Yesterday and Today

As rehearsal for The Beatles next project at Twickenham Film Studios dragged on, the barren atmosphere of the studio space reflected the distant bandmates who occupied it. The distance was cut by growing agitation with the ever-pushy Paul who tried his hardest to rally the weary John, George and Ringo, but who by doing so only wound up driving a further wedge into their friendship. George was espe...

It’s a new year and the Beatles are back in the studio. Mere weeks following the release of their titanic eponymous double album (now colloquially dubbed “the white album” after it’s all-white outer packaging) the band was once again called together with another big idea from Paul. The goal? To rehearse a brand new album of new songs, film the rehearsal and then perform the album in some sort of l...

1968 was another year of drastic transformation for The Beatles, and by December the group was ready to take a breath and let the world continue to absorb their new double album. Apple's biggest success story, Mary Hopkin, was back in the studio with Paul preparing a full length LP to follow-up on the massive hit single Those Were The Days, and the pair was joined by Donovan (who had made quite an...

It's November of 1968 and the world is soaking in the new double album by The Beatles! While most the tracks on the new record were quite accessible, some baffled (and continue to baffle) listeners and challenged the limits of pop music. John Lennon's Revolution trifecta is a an experiment in sound unmatched by any other Beatles recording. Fans first heard the track in its rocking glory on the fli...

Numbers, Colors & Music Episode 25 The new Beatles double album is here! On November 22nd, 1968 the band released their 9th full­ length studio recording, the self­-titled behemoth colloquially known as "The White Album". The follow­-up to Sgt. Pepper was a dramatic departure from the acid­ drenched sound paintings of the year prior and offered the most variety in song styles ever seen (either...

Episode 24 October 13, 1968 through November 21, 1968 It's the fall of 1968 and TWO Beatles solo albums are on the way. George Harrison holds the honor of the first solo record released by a Beatle (if we're not counting the Family Way soundtrack by Paul two years prior) with Wonderwall. Wonderwall is­ a soundtrack album chockfull of jams and electronic sounds that pushed some major boundaries at...

September 16, 1968 through October 11, 1968 With Ringo back in the group and Hey Jude continuing its domination on the charts, The Beatles made one last push to wrap their ambitious double album project in time for a holiday release. A hallmark of the sessions was the diversity of song style, with the band recording tender ballads like I Will, raucous rockers like Birthday, haunting epics like Hap...

August 22nd, 1968 is a landmark day in Beatles history: the day a member of the biggest band on the planet...quit. The Beatles' double album sessions were growing more tense by the day, and in the dog days of the summer of 1968 tensions finally boiled over. Accounts of what specifically happened vary; some claim it was a clash with Paul McCartney over his domineering direction in the studio, some...

Once upon a time...or maybe twice...it was the summer of 1968! The so-called "summer of love" was in full swing as the Beatles continued work on their ambitious new double album project. From Paul's raucous "Helter Skelter", to John's vicious "Sexy Sadie", the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo continued to dominate and the double album was looking to be their most successful release yet. But George...

It's June 1968 and The Beatles' double album is finally taking shape. Kicking things off this month was the very first all-original composition by Ringo Starr, a years-in-the-making honky tonk number called Don't Pass Me By. And the Beatles wouldn't pass it by, spending as much time and energy on Ringo's first track as they had for any of those that came before. It was moments like these that drew...

It's April 1968 and The Beatles are back from India and open for business with a new company: APPLE. The concept of Apple Corps began as a clever way to reinvest money into creative endeavors, rather than pay it all to the taxman...but it soon blossomed into, as Paul put it, a type of "western communism" that sought to change the world of pop music from the top down and the bottom up. The company...

It was a long road to Rishikesh, but in the spring of 1968 The Beatles had finally arrived. Eager for a much-needed holiday and in search of spiritual regeneration, they found themselves in India on the foothills of the Himalayas with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for an extended seminar in transcendental meditation ("TM"). TM was an effective alternative to the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and enthusi...

