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Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year
A riveting look at the transformative year in the lives and careers of the legendary group whose groundbreaking legacy would forever change music and popular culture.
They started off as hysteria-inducing pop stars playing to audiences of screaming teenage fans and ended up as musical sages considered responsible for ushering in a new era.
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966—the year of their last concert and their first album, Revolver, that was created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. It was the year their records were burned in America after John’s explosive claim that the group was "more popular than Jesus," the year they were hounded out of the Philippines for "snubbing" its First Lady, the year John met Yoko Ono, and the year Paul conceived the idea for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
On the fiftieth anniversary of this seminal year, music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner slows down the action to investigate in detail the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles’ lives and work during 1966. He looks at the historical events that had an impact on the group, the music they made that in turn profoundly affected the culture around them, and the vision that allowed four young men from Liverpool to transform popular music and serve as pioneers for artists from Coldplay to David Bowie, Jay-Z to U2.
By talking to those close to the group and by drawing on his past interviews with key figures such as George Martin, Timothy Leary, and Ravi Shankar—and the Beatles themselves—Turner gives us the compelling, definitive account of the twelve months that contained everything the Beatles had been and anticipated everything they would still become.
They started off as hysteria-inducing pop stars playing to audiences of screaming teenage fans and ended up as musical sages considered responsible for ushering in a new era.
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966—the year of their last concert and their first album, Revolver, that was created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. It was the year their records were burned in America after John’s explosive claim that the group was "more popular than Jesus," the year they were hounded out of the Philippines for "snubbing" its First Lady, the year John met Yoko Ono, and the year Paul conceived the idea for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
On the fiftieth anniversary of this seminal year, music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner slows down the action to investigate in detail the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles’ lives and work during 1966. He looks at the historical events that had an impact on the group, the music they made that in turn profoundly affected the culture around them, and the vision that allowed four young men from Liverpool to transform popular music and serve as pioneers for artists from Coldplay to David Bowie, Jay-Z to U2.
By talking to those close to the group and by drawing on his past interviews with key figures such as George Martin, Timothy Leary, and Ravi Shankar—and the Beatles themselves—Turner gives us the compelling, definitive account of the twelve months that contained everything the Beatles had been and anticipated everything they would still become.
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First published October 25, 2016
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About the author
Steve Turner
32 books70 followersSteve Turner is an English music journalist, biographer and poet, who grew up in Northamptonshire, England. His first published article was in the Beatles Monthly in 1969. His career as a journalist began as features editor of Beat Instrumental where he interviewed many of the prominent rock musicians of the 1970s. He subsequently freelanced for music papers including NME, Melody Maker and Rolling Stone.
During the 1980s he wrote extensively for British newspapers and magazines on a range of subjects as well as producing his study of the relationship between rock music and religion, Hungry For Heaven, and co-authoring U2: Rattle & Hum, the book of the film. In the 1990s he began devoting himself to full-length books, the first being a best selling biography of British music star Cliff Richard, Cliff Richard: The Biography, in 1993, which stayed in the Sunday Times bestseller list for six weeks. At the same time he has written a number of poetry books for both adults and children. The first of his books for children, The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, has now sold over 120,000 copies, and total sales for his children's poetry collection now exceeds 200,000.
His published poetry books for adults are Tonight We Will Fake Love, Nice and Nasty, Up To Date, The King of Twist and Poems. His published poetry collections for children are The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, Dad, You're Not Funny, The Moon Has Got His Pants On, I Was Only Asking and Don't Take Your Elephant To School.
He now combines his book writing and journalism with poetry readings, lecture tours of America and Europe and consultancies. He lives in London.
Hungry for Heaven: Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption(1988)
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now (1993) Van Morrison
Cliff Richard: The Biography (1993) Cliff Richard
A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (1994; updated in 1999 and 2005)
Jack Kerouac: Angelheaded Hipster (1996)
Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye (1998)
Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts (2001)
The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend (2004) Johnny Cash
Amazing Grace: John Newton, Slavery and the World's Most Enduring Song (2005)
The Gospel According to the Beatles (2006)
An Illustrated History of Gospel(2010)
The Band That Played On (2011)
During the 1980s he wrote extensively for British newspapers and magazines on a range of subjects as well as producing his study of the relationship between rock music and religion, Hungry For Heaven, and co-authoring U2: Rattle & Hum, the book of the film. In the 1990s he began devoting himself to full-length books, the first being a best selling biography of British music star Cliff Richard, Cliff Richard: The Biography, in 1993, which stayed in the Sunday Times bestseller list for six weeks. At the same time he has written a number of poetry books for both adults and children. The first of his books for children, The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, has now sold over 120,000 copies, and total sales for his children's poetry collection now exceeds 200,000.
