How well did Brian Epstein manage The Beatles?

Seest thou the man who is diligent in his business shall stand before kings.

These words from the Hebrew Book of Proverbs were spoken at the memorial service of Brian Epstein who died 50 years ago from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Scores of books have praised and/or castigated the Beatles' manager who has been called the Fifth Beatle (along with George Martin, Pete Best, Stuart Sutcliffe). "Eppy" has been praised for ushering the group to stardom, but also cursed for losing them millions in bad deals. Stripping away the legend and hype, we ask, how good a manager was Brian Epstein? We look at Epstein's performance in areas including marketing, negotiating, concerts, records, music publishing and, yes, merchandising.

Backgrounder: the music world in 1961
First, let's remember there was no rock industry when Epstein started managing The Beatles in November 1961. There wasn't even rock. Instead, clean-cut, candyass pop singers and MOR crooners, not bands, ruled the airwaves. Singles sold, not albums. Careers lasted 18 months. Apart from Elvis (and only to a degree), musicians didn't merchandise themselves in dolls, lunchboxes and wigs. No act sold out football stadiums. Pop stars made shallow, low-budget movies to cash in on their fleeting stardom. And singers did not write their own songs; they were expected to sing someone else's, chosen by their label, producer and/or manager. This was the music industry that furniture and record retailer Brian Epstein dove into in 1961 that he and his band would revolutionize.

Marketing

The Beatles were the first punks, swearing, eating and smoking onstage in leather jackets a full decade before the Ramones and Sex Pistols. But let's face it: In 1961 when Epstein signed the Beatles, no band--no matter how talented and especially from northern England--was going anywhere behaving and dressed like back-alley scruffs. Musicians wore suits and combed their hair. No exceptions. Epstein had no choice but to clean up the Beatles' presentation, and contrary to legend, Lennon, the most rebellious Beatle, went along with it. This repackaging worked. The suits made the Beatles presentable to all audiences around the world, most importantly middle America. It was also a canny move, because the Beatles ushered in the mid-60s Mod look with modern suits that boasted colour and expressive styles that still looks sharp today.
Grade: A

Recording Contract

The Beatles ruled Merseyside clubs in 1961, but they couldn't break out nationally without a recording contract. Epstein knew that his role as manager depended on it and the pressure was heavy. Of anyone in Liverpool, Epstein had the best chance to score this prize because he ran the NEMS records department, the largest one in the area. Record labels already knew him and respected his power in selling their discs. That got Epstein into the door. Contrary to promoter Sam Leach (read Sam Leach was The Sixth Beatle? Bollocks on this blog), Epstein's chutzpah landed the eventual recording contract with EMI. The labels didn't roll out the red carpet and hand it to him. (For the full, complicated story, read Mark Lewisohn's exceptional Tune In.) Also credit Epstein for another crucial act: he re-awakened John and Paul as songwriters. It's a little-known fact, but until Epstein signed the Beatles, John and Paul had stopped writing originals. Epstein saw their path to enduring success through original songs. Without those songs, we would have never known the Beatles.
Grade: A

Music Publishing
In 1961, there was no rock industry and bands didn't write their own songs. In fact, bands didn't chart; solo artists did. Elvis was the King, but the King didn't write his own songs. The Beatles and Epstein entered unknown waters when they released Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. They didn't understand how music publishing worked. Essentially, in the early-60s, a music publisher plugged a new single to TV shows, scored radio airplay, printed the sheet music and convinced other singers to record it. All this generated revenue that Dick James split 50/50 with Lennon and McCartney. This sounds unfair today. Why would a song-plugger receive 50% of the money, especially when Beatles' songs needed no promoting? Remember, this split was standard in that era, and music publishers had overheads like their offices to pay and truly worked to promote a song. Further, when Dick James plugged Please Please Me, the Beatles were unknowns and nobody foresaw Lennon and McCartney turning into a songwriting juggernaut. Certainly, after 1963, Dick James didn't need to plug the Beatles' songs and was coasting on the band's success. But you can't fault Epstein for signing this deal.

However, the scenario is far more controversial with Northern Songs, the Beatles' publishing company that was established in February 1963 after Please Please Me topped the charts. Dick James and his accountant owned 51% of the company shares while Paul held 20%, John 19% or 20% and Epstein 10%. The point is, John, Paul and Epstein held no more than 49%, which meant that James held the voting advantage at 51%. Income from record sales, live  and music publishing was split 50/50 between the two camps, though NEMS received only 10% of sheet music sales. James also received an administrative fee for running Northern Songs in the U.K. as well as abroad where John and Paul actually received a smaller cut of revenues after overseas companies took their cut. (For the full history of the Beatles' publishing, I recommend the excellent Northern Songs by Brian Southall with Rupert Perry.)

