The Revolutionary Year
By Steve Turner
ISBN: 978-0-06-247558-0
419 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Cover photograph: Bob Whitaker / Camera Press / Redux
3/5 Stars
A well researched and authoritative book about the magical year of 1966 when the Beatles wrote and recorded their first studio album, ‘Revolver’.
As special extras, we have a ‘Jukebox’ playlist from each of the Beatles. This means we can hear what they were listening to back in 1966.
We get to understand why touring was so hard for The Beatles. There was little chance to grow artistically, and too much controversy following them. The punches thrown in Manila landed hard.
It is also exciting to see how The Beatles related to their peers. How did John Lennon get on with Bob Dylan? How did the Mamas and Papas react when they met The Beatles? Or Brian Wilson? Did you know there was ‘bad blood’ between The Beatles and The Kinks?
Although influenced by American Rock and Roll, the cultural legacy flowed the other way, the Four Tops were influenced through the Beatles into becoming more melodic.
The following were songs, destined to be classics, released in August 1966;
- Wild Thing by the Troggs
- Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful
- Sunny by Bobby Hebb
- Over Under Sideways Down by the Yardbirds,
- I Want You by Bob Dylan
- Mother’s Little Helper by the Rolling Stones
- Summertime by Billy Stewart
- Working in the Coal Mine by Lee Dorsey
- Land of 1000 Dances by Wilson Pickett
- Wouldn’t It Be Nice by the Beach Boys
Other U.S. singles worth checking out, from March 1966 which The Beatles listened to, include;
- Lightnin’ Strikes by Lou Christie
- Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind
- Working My Way Back To You by the Four Seasons
- I Fought The Law by the Bobby Fuller Four
- Dob’t Mess with Bill by the Marvelettes
- Crying Time by Ray Charles
- Batman Theme by the Marketts
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