It's 1968! After a year of incredible highs and dizzying lows, The Beatles took on the new year with energy and enthusiasm. The boys entered the studio to record rockers, pop tunes and ballads that would be counted among their very finest, as well as a segment for the upcoming Yellow Submarine film still in development. Macca's ode to Fats Domino, Lady Madonna, and John's rocking Hey Bulldog roare...

Roll up! Roll up for the epic finale to 1967! The year that changed so much in the lives of The Beatles would continue its transformative effects in the fall and winter, with new music, a new film, a solo project and a new business venture all happening at once. The boys' latest single, Hello Goodbye, would dominate the charts in November and serve as a bridge between the Sgt. Pepper era and the g...

Still riding high on the critical and commercial success that Sgt. Pepper brought, the Beatles entered the so-called "summer of love" as the spokespeople for their generation. Beloved by both fan and critic alike, John, Paul, George and Ringo took to the biggest audience of their career, representing Great Britain in the worldwide telecast "Our World" and debuting for it their new smash single "Al...

We're back with a detailed look at side B of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band! To open the second half of the record, George Harrison picks up where he left of on Revolver's "Love You, Too" with the Indian-influenced "Within You, Without You". A moody choice for the otherwise bright record, George's exercise in writing western pop for eastern instrumentation is a beautiful exploration of the...

At long last, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has arrived! It's the spring of 1967 and The Beatles have unleashed their eight LP on the world -- and the reactions are pouring in: "ALL HAIL SGT PEPPER!" While many would argue that song-for-song, Revolver was a stronger effort, Pepper tapped into the cultural zeitgeist like no other pop record in history, simultaneously reflecting the culture...

Is the world ready for the "new" Beatles?" After the successful, but comparatively disappointing commercial debut of their new sound courtesy of the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever single, the band put readied their final touches on the LP considered at the time to be their masterpiece. Well, at least Paul McCartney and producer George Martin thought so...the other three Beatles had mixed fee...

It's a new year for the Beatles, and with it a new album in the works. After half a decade of nearly non-stop live performances, the band were at last able to enjoy the fruits of their fame, and the freedom to experiment in bold new directions. But the real question was, would the public follow them in those bold new directions? Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever, recorded the prior December...

The Beatles may have been riding high on the critical and commercial success of Revolver, but a tour of the tumultuous United States was in full swing, and danger loomed large around every corner. Manager Brian Epstein's attempt to quell the outrage from the American public over remarks from John Lennon that the group was more popular than Jesus Christ proved futile, as Bible Belt radio stations t...

Turmoil may have followed the Beatles on tour, but in the studio the band reached its zenith with their 7th and perhaps finest LP ever: Revolver. While Sgt. Pepper nearly a year later tends to be remembered as their greatest achievement, it's on Revolver where the combined efforts of John, Paul, George and Ringo shine the brightest and in the most cohesion. Psychedelia is, for the first time, used...

It's the summer of 1966, and for four scruffs from the mean streets of one of Great Britain's most raucous port cities...it's good to be the kings. But the uninterrupted reign of the Beatles was bound to have a breaking point, and as the group kicks off their 3rd major world tour, they're about to find theirs. To kick of their tour, the band enjoyed a triumphant return to their old stomping ground...

It's 1966! Join the Yesterday & Today podcast as we enter perhaps the single most transformative year in the history of The Beatles, the year that would bring us butcher covers, final live performances, tomorrows that never know and strawberry fields forever. This week we cover January through June of 1966, wherein we find the Beatles hard at work on their 7th LP release Revolver. In these fir...

The year 1965 was one of the busiest, most ground-breaking and prolific years in the Beatles' career; second, perhaps only to the madness of 1964 - and it's not over yet! In the final weeks of December, the band's sixth studio album, Rubber Soul, would cement the group as more than a simple pop-rock combo, but as musicians that would continually redefine genre and transform the very concept of an...

The Beatles had once again triumphantly returned to Britain after a whirlwind tour of North America...but the break in activity wouldn't last long. By September, EMI was quick to remind the boys that they needed a new LP for the Christmas season, so once again John, Paul, George and Ringo returned to the studio to pull a record out of thin air. But this time it was different. This time, the record...