Photographed by David Bailey

Back in the early-60s these were standard percentages but obviously exploited songwriters and enriched businessmen. This situation wouldn't change until the early-70s when rock matured into an industry. "John and I were taken for a ride," McCartney understandably complained to Mojo in 2005. "John and I didn't know you could own songs," Paul said in another interview. "We thought they just existed in the air."

Thankfully, Paul now owns his Beatles' songs due to a recent deal, but for most of his career and John's life, the songwriters were the poor men in their own publishing deal. Epstein didn't secure the best deal for his clients.
Grade: C

Merchandising

It's no secret that Epstein's greatest debacle was merchandising. Untold millions were lost, though attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic reaped thousands in the lawsuits that followed. We're talking 100,000 units of wallpaper and 100,000 toy guitars selling overnight in 1964. The Beatles' British, American and international success happened overnight, and the sharks circled to mass-produce almost any product that bore the name "Beatles." Understandably, Epstein could not assess all the merchandising requests that flooded his office or police the companies that were making Beatles merch and ripping them off. So Eppy was relieved when his solicitor, David Jacobs, offered to oversee merchandising. In America, the Beatles' merch operation was called Seltaeb ("Beatles" backwards). For reasons that Jacobs took to his grave, he signed away 90% of the American revenues to a mysterious figure named Nicky Byrne and three partners, leaving the Beatles with only 10% to split amongst them. That's right: 10%. For America, Byrne assigned lawyer Walter Hofer to administer American merchandising licenses which compounded this fiasco. Geoffrey Ellis, who served Hofer in late 1964, recalls licensing Beatles watches to a U.K. company but also fab four jewellery to a different company to be sold worldwide. Deals like this led to lawsuits. Ellis also recalls that Epstein took the appalling 90/10 deal personally and blamed himself for letting his boys down. By fall 1965, NEMS sued Seltaeb, launching a long, expensive two-year legal battle that infuriated the Beatles. True, Epstein wasn't the sole person at fault. Many were, including Jacobs and Byrne, but Epstein's failure to oversee merchandising was his greatest failure and it haunted him until his early death.
Grade: F

Negotiating
Brian Epstein was the most honest manager in show business in the mid-60s, which was his greatest strength and his greatest flaw. He operated on handshake deals, such as his agreement with Sid Bernstein to book Carnegie Hall in 1964 and Shea Stadium in 1965. He also didn't push Ed Sullivan for a higher fee, but demanded top billing for The Beatles for three straight shows even though they were (at the time of signing in late 1963) complete unknowns in the States. In other words, Epstein valued long-term exposure over short-term profit. Shrewd. However, there were moments when he undersold the Beatles. An example was A Hard Day's Night. United Artists producer, Walter Shenson, was prepared to relinquish up to 25% of the profits to the Beatles, but were stunned when Epstein's opening demand was a low 7.5%. On these occasions, Epstein was naive and meek, two deadly qualities in a cutthroat business.
Grade: C

Rapport with The Beatles

It's impossible to quantify the relationship between a musician and his manager. Managers are friends, business representatives, advocates, brothers, fathers and confessors to their clients. Sometimes they are true believers in their musicians. At worst, they are crooks (i.e. The Beatles, ahem, later management). Despite Epstein's shortcomings in business, he truly believed in the Beatles' talent and was a genuine fan. He identified their strengths: charisma, humour, performance and composing. Again, Epstein's encouragement of John and Paul to write original songs was crucial and, I argue, his greatest contribution to the band. At the height of Beatlemania, Epstein could have sold his stake and retired rich, but he remained loyal. Further, the Beatles were not easy masters to serve, not with the unpredictable John Lennon or demanding Paul McCartney.

