The History and Popular Music of the ’60s class learned about The Beatles’ much-loved album, Revolver (1966). Here are their reactions.
Lily Brooks:
This is a painting on a canvas of my own interpretation of the album cover of Revolver. I did the four faces of the Beatles but in the middle I added lines from my two favorite songs from the album, “Taxman” and “I’m Only Sleeping.” It looks kind of splotchy on camera which I tried to fix, but I think it’s because I used flash.
Conor McGeady:
I made an original piece with inspirations from Revolver with the Sitar melody made with the Kontakt plugin which simulates real instruments really well. While this doesn’t really sound like the Beatles in any way, I did draw from the psychedelic vibe by playing around with panoramic sounds and putting in off-beat hi hats and percussion to give it an unpredictable rhythm, which I thought would blend well with the sitar and drums. I spent a lot of time messing around with effects and automation, and this is what I came up with.
Gibson McCoy:
When the Beatles came to America they were very much still the same group of boys that they were in Liverpool. The hair was the same, the music was the same, the members were still friends, the only thing that drastically changed was their popularity. They started off more or less clean, silly and a little crazy or rowdy. As the Beatles grow in popularity, especially amongst teens, other artists began noticing them. One of the artists that the members caught the eye of was Bob Dylan.
It is no secret that Bob Dylan was involved in the drugs in the ’60s. The Beatles began using drugs their music began to change. Yes, the Beatles were still the same silly people they had started out as, but they started changing once the drugs became heavier. The silliness that was in their music started changing into what was more of a ‘high’ or ‘stoned’ silly. Depending on who is asked, there is more than one answer to the question of “is their music better now, with the influence of drugs, or was it better when they first started making music?” The first is yes, their music is much better now, the drugs make them sound like they are the Beatles, without the influence, they are just not the Beatles, there is no Beatles sound without experimentation. Or there is the second answer, they were better in the beginning. Drugs ruined their clean sound.
No answer is right but there is no denying that the band’s sound and style changed with their increase in popularity and drugs. Their music got more experimental, the members started drifting away from each other, they looked different, their bowl cuts became long hair with mustaches and their catchy guitar was influenced by other cultures becoming psychedelic and experimental. There is probably more than one reason for the change within the group and what the group produced but drugs and the people that the band surrounded themselves with are a very easy answer to the change in style.
Alex Skiles:
My artistic response is to the Beatles song, “I’m Only Sleeping,” which was probably my favorite on the album. It describes a feeling of carefree listlessness that I like. I love the effect of the backwards guitars. I found a picture of John Lennon with his eyes closed to use as reference. I wanted to make my original color scheme ’80s neon pink and lime, and you can still see motes of those colors that I didn’t digitally erase. I wanted it to really pop, so I chose this dark red and vibrant blue. I prefer the drawing with the red background because it creates an effect that the blue is embossed and popping out. The pop-out effect is strongest in the third piece where I took the first two and overlayed them with a slight shift. The third piece is my favorite. I chose the concentric blob effect because I also interpreted this song to be about Lennon in a drug euphoria.
Pritam Khalsa:
My favorite song on Revolver is “Eleanor Rigby.” I have two similar interpretations of the story. In my mind, Eleanor is either a widow or a woman who couldn’t marry the person she wanted to. I imagine her looking around the church thinking about her wedding (or how it would have been) and remembering what her life would be like if she was still with the person she loved. In the end, Eleanor dies and because she lived alone she is buried alone as well. Her grave sits alone in the graveyard at the church surrounded by pairs of graves: the people who got to be happy. In my painting I drew her three times. In the first she stands in the church doorway thinking of herself in the dress and picturing her life differently. The second isn’t her but it is Father McKenzie standing at her grave. There are other graves around that are in pairs. Off in the distance is the third Eleanor, standing by another single grave. This ghost version of Eleanor is still in her wedding dress and standing next to the person she wished to be buried next to. I think that the music in this song somewhat contradicts the story because it’s kind of fast and feels bright. It makes me feel more melancholy than actually sad.
Sam Swartley:
The first half of the song is supposed to show the more early rock blues side of the Beatles. The second half of the song is supposed to show the more psychedelic side of The Beatles that was kind of born from Revolver. I would have liked it better if I could have made the second half a little brighter and happier, it sounds dark and more sad.
I tried to use some of the ideas that the Beatles used on the record. The bass line fills, reversing the guitar to make it swell.
