I have no problem with the track, but are people more inclined to heap praise on it because it comes from the Beatles camp ? Would it be considered "genius" if it was the Abbey Road janitor and his friends messing around after hours ?
Maybe it was. Maybe Mal Evans and the janitor rolled up their sleeves after the guys left the studio and went to work.
Like techno, drone, and some other musical forms, Rev. 9 was probably a lot more fun to make than to listen to. Creative in the upmost, musical worth not so much. As I mentioned previously, this piece (not song or tune by definition) belonged on one of John's wacky solo records, not a Beatles album. Any of George's unreleased tunes would have made the White Album that much greater- All Things Must Pass?! Circles would work or or what about Look At Me.
Sidestepping the "genius" question, I find it a compelling and fascinating work of art. Reposting this, it deserves a space in the gallery. Discovered this yesterday but the Revolution thread vanished. For anyone interested in Revolution 9 who enjoys way out sounds, this is a journey, strange, sublime and beautiful. Good headphones recommended! Revolution 9 approaching event horizon
Quite the converse. Most of the bad reviews of Revolution 9 here come from a majority faction of Beatles fans who find it worthless and offensive. If it were simply an interesting art piece by an unknown artist it would be appreciated as such by a few people who find it engaging, perhaps a lucky break through in the art world, but no big controversy, out of the line of fire of the pop consumer rank and file. It is precisely because of Lennon's pop star Beatle status and Beatle fans' voracious sweet tooth for an expected pop formula that Revolution #9 draws so much fire.
I like Revolution 9 a great deal, and always have done. It isn’t music in any real definition of the term, but it’s mightily entertaining to listen to, with so much going on and no real indication of what’s coming next (unless you’ve heard it so many times the opposite becomes true). And unlike many avant garde offerings, it’s never so downright noisy that it becomes unbearable. Contrary to many’s opinion, I rate it far from the worst track on The Beatles. I’d take it over Goodnight, Honey Pie or Wild Honey Pie any day of the week, to name just three songs thereon that I don’t particularly care for. Eldorado!
It may well be an expression of genius. It is the iconic and defining track of the album. "Number 9" is a possibly the most enduring meme of the late 1960s. A strange and powerful work of art.
My opinion of the Beatles should be well established elsewhere in this forum so I shall not repeat myself. I am, however, fascinated, buy the incessant fan-boy adulation of a track that is hardly music, hardly listenable and hardly “genius”. To describe it as such detracts from musical offerings that may well be genius…subjectivity fully in play. I understand Beatles fans missing Lennon…but to elevate drivel as genius does little to burnish an artistic reputation that may well need less burnishing and more simple appreciation. They are not my group and I hope those of you who enjoy them continue doing so. I guess relative objectivity is impossible with them.
I'm not a Beatles "fan boy" at all but I find Revolution 9 very engaging, a meditation. See post #260. Brushing aside your musically bigoted term "fan boy," if you follow the Beatles trafffic here, even this page alone as a data set , you will note a strong correlation of Revolution 9 antipathy rising in direct relation to higher levels of Beatle devotion. It is the biggest Beatle fans who slam Revolution #9 the hardest. The more casual listeners generally find Revolution 9 at least entertaining, or in my case quite fascinating.
Musique concrete had certainly been done before by such composers as Cage, Varese, and Stockhausen, but "Revolution 9" is so well assembled that it holds up quite impressively alongside many of the earlier examples of the genre. Although musique concrete was already a musical genre, most Beatles fans were unfamiliar with it. The Beatles had first given us a small taste of it in 1966 in the middle of "Tomorrow Never Knows", expertly maintaining the delicate balance of being radically experimental and commercially accessible at the same time. By the time of the White Album 2 years later, they had nothing to prove to anyone. The White Album has the widest variety of styles of any album I've ever heard, and "Revolution 9" represented one more genre that hadn't been explored on any of the other songs. By this time, Lennon, who had already pushed the envelope of weirdness with "I Am the Walrus" and other tracks, decided to enlighten the listeners with 8 minutes of pure musique concrete. What he "added" to it was a wider mainstream exposure. To this day, it stands as the most widely distributed piece of musique concrete in the history of the world, simply by virtue of being on a multi-million selling Beatles album. Frank Zappa and the Mothers had brought a rather large dose of musique concrete into the rock field as early as 1966 with the 12-minute "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet" (filling a whole side of the groundbreaking double album Freak Out!), but it was only heard and appreciated by a small enlightened cult of listeners. The Mothers had neither the high profile name nor the commercial accessibility of the Beatles. Vanilla Fudge did an 8-minute sound collage ("Voices In Time") in early 1968, months before "Revolution 9", but like the Mothers, they didn't have the towering stature of the Beatles. "Revolution 9" gave this highly experimental genre massive exposure (and many listeners still don't get it).
Yes, there are certainly Beatle fans here who love Rev. 9 , but they seem to be a minority. Or just stay quiet.
It also rates very highly with me (although it scared me to death when I first heard it in 1968). I agree that there's nothing else quite like it from any mainstream band of the time, but I know of 2 tracks that bear some stylistic similarity to it. "Voices In Time" by Vanilla Fudge (a bit more "underground" than "mainstream", but they had achieved a respectable level of commercial success with their debut album), from their infamous 1968 concept album The Beat Goes On is an 8-minute collage of recorded quotes of several political figures and it was actually released earlier in 1968 than "Revolution 9". "War Games" by the Lovin' Spoonful from the 1969 album Revelation/Revolution '69 (actually a Joe Butler solo album, released under the more well-known name of the Spoonful although John Sebastian had left to go solo, basically breaking up the band) is a 7-minute sound collage using sound effects to tell a story and make a harrowing anti-war statement. Released in 1969, it was obviously influenced by "Revolution 9". You may be familiar with those 2 tracks. If not, they're both worth hearing, but "Revolution 9" is still in a class by itself in the mainstream pop/rock field.
The problem is clearly that: if you are a fan and like it then your appreciation will be cast as mere blind fan worship rather than a genuine appreciation of the track. The detractors state their case as if it were truth. They don't say "in my opinion". Fanboy Boomer SHF Beatles Mafia. Yay! What glorious titles. And Rev9 is great btw.
"I don’t know what influence ‘Revolution 9’ had on the teenybopper fans, but most of them didn’t dig it. So what am I supposed to do?" John Lennon, 1969 Anthology
Yes, I agree. Despite this , those who find Revolution of interest such as myself are cast as Beatles "fan boys" and I only like half their catalog and rarely listen. Add to this the most positive reviews are clear eyed views of cultural context and nearly devoid of hyperbole, by objective musicologists who don't have any Beatles agenda, or any artistic things to prove, we just find it engaging and a worthwhile experience. The only "Beatle Mafia" stuff here is clearly from devotees and stacked against Revolution #9 and all it represents.
As teens me and my ftiends paid close attention. We listened to Zappa, Dead, early Floyd and other freakout stuff, Revolution was great.
