John Lennon said he didn't really see much difference between this album and Rubber Soul. He thought they could in fact be a volume 1 and volume 2.
They all felt they were having a lot more fun in the studio and it was getting more experimental. Instead of just John and Paul doing a lot of the composing, Harrison and Starr felt more involved.
George Martin thought 'Tomorrow Never Knows' was a great innovation.
They thought what does a record do, It revolves. So it was a Revolver.
WHAT I THOUGHT:
When I listened to a few songs from this and Rubber Soul, they did sound very similar and I agree with what John Lennon said about being Volume 1 and 2. How they come up with song names and album names is awesome I think. Something happens and they're just like "that's it."
They thought they've taken their career to it's limits. Then John suggested why don't we become an alter ego band.
George Martin said "Pepper started cause they were getting fed up of performing and wanted more time in the studio."
George was keen on indian music so wanted to incorporate that. 'When I'm 64' was one of their favourites and it was a song they would come up with when the amps broke.
It wasn't recorded as a band. It was starting to get 'bitty.'
WHAT I THOUGHT:
When I heard some music from this album some songs sounded like them. But some songs sounded very new. I love how George Harrison incorporated Indian music in a song, I thought that was a very clever way to up their 'game.'
This was just a lot of fun. They wanted to make an 'Artsy' film.
It's not that serious. Especially with songs like 'I Am The Walrus'
They jsut wanted something really weird and not like what they would normally do. George thought hopefully people would like it and want more.
George Martin said that The Beatles songs were staring to sound more individual. They were moving on with their career, because they had done all the performing and recording. So now wanted to try Artist stuff.
WHAT I THOUGHT:
I think this album was well very weird. It was just like they had done basically everything they wanted to do in the music career and now just wanted to have fun. I think a lot of these songs don't really have a meaning, they were just for a laugh.
John Lennon just wanted to forget about SGT. PEPPER and get on with normal music.
They all felt like they were a band again. All the experience that happened in India was all imbedded in this album.
George Martin thought this was a very good album and the fact it has so much on it, is what's really cool about it.
They all loved it!
WHAT I THOUGHT:
I think this album is definitley them getting back to being serious. They sounded like a together band again and that they all had input to the songs. This was very 'the Beatles' to me.
Paul loves cartoons like Disney, so they decided to make a Disney cartoon only with their music.
It was heading towards the SGT. PEPPER direction again so they thought "why don't we just take a lot of the songs we've got all ready?" So they just picked songs that would be good to animate.
The message of the movie is basically 'All You Need Is Love.'
The animations were tailored to the music and the feelings of the music.
WHAT I THOUGHT:
This was another very short documentary but it was pretty interesting. I love the fact that they wanted to steer away from SGT. PEPPER type music but they came back to it with this album. Making a cartoon is amazing! I mean these guys have done it all. I thought this album definitely sounded a lot like SGT. PEPPER.
They wanted to get it together and make a serious meaningful album again.
Paul rang up George Martin and asked him to produce the album for them. He wanted it produced like their first albums.
Paul and John always done a lot of the writing but suddenly George Harrison came up with a songs he wrote.
They had a lot of bits of songs. Then they just meddled with them. They didn't know at the time that it was the last Beatle record, but they felt like it was their last so they wanted to put in as much as they had.
WHAT I THOUGHT:
I thought this album was very interesting. I didn't know that this was supposed to be their last one. But what I thought was really cool, was that they all had a feeling it was their last so they gave it all they got.
When I listen to it, it does sound very meaningful and a bit like a goodbye album.
They decided to rehearse all the songs and record it while performing. Sort of like a live album.
It was cold and not a very good idea so they abandoned that idea and went to a studio.
They all put in '1000 %' because they wanted it to be good!
With it being very serious, they were having so much fun at the same time.
They recorded it and mixed it once, Paul love it. But Phil Spector came in and re-mixed it. That's why it says reproduced.
WHAT I THOUGHT:
I was surprised to notice that they came back after 'Abbey Road'. When I watch this documentary, it sort of shows that they know they are big, they don't need to try hard because millions of people love them. The music is just normal Beatles to me, which was great.