In 1962, Pete Best, the then drummer of The Beatles, was replaced by Ringo Starr and the reconstituted band recorded its first single in Liverpool. A legend was born: John, Paul, George, and Ringo?"collectively the most popular and influential rock and roll band that the world has ever seen. The Beatles came to define their era in a way that no other band or performer has managed. The band only produced music between 1962 and 1970, but in the course of their eight remarkable years, they produced a dozen astonishing albums of original, mainly self-composed music. At least two of those albums invariably make every "all time great" chart list: Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their success was truly global and during their heyday and for some years after, they were four of the most recognizable faces on the planet; arguably, they remain so. This British rock and roll band took the world by storm in the 60s and their timeless music remains popular today. The accompanying DVD features a mixture of interviews with the band, reportage of the travels of the "Fab Four," press conferences, and interviews with them and their entourage from 1963 onward. It also includes an extra feature, a documentary on John's "We're more popular than Jesus" remark and its aftermath.
In the mid-1960s, when so much was happening in the world and the volume everywhere seemed dialed up to 11, the Beatles were the biggest thing on the planet. Their fans screamed from the fences as the Fab Four walked across the airport tarmac or into a vast stadium. They wanted to touch the Beatles. They wanted to know the Beatles. Who might help them? One photographer was inside. The young Australian Robert Whitaker had been noticed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who then hired him. When Beatlemania exploded, Whitaker was along for the wild ride. He was backstage, he was in the studio, he went to the boys' homes, he became their friend and confidante (He grew particularly close to John). Robert Whitaker fashioned many of the iconic Beatles images, and all his pictures of the band were taken in the period that Beatles fans most like to remember: when they were fab, when they changed our culture. Bob Whitaker-a great photographer, after all-was a friend of LIFE's and made contributions to earlier books on John Lennon and George Harrison. In the months before his death in September 2011, he was collaborating with us on this book, his Beatles magnum opus. In these pages are rarely or never seen photographs and his personal reflections, which add resonance to the images. For those who once wanted to touch the Beatles, wanted to know them, this is an essential document. It is full of vitality. Beatlemania was a crazy, crazy place to be, and it is captured here in all its nutty glory. Then, too, there are the famous Whitaker album covers, including the early drafts of the notorious-and banned-Yesterday and Today jacket. It is LIFE's good fortune, and it will be our readers', that Bob Whitaker talked about all this with us and others through the years. His testimony is that of a proverbial fifth Beatle: He was there, part of the scene. He saw it all, he recorded much of it on film, and he remembered even more. Here, then, is Bob Whitaker's final word on the Beatles-all his best photographs, all his reminiscences. LIFE is proud to bring forth this book. It does what we always try to do-present great photography-and it also pays tribute to a bygone time, a bygone band that we all loved, and a man who was a dear friend.
An NPR Best Book of the Year • Winner of the Virgil Thomson Award for Outstanding Music Criticism “This is the best book about the Beatles ever written” —Mashable Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. Dreaming the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up? As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Dreaming the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.
An all-access, firsthand account of the life and music of one of history's most beloved bands--from an original mastering engineer at Abbey Road Geoff Emerick became an assistant engineer at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in 1962 at age fifteen, and was present as a new band called the Beatles recorded their first songs. He later worked with the Beatles as they recorded their singles “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” the songs that would propel them to international superstardom. In 1964 he would witness the transformation of this young and playful group from Liverpool into professional, polished musicians as they put to tape classic songs such as “Eight Days A Week” and “I Feel Fine.” Then, in 1966, at age nineteen, Geoff Emerick became the Beatles’ chief engineer, the man responsible for their distinctive sound as they recorded the classic album Revolver, in which they pioneered innovative recording techniques that changed the course of rock history. Emerick would also engineer the monumental Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road albums, considered by many the greatest rock recordings of all time. In Here, There and Everywhere he reveals the creative process of the band in the studio, and describes how he achieved the sounds on their most famous songs. Emerick also brings to light the personal dynamics of the band, from the relentless (and increasingly mean-spirited) competition between Lennon and McCartney to the infighting and frustration that eventually brought a bitter end to the greatest rock band the world has ever known.
"Ken McNab's in-depth look at The Beatles' acrimonious final year is a detailed account of the breakup featuring the perspectives of all four band members and their roles. A must to add to the collection of Beatles fans, And In the End is full of fascinating information available for the first time. McNab reconstructs for the first time the seismic events of 1969, when The Beatles reached new highs of creativity and new lows of the internal strife that would destroy them. Between the pressure of being filmed during rehearsals and writing sessions for the documentary Get Back, their company Apple Corps facing bankruptcy, Lennon's heroin use, and musical disagreements, the group was arguing more than ever before and their formerly close friendship began to disintegrate. In the midst of this rancour, however, emerged the disharmony of Let It Be and the ragged genius of Abbey Road, their incredible farewell love letter to the world"--
The definitive biography of The Beatles, hailed as "irresistible" by the New York Times, "riveting" by the Boston Globe, and "masterful" by Time. As soon as The Beatles became famous, the spin machine began to construct a myth -- one that has continued to this day. But the truth is much more interesting, much more exciting, and much more moving -- the highs and the lows, the love and the rivalry, the awe and the jealousy, the drugs, the tears, the thrill, and the magic to never be repeated. In this vast, revelatory, exuberantly acclaimed, and bestselling book, Bob Spitz has written the biography for which Beatles fans have long waited.
