The Beatles are arguably one of the most influential and successful
rock/pop bands of all time.
he original line was Lennon (guitar),
McCartney (guitar), Harrison (guitar), Stuart Sutcliffe (bass) and
Pete Best (drums). Stuart Sutcliffe left the band in 1961, when Paul
McCartney took over on bass. Pete Best was replaced on drums in 1962
by Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey). The band honed their skills in
Liverpool and Hamburg during 1961 to 1963. Under the guiding wing of
Brian Epstein they managed to get an audition at Decca in early 1962
but Decca weren't interested in signing the group. After listening
to the Decca audition recording n May 1962 producer George Martin
signed The Beatles up to a recording contract under Parlaphone, a
small label owned by EMI. The first single, Love Me Do, was released
in October 1962 and reached th3 top 20. Please Please Me followed in
January 1963 and reached number two. The Album Please Please Me,
recorded 'live' at Abbey Road studio in a day, was released in March
1963 and went to number one. The Single From Me To You was released
in April and reached number one, followed in August by She Loves
You, a hit that was an all time best seller up to that date. A
second album With The Beatles was released. The Band toured
repeatedly during 1963 rapidly building up a fan base and being
greeted with almost uncontrollable excitement everywhere they went.
Sometime in December after a CBS broadcast Beatlemania erupted in
the USA. In February 1964 the band visited New York to play a
concert at Washington Coliseum. In June 1964 The Beatles toured
internationally followed by a thirty concert tour of the US in
August. 1964 saw the release of the first film A Hard Day's Night,
followed by the release of the soundtrack album. A second film,
Help, was released in 1965. This same year saw the members of the
group being awarded MBE by Queen Elizabeth II; the event causing a
lot of controversy amongst conservative holders of the award, some
of which returned them in protest.
With the release of Rubber Soul in 1965 and Revolver in 1966 the
band was maturing into a serious musical talent with the band
experimenting in the studio developing new styles using technology
as well as instruments. George Harrison also started to contribute
more on these albums, developing a distinct eastern sound. At the
end of a US tour the Beatles played their last concert at
Candlestick Park San Francisco on August 29th. The band had not
played any of the new material during the tour. The groundbreaking
blockbuster Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Cub Band was a released
in June 1967. The album re-wrote the rules for pop music, not just
with the music but also the presentation: a bold colourful cover,
with lyrics printed on the back. The critics loved it being ranked
by Rolling Stone as number one in the 500 Greatest albums of all
time. On June 25th the band played All You Need Is Love to a global
TV audience, the first ever broadcast of its kind. Whilst on retreat
in Wales the band received news of Brian Epstein's death from an
accidental drugs overdose, throwing the band into confusion and
uncertainty.
After Epstein's death the band received another blow with a
thrashing of their film Magical Mystery tour by the press. On the
plus side The Beatles (The White Album), the first to be released on
the new Apple label, was successful and the animated film Yellow
Submarine was well received by the critics for its innovative style.
Without Epstein's direction the band started to fall apart,
relations between the members began to fragment with Ringo even
leaving the band for a short spell in 1968. The band started to work
on Let It Be in January 1969 but it was shelved due to
dissatisfaction with the production by Glyn Jones, the only Beatles
album not to have been produced by George Martin. It was later
released in 1970 becoming the last album released before the band
broke up at the end of December 1969. In April The Beatles began
work on their final alum Abbey Road. Produced by George Martin it
was released in late September 1970, six days after John Lennon had
announced his departure from the band. On May 8th Let It Be produced
by Phil Spector was released followed at the end of the month by the
documentary film.
McCartney filed a suit for the dissolution of The Beatles on 31
December 1970 but disputes continued long after and the legal break
up of the band didn't occur until 1975.
As dazzling as the decade they dominated, The Beatles almost single-handedly created pop music as we know it. Today, their songs are cited as seminal influences by stars like Oasis, Blur and Kula Shaker. Eloquently giving voice to their time, The Beatles quite simply changed the world. Fully updated to include material from The Beatles Live at the BBC and the Anthology series, this acclaimed book goes back to the heart of The Beatles - their records. Drawing on a unique resource of knowledge and experience to 'read' their 241 tracks - chronologically from their first amateur efforts in 1957 to 'Real Love', their final 'reunion' recording in 1995 - Ian MacDonald has created an engrossing classic of popular criticism in which the extraordinary songs of The Beatles remain a central and continually surprising presence.
This volume contains over 120 songs written and sung by The Beatles, specially arranged from the actual recordings, in the original keys. Each song includes chord symbols, guitar chord boxes and complete lyrics. The book also includes a playing guide and full discography.
Peter Doggett's meticulous account of the Beatles in the years after the band fell apart.
This brilliantly related work about the achievements and mishaps of The Beatles ... is a guilty pleasure but irresistibly compelling.
An extraordinary, never before seen visual record of one day in the life of the Beatles, by one of England's greatest photographers
We didn’t know where it was all going. We just didn’t know. One day in 1968 Don McCullin, then regarded as the world’s most accomplished war photographer, received a commission from the Apple Corporation to spend a day photographing the Beatles. McCullin had just returned from covering the bitter fighting during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and was the most hardened photojournalist in the field. He was astonished by the invitation. On Sunday 28 September he met the Beatles at the Sunday Times studio and began to photograph them in colour for a Life magazine cover. The day that followed has become known in Beatles lore as ‘The Mad Day Out’. McCullin shot twenty rolls of black-and-white film in various locations across London, from the banks of the Thames to Paul McCartney’s garden. Apart from the cover photograph and two pictures in McCullin’s recent book In England, we believe the work to be otherwise unpublished. The timing of this day was significant. At the height of their international fame following the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Beatles were in the middle of recording the White Album. The war was raging in Vietnam and riots had spread through capital cities worldwide. It was the very moment of a generational divide, and the Beatles were the iconic figureheads of the youth movement. One of the most poignant photographs taken that day was of John Lennon posing as dead, surrounded by the other three, in an image that he himself had carefully choreographed. What was an intentional pose in protest is now seen as tragic and prophetic. These pictures are of four inspired musicians on the cusp of the change. They mark the passing of an era in which we can glimpse our own lost youth.
The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover perfectly reproduced on a standard sized ceramic mug.Released in 1967 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles took almost 6 months to record. The Grammy Award-winning album cover was designed by Peter Blake and his wife Jann Haworth, and photographed by Michael Cooper. The cover is known as "People We Like" and contains more than 70 famous people. The Beatles themselves, in the guise of the Sgt. Pepper band, were dressed in military-style outfits made of satin dyed in day-glo colours by Manuel Cuevas.Possibly one of the most famous album covers of all time.
The Beatles Abbey Road Mug. Depicting one of the most iconic (and copied) scenes from the late 60s. Packed in a matching cardboard display box. Microwave and dishwasher safe! Size: 9.5cm x 8.5cm.
