Challenge accepted

"The four kings of EMI are sitting stately on the floor"

Speaking of my youngest son, he recently asked an ancient question that still brings much controversy and debate even today.  That is, regarding the album The Beatles, more famously known as The White Album, which songs would I keep and which ones eliminate?  If you recall, I did a series of posts on my opinion about the least good to best Beatles albums.  Naturally The White Album was brought up. It is most famous for showcasing the quick unraveling of the Beatles camp, with each of the band members more or less producing their own songs while the others went their ways.  

They had come back from India with over thirty new compositions, and wanted thirty to be on the next album, for a double album of original material.  The problem was, their producer, the famous fifth Beatle George Martin, felt many of the songs were subpar at best.  He argued that if they cut the number of songs in half and ditched the lesser ones, they would have a great album, perhaps one of their best ever.  But by then, Martin's opinion was having less and less of an impact.  So it was the full monty.  

When it was released, it obviously went to number one.  But for really the first time, critics were mixed, and many said it was disjointed and inconsistent in style and quality.  Of course today, it stands as one of their greatest, and one of the greatest of all time.  Largely because it shows where they were moving as individuals by that point in the band's rather brief time together.  

Nonetheless, never one to shrink from a fun challenge that costs nothing, I thought I would step up to the plate and make my case for which of the songs should stay, and which could be let go, in order to have that greatest of all albums.  I'll start with the first album of the two, then the second, in order of the songs as they appear.  

ALBUM 1

Back in the USSR

The 'hook' that producer George Martin so valued.  That first song on an album needed to grab the listener.  Largely Paul's production, it's not his greatest, but as an homage to, among other things, a Beach Boys vibe, it works, and is too good to jettison.

Verdict: Keep

Dear Prudence

An idyllic Lennon piece, using the name of a friend he got to know in India.  It's a perfect segue from Paul's USSR.  As a set, they demonstrate well the radical differences between Lennon and McCartney as songwriters, especially by the White Album's recording sessions.  And, in its own way, a good song.  Paul's bass work is alone worth the listen.   

Verdict: Keep

Glass Onion 

A Lennon rant, largely aimed at Paul.  By now the cracks were showing, and this song is Lennon venting.  "I told you about the fool on the hill, I tell you  man he's living there still"?  "Here's another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul"?  Yeah, we get it.  Not a bad song, and a good listen, but a bit 'give it a rest John.'  If pressed for space, it can go.

Verdict: Scrap

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

The much maligned Paul ditty so famously hated by Lennon. It's problem isn't that it's not a fun listen.  But by now Paul was obsessed with production and seemed to think that if you took Mary Had a Little Lamb and poured three months of production onto it, you could make it into an operatic masterpiece.  Still, it's fun, and I don't care what people say, you can't help but tap your toes when it's on. 

Verdict: Keep 

Wild Honey Pie

Burn it with fire.  The Beatles earned the right to be goofy, and many of their studio tricks became a Beatles staple.  Even the wonky You Know My Name, Look Up My Number is earned given their contributions to modern music and the recording industry. But that is no excuse for this hunk of audio garbage. 

Verdict: Scrap 

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill

Another case of Lennon sermonizing.  This was a dig at America's war machine in Vietnam and the general tendency of America to fight and want to win wars.  It's OK, but not Lennon at his best.  With both albums present, I'm glad it's there, but if we have to cut, it goes. The clearly discernable vocalizing of Yoko Ono only makes the vote easier. 

Verdict: Scrap

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

What can I say.  I know people who don't like the Beatles who concede this is a great song.  With Eric Clapton on guitar, some say it isn't just one of the Beatles' best, but one of the best of all time. Certainly George at the top of his game.  Easiest vote on the album. 

Verdict: Keep

Happiness is a Warm Gun

The first of the Wacky Three.  Taken as a single song, this is pure Lennon.  I don't think getting rid of this works, because it's Lennon in all his 'throw the rules out with the bathwater' glory.  Almost five different song ideas smashed together, they say that all four of the Beatles agreed this was the most fun to record during the White Album sessions. When joined with the next two, the song is even better at showing the vast sweep of styles the Beatles could produce. 

Verdict: Keep

Martha My Dear

The second of 'the Three.'  It's more noticeable on CDs, where this immediately follows Happiness.  On the albums, this is the first song of side two.  As a result, it misses some of the punch of being a perfect Paul insert between two Lennon contributions that demonstrates yet again their stark contrast in writing styles.  Inspired by his beloved sheepdog Martha, it's a toe tapper to be sure.  But on its own, it isn't particularly memorable otherwise, except as part of the three song set.  

Verdict: Scrap 

I'm So Tired

Supposedly a Lennon lament over being tired, having insomnia, and yearning for Yoko, you can't help but wonder if it inspired Madeline Kahn's Dietrichesque performance in Blazing Saddles. Apart from the dig at Sir Walter Raleigh, however, it's more just listening to John fume.  As part of that three piece set, it works perfectly after Paul's Martha. But on its own in attempting to condense the song list, it could be removed without much loss. 

Verdict: Scrap 

Blackbird

The first of the "Zoo Section" (each having animals in their titles), Blackbird was Paul's subtle shoutout to the Civil Rights movement.  It's a pretty and somewhat moving song, especially if you don't know the context and think of it more in terms of general human experience.  Nonetheless, with Paul alone on acoustic and some bird sound effects, it's not his greatest by far.  Not bad at all, and quite a lovely listen worth being on the two album set, but just not necessary.  In a pinch, it can go. 

Verdict: Scrap

Piggies

The song that shows George had all the subtlety of a communal bedpan when it comes to social commentary.  We get the point.  It's a fun song to be sure.  And its blues riff on a harpsichord is classic 'do anything musical that you want' Beatles style.  Nonetheless, its own lack of anything but bludgeoning the message makes it easy to dismiss if pressed to eliminate songs. 

Verdict: Scrap

Rocky Racoon

OK, Paul.  A narrative song in which everything seems to hinge on a Gideon's Bible in a hotel room that ultimately has nothing to do with the song.  The whole song is like that.  A Paul attempt to tap into some faux Country Western musical theater, it can easily be dropped.  A common theme with the Zoo Collection. 

Verdict: Scrap

Don't Pass Me Buy

Ringo's first solo song writing credit (under Richard Starkey).  It's also a nod to the Country-Western genre since, by all accounts, Ringo was quite the fan of that form of music.  A bizarre lyric at times gets drowned out by recording styles and heavy arrangements. Still, it's his first composition, and only one of two songs with him on vocals on the album, so I'd be reluctant to get rid of it unless hard pressed. 

Verdict: Keep

Why Don't We Do It in the Road

Verdict: Scrap

I Will

This works only as a follow up to Why Don't We Do It in the Road. Both are essentially Paul solo performances with a couple exceptions, demonstrating his talent for extreme shifts in musical styles if not musical genres, as well as his command of various instruments.  I would either want to keep both or jettison both. Since I don't have a third option, however, I'll let this one stay. 

