Much as Guns ‘n’ Roses would do several decades later with Use Your Illusion I and II, Capitol Records would probably like to increase their sales of the self-titled “white” album by dividing it into two separate discs released on the same day. While Revolution #1 was deliberately designed to try and give a quiet, peaceful, pastoral side of the Beatles, Revolution #2 would be aimed at all those teenagers who were really getting into this new heavy rock epitomized by bands like The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Heck, they even got Cream’s guitarist to make a cameo on this album.

Dave Dexter Jr. is the name of the guy at Capitol Records who was in charge of assembling the American Beatles albums. I just learned this. So Dave, in an attempt to ensure that both albums seem equal and so, everyone would have to buy both, begins both of these albums begin with a version of the song Revolution. A version which would prime the listener for what to expect from the remainder of the album.

As a result, George makes a much bigger showing on this album than its companion piece. In fact, at three songs, he has as many lead vocals as Paul on this Revolution album. This album would be ultimately seen as more of John’s vision for the band, while its counterpart would often be reduced to Paul’s concept. This certainly was not the Beatles’ intention. Nor was it necessarily Capitol’s. They might not have even thought about that. After all, when it came time to truncate the Revolver album for the American audience all three of the songs ended up being Lennon’s. This had the unintended effect of actually giving George more lead vocals than John on that version of the album.

While fans and critics would argue over which was the better album, it would be a useful way of categorizing other pieces of art – or political stances – or just about anything. “Are you a Revolution #1 or a Revolution #2-type of person?” would become something along the lines of “Ginger or Mary Ann” as a pop-culture indicator of one’s personality. But Dave Dexter Jr. had one more ace up his sleeve — a third option that no one would want to be labeled with…