BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 262: Listen to The Beatles’ “Revolver” album

A few years ago, I ran across a best-of list compiled by Rolling Stone magazine called the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” and I noticed right away that more than a few Beatles’ albums received mention on this list. In fact, The Beatles’ had four albums in the Top 10, including the No. 1-ranked album of all-time “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The next Beatles’ album on the list, ranked at No. 3, was their 1966 album, “Revolver.”

It somewhat irked me that I couldn’t honestly say that I’d ever listened to this highly regarded album from start to finish, so I put it on my “bucket list” a couple of years ago. I finally took the time to listen to it from start to finish for the first time on Friday and have listened to it several more times since then. Having done so, I can now see why “Revolver” is considered one of the greatest albums of all time.

For those of you unfamiliar with the “Revolver” album, it was released in the United States on Aug. 8, 1966, three days after it was released in the United Kingdom. “Revolver” was the Beatles’ seventh studio album and was released between “Yesterday and Today” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The album went on to become one of the biggest selling albums of all-time, having sold over 5,000,000 in the U.S. alone.

Lengthwise, this album is relatively short. It consists of 14 songs, but is only 34 minutes and 43 seconds long. Songs on the album include “Taxman,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Love You To,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Yellow Submarine,” “She Said She Said,” “Good Day Sunshine,” “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “For No One,” “Doctor Robert,” “I Want to Tell You,” “Got to Get You into My Life” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”  

“Yellow Submarine” and “Good Day Sunshine” are probably the two most famous songs on the album, but I also liked “Eleanor Rigby.” Interestingly, all of the songs on the album were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney except for “Taxman,” “Love You To” and “I Want to Tell You,” which were all written by George Harrison. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that none of these songs are very long. “I’m Only Sleeping” is the longest song on the album, and it’s right at three minutes long. “And Your Bird Can Sing” and “For No One” are the two shortest songs on the album, coming in at just two minutes each.

So far, I’ve listened to two of the Beatles’ albums on Rolling Stone’s “500 Best Albums” list, and “Revolver” has only left me wanting to listen to the other albums on the list. Those albums (and where they were ranked by Rolling Stone) include “Rubber Soul” (No. 5), “The Beatles” (No. 10), “Abbey Road” (No. 14), “Please Please Me” (No. 39), “Meet the Beatles!” (No. 53), “A Hard Day’s Night” (No. 307), “Help!” (No. 331), “Let It Be” (No. 392). I’ll probably add “Rubber Soul” and “The Beatles” to my bucket list next year, and I’ll probably get around to the rest of them eventually.

In the end, how many of you have listened to The Beatles’ “Revolver” album? What did you think about it? What other great albums, Beatles or otherwise, would you recommend listening to? Let us know in the comments section below.