From Beatles For Sale to Help"

We're back after the CatMas break pretty much cold as it is minus five outside today which really is no good at all for me even though I'm pretty warm blooded so I'll be staying in by the gas fire today doing some reading.

One thing I had at Christmas was this book which is the ninth and final one in a series that looks at the recording and stage career of The Beatles but divided by what became session for their albums and when I mean albums, the albums they were working toward in the U.K rather than necessarily I (or North Americans) may have.

The series really began as a extended essay come factual record connected to the Sgt Pepper album and has gradually made its way through all the albums although you might, like me prefer to put them in the shelf in album era order.

This volume takes us back the Fall of 1964 after the commercially and critically acclaimed A Hard Day's Night film with it's album and the Long Tall Sally E.P when thoughts were on the fall and winter of 1965 tour and the need for a new album (and singles).

The strength of the book isn't just in taking you though that whole period but also looking at everything in what was the precursor to modern pop culture that surrounded it such as things in the new, films, what other artists were doing and how each album and single was received at the time using reviews and recollections so we see the impact at that time.

This was the period the beatles lyrically were starting to move away from fairly simple love songs or plain pop songs with catchy chorus and into more introspective and personal songs such as I'm A Loser, I'll follow The Sun, Help (an early indication of how trapped he felt being a beatle) and Yesterday, a modern classic with a string quartet. 

At the same time a second movie was expected and delivered although the plot is somewhat surreal and the pressures of being on the road in Europe, Japan, Australia and North America were taking away some of joy of having made it big and the issues around making songs in a studio that just could not be performed to 17,000 or more audiences all screaming were coming to a head.

The book works very well helping to place each album in its context in the time and from that aid a true appreciation of their albums.