The Beatles

The Beatles are one the most influential rock bands in the history of music. The glorious story of this ensemble started in 1956 when John Lennon and Paul McCartney began their joint concert activity in Liverpool. Later, they were joined by George Harrison. The forth member of the band they formed was Peter Best. However, in 1962 he was replaced by Ringo Starr. In the beginning, they were not different from scores of other Liverpool bands performing at pubs and small venues. The music they played first was a blend of rock-n-roll and simplified jazz. The Beatles tasted popularity first in Germany. They moved in Hamburg in 1960 and became the main performers at one of the local clubs. In 1961, the band found a new manager. It was Brian Epstein, a music store owner, who worked with them up to his dying day in 1967. He changed their image substituting leather coats with expensive strict suits. Their debut album, Please Please Me (1963) featured three smashing hits and immediately made the musicians new national heroes. After their participation in a row of American TV shows along with the film A Hard Day’s Night with their own soundtrack, The Beatles turned into international superstars. Paul and John were the leading creative power of the band. These two worked hard enough to produce two or three monumental albums per year, apart from multitudes of worthy records left unreleased.

In 1967, The Beatles released Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, their first conceptual rock album. Its idea was description of a person’s life and troubles in the urbanized society. The Beatles utilized a number of novelties, including electronic noises and exotic instruments along with proficient arrangements and brilliant melodies. This work became a foundation for the development of art-, hard- and psychedelic rock. They managed to create a prevailing feel of rhythm on each song making it emotional and powerful. This album consolidated the band’s unique approach and leading position in the music world. As their music became more complicated in terms of execution, instruments and lyrics, the audience grew bigger and more diverse. The most notable songs of that period were Michelle, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Help!, Nowhere Man, A Day in the Life, Norwegian Wood, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Yellow Submarine, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, The Fool on the Hill, Hey Jude.

Two of The Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, also had their own projects. Lennon wrote the books In His Own Write, (1964), and A Spaniard In the Works, (1965), collections of poems and prose with sophisticated images and ideas. McCartney wrote the soundtrack to The Family Way (1967). The Beatles released their last album, Let It Be, in 1970. The same year the band collapsed mostly due to the disputes between John and Paul. Each of the musicians continued music career working on solo projects. Lennon produced several albums in cooperation with his wife Yoko Ono. John was shot in the back by one of his own fans in New York. The other three Beatles reunited in 1995 to recordThe Beatles Anthology, a double disc compilation of unreleased songs and live versions of hits. The most notable song was the new composition Free as a Bird. It was made on the basis of Lennon’s old record with the later addition of some instruments and vocals performed by the other members. In a year, they released another double disc collection of hits with one more new song Real Love, also restored from Lennon’s archive. In 2001, one more member of the legendary quartet, George Harrison, passed away.

In 2009, fans of the celebrated band were happy to get the opportunity to buy The Beatles’ classic albums in a shape of remastered editions.