Sadly, countless musicians were screwed by their managers: Elvis, Bob Dylan, the Stone Roses, New Order, the Rolling Stones and (after Epstein) the Beatles themselves. To his credit, Epstein let the Beatles do what they did best: make music. After selecting the song list for the failed Decca audition of 1962 (mostly showtunes and standards), he never interfered and he did his best to protect them from the sharks in the music business. He never robbed the Beatles. He treated them like artists with respect and even awe. He was never a Beatle, but he was part of their inner circle and essential to their existence. When he died 50 years ago, Lennon immediately (and secretly) knew, "We fuckin' had it," and history proves that the Beatles started slowly disintegrating: Magical Mystery Tour, Apple, Allen Klein, etc.
Grade: A

Overall
If the Beatles' story were to unfold again, then Brian Epstein would have hired a partner to manage the Beatles' business affairs to negotiate better music publishing, concert, record and especially merchandising deals. Likely, Apple would have never happened (that's an entirely different discussion). The Beatles, particularly John and Paul, would have been wealthier and the band probably would have lasted longer. Epstein was a master of packaging and presenting talent. I agree with Ray Coleman's assessment in his definite biography, Brian Epstein, that Eppy channeled his theatrical background and passion into launching the Beatles. I doubt that anyone else could have taken four scruffy rockers from the North and sold them to Middle America and the world. In short, Epstein was a flawed businessman--he could have done better for his boys--but he (and I Want To Hold Your Hand) was essential to breaking the Beatles worldwide. Brian Epstein was a mensch. No, he wasn't the Fifth Beatle (nobody was) and, no, he didn't "make" the Beatles as Ray Coleman insisted. The songs of John and Paul did. But without Brian Epstein, I doubt we would be speaking about the Beatles today.

Recommended viewing on Brain Epstein:

Beatles 50th anniversary in Toronto exhibition short-changes fans

Part of the Rowboat Syndicate's coverage celebrating the 50th anniversary of Revolver

review by Allan Tong

When The Beatles Rocked Toronto is long on Toronto history, but short on the Beatles.
Promoted as "Metropolitan life and music in the mid-60s," the exhibition (running through Nov.12 at the St. Lawrence Market's Market Gallery and part of a larger celebration, Beatles 50 T.O.) does just that. A detailed written timeline, vintage living room furniture, Yorkville coffee house posters, a giant map of the downtown music scene and archival photos detail the vibrant mid-60s scene in Toronto.

This part of the exhibition succeeds. It illustrates uptight, WASPy Toronto invaded by white kids playing folk music and rock 'n' roll. There are mementos of folkies including Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Young who graced the coffee houses of Yorkville, then a hotbed of teen rebellion (and today a millionaire's playground).

A glaring omission is Bob Dylan.

In September 1965, Dylan recruited Ronnie Hawkins' (a legendary Toronto rockabilly singer) band, The Hawks, to back him on his tour. Dylan was transitioning from a folkie into a rock star, and the Hawks (later The Band) would join him. The marriage of Dylan's lyrics with electricity revolutionized popular music in 1965 that directly influenced The Beatles. And Toronto played a key role. So, where's Bob?

This half (literally more than half the floor space of this art gallery) of the exhibition does not connect with The Beatles. True. It's important to offer context so that audiences today can understand the impact The Fab Four had on North American cities like Toronto. However, the Yorkville scene consisted of coffee houses where folk singers played. How did The Beatles fit? The exhibition feels like two separate shows: one about mid-60s Toronto music, and the other about The Beatles' three Toronto concerts in 1964, 1965 and 1966.

Visitors, of course, will pay more attention to the The Beatles' part of the exhibition. There is the requisite memorabilia: a tour program, bobbleheads, trading cards, an oversized comb, a Beatles wig, and a Toronto Telegram magazine picturing John in a ridiculous nightgown on the cover. The jewel is a pristine "butcher" cover. All fun and fine.

More intriguing are Canadian items that few fans have seen: ticket stubs from the Toronto shows, a Cadbury Chocolate offer to buy Beatles photos, CHUM radio station record charts, a rare concert poster, and a Canadian fan club membership card and newsletter. Capitol Canada head honcho, Paul White, contributes much of his own vinyl, including a company newsletter, dated Nov. 22, 1963, declaring "BEATLEMANIA" INVADES CANADA that outlines his record release schedule and strategy. (The exhibit proudly notes that the Beatles conquered Canada a year before the U.S.)

White shares some reminisces in a video that is part of a larger loop. No, there's no footage of The Beatles here, certainly not the concerts or interviews with screaming fans. Instead, there is a Toronto music program that ran on TV. Shamefully, most of this video is marred by out-of-synch audio.

That's right. There's not a single second of film or audio of any of The Beatles' concerts, press conferences or even news coverage (i.e. CBC-TV). Collectors have this already and some of it is available on the internet, but something - anything - deserves to be part of this exhibition. This is inexcusable.

