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TL;DR:

  • The Beatles’ Revolver and Rubber Soul were similar in one major way.
  • George Harrison revealed what he thought of both records.
  • He contrasted them to the soundtrack for Yellow Submarine.

The Beatles never played Revolver songs live. On one hand, The Beatles’ technical limitations stopped them from playing those songs on tour. In addition, death threats reportedly caused them to quit touring.

The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ and ‘Rubber Soul’ were too complex to recreate on a stage

According to the 2011 book The Beatles Uncensored: On the Record, the band grew less interested in playing live after the release of Rubber Soul and Revolver. This was because tunes from those albums involved lots of studio trickery the band couldn’t replicate on tour. The Fab Four weren’t able to use synthesizers, a sophisticated sound system, or a live orchestra on tour. 

The Beatles Uncensored also says the band’s drug use made them too lazy to perform a track such as the psychedelic masterpiece “Tomorrow Never Knows” live. Because of this, the group stuck to more straightforward, older songs, including “Help!,” “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “Please Please Me.”

1 infamous John Lennon comment caused The Beatles to receive death threats

Then John Lennon made his infamous “more popular than Jesus” comment. Subsequently, the Fab Four incurred death threats, and obtaining proper security became more difficult in the United States.

George Harrison, in particular, grew tired of touring. He was frightened to go on the stage and he didn’t enjoy performing “Twist and Shout” repeatedly. The rowdiness of the crowds made George declare he wasn’t a Beatle anymore. All these factors combined to make The Beatles quit performing live.

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1 Song From The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ Didn’t Become a Hit Until Years After the Band Broke Up

George Harrison revealed what he thought of ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver’ in retrospect

The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1977. In it, the “My Sweet Lord” singer was asked if he still listened to any of the Fab Four’s albums. “I liked when we got into Rubber Soul, Revolver — each album had something good about it and progressed,” he said. “There were albums which weren’t any good as far as I was concerned, like Yellow Submarine.”

George said he enjoyed the Rubber Soul/Revolver era. “We’d get into doing harmonies and this and that,” he remembered. “Because in the early days, we were only working on four-track tapes. So what we’d do would be work out most of the basic track on one track, get all the balance and everything set, all the instruments. 

“Then we’d do the vocals or say, overdub,” he continued. “If there was guitar, lines would come in on the second verse and piano on the middle eight with shakers and tambourines. We’d line up and get all the sounds right and do it in a take and then do all the vocal harmonies over. Those old records weren’t really stereo. They were mono records and they were rechanneled.”

The Beatles didn’t play Revolver songs live but George looked back on the album fondly.

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