Last Friday was the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles album “Revolver” in the UK. It didn’t come out until August 8th in the USA though, so it is 50 years ago today since the USA release.  By one of those weird coincidences of life, no more than three weeks ago I received a message from my good friend Valentin Calderon, a well known Bob Dylan fan in the Spanish trading circles. In his note, my friend asked for advice in order to value and certify an original copy of “Revolver” vinyl LP signed by the Fab Four.

He told me that he has this original UK release from the Parlophone records label in his possession. The cover is torn out in the middle, as seen in this picture above, but the 4 Beatles autographs are still there, well preserved and still visible, though a bit washed out by the time. Valentin has no doubt that the signatures are authentic, since he received it as a gift from a close childhood friend who got it himself from his own mother. She was working in London at the time and had the chance to get her album signed when she met the Beatles at her workplace.

I asked for help from a friend of mine at the facebook group “Everything Beatles.” Of course he was really kind and gave me a couple of URLs of dedicated websites where they could help with information about signed copies of the Beatles albums. I wrote them asking for advice regarding this subject, but I didn’t get a reply.

Before making a few comments on some “Revolver” particularities, I wanted to mention my friend’s request and let you all know about it, in case anybody out there could help or tell us how to proceed.

Another curiosity of the mentioned item is that there’s one more autograph seen above John Lennon’s signature. I couldn’t tell for sure but I checked the net for comparison and it seems like it could be signed by Lester Pigott, the famous British jockey, several times winner of the Epsom Derby.

As a tribute to this LP which many people consider the greatest masterpiece among The Beatles concept masterworks, I will comment on a couple of curious facts regarding the studio recording sessions. Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer, once declared: “With ‘Revolver’, it was more about making things sound different, rather than real.” As an example, we can hear a seagull screaming sound on “Tomorrow Never Knows” which was actually McCartney’s laughter played double-speed and reversed. Another interesting thing to point out was the Brass Band included in “Yellow Submarine” and the funny crazy session where Brian Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Pattie Harrison, Neil Aspinall and even Geoff Emerick and George Martin were singing along in the chorus. No doubt the LP revolved things as no other pop-rock effort had ever done before.

The Hypnotist Collector

Bibliography:

Scapelliti, Christopher (August 5, 2016) The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’: Guide to the Songs, Instruments and Recording Equipment. Retrieved August 8, 2016 from http://www.guitarworld.com/guide-recording-equipment-songs-and-instruments-featured-beatles-revolver-album

Cabrera, Enrique (©Copyright 1996-2000) Only Some Northern Songs In Revolver. Retrieved August 8, 2016 from http://www.upv.es/~ecabrera/revolver.html