And in the End

It was the last album the Beatles recorded together, though not the last album they released (that would be Let it Be). And it's our next Sunday Vinyl Session. I went to see Mark Lewisohn's mesmerising talk last Sunday, so Abbey Road is sitting at the front of my cerebral cortex; where it's been for the last 50 years, pretty much.

George & Paul (vocals only) - Something (1969)

1969

The events of 1969 are currently looming very large. There are a number of monumental 50th anniversaries going on right now; not least Apollo 11 - a must see movie is on general release depicting just what Neil Armstrong and the real Buzz Lightyear got up to when they were floating in their tin can half a century ago.

I remember Aldrin saying in Andrew Smith's Moondust that NASA were very candid with the crew when they signed up for the mission of all missions: their chances of coming back alive were given at no more than 50/50. This is one film I will not be missing.


And Abbey Road. The Beatles' final recorded album (Let it Be, despite coming out in 1970, was already in the can before the Fabs entered EMI Studios in Abbey Rad for the last time). Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn is touring the country later in the year giving his unique take on the events that made Abbey Road, quite literally, The End. And he's coming to a venue near me, so I'm well chuffed.

Joey Ramone may have left this earth (as too have all the original Ramones), but he still looks down on New Yorkers: the sign for Joey Ramone Place, if you look high enough (it's been stolen so many times it's now been sited where it can only be reached by basketball players) is in the Bowery district, close to the site of a (long gone) club where he and the band played many of their 2,500+ gigs: CBGBs - the New York punk venue.

Joey Ramone - 1969

Tune In

Mark Lewisohn, possibly the real Fifth Beatle, is currently having vast quantities of smoke blown up his jacksie for his new epic Beatles tome Tune In; I’ve been following David Hepworth’s attempt to climb the North Face of same and it really is, or so it would appear, the last word on the group’s early years. Forget 1962-1966. And as for 1967-1970, you can only see that far ahead with the aid of the Hubble telescope. No, for this scene setter Lewisohn is concentrating purely on 1942-1962. That’s right; there was still a war on.

I shall, of course, read it myself in the fullness of time; my interest in all things Beatles goes way beyond passing. Until now my main reference point for this period of the group’s life has been Allan Williams’ The Man Who Gave The Beatles Away. Co-written I know, but Williams (their first manager) was there. Many of Lewisohn's references are culled from this book which was written in 1975; only five years after The End. Take the story of a young Richard Starkey writing to the Houston Chamber of Commerce in 1961 looking for work. Williams lobs that in to the mix on page 209, Lewisohn doesn't reach October '61 until page 493. And, still being alive, Lennon (allegedly) read Williams' account and even endorsed it. I wonder if Macca will be as generous with Tune In?