1966 was a memorable year in many ways. Harold Wilson called a General Election and increased Labour’s majority to ninety six! The World Cup came to England and the hosts actually won it! And a dog called Pickles became a national hero…
Meanwhile, The Beatles released Revolver. Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys had convinced the Fab Four to up their game even further and their seventh album was indeed a landmark in pop music. Recording began in April and the first song attempted was Tomorrow Never Knows which actually ended up as the final track on the LP. Featuring tape loops, backward guitars and a constant and unchanging drum beat, it was a whole new world. Revolver also included classics such as For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, And Your Bird Can Sing, Good Day Sunshine, Here,There and Everywhere and Eleanor Rigby.
One of the greatest songs of the 1960s, Eleanor Rigby was a sad and moving tale of a woman who “Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door”. When she dies, nobody comes to her funeral. At the time of its release, the UK was in the middle of the ‘Swinging Sixties’, but the decade was far from swinging for everybody. Eleanor Rigby was a stark reminder of the lives of many people who tried to lead good lives and do their best in very difficult circumstances.
The Beatles toured the United States for one final time soon after Revolver was released, before announcing they were giving up live performances for good.
A few months later in February 1967, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were released as a double A-sided single. Originally meant to be part of the upcoming Sgt. Pepper album, the group’s record company pressured The Beatles for new product. Penny Lane was a cheerful tale of Paul McCartney’s Liverpool childhood memories, but although Strawberry Fields Forever was John Lennon’s take on the same, it sounded like a whole new type of pop music. Kept off the top spot by Englebert Humperdink’s Release Me, the single was the band’s first since Love Me Do to not reach Number One.
However, Strawberry Fields especially signaled that The Beatles were again exploring new soundscapes and setting new trends. Within four months, this was confirmed by the release of what many consider to be their finest LP..Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Beginning with the title track, the album takes listeners on a journey like no other. From the down to earth With a Little Help From My Friends to the poignant She’s Leaving Home; from the thoughtful Getting Better to the cynical Good Morning, Good Morning; from the psychedelic Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the whimsical When I’m Sixty-Four; and from the exotic Within You Without You to the hopeful Lovely Rita, the songs take the form of a carnival. The band members all later admitted that drugs such as marijuana and LSD influenced the dreamlike quality of their work, but it is also clear that such a focused set of songs was also the result of much hard work and discipline.
Their producer George Martin must also take huge credit for the stunning arrangements that contribute to the overall success of Sgt. Pepper. The LP of course finishes with what many consider to be their finest ever song, the staggering A Day in the Life
Soon after this release, The Beatles contributed their new single All You Need is Love to Our World which was the first live and international satellite television production, which was broadcast on 25 June 1967. Basically a sing-a-long, it was a marked deterioration in quality from their recent songs.
In late August that year, the group’s manager Brian Epstein died of an overdose of sleeping tablets. The band were understandably shocked by this and reportedly wondered whether this could be the end for them. However, McCartney managed to persuade the others back to the recording studio to produce the Magical Mystery Tour double EP. It was the soundtrack to their film of the same name which was first broadcast on BBC1 on Boxing Day 1967. Most critics hated the film, but I enjoyed it and the music was back to their best. Stand out songs included the title track, Hello Goodbye, The Fool on the Hill, Your Mother Should Know and the incredible I Am the Walrus which took Lennon’s surrealism to new heights.
The Beatles were now indeed the “toppermost of the poppermost”. They had taken pop music into different and exciting areas that set a new standard for their peers. We shall see, however, in the final part of this tale how the fab four slowly fell apart before finishing with a final flourish.
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