There was no recording session scheduled for April, 18, 1966, so John Lennon and George Harrison went to the Marquee Club in London, where they saw The Lovin' Spoonful perform.

Between 1964 and 1988 the Marquee Club was situated at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, London. On this night Harrison met Eric Clapton; the pair would become close friends in subsequent years. They had met once before, during Another Beatles Christmas Show at Hammersmith Odeon in 1964-65.

Afterwards Lennon and Harrison visited a London nightclub in the company of Brian Jones, Spencer Davis, Stevie Winwood and Tom McGuinness.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

"Doctor Robert" was completed with vocal overdubs onto take seven and, at the end of the 2:30-12:00 pm session, rough mono mixes.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

An afternoon evening session, the Beatles recording in seven takes the basic track of John's new composition "Doctor Robert", written about a certain New York doctor who, allegedly, administered hallucinogenic drugs to friends from his Manhattan practice.

(Speaking of Dr. Robert, I think everyone should go on BeatlesRadio.com and take a look. Thanks to our own "Dr. Robert", you can see and hear what a wonderful job he does!)

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Eleven uninterrupted hours, 2:30 pm-1:30 am, completing "Rain", overdubbing tambourine, bass and more vocals, then doing tape-to-tape reductions to add yet more overdubs. Four mono mixes, the third marked "best", were produced at the end of the session. (Rain was first mixed into stereo on December 2, 1969)

Paperback Writer was an attempt by McCartney to write a song based on a single chord - possibly influenced by Indian music, but most likely a result of their marijuana use; other songs from this period, notably The Word, If I Needed Someone and Tomorrow Never Knows, were similarly modelled.

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

"Paperback Writer" was completed between 2:30 and 7:30 pm, with numerous overdubs onto the previous night's take two, including Paul's lead and John and George's novel "Frere Jacques" backing vocal, evoking schoolboy memories of French lessons. The finished recording was mixed into mono.

At 8:30 pm, after a 30 minute pause, recording began of "Rain", to be the B-side of "Paperback Writer" when issued in June. Like many of the Revolver era recordings, "Rain"  was full of all of the latest technological advancements: limiters, compressors, jangle boxes, Leslie speakers, ADT, tapes played backwards, machines deliberately running faster or slower than usual, and vari-speed vocals.

By the end of the session, at 1:30 am, the Beatles had made five passes at completing a rhythm and vocal track. The song would be taken through to completion in the next session.

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

Two distinct sessions this day. From 2:30 to 6:30 pm, George's "Granny Smith" (Love You To) was completed with the reduction of take six into take seven and subsequent overdubs of a new Harrison lead vocal, Ringo's tambourine and an occasional harmony vocal from Paul (omitted during mixing). Deemed complete, three mono mixes and various edits were made before the 6:30 conclusion.

Independent of the album, Revolver, which would be issued in August, the Beatles released a new single on Friday, June 10, with two songs from these current sessions. Recording of the A-side, Paul's "Paperback Writer", began at 8:00 pm this evening, concluding, for the present, at 2:30 am. In this time, two takes of the rhythm track were made, only the second being complete. Marked "best" it served as the platform onto which April 14th overdubs were recorded.

The Beatles in-between sessions at EMI Studios in London

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

After overdubbing guitars onto "Got To Get You Into My Life", the initial session of the day, 2:30 to 7:00 pm, saw George begin the recording of "Love You To", his first Indian-flavored composition. (It was untitled at first and then assumed the working title "Granny Smith", after the apple, only becoming "Love You To" near the album's release date).

The recording grew progressively more complex with each of the six takes, the first three being taped during the afternoon, the next three from 8:00 pm to 12:45 am. The sixth was marked "best" and included George's acoustic guitar and guide vocal, Paul's bass, and overdubs of sitar and tabla. Anil Bhagwat was credited on the Revolver sleeve as the tabla player, but there was no credit for the sitar player.  This may have been George himself, although newly discovered session documentation suggest that, like Bhagwat, someone from the Asian Music Circle in north London - founded by a friend of George's, Ayana Deva Angadi - was recruited for the part.

