The Second Fab Four Post

I'm shocked that there's been so much Beatles news since I started this project. This isn't a Beatles blog, but since the lads from Liverpool were and entry point to a million Anglophiliacs, I couldn't ignore it all. Apparently, there's a lot of new scholarship surrounding the crucial period when the Beatles decided to stop touring, opening the gates to Sgt. Pepper and changing music forever.

First, the president of Eastside Pictures send me this link. It seems that a radio interview including John, Paul, George, and Ringo has surfaced from a South London garage -- and it's still broadcast quality. It was recorded on April 30, 1964, just a couple of years before their momentous decision to stop playing live. According to the report, Paul says about the screaming fans: "We love that, the atmosphere in the theaters. It's marvelous." Of course, we know that in reality, they hated the extremeness of it all and the fact that they couldn't hear each other or themselves.

Secondly, two other Beatlemaniacs in my life have their knickers in a twist about this piece in the Guardian. A bootleg tape of a summer 1966 concert that the lads did in Memphis has emerged. What makes it of so much interest to scholars is that a definite explosion can be heard -- part of the little-known Cherry Bomb incident. Remember, this is right after Lennon's famously misunderstood quote, "We're more popular than Jesus now." That remark didn't go over too well in Tennessee. One of my Beatles-mad friends checked and indeed, George mentions this firework in his Anthology interview of 1995, and a contributing factor in their decided to stay home. It might even be the straw that broke the camel's back; it was starting to get dangerous out there. First a cherry bomb -- next a pipe bomb?

Haunting, of course, since George was attacked by a knife-wielding maniac and John ... [I don't have to finish that sentence.]

I'm not big on what-if games, but it is interesting to ponder if the Beatles would have/could have done what they did in the studio if they continued the road show.