The Beatles play Maple Leafs Gardens, Toronto, on Sept. 7, 1964 (photo: Boris Spremo)

The closest we get to reliving the concerts are two slideshows capturing fans clamouring outside Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto's venerable, old hockey arena where The Beatles performed, and of the band itself performing onstage and hosting press conferences. Photographers Boris Spremo, John Rowlands and Lynn Ball share many amazing images. Fans scrawl graffiti on the Gardens' back door, and weep and scream in and outside the venue. Watching this, I wondered, What happened to these teenage fans? Where are their reminisces in this exhibit?

Another glaring omission is the complete absence of Revolver. Though the band played no music from this album, the entire point behind the August 1966 tour was to promote it. Similarly, there's zero reference of The Beatles getting fed up with touring and soon winding down Beatlemania. There's no explicit mention of the Bigger Than Christ furor, Tokyo demonstrations and Manila fiasco that forever drove the Beatles, which in turn makes the 1966 Toronto concert all the more important. 1966 forced Sgt. Pepper.  Yet, none of this context is here.

The visitor gets close, but not close enough. When The Beatles Rocked Toronto is a nostalgia trip for Boomers who lived through the era, but they will gain no deeper understanding of The Beatles. Casual fans and those born after the 60s will enter a time capsule and get a taste of Beatlemania and Toronto music, but will not understand the significance of The Beatles on Canadian society. They were a big pop group, that's all.

At $10 admission and supported by the Toronto and Ontario governments, When The Beatles Rocked Toronto is a cash grab. 

Read more about Revolver here.

13 Beatles Deep Cuts

The Urban Dictionary defines a deep cut as as: "A song by an artist that only true fans of said artist will enjoy/know. True gems that are found later in an album, a b-side. Rarely if ever played on the radio."

The Beatles are perhaps the most widely played band of all time. Yet, there exists a handful of songs, buried on albums and B-sides that are hardly ever played on the radio nor appear on compilations--but should be. We at Rowboat Syndicate unearth these gems here: 


 
IT WON'T BE LONG (With The Beatles)
John's charging vocals set against a breakneck tempo launch the album that heralded Beatlemania. The "yeah yeah" backing vocals of Paul and George echo She Loves You which, along with moptops and collarless jackets, were hallmarks of Beatlemania. Indeed, With The Beatles was recorded in the summer of 1963 while She Loves You was riding atop the British charts. It Won't Be Long is the perfect album opener, bursting with infectious energy, a galloping backbeat and exuberant harmonies. This is the sound of a hot, confident band on the rise--and knows it.


THINGS WE SAID TODAY (A Hard Day's Night)
John was white-hot during the first flush of international Beatlemania, being the lead writer of 10 of the 13 songs on the album, A Hard Day's Night, but Paul made up for his lack of quantity with quality. Buried on side two of the original UK LP, and relegated to the B-side of the UK single of AHDN, Things We Said Today is an uptempo ballad marked by a strong guitar riff which grounds the song. Paul's vocal is cool yet assured, while the arrangement (vaguely Latin) runs against the typical love song and amounts to sounding like nothing else in the early Beatles period or this era for that matter.




I'M A LOSER (Beatles For Sale)
 Much has been said about the lyrics of this song, marking a maturity in Lennon's songwriting (as inspired by Bob Dylan), and deservedly so. It's the best song on Beatles For Sale, the band's weakest album, but I'm A Loser foreshadows the introspection found in the following summer's Help! single. While Rock and Roll Music and Eight Days A Week have appeared on compilations, the album's best song, I'm A Loser remains solely on Beatles for Sale.


YOU WON'T SEE ME
I'M LOOKING THROUGH YOU
(Rubber Soul)
The Beatles could have released half the songs off this album as singles, including these two anti-love songs. Paul wrote them during a difficult patch with then-girlfriend, actress Jane Asher. They're both upbeat, rythmic numbers, the former inspired by the Temptations, which only underlies the anguish of the lyrics. "When I call you up, your line's engaged / I have had enough, so act your age," sings Paul in You Won't See Me while in I'm Looking Through You, Paul declares that, "Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight." Solid vocals, catchy melodies and lyrics with bite make these two album tracks highlights on an album bursting with masterpieces.



 
SHE SAID SHE SAID
TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
(Revolver)
Revolver boasts such depth of songwriting, arrangment and performance that several of its songs qualify as deep cuts. How to choose? These two Lennon tracks, which close side A and B respectively on the original long-player, showcase a new direction in Lennon's songwriting. The songs reflect on mortality and mysticism. Also, they were directly shaped by acid trips.

