As he performed Revolver in Oregon in 2023, John Craigie told the audience it was getting both Craigie and the Beatles and also getting neither Craigie nor the Beatles. 

And both were true.   

“’Cause you got John Craigie up here and he’s doing Beatles songs, but he’s not doing them correctly,” Craigie said. 

Forsaking the LP’s running order, Craigie mixed said songs with  imitations of John, Paul, George and Ringo and stories—some true, some not, all funny—and the results are out as Lonely Revolver. 

As a Beatles connoisseur who  understands the inherent difficulty of covering the Fabs, particularly solo, Craigie wisely deconstructs the songs and rebuilds them on stage. Most are electric, though “Here, There and Everywhere” and “Doctor Robert” are unplugged and “Yellow Submarine” closes things out with a drunken – and mostly likely, stoned – singalong. 

Lonely Revolver is not really a John Craigie album. And it’s not really a collection of Beatles songs. Nor is it a comedy LP. 

And yet, it’s all of these things, with the proper bit of reverence to boot.