Revolver (Parlophone PMC7009 mono)

 Revolver (Parlophone PMC7009 mono)

Released in the UK - 5th August 1966

Side One Matrix Number XEX605-2  Mother Stamper 4  Sub-stamper 38

Side Two Matrix Number XEX606-2  Mother Stamper 7  Sub-stamper 20


The first of the non-family albums. I got this copy of "Revolver" from the Beatles Shop on Mathew Street in Liverpool about 20 years ago. It cost £10, at the time. I have history with this retailer, and it's not great, but the other stories are for another blog post. The thing about the Beatles and Liverpool in the early 1980s is it took Lennon's murder for the city to realise what we'd lost, and what we actually had. The legacy the band left their hometown is incalculable. A whole raft of Beatles-related business took off after that tragic event in December 1980, and the Beatles Shop is a consequence of it. Before that date, my city didn't want to know about the Beatles. There was a general feeling that they'd left the city for the money, and didn't want to come back. But the circumstances of those halcyon times in the 60s made it difficult for the group to stay in the city - everything was based around London and America. They never forgot Liverpool, though, because so many of their experiences and songs revolve around the places they grew up. 


This disc is in quite good condition, it plays pretty well. There are two cuts of this record, the very early copies have a slightly different version of the closing track, "Tomorrow Never Knows" and a different matrix number XEX606-1. Like the "Rubber Soul" experience, producer George Martin asked for the disc to be recut with the band-approved correct version of the song, which was recut as  XEX606-2. My copy is the second version.


The inner sleeve was  originally a plain white EMI sleeve, with a "Patents Applied For" logo in the bottom left hand corner of the sleeve. But for reasons I don't understand, I swapped the sleeve for this one, which originally would have dated the manufacture of the record much later than the released date. If anyone knows about my insanity, let me know!!!


For a lot of serious Beatles fans, this is their best album. Effortlessly embracing the coming year of psychedelia, the band set new heights of performance, production and songwriting with "Revolver". Top track? Difficult to say, but at a push, I'd go for the proto-Power Pop of "And Your Bird Can Sing".

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