U.K. 1960s Continued from page 59 Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream as the Shindig! team tuck in.


As my good lady Sara said to me, “There's music... and then there's The Beatles”. She has a point. However objective we try to be we listen to The Beatles in a way that we reserve solely for... well, The Beatles. People like Sara and I grew up listening to our parents' Beatles records in the ’70s and, as small children, it was plain and simply just great music. It was within us. When those later records were themselves no more than four or five years old, and particularly when we were four or five years old, The Beatles were not considered “things of the past” or criticised. How can kids even interpret such things as “the past” or “compared to what”? Young kids in the ’70s could not help being surrounded by them: the films, the memorabilia and the music. And here we are in 2009, older and wiser, with years not


only behind us, but The Beatles too. Once they were four, now they number two. But they’re still one of the most popular bands on earth, having just filled the charts over 40 years on. It’s these CDs that have once again brought them into our household. Starting with Abbey Road we all sat open-mouthed (including my five year old daughter Maya, a hereditary Beatles fan from birth). Yes, this lengthy project had been worthwhile – the music sounds as fresh as a daisy and the clarity of the instrumentation gives the illusion of being in the mixing booth as the record was laid down. Backtracking from Please Please Me I have now reached Pepper and rather than get into the little time EMI spent on the stereo mixes or the superiority of the mono mixes, I just want to mention the music. From Lennon's raw vocals on 'Twist And Shout' to the clanging Rickenbacker 12-string all over A Hard Day's Night and the songs of Lennon, Macca and George (not to mention the “should be throwaway” Ringo numbers) this is sublime music. Even when not up to scratch with the band's finest material, the lesser moments rarely fall short of interesting. Sara is right: one can criticise every other artist under the


sun but “there's music... and then there's The Beatles”. These remasters are not only testament to their brilliance but a benchmark in recorded music. Jon ‘Mojo’ Mills


Being of advancing years means that I witnessed The Beatles phenomenon as it happened, albeit initially as an eight year old. But, already being an Elvis fan, I was immediately aware that this was unlike anything the world had seen and they had some great songs so I collected the bubblegum cards. Then the Stones appeared and I switched camps for the more dangerous rebel option which would soon grow into a lifelong obsession. It was only when I’d “matured” with the summer of love


and Sgt Pepper appeared (memorably supplying the soundtrack to my tears as Radio London closed down to ‘A Day In The Life’) that I realised The Beatles were actually changing that world. As John Peel provided the soundtrack to my adolescence, The Beatles were never far away either. Then they split up, leaving the world to the Stones. It wasn’t until the Flamin’ Groovies appeared paying towering tribute in 1976 and Cyril Jordan had spent hours explaining the intricacies of their innovations that I fully appreciated The Beatles’ brand of genius. Everyone else has been remastered so why not them?


But Exile On Main Street is coming in the New Year... with out-takes! Kris Needs


Although a teenager through the first half of the ’60s The Beatles meant nothing to me. I was aware of them in 1963 of course – how could I not be? They were the only thing my peers talked about. But in ’63 I also heard the clarion call of “Two girls For Every Boy” in Jan & Dean’s ‘Surf City’. ‘Surfin’ USA’ by The Beach Boys followed and I was hooked. How could the Liverpool sound compete with the teenage heaven that was California? The Beatles portrayed reality: “The world is treating me bad, misery”. Jan & Dean provided fantasy: “When I get to


60


Surf City, I’ll be shooting the curl and checking out the parties for a surfer girl”. No contest. Pat Curran


As a kid I was Beatles-obsessed. I “hosted” (in my own bedroom, and for my own entertainment) a radio show, where I spun my favourite Beatles songs for that week. I was pleased to find that if I pulled down on my cheeks and made my eyes go droopy, I looked something like Paul McCartney. I still listen to Beatles records, mostly leaning on their ’65-66 stuff and some of John Lennon’s songs from their last few albums. I see them now as a (note: one of, not the) fantastic band from a charmed era, that made a string of brilliant records and also released some serious duds. My back goes up when I hear and read things that suggest


The Beatles were the only act making mind-bending and ear- pleasing music in the ’60s. I prefer Odessey And Oracle, Village Green and Forever Changes to Sgt Pepper, would be hard pressed to choose between Pet Sounds and Rubber Soul; Sunshine Superman and Revolver. I’ll get a few of the remasters eventually, but this week I’m


focused on the Big Star and LA Nuggets box sets. Brian Greene


As far as yours truly is concerned, there is no getting around the delightful fact that The Beatles were by far the most significant group in the long sweep of the history of rock ’n’ roll. This makes it difficult to offer a tidy summary of their constantly evolving career and its often profound effect on the world around them.