She Said She Said is a direct lift from Peter Fonda recounting a near-death experience he has as a boy when he shot himself. He imparted this George to guide him through a rough LSD trip, while The Beatles were visiting Los Angeles in the summer of 1965. Lennon overheard Fonda's morbid anecdote and was repulsed by it. In other words, Peter Fonda is the "she" in She Said She Said. However, there's a melancholy in the song's "middle-eight" that anticipates the childhood retrospection of Strawberry Fields Forever: "When I was a boy / Everything was right." It's a mystery why Paul didn't play on this track, apart from having an arguing (over what?) and storming out of Abbey Road, but the remaining three Beatles play marvellously on this track. I personally consider Ringo's drumming on this song his best among all the Beatles recordings.

Tomorrow Never Knows is, of course, the album closer that paved the way to Sgt. Pepper. It's a song built on one chord and coloured with sound effects galore. The Beatles were infiltrating pop music with the avant-garde. The song stunned many at the time, but has never aged.

It astounds me that neither song has been included on various greatest hits compilations over the years, namely 1962-66. You will find them only on Revolver, arguably the band's greatest album.



 
RAIN (B-side, Past Masters 2)
To my ears, Rain and Paperback Writer are a double-sided single that rivals their previous and forthcoming UK singles, but Rain has never received the attention paid to its more popular flipside. Rain sounded too experimental for the pop charts of 1966, particularly its brilliant backwards coda. Paul's deep bass, Ringo's stuttered drumming and John's distorted vocals blend into a multicolour pastiche that shimmers whenever you listen to it. Rain is an amazing audio experience and remains as fresh as the day it was released in mid-1966. Until the CD age, Rain was available only on the Paperback Writer single. Again, why the hell wasn't it included on 1962-66 or the Hey Jude compilation of 1970? 


 
DEAR PRUDENCE
BLACKBIRD
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN
LONG LONG LONG
(The Beatles)
Let's face it: The White Album is one long deep cut. By decreee, none of its 30 tracks was released as a single in the U.S. or U.K. (though Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da was paired with While My Guitar Gently Weeps in a few smaller markets). The quality of album's songs varies wildly, but a handful stand above the others.  

Dear Prudence is a ballad, like Hey Jude, that builds in tempo and dynamics until it climaxes into a burst of sound and emotion. Both Prudence and Blackbird feature the debut of fingerpicking guitar-playing that Donovan taught the Beatles in India in early-1968. Blackbird is Paul's ode to the black Civil Rights Movement. Remember, this was the year Martin Luther King was assassinated and American cities were rioting. Featuring just Paul on acoustic, Blackbird is simple, direct and transcendent.

By contrast, Happiness Is A Warm Gun is one of The Beatles' most complex songs, featuring another abstract Lennon lyric ("lying with his eyes while his hands are busy working overtime"), three distinct sections and several changes in tempo and instrumentation, all remarkably done in 160 seconds. The other Beatles nominated this the best song on the White Album and I wouldn't argue with that.

George began to blossom as a songwriter during this period. While My Guitar Gently Weeps gets all the attention, but this hymn-like ballad that closes the boistrous third side is moving. He could be singing about a lover, but really George is talking to God. He's finding spiritual peace and opening doors to higher levels of consciousness without being preachy (as he was in his solo career). This added layer gives Long Long Long a powerful, yet understated depth.


 
BECAUSE (Abbey Road)

Though Paul dominates Abbey Road, John contributes some key moments. Because is one of them. It's really a reworking of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, but the song's spare, hypnotic arrangement and intricate three-way harmonies by John, Paul and George elevate it into a masterpiece. The spare lyrics, directly influenced by Yoko Ono, read like Zen philosophy and perfectly suit the spare arrangement: "Love is old, love is new / Love is old, love is you."

The Stoner's Guide to The Beatles

"I think everybody's mind should be bent once in a while," said Bob Dylan in the mid-1960s. Dylan was the King of Folk on August 28, 1964 when he bent the minds of the Fab Four in their suite at the Delmonico Hotel in New York. Dylan, let's remember, was coming from the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early-1960s which was inspired by the reefer smokers of the Beat movement.

PLEASE PLEASE ME / WITH THE BEATLES / A HARD DAY'S NIGHT / BEATLES FOR SALE / HELP!

Possibly, The Beatles toked up when they cut their teeth in Hamburg between 1960-62, but if they did, it didn't affect them until Dylan sparked that fateful phattie. Most of the Beatlemania era is pretty "straight." Beatles' lyrics were about girls and love (like everyone in the top 30), and the arrangements were straightforward rock 'n' roll with a few ballads.

