Editing Revolver (Beatles album) (section)

== Background ==
In December 1965, [[the Beatles]]' ''[[Rubber Soul]]'' album was released to wide critical acclaim.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=4}} According to author David Howard, the limits of pop music "had been raised into the stratosphere" by the release, resulting in a shift in focus away from singles to creating albums of consistently high quality.{{sfn|Howard|2004|p=64}} The following January, the Beatles carried out [[Overdubbing|overdubs]] on live recordings taken from their [[The Beatles' 1965 US tour|1965 US tour]],{{sfn|Miles|2001|pp=206, 225}} for inclusion in the concert film ''[[The Beatles at Shea Stadium]]''.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=429}} The group's manager, [[Brian Epstein]], had intended that 1966 would then follow the pattern of the previous two years,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=7}} in terms of the band making a feature film and an accompanying album,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/cuepoint/how-the-beatles-revolver-gave-brian-wilson-a-nervous-breakdown-4b3939c4e0e5#.cgef6yrqz|first=Charles J.|last=Moss|title=How the Beatles' 'Revolver' Gave Brian Wilson a Nervous Breakdown|website=[[Cuepoint]]|date=3 August 2016|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508150522/https://medium.com/cuepoint/how-the-beatles-revolver-gave-brian-wilson-a-nervous-breakdown-4b3939c4e0e5#.cgef6yrqz|archive-date=8 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=177}} followed by concert tours during the summer months.{{sfn|Brown|Gaines|2002|p=184}} After the Beatles vetoed the proposed film project, the time allocated for filming became a further three months free of professional engagements.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=7}}{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=237}} This was the longest period the band members had experienced outside the group collective since 1962,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=185}}<ref name="Plagenhoef/Pitchfork" /> and it defied the convention that pop acts should be working almost continually.{{sfn|Unterberger|2006|p=141}} The group thereby had an unprecedented amount of time to prepare for a new album.{{sfn|Miles|2001|p=237}}

{{quote box|quote= Literally anything [could come out of the next recording sessions]. Electronic music, jokes{{nbsp}}... one thing's for sure – the next LP is going to be very different.<ref name="Sutherland/NMEOrig">{{cite book|editor-last=Sutherland|editor-first=Steve |title=NME Originals: Lennon|year=2003|publisher=IPC Ignite!|location=London|page=36}}</ref>|source=– John Lennon, March 1966|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}

Beatles biographer [[Nicholas Schaffner]] cites 1966 as the start of the band's "[[Psychedelia|psychedelic]] period",{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=53}} as do musicologists Russell Reising and Jim LeBlanc.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=93–94}}{{refn|group=nb|Alternatively, George Case, writing in his book ''Out of Our Heads'', identifies ''Rubber Soul'' as marking "the authentic beginning of the psychedelic era".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=27}} Among other commentators, Joe Harrington says that the Beatles' first "psychedelic experiments" appear on the 1965 album,{{sfn|Harrington|2002|pp=190–91}} and Christopher Bray recognises the ''Rubber Soul'' track "[[The Word (song)|The Word]]" as inaugurating the group's "high psychedelic period".{{sfn|Bray|2014|p=271}}}} Schaffner adds: "That adjective [psychedelic] implies not only the influence of certain mind-altering chemicals, but also the freewheeling spectrum of wide-ranging colors that their new music seemed to evoke."{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=53}} Music journalist Carol Clerk describes ''Revolver'' as having been "decisively informed by acid", following [[John Lennon]] and [[George Harrison]]'s continued use of the drug [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]] since the spring of 1965.<ref name="Clerk/Uncut">{{cite magazine|last=Clerk|first=Carol|title=George Harrison|date=January 2002|magazine=[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]|pages=45–46}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/george-harrison-2 Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215032558/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/george-harrison-2 |date=15 December 2014 }} (subscription required).</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In Lennon's description, ''Revolver'' was "the acid album" and ''Rubber Soul'' their "[[Cannabis (drug)|pot]] album".{{sfn|Case|2010|p=27}}}} Through these experiences, the two musicians developed a fascination for Eastern philosophical concepts,<ref name="Clerk/Uncut" />{{sfn|Tillery|2011|pp=35, 51}} particularly regarding the illusory nature of human existence.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=55}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=236–37}} Despite his bandmates' urging, after [[Ringo Starr]] had also partaken of the drug, [[Paul McCartney]] refused to try LSD.{{sfn|Sounes|2010|pp=132, 184}}<ref name="GilmoreAcidTest" /> Intent on self-improvement, McCartney drew inspiration from the intellectual stimulation he experienced among London's arts scene, particularly its thriving [[avant-garde]] community.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=71}}{{sfn|Sounes|2010|pp=140–42}} With [[Barry Miles]] as his guide, he became immersed in the nascent British [[Counterculture of the 1960s|counterculture]] movement, which soon emerged as [[UK underground|the underground]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=314–15}}

While arranging dates for the band's world tour,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=8}} Epstein agreed to a proposal by journalist [[Maureen Cleave]] for the Beatles to be interviewed separately for a series of articles that would explore each of the band members' personality and lifestyle beyond his identity as a Beatle.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=77–78}} The articles were published in weekly instalments in London's ''[[Evening Standard]]'' newspaper throughout March 1966, and reflected the transformation that was underway during the group's months of inactivity.{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=126}}{{refn|group=nb|According to [[Shawn Levy (writer)|Shawn Levy]], writing in his book on [[Swinging London]], this transformation took place between November 1965 and the following April, when the sessions for ''Revolver'' began. He describes the Beatles as "the world's first household psychedelics" and "the first stars of any medium to metamorphose fully and obviously from perky and aboveboard to mysterious and covert".{{sfn|Levy|2002|pp=240–41}}}} Of the two principal songwriters, Cleave found Lennon to be intuitive, lazy and dissatisfied with fame and his surroundings in the [[Surrey]] countryside, while McCartney conveyed confidence and a hunger for knowledge and new creative possibilities.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=88, 94–95, 119}} In his book ''Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll'', Robert Rodriguez writes that, whereas Lennon had been the Beatles' dominant creative force before ''Revolver'', McCartney now attained an approximately equal position with him.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=12–14}} In a further development, Harrison's interest in the music and culture of India, and his study of the Indian [[sitar]], had inspired him as a composer.{{sfn|The Editors of ''Rolling Stone''|2002|pp=36–37}} According to author Ian Inglis, ''Revolver'' is widely viewed as "the album on which Harrison came of age as a songwriter".{{sfn|Inglis|2010|p=7}}