“EVERY NOTE THEY RECORDED DESERVES TO BE HEARD.”


It’s great to have all their peerless music now available in


the best sound possible (especially Sgt Pepper and The White Album) but their songs and Merseybeat attitude were always just a part of their global appeal – the talented quartet, in tandem with producer George Martin, were the almost inadvertent trailblazers for an entirely new way of presenting mainstream pop music. Their well documented, optimism- leavened influence as a cultural, political, literary, social, artistic and revolutionary force rests engagingly alongside their music and merrily fascinates listeners to this day. Dig it. Gary von Tersch


Those bloody Beatles eh? They’re everywhere. It shocks me that there aren’t more people out there tired of their tedious ubiquity. I have no idea what more is left to say about them, but certain music publications still gleefully turn out issue after issue of barrel-scraping crud with their grizzly fizzogs beaming out from the newsagents rail. Beatles obsessive still seem to lap it up; we are talking about a group of people who obsess over non-existent studio outtakes after all. Even disregarding their omnipresence, something about


them just sticks in my craw. They’re too well mannered, even when taking LSD with Indian gurus or posing for photos as baby butchers. I want to listen to something that tears my fucking face off with its rock ’n’ roll stupidity and the Fabs (ugh! I hate that term) just don’t do it. Fundamentally, I’m just so BORED of The Beatles. There’s


so much great music out there that’s never been covered – even in a specialist mag like this – and won’t ever get space because everyone’s still writing about the same five bands. I guess Mott The Hoople said it best, "and my brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones... what a drag." Austin Matthews


Being there at the beginning of the beat boom, and having success on a level hitherto unknown before or since, The Beatles became the yardstick for many groups who followed.


Swift developments in Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting – Harrison’s too – saw them create some of the world’s most beguiling pop music, while ongoing innovations in sonic projection plus the group’s sometimes out-on-a-limb experimental phases, put them – for a time at least – beyond the reach of their peers. George Martin and other EMI technicians offered expertise, advice and ultimately helped them realise many of their studio dreams. Personally – the odd few tracks aside – I used to not like


much at all from Sgt Pepper onwards, but in recent years have discovered the joys of Abbey Road. However, I do still firmly believe The White Album would’ve been much better as, say, a fifteen or sixteen cut single LP. Who needs the rest? Lenny Helsing


From the time I was five years old, when my parents would find me running around our living room yelling “yeah, yeah, yeah”, through the early ’70s, when the Red and Blue albums became the first I ever bought (on cassette), until today, when the entire body of work of the most important rock ’n’ roll band to walk the face of the earth has finally gotten its sonic due, The Beatles have been a vital part of the soundtrack of my life. Five hundred years from now, when people with a wave of their hand will be able to make the entire history of the world appear before their very eyes, The Beatles will be the one recording artist from the 20th century whose name will light up first. Not that it will need to – they’ll be remembered until the end of time. David Bash


They really were the best weren’t they? Stylish, clever, fearlessly creative, indefatigably charismatic, with wit, imagination and panache to burn (or so it seemed) – and unparalleled quality control to boot! Their best efforts are unassailable bastions of 20th century musical excellence. But tellingly – astonishingly – the iridescent fairy dust that rained down upon Studio 2 and blessed those musical monuments we Shindiggers hold so holy was also sprinkled upon even their weakest efforts. In short, even their shit smelled good. When I discovered them at the age of 13 in 1976, I was


too late for the party. My sister had an old, scratchy 45 of ‘Nowhere Man’ (still my favourite) and I used to run home from school at lunchtime so I could play it over and over: an eternal moment of transcendence preserved in my own personal mythology. Every note they recorded deserves to be heard (heard,


not autopsied). Tom Sandford


I do try where possible to sit back and keep my counsel whenever a Beatles debate is raging; but for the life of me I just can’t help rolling up my Oxford bags and wading in to offer a spirited defence, shaking my fists and spluttering incoherently. The recent remastering programme and consequent


media blitz has brought no end of dissenters out of the woodwork, which I suppose is fair enough. Everyone is entitled to an opinion; even if not liking The Beatles is a sure sign of mental enfeeblement and abject cheerlessness. To the doubting John Thomases, I would say only this: that whichever band it is that floats your boat, that band arguably wouldn’t exist had it not been for The Beatles; they unlocked the playground. They legitimised the notion that bands could and should generate their own material. They introduced the mindset that pop music can be anything you want it to be. They epitomised the impulse to experiment and move forward.


They’re as essential to my life as food and air, and


nominating a favourite song is as impossible as choosing a favourite strand of DNA. For the moment, let’s say ‘It’s All Too Much’. No, wait, ‘Blue Jay Way’. No, wait, ‘Rain’… Marco Rossi


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