Editing Revolver (Beatles album) (section)

=== Contemporary reviews ===
In Britain, the reception to ''Revolver'' was highly favourable.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=176}} Having found ''Rubber Soul'' "almost monotonous" at times, ''Melody Maker'' lauded the new release,{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|pp=49, 64}} saying it was a work that would "change the direction of pop music".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=176}} The reviewer highlighted its "electronic effects", McCartney's "penchant for the classics" and Harrison's "stunning use of the sitar" as diverse elements that distinguished the LP as a group effort, such that the four band members' "individual personalities are now showing through loud and clear".<ref>{{cite magazine|editor-first=John|editor-last=Mulvey|title=July–September: LPs/Singles|url=https://archive.org/details/TheHistoryOfRock1966/page/n77/mode/2up?q=veritable|magazine=The History of Rock: 1966|publisher=Time Inc.|location=London|year=2015|page=78|access-date=23 August 2020}}</ref> The writer concluded: "this is a brilliant album which underlines once and for all that the Beatles have definitely broken the bounds of what we used to call pop."{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=261–62}} [[Peter Clayton]], a [[jazz]] critic for ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'' magazine, described it as "an astonishing collection" that defied easy categorisation since much of the LP had no precedent in the context of pop music. Clayton concluded: "if there's anything wrong with the record at all it is that such a diet of newness might give the ordinary pop-picker indigestion."{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=262}}<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Beatles ''Revolver''|first=Peter|last=Clayton|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]|date=October 1966|page=233}}</ref>

[[Edward Greenfield]] of ''[[The Guardian]]'' titled his review "Thinking Pop" and wrote that the three Beatles songwriters "habitually go outside the realm of sloppy love-theme, and find inspiration instead (as serious artists always must) in specific feelings and specific experiences". Highlighting the importance of McCartney's classical aesthetic, he recognised the band's ongoing success as "fair vindication" for popular taste in terms of its alignment with artistic merit.<ref>{{cite news|first=Edward|last=Greenfield|title=The Beatles release Revolver – archive|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/15/beatles-revolver-review-pop-archive#img-2|publisher=[[The Guardian|theguardian.com]]|date=15 August 2016|orig-year=15 August 1966|access-date=8 April 2020}}</ref> In their joint review for ''Record Mirror'', Richard Green and [[Peter Jones (journalist)|Peter Jones]] found the album "full of musical ingenuity" yet "controversial", and added: "There are parts that will split the pop fraternity neatly down the middle."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Green|first1=Richard|last2=Jones|first2=Peter |date=30 July 1966|title=The Beatles: ''Revolver'' (Parlophone)|magazine=[[Record Mirror]]}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-parlophone Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919213905/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-parlophone |date=19 September 2020 }} (subscription required).</ref>{{refn|group=nb|According to Schaffner, one of the album's few detractors was [[Jonathan King]], an English "pop-star-turned-pundit" who dismissed it as "pseudo-intellectual rubbish".{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=64}} [[Ray Davies]] of [[the Kinks]], who held a grudge against the Beatles from 1964, also disparaged the album when invited to give a rundown of the songs in ''[[Disc and Music Echo]]''. Davies said ''Revolver'' was inferior to ''Rubber Soul''.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=260–61}}}} In her round-up of 1966 for the ''Evening Standard'', Maureen Cleave named ''Revolver'' and the single as the year's best records, although she rued that, together with Mick Jagger, the Beatles had become aloof in that, "Unlike anybody else, they seemed to know what they wanted."{{sfn|Savage|2015|p=545}}{{refn|group=nb|Reviewing the album in late July, Cleave wrote, "I am tired of wondering how the Beatles keep it up, but how {{em|do}} they keep it up?" and she concluded, "Never have I been able to recommend an LP with more conviction."<ref>{{cite news|first=Maureen|last=Cleave|title=The Beatles: ''Revolver'' (Parlophone PMC 7009)|newspaper=[[Evening Standard]]|date=30 July 1966}} Available at [https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-parlophone-pmc-7009 Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022200741/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-parlophone-pmc-7009 |date=22 October 2022 }} (subscription required).</ref>}}

