Out now: The Beatles - 'Revolver' special edition packages

Whenever part of The Beatles' catalog (Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, Abbey Road, Let It Be) has been spruced up in recent years, many longtime fans - this writer included - feel as if they're listening to the music for the first time. 

Now, the band's 1966 classic Revolver was just reissued in newly mixed and expanded Special Edition packages via Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.

Once again, producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell were at the boards to create sparkling new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes with the album’s original mono mix taken from its 1966 mono master tape. 

Thanks to a modern de-mixing technology developed by the team responsible for Peter Jackson's 2021 "Get Back" documentary series (still streaming on Disney+ and also available on home video), they were able to isolate the instrumental tracks and bring them more to the fore.  

Both physical and digital Super Deluxe collections have the album’s original mono mix, over two dozen early takes from the sessions and three home demos, plus a four-track EP with new stereo mixes and remastered original mono mixes for “Paperback Writer” and “Rain”. The album’s new Dolby Atmos mix is available digitally.

The highly recommended Super Deluxe CD (and vinyl) collections come with a 100-page white hardback book with black lettering. It features a foreword from Paul McCartney, an intro by Giles Martin, insightful track by track notes by Kevin Howlett, seldom and unseen photos, rare images of handwritten lyrics, tape boxes, and recording sheets, 1966 print ads, extracts from original album cover artist/musician Klaus Voormann’s "Revolver" graphic novel and more.

This album saw the band - McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, with brief guest appearances by the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones and Marianne Faithfull - delving into multiple genres (Indian, chamber music, etc.) and being more adventurous in the studio.  

 

Released on August 5, 1966, Revolver spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the UK albums chart, and a double A-side 7" single with “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine” reached the pole position there for four weeks in August and September.

In America, Capitol Records put out an 11-track version of Revolver. It was No.1 for six weeks on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. "I’m Only Sleeping," "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" had already been released from the sessions for Capitol’s North American release of the Yesterday And Today compilation album that June. 

Among the revelatory stereo tracks on the new edition of the main album:

>The rollicking bassline, wicked electric guitar snatches, dry drums and cowbell on opener "Taxman" - all more pronounced than ever.

>That dramatic string octet on "Eleanor Rigby" literally sounds like the players are bowing their wood instruments right beside you.

>Chiming acoustic guitar and electric guitar interjections during "I'm Only Sleeping" are much clearer.

>Sweet and supple harmonies on McCartney's tender "Here, There and Everywhere" totally stand out.

>"Yellow Submarine" has a few sound effects so real (this is 1966, mind you), they're almost jarring.

>Original album producer Sir George Martin's warm piano tinkling on the ebullient "Good Day Sunshine" are more direct.

>The circuitous electric guitar work on "Doctor Robert" is brawnier.

>"Got to Get You Into My Life" has punchier horns.

>The trippy, experimental closer "Tomorrow Never Knows" still remains weirdly wonderful and like nothing recorded since (and we can hear where Liam Gallagher of Oasis got his trademark enunciation influence).  

The EP features a rockier sounding "Paperback Writer" and janglier "Rain" in stereo. 

For the two studio sessions discs, highlights include:

>Two different versions of "Got to Get You Into My Life." Take 5, sans horns, has McCartney, George Martin and John Lennon discussing the best way to start off, extra lyrics that were later cut and some mid-song chatter. The second rock version is quite different.

>Various work tape versions of "Yellow Submarine" show how the song evolved, from unadorned acoustic to quite detailed.

>"Eleanor Rigby (Take 2)" finds Martin discussing with the Fab Four whether they think vibrato should be used on the string octet. 

Other songs are presented in various stages, giving you the opportunity to ponder, 'What if they kept the arrangement that way for the final version?' 

Here are the track listing details for the Super Deluxe box set (5CD + 100-page hardbound book in slipcase/digital audio collection)...

CD1: Revolver (New stereo mix)
1: Taxman
2: Eleanor Rigby
3: I’m Only Sleeping
4: Love You To
5: Here, There And Everywhere
6: Yellow Submarine
7: She Said She Said
8: Good Day Sunshine
9: And Your Bird Can Sing
10: For No One
11: Doctor Robert
12: I Want To Tell You
13: Got To Get You Into My Life
14: Tomorrow Never Knows

CD2: Sessions One
1: Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1)
2: Tomorrow Never Knows (Mono mix RM 11)
3: Got To Get You Into My Life (First version) – Take 5
4: Got To Get You Into My Life (Second version) – Unnumbered mix - mono
5: Got To Get You Into My Life (Second version) – Take 8
6: Love You To (Take 1) - mono
7: Love You To (Unnumbered rehearsal) - mono
8: Love You To (Take 7)
9: Paperback Writer (Takes 1 and 2) – Backing track – mono
10: Rain (Take 5 – Actual speed)
11: Rain (Take 5 – Slowed down for master tape)
12: Doctor Robert (Take 7)
13: And Your Bird Can Sing (First version) – Take 2
14: And Your Bird Can Sing (First version) – Take 2 (giggling)

CD3: Sessions Two
1: And Your Bird Can Sing (Second version) – Take 5
2: Taxman (Take 11)
3: I’m Only Sleeping (Rehearsal fragment) - mono
4: I’m Only Sleeping (Take 2) - mono
5: I’m Only Sleeping (Take 5) - mono
6: I’m Only Sleeping (Mono mix RM1)
7: Eleanor Rigby (Speech before Take 2)
8: Eleanor Rigby (Take 2)
9: For No One (Take 10) – Backing track
10: Yellow Submarine (Songwriting work tape – Part 1) - mono
11: Yellow Submarine (Songwriting work tape – Part 2) – mono
12: Yellow Submarine (Take 4 before sound effects)
13: Yellow Submarine (Highlighted sound effects)
14: I Want To Tell You (Speech and Take 4)
15: Here, There And Everywhere (Take 6)
16: She Said She Said (John’s demo) - mono
17: She Said She Said (Take 15) – Backing track rehearsal

CD4: Revolver (Original mono master)
Album tracklist (same as above)

CD5: Revolver EP
1: Paperback Writer (New stereo mix)
2: Rain (New stereo mix)
3: Paperback Writer (Original mono mix remastered)
4: Rain (Original mono mix remastered)

Available at all major music retailers and streaming services

Photo: Apple Corps/UMe/Capitol