Revolver was released in the UK 50 years ago on 5th August 1966. It was released 3 days later in the US. Revolver is considered to be The Beatles psychedelic rock album, it lives up to this title with its track “Tomorrow Never Knows” which featured tape loops, backward recordings, using vari-speedings, reversed tapes and close audio miking which led to the invention of Automatic Double Tracking(ADT) – a technique invented by Abbey Road Studio engineers.
Album tracks include: Taxman, Eleanor Rigby (featuring a classical string octet), I’m Only sleeping, Love You To, (with its Indian music backing) 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, Tomorrow Never Knows”.
“Tomorrow Never Knows“was adapted from Timothy Leary’s book ‘The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead‘. It was this song that influenced Klaus Voormann’s cover art for the album.
Voormann received a Grammy Award for the Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts Award in 1966. Voorman combined his four large line drawings with a collage of photos by Bob Whitaker (who shot the infamous “Butcher Cover” for The Beatles Yesterday and Today LP. His spacey collage of drawings and photos complemented the songs that reflected the group’s LSD experiments during its production.
Klaus Voormann (born on 29 April, 1938) is a German-born bassist, record producer and artist whom The Beatles met in their Hamburg days in the early 1960s. He was a bassist for Manfred Mann’s band from 1966-1969 and produced Trio’s hit “Da Da Da” in the 80s.
Above: “Black Magical Mystery Tour” 2010 Shinko Music Entertainment E-book, analog collage and drawing 31.5×31.5cm.
The artist is Keiji Ito born in 1958 in Tokyo, Japan. He is the Director of Unidentified Frying Graphics Inc and a guest lecturer and Professor of Art and Design at Kyoto University of Art. His main works include: painting, collages, art direction and art work for advertisements, books, music CD sleeves, video clips, etc. Some examples of his work include:
- Cover art works in Japanese magazines such as BRUTUS and Cut
- Art direction or art work of CD sleeves for BONNIE PINK, Orange Pekoe
- Book list: ‘Sunshine Girl Meets Gravity Boy‘ (UFB). More information about Keiji Ito can be found at this website or his Facebook page.
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