Robert Xavier Rodriguez

Tomorrow Never Knows: The Beatles Revolver

Acquired wisdom has always put 'Sgt. Pepper' at the head of the class, but it was 'Revolver' that truly signaled The Beatles' sea change from a functional band to a studio-based ensemble. These changes began before'Rubber Soul' but came to fruition on 'Revolver', which took an astonishing 300 hours to produce, far more than any rock record before it.

The making of 'Revolver' - hunkered down in Abbey Road withGeorge Martin - is in itself a great Beatles story, but would be nothing if the results weren't so impactful. More than even 'Sgt. Pepper' and 'Pet Sounds', 'Revolver' fed directly into the rock 'n' rollzeitgeist, and its influence could be heard everywhere: from the psychedelic San Francisco sound (Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead); to the first wave of post-blues hard rock (Sabbath, Zeppelin); through movie soundtracks andpretty much everything that followed it - including every generation of guitar-based pop music and even heavy metal. More than any record before or after, 'Revolver' was the game-changer, and this is, finally, thedetailed telling of its storied recording and enormous impact. Winner of the 2013 ARSC Award for Best Research in Recorded Rock Music: Best History.