Verdict: Keep

Julia

John's tribute to his mom.  Both John and Paul lost their mothers at a young age, and that was the glue that cemented their 'soulmate' relationship in the early days. Despite this, the song somewhat meanders and isn't the best output from John.  It isn't bad, and is touching given the context.  But if we have to cut songs, this one can be cut.

Verdict: Scrap 

ALBUM 2

Birthday

The hook song for the second album, Birthday has drawn its share of critics over the years. It does sound like an amateur jam session in someone's garage to be sure.  But it's also high energy and a reminder that despite all their world and music changing influence, the Beatles were, in the end, merely a rock band wanting to rock.  

Verdict: Keep 

Yer Blues

A John number in pure John fashion.  A straight blues performance with a variety of influences, it's just too John not to include.  The ending drags a big, but overall a strong addition and one that segues, once again, so wonderfully into Paul's follow-up. 

Verdict: Keep 

Mother Nature's Son

One of Paul's home runs.  It sits perfectly after Yer Blues as yet another 'compare and contrast' between his output and Lennon's.  It's a wonderful, peaceful, evocative song from start to finish and there is no way it could be taken off an album. You can almost hear the sound of the music as the waters of that mountain stream rise.  

Verdict: Keep

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey

Another of Lennon's goofy for goofy's sake songs.  The final riff at the end, with the band doing a strange sort of 'sound like a monkey?' chant, has a certain flare, but not enough to warrant keeping the rest of the song.  So much of Lennon's output this time lacks the usual edge or intent.  It's as if he's wanting to be weird for weird's sake, and if we have to cut songs, this one goes.

Verdict: Scrap 

Sexy Sadie

On the other hand, here is Lennon at his sharpest.  It's a well known dig at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (get it? Maharishi - Sexy Sadie) because of rumors that the guru's intentions were not altogether spiritual where the women on the trip to India were concerned.  The lyrics make it clear how imbittered Lennon was from the experience.  But it's a strong song even without the backstory.  One of his best on the album, and a keeper.

Verdict: Keep 

Helter Skelter

Forever linked to the Manson murders, it's the song that made spinning records in reverse to hear hidden messages all the rage.  It is also considered by not a few music historians to be the first proper 'proto-heavy metal' song based on its instrumentation and style.  Paul is showing he can be nitty gritty bombast with the best of them.  And when you hear this next to his loves ballads like Yesterday, or Michelle, or Here, There, and Everywhere, you can't help but appreciate his ability to tap into almost any musical genre, if not lay the groundwork for new ones, and make it work.

Verdict: Keep

Long, Long, Long

Of two minds on this one.  It's a pretty song of George's.  But the way the sound was mixed (and my son has explained it to me more than once), it's almost purposefully muted to contrast it to the ear splitting volume of Skelter.  Therefore, you either turn up the volume or spend most of the song struggling to hear. Nonetheless, the effect works, and if you make it through the first part of the song, you see it's a pretty good offering from George.

Verdict: Keep

Revolution 1

The beginning of side 2 of the second album, this is John's wading into politics.  Contrary to what an activist recently wrote online, modern day justice warriors don't want this blazing out of the speakers. It's a warning as he watched protesters, and in many cases those who shared his views, begin to spiral into violence, or embrace alternate forms of hateful or other dangerous views.  Just because you see a problem doesn't mean you will always approach it correctly. This is also an iconic song for being a Beatles song that the Beatles themselves covered.  It would take the Beatles to cover their own song, and in a completely different style.  While the single release is a hard rock anthem, this is a slow, understated, tripped out mumble.  One of Lennon's most famous and iconic compositions, and an easy keep.

Verdict: Keep

Honey Pie

No wild honey pie here, this is McCartney invoking an old, vintage 1920's era jazz scene and pop culture motif.  It sounds it.  You could believe it was written ages ago as a backdrop for a Fitzgerald biopic.  The transition phrase that uses a worn, scratchy phonograph sound to suggest an old recording is typical Beatles cleverness. It works as an homage, and as a standalone, and deserves to stay on the album.

Verdict: Keep

Savoy Truffle

Sorry George.  A playful dig at his friend Eric Clapton's insufferable sweet tooth, it's a rousing, fun, and upbeat song.  But not terribly unique or special.  Fun to listen to, but if something has to go, let it be this, and we'll keep While My Guitar Gently Weeps with no complaints.

Verdict: Scrap

Cry Baby Cry (Can you take me back)

No clue about this one.  At one point, in today's sensitivities, I could almost see it banned.  The refrain 'you're old enough to know better' just doesn't sit well for many modern listeners.  Though we don't have to assume the worse behind its meaning.  Even so, the song itself is a strange concoction with dreamy lyrics that bring to mind strange settings in a pseudo-Mother Goose sort of way.  It's an interesting tune, and if there was space, I'd want to keep it.  Plus you have the attached 'Can you take me back'; the part of a song McCartney was working on but never finished.  So what do you do?  If you're the Beatles you just paste it onto another song. Too much to lose, so unless there is no choice, it stays.

Verdict: Keep

Revolution 9

The greatest and most famous argument at Abbey Road studios in Beatles history. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wanted this off the record.  But it was a John and Yoko avant-garde sound experiment, and it stayed.  Coming to this "song" while listening to the album is like driving 70 mph down a highway and suddenly hitting two hours of traffic stuck in construction.  In reality, if the album is cut for any reason, this is the first to go.  As the double album, it stays due to its historical place in the canon.  And as a testimony to the  Beatles' vast influence over the evolving technology and development of the recording industry.  But if we must cut, there is no way this nine minute fever dream on tape remains.

Verdict: Scrap 

Good Night 

Not written by Ringo, but sung by him.  An almost lullaby.  The orchestrations are straight out of Percy Faith, and the lyrics seem as if Ringo is putting his children to sleep with a gentle verse for pleasant dreams.  It's almost parody, and yet it isn't.  Like most Beatles output, it manages to be many things and few at the same time.  It works as the finale for the album, and whether two albums or one, I think it stays and is a fine closing out of the whole work.

Verdict: Keep 

The things you find on the Internet

This is from a 1960s TV special The Music of Lennon and McCartney.  It can't be overstated the massive impact that those two young amateur musicians and songwriters had on the music industry both now and back then.  Not only in the world of pop music, but beyond. The great Leonard Bernstein once lauded their songwriting skills as being right up with the best of classical composers.  And in the above clip, the brilliant Henry Mancini, of all people, gives us a rendition of one of L&M's earliest compositions that wowed the critics in the day - If I Fell.  One of the songs written for their first film A Hard Day's Night. 

The fun bit is that Mancini was a major influence on the Beatles' own record producer George Martin.  The one most often called the Fifth Beatle, Martin was a WW2 vet who was classically trained in music and, by his own accounts, dreamed of having a career scoring music for movies.  And one of his heroes in that regard was Henry Mancini.  In an interview I saw some years ago, he spoke of Mancini's almost unnatural ability to produce the most memorable music with so little effort. The example he gave was the theme to The Pink Panther. I mean, not until John Williams took the music world by storm with two notes meant to herald the arrival of a shark has a composer accomplished so much with so few notes.  

