The Secrets of the Fabs’ Success

Why was it that 4 working class Liverpool lads, born in the war years, and growing up in the 50s went on to so much success?

Well to a lot of people not around to witness the whirlwind first time it probably seems that John & Paul met in 1958. They wrote a few songs. George joined the band. They played the Cavern. Then they went to Hamburg.They came back became overnight sensations in the UK after meeting  George Martin and Ringo replacing Pete Best. Next they cracked America. Beatlemania turned the world crazy. So they stopped touring. They created Sergeant Pepper in the psychedelic summer of 1967. Although now it is not held in the same regard. It was the defining album of the time.

It all seems so easy. But the factors of their success are actually a combination of many things. Britain had just given up it’s empire to defeat the Germans. America was now the dominant free nation on the planet. Rock’n Roll was beginning to attract the younger generations there and Liverpool was ideally placed to import the American records. Something that influenced John, Paul and George from a very young age. There were no computer games, films had to be viewed at a cinema, TV was in it’s infancy. So radio was the most influential source of information and entertainment in the Beatles youth. Music did not compete as much for attention as it would with today’s kids. And the youth of the 60s had more disposable income than their parents.

Back in the early 1960s a new band starting out did not necessarily have the competition a new band today would. Rock music had little history. Today you may be lucky to get a song released but are competing not just with your peers but the 50 years of rock’s golden past as well. There was no fragmentation into rock/pop/garage/R ‘n B/rap.soul etc. amongst the radio and TV stations. And finally the great classic tunes of the next decades had still to be written.

Of course the Beatles needed talent. Writing your own songs was generally not something artists did back in the day. It was usually churned out by “Tin Pan Alley” and you were given a song to sing. Although John & Paul will arguably go down as the 20th century’s finest songwriters their meeting was crucial to the Beatles. Although they would collaborate on songs there was also a competitive edge between the two of them. This pushed the Beatles on to be better and try new things continually. The early beginnings of basic rock ‘n roll and simpler “Me”,”You” type of lyric had changed within 2 years. And of course the production line of singles and albums never slowed and never stopped until the break up. In fact it went on until John went into semi-retirement. U2 have taken 30 years to produce the same output as the Beatles did in 7. And Although U2 may be one of the biggest bands on the planet they have never matched the overall quality of the Beatles singles and albums.

Finally the thing that more than anything pushed the Beatles on to be the most successful band of the last 50 years was damned simple hard work. It had taken years to reach the point of popularity in the UK. In the early days it was learning chords and playing licks on the guitar.  Hamburg made the group. Playing long sets made the band much tighter as a unit and also gave them an edge over the local bands at home . Then once they finally got a recording contract they toured, did interview after interview, and finally made it to the point were everybody wanted a piece of the Beatles. But they didn’t rest on their laurels. The music became even more innovative but still retained it’s commercial quality. The output never slowed down.

There can never be another Beatles. Popular music has moved on. Or perhaps more accurately it has never really moved on that much since the Beatles. Sure there has been synthesizers, computer production and even sub-genres of music since. But the basic musical structures of popular music haven’t really changed that much from the Beatles day. They made their own success to an extent with the hard work,strength of songwriting, record production, and their unique personalities. But they also burst onto the scene at just the right time to become the biggest band in the world.

Who?

Let It Be said….

Let it Be – the album, the bootlegs,the movie and the end of the road for the Beatles. It is generally considered one of the Beatles worst collections of music on disc. In fact the consensus seems to be that the sessions contributed more than anything towards a disintegration of the band. George was fed up of his songs being suppressed by the two heavy weights on the band and even walked out at one point. Ringo looks decidedly bored and detached in large parts of the movie.  As for John he seems unable to communicate coherently with anyone other than Yoko.  His drug abuse not helping the situation. Only Paul seems happy to be a Beatle even though that beard takes some getting used to.

