Revolver Release

August 6, 2024, at home

On August 5, 1966, my favorite Beatles album was released: "Revolver." The British version contained 14 songs. The United States version contained 11 songs.

Many years ago at an annual Beatles convention called Beatlefest, I met artist Klaus Voormann, the man who drew/created this album cover. You can see his name and a small photo of himself in the far-right center of the cover. He also created the covers for the three Beatles Anthology CD sets released in 1995 (Volume 1) and 1996 (Volumes 2 & 3).

Voormann was a good friend of the four Beatles. He played the bass guitar on George Harrison's first solo release (after leaving The Beatles) "All Things Must Pass" (1970) and on John Lennon’s early solo albums.

I was fortunate to have asked him a question during a question-and-answer session at the convention. I asked him if he played bass guitar on any Beatles songs. He said no. When I was a teenager in the 1970s, I would attend all three days of each Beatlefest in New York City every year, staying in the hotel where the convention was held. I was living on nearby Long Island, New York, at that time.

Soon, the convention moved to a hotel in nearby New Jersey, but I still continued to go. As I got older, I went a few more times. I then moved to northern New Jersey, so the convention location in the early 1990s was always fairly close. (I was working in New York City at that time.)

Oh. Do you know the sound of the rumbling bass guitar at the beginning of Carly Simon's 1972 song "You're So Vain"? That's Voormann. Also, see if you can find the five members of The Rolling Stones band in the Revolver album cover. Hint: Voormann drew them. By the way, Mick Jagger, the lead singer of The Rolling Stones, is a background singer on Simon's song "You're So Vain."

Below is the "Revolver" album cover, plus photos of a younger and older Voormann.