Fun stuff. For a bonus, that wizardly brilliant Pink Panther theme that can't be unheard for a least a day once you hear it: 

On this day in music history

May 9, 1962, an obscure record store manager sends a telegram from a London post office to a backwoods seaport that he has secured a recording contract for one of the local music groups.  The rest, as they say, is history.

And two days later

 

Often considered one of the seminal events of the 20th Century, The Beatles performed for the first time in the US on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I often wonder what my grandpa thought, since my mom says he was a huge Ed Sullivan fan, and never missed the show. 

By the time they arrived, they were already the number one act in America, per the American music charts.  No big deal today.  In 1964, however, before modern global tech, it was a huge deal.  Their appearance that night would net the largest television audience to date.  A full 40% of the US population tuned in that night (to put it in perspective, we would need a show with 132 million viewers to match it today).  

The next day, almost everything in pop culture and music changed.  The BBC once commented on the impact of The Beatles on a generation.  It was pointed out that something similar had happened in America after Pearl Harbor.  The next day after the attack, Americans by the thousands rushed out to join the military.  The day after their appearance on Ed Sullivan saw a spike in sales for not just records, but for musical instruments as well.  Record stores and music stores reported surges in sales over the following weeks.  And the hysteria didn't end in America or England, but swept across the world by the end of the year.  

And yet this was merely a smidgen of what was to come.  The exact reason for the Beatles' impact has never quite been pinpointed.  Historians, sociologists, psychologists and others have tried to figure it out over the decades.  Nobody has ever quite found the answer.  But as was pointed out on the anniversary of their Abbey Road album, it's impossible not so see the seismic shift in social and cultural trends in the years following the Beatles' global ascension.  And not just in music, but fashion, language, attitudes, film, you name it.  For better or worse, they made their mark in history far beyond the massive impact they had on the world of modern music. And in many ways it all began on Feb 9, 1964, with their appearance on Ed Sullivan.

Reporting after the event.

It was sixty years ago today

The Beatles taught the World to play.   Or at least arrived in America to do so.  This is the 60th anniversary of what many consider one of the landmark moments of the last century.   The Beatles arrived in America to play on the Ed Sullivan Show.  That performance, before a then record setting 40% of the US population, was a pivotal moment in not just American culture, but culture as a whole.  Within a year or so, the cultural landscape of America, England and much of the free world would begin to look very, very different.  For better or more likely worse. 

I mused on that in a series I did on Beatles albums here.  As I said, I am a fan of the Beatles' music.  But as a student of history, I have always been fascinated by the monstrously out of proportion influence they had on the direction of culture in general.  This doesn't include their unmatched impact on the world of music and the modern recording industry.  Their social influence is enough to be wondered at.  

It's also interesting to watch old interviews with them and compare it to the corporate media's round the clock infomercial approach to the latest corporate generated hysterics (yes, I'm thinking this year of Taylor Swift/NFL Corp.).  Note that the press certainly jumped on the Beatlemania train.  Yet they were not above trying to jab them or pull the rug out if they could.  The famous dig by a reporter at the airport, asking if they would get haircuts while in America (their hair being a catalyst for the youth rebellion to follow).  And, of course, George Harrison's response that 'he had one yesterday.'  Playful, but the press was willing to go after them if it could, even at the height of their fame.  Compare to today where most stories about the latest endorsed hysteria is like a marketing promoter or advertiser rather than a journalist.  A reminder at just how many things have changed over the years and sometimes we don't even realize it. 

Feb 7, 1964: From British to Global phenomenon

The Best Beatles Album Part 6

 Revolver - Released 8/5/1966

In April of 1966, riding the momentum of their trailblazing album Rubber Soul, the group moved once more into the studio to begin recording their next album.  George Martin said the thing he admired most about them was that they didn't rest on their laurels.  No matter how successful the previous album, they were prepared to leap forward and change everything around, and try anything new.  As they began working on this, Paul McCartney stated that, in May, he was floored by the release of the Beach Boys' celebrated album Pet Sounds.  Seeing them incorporate studio sophistication and innovation that made the Beatles seem almost dated by comparison, McCartney realized they would have to push and push fast to stay ahead of the changes they were inspiring across the music industry.  And it wasn't just the Beach Boys abandoning their surf and sun reputation to go full experimental.  Michell Cohen notes that "mid 1966 was the most vigorous period of pop expressionism and innovation in history."  Record stores abounded with a growing tidal wave of experimental and pioneering albums, such as Sunshine Superman, The Kink Kontroversy, Fifth Dimension (by the Byrds), and Daydream by the Lovin' Spoonful, to name just a handful.  McCartney, and to an extent the other three, felt to stay relevant they would need to shove the barriers out of the way and push the recording industry to the limits. As musicologist Wilfrid Mellers noted, this was the period when the Beatles moved the recording industry from merely being a means to an end, and made it an essential part of the artistic process of recorded music. And from there, by extension, they moved pop music into the realm of artform. 

Paul McCartney, notebook in hand, attends a music seminar at the Italian Institute

By now the high noon of Beatlemania had passed, and their decision to stop touring was largely made.  Their lack of growth as an organization left them behind in the touring world.  Playing stadiums, it was still them and a handful of friends and roadies who would put up and take down the equipment, or move stage equipment around when needed, or even carry their own luggage.  The sparce sound systems meant that, in most cases, the large venues were just noisy scream-fests with little music able to be heard.  At times their act looked no different than it did in the Cavern Club, where Brian Epstein first discovered them.  They were merely in front of tens of thousands of fans.  Plus, with albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul, it was clear they could no longer pretend to play their music on stage.  How does one play Yellow Submarine or Tomorrow Never Knows on stage in 1966?  Answer: you don't.  At the end of the day, the growing sophistication and professionalism of their records was making it impossible to maintain that original raw onstage energy from their earlier years.  They were eager to settle down and focus entirely on expanding the art of recorded music.  Revolver would demonstrate that like no other album to date. 

The most successful songwriting team of the 20th Century

"Although 'Eleanor Rigby' was far from the first pop song to deal with death and loneliness, according to music historian Ian MacDonald, it "came as quite a shock to pop listeners in 1966". It took a bleak message of depression and desolation, written by a famous pop group, with a sombre, almost funeral-like backing, to the number one spot of the pop charts."

