Revolver

<p>Acquired wisdom has always put <i>Sgt. Pepper</i> at the head of the class, but it was <i>Revolver</i> that truly signaled The Beatles' sea change from a functional band to a studio-based ensemble. These changes began before <i>Rubber Soul</i> but came to fruition on <i>Revolver</i>, which took an astonishing 300 hours to produce, far more than any rock record before it.<br><br>The making of <i>Revolver</i> – hunkered down in Abbey Road with George Martin – is in itself a great Beatles story, but would be nothing if the results weren't so impactful. More than even <i>Sgt. Pepper</i> and <i>Pet Sounds</i>, <i>Revolver</i> fed directly into the rock 'n' roll zeitgeist, and its influence could be heard everywhere: from the psychedelic San Francisco sound (Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead); to the first wave of post-blues hard rock (Sabbath, Zeppelin); through movie soundtracks and pretty much everything that followed it – including every generation of guitar-based pop music and even heavy metal. More than any record before or after, <i>Revolver</i> was the game-changer, and this is, finally, the detailed telling of its storied recording and enormous impact. Winner of the 2013 ARSC Award for Best Research in Recorded Rock Music: Best History.</p>