Nice TV documentary about the Beatles music on TV last Saturday (Sep 5th )
It was great to hear their opinions about their songs and albums as well as
comments from the genial George Martin.
George actually began learning the guitar back in the early days of his relationship with the Beatles so he could convey his ideas better to them...
demonstrate chords etc.

The Beatles rode a wave of success... in fact it was more of a tidal wave that swept the entire planet. The Beatles coped with all the pressures of world fame and yet continued to write and perform an amazing portfolio of songs that are timeless and will live forever.

Where did all that talent come from ? how did they keep producing those wonderful songs ? My theory is that its a lot to do with the times in which they were written... ie the 60s...
So much was happening in the 60s... the Profumo scandal had
kicked out the Tories... Wilson was in and there were hopes of a socialist utopia.

Colour TV was coming in too.... there was an optimism around, the 60s were swinging.... then BBC2 arrived ... there were now 3 TV channels to choose from !!!! we were spoiled for choice !

There was something in the air... free love.... the alternative hippie life
new religions everywhere... Krishna Consciousness.... Transendentalism...
In one way or another, it was all happening.... and the Beatles were right at the centre of all this excitement... they were writing the musical background to the sixties.

The film Help was shown, not long after this documentary and it shows
the Beatles as very laid back guys, treating life as a kind of fantasy
not taking anything too seriously.... and why should they ...?
they were having a ball.

By the end of the decade things were getting darker... there were the Manson Murders and the Stones concert where Mick lost control.
In music Heavy Metal was raising its sinister head.... the peace and love Hippy decade was becoming just a memory.

Never heard of them.

funnily, I downloaded their discography today - good stuff.

i hope it was the new cleaned up versions offically out 090909

I wish people would stop banging on about it being timeless...face facts, it has dated. It is very hard to find music that hasn't. Maybe the odd song here or there could be described as timeless but that actually goes for a lot of bands.

Also, you really seem to have overly romanticised the 60's. Fair enough, I wasn't born then, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't all peace and love...I got the impression it was more about drugs than anything else.

Drugs are far more widespread now than they ever were then.

The 60s are the most important decade in popular music, and that cant be overstated. Just look at what was being done in 1960, and compare it with 1970. The change in such a short space of time is almost impossible to believe.

Whether people like The Beatles or not, they were at the forefront of everything that happened back then.

Anyway, I've ordered my Remastered box set, and look forward to hearing the albums all over again.

... and this perception is exactly WHY we need more documentaries on the beatles/the 60's, to tell the truth and highlight exactly what made the 60's so great.

as for beatles music being dated.... yep, some of the early material certainly is, but ALOT of the middle/late period certainly is timeless which is why beatles songs crop up so often in 'x factor' type programmes. the fact is that no other musical act has such a timeless portfolio that the beatles have, crammed with class music.... like it or not.

i think the beatles success owes alot to being in the right place at the right time. they had a blank canvass on which to forge out new sounds and to be the first to go where no one else had been before... but that doesnt diminish their obvious talent, its just that they were lucky enough to be in from the start..

where did that ability come from to write
songs like that and at such a young age.
They coped well with the pressures of fame and continued to produce so many brilliant albums
.
And even in the 1970s Lennon was writing some awesome songs... 'Woman'.... 'Imagine' etc.

His mid 1960s psychedelic phase was over and he was writing very personal and reflective songs.


MacCartney meanwhile... spaced out on pot was producing crap songs like
'Band on the Run' and 'Silly Love Songs'.



Beatlemania began England in the autumn of 1962
when the Beatles released Love me Do .
The Beatles made their first ever TV appearance on October 17th. 1962 in Manchester.
'Please Please Me' was released in the spring 1963
then in May they released ... 'From Me to You.'

In July 1964 .... 'She Loves You ' was released and by then Beatlemania was becoming a phenomenon sweeping the country, the Beatles were mobbed wherever they went, every venue sold out with masses of screaming girls drowning out their singing.

There had never been anything like the Beatles and the mass hysteria that they inspired among their growing army of fans.
Their pictures were in every newspaper and magazine, their TV , radio and live appearances were major events, eagerly awaited by the fans.