As for the album, play it if you want to play or don’t play it at all if you don’t want to play it. It depends on how much you care for it. Whatever your standpoint on “Let It Be” I think it is a fine album and contains some great tracks. “Two of Us” is like a throwback to the Everly Brothers and, despite Paul’s assertion that the song is about getting lost on a car journey with Linda, you know that there are enough references to leave you thinking it’s about John as well. John knew it and his vocal duet with Paul lifts off the album nicely. “Dig A Pony” is perhaps nothing more than a throwaway from John but leads nicely into one of the true classics from the album “Across the Universe”. George’s rock-waltz “I Me Mine” is short and sweet . It seems to comment on the way he feels the Beatles are dealing with each other at the time. It’s a good number but was actually not recorded properly for the album until a year later.
“Let it Be” is another classic track. Almost gospel like from Paul. Perhaps his acceptance that the band was coming to an end? And “I’ve Got a Feeling” is the last true Lennon/McCartney number on a Beatles record. Although it was two different songs initially John & Paul worked them into one and the result is another fine piece of rock.

“Dig It” and “Maggie Mae” are basically snippets of unrehearsed jam sessions and are nothing but filler. “One After 909” is the Beatles of the early 60s again and you get the feeling the fabs really enjoyed playing this one. “The Long and Winding Road” is yet another classic but an imperfect one.  Phil Spector did his best to cover some of the crude bass playing by John with  strings and a choir.  Paul may have not liked it at the time but in my opinion Spector’s production does not detract from the song. “For You Blue” is just a pure piece of fun from George and  the band are in a better mood recording this one. Finally “Get Back” closes the album. Another classic rocker from the band, and yes, they passed the audition.

“Let it Be, Naked” is often thought to be Paul McCartney’s further adventures in re-writing Beatles history. Conveniently forgetting that “Don’t Let Me Down” has been added. A track that should have replaced “Dig It” and “Maggie Mae” on the original to give John more presence on an album he contributed just 2 new songs to (in fact one if you accept Across the Universe was not that new). The sparser versions of “Long & Winding Road” and “Across the Universe” still sound great and the rest of the songs have a more polished feel. The track listing is also more balanced. It’s a nice complement to “Let it Be” but the second out-takes disc could have been so much more.

As for Bootlegs there are hundreds of hours of what at times is painful listening. But there are some interesting conversations and pieces of music amongst the crap. A good start, for those unfamiliar with these, is this podcast: http://rockandrollscience.podomatic.com/

“Let it Be” is what it is. The Beatles trying to get back to their roots and not always playing at their best. It lacks the polished production George Martin would have brought to it had it been recorded at Abbey Road. But that was the whole point of the project. It has some real classic tracks on it and it’s re-mastered version sounds even better. Now can we have the DVD with lots of extras please Apple?

If the Fabs had gone on past 1970…..

This is a piece of utter conjecture and is a bit like imagining a world where Hitler won World War II.  But what  if the Beatles had managed to stay together as a working band in some form? What would have been their ultimate fate? My guess is that to give themselves space the fabs would agree to make an album together at intervals of a year or two with solo projects interspersing these. I’m not going to complete a Beatles fantasy album songtrack from their solo stuff.  Many others have already done so and with today’s technology it’s easy to make your own “mix” CD if you want to.

If differences had been buried, and some agreement to carry on put in place, then I would foresee the band’s success carrying well on into the 70s. Only the best songs would make it to a Beatles album and there would be less pressure to produce the  quantity (the songs would be spread amongst John, Paul and George) of material as there was for the solo albums. And 1973 would surely have seen the Beatles hitting some sort of creative peak again given the quality of their material around this time

A successful live appearance at the Concert for Bangladesh may have prompted plans for more one-off events or TV specials. Problems with John being thrown out America in the early 70s after his political rallying may have been ironed out by say 1975/6 and we could have seen a full on Beatles global tour. Echoing the success of the real world Wings tour around the same time.

But after 1978 would the Beatles have started to become stale once Mull of Kintyre had faded out of the charts? Back in the  UK punk had taken a grip and the old rock elite was being trashed by the energetic frenzy of 3 chords and a lot of noise. By 1979 only Paul was still selling shed loads of  records in the UK and even his album “Back to the Egg” was considered a flop wit h no hit singles. And had it been a Beatles album I fear the press would be writing the band off as following trends, rather than setting them, as the band once did. Let’s imagine that 1980 passed peacefully and a certain Mark Chapman’s and John Lennon’s paths never cross. Where would the Beatles go from there?