[[File:WCFL Sound 10 survey October 1966 Beatles Jim Stagg (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|The group (with disc jockey [[Jimmy Staggs|Jim Stagg]]) during [[The Beatles' 1966 US tour|their final tour]], in August 1966]]
Due to the controversies surrounding the Beatles during their tour, critical reaction in the US was muted relative to the band's previous releases.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=172, 174, 176}}{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=189}} According to Rodriguez, in redefining the limits of pop music, ''Revolver'' emphasised the need for genuine [[rock critic]]ism, a form of journalism that only became commonplace from 1967.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=174–75}} ''[[KRLA Beat]]''{{'s}} reviewer described ''Revolver'' as "a musical creation of exceptional excellence" but lamented that, amid the continued acclaim for ''Rubber Soul'', "it is receiving only a fraction of the attention and respect due", and some Americans were overly focusing on the band's "political views".<ref name="KRLA review">{{cite news|author=Uncredited writer|title=The Beatles: ''Revolver'' (Capitol)|work=[[KRLA Beat]]|date=10 September 1966|pages=2–3}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-capitol Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906045112/http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/the-beatles-irevolveri-capitol |date=6 September 2015 }} (subscription required).</ref> Writing in the recently launched ''[[Crawdaddy!]]'', [[Paul Williams (Crawdaddy! creator)|Paul Williams]] gave the US LP a mixed review, in which he admired "Love You To" and "Eleanor Rigby" but derided "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Yellow Submarine". Williams lauded the album's musical range but found it lacked an integral quality, which he acknowledged was outside the group's control.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=175}}

According to Turner, the album's combination of novel sounds and unusual subject matter "challenged all the conventions of pop"{{sfn|Turner|1999|p=99}} and it was the upcoming generation of writers who "got it immediately".{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=262}} [[Ralph J. Gleason]], then the jazz critic for the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'',{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=420}} wrote it was "the most outstanding pop album in years, possibly the best of all time", with "[n]ot a single disappointing track".<ref>{{cite news|last=Gleason|first=Ralph J.|author-link=Ralph J. Gleason|title=The Beatles' Hot 'Revolver'{{nbsp}}... Other LPs|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle|This World: San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=25 September 1966|page=35|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner/101060862/|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> In his article for ''The Village Voice'', Richard Goldstein described ''Revolver'' as "a revolutionary record" that was "as important to the expansion of pop as was ''Rubber Soul''",{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=155, 175}} and one that demanded that the genre's "boundaries{{nbsp}}... be re-negotiated".<ref name="Goldstein/VV" /> He added: "it seems now that we will view this album in retrospect as a key work in the development of rock and roll into an artistic pursuit&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Reising|2002|p=7}}{{refn|group=nb|A recent [[New Journalism]] graduate, Goldstein was the first dedicated rock critic to be appointed at an established American publication.{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=191}} His appraisal of ''Revolver'' was, in author Bernard Gendron's description, "the first substantial rock review devoted to one album to appear in any nonrock magazine with accreditory power".{{sfn|Gendron|2002|p=192}}}} Another writer identified by Turner, [[Jules Siegel]], likened ''Revolver'' to works by [[John Donne]], [[John Milton]] and [[William Shakespeare]], saying that the band's lyrics would provide the basis for scholarly analysis well into the future.{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=262–63}}

Recalling ''Revolver''{{'}}s release in his book ''[[Revolution in the Head]]'', Ian MacDonald says that the Beatles "initiated a second pop revolution – one which while galvanising their existing rivals and inspiring many new ones, left all of them far behind".{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=192}} In a February 1967 review, ''[[Hit Parader]]'' declared: "''Revolver'' represents the pinnacle of pop music. No group has been as consistently creative as the Beatles, though the [Lovin'] Spoonful and Beach Boys are coming closer all the time&nbsp;... Rather than analyze the music we just suggest that you listen to ''Revolver'' three or four times a day and marvel&nbsp;..."<ref>"Platter Chatter: Albums from The Beatles, Donovan, Ravi Shankar et al.". ''[[Hit Parader]]''. February 1967. Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/platter-chatter-albums-from-the-beatles-donovan-ravi-shankar-et-al Rock's Backpages] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022200742/https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/platter-chatter-albums-from-the-beatles-donovan-ravi-shankar-et-al |date=22 October 2022 }} (subscription required).</ref> Later that year, in ''Esquire'', [[Robert Christgau]] said the album was "twice as good and four times as startling as ''Rubber Soul'', with sound effects, Oriental drones, jazz bands, transcendentalist lyrics, all kinds of rhythmic and harmonic surprises, and a filter that made John Lennon sound like God singing through a foghorn".<ref>{{cite web|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|date=December 1967|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/column2.php|title=Columns: December 1967 (''Esquire'')|publisher=[[Robert Christgau|robertchristgau.com]]|access-date=24 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032316/http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-aow/column2.php|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
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