The Beatles and Their Great Leap
Even in a fast-changing world where dread seemed to outrun hope, we could rely on The Beatles. In 1963, with the release of their first album, Please Please Me, The Beatles began pushing the envelope. Their next steps always went farther than expected. But The Beatles expected -- and demanded of themselves -- to take those steps. Well over a half-century later, those steps forward still amaze us.
The Beatles Rubber Soul To Revolver, the new book by Bruce Spizer, illuminates the reasons we continue to be amazed. Spizer, a peerless Beatles expert, is joined by Bill King, Al Sussman, and David Leaf, plus other Beatles authorities who provide excellent insight on the music The Beatles made in 1965 and 1966, as well as the culture The Beatles continued to influence. The writers also report on the backlash The Beatles faced, all due, of course, to being so influential. The Beatles kept changing the world and the reactionaries kept admonishing.
First and foremost, Spizer and company delve deeply into the three Beatles albums released between December 1965 and August 1966: Rubber Soul, Yesterday and Today, and Revolver. The consensus among most Beatles observers is that Rubber Soul serves as the point of separation between the group’s mop-top era and their more serious and experimental phase that lasted until they broke up after recording Abbey Road. There’s a lot of truth to that. Both the UK and US versions of Rubber Soul featured rockers, but the album was quieter and more introspective than preceding LPs. There were elements of folk, country, classical, and Eastern music pervading the tracks. Songs concerning the pleasures and perils of boys and girls together still dominated, but the narratives were often distant and wary, conveying a world-weariness The Beatles developed much younger than their contemporaries.
Spizer opens the book with a pair of essays on UK and US reception to the three albums and the single release of “Paperback Writer” and “Rain.” (34 songs released in a year’s time. All, but one, original Beatles compositions.) Several lines are excerpted from Paul Williams’curious review of Revolver in the September ’66 issue of Crawdaddy!. Williams declared Revolver a “good album” but said Rubber Soul was “much, much better.” While enthusiastic about “Eleanor Rigby,” “Love You To,” and “For No One,” he considered “I Want To Tell You” and “She Said She Said” “fairly attractive” but “minor stuff.” He thought “Here, There And Everywhere” was a pretty and gentle love song, but tended towards being monotonous. He described the tune and structure of “Tomorrow Never Knows” as “simply dull.” It’s interesting the co-founder of Crawdaddy!, an influential magazine into the mid ‘70s, found such faults with Revolver when now it’s generally considered The Beatles’ best album.
Spizer also weighs in with an essay on the Rubber Soul and Revolver sessions, offering deep background on each of the 35 tracks recorded by the group in approximately a year’s time. He devotes hundreds of words analyzing most of the songs -- with no information overload. His scrutiny of “In My Life,” “Taxman,” “Paperback Writer,” and “Eleanor Rigby” are quite illustrative; readers will find confirmation in what they knew about the songs and be fascinated by Spizer’s more esoteric notes. The works of the “greatest show on earth” are filled with details.
The Beatles were at a creative peak in 1966, yet more hit records and critical accolades didn’t shield them from a very tough summer. In one of his two excellent essays, Al Sussman highlights the resentment the group faced while on tour in Japan, the Philippines and the United States. In Japan, traditionalists objected to the group performing at the Budokan, a martial arts venue and shrine to the Japanese war dead. Ultranationalists protested. There were death threats. Then, more chaos in Manila. Out of the blue was a fiasco in which The Beatles were accused of blowing off a command appearance before First Lady Imelda Marcos and 300 children and young people. Things got ugly. The Beatles were fortunate to get out of the country alive.
The US was friendly territory for The Beatles but tensions ensued days before they arrived in Chicago on August 11. A John Lennon interview from earlier in the year had just made its way through the American media. He noted The Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.” Perceptive Christians were not alarmed; they stayed abreast of the world. Obstinate Christians, however, were enflamed, especially in the Deep South. The Bible Belt rabble, taking a cue from 1933 Germany, burned Beatles records.
Sussman also does a great job on the culture-at-large in ’65 and ’66. There is terrific coverage on popular music not recorded by The Beatles in those two years. Thorough attention is also given to the space race between the US and the USSR. Sussman knows his history. He places the reader squarely in the milieu of the mid ‘60s.
The highlight of the book is Spizer’s essay on the “Butcher Cover.” Everything about the cover, is, uh.., covered in the 45-page chapter. The subject also allows Spizer to explain how Capitol Records “marketed” The Beatles, especially when it came to configuring their US albums.
The Beatles Rubber Soul To Revolver is the best of Bruce Spizer’s Beatles albums books. Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, it’s a must for those wishing to learn more about The Beatles in the mid ‘60s – the times they influenced and the times that influenced them.
(This review first appeared in Beatlefan magazine)