That said, a few songs from the Beatlemania era rock under the influence. I Feel Fine kicks off with shrieking feedback that'll blow your mind (and which helped pave the way for the distorted guitar of Jimi Hendrix), and Ticket To Ride, whose chiming guitars betray an Indian twang. In both songs, the guitars mesmerize the listener through your speakers or headphones. It's no secret that the band at this time was smoking pot "for breakfast," recalled John Lennon, and it's effect may have seeped into Ticket To Ride.

On a general note, the American Capitol mixes drenched in echo sound better to stoners than the dry EMI mixes. Echo sounds great when you're stoned. Listen to Roll Over Beethoven on The Beatles' Second Album where the reverb will blow your mind, then compare that to the the dry mix on With the Beatles where George's guitar sounds like an elastic band.

RUBBER SOUL

Instead,it took a full year for the creative and psychological effects of grass to affect visibly appear in their music. By the release of Rubber Soul in December 1965, John, George and Ringo (and to a lesser extent Paul) had tripped on LSD, which who colour Revolver the following summer.

The first clue is the album cover: stretched, distorted faces. The moptops are daytripping.

Most of the songs are still about girls, but the lyrics of Norwegian Wood, Girl and In My Life shimmer with symbolism and imagery. Nowhere Man doesn't even talk about love but alienation and identity. These weren't dance songs, but head songs. Music to make you think.

Sonically, too, the band was exploring. George's sitar in Norwegian Wood adds a new texture to the Beatles sound. The funky bass line in Drive My Car is a stone groove. I'm Looking Through You sweeps the listener away with its stabbing accordion notes and driving acoustic guitar.

And this is just the start.

REVOLVER

The dazzling original cover by photographer Robert Freeman.

Revolver is dipped in LSD. You first hear it in the Indian-like twang of Paul's searing guitar solo in Taxman; then in the sluggish, backwards guitar and sped-up John vocal of I'm Only Sleeping; George's Indian showcase of Love You To; the hard, trebly guitars of She Said, She Said and And Your Bird Can Sing; Paul's recounting his pot experience (always a step behind the others in substances) in Got To Get You Into My Life; and of course the stunning album closer, Tomorrow Never Knows which details an acid trip with lyrics lifted from the Tibetan Book of the Dead and LSD guru Timothy Leary.

Never before was there this much distorted and manipulated music on a Beatles record. Add to this the single that was recorded during these spring 1966 sessions, Paperback Writer and Rain, which featured heavy guitars, deep echo, backwards vocals and sluggish drums.

Start listening, though, with take one of Tomorrow Never Knows found on Anthology 2. It's stripped down and distorts John's voice so much he sounds like he's singing from another galaxy. This is one of the overtly druggiest songs in the entire Beatles cannon. Start here and float downstream...

SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

An obvious choice. Pepper is the signature psychedelic album by The Beatles and from that era (which included the debuts of Hendrix and Pink Floyd, and Cream's Disraeli Gears).

The elaborate soundscapes are meant to take listeners on a journey with each song evoking a different feeling. John's songs are particularly trippy, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. No surprise, since he was dropping almost every day, as he revealed later.

However, Paul sets the album's tone with the title song featuring the hardest guitars heard on a Beatles album up to that point.

Other highlights include George's Within You Without You which features an extended duel between Western orchestral instruments and classical Indian ones that sounds hypnotic.

The most impressive song, of course, is the closer, A Day In The Life, which features a haunting Lennon vocal, sharp tempo changes, two orchestral rushes and a 42-second multi-tracked piano chord that sweep the listener through a harrowing five-minute sonic journey. The song remains the towering achievement in The Beatles career.

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

Really a soundtrack of the TV special mixed with the two singles from 1967. The MMT tracks are mediocre by the Beatles' lofty standards, but Fool on the Hill is a beautiful yet delicate ballad and I Am The Walrus is a brilliant yet chaotic acid trip, exploding with absurd imagery wrapped in a Dadaist soundscape.

Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane represent a peak in songwriting and sound construction. They aren't so much songs but music collages that evoke vivid images and the whole gamut of emotion from melancholy to joy.

THE BEATLES (THE WHITE ALBUM) 

Photographed by Richard Avedon, 1968

There's a casual feel to this 95-minute sprawl that contrasts with the albums of 1966 and 1967 that took listeners on a trip. You need need to play The White Album from start to end. You can stop and start The White Album and jump around songs. The album was mostly written on acoustic guitars and overall offers a laid-back feel. One song doesn't melt into another as found on Pepper. For stoners, the rock songs should be heard in mono where they offer more punch than the stereo mixes. Also, the electric guitar shines on this album after being largely absent from the Pepper era. Highlights: Dear Prudence, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, side 3 and Revolution 1.

