Should you buy this book? If you have more than a passing interest in The Beatles, musicology, psychedelics or/and music theory, the answer is an unequivocal "Yes!" "Every Sound There Is," a compilation of 14 chapters, illustrates a variety of standpoints on The Beatles' "Revolver."
I am particularly fascinated with the analytical approach to popular music and text traditionally implemented by classically trained musicologists, a project my college instructors would never have undertaken or assigned during the 1970s. Analysis was then based on the three "B's": Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; now we have a fourth "B."
Being a classically trained musician, I find it difficult to evaluate how a layman would appreciate some of the more musically technical passages in "Every Sound There Is." However, I think most readers will get the gist of the articles, even if they are not familiar with technical terms like a "I IV V progression" or "plagal cadence."
Ron Schleifer's "The Beatles, Postmodernism, an ill-tempered musical form," which compares "Revolver" to postmodernism, was harder to understand, but his thesis remains intriguing nonetheless.
Interestingly, the commentaries remain consistent in evaluating the meaning of the music and lyrics, in determining how each cut works with the others, and in the historical significance of the recording itself.
I gained a number of important insights from reading this book, including a new appreciation of "Revolver" as a work of art. I had heard the album hundreds of times, but I never actually "listened" to it.
After reading a couple of chapters of "Every Sound There Is," I sat down with headphones and gave the CD my undivided attention. The result was nothing less than astonishing. I am now at an existential crossroads: which monumental album is better, "Sgt. Pepper" or "Revolver"?
Read "Every Sound There Is" and decide for yourself.
