October 6, 2012

101 Reel-to-Reel Tapes 1: The Beatles ~ Revolver

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I started the Vinyl LP series because I have over 20,000 albums I am selling; each blog entry is about an album from my collection. The Reel-to-Reel Tapes archive is an extenion of the vinyl series. I have hundreds of reel-to-reel, pre-recorded tapes. This is an entry about one of them that was for sale on eBay (see link below for others). I have the vinyl LP version as well. Interested? Contact me by email, please, not by a comment.

Enjoy your visit.
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it was 50 years ago that 
these guys invaded us
 
graphics by Klaus Voormann
photographs by Robert Whitaker 
photo of cover, by Styrous®


and the world was never the same

I know, I know, I've broken the vinyl LP rules again. This is about a reel-to-reel but as with the Pink Floyd, Division Bell CD and it's vinyl version,  I also have the vinyl of the Revolver album. Anyway, it's my blog; I'm allowed, so there.

The Revolver album was originally released on August 5, 1966 on the Parlophone label. It was released that same year on Capitol Records. The graphics were done by Klaus Voormann. Voormann's own photo as well as his name (Klaus O. W. Voormann) is worked into George Harrison's hair on the right-hand side of the cover.

According to Wikipedia, "The title "Revolver", like "Rubber Soul" before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the "revolving" motion of the record as it is played on a turntable. The Beatles had a difficult time coming up with this title. According to Barry Miles in his book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, the title that the four had originally wanted was Abracadabra, until they discovered that another band had already used it. After that, opinion split: Lennon wanted to call it Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle and Starr jokingly suggested After Geography, playing on The Rolling Stones' recently released Aftermath LP (I love this tidbit!). Other suggestions included Magic Circles, Beatles on Safari, Pendulum, and, finally, Revolver, whose wordplay was the one that all four agreed upon. The title was chosen while the band were on tour in Japan in June–July 1966."

In an interview by Rolling Stone Magazine, George Harrison said, "I don't see too much difference between Revolver and Rubber Soul. To me, they could be Volume One and Volume Two." (I've always felt that way about the two albums). Rolling Stone has a top 500 list. In the top 10, #1 is The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, #3 Revolver and #5 Rubber Soul. That's pretty impressive.

In 1997, Revolver was named the third greatest album of all time in a Music of the Millennium poll conducted in the United Kingdom by HMV Group, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM.

In 2002, the readers of Rolling Stone ranked Revolver the greatest of all time.

In 2006, Revolver was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best albums of all time.

In 2010, Revolver was named as the best pop album of all time by the official newspaper of the Holy See (Oh, my God!), L'Osservatore Romano.

Although there are many wonderful songs on the album, Elenor Rigby has always been one of my top favorites. It was arranged by George Martin under Paul McCartney's direction. With it's Baroque/Classical motif, I found it beautiful, insightful with it's theme of sad posturing, unique and brilliant.  There's never been anything like it, before or since.

photo of cover back, by Styrous®


photo by Styrous®


Thanks to a fantastic group that has given the world 50 years of quality listening enjoyment.


other reel-to-reel tapes on eBay


Styrous ~ October 5, 2012

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