Abracadabra! The Complete Story of the Beatles' Revolver

by Ray Newman

A detailed look at how the Beatles went about creating their 1966 masterpiece, Revolver, including chapters on the influence of LSD, Indian music and the London art scene, and a blow-by-blow, track-by-track account of the production of the record. This book is also available as a free PDF at revolverbook.co.uk. This edition features some small additions and corrections from the online version.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

103 pages, .pdf

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ray Newman describes himself as neither a writer nor a journalist; merely a Beatles fan who created this book "for fun". However, in spite of his humble bio, I found this e-book (being a longtime discerning fan and scholar of the Beatles myself) extremely well written and thoroughly referenced. It's a quick read (only 103 pages; 81 of which are actual narrative text, the rest are indexes, discographies and the like), but a fascinating glimpse into the world of 60's London and the artistic and cultural influences of what many consider to be the Beatles best album (take that, Sgt. Pepper!). It's really a must for anyone who's into that era: us baby boomers who live for those VH1 Classics programs that take us back, through rose colored, digitally-enhanced glasses, to a time we barely remember anyway!

[B. Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I came across what was supposed to be 'the complete story' of one of the finest albums by the greatest rock and roll outfit that ever did or could exist, available on-line for free, I figured this is too good to be true. Jesus Christ, was I right! Thirty pages in, he's still rambling on about acid, George Harrison's first sitar, yoga, Hinduism, and the commercialisation of Indian culture in the west. The 'book' was a third over, and had hardly even mentioned its alleged subject--which acording to the title, was supposed to be a recording made in Britain by British musicians, not the culture, religion, or abysmal economy of a distant country that used to be part of their empire. There's a reason why publishers won't touch this, and why I didn't finish reading it.

[Osvaldo Ferreiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

though he talked of releasing an entire album, ultimately baulked at the idea, in fact, he went so far as to head in quite the opposite direction, concealing his own experimentation by giving away his work to his buddy for use on his otherwise simple song "tomorrow never knows". This compounded the public perception of Lennon as the "Clever Beatle", and of McCartney as a brilliant but conventional songwriter.

[Joel Ungar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite enjoyable little book for the serious Beatles fan. Does a great job putting Revolver in its context not just in Beatles history but in its time. Interesting emphasis not just on the impact LSD had on it (expected) but the impact Indian music had not just on George Harrison but on Lennon and McCartney as well.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice and brief, yet insightful and personalized, exploration of Revolver as a representation of the Beatles working to redefine expectations of their sound and artistry near the end of their touring career.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book and very informative. It helps that I love the subject matter. If you're into the Beatles, you'll want to read this. Go get it. It's free!