'Rubber Soul' & 'Revolver'

I'm re-watching The Beatles Anthology -- the nine-hour documentary about the band that ran on TV in 1993 -- and there's an interesting quote from guitarist George Harrison regarding Rubber Soul and Revolver.

The Quiet Beatle stated that he felt that the two albums were the same and that they were companion pieces -- as if the pair were an essential double album.

I could not disagree more.

I love Harrison and if he felt that way about those albums then I would defer to him because he worked on them, he's listened to them more than anyone. It's his opinion to hold.

But I think it sells both albums short. Yes, I consider both albums as being seminal for what the Beatles would do the next four years, they were bridges from the four mop tops to the bearded sages going single file on a crosswalk. Arguably, Rubber Soul and Revolver were the Beatles best albums.

To use a drug analogy, Rubber Soul is like weed. Revolver is acid. Both are illegal drugs. Both will do the trick. But one goes on a different plain, takes on a whole new conciousness.

Revolver is a jagged pill. The guitar riffs are angular and pointed. "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Here, There and Everywhere" could've been on Rubber Soul, but "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Dr. Robert," "Taxman," "Tomorrow Never Knows," "She Said She Said" and "Eleanor Rigby" are strictly Revolver and they would not have fit anywhere else including the follow-up, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.

I don't think these albums are companions, but one doesn't happen without the other.