For its part, Revolver is often called their best album because it is both the most Beatles-like and not Beatles-like album of their catalogue.  The aforementioned Tomorrow Never Knows marked the cusp of recording capabilities in late 1966.  Upon hearing a demo of it, Bob Dylan is reported to have said 'So you don't want to be cute anymore, huh?'  Snark aside, he saw that the Beatles were ready to move on.  And other offerings from the album demonstrate that fact.  Songs such as And Your Bird Can Sing, For No One or Good Day Sunshine sound more like the professional output of A list artists and professional songwriters and producers than anything the Beatles or any other rock musicians had produced by that point.  Likewise, beyond Tomorrow Never Knows, you had Yellow Submarine, the Indian inspired Love You To, and another celebrated orchestral tune, Eleanor Rigby.  The rest of the songs are equally strong, with the love balled Here, There and Everywhere easily competing with the best love ballads from the time.  It is also noteworthy that on this album, George Harrison was beginning to come into his own with three songs written by him.  Because of the maturity, the innovations, the quality and the professional output emanating from the music, I'm inclined to agree with those who say this, more than any other Beatles album, deserves to be named their best. 

Honorable Mention: Yellow Submarine (Soundtrack) -  Released 1/13/1969

This is a strange one.  If you include this album in the lists, then it is the one album produced by the Beatles that didn't go to #1.  Yet it really isn't a Beatles album.  At least not in the sense that their other albums were Beatles albums.  As stated earlier, by 1968 everyone - including the press - could see that the wheels were starting to come off the Beatles bus.  Ringo and George were already married, Jon was involved with Yoko, and Paul was beginning his relationship with Linda Eastman, later Linda McCartney.  Beyond all the other riffs and bickering, clearly they were beginning to feel the tug of domestic life and moving on.  As a result, the old energy and drive to keep the band going was fading.   Brian had died, and the music world was exploding with new acts and talent on an almost daily basis. Staying ahead of an ever growing pack isn't easy when other priorities are emerging. Hence1968 was the year when almost all of them began to realize the end was approaching.  Until the end of that year, Hey Jude was the only significant release from the group.  Except for this strange movie that was inspired by the second to last song on Side A of Revolver.  The song Yellow Submarine was a strange musical production that tapped into George Martin's haversack of resources from both classical and novelty recording.  It was inspired by a dream John had of a submarine chasing Ringo down the street.  Talks began about adapting it for an animated movie some time later.  The movie continued to draw on the psychedelia fad that by 1968 was all the rage.  In truth, the Beatles themselves had little to do with the film.  They didn't even provide the voices for their own animated characters.  A few songs, mostly songs already recorded but not yet released, were given to the soundtrack album.  Only a couple were written specifically for this project.   Much of the movie was filled with songs from previous albums that fit within the movie's 'storyline' - a bizarre brew involving blue meanies, snapping turtle Turks, the terrible flying glove, and the disturbingly drawn Mr. Boob, the Nowhere Man.  Despite its strangeness (or perhaps because of - it was 1968 after all), the movie was well received by both fans and critics.  Not a blockbuster or as successful as their first two films, it nonetheless helped - along with Hey Jude - to win back the good will they had somewhat squandered in previous months.  The movie's soundtrack album was released in January, 1969.   It went to #2 on the US album charts.  Again, most songs were either already released or merely thrown in from earlier work.  Side B was all orchestrations from the movie, no Beatles songs at all.  Many critics agreed that if anything should have been an EP, it was this.  It is also the only Beatles album I don't own. 

Afterword

The Quarrymen perform at the Woolton village fête, 7/6/1957

In 1993, the year I was married, the news reported that Ivan Vaughan had died of pneumonia.  Who was Ivan Vaughan?  He was a professor of psychology at Cambridge through the 1970s, until ill health forced him to retire.  Why did his passing make news?  Not from being a professor.  Not for retiring early due to health problems.  But because of something he did when he was fifteen years old.  

At fifteen, on July 6, 1957, Ivan Vaughan invited his sixteen year old friend James (Paul) McCartney to a village fête that was happening at nearby St. Peter's Church.  McCartney wasn't particularly interested, but Ivan persisted.  Finally McCartney agreed and accompanied him to the gathering, where a couple local musical acts were performing.  One act, called The Quarrymen, was fronted by a wavy haired teenager wearing a checked shirt and playing a cheap guitar.  His name was John Winston Lennon.  Being friends of both Paul and John, Ivan introduced the two. 

Paul was immediately taken by the fact that John had the drive to form his own band at that young age.  John was taken by the fact that Paul could not only play but, being the son of a professional musician, he could also tune a guitar.  In October of that year, after several meetings and performances together, John officially invited Paul to join the band.  The rest, as they say, is history.  And it's why a relatively obscure former professor who died of pneumonia made the international news almost 40 years after that seemingly insignificant event.   

Six Years: L: c. 1963, R: the last photo session with the four together, 8/22/1969

“I tell you, Larry, there is no other band, there will never be any band like them ever … They are the best, I say to you Larry, here in 1965, that the children of 2000 will be listening to the Beatles.  And I sincerely mean that.”  Brian Epstein

The Best Beatles Albums Part 5

 The Beatles (aka The White Album) - Released 11/28/1968

Hard to see, but it's there

After the sorry performance of the Magical Mystery Tour television special, and in light of their manager's death from a drug overdose, the Beatles and several other celebrities flew off to India to practice transcendental meditation under the tutelage of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They had come across his teachings shortly after their Our World triumph.  The plan was for several months of meditation and learning Eastern ways.  In ten days, however, Ringo left for home, stating he didn't like the food.  McCartney left a month later.  Finally the other two returned amidst rumors that the Maharishi's intentions, at least where the women were concerned, were not altogether spiritual (Lennon's  Sexy Sadie was a thinly veiled swipe at the guru because of this). While in India, they were not only meditating, but they were also writing songs. Lots of songs.  And not just Lennon and McCartney, but also Harrison and even Ringo.  When they returned to the Abbey Road studios in May, 1968, they were ready to record almost all of the songs they wrote.  Enough songs for a double album set.  George Martin immediately protested.  Some of the songs were outstanding, and would make a strong - possibly their best - album (consider Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps in that category). Others were everything from goofy to just garbage (I'm looking at you Wild Honey Pie).  Nonetheless, the four wouldn't budge.  It was all of them or nothing.  And that included a bit of avant-garde electronic sound experimentation (Revolution 9), courtesy of a new presence in the studio that was adding to the already tense atmosphere.  That presence was John's new love interest, artist Yoko Ono.  

As production continued, Martin turned into more of an executive producer, moving from studio to studio, overseeing the process as the individual Beatles worked on their own songs their own ways.  McCartney became increasingly bossy, chasing Ringo out for over a week.  George Harrison threatened to quit, growing tired of his limited allotment of songs per album.  And the Lennon-Ono team was pushing everyone, including staff, to the limits. Despite that atmosphere, they still managed to work forward.  They needed to.  After years of seeing at least two albums released in a year, 1968 was progressing without a Beatles album release.  The one bright spot musically speaking came with the release of Hey Jude.  It was a pure McCartney song written for Julian Lennon after his dad left Cynthia Lennon for Yoko Ono.  Their 16th #1 song in the US, it became their biggest hit single, and one of the biggest singles of all time.  Staying at #1 for almost two and a half months, it was also long.  Far longer than radio stations typically agreed to play.  Nevertheless, it broke records at the time and remains their most successful chart topper.  Still, an album was needed, and wanted by fans.  The Beatles was released on November 22, 1968, under their own newly formed Apple Corps record label.  Its blank appearance was a purposeful attempt to distance themselves from the excess of the Sgt. Pepper days and the oversaturation of psychedelia, which by now was commonplace among the cultural revolution.  The reception was mixed.  It did, as usual, go to number one on the album charts.  But critics complained that it was erratic, nonsensical, and at times downright amateurish.  Over the years, The White Album (as it came to be called for obvious reasons) became one of the essential Beatles albums to own, and considered one of the greatest albums ever.  This is not so much due to the quality of the music, however, even if some songs are among their best.  Rather it is seen that way because it shows not only the growing strains in The Beatles' much studied history, but also the distinct songwriting personalities of the four separate band members like no other album.  

