Rishikesh: then unt now.

Hello everybody. Firstly, thank you to all who have written/commented over the last 3 years, and apologies for the lack of response. I remain extant. The blog was blown off course by what might be deemed "life shit" (or "shite"), and so it remains.
What have I been up to? I suppose the big news is that, ironically, one dreich morning during this hiatus, I finally got to visit Kenwood. By which I mean, I had an hour to wander through the house and round the grounds. More, and there could hardly be less, to follow. (Possibly.)
In the meantime, what better way to etc. than with our auld mate the "then unt now"?
Mark Lewisohn was in India recently, and took a number of photos at what's left of the Maharishi's Etc., including the one on the right above, the very spot where they initially White Albumed, at least partly.
Thanks to him, and to you.

Mark Lewisohn's All These Years: 10.5/10.

(I've pretty much finished the trade edition of Mr Lewisohn's tome, and so here are a few mercifully brief thoughts. Before I begin, I should state that Mark is a mate, and a good one, so don't take this as a review, but rather a recommendation.)

It's been called The World At War of rock biographies, in that this is an enormous work of layered history, but what it puts me most in mind of is War and Peace. Obviously, Tolstoy's "whoppa" is historical fiction, and Mark's "bewk" has been written specifically to counteract the various and manifold fictions that have crept in to endless re-tellings of "the 20th century's greatest romance". Yet the structure of the thing, with multiple personal histories unfolding in parallel against the backdrop of a rapidly changing society, really reminds me of Lev's "big-boy". And these books are both, of course, very big-boys indeed.

All These Years is a magnificent piece of work, dense and detailed, but fast moving and, usefully, written free from hindsight-based comment, thus allowing the story to unfold as it happened. Mark's prose is clear, clever and highly readable. The big events are fully explained for the first time, and the small ones are, in many cases also for the first time, err...also explained. I haven't read another book which manages to convey the atmosphere and gathering excitement of those times as well as this.

I only have one real criticism, and, funnily enough, the very same one I'd level at War and Peace: it's too short. (Luckily, this will be rectified next month.)

If you are entertaining any doubts about reading yet another book about the Beatles, then cast these aside immediately, buy a copy and prepare to learn a lot (including why a sandwich would be the best symbol for John Lennon International Airport in Liverpool).

Roll on Volume 2 (no bread based punnery intended).

Mark Lewisohn: new ATY interview.

One month to go...

The Beatles: All These Years Volume 1.

The cover is oot! In related news, Amazon UK have cut the pre-order price on the standard edition, as expected, and it has also now appeared on the Amazon US site HERE.

Nice!

UPDATE: A heads up for US/Canadian readahs. It's been revealed that the massive "deluxe" edition is only being issued in the UK, for the time being at least, the US publisher having opted to issue the standard edition alone. There is no news about how limited the deluxe is (though it is limited), nor whether there is any likelihood of it ever being reprinted if/when it sells out. However, the tome has jumped to first place in the UK Amazon chart for Beatles-related books, presumably as readahs from across the "pond" get their pre-orders in to ensure obtaining a copy.
There's also no news about whether a non-English language deluxe edition is being published anywhere (I suppose Japan might be a possibility), but anyone prevaricating over splashing oot might do well to bear the above in mind.

Hamburg: Eimsbütteler Strasse 45a - then & now.

The top floor Kirchherr family flat provided a home-away-from-hovel for the Beatles when they first went to Hamburg; and Stuart, of course, eventually moved in full time, partly at the request of Astrid's mother, who was fairly appalled by tales of the less than salubrious quarters provided by their employer. Stu had his own bedroom, and the attic was turned into a painting studio - something initially copied by John at Kenwood:


As previously noted, John requested a then & now shot from Astrid after Stuart's death, and the resulting images are the most haunted of the tens of thousands that were to follow. Here is the original Stuart shot, and John's tribute, together with the same spot (after much renovation) from 2006:


The photo of John alone on that chair, hands tightly clasped and clearly lost in sad reflective thought, is probably the most intimate image of the man ever seen (and that includes Two Virgins). It's hard not to recall his scribblings to Stuart, "I can't remember anything without a sadness so deep that it hardly becomes known to me. So deep that its tears leave me a spectator of my own STUPIDITY":


Bummer. What's cheering, however, is that Mark Lewisohn, who has generously allowed me to post these pics, is planning a website to display the vast amount of material that he has gathered over the last 30 years or so. Being Mark, he has had access to places that the rest of us can only salivate over, as his shots of Astrid's old attic attest. Here, lastly, is the view from the window:


Many thanks to Mark for letting us see these most interesting photos.

Kingsley Hill: 3.

Well, well... Three shots of contemporary Kingsley Hill! The sundial is still there, and the house looks more or less the same as it did in 1967. This was the scene, on Sunday 28 May of that year, of Brian's dual housewarming/Sgt Pepper celebration. A week after the press party at Chapel Street, and a few days before Pepper's UK release, John, George, Ringo (but not Paul), Derek Taylor, plus wives and you-name-it scenesters descended on Kingsley Hill, the country roads leading there festooned with balloons. John, George and Derek spent a lot of time in the back of the psychedelic Rolls listening to Whiter Shade Of Pale over and over again. Sgt Pepper, naturally, blasted from the main house. Enhanced tea, Lionel Bart as barbed wire...someone must have had a camera. Only two people didn't enjoy it - Brian, still shaky after a spell in the Priory clinic, was upset that Paul hadn't appeared, at least until John and George cheered him up. Cynthia, tripping for the 3rd and final time, was upstairs experiencing what was known as, to use the parlance of the day, a "bummer". Huge thanks to Mark Lewisohn for sharing these (that's him occupying Brian's spot), and might I just urge you to go out and buy his books if you haven't already done so.