The Beatles, I’m Only Sleeping - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction / Excerpts

Revolver is a masterpiece of creativity.

One of my favorites, I can't wait for the Here, there and Everywhere reaction.

A few technical notes: When recording the backing track of acoustic guitar, bass, and drums, the Beatles played in the key of E minor (and at a faster tempo) --- with the tape machine running at a faster speed (about 5% faster than normal). The result of this was that when the tape was played back at normal speed, the pitch of the song was lowered by a semi tone (to the key of E flat minor), and the instruments had a deeper sonority and texture, also bringing the tempo back down to normal speed. Then when the vocals were added onto the tape, the opposite was done. The tape was played at a SLOWER speed when recording the vocal parts, giving the vocals a slightly sped up sound when the tape is played at normal speed. In effect, the instruments sound slowed down and the vocals sound sped up. Then Harrison had a go at the electric guitar parts, playing with the tape machine running in REVERSE, so that when we hear the song the guitars are playing backwards. There were actually two different guitar parts making up the guitar solo. As you can imagine, this took a very long time to achieve the correct notes for the solo, the incidental parts, and the song's coda. The Beatles' engineer, Geoff Emerick tells us that the session for all of the backwards guitar parts took about 12 hours. Yet another long day in the studio! If you listen to the song 'Rain', you will notice that the same thing was done --- the instruments sound slowed down, and the vocals sound sped up. And at the end of THAT song we are treated to backwards VOCALS as well. It was a time of great experimentation, to say the least.

❤ I love these reactions on Beatles songs. And in particular this new format is excellent 👌😀

John’s songs explore specific states of consciousness.

I ran across the acoustic version (rehearsal) of I'm Only Sleeping on YT and it is already wonderful in its embryonic form, One cannot say enough about Lennon's composition and his voice.

I think I have taken The Beatles for granted for many years. You just find so much in the ingredients which made most of their songs so great. Ian MacDonald writes in Revolution In The Head, "The Beatles were no longer interested in simulating their live sound under studio conditions, instead creating a new sonic environment in each successive track." And as a footnote he adds, "In terms of the way groups were using recording studios [i.e.,by 1966], 1965 was a pivotal period....by mid-1966 cutting-edge pop records were harder, if not impossible, to perform onstage." (For instance, the Beach Boys would find it near impossible to reproduce anything from Pet Sounds in concert.) MacDonald felt that The Beatles had been "obliquely influenced by The Kinks' change of direction" at this stage. Yes The Kinks are another band from this era worthy of your perusal...

John was the genius of expressing feelings

That opening chord coming after Eleanor Rigby jars you awake as if Eleanor Rigby was a dream.

Pretty eclectic album so far, right? My aunt bought Revolver for me when I was seven and I played it every day. Decades later, I still love it.

Vlad: Don't omit the singles from this period AND introduce Amy to The Kinks singles in 1965/6 too.

A seriously underrated Beatles song. I love it!

A revolutionary number this one with excellent reverse guitar passages ! Love it - it's a favourite of mine . 🤡

I'm Only Sleeping is one of my absolute favorites. And like I said before you can't skip the single Paperback Writer and Rain. Because Rain is the precursor to I'm Only Sleeping. Tape manipulation and backwards sound. And on Paperback Writer they use reverb on Paul's lead vocal while George and John are singing Frere Jacques in the background. I didn't know until many years later. I always wondered what they were saying.

No longer riding on the merry-go-round, I just had to let it go. - John Lennon -

Rubber Soul was the “Ready…set…” and Revolver was the “GO!”

It does sound slowed down from E to Eb adding to sense of time and space being warpy and melty

.... staring at the ceiling, waiting for a sleepy feeling.... and that reverse guitar solo.... fantastic!

I sure hope they don’t skip. ‘Love you to”, which to me is essential to listen to when chronicling The Beatles progression. I know when you’re listening to Eleanor Rigby it sounds like a big change in the music and it is but Love You To, to me, Is the first Beatles song that hardly even sounds like a Beatles song, and because of that, you just Have to listen to it 😊

I'm pretty sure this was the third recorded Beatles song with backward tracks. It's easy to appreciate that John had the technique in mind with the lyrics - dreamy, not quite in touch with daily consciousness. In context, this composition breaks into new dimensions; in the past, all composition went forward in time. To have part of the composition going forward in time with the guitar going backward in time breaks a barrier previously inconceivable. The genius of Revolver continues into new realms.