His published poetry books for adults are Tonight We Will Fake Love, Nice and Nasty, Up To Date, The King of Twist and Poems. His published poetry collections for children are The Day I Fell Down The Toilet, Dad, You're Not Funny, The Moon Has Got His Pants On, I Was Only Asking and Don't Take Your Elephant To School.
He now combines his book writing and journalism with poetry readings, lecture tours of America and Europe and consultancies. He lives in London.
Hungry for Heaven: Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption(1988)
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now (1993) Van Morrison
Cliff Richard: The Biography (1993) Cliff Richard
A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (1994; updated in 1999 and 2005)
Jack Kerouac: Angelheaded Hipster (1996)
Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye (1998)
Imagine: A Vision for Christians in the Arts (2001)
The Man Called Cash: The Life, Love and Faith of an American Legend (2004) Johnny Cash
Amazing Grace: John Newton, Slavery and the World's Most Enduring Song (2005)
The Gospel According to the Beatles (2006)
An Illustrated History of Gospel(2010)
The Band That Played On (2011)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 166 reviews
March 15, 2018
Audio # 29
" THE FOUR-HEADED MONSTER " - Mick Jagger
Note: find a bio on Ringo I never have done that
Note: these guys faces some of the most asinine interviewers on the face of the planet. My boys were not stupid, but they were treated like bubble gum way too many times
Note: these albums consist of my favorites of their oeuvre
"He was as suspicious of avant-garde artists as he was of bob Dylan's lyrics."- book about John Lennon at Yoko Ono's exhibit (best quote of book)
A definitive read of a turbulent, revolutionary year for one of the most influential bands ever. Not only is the music production process outlined, but the personal lives of these sensitive yet brilliant young men are followed from home to studio to vacation spots and on tour. Drug use is prevalent, life style choices are explained. Nothing is sacred.
" THE FOUR-HEADED MONSTER " - Mick Jagger
Note: find a bio on Ringo I never have done that
Note: these guys faces some of the most asinine interviewers on the face of the planet. My boys were not stupid, but they were treated like bubble gum way too many times
Note: these albums consist of my favorites of their oeuvre
"He was as suspicious of avant-garde artists as he was of bob Dylan's lyrics."- book about John Lennon at Yoko Ono's exhibit (best quote of book)
A definitive read of a turbulent, revolutionary year for one of the most influential bands ever. Not only is the music production process outlined, but the personal lives of these sensitive yet brilliant young men are followed from home to studio to vacation spots and on tour. Drug use is prevalent, life style choices are explained. Nothing is sacred.
June 27, 2017
Author Steve Turner said that in 2009, Paul McCartney told him about a “…then-recent report that claimed that two of the most significant factors in the fall of Soviet communism were the spread of contraband Levi jeans and the illicit underground distribution of Beatles records.” The strength and truth of this statement rings with authenticity when backed up by the facts in this book. The author targets 1966 as the year of revolutionary change, not only for the Beatles, but for the entire genre of pop music. His extensive bibliography and list of sources helped to recreate 1966 and makes you feel as if you were there.
Some of the stories in the book I had heard before, such as recording multiple tracks to create a desired sound and cutting and running tapes backwards through the machines to achieve a different sound. Mr. Turner details everything about the Beatles and how they consciously decided to change how a group was supposed to behave (record and tour). The Fab Four felt trapped by their own success, and desperately wanted to grow as musicians. As they worked to put together the next album, they weren’t sure how their fans would feel about the new music being created, music that would be able to be recreated at a concert venue today but was impossible to achieve in 1966.
This is not a simple praise book that talks about how good the Beatles were, this book goes deep into the thought processes of each Beatle and how they worked together to create something new. The development of songs for the “Revolver” LP is fascinating, along with the inclusion of information about other groups who provided their own contributions to the music scene. What musicians created back then would dictate the direction of music for decades.
The Beatles were very good at combining new developments into a song and coming up with something that had never been heard. Their fame helped to spread it around the world. This book provides an excellent view of how the initial seeds were germinated, teased into growth, and eventually evolving into something wonderful. Excellent book for music history lovers, or for anyone who has a desire to know about the revolutionary changes in music that happened in the ‘60s. Five stars.
