Editing Revolver (Beatles album) (section)

=== Overview ===
Author [[Steve Turner (writer)|Steve Turner]] writes that ''Revolver'' encapsulates not only "the spirit of the times" but the network of progressive social and cultural thinkers in which the Beatles had recently become immersed in London.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=415}} According to Reising and LeBlanc, along with "Rain", it marks the start of the band's body of work embracing [[Psychedelic music|psychedelia]], which continued through ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'', ''[[Magical Mystery Tour]]'' and the new songs recorded in 1967 for the animated film ''[[Yellow Submarine (film)|Yellow Submarine]]'', together with their singles over those two years.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=94–95, 99, 105}} The authors view Lennon and Harrison's compositions as the most overtly psychedelic and find the genre's traits evident in the album's instrumentation and soundscapes, and in its lyrical imagery.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=94–95, 98–100}}{{refn|group=nb|Reising and LeBlanc find little psychedelic content in McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby" and "[[Here, There and Everywhere]]", but comment that the latter adds to the LP's "atmospheric diversity", which was a key characteristic of psychedelic albums.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=95–96}}}} Music critic [[Jim DeRogatis]] views the LP as an early work in the [[psychedelic rock]] genre, which accompanied the emergence of counterculture ideology in the 1960s.{{sfn|DeRogatis|2003|pp=xi, 8–10}}

Through its individual tracks, ''Revolver'' covers a wide range of styles, including [[acid rock]], [[chamber music]], [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]],{{sfn|Brackett|Hoard|2004|p=53}} [[raga rock]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Unterberger|first=Richie |url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/i-want-to-tell-you-mt0010100252 |title=The Beatles 'I Want to Tell You' |publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref> musique concrète,{{sfn|Everett|2009|p=80}} as well as standard contemporary rock and pop.{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=83}} In Rodriguez's view, the influence of Indian music permeates the album.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=115}} Aside from the sounds and vocal styling used on much of the recording,{{sfn|Prendergast|2003|p=206}} this influence is evident in the limited chord changes in some of the songs, suggesting an Indian-style [[drone (music)|drone]].{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=194fn, 198}} According to cultural historian Simon Philo, ''Revolver'' contained "[the] most sustained deployment of Indian instruments, musical form and even religious philosophy" heard in popular music up to that time.{{sfn|Philo|2015|p=111}} Writing for ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', Jack Hamilton calls the album's music "avante-garde R&B", showcasing the musicians' debt to [[African-American music]].<ref name="avrb">{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/beatles-revolver-2022-super-deluxe-reissue-stax-motown.html |title=The Beatles' ''Revolver'' Was Their Avant-Garde R&B Album|last=Hamilton|first=Jack|date=28 October 2022|accessdate=28 October 2022|language=en-US|work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]}}</ref>

In its lyrical themes, the album marks a radical departure from the Beatles' past work, as a large majority of the songs avoid the subject of love.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=406}} According to Reising and LeBlanc, the lyrics on this and the band's later psychedelic records capture the psychedelic culture's belief in the truth-revealing qualities of LSD over the illusions of bourgeois thinking; reject materialism in favour of Asian-inspired spirituality; and explore the overlap in meaning between a "trip" and travelling, resulting in narratives in which time and space become blurred.{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=99–105}} Where the songs do present as [[love song]]s, the authors continue, love is often conveyed as a unifying force among many, rather than between two individuals, or as a "way of life".{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=107–08}}

Author and critic [[Kenneth Womack]] writes of the Beatles exploring "phenomenologies of consciousness" on ''Revolver'', and he cites as examples "I'm Only Sleeping"{{'s}} preoccupation with dreams and the references to death in the lyrics to "Tomorrow Never Knows". In Womack's estimation, the songs represent two important elements of the human life cycle that are "philosophical opposites".{{sfn|Womack|2007|p=139}} Echoing this point, music critic [[Tim Riley (music critic)|Tim Riley]] writes that, just as "embracing life means accepting death", the fourteen tracks "link a disillusioned view of the modern world{{nbsp}}... with a belief in metaphysical transcendence".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=181}} Philo finds the Beatles' "countercultural engagement" evident on even the songs that present as standard pop.{{sfn|Philo|2015|pp=110–11}} In Reising's view, all the songs on ''Revolver'' are linked, in that each line in "Tomorrow Never Knows", the closing track, is alluded to or explored in the lyrics to one or more of the tracks that precede it.{{sfn|Reising|2006|pp=113–14}}