The Big
Four: The Beatles
Article by Matthew Anthony Allair
There’s a good argument, that is yearly made, that the Beatles remain the most relevant band out there, just about everything that came out since their end in 1970 as far as bands and solo acts, are just variations on the ground they broke. It’s almost impossible to ignore their work, even with acts that don’t cite them as an influence, there’s often some musical element that can be traced back to them. I would argue that every period of the band is important. Their evolution from 1963 until late 1965 is startling, to compare, only a few bands saw as much growth as the Beatles. They were blessed with several miracles, first, there is the fact four that super talented men happened to converge from Liverpool near the end of the 50s. Most musicians have a difficult time finding other musicians they are in sync with, forming bands that gel is not an easy task.
The other miracle is that they found a manager with Brian Epstein who was so well intended, and protective, the rock scene is littered with less than honest managers who don’t protect their artists. For example, let’s compare The Beach Boys to the Beatles. The Beach Boys and the Wilson brothers were saddled with a tyrant of a manager and father with Murry Wilson, who also acted as their Producer until Brian Wilson took over. The Beach Boys were also plagued with a record label, Capitol, that were content to just have them follow the formula that was set up in 1963. Brian had to fight to evolve the music and it wore him down. The Beatles were blessed with Producer George Martin, that while he may have been strict in the beginning around 1962, Martin recognized their growth early on and didn’t inhibit them, and became a creative partner. Thus, allowing them to expand and redefine the decade. It also helped that Brian Epstein accepted their decision to stop touring and just record after 1966. He very easily could have insisted, as much as the decision was detrimental to him, Brian gave The Beatles the space to create. We have already covered Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour here.
Much of the early work from 1963 till 1965 had magical moments, they had massive hits, but it is the work from 1966 onward that is now seen as important. The UK Help album showed real growth with “Ticket To Ride,” the flutes on “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away”, and the string section on “Yesterday”, or “Help!, The Night Before, You’re Going To Lose That Girl,” or “I’ve Just Seen A Face”. All of which hinted at what was about to unfold in the second half of 1965. As they started to meet their contract obligations with the first two films, and their touring schedule, they had the clout to grow. If The Beatles had been an American band and on Capitol Records, they probably wouldn’t been allowed to develop in the fashion they did. With Parlophone, they could do anything and the next few years would prove that.
Rubber Soul (1965)
Rubber
Soul is often described as the ‘wood and smoke’ album, it may not have featured
outside musicians, but with the advent of the sitar, or Martin’s use of a
slowed down and speed up piano, giving at least one track an Elizabethan harpsicord
feel, or the much more present use of acoustic guitars, electric, and more
exotic instruments, the album was the fusion between rock, folk rock, soul,
baroque, and proto-psychedelia. The Beatles served notice that the full album
as art had arrived. The influence of Bob Dylan was already self-evident on the Help!
album, but it’s even more so here. While the instrumentation isn’t all that
different on Rubber Soul, it feels different. There’s an added complexity on
various numbers to be found here, argumentatively, there’s only two weak
numbers on the album, but there’s a vitality to the rest of the material that
one can’t ignore. One should note the singles recorded during the sessions,
John’s riff rock on “Day Tripper”, and Paul and John’s folk optimism of “We Can
Work It Out”, both hinted at what was on the way.
On one level, the opening number “Drive My Car”, which was a big hit for them, feels like a typical electric number, but there’s notable shifts. George’s twang guitar would be imitated by countless players at the end of 65 and through 66, the interplay between John’s single line guitar and Paul’s piano reveals an added growth. As well as playfulness with Ringo’s drumming and tambourine. John’s “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” shows incredible development with John’s acoustic guitar, and George’s first dalliance with the Sitar, an instrument that had been used as source material in western music, Lyrically, John’s narrative about a dalliance with a woman. Paul brings in the soul and RNB with “You Won’t See Me”, a piano anchors the number along with counter point melodies, another one of his songs about Jane Asher. John’s “Nowhere Man” is another marvel, and another hit. One should not ignore that the Beatles were not using standard chord voicings on the album, but inversions, therefore there’s an added depth and complexity here. The three-part harmonies enhance John’s lyric, and George’s bright lead guitar lines give it an extra shimmer. George’s “Think For Yourself” show’s more hints of growth, aside from Paul’s standard bass playing, there’s his added fuzz bass, which gives this a slight edge. More piano drives John and Paul’s “The Word”, a clever slogan for more than romantic love, the added harmonium is a nice touch. Paul’s “Michelle” has become iconic, the background vocals give The Beach Boys a run for their money, George’s tasteful jazz tone guitar solo seems so apt.