In reality Lennon’s death brought focus back on the band in 1980 and his records sold in huge volume. However without that defining moment I could see the Beatles slowly losing their popularity. McCartney getting accused of trying to follow on the new wave/punk trends and Lennon accused of turning into McCartney with his songs about domestic bliss. They would still be around but they would have to ride out the majority of the 80s accepting that they were a fading force. Now, come the 90s and the rise of “Cool Britannia”, a return to “Britpop”, that echoed the ideals and fun of the 60s, the Beatles would be seen as great again. The Anthology would be made.  Although the content would be completely different. A live world tour in the mid-90s would see the Fabs once again become the best-selling act of all time.

Many point to the Rolling Stones as an example of what the Beatles would have become had they stayed together. A band now forever stuck in their past touring the world. I believe the Beatles would never capture the heights of the 60s again. But I also think that the band would have been much more relevant than the Rolling Stones in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Ahh what might have been………..

The Fifth Beatle?

For 50 years there has always seemingly been a “fifth” Beatle. I think it is fair to say that although the likes of Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans and even their manager Brian Epstein could lay some minor claim to this title that they should be ruled out as they made little musical contribution to the Beatles career. And for me the music is the important thing. They may have guided or assisted the Beatles for many years, offered a lyrical suggestion or even hit an anvil or two during a recording session. But they were never really members of the band at any stage.

This brings us to the musical contributors at Beatle shows or on record. There was Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best.  Even Jimmy Nicol and Andy White were technically fifth Beatles for a time. Perhaps Eric Clapton or even Billy Preston can argue that for a fleeting moment they were also the fifth Beatle. Brian Jones made a contribution, once, as did many session musicians of the day. Yoko can be heard clearly singing a lead line on “Bungalow Bill” from the White Album. But, no, they were not even close to being a fifth Beatle in terms of leaving an indelible stamp on what has now become an historical body of work.

The title of “Fifth Beatle” must surely belong to Sir George Martin. The fusion of the Beatles raw, young, musical talent allied with George’s knowledge of music theory and production skills was a perfect match up. A similar sense of humour helped as well I guess.

From his early suggestion to speed up “Please, Please Me” to his likely final work on arranging “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for the 2006 Love album. George Martin arranged, produced and even transformed some Beatles songs into pure aural magic. Sometimes it was merely suggesting that the song intro be tweaked a little. On others songs his arrangements plus the Beatles performance could blow you away.

Could any other producer have made “Yesterday” into the classic popular song it is?  Many have copied it but few can match the original string quartet backing with a solemn vocal by McCartney. And its brevity leaves you with the exact longing to hear it one more time and”.. believe in “Yesterday”. On Revolver his skilful arrangement of “Eleanor Rigby” turned it into another Beatles classic.

Would anyone else have been able to understand the mind of John Lennon and turn his ideas for “Strawberry Fields Forever” from a simple guitar demo to the classic song we know today? It’s place as one of the Beatles greatest ever works has long been assured.

Then came “Sgt. Pepper” and especially Martin’s work on “A Day in the Life” and slightly later “I Am the Walrus”.  The Beatles were no longer singing ‘pop’ songs. They were creating tone poems. The songs were courtesy of John or Paul (occasionally George and even once or twice from Ringo) but George Martin would add colour and texture with his arrangements that made the songs come alive. This in an age years before synthesizers became commonplace.  And, even when the time came, the Moog synths  were used tastefully and sparingly on Abbey Road.

John later commented that he felt the songs he’d written never came out as he’d heard them in his head . George Martin told the story of meeting up with John in 1980 and Lennon commenting “..I’d re-record everything again that we did”. When George asked “Even Strawberry Fields Forever?”, John peered over his glasses and said “..Especially Strawberry Fields! “.

But me – I’m happy with Sir George Martin’s contribution to the music and legend of the Beatles. Without him the Beatles may never have sealed a recording contract. From there, who knows what may have happened? Would there have still been  prog-rock , glam-rock, punk rock and indie music  because George Martin never met the Beatles?

Whether he was the fifth Beatle will be debated forever.  In my mind there is no doubt.

5th Beatle?

Welcome!

Welcome to Something About the Beatles.

This is my first blog about the band. I live in the Beatles homeland of Merseyside and became a fan as a young boy in the 70s after hearing the famous red and blue albums. I’ve been collecting the records, movies, books etc.  ever since.

The plan is to get something on here at roughly weekly intervals.