Engineer Geoff Emerick with an increasingly independent McCartney

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Released 5/26/1967

It was twenty years ago today ...

For years this was voted the greatest album of all time.  In later years, that title has shifted about, but most still consider this, if not the greatest, then undeniably the single most influential album of all time.  By August, 1966, it was clear that Beatlemania was passing its sell-by date.  An unintentional slight against the Marcos presidency in the Philippines led to the band being whisked out of the country in fear of their lives.  In  Japan, protests erupted as some politicians worked to ban the group from coming and corrupting their youth.  And in America, the backlash against John's statement about the popularity of Jesus vs. the Beatles sparked the famous 'Fantastic Beatles Boycott.'  Worse, however, though often unspoken, was another unexpected development.  Even as they were playing more and more in massive venues like sports stadiums, they were beginning to notice something they hadn't witnessed since achieving mega-stardom - empty seats.  Yes, they were still playing huge arenas, but a year earlier it was to mostly sell out crowds.  When they returned to Shea Stadium in 1966, over 11,000 tickets were left unsold.  Tired of the rigors of touring, the mounting controversies and scandals, and quite frankly seeing the writing on the wall and wanting to go out on top, they made an unprecedented decision for a musical act to make: They would stop touring.  After over three and a half years and almost 1400 concert performances, their appearance at San Francisco's Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966 was their last performance together on tour. 

For the next few months, they took their first significant break from each other.  When they returned in November, it was a new incarnation of the group.  Mustaches, goatees and beards were the norm, and Lennon was now sporting his 'granny-glasses', a prop from his part in the Richard Lester movie How I Won the War (and the basis for the picture of Lennon as a solider that graced the cover of the first issue of 'Rolling Stone' magazine).  Rebounding from rumors that they had broken up, and buoyed by the stunning level of positive feedback from their album Revolver, they wanted to keep pushing the limits of the industry.  They saw, as with Revolver, that no matter how far ahead they were, the rest of the industry was quick to catch up.  They decided to work on a concept album about their childhood.  But the studio number crunchers made the first two songs recorded be hastily put together and released as a single to fill the void left during their break.  That single, released as two A Sides, featured the songs Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever.  Considered one of the strongest singles ever produced, it also saw the production of the first 'self-contained conceptual promotional films' meant solely to promote the songs' releases.  That is, the first official music videos meant to compensate for their lack of touring.  Ironically, because the two songs were both released as A-Sides in the UK, they worked against each other and failed to overcome Engelbert Humperdinck's Please Release Me. They stalled out at #2, making headlines as the first single by the Beatles since 1963 to fail to make number one on the UK charts (in the US, Penny Lane did manage to make it to #1, their 13th in the US). 

 The first official stand alone conceptual music video

Returning to the studio, they turned their attention to building on everything they had learned up to the Revolver recording sessions. In addition to their basic drive to stay ahead, their imaginations were spurred on by an increase in recreational drug use. It was here that the recording engineers, especially recording engineer Geoff Emerick, working alongside George Martin, would establish the modern recording studio as we know it.  The most complex and state of the art recording process belonged to Lennon's Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, a song inspired by an old Victorian circus poster he owned.  But other tricks and studio wand waving emerged with the evolution of each song.  The album was becoming for recording technology what Disney's Fantasia was for animated film. None other than the London Symphony Orchestra found itself playing background on the recordings, especially the album's climactic finale, A Day in the Life.  Soon the production as a whole, including the album contents themselves, took on a life of their own.  Four years earlier, even heavy hitters like Sinatra or Elvis would only take a few weeks to record an album.  Sometimes it was a one day affair.  The Sgt. Pepper sessions lasted almost seven months.  And that was with almost around the clock work schedules.  The legendary cover photo tapped into the emerging psychedelia movement and helped push that movement into the mainstream.  As the primary driver behind the project, it was Paul who conceived of the 'Sgt. Pepper' bookends that give the impression of a concept album.  He admitted that Pepper was, in many ways, their much needed answer to Pet Sounds.  Released on May 26, 1967, Sgt. Pepper quickly became the biggest selling non-soundtrack album to date (it remains the biggest selling album in the UK).  It immediately connected to the Summer of Love, and helped define the entire counter culture revolution from that point on.  No singles were released, as the idea was to present it as a cohesive whole; to make it a singular work of art.  The idea worked, and its success led the music industry to shift from a singles based marketing model to one centered around the album.  It seemed as if everything - music, fashion, attitudes, graphic art, pop culture, the music industry itself - changed with the release of Sgt. Pepper.  For their efforts, the Beatles became the first rock musicians to win a Grammy Award for best album.  It put them straight back on top of the entertainment world.     

As George Martin looks on, Paul McCartney conducts a French horn section from the LSO

On June 25, Our World aired. It was the first live global television broadcast before an audience estimated at around half a billion.  Multiple countries provided various individuals to represent them.  England chose the Beatles, and they headlined the entire broadcast, quickly throwing together the song All You Need is Love for the occasion.  Tying that song to the summer already invigorated by the release of their signature album, the Beatles were, as the Monkees' song Randy Scouse Git described, 'the Four kings of EMI sitting stately on the floor.'  It was the pinnacle of their success and influence on both the music industry, as well as world culture at large.  And it marked the beginning of the end.  

