Beatles - Way beyond compare: the Beatles recorded legacy. Volume one. 1957-1965

Copyright 2003, 2008 by John Winn

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Three Rivers Press and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in slightly different form by Multiplus Books, Sharon, VT, in 2003.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Winn, John C.
Way beyond compare / John C. Winn.1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and discography.
1. BeatlesDiscography. 2. BeatlesHistoryChronology. I. Title.
ML156.7.B4W55 2008
782.421660922dc22 2008034072

eISBN: 978-0-307-45238-2

v3.1

This book is dedicated to my father.
I apologize for all the times I made fun of you
for taking so long to write a book.
Now I know.

Ive been in the business of Beatles research for thirty years. I dont often broadcast this because those who hear it usually react with the same question: They were together for only tenhow can it take so long to find out what they did?

There are a number of reasons, but primary among them is that the Beatles left behind a diverse and intricately woven collection of material, and its never been possible to say we have it all (let alone the oh-so-foolish we know it all) because new discoveries are unearthed on a regular basis. Since the Beatles scarcely went a day without being recorded some way or another, theres a vast amount of information to assess and slot into the chronological framework in which it will best make sense.

A quest for knowledge accompanied the Beatles rise and, Ive come to realize, goes right back to their beginning. It wasnt just from the moment they first scorched through the music scene in 196364 that fans wanted to find out all they could about them. It was also true in 1961 and 1962, when the Beatles were a rock-and-roll group whose appeal hadnt yet broken out beyond Liverpool and Hamburg. The earliest fans set the tone, and, if you know where to look, there exist documents, photos, lists, and letters setting out much about the Beatles performing and private lives from before anyone else knew them. It could have been the trousers that invoked this reaction, but more likely it was the Beatles thrilling talent, their personalities, their charisma. In other words, its who they were that raisedand still raisesthe unending questions.

Back in 198788, I wrote The Beatles Recording Sessions, a book that took readers inside the previously closed archive at Abbey Road and revealed what went on each time the Beatles set foot inside that special North London studio. For the first time, details about the Beatles great body of recorded work became known: when songs were recorded, how long they took to complete, how they were put together. For some, the book answered every question; for othersJohn C. Winn certainly among themit merely created a new set of questions: How did this data marry to the considerable collection of officially unissued recordings that somehow or other had emerged from the archives? And what new knowledge and appreciation could be gleaned from combining the recordings and the facts?

In Way Beyond Compare and its companion volume, That Magic Feeling, Mr. Winn draws upon every conceivable source to paint an indispensable and absorbing chronicle of the Beatles and their work. And this goes way beyond their extraordinary albums and singles. With astounding speed, once they became nationally and internationally popular, a mountain of audio material began to accumulatebroadcasts, interviews with journalists, concert tapes, private home recordings, press conferences, and more, material that has circulated among fans for decades, usually with little accompanying information. With the home-video age, the 1980s, an immense amount of TV, film, and newsreel footage was added to the pile, for the Beatles were also being followed by cameras much of the time.

It takes a rare and special kind of mind to sift through it all, to research and inquire, catalog and chronicle, assess and contrast, identify and label, and to fit all the myriad pieces into the vast jigsaw puzzle that is the Beatles career. John C. Winn is that person, and hes done it with a rare skill and intelligence. That vast mountain of once-unidentified audio and video material now makes sense, and it has been set down in a style that is perfectly readable, written with character and refreshing consistency. Winn has also scrutinized every interview and every press conferenceno task for the halfhearted, I can assure youand reported the essence of everything that was said. For the music, Winn has earned his stripes by carefully analyzing recordings, noting the variations in a songs performance, and assessing its musical progression.

The net result is a significantly important contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the Beatles, of inestimable value to me in my daily workI keep it right on the deskand nothing less than essential for anyone, now and in the future, who seeks to know more about the Beatles, to learn what audio and visual material was captured, what survives (thankfully, most of it does), and where to find it.

The Beatles were not only the best, they consistently brought out the best in the people around them. John C. Winns remarkable work is proof that their potent force continues absolutely undiminished.

Mark Lewisohn
London

Mark Lewisohn is the author of The Beatles Recording Sessions, The Complete Beatles Chronicle, and other books, and coauthor of The Beatles London. He is presently researching and writing a comprehensive narrative history of the Beatles and their times, to be published in three volumes by Crown.

Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? If youre reading this book, the first answer should be clear, but the second is a fair question. Some people want to fill the world with Beatle volumes. If I turn my chair slightly, I can see about seventy-five from where Im sitting.

And whats wrong with that? Think of the recent 1 collection of the Beatles number 1 hits. All the marketing in the world wouldnt push a CD of thirty-five-year-old songs to the top of the charts around the world, and keep it there for weeks, if the music wasnt durable. New generations are interested in hearing these recordings, collecting them, and examining the circumstances surrounding them.

As far as John, Paul, George, and Ringo were concerned, their music was made to be enjoyed, not scrutinized, and its a testament to the quality of their work that She Loves You still gives me a rush after hearing it sung and played forty different ways. If the music is all youre interested in, youll find plenty about that in these pages. But most books stop there and only examine the nonmusical elements of the Beatles career in strictly sociological terms.

Imagine, if you will, a newly uncovered film clip of Tchaikovsky conducting his Pathtique Symphony; a tape of an interview with Beethoven explaining the composition of one of his piano sonatas; a recording of Mozart holding a press conference. Isnt it likely that the Beatle equivalents of these will be a lot more instructive and valuable in two hundred years time than, for instance, a slightly alternate mix of I Call Your Name? Spoken words and film/video are two woefully underexplored areas of Beatle recordings, and this book is a first step toward rectifying that imbalance.