Revolver (Beatles album) as the Beatles'. While also highlighting the importance of the production, David Howard writes that "Revolver" was a "genre-transforming album", on which Martin and the Beatles had "obliterated recording studio conventions". Combined with the similarly "visionary" work of American producer Phil Spector, Howard continues, through "Revolver", the recording studio had become "its own instrument; record production had been elevated into art." Whereas "Sgt. Pepper" had long been identified as the Beatles' greatest album, since the 2000s "Revolver" has often surpassed it in lists of the group's best work. Sheffield cites the album's 1987 CD release, with the full complement of
Revolver (Beatles album) North America, where three of its tracks instead appeared on the June 1966 release "Yesterday and Today". The Beatles recorded the album following a three-month break from professional commitments at the start of 1966, and during a period when London was feted as the era's cultural capital. The songs reflect the influence of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and the increasing sophistication of the Beatles' lyrics to address themes including death and transcendence from material concerns. With no thoughts of reproducing their new material in concert, the band made liberal use of studio techniques such as varispeeding, reversed tapes, close