"The song [Sgt. Pepper intro], along with the album as a whole, gave other musicians new ideas and new attitudes to the approach of music. The production of the record set new standards in expertise and innovation. It may not be too far-fetched to say that much of popular music in the half-century after 1967 has come under the influence of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band." Martin Chilton, Editor and Author

"Everyone I knew who was involved in popular music spent weeks and weeks listening and relistening and discussing [Stg. Pepper], and everyone at that point considered it a major event." Milron Okun, Producer/Arranger

"Sgt. Pepper, for its time, captured a moment in popular music that will probably never be repeated in quite that way, in the sense that it was an artistic statement in a music that was never regarded as art before." Lenny Kaye, musician  

Our World - The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger sits on the floor next to Harrison

The Best Beatles Albums Part 4

 Please Please Me - Released 3/22/1963

This was their first album, their first number one album, and one of the turning points of the modern musical era.  But it wasn't a sure thing.  Contrary to popular myth, the famous audition of the Beatles, when producer George Martin read them the riot act about their limited quality, and Harrison joked about his tie, wasn't really an audition.  Beatles manager Brian Epstein had already secured a tentative record contract a couple months earlier, following his initial meeting with Martin on Feb 13, 1962.  At the time of their first meeting, Martin produced for Parlophone, a subsidiary of EMI Records.  His main focus was on classical music, as well as novelty and comedy songs (he worked with such luminaries as Peter Sellers, Spike Mulligan and Peter Ustinov). For that first recording session on June 6, Martin, who was looking to move into the mainstream, was just seeing what they were made of and who could do what.  It was then that Martin concluded drummer Pete Best wasn't good enough for the recording studio.  That led to the band firing him and replacing him with drummer Richard Starkey - better known throughout the Liverpool music scene as Ringo Starr.  But Martin was still hesitant.  There was pushback from EMI's higher ups about the band's name.  They believed the act should have a front man for the audience to connect to:  John Lennon and the Beatles.  Paul McCartney and the Beatles.  That was typically how it was done.  But Martin was convinced the idea of just 'four lads having fun' would connect, with each being his own personality.  On the other side, however, he wasn't happy with their push to write their own songs.  He felt the standard procedure of having professional song writers write specifically for them would do the trick if they wanted to be more than a novelty rock and roll act.  Or at least let a pro writer help in the composition.  Lennon and McCartney had written over 100 songs together by that time, and felt at least some were worthy of consideration.  Martin listened to most of those, but felt they were lacking at best.  Nonetheless, he trusted them enough to record their first single, written by them, named Love Me Do.  Released on October 5, 1962, it made it to #17 on the UK charts.  No bad, but it wasn't enough to inspire confidence.  Martin went back to the suggestion of professional song writers.  John and Paul requested another chance.  They wanted to record a love ballad they wrote called Please Please Me.  Martin had already heard it, and told them it wasn't that good.  But this time they put it to a more upbeat, fast paced tempo, per Martin's suggestion.  They played a demo for him of this revised version.  According to those who were there, when the song was done, Martin pointed to them and said 'you have your first hit.'  The song went to #2, and that was enough to warrant a full length LP.  Primary recording for the album took place over one day.  By the end of the day, they had to do extra takes of Twist and Shout because Lennon's voice was in tatters.  They actually had to break and send him to the cafeteria to get milk of magnesia and cough syrup to loosen his vocal chords.  Hence the raspiness of his singing on that song. Released on March 22, 1963, the Please Please Me album quickly went to #1 on the charts, their first of many. A year later, it would produce two #1 hits, a top 5 hit, two top 10 hits and one top 20 hit on the US charts. That's more than an impressive amount of chart toppers from one album. In the meantime, the amazing number of professional sounding music from the songwriting partnership of two amateur, untrained young men immediately caught the UK music world's attention. Beatlemania had begun.  

There would be one more change in the lineup before they hit it big

The song that really started it all

Rubber Soul - Released 12/3/1965

Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver, even The White Album, are usually named their best, their greatest, their landmark albums.  But the first sweeping break from their previous sound, and clear evidence that the four were quickly outgrowing their Mop Top image, was Rubber Soul.  Rumor has it that the name was taken from the tendency that black musicians had of disparaging the Rolling Stones, saying they had 'plastic soul.'  Rubber Soul being a dig at their friendly rivals, and in some ways saying they themselves were not much better.  Just the playful ambiguity of the title showed something new was happening.  And it was.  By the time of its release in late 1965, the British Invasion was in full swing and dominating the American music charts. More than just a doorway for British musical acts, the British invasion toppled the near monopoly on global cultural output that the United States had enjoyed since the end of WWII.  In addition, the fruits of the emerging counter-culture were already beginning to show.  Controversy raged when the Queen of England presented each of the Beatles with MBEs (Member of the British Empire).  Some believed the awards were appropriate because they saw the Beatles as national heroes.  Others were not amused, and some even threatened to return theirs in protest.  But 1965 had seen the Beatles take Rock and Roll and move it for the first time to the stadium level.  No longer confined to auditoriums and state fairs, Rock and Roll was quickly becoming the default soundtrack for the last half of the century.  And the Beatles were in the driver's seat.  Though the movie Help! was fairly well received, and the music from the soundtrack album successful as always (it produced three number one hits: Ticket to Ride, Help!, and the barrier breaking Yesterday), the Beatles were itching to expand and grow.  The emergence of groups like The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Mammas and the Pappas, and Jefferson Airplane, to name only a few, showed that the dominance the Beatles enjoyed in this musical revolution was gaining membership.  And the four were keen on staying ahead of the pack.  George Martin's use of strings on Yesterday opened a massive door in the world of contemporary music, and Rubber Soul witnessed more new and exotic instruments entering the studio.  From Baroque piano to more classical instruments to the Indian sitar - brought by George Harrison as his interest in Indian culture and religion grew - an emerging attitude of 'anything if it works' broadened the limits of the genre.  In addition, the increasing demand the Beatles had for new sounds began pushing the limits of recording technology available in those days.  It was here that George Martin and the EMI recording staff became essential for the Beatles' artistic and creative development.  As an album, Rubber Soul had a quieter, more adult sound to it.  The songs themselves were a signification departure from the standard Beatles fare: Some were classical love ballads, others experimental (Norwegian Wood), and Lennon was beginning to branch out and write more introspective and meaningful songs with In My Life and Nowhere Man.  Though other albums get the attention, many fans at that time admit that when Rubber Soul was released, it was like a hit in the face.  Was this the Beatles?  Something big had happened in the music world, and things were about to change. 

As they pushed the boundaries of popular music, their producer
George Martin (center, standing) quickly became the 'Fifth Beatle'

Abbey Road - Released 9/26/1969

The most famous crosswalk on the planet

The entire Abbey Road project was merely salvaging their reputation after the Get Back fiasco.  McCartney looked at what happened over the previous couple years and realized the Beatles were being left behind.  They may have taught the music world how to play, but their students were quickly overtaking the masters.  He desperately didn't want the less than positively embraced White Album to be their last release.  Get Back, at that point, had been shelved indefinitely.   He called up George Martin, who was prepared to move on after the debacle of the Get Back project, and asked if he would produce again.  Martin said only if he's allowed to actually produce and be in the driver's seat, like the old days.  John was still hesitant, and the album was a compromise.  For Lennon, who was tired of the emphasis on endless studio production, Side A would have a set of individual songs, no tricks or fancies.  For Side B, featuring a strung out medley of multiple short songs and song ideas, McCartney would be able to produce to his heart's content.  The noteworthy part of the whole thing is that it was George Harrison, long the bridesmaid of the band's songwriters, who provided the most successful singles from the album.  Here Comes the Sun has emerged in recent years as one of the Beatles' most successful and recognizable songs.  And Something (released as a Side A alongside Come Together, also released as a Side A) went to #1 and was named by none other than Frank Sinatra as one of the most beautiful love songs he ever heard.  Upon release, Abbey Road was widely praised, though with restraint.  A technically fine album, perhaps their best overall, some great songs, some fun Beatles tricks.  But merely one of many great albums being released by that time.  It healed the wounds of previous years and brought back respect on a level they hadn't seen since Sgt. Pepper.  It also reminded everyone that what was being done in the world of music by 1969 was, as often as not, first done by them.  But that was the extent of its influence.  As Harrison said, they knew by then it was over, that this was their swansong.  And so it was.  Even the album's final official song title illustrated the fact: The End.  When they left the room on August 20, 1969, after working on overdubs for Lennon's I Want You (She's So Heavy), it was the last time the four would be in a recording studio together. 

