WHY THE BEATLES WILL GO ON FOR EVER
As The Beatles' live shows return to the spotlight, Giles Martin, Jon Savage and others explain why the magical mystery tour goes on.
When The Beatles split up in 1970, John Lennon was typically scornful and dismissive. “People keep talking about it like it’s the end of the Earth,” he told an interviewer. “It’s nothing important – it’s only a rock group.”
Almost 50 years on from the split, The Beatles appear to have defied Lennon’s own brush-off, becoming bigger, and more important, than ever. The Fab Four may no longer occupy a central space in the music industry, yet they still loom larger than everything else, hovering over pop culture like omnipresent gods – the ultimate arbiter of artistic quality and commercial success.
There is the apparently unending stream of books, documentaries, photo exhibitions and repackaged music. Cynics may wonder whether it ever stops, what more there now is to say, to look at or hear. Such is the insatiable demand for Beatles product, the stuff keeps on coming anyway.
This month sees the release of The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years, director Ron Howard’s look at the band’s live performances and life on the road. Rather good it is too, successfully capturing the riotous spirit swirling round Brian Epstein’s boys wherever they went. Released alongside the documentary is a newly remastered version of the Live at the Hollywood Bowl album, featuring the best songs from scream-smothered shows (pictured below) in 1964 and 1965.
The remastered LP is another project undertaken by Giles Martin, son of the band’s legendary producer, George Martin, who died earlier this year. Giles has become keeper of the sacred flame, at least in terms of the recording catalogue, having rearranged The Beatles’ music for Love, the theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil, and reworked the songs again for The Beatles: Rock Band video game (pictured below).
By: Adam Forrest
Source: The Big Issue
