Beatles


 * The Beatles are not only the most successful rock group of all time, but a worldwide cultural phenomenon which defined the popular image of youth culture in the 1960s and beyond, into the twenty-first century. They are also the subject of a vast amount of writing, as the Wikipedia entry on them shows [read more]

Links to Peel
John Lennon (1940-1980), Paul McCartney (b.1942), Ringo Starr (b.1940) and George Harrison (1943-2001) were all born and brought up in Liverpool and were of the same generation as Peel. Yet their paths did not cross; Peel was born in 1939, was sent to boarding schools, was one of the last intake of National Servicemen, and moved to the USA in 1960. The Beatles were beginning their career at this time and remained little-known beyond Merseyside until their commercial breakthrough in 1963.

Peel's career was transformed by "Beatlemania" in the US, as by emphasising his Liverpool origins he was able to find work in radio as a "Beatles expert" on KLIF in Dallas. He later attended a Beatles press conference while working for KOMA in Oklahoma City.

On his return to Britain in 1967, the Beatles were at the height of their creativity, having just released the single "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever". They were revered by many, including Peel's Radio London colleague Kenny Everett, and were regarded as far ahead of their pop contemporaries. The release of "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in June 1967 intensified this adulation and drew even more critical acclaim. The LP was previewed on Radio London (reportedly its first play reduced Peel to tears) and became an essential part of the Perfumed Garden playlist; its atmosphere, a mixture of psychedelic strangeness and images drawn from everyday British life, was reflected in Peel's presentation style, alternately dreamy and down-to-earth. As a Liverpudlian, he sought to distance himself from the fashionable cliques of "Swinging London", hoping that his programme, its ethos expressed in the Beatles' song "All You Need Is Love", would appeal to a wider audience.

The Beatles were also involved with the London underground scene, whose newspaper International Times was supported financially by Paul McCartney, at the time a friend of IT editor Barry Miles. In the second column Peel wrote for the paper in October 1967 there is a mysterious "Memo to J.L.", which may hint at the friendship Peel developed with John Lennon (which he only revealed years after Lennon's death). Later, Lennon was a guest on Night Ride and provided financial backing for a relaunch of IT in 1974, although by then Peel was no longer writing for the paper.

Throughout the late 1960s Peel retained his high opinion of the Beatles, playing their new records as they appeared, and after the band split up in 1970 their solo records also featured in his playlists. Yet in the course of time his attitude towards them began to change, perhaps because of their position in what was becoming an established canon of rock history - which, after the mid-1970s, began to be challenged. Much of their solo work was disappointing after the heights they had reached during their heyday as a band. In addition, as Peel got older he returned more and more to the key listening experiences of his youth, which had occurred in the 1950s when he discovered skiffle and early rock'roll. Despite the fact that he lived through the Beatle era, in his final years he saw Lonnie Donegan as a more important influence on his musical taste.

TBC......

Festive Fifty Entries
1976 Festive Fifty


 * 'Strawberry Fields Forever (LP-Magical Mystery Tour)' (Parlophone) #17
 * 'Hey Jude (LP-Hey Jude)' (Apple) #14
 * 'A Day In The Life (LP-Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band)' (Parlophone) #9

2000 Festive Fifty (All-Time)


 * 'I Am The Walrus (LP-Magical Mystery Tour)' (Parlophone) #45

Sessions

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 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title
 * Song title / Song Title / Song Title / Song Title

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Other Shows Played
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 * DD Month YYYY: Song (single/album) Label