ABBEY ROAD

The last recorded album is the band's most modern-sounding and polished. Again, the electric guitar rules, and Paul's bass playing has never been as fluid. You hear this excellent marriage of Lennon's biting vocal and Paul's swampy bass on Come Together, a powerful rocker. A wall of guitars drive I Want You (She's So Heavy) and a three-way duel propels The End.

However, the Zen-like arrangement and beautiful harmonies of Because are heavenly. One of the best stoner songs by anybody. All of side 2 starting with Here Comes The Sun must be listened to in order as the momentum rises with each song fragment and sweeps away the listener.

 LET IT BE
  

This patchwork album offers a few gems for stoners. Across The Universe evokes the heavens in its lyrics and symphonic backing. Let It Be sounds sacred under the influence. I Me Mine features a biting guitar. The Beatles sound like a cool bar band in the Apple rooftop songs I've Got A Feeling and Get Back.

Was Help! the pivotal Beatles album or the end of Beatlemania?

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Help! album, The Rowboat Syndicate debates the historic relevance of The Beatles' fifth LP. The Doc, based in Canada, and The Guv, from Australia, argue the importance of Help! in this dialogue:

The Doc:

I was at a party and was debating with a friend whether Help! was the transitional album for the Beatles.


The Guv:

Interesting indeed. Yesterday afternoon I was thinking about Help! and decided it was a transitional album. In fact, I used that word, transition.


The Doc:

No. It was Rubber Soul. That was the pivot.


The Guv:

Let's think about terms. You called Rubber Soul "the pivot" and I agree. And maybe Help! is right on the cusp--or the beginning of the transition--but the songwriting, instruments and recordings show the transition happening.


The Doc:

No, it's about assigning importance to that album. If I were to sum up Help! (the UK version throughout this discussion, not the cash-grab Capitol soundtrack), it's the last Beatlemania album. Sure, it shows signs of maturity, namely the lyrical sophistication of John's title song and Paul's Yesterday, which was the first to feature non-rock instruments. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away is also strong lyrically, hinting (though not outright) at introspection by Lennon.


The Guv:

There are certainly tracks on there that are Beatlemania. The Night Before, Another Girl, You're Going To Lose That Girl could all have been on A Hard Day’s Night. Heck, Dizzy Miss Lizzy should have been on Please Please Me or With The Beatles. But You've Got To Hide Your Love Away and I've Just Seen A Face are examples of songwriters in transition. Thinking about the words first. These are songs that could have been on later albums. These are signs of a band in transition.


The Doc:

That's another point: after the all-Lennon & McCartney showcase of A Hard Day’s Night, the band regresses with Beatles For Sale and Help! by adding covers as filler. Mind you, Act Naturally and Dizzy Miss Lizzy feature top-notch performances.



The Guv:

Beatles for Sale had six covers, and I still think that had to do with them being on tour and not having much time. They were delving into their Hamburg repertoire. The recording of A Hard Day’s Night was rapid, but they weren't tired yet. They could still pour energy into what they were doing. Some of A Hard Day’s Night was written on the road. Beatlemania hadn't yet taken its toll.


The Doc:

True. Also, I think the Beatles needed to absorb the music from the summer of 1965 released by other bands to push forward. Specifically, Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone and Highway 61 Revisited LP showed the world that you can rock to poetry. Also, the Byrds fused Dylan's lyrics with Beatles backing with their cover of Mr. Tambourine Man (released in June 1965). The Help! soundtrack was already in the can.


The Guv:

A few minutes ago you said the term "transition" was about assigning importance to the album, and I must confess it is probably one of my least played discs. It’s certainly patchy.

The Doc:

Actually, I play side A with some regularity and single out Help!, Ticket To Ride, Another Girl and You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. Side B is definitely patchy: You Like Me Too Much, Tell Me What You See, It's Only Love...I will say this about Help! the movie (not the LP): it introduced Indian music to George. That is key to the Beatles' sound and gave George an identity within the band.


The Guv:

I think You've Got To Hide Your Love Away is the one transitional aspect we agree on. And yes, Lennon was consciously channeling Dylan in his delivery. I even read recently where one commentator suggests the two flutes in the solo are a softened version of Dylan's harmonica


The Doc:
If you think that amounts to a transition, then you can argue that the lyrics of I'm A Loser indicate a transition in Beatles For Sale.


