even back when I was in high school (mid-80's), even THEN I thought Pepper was overrated. Darn good album, but certainly not the be-all and end-all of the band, or the Summer of Love, or the 60's for that matter.

    I've never even owned Pepper on CD, if that tells you anything (nor LP). I don't hate it, but it's never been a big priority for me (clearly).
     
  25. tkl7

    tkl7 Agent Provocateur

    Location:
    Lewis Center, OH
    yeah, they are extraordinarily poor by Beatle standards.
     
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