Recording Revolver

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

Working from 2:30 to 9:00 pm, the Beatles recorded three more takes of "Got To Get You Into My Life", perfecting the rhytm track. The eighth was deemed "best", later to be overdubbed with vocals, guitar and the song's distinctive brass passages.

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

While the afternoon from 2:30 to 7:15 was spent overlaying many of the aforementioned effects onto take three of "Tomorrow Never Knows", the evening session, from 8:15 to 1:30 am, saw the Beatles start work on Paul's superb Tamla Motown-inspired "Got To Get You Into My Life", recording five takes.

The song changed a great deal before it ended up on Revolver with recording taking place sporadically until June 17th.

The first session for what was to become the significant album Revolver. This set of recordings was destined to rock the rock world, change forever the course of popular music. And the closing song, "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the first to be taped. It took just three takes to tape "Tomorrow Never Knows" although by its very essence the recording was also the result of innumerable overdubs. In 1965, the Beatles' recordings had been progressing quite nicely, but here was a quantum jump into not merely tomorrow but sometime next week, "Tomorrow Never Knows" displaying an unrivalled musical progression and the Beatles' willingness first to observe the boundaries and then smash right through them.

The session took place in studio three at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, and lasted from 8pm-1.15am. At this time the song had the working title Mark I.

George Martin was, as ever, a vital ingredient in the process, always innovative himself, a tireless seeker of new sounds and willing translator of the Beatles' frequently vague requirements. Now he was joined by balance engineer Geoff Emerick, promoted to replace Norman Smith.

Revolver also heralded the first use of Artificial Double Tracking, invented by Abbey Road technical engineer Ken Townsend directly at the Beatles' request and now in use at studios worldwide. ADT saved the Beatles the chore of having to manually double-track their voices or instruments, an effect they so frequently sought. But "Tomorrow Never Knows" didn't only feature ADT - it also boasted tape loops and voices put through a Leslie speaker.

"Tomorrow Never Knows" featured, too, a John Lennon vocal that sounded like no other before, having been fed through the electronic circuitry of a revolving Leslie speaker (so named after its inventor, Donald J. Leslie) inside a Hammond organ technical innovation conceived by the Beatles, Martin, and Emerick team based upon composer Lennon's vision of 4000 monks chanting in the background of his song while he sang if perched on the highest mountain top. And all of this less than three years after "She Loves You".

The Beatles planning their next session

The Beatles preparing for upcoming sessions (Revolver)

The Beatles were busy planning their upcoming tour.

KRLA BEAT - April 2, 1966................................

John Lennon and Paul McCartney visited Indica Books & Gallery, which had opened in March 1966 at 6 Masons Yard, London. Lennon was looking for a copy of The Portable Nietzsche, but emerged with something quite different.

The shop and gallery focused on the contemporary underground literary and art scene, and was owned by Barry Miles, Peter Asher and John Dunbar. McCartney had invested £5,000 to help open the venture, and had designed the bookshop's wrapping paper and assisted with decorating the interior.

Indica Books was situated on the ground floor, with the gallery downstairs. Indica was where Lennon met Yoko Ono on November 7, 1966.

During this visit Lennon bought a copy of The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based On The Tibetan Book Of The Dead by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and Ralph Metzner. At the beginning of the book's introduction he found a line which would be adapted for Tomorrow Never Knows: "When in doubt, relax, turn off your mind, float downstream."

Leary was the one going round saying, take it, take it, take it. And we followed his instructions in his 'how to take a trip' book. I did it just like he said in the book, and then I wrote Tomorrow Never Knows, which was almost the first acid song: 'Lay down all thoughts surrender to the void,' and all that shit which Leary had pinched from The Book Of The Dead.

Upon returning to his home in Weybrige Lennon recorded himself reciting Leary's words, which he played back during a subsequent LSD trip. The Beatles began recording Tomorrow Never Knows on April 6, 1966, just five days later the visit to Indica.

Getting ready for the upcoming tour.....