The Guv:

No transition is drastic and immediate, otherwise it's a revolution. The transition was gradual, but Help! was the bridge. It's where a number of elements - instruments, overdubs, songwriting, recording, all came together. McCartney started overdubbing bass, allowing for him to work up more melodic lines. They had new instruments and effects too. George brought in a new Stratocaster, volume pedals which you can hear on the record.



The Doc:

I would describe Rubber Soul in those very terms. With every advance on Help! (and there were advances) there were still only boy-girls songs and cover versions.


The Guv:

Let's talk about the production and mixes. There were two mixes made at the time: the mono and the stereo, which was very wide. When it came to releasing the 1987 CDs, this is one album George Martin actually remixed. The ‘87 stereo mix is narrower. Reverb was added, especially on Dizzy Miss Lizzy, so the album doesn't sound as dry. The 2009 remasters used the ‘87 stereo mix, although the ‘65 stereo mix can be found as a bonus on the 2009 mono CD.


The Doc:

I love the remix with reverb. Man, it opens it the audio picture. Just love it. It really opens up That's definitely one virtue with Help! You gotta hear the DVD in 5.1. The sonic picture is detailed and exciting. Also, check out to the bass and drums of Ticket To Ride in mono.


The Guv:

Indeed. Ticket To Ride kicks in mono. Yet, overall the album sounds thin. Rubber Soul was where they started working towards a thicker bass, but even compared to their early albums Help! doesn't punch, especially at the lower end.


The Doc:

True, a little thin, but the English didn't "get" bass like the Americans, especially the soul musicians there. You don't "feel" the bass on Beatles' records until Revolver, thanks to Geoff Emerick.


The Guv:

Studios in the UK, and in particular Abbey Road, were stuck in the 1950s. And there were technical reasons why they couldn't get the bass. The bands wanted it, the studios and technicians couldn't deliver with their equipment and regulations.



The Doc:

True. George Martin, Geoff Emerick and The Beatles have noted this many times.


The Guv:

So how do you think the album has aged?


The Doc:

How has it aged? Overall, it's a Beatlemania album chock full of their trademark harmonies, catchy hooks and boy-girl lyrics. But some songs are timeless: Help, You’ve Got To Your Love Away, Yesterday and Ticket To Ride.


The Guv:
There are other, unused tracks from the sessions: That Means A Lot and If You've Got Troubles. All intended for the soundtrack, but  they realised these cuts weren't up to scratch. If You’ve Got Troubles was supposed to be Ringo's vehicle, but they switched to Act Naturally at the last moment.


The Doc:

Thank God. If You’ve Got Troubles goes nowhere. And let's remember I'm Down and Bad Boy. I'm Down is an overlooked B-side. Paul's vocal kills.


The Guv:

I'm Down was the insane closer at Shea. It worked well live, and featured a great vocal from Paul doing Little Richard. Bad Boy was recorded at the same session as Dizzy Miss Lizzy. Bad Boy was mixed and shipped to the US the following day for inclusion on Beatles VI. Did Capitol need a filler track for their weird album mashing, so the Beatles recorded two and chose one? In this case, Dizzy Miss Lizzy is simply a leftover. I also have a soft spot for Yes It Is. George is playing with his pedals here and it's a solid song. I read they were trying to revisit This Boy.


The Doc:

Amazing harmonies. Why the hell wasn't that on the B-side of the LP? That should have replaced Tell Me What You See.


The Guv:

Yes It Is would have worked alongside Tell Me What You See and It's Only Love. I'd have kept Tell Me What You See. I'd have lost You Like Me Too Much.


The Doc:

What about George's royalties? Or give George the b-side of Ticket To Ride?


The Guv:
So where do you rate this album among the Beatles canon?


The Doc:

In the middle. To compare, I think A Hard Day’s Night plays better all the way through, because the songwriting is more consistent.


The Guv:

It's one of those albums I should play more. I even play Let It Be and Magical Mystery Tour more often. Yes, A Hard Day’s Night is more consistent. I still think Help! was the start of their transition to a studio band, but Rubber Soul was the pivot, the transition in full flight, and probably gave the first real clues as to what they would become.


The Doc's Help! on iPod:
Dissatisfied with how George Martin sequenced the songs on side B (side A is fine), I re-order it on my iPod to create a better song flow and have replaced the weaker songs with the superior B-sides from singles: 


1. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
2. Act Naturally
3. It's Only Love
4. I've Just Seen A Face
5. Yes It Is
6. I'm Down
7. Yesterday