By the late 60s, they knew the end was getting near

The Best Beatles Albums Part 3

 Help! -  Released 8/6/1965

Not a real semaphore code

Some have argued this is their first real concept album.  Contrary to popular belief, the Beatles did not pioneer the idea of a concept album with Sgt. Pepper.  That credit usually goes to Frank Sinatra for his semi-autobiographical album Sinatra: A Man and His Music.  But even for the Beatles, you see hints of the idea in this album.  The soundtrack for their second movie Help!, it consisted of songs from the movie on Side A, and others on Side B for filler.  Though not technically a concept album, all of the songs have something negative to say about relationships.  Gone are the positive 'She Loves You' or 'From Me to You.'  The songs are about breakups, losses, and unrequited love. Even at the height of their success, it was obvious they wanted to push themselves into new territory.  By now they had crushed attendance records by playing in New York City's Shea Stadium.  It was an event that said Rock and Roll wasn't just here to stay, but it was becoming the default societal soundtrack for the foreseeable future.  It stood to reason that this new era of rock and roll would need to be more than ritualistic dance music.  

As an album, Help! is also noteworthy for two other reasons.  It was the last album by the Beatles to feature cover songs from other artists.  And it contained the song Yesterday.  The most copyrighted song in history, Yesterday shattered musical genre barriers of the day.  Even by 1966, the music industry continued along with certain well defined assumptions.  Rock was this, mainline pop was that, classical was over there, folk music and polka and country and anything else belonged where they belonged.  Recording procedures, instruments and musical styles were assumed to stay put.  But when McCartney approached George Martin with a tune he plucked out to the lyrics 'Scrambled Eggs', Martin suggested it sounded wonderful, but not the Beatles.  He said it brought to his ears a string quartet.  McCartney resisted, saying he wasn't going to do 'some Mantovani rubbish.' But Martin insisted.  Finally Martin won out, and he - along with contributions from McCartney - wrote a score for a string quartet, backing McCartney alone with vocals and an acoustic guitar.  One of their most successful songs, and one of the most barrier breaking songs of the rock era.  

And therein lies the difference.  Over the years, fans of other artists who wrote their own songs and predated the Beatles have objected to the focus on the Lennon-McCartney songwriting team as some revolutionary development in modern music.  But the point isn't only that they wrote their own songs. It's that they wrote in a way that defied contemporary standards.  They did not seek this or that sub-sound of the fad called rock and roll - bubble gum, doowop, country blues, surf and sun.  They crafted a unique blend that sought to emulate the professional songwriting output of mainline artists, while consistently merging their myriad influences and inspirations into a broad yet unique style all their own.  A bit like Orson Welles and Citizen Kane.  Welles didn't invent much in that movie, but he took everything the film world knew at that time and combined it in a unique and visionary way.  That was the Beatles.  What they didn't invent - and they did invent much - they used in ways that hadn't been seen or heard up to that point.  And they did it without ever falling into the trap of a singular, identifiable musical style.  As an article I read on the anniversary of their Abbey Road album observed, without the Beatles you don't have what followed.  Without a single group able to write and produce songs as diverse as Yesterday, And I Love Her, Helter Skelter, I Am the Walrus, When I'm Sixty-Four, Yellow Submarine, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Revolution, you don't have an genre of music that can include The Who, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, Elton John, Madonna, Matchbox Twenty, Michael Jackson, AC/DC and yes, Taylor Swift.  

8/15/1965: Greeting a record setting crowd of 55,600 fans

A Hard Days Night - Released 7/10/1964

As stated above, no recording artists have ever dominated the music world the way the Beatles did in 1964.  It was simply their year.  Their appearance on Ed Sullivan in February before almost half the population of America is considered one of the landmark events of the century.  They ushered in The British Invasion, and more broadly helped kick the emerging countercultural revolution into the mainstream.  In terms of the charts, they owned the charts in a way never seen before or since. The American music industry has never seen such a spectacular rise like it witnessed in 1964. At one point over 10% of the songs on the American charts were by the Beatles.  By the spring of that year, they had placed seven songs in the US Top 10 - at the same time. And the most celebrated record in the history of Billboard happened when Can't Buy Me Love jumped to the #1 spot on April 4, allowing the Beatles to clench all five of the top five spots on the American charts:  

Beyond that, they held the number one spot in the US for almost half the year, and placed three consecutive songs (I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me Love) at number one for almost four straight months in a row.  By the end of the year they had placed seven albums at the number one spot on the US album charts.* Their first world tour marked the high point of full blown Beatlemania.  In 1965, during their second world tour, stadiums and arenas became commonplace, and some of their audiences dwarfed what they experienced in 1964.  But it was 1964 that people remember when they remember Beatlemania in all its spectacle. If the audiences were smaller than the next year, it was here that thousands would show up along the road, merely to watch the band drive from the airport to their hotel or enter a restaurant. 

In the midst of this, their manager Brian Epstein secured a movie deal to produce movies for the Beatles, in a way inspired by Elvis.  Their first film, and their best, was a mocked up documentary, a sort of 'faux day in the life of the Beatles.'  Part scripted, part improv, a touch of tripped out British humor and lots of irreverence, the American Film Institute named it one of the top 100 films of all time.  Naturally it was extremely successful.  But it was the soundtrack album that marked a leap forward for the Beatles, and the music industry as a whole.  One of the early fights the band had was to write their own songs.  In those days, thick lines existed within the industry.  Unionized writers write the songs, the musicians and singers perform them.  Folk musicians and pro songwriters could do their own material.  Even rock musicians, when rock and roll was still considered a passing fad, could write their own material. But mainline A-List artists couldn't be trusted to write songs that could achieve their needed level of commercial success.  At least not trusted to write them without outside help.  But the Beatles fought and fought and fought to do so.  That is why it is considered a milestone that the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night is filled with songs written solely by the team of Lennon-McCartney.  To begin with, you had two songs from the album reach #1 (the aforementioned Can't By Me Love and the title track A Hard Day's Night).  In addition, music critics were astonished by the maturity and sophistication of three of the group's ballads - And I Love Her, If I Fell and Things We Said Today.   Critics who withheld high praise at first began to reconsider, given not only the success of the songs and the album, but the quality and refined maturity as well.    

