The Beatles

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  Prior to the recording of Revolver, The Beatles sang primarily about love; boy & girl songs. After the break they had that was meant to be a three month time period to make their next film, The Beatles chose to take LSD instead. When they came back to record, the sounds were light years ahead of their time and so far removed from all their other work. Also to change are the song themes. No longer love-fixated, the songs talked about psychedelic experiences and beliefs, sad old English folk, taxation, all in one album!

    Backward loops have always been a mystery to me, listening to this album as a kid. I found them to be memorable, unusual and sometimes scary if used properly (thriller movies).  The use of backward effects and vocal parts really set the sound of The Beatles, however they were simply “playing catchup” [2] to the likes of Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, The Mama’s and The Papa’s, whom have been riding the psychedelic wave of San Francisco. Drum compression seems like a common knowledge topic now but back then, it was an experimental tool that The Beatles took advantage of. I can see glimmers of what The Beatles have spearheaded with their creativity in today’s music, especially in the House music department. Now there is a thing called “New York Compression” where the percussive elements and drums are the most apparent in the mix.

 I doubt I’ve tapped into the true wonder of what Revolver has to offer for me as a musician.  As an industry professional, this album reminds me that creativity can come from a spiritual place as close as floating upstream in my bed, swaying between the waking world and the one we slip into when asleep. It has taught me that good music is timeless. This album has made me compare every good piece of music I have heard to it. This may be the standard for good music, at least consecutively successful single source of good music, anyway.

- Chuma