ABSTRACT
Revolver was fundamentally unlike any rock album that had preceded it. The album blazes trails through virtually every musical parameter. This chapter examines the areas that had lasting impact on the music of Pink Floyd: meter, harmonic organization, timbre, and poetry. Revolver's influence is so pervasive that the discussion only surveys some of the most prominent examples in the Pink Floyd catalog. For each parameter, an early period example establishes a close link to Revolver, and a later period example demonstrates that the influence was lasting. While orchestral instruments exert only a minimal influence on Pink Floyd, special effects have an enormous impact. The timbral influence of Revolver comprises two broad categories: instrumentation and special effects. All three types of effects on Revolver – the everyday chatter of the introduction to 'Taxman', the humorous narrative setting for 'Yellow Submarine', and the abstract sounds in 'Tomorrow Never Knows' – become integral parts of Pink Floyd's music.
