REVOLVER

"Revolver" was a landmark recording for The Beatles.  It documented the groups' transition from a pop group into an experimental rock band.  Prior to Revolver, the Beatles' content was jovial for the most part, and their songs were expressive of young love.  Revolver took a much different direction than any of their previous work.  The lyrical content focused on much less happy topics including but not limited to government, politics, life, death, and depression.  This change in lyrical content can be addressed to several things. For one, the band had been experimenting with exotic (and illegal) substances, which is apparent in many of the tunes on the album. While this was certainly one of the major influences for this album, they were also influenced by some of their other endeavors.  While shooting a Beatles movie, they were introduced to the Sitar, an Indian stringed instrument. Sitars can be heard on several of the songs on the album (Tomorrow Never Knows, Love You To) which I feel qualifies it as at least a minor influence.

On the Revolver album, the band made many innovations in order to produce such a unique and new sound.  Some of the techniques they used were Automatic Double Tracking, which instantly creates a double vocal, without having to do multiple takes.  The band also experimented heavily with tape loops and reversing guitar tracks to create entirely new sounds.  Other techniques used were running Lennon's vocals through a leslie cabinet to give it an "ethereal" sound.  Another technique they used that may not have been an entirely new idea, but I found interesting, was that the bass guitars were recorded by using a bass cabinet as the microphone. 

As a listener (and a long time Beatles fan) I really enjoy this album.  Some claim it to be "the best" rock album of all time, something I would not completely agree with.  However, I do enjoy it for being a step out of their essence and experimenting with sounds, while still employing some of their earlier sounds. 

From an industry professional standpoint, this album is a masterpiece. It was recorded incredibly well, and aside from that it is quite artistic.  I don't enjoy the endings of most of the songs, which seem to be long fade outs that were more than likely done by cutting the tape.  I feel the album could have been better if the band had made more defined endings to their songs, but it is their work, not mine, so who am I to complain?

PET SOUNDS

Prior to "Pet Sounds," The Beach Boys had a very different sound. The majority of their songs were simplistic tales of the day to day happenings of surfers and beach bums.  They gained a good amount of popularity among their peers in southern California in the early 1960's, eventually getting signed to Capitol Records.  As with all things, what is "in" will eventually change.  To be successful, one must be able to adapt to these changes and continue to be a driving force. Brian Wilson may or may not have understood this fact.  Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, Wilson was able to change the entire image of the Beach Boys and reaped the benefits because of that when the album "Pet Sounds" was released.

Brian Wilson, in my opinion, was the mastermind behind The Beach Boys. He seemed to have done most of the work when it came to the music, including but not limited to writing, arrangements, production, etc.  The amount of stress these tasks caused him seem to be linked to the "Pet Sounds" album. He took a hiatus from touring which turned out to be a catalyst for his creativity and innovations in writing the Pet Sounds album.  The Beatles' "Rubber Soul" had also just been released, which seemed to be another thing that pushed Wilson towards making Pet Sounds a great album. I say this because the Beach Boys moved away from their previous lyrical content (surfing and driving 409's) and moved towards more lovestruck themes. The Pet Sounds album was different from other popular recordings at the time. For example, the lyrical content was deeper and more complicated than many other recordings of the time.  Essentially the song meaning was not spoon-fed to the listener; it was left for them to figure out on their own.  Another deviation from the norm was the amount of harmonic content that Wilson included in his arrangements. The heavily layered vocal harmonies were unlike anything else at the time, which I believe is part of the draw to this album.

From a listener's point of view, I really don't get much from this album other than a few semi-catchy chord progressions.  I find it cheesy and uninteresting.  The album seems to drag on and on. Despite The Beach Boys being around first, I would much rather listen to The Beatles.  In my opinion, the Beatles did what Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys did- but much better.

Although my personal feelings about the album aren't very kind, as an industry professional I do recognize and appreciate some aspects of it. There is no doubt that it was a well thought out piece, that was very innovative for its time, so it does deserve some credit.

A brief introduction...

My name is David Demko. Friends call me 'Red.' I am a twenty year old Recording Arts major at Full Sail University.  I'm a hip-hop head and a punk rocker at heart (strange combination right?) I have been DJing since I was 15 years old, a skill set I picked up while living in New York. This being said, music has been a large part of my life for going on 6 years or more now. My main focus in the music industry is to work on high quality projects. I want to end the wave of drive-through music that is dominating the airwaves and replace it with something that more work has been put into and is not rushed onto the market to make a quick profit.