The second half opener, the country flavored “What Goes On” is a showcase for Ringo, and some country shuffles from Ringo, and George is allowed bring out his rockabilly fills, but probably the weaker number on the album. John’s “Girl” feels like a Russian folk tune or dirge with some vivid lyrical content and a dose of John’s philosophical edge. John had a history of depression filled moments. Paul’s “I’m Looking Through You” is probably one of his most scathing numbers, one is hit with that lead guitar and organ accent, the sad realization when a person you know had been hiding who they are, another Jane related number. John’s “In My Life” has become one of his most enduring numbers, even George covered it on his 1974 Dark Horse tour. George Martin’s speed up piano managed a harpsicord quality, and Bach sensibility. John’s “Wait” manages some volume guitar from George, more a true co-written number with Paul’s bridge and vocal. Probably one of Harrison’s first great numbers “If I Needed Someone” and his 12-string work had a huge impact on countless players, The Byrd’s would lean into that sound, decades later you could still hear the stylistic influence, for example, on Queen’s “Long Away”. John’s “Run For Your Life” is probably the weakest number, despite its blue’s country feel attempts. Years later. John admittedly dismissed the number. Nevertheless, 12 of the numbers are real gems, and many took on an iconic status.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Yes, I admit, Sgt. Pepper isn’t my favorite album of theirs, that honor goes towards Revolver and one other title in this article. But Sgt. Pepper is a significant album, and a real game changer for them. For those paying attention to the importance of Revolver, there were clues that they were developing, and this album in some ways felt inevitable. It broke ground in many ways, the arrangements, the production, the use of the gatefold and printed lyrics, and the added inserts. It wasn’t really a concept album, but thematically, it pulled the audience in as though you are at a public square or Galizio, and you were being presented with a musical fantasy, just ignore the psychedelic embellishes, and you get an entertaining diversion that is brought back to reality with the final number. The album is awash with Pianos, Organs, Harmoniums, mellotrons, a swarmandel, sitars, various percussion, tape loops, and their guitars.
It also feels futile to describe these iconic numbers, so I will offer the highlights. The band had already used audio source material before with Revolver, but the clever crowd sounds set the tone, the trio of acid guitars of “Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart’s Club Band”, and punch of Ringo’s drums state what the listener will hear. Ringo’s showcase on “With A Little Help From My Friends”, is one of the rare Lennon / McCartney collaborations, something we’d see less of. John’s surreal fable on “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” was simply inspired by a child’s drawing, and Lewis Carol. Paul with John’s “Getting Better” has an optimistic yet dark edge to it. Paul’s “Fixing A Hole” feels like an appeal to focus less on trivial people, and what matter’s. George Martin was too busy to work on it, so Paul had someone else work on the strings for “She’s Leaving Home”, a number where John has a sympathetic read. John’s “For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite” has a carnival or fairgrounds feel, and some incredible tape loops from Martin and engineer Emerick.
With side two’s opener, George wasn’t about to let himself be outdone, so he brought in the exotic philosophy of “Within You, Without You”, a piece that has grown with stature over time, his second number with Indian instrumentation. Paul’s “When I’m Sixty-Four” was an old number he dusted off, the music hall, or vaudeville quality of the number, it offers a fresh contrast to the rest of the material. “Lovely Rita” is probably one of the slighter Paul numbers, but George Martin’s piano solo with that unusual delay gives it an orchestral quality. John’s “Good Morning Good Morning” is the other slight number, but the overdriven horn section gives it an extra bite, and that fuzz guitar lead has a vibrancy to it. The animal segway is enormously clever. The “Sgt. Pepper (Reprise)” leans into a greater edge with the guitar work, the number gently guides the audience back into real life. The masterful “A Day In The Life” is the ‘reality song’, this is after you have exited the movie theatre, or leave the circus tent, or fairgrounds, and are back in the parking lot and facing the daily grind again, hence why ‘Day’ is the ‘reality’ number, and leave it to John to bring some grounding to the proceedings. Few had heard experimental orchestrations like it on a commercial record, but I think everyone knew we had reached the Rubicon due to the album – nothing would be the same again in pop or rock music.