 (You’re My) SOUL AND INSPIRATION - The Righteous Brothers (Verve)
 CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’ - The Mama’s & The Papa’s (Dunhill)
 GOOD LOVIN’ - The Young Rascals (Atlantic)
 SHAKE ME, WAKE ME (When It’s Over) - The Four Tops (Motown)
 19TH NERVOUS BREAKDOWN - The Rolling Stones (London)
 THIS OLD HEART OF MINE (Is Weak For You) - The Isley Brothers (Tamla)
 THE BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS - SSgt. Barry Sadler (RCA Victor)
 DAYDREAM - The Lovin’ Spoonful (Kama Sutra)
 SLOOP JOHN B - The Beach Boys (Capitol)
 THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKIN’ - Nancy Sinatra (Reprise)
 NOWHERE MAN - The Beatles (Capitol)
 BANG BANG (My Baby Shot Me Down) - Cher (Imperial)
 SOMEWHERE - Len Barry (Decca)
 TIME WON’T LET ME - The Outsiders (Capitol)
 I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY - B.J. Thomas & The Triumphs (Scepter)
 SHE BLEW A GOOD THING - The Poets (Symbol)
 SURE GONNA MISS HER - Gary Lewis & The Playboys (Liberty)
 THE LOVE YOU SAVE (May Be Your Own) - Joe Tex (Dial)
 RHAPSODY IN THE RAIN - Lou Christie (MGM)
 LEANING ON THE LAMP POST - Herman’s Hermits (MGM)
 A SIGN OF THE TIMES - Petula Clark (Warner Bros.)
 KICKS - Paul Revere & The Raiders (Columbia)
 TOGETHER AGAIN - Ray Charles (ABC-Paramount)
 I’LL TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOU - Garnet Mimms (United Artists)
 SECRET AGENT MAN - Johnny Rivers (Imperial)

The Beatles enjoying their break.

Ringo Starr and George Harrison attend Roy Orbison's concert in Walthamstow, England.

The Beatles enjoying a little break.

A horse Paul McCartney bought for his father wins the race at the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool. Paul watches the race with his father and brother Michael.

The Vale, London

Since forming NES Enterprises in June 1962, Brian Epstein had launched or acquired a number of other business ventures, leasing the central London venue Saville Theatre, for example. In September 1964, he had bought a controlling stake in the Liverpool pop paper Mersey Beat, renaming it Music Echo and giving it a national perspective and distribution. Music Echo then merged with IPC's well-established Disc, landing Eptstein a 50 per cent stake in the newly-named Disc and Music Echo, unveiled on April 23, 1966. One of the promotions devised to push the re-launch was free distribution of flexi-disc single containing interviews with top singers and groups, made available to readers on submission of a number of completed coupons. The disc was called Sound of the Stars and probably because of the Epstein connection, the Beatles contributed.

They were recorded between 3:00 and 3:30 this afternoon, interviewed by Radio Caroline disc-jockey Tom Lodge at a photographic studio at 1 The Vale, in the Chelsea area of west London (following which the Beatles got down to the main business of the afternoon, a photo shoot with Robert Witacker which produced, among other shots, the famous "Butcher" photographs). Devised and produced by NEMS' Tony Barrow, Sound of the Stars also featured Cilla Black, Cliff Richard, the Hollies, Pete Townshend, Spencer Davis, the Walker Brothers, Sandie Shaw and others. The Beatles were briefly heard at the start of side one and then ended the second side of the disc with one minute, 37 seconds of silly answers to silly questions.

The Beatles attend the première of Alfie

Each of The Beatles, along with their wives and girlfriends, attended the première of Alfie, which was directed by Lewis Gilbert and starred Michael Caine.

Paul McCartney's girlfriend Jane Asher had a minor part in the film. The première took place at the Haymarket Theatre on Great Suffolk Street, London.

March 23, 1966: Photo session for publicity pictures for next album.

What was the next album??

Nothing to report on this day 50 years ago.....If anyone remembers anything, please let us know!

A quiet day 50 years ago........