The concept behind Pepper
Reading Starostin's part one analysis of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I realized that I've never wondered for a second about "the concept" behind that LP; it's so clear to me I'm a little puzzled when people -- John Lennon among them -- profess that there is no concept whatever. But I'm finding it difficult to write. I've spent the last [...]
How I’d publish Tune In Vol. 2 and 3!
The Beatles liked BOOKS. I had not been following the publishing trials and travails of the world's foremost Beatle researcher, Mark Lewisohn (having plenty of publishing trials and travails of my own), so I was surprised to hear from commenter @Craig that he doesn't have a publisher for Volumes II or III of his definitive Beatles history. Volume I, Tune [...]
Are the guitars on Pepper…different?
The best part? Ringo's wearing a goddamn tie. As an unabashed Pepper-supremacist -- a surprisingly contested position these days -- I'm always trying to figure out why I like listening to that LP so much more than Revolver (which has better songs), or White (which is so much more musically varied). To me, Revolver is still the new sound in-process; [...]
A Few Thoughts on Beatles Scholarship
The Fabs at Brasenose College, Oxford, March 1964 Folks, I'm not sure this one is worth posting—I'm not satisfied with it, but sometimes I'm the last to know what will spur discussion. Enjoy.—MG As part of my freewheeling, exhaustive, and ultimately exhausting attempt to do anything other than what I am supposed to, this morning I ran across a very [...]
Eleanor Rigby But The Beatles Step On A Lego
Okay, it's no "Helter Skelter but rockabilly," but I laughed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWzx80TDdS0
Did Paul “Save The Beatles”?
"Hey, we're in the best position in the history of showbiz. Now watch us fuck it up." Allen Klein, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1969. Allen Klein has, unsurprisingly, been a frequent topic of this blog (to begin with: here, here, here). This morning I read a Great Thought claiming that Paul McCartney gets too much credit for filing his [...]
Will the Beatles Last?
When the Beatles are 64, from LIFE Magazine in 1968. As the Boomer generation fades into eternity, what does that mean for the standing of Beatlemusic in the culture? And what does it mean for the phenomenon of The Beatles as a cultural force? Will they persist as something like Mozart or Shakespeare, or recede like "Laugh-In" or Herman's Hermits? [...]
I’d Love to Turn You On
The Beatles and friend in Hamburg, May 1962 Getting to those 10,000 hours at double speed. In the course of (as the kids say) "chopping it up" in the comments, I stumbled on a topic that I'd like to (re-) address. It's one that I've talked about incessantly on this blog, but it suddenly occurred to me that after all [...]
Memories of Nicholas Schaffner and The Beatles Forever
This edition is in a lot better condition than mine is. Like many a second-generation fan, I thrilled to Nicholas Schaffner's book The Beatles Forever. (Which can be viewed in its entirety here!) Some years ago, when my mom was cleaning out the family homestead on Forest Avenue in Oak Park, she handed me a box of Beatles stuff salvaged [...]