Review:

on 2011-02-21 CharlesMartel Said:

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when he finally got out of bed. The pale winter sun was already beginning to slip low in the sky, heralding another one of those typically British gloomy midweek winter evenings. He had been awake for much, much longer. He just couldn't be bothered to get up, that was all. It's like that, when someone's suffering from depression. Things which seemed important to him once just lose all their significance. It's good in some ways. He doesn't fret about the things he used to fret about. But then again, there are things that he really needs to do and he can't be bothered. What's the point?

He was not taking any medicine for his condition. What's the point? Prozac creates a dependency that, once it's got a person in its grasp, it keeps him there. Not as bad as Diazepam, though. He had been prescribed Diazepam for those occasions when the panic rose in him so hard he could he could barely speak, yet stood there shaking as if in some sort of fit. No, he never took his Diazepam either. For him, depression was a catharsis. It was something to be endured. If he came out the other side, so much the better. He would be a stronger, better person. If he didn't, well what the hell. If he couldn't come out the other side then he felt that he would have a life that wouldn't be worth living anyway.

He had lost pretty much everything through his depression. His family was unaware of what he was going through and he preferred it that way. He hadn't worked for months, possibly years for all he knew. He had lost count. His home was a shambles and he was keeping up the payments on it out of savings. He didn't know how much he had left, but then it just didn't seem important. Of his interests, he had no interest in them anymore. It all seemed so futile. What's the point? All of these things are ephemeral. They may seem real, but turn your back and they cease to have any meaning.

Unlike so many other depressives, he didn't resort to drink or drugs. Not because he knew that they made the long-term impact of depression worse, but simply because he couldn't be bothered. His natural emotions and feelings seemed dead to him. Drink and drugs seemed to him like pouring fertiliser on dead plants. They're not going to grow again, so what's the point? That phrase again, what's the point? It had become like a mantra to him. He would utter it whenever he almost felt the urge to do something. It justified his lethargy and his indifference. It set the parameters on his aspirations and achievements. What's the point? had defined the paradigm shift between what he had been and what he had now become.

His world was defined by the memories he had which were too painful to hold onto, but too dear to let go of. His personal space was defined by the limits which he set himself. His bedroom and the TV dinner counters in the local supermarket were the only two places in his world. Everywhere in between was just a corridor, an empty corridor between these two foci of his existence. Everything outside these foci and the corridor did not exist. He did not want to know what was outside that corridor and he never bothered to look.

And his future? His future was defined by his iPod. He had his entire music collection on his iPod, a collection built up over three decades and more. Over seven and a half thousand individual pieces of music. Everything was there, from medieval choral music to modern classical; pop to punk; hard rock to post rock. He had once looked upon that collection as something which defined him as a person - all his hopes and fears, not just for the present but for the past were defined by it. Each track meant something to him. He could pinpoint the exact moment in his life when it had a relevance to him. The joys, the sadness, the hatred, the love, the anticipation, the loss. His music defined who he was, what he had experienced in life and what he had wanted out of it.

It also reminded him of what he had lost.

But the great thing about his iPod was that he could put it on shuffle and let it go. He didn't have to bother with it - he need not get out of bed to hear more music. It was plugged into the sound station and it just rolled. He left it on while he slept, and it was on when he woke. It provided him with the only occasions when he might look forward to something. A song would play on it which reminded him of something good, something positive he once held onto. A little anticipation would grow inside him as it played. He would wonder, what will come next? Will he be elevated still further? Will the next song remind him of something, something worth hanging onto?

Then the next song came. "Eleanor Rigby". What's the point?

They found him four weeks later. A neighbour noticed that there was a strange smell emanating from the flat. The Police and council workers broke down the door. He was sitting on the toilet seat, slumped over the washbasin and the pale blue vitreous china bowl had a slight pink tinge below the waterline.
Rating: 5/10

on 2009-10-03 hstisgod Said:

Very nice review as well Dylan... You like The Beatles heh? Check you recommendations...

http://www.musicemissions.com/artists/albums/index.php?album_id=10117
Not Rated

Review:

on 2009-10-03 Dylan147 Said:

There was something about a beatles album that just made it special. Artists today are still trying to find out what it was that made them so popular. They had that illustrious X-Factor. ( and i'm not talking about Simon Cowell). Revolver, like any other Beatles album, also derives of this magic formula. It is arguably the most perfect album ever created.
The opening song, "Taxman", is the perfect opener. The Riff, The harmonies, The vocals, the lyrics, it all seems to just fit into place. Then we move onto track two, "Eleanor Rigby", an all time classic. Really you can't get any better.
The album really conveyed a step forward for the Beatles. It showed that they were trying to move away from the "Fab-Four", "Moptop" image. They brought the music industry on in leaps and bounds with this album. The perfect example of this is "Tomorrow Never Knows".
This track has Ringo's amazing drumbeat, John's Spine chilling lyrics, That amazing vocal effect, Backward tape loops and a backward guitar. Rock and Roll music had never seen the likes of this before. The Beatles had really set the bar high for their competitors.
Whether it's the hair-raising vocals of " I'm Only Sleeping", The Indian inspired " Love you To", The Beautiful "For No One", or the jaw-dropping innovation of "Tomorrow Never Knows" that gets you, something surely will. Because Revolver has got it all. An Utter Masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10