The movie captured the 'four buddies versus the world' image that helped propel them to superstardom

*This was possible because the Beatles typically released albums with 12 to 14 songs.  In the US, albums released by Capital often had no more than 8 or 9 songs.  This allowed Capital Records in the US to split up Beatles albums and release two from the one album released in England.  This was a practice not unique to the Beatles, but one they resented.  Part of their development of the album emphasis was meant to keep Capital from this practice. 

The Best Beatles Albums Part 2

 Beatles for Sale - Released 12/4/1964

Many critics and historians consider this album, their fourth, to be their 'weakest' album. I'm  still inclined to give it a little notch up compared to With the Beatles.  It did have one #1 song - Eight Days a Week - as well as I'll Follow the Sun.  I'll Follow the Sun is considered one of McCartney's best songs from the early days. As most observers  note when looking at the album cover, the wear and tear of Beatlemania is clearly taking their toll.  Another controversial album cover was initially envisioned, with the four in butchers' smocks, and dismembered doll babies and slabs of meat spread about.  It was poorly received and quickly replaced by this cover (the 'Butcher Cover' being used for later, supplemental releases).  Again, it shows the exhaustion they were feeling as the weight of their fame was settling down on them.  They were, in many ways, prisoners.  They couldn't go anywhere.  Everywhere they appeared drew thousands of fans, even if only to see them enter a building.  Not to mention Brian Epstein's strategy of 'tour the world.'  For Epstein, the entire world was their oyster.  It's been joked that the Beatles went to some countries before there was a music industry there to sell their albums.  It was that which likely helped establish them as the first bona fide global superstars.  It also no doubt contributed to the strain.  Meanwhile the money was piling up fast.  As was the feeling of responsibility.  According to their producer George Martin, it was McCartney who said he didn't want people in future decades to look back and say the Beatles were more famous than they deserved.  He wanted them to live up to the hype.  It was then that they began poking around at breaking down not only their own barriers, but those within the music industry as a whole.  For its part, the tone of the album is darker than the previous three albums.  Two songs - Baby's in Black and I'm a Loser - have definite Dylan influences.  Nonetheless, they were still shackled to the 'Mop Top' image.  After all, that image had allowed them to dominate the music world in a way that has never been repeated.  Because of that, the breakthroughs and unhindered innovation would have to wait.  

Beatlemania: It didn't take long for it to start fraying their nerves

Let it Be - Released 5/8/1970

Following the less than stellar reception for The White Album, and the dismal showing of the Magical Mystery Tour television special, the Beatles - especially Lennon and Harrison - insisted it was time to 'get back' to basic rock and roll.  Hence the name of the project would initially be Get Back. Launching a tirade against their producer George Martin for polluting their music with all of those fancy orchestra and studio tricks, Lennon and Harrison wanted to get back to basics. Then came the idea of producing an album and filming the process.  A 'How the Beatles do it' documentary, so to speak.  Brought in to aid the musical side was keyboard virtuoso Billy Preston, a close friend of George Harrison's.  Some suggest there was talk of letting him join the band.  He is, after all, the only person to share billing with the Beatles on any of their records.  Up until him, it was typically George Martin, or at times McCartney, who provided the keyboard parts on various recordings.  Nonetheless, not even Preston's upbeat enthusiasm or piano skills could save this project.  From contemporary accounts, and the general assessment through most of the decades that followed, this was what sealed the deal.  After these sessions, it was merely a matter of time. Their final live performance, on the office rooftop of  Apple Corps headquarters, was the most  noteworthy contribution of the entire project. Most of the music recorded was acceptable, but nothing unusual or groundbreaking.  George Martin became especially disenchanted, and began making plans to cease working with the group.  All during this time, each of the Beatles had threatened to quit, but were talked out of it by Paul.  Then, on April 10, 1970 (almost six years to the day that they monopolized the Billboard top five), Paul made if official. Long after the Get Back project was shelved, and after the release of their final album Abbey Road, he announced he was leaving the Beatles, by releasing his first solo album titled McCartney.  As can be guessed, it made headlines around the world.  Through the 1970s  a favorite media parlor game was wondering when they would reunite.  On December 8, 1980, that question was finally and tragically answered.  

The Get Back album was salvaged by their new manager Alan Klein, who came in to save their floundering Apple Corps label.  He brought in producer Phil Specter, both having formerly worked with the Rolling Stones.  It was renamed Let it Be, perhaps prophetically.  McCartney sued Specter because of the work he did, feeling his famous 'Wall of Sound' ruined McCartney's vision for the songs.  In fairness, however, it was Specter's work that provided the final two number one hits of the Beatles' career: the aptly titled Let it Be and The Long and Winding Road. 

The "Rooftop Performance", 1/3/69 - The Beatles' final live performance

Magical Mystery Tour (technically an EP as released) - Released 11/27/1967

Released initially in the  UK as an EP (Extended Play) album with songs from the much maligned movie of the same name, Capital Records in the US didn't miss a chance to add some stand alone songs and make it a full (and more expensive) Long Playing album (LP).   In the summer of 1967, the Beatles were at the top of the entertainment universe, and unprecedented in their cultural and musical influence.  Headlining one of the largest television broadcasts ever, and certainly the largest to that date, they were, to use the phrase, on top of the world.  Therefore, it came as a devastating shock when their manager Brian Epstein, the man who discovered them and secured their recording contract and presented them so successfully to the world, was found dead from a drug overdose on August 27.  For years, many dismissed Epstein's influence on the group by that point.  They were so phenomenally successful, did they even need him?  What happened over the subsequent years suggests strongly that yes, they desperately needed him.  Following Epstein's death, Paul emerged as the unofficial, self-appointed replacement manager, a move that caused tension and resentment from the others.  His first priority was a made for television movie special.  The movie would tap into the emerging psychedelia fad that they helped fuel with the release of Sgt. Pepper.  The idea was to get a bus full of actors and circus performers and friends and strangers, drive about the countryside in a bus, and film whatever happened.  As can be expected, several new songs were written for the movie.  Among them was a song that contained about everything the Beatles or the recording industry had learned by that time: Lennon's I Am the Walrus (a song that inspired Jeff Lynne to start his own band, Electric Light Orchestra).  It was truly a song with everything plus the kitchen sink in terms of content and recording techniques.  Other songs were of varying quality.  Though I have to put in a plug and mention that the song The Fool on the Hill was, per my parents, the first song I ever liked as a child.   Perhaps also prophetic.  Nonetheless, though the music echoed the whimsical and innovative sounds of Sgt. Pepper, it failed to save the production as a whole.  Though the album went to #1, the movie itself was panned by fans and ravaged by critics. It was also, in a dose of irony, the only time the Beatles attempted so purposefully to recapture the sound and feel of a previous album.  Still reeling from the death of Epstein, and facing the first true commercial failure of their stellar career, there wasn't much to do.  With tails tucked firmly between their legs, it was off to India, and a new phase in their evolving story. 

Three of that other 'Fab Four' who made the Beatles: L-R, Producer George Martin, Music
Publisher Dick James, and Manager Brian Epstein (Sound Engineer Geoff Emerick not shown)