Recorded at Abbey Road studios between April and June 1966, Revolver is one of the few albums that stand up to repeated scrutiny and overexposure, fully earning its exalted reputation and high-ranking position in Greatest Albums Of All Time lists.

The Beatles' transition from a gigging unit to studio band was sealed with this record; a mature, complex, frequently witty work. There simply is no filler here; Paul McCartney is like a man aflame, writing his most durable material. Many writers would struggle to manage just one piece of music the calibre of "Eleanor Rigby"," For No One", "Here, There and Everywhere", "Got To Get You Into My Life" or "Good Day Sunshine". Here, McCartney effortlessly delivers all five.

Although John Lennon's material is more slender ("Dr. Robert", "I'm Only Sleeping"), it's still memorable – and he steals the show with his final song, the Tibetan Book Of The Dead-referencing "Tomorrow Never Knows", which points the way to not just the group's future but also the next few years in rock. Asking producer George Martin to make him sound like the "Dalai Lama chanting from a hilltop", the looped and flanged drone still sounds unlike anything else in rock. As the track, built around an aggressive Ringo Starr drum-loop collapses three minutes later into honky-tonk piano, it concludes a remarkable work, the Beatles most consistent. And all this is without mentioning the George Harrison's Indian experimentation ("Love You To"), his searing attack on the tax system ("Taxman") and the best kid's pop song of all time ("Yellow Submarine")

Within a month of the album's release, the Beatles gave up touring. There was no way they could replicate this new sophisticated and experimental sound on stage underneath a barrage of screams.