The
Beatles (White Album)
(1968)
The second half of 1967 was taken up with the Magical Mystery Tour TV film and the album / EP, but the Beatles seem to have intuitively known they had to get back to basics. Of course a big part of this album’s origin was the Rishikesh, India sojourn to see the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s meditation ‘guide course’, but only half the band stayed for two months, nevertheless, the outing was highly productive, much of the material on their eponymous album was written there and then demoed at Harrison’s home in Esher. They were so productive that other material would be used for Abbey Road, a little for Let It Be, and even a few songs would appear on McCartney’s and Lennon’s early solo albums. Released as a double album, The Beatles might be their most audacious release and my second favorite album, the album just about encompassed every style of music imaginable, short of funk music that is, but there’s a lot to digest with the album. This is the closet to the Beatles producing themselves, with George Martin coming and going through the process. This was the first time that future producer Chris Thomas was given a notable role during the sessions.
The first clues about the album were Paul’s iconic “Hey Jude” and John’s proto metal with the “Revolution” single. There was also Paul’s “Lady Madonna” and George’s Bi side last Indian flavored, as singles. “The Inner Light”. The band decided to strip things down after all of the ornamentation of the prior year’s psychedelic experimentation. But the white album is a fascinating work, I admit uneven, not all of it works, but the highlights outweigh the drawbacks. The minimalist album design was another clue this was less elaborate. Nevertheless, there are still psychedelic elements within. After the audio effects, Paul’s “Back In The U.S.S.R.” is a kind of humorous nod to the Beach Boys, and offers a clever twist. John’s “Dear Prudence” is a Travis picked wonder, a haunting number that build’s in dynamics. John’s “Glass Onion” is another word play nod to recent songs, he was already spoofing the over analysis of the band’s lyrics. Paul’s “Ob La Di, Ob La Da” is a playful, fantasy narrative of a Caribbean life. Paul’s other throwaway is the acoustic “Wild Honey Pie”, a Spanish flamingo leads into John’s “The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” features a few mellotrons, and a big crowd chorus, including the first cameo of Yoko Ono, a satire about animal hunting. Then there’s the iconic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by George, with a little help from Eric Clapton’s electric lead, John plays organ, and Paul gallops on Piano. The first side is all rounded up with John’s “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”, one of his more adventurous numbers with four sections and a good dose of his whit.
Paul’s “Martha My Dear” opens side two, one of his most dexterous piano pieces with Martin’s sympathetic scores. John’s “I’m So Tired” and it’s langued pace matches the lyrics, even John’s random numbles ease into the next number. Paul’s “Blackbird”, an acoustic, baroque ballad has a lingering power after the decades. George’s satirical “Piggies” is a clever comment on class warfare. Paul’s “Rocky Raccoon” is a western parody with some nice old saloon tack piano, all of which segways into the Ringo original “Don’t Pass Me By”, a country number and it is fitting that Ringo would write it, considering his affinity for that genre, he would release a country album at the start of his solo career. Paul’s “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” was just about a one man show, John was later disappointed he wasn’t involved. Paul follows it with his lovely ballad “I Will”, a bossa nova where John and Ringo helped with percussion. The side two closer, John’s “Julia” is a wonder, another intricate acoustic guitar piece from him, that is a touching tribute to his mother.
Side three opens with Paul bringing back the whole band for “Birthday”, one of the more rousing rocker’s in the set. John’s full band number, “Yer Blues” is a satire on the genre, and while Clapton does not play on it, the lead work does capture the feel of Clapton, hence why people were confused over if Eric was involved. Paul’s “Mother Nature’s Son” is another touch acoustic number with tasteful horns arranged my Martin. John’s “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except for Me and My Monkey” is one of the more unabashed rockers on the album with an abrasive tone and manic vocals from John, the track was slightly speed up in the final mix. John’s sardonic “Sexy Sadie” was a satirical dig at the Maharishi, where the guitars have a strange quality to them. Paul was able to match John’s energy with the heavy “Helter Skelter”, a rocker about a British playground spiral slide, where manages to capture the hyperkinetic joy of childhood. George’s “Long Long Long” is a hymn to God, with an eerie organ, manages to close out the side.
Side four is probably the most problematic. The energy of the album flags at this point. John’s “Revolution” is great, and I prefer the ‘soulful album version’ to the faster single release. After “Wild”, Paul’s “Honey Pie” is significantly better number, another music hall, vaudeville number with a nice little jazz guitar solo from John. Of the four Harrison number’s, “Savoy Truffle” is probably the weakest, but a fun number, with some meaty, and distorted horns. George’s lead and the horns have a nice interplay. John’s “Cry Baby Cry” is a folk flavored number with nice dynamics between the piano, harmonium and organ, John’s vocal has a relaxed, soulful quality to it. Paul’s “Can You Take Me Back” leads into the infamous “Revolution 9” a musique concrete piece that manages to have some brief interesting musical ideas within the strangeness and humor, and manages to still be a stronger result than John and Yoko’s three other experimental records at the end of the sixties. John’s “Good Night” with a lead vocal by Ringo and a lush orchestration and choir from Martin, is a welcome balance to the side and to close out the album.
