The Beatles

The Last Great British Story: The enduring story of the Beatles Gerry Hassan Scottish National, 31 March 2024 One of the strange things about the Beatles phenomenon is that the further we are from the 1960s, the more fascinating, unique and important they become. Sixty years ago – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – produced new levels of excitement and exhilaration as “Beatlemania” reached a crescendo. The Beatles returned from their all-conquering trip to America – something no other British musical act had done before. “Can’t Buy Me Love” was released and topped the charts; in

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The Beatles, ‘Get Back’ and the Britain of 1969 and the Present Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, 1 December 2021 The Beatles still fascinate, mesmerise and speak to us – a timeless phenomenon from post-war British society and another age and world. Peter Jackson’s opus ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ - released last week on Disney+, an eight-hour extravaganza of the band in three parts – shows their work and different personalities up close in an unprecedented fly in the wall film that drew from 56 hours of footage and 150 hours of audio tape. The result is spell-binding and transfixing, inviting

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‘All Things Must Pass’, 'Sgt. Pepper' and what happens after the human race? Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, August 11th 2021 Just over a week ago I was immersing myself in the Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’. I have never been its biggest admirer, preferring the experimentation of the later works and the sheer exuberance and pop brilliance of the early singles and albums. But the various reissues of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and in particularly the 50^th anniversary reissue which came out a few years ago has finally allowed me to appreciate the staggering kaleidoscope of its sound and range of songs. As I

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Lennon at 80 and the enduring relationship of John and Paul Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, October 7th 2020 John Lennon would have been 80 this Friday. To add to the poignancy, two months later is the 40^th anniversary of 8^th December 1940 when Lennon was killed in front of his home, the Dakota Building, New York City, aged 40. Lennon’s life, talent and genius are wrapped in mythology and iconic images and stories. He was central to the uniqueness of the Beatles; his partnership with Paul McCartney redefined and reset popular music and culture and, after they broke up, he

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When music could make the future: The legacy of Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, June 17th 2020 Music is pivotal to what it is to be human. It is part of our universal language and connected to how we live, breathe and at a fundamental level the rhythm of the human heart. A world without music would seem to be missing part of the human spirit – and to an extent the current COVID-19 pandemic seemed like the day the music stopped. Concerts big and small, festivals corporate and local, records shops and many new

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The Beatles, the Sixties and what happens to music after the virus? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, April 5th 2020 Next Thursday one of the landmark anniversaries of popular music and culture occurs: the 50^th anniversary of the public break-up of the Beatles when Paul McCartney broke the unexpected news. The dreams and hopes of a huge swathe of young people and generation who had grown up with the Beatles as the world around them dramatically changed would never be the same again. Leaving aside that the Beatles had to all intents already broken up before McCartney’s announcement, but not made

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My Favourite Music of the Year: 2018 December 21^st 2018 Gerry Hassan This is my fourth year of doing a comprehensive music list of things I have bought, been listening to, and had come my way in the past year. It has been as usual an eclectic year musically but highlights include the Southside Record Club (meeting at Some Great Reward record shop) and listening to some great sounds through that, some stellar live gigs – with often the smaller the better (and a big hat tip to the Bungalow in Paisley), and some fantastic bootleg recordings. But as with

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The Continued Allure of the Beatles and the Sixties and Listening to ‘The White Album’ Gerry Hassan Scottish Review, November 20th 2018 The Sixties never really went away. We have had the baby boomers and their endless nostalgia about themselves and their youth - followed by the soft disappointment for many of the decades that came after, culturally and politically, which has meant that the allure of the sixties has continued to burn bright. The Beatles ‘White Album’ turns fifty this week - last year it was ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and next it will be ‘Abbey Road’. It has been marked

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How the Beatles Changed Britain and the World Gerry Hassan The Scotsman, October 6th 2012 It was fifty years ago yesterday that a popular revolution began in humble settings which had a seismic global impact that still affect the world today. This is the UK release on the Parlophone record label of the first ever single by the Beatles, ‘Love Me Do’. The Beatles changed so much: the image of Britain, music, culture, fashion, attitudes to class. They made Britain feel a better place and more dynamic, ‘swinging’ and ‘cool’ to people across the world. It is impossible to

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