Beggars Road, I fully agree with your analysis. As much as I like "Rubber Soul", it never struck me as a major deviation from what had already been put forth by others. On the other hand, "Revolver" is the first Beatle's album that made me sit up and say 'what the hell is that?'
Not sure if I would rank it as high as #2 in the Beatles catalog over "Abbey Road" or "The White Album"' but comparing great against great is fairly meaningless. Each album is terrific in a different way, and personal preference for one does not diminish the excellence of the others.
ReviewMany critics and music historian's believe that the music of the Beatles was started to significantly 'change' (a metamorphosis, if u will) with "Rubber Soul" - I see the RB LP as a the beginning of the change but not the conversion itself.
I believe, "Revolver", was the nexus - to the 'anything was possible' studio-wise.
From "Taxman" w/ George's riff and McCartney's first take lead guitar solo to "Tomorrow Never Knows" with George Martin, not only grasping what Lennon wanted, but taking it beyond his own and Lennon's imagination to something 'we' never knew was possible in 1996.
IMHO: the "Revolver" LP is second only to Pepper.
Don't get me wrong - "Rubber Soul" was/is a brilliant album but only in hindsight - we needed time to absorb it- but not "Revolver' we knew what we had on our turntables - then!