There was a lot of tension during the making of the album, in spite of the many full band performances, often they would work in pairs on various numbers, or work solo. They were simply growing up and apart, but the public didn’t know that. Still The Beatles album is a high watermark of their catalogue.
Abbey Road (1969)
The last half of 1968 saw the release of the animated Yellow Submarine film and album that would soon be released in early 69. Paul tried to unify the band to play as an actual band again, the Get Back film, which would later be retitled Let It Be in 1970, was an attempt to film them rehearsing with the plan to do a live concert at a special event. Their productivity through January of 1969, from the rehearsal to session recordings, but the project was shelved by the start of February, Two non-album singles were released, Paul’s “Get Back”, which would appear on the 1970 album, and John’s “Don’t Let Me Down”. There’s was George’s “Old Brown Shoe”, a great number with a vibrant guitar solo that was released as a double A side, and John’s “The Ballad Of John & Yoko”, which would feature John and Paul playing everything when the lads were away. The album that would become Abbey Road was something of a compromise, but with George Martin having a more predominant role, engineer Geoff Emerick would have an important role, and would deliver a sonically impressive, and a young Alan Parsons, whom would be a major force through the seventies, was the assistant engineer.
A number of material from the 68 India sojourn would be featured on the album, much of it had been rehearsed during the Get Back project, Paul talked John and George to be more fully involved, this would be to George’s great benefit as he would deliver the best songs and his two iconic singles. Even Ringo would write a song that would be a future single. There’s a feeling and Paul and John finally appreciated the value of George and Ringo enough to give them a fair shake. Aside from Martin’s musical keyboard contributions, Billy Preston acted as nearly a fifth Beatle with his Organ work. John’s “Come Together” which began as another non-sense words type of piece was helped by Paul’s swampy bass, and the harmonized guitars. George’s “Something” is masterful, with great playing from Paul and Preston’s organ. George’s guitar solo channels a trace of Clapton’s melody, yet it is his own. Paul’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” has a musical hall quality, some dark humor, and odd feel. Paul’s nod to blues “Oh Darling” features one of his best vocals and has taken on a certain stature over the years. Ringo’s “Octopus’s Garden” had a little help from George, has remained one of their more endearing songs and fitting was it would be another country number. John’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” remains groundbreaking, a cross between a proto metal number, and a lounge blues jazz number, its white noise build up near the end, and the abrupt edit is jarring at first listen but highly effective.
George opens the second half with his iconic other number, “Here Comes The Sun”, the instrumentation is so perfectly balanced between George’s intricate guitar, Martin’s orchestration and tasteful keyboard flourishes George reached his first peak – but it wouldn’t be the last. The reverse Beethoven of John’s “Because” would the last time anyone would see their complex three part harmony, which was done with multiple passes. ‘The medley’ as it would become known began with Paul’s “You Never Give Me Your Money” was the first hint to the public that this was the end, but it also featured the acknowledgement of great freedom looming. John’s “Sun King” was inspired by the feel of Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross”. John’s “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” were more numbers from India. “Mustard” represented John’s musical hall take, and “Pam” was a nod to his early Rock N Roll influence. Paul’s “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” would be one of his more durable numbers and covered by other, and dress up here with a rockabilly feel. There’s a brief reprieve before the remainder of the Medley finished it out. With’s Paul’s final trio, “Golden Slumber’s, Carry That Weight” – based on a 17th Century poem - and “The End”, where Paul manages a great vocal out of “Slumbers”, and “Weight” manages to tie back “You Never Give Me”, the dynamism of “The End” is nearly legendary. There’s an exuberance to Ringo’s drum solo, and the dueling guitars between Paul, George and John., and the band’s closing statement, which Paul described as a ‘couplet’, summed up the spirit of the band - the love they made was indeed equal to what the public took from them. The Beatles even managed a ‘bonus track’ before anyone thought of it with Paul’s “Her Majesty”.
Ultimately, Abbey Road was a master class in song writing, arranging, performance and recording, The Beatles had said everything they needed to say, there would be one more posthumous album, but this was their final goodbye, and they just about went out with a bang.
Post Beatles, most bands would try to emulate what they did, but nearly all of them just couldn’t match it. There was an magical chemistry as players by them that others just couldn’t define. Many people have tried to sound the notes without playing the music. In the end, the Beatles were not overhyped but represented the best of the sixties.
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