The Beatle songs were so fresh and new, 'Please please me,' 'She loves you'.....etc there was an excitement and energy in these pop songs that was unique , almost magical ......and two of the Beatles, John and Paul, were writing them !

The Beatles were young, good looking guys with a disarming humour, they were getting rich and famous with their music and having a ball along the way.

Suddenly the British showbiz world of Alma Cogan, Cliff and the Shadows, Tommy Steele, Lonnie Donegan etc, appeared old fashioned and out of date.

The Beatles were a breath of fresh air, something new and different, like the beginning of a New Age.

1963 was a fabulous year for the Beatles, it was the year they achieved nationwide fame and a unique status in British showbiz. There had never been such mass hysteria and mass worship for a singing group before.

Their status was confirmed on the night of November 4th 1963 when they appeared at the Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen Mother , Princess Margaret and the show biz elite.
It was a glittering occasion, televised to the nation ...... and the Beatles stole the show !

All this excitement and musical innovation was going on in the UK, meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Americans were blissfully unaware of the existence of the Beatles.
America had Elvis, The Beach boys, the Ronnettes, Chuck Berry, they had a hot music scene, without doubt the hottest on the planet.

That fateful day.... November 22 1963 ...... came around, that fateful day when time stood still, that dreadful day when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
It was a world shaking event that traumatised America and shocked the entire world.

In late December the Beatles released ' I want to hold your hand.' The boys had done it again and it was yet another Lennon / MacCartney composition........ was there no end to their amazing talent ?
'I want to Hold Your Hand' is significant because it was really the song that broke the Beatles in America . It became the fastest selling British release in America and by February 1st 1964 it had reached No 1 in the American Billboard charts, (selling 2 million copies along the way.)

With an American No 1 in the bag the time was ripe for the Beatles to go to America.
February 7th 1964 ......... the Beatles land at Kennedy Airport to be greeted by 3000 screaming fans.
The fan hysteria and idol worship had followed them across the Atlantic...... only ..... this time the hysteria was on a massive American scale.

America, that mighty continent, that gigantic economy... that home of the brave.......... was also the home of pop music, Hollywood and mass consumerism.
America was rich, its thriving economy was the envy of the world.
The post war baby boomers were coming of age and they wanted to party.

The Beatles mesmerised America with their music and style when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. They played before an audience of 73 million ! ........... this was the big time, the big , big time !

It seemed that the long years of touring round seedy venues in Britain and Hamburg had all been just a preparation for this moment.
The Beatles were broadcasting to the American Colossus they were there on TV in in every city, in every home and they were well prepared..... had a fabulous catalogue of songs to sell to their new American fans.

I can t help thinking that it was really John Lennon who generated all this hysteria on two continents.
I feel that many of the early songs are his alone, songs like ' I want to hold your hand ' and 'She loves You' for example.
I don t think Paul had very much to do with them.
John was the mastermind behind Beatlemania in the early days, he was the driving force , the rocket fuel behind the Beatles meteoric rise to fame.

Later, by the time of Sergeant Pepper in 1967 , the power had shifted and Paul had became the driving force with his clever, innovative songs, songs like 'Fixing a Hole,' 'Meter Maid', and ' With a little help from my friends'.
Songs that were so different from the earthy, gutsy, visceral songs of John Lennon , whose burning genius generated the phenomena known as Beatlemania !


.

Totally biased, untrue comment - Some of Lennon's 70's output was laughably bad, and if you think Paul was just producing "crap songs" you need to take another listen to a few of his albums, but with open ears and mind this time . . .

'woman' was awful.... embarrassingly bad

'she loves you' was released in 63

The perils of cut & paste, eh . . . . .

How on Earth can he call Silly Love Songs and Band on the Run bad? They're some of the best Paul wrote. (although of late, I seem to think 1985 is his best...)

Lennon's Unfinished Music albums are the bloody awful ones, along with Harrison's mid-efforts and McCartney's Press to Play...brings shivers to my ears

Although, despite the above being bad, they were the Beatles, so their bad, is at least better than today's good R&B.

One Day Until My Beatles Box Set Comes.

Oh My God.:d:d:d:d:d:d:d

I'm really impressed by his last 2 albums ( "Chaos And Creation . . ." and "Memory Almost Full" ) - there are a few tracks on those albums that are easily his best work since his Beatles days . . . .