The arrival of the Beatles was one of those unforgettable cultural touchstones. Through the voices of those who witnessed it or were swept up in it indirectly, The Beatles Are Here! explores the emotional impact—some might call it hysteria—of the Fab Four’s February 1964 dramatic landing on our shores. Contributors, including Lisa See, Gay Talese, Renée Fleming, Roy Blount, Jr., and many others, describe in essays and interviews how they were inspired by the Beatles. This intimate and entertaining collection arose from writer Penelope Rowlands’s own Beatlemaniac phase: she was one of the screaming girls captured in an iconic photograph that has since been published around the world—and is displayed on the cover of this book. The stories of these girls, who found each other again almost 50 years later, are part of this volume as well. The Beatles Are Here! gets to the heart of why, half a century later, the Beatles still matter to us so deeply.
Rob Sheffield, the Rolling Stone columnist and bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape, offers an entertaining, unconventional look at the most popular band in history, the Beatles, exploring what they mean today and why they still matter so intensely to a generation that has never known a world without them. Meet the Beatles is not another biography of the Beatles, or a song-by-song analysis of the best of John and Paul. It isn’t another exposé about how they broke up. It isn’t a history of their gigs or their gear. It is a collection of essays telling the story of what this ubiquitous band means to a generation who grew up with the Beatles music on their parents’ stereos and their faces on T-shirts. What do the Beatles mean today? Why are they more famous and beloved now than ever? And why do they still matter so much to us, nearly fifty years after they broke up? As he did in his previous books, Love is a Mix Tape, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, and Turn Around Bright Eyes, Sheffield focuses on the emotional connections we make to music. This time, he focuses on the biggest pop culture phenomenon of all time—The Beatles. In his singular voice, he explores what the Beatles mean today, to fans who have learned to love them on their own terms and not just for the sake of nostalgia. Meet the Beatles tells the story of how four lads from Liverpool became the world’s biggest pop group, then broke up—but then somehow just kept getting bigger. At this point, their music doesn’t belong to the past—it belongs to right now. This book is a celebration of that music, showing why the Beatles remain the world’s favorite thing—and how they invented the future we’re all living in today.
Celebrate The Beatles with rare photographs and a never-before-seen collection of removable, collectible memorabilia. At one time the most famous pop band in the world, The Beatles still hold center stage. Anyone who lived through the 1960s remembers them, and the digital remastering of their output has ensured that younger generations know them too. How could they not? The songs will live forever and are regularly used in film or TV scores, on advertisements, and on radio channels everywhere. With such coverage and interest, how can there be anything new to say about the band? The Beatles manages to do so thanks to the remarkable collection of photographs housed in Mirrorpix, the library of the Daily Mirror, Britain's premier popular daily. With so much interest in the band, photographers were always looking to cover not just the major events that all the media attended, but smaller, more intimate moments. And then, of course, there were the paparazzi: The Beatles were perfect targets for this new breed of photographer who didn't ask for permission to take their photos and followed George, Paul, John, and Ringo wherever they went. The book begins with an overview, starting with Brian Epstein's birth in 1934 to The Beatles signing with him in 1961, in between covering their time in Liverpool, their start as the Quarrymen, their gigs in Hamburg, and the dawn of what would become their iconic hairstyles. Each ensuing chapter contains unique timelines that highlight notable daily activities each year, from concert dates, to personal matters (Paul marries Linda March 12, 1969), to epic events that solidify the group's fame forever (Apple Records launches August 11, 1968). The book finishes with a chapter on the band's breakup and their lives, post-Beatles. Included are 15 removable reproductions of collectible memorabilia, including: Concert posters and flyers for the group's performances, including at the Odeon (with Roy Orbison in 1963) and their record-breaking Shea Stadium appearance (1965) 1963 program cover for a Royal performance in the presence of the Queen Mother at the Prince of Wales Theatre 1963 signed souvenir card from their Scottish tour of Glasgow, Kirkcaldy, and Dundee Cover from a pictorial commemorating their 1964 performances at Carnegie Hall 1965 Christmas card signed by the Fab Four 1966 advertisement for the band's US single release, "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby" Cartoon and caricature cards Mirrorpix has a sensational collection of material that was taken to feed an insatiable desire to see the band, their families, hangers on, and what they all did. Record launches, publicity events, holidays, flights in and out of the country, TV broadcasts, film work, births, deaths, and marriages: every event was photographed. With this sort of coverage, unsurprisingly, much material was not published, and it is this treasure trove that is showcased in this rare and exciting collection. Collectors of all stripes will cherish the removable reproductions of memorabilia.
