8. The Beatles - Revolver
Both a landmark and a pivot, Revolver bursts with the creativity of four men in their 20s discovering Indian scales, tape loops, psychedelics, baroque string arrangements, surreal kid-folk, fuzz pedals, and themselves. Already possessing the world’s ear following several years of increasingly ranging hits, Revolvercontinued the quartet’s transfiguration from lovable moptops to lovable visionaries, reinventing rock with an effortlessness akin to magic. The album signaled the dawn of a stoned and eclectic pop age, from the cheeky garage snarl of George Harrison’s “Taxman” to the radiophonic swirl of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” John Lennon and producer George Martin’s first psychedelic opus. Even a half-century after being absorbed into rock’s lingua franca, Revolver not only sounds fresh but fun, perfectly bottling the exuberant rush of youth while pioneering new songwriting modes and production tricks with nearly every verse, chorus, and middle eight. –Jesse Jarnow / Pitchfork.com
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