Heard the remastered "And Your Bird Can Sing" on the radio today - sounded awesome . . ..

Memory Almost Full is a GREAT album.

I particularly love "Only Mama Knows" (even better live!), Mr.Bellamy (the most Beatles-y song on the album) and "Ever Present Past". . . though obviously Dance Tonight is a great little song to walk down the road with.

Don't forget his latest "The Fireman" album.

2 fantastic tracks . . . I also love "House Of Wax" and "The End Of The End" . . . .
Theres plenty of Mellotron on the album - I LOVE the sound of the Mellotron, as do lots of todays bands - the latest Take That album for example has one lurking on every single track . . .

I love it too.

I'm not overly interested in the post Beatles McCartney stuff. . .but over the past few years I've really gotten into the Beatles more and more, and bought Memory Almost Full on release day and realized what I've been missing out on.

How he can keep his passion and song writing going well into his 60's is something special. He's a music legend.

I feel sorry for Paul - He was the most talented Beatle, in my opinion anyway, and has always been overshadowed by Lennon, especially after that December day in 1980. The great shame is that he won't get the recognition he deserves until he's gone . . . .

why has no one mentioned the talents of Ringo as solo artist?

only a few hours to go now, I cant wait!!!!!

That's always how it is unfortunately.

I'm taking the fence and saying that Paul has written a lot of master pieces, and so has John. They both have amazing songs each so I couldn't personally pick a favourite.

The thing about them is that if you listen to any Lennon/McCartney song you'll *know* whether it's a Paul song, or a John song. That's what makes both as great as each other, they both have amazing songs that are unique to themselves. (Though Johns are more based on personal experiences, family etc, where as Pauls tend to be idealic songs about "love" in general without being too personal).

John obviously has the greater publicity because he was murdered (that's a sad face at his murder, not at him having greater publicity )

People like you and me know better than to just dismiss Paul like a lot of others though.

EDIT: Ringo's solo career. I quite liked Thomas the tank engine when I was younger if that counts

Apparently Ringo doesn't care whether his songs are successful or not - he just likes to make records that his mum will like . . . ..

I disagree. I'm seventeen-years-old. I can't get enough Beatles... I listen to them every day and they've done A LOT for me. I've not spoken to ONE PERSON my age who DOESN'T like the Beatles... they're still more universal than any current artist.

And they'll continue that way for generations.


And I really dislike this attitude. I think it's utter rubbish that John alone generated the hysteria. On the contrary, I think John as the "married" Beatle - at first - recieved less screams than the others, and DEFINITLEY recieved less screams than Paul. Paul was the heart-throb for those fainting girls.

And "I Wannna Hold Your Hand" wasn't John's alone. He and Paul wrote it 'nose to nose' in a hotel room.

Same with the great "She Loves You!" and "With Love From Me to You"

In fact, their first few songs were credited to McCartney/Lennon rather than Lennon/McCartney.

And you can't give John credit alone for being the "driving force" either. John himself admitted that he was lazy, and Paul was the career-minded, he was always the one pushing and pushing for more and more. I'm not denying that John was undoubtedly the leader of the group (particually in the early years), but he wasn't the "rocket fuel" behind their rise to fame. It took FOUR ambitious lads, giving it their ABSOLUTE ALL to create that kind of sucess.

And Paul is hugely responsible for some of the Beatles greatest achievements. "Yesterday".. the most covered song of all time was written by Paul. "Hey Jude", one of their best selling songs - by Paul. Most of their A-Sides were written...by Paul!

I don't mean to rant! Just John gets so much credit, and Paul doesn't deserve to be overshadowed like that when he put SO much into the Beatles from beginning to end.

I'm 21 and The Beatles are timeless.

Their music will live on for generations to come.

I just graduated in Music Technology and a lot of our studio techniques (practical and literal) involved the Beatles.

Not only were their techniques pioneering but their music was equally as important.

Best band ever.

Throughout their Beatle days ANY song written by either (or on occasion, both ) of them was credited to "Lennon/McCartney" - it was a pact they made together as teens.
Their first few compositions were credited to "McCartney/Lennon", but Lennon insisted that Lennon/McCartney sounded better, and Paul either agreed or said he agreed to keep the peace.