Some of the stories in the book I had heard before, such as recording multiple tracks to create a desired sound and cutting and running tapes backwards through the machines to achieve a different sound. Mr. Turner details everything about the Beatles and how they consciously decided to change how a group was supposed to behave (record and tour). The Fab Four felt trapped by their own success, and desperately wanted to grow as musicians. As they worked to put together the next album, they weren’t sure how their fans would feel about the new music being created, music that would be able to be recreated at a concert venue today but was impossible to achieve in 1966.
This is not a simple praise book that talks about how good the Beatles were, this book goes deep into the thought processes of each Beatle and how they worked together to create something new. The development of songs for the “Revolver” LP is fascinating, along with the inclusion of information about other groups who provided their own contributions to the music scene. What musicians created back then would dictate the direction of music for decades.
The Beatles were very good at combining new developments into a song and coming up with something that had never been heard. Their fame helped to spread it around the world. This book provides an excellent view of how the initial seeds were germinated, teased into growth, and eventually evolving into something wonderful. Excellent book for music history lovers, or for anyone who has a desire to know about the revolutionary changes in music that happened in the ‘60s. Five stars.
Read
March 23, 2025And when the stars themselves turn to ash, I will hold the last ember aloft. I Saw Her Standing There.
And I Love Her.
And I Love Her.
July 9, 2018
I’m really a sucker for all things Beatles. I’ve read quite a few books about them already and have more on my TBR pile. What I like best about Beatles books and sixties books in general is the analysis of what happened in that era. I felt like I got to know them a little bit better as people here.
November 3, 2022
After reading a few Beatles bios that were more of a general overview, I liked the idea of a deeper dive. The Beatles of 1966 is a particularly interesting topic, as it was a time of far-reaching change in their career as well as pop/rock on the whole. Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year by Steve Turner was a great choice. It's a fabulous read from start to finish!
September 24, 2020
De Britse journalist Steve Turner focust in dit boek op de activiteiten van de 4 Beatles in 1966. Het jaar waarin ze in San Francisco hun laatste concert gaven, de drug LSD omarmden, het album Revolver opnamen en iets heel anders gingen doen: John speelde een kleine rol in een serieuze film (van een regisseur die ook twee Beatles-films had geregisseerd), George nam sitarles in India, Paul schreef filmmuziek en reisde met een nepsnorretje door Frankrijk en Ringo zette zijn eerste stappen als ondernemer.
Vermakelijk boek voor Beatles-fans.
Vermakelijk boek voor Beatles-fans.
June 14, 2020
This was really an awesome book and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. For all that it really only covers one year in the Beatles career it really covered a lot of territory. I am planning a longer review for MadReads and will, as usual, give you the link when that happens. I definitely want to read more by the author...am think now the one about Johnny Cash.
May 23, 2021
Major Beatles fan, here. I love everything about them and have read plenty of material about the group. That said, while I liked this book and found it well-researched and thorough, I also found it sad as it covers the months that show the group growing tired of live concerts (and even of each other)...knowing as we do that this is the beginning of the end.
I was hoping for more specific detail about the creation of music on Rubber Soul and Revolver. This was the time period when their in-studio creativity was developing and became so critical to the music of their later years. George Martin is mentioned in a few of the songs but I wish his influence had been explored in more depth.
Mostly, I was sad listening to this book as it signaled the oncoming end of the greatest band of all time. And this is not on the author but on me!
I was hoping for more specific detail about the creation of music on Rubber Soul and Revolver. This was the time period when their in-studio creativity was developing and became so critical to the music of their later years. George Martin is mentioned in a few of the songs but I wish his influence had been explored in more depth.
Mostly, I was sad listening to this book as it signaled the oncoming end of the greatest band of all time. And this is not on the author but on me!
December 30, 2017
Excellent month-by-month examination of the Fab Four during what is arguably the pivotal year in the band's existence. The teen idol / boy band sheen was wearing off and the group was now really experiencing the pangs of adulthood (marriage, fatherhood, cutthroat workplace competition), plus their liberal uses of certain substances, which influenced a more grown-up or unique direction in their music. Did someone say 'influences'? Well, there was also religion, politics, finances, etc. etc. etc.
Now, I admit a certain bias (as the trifecta of Help!, Rubber Soul, and Revolver are my favorites of their albums, and amazingly came one after another in the brief '65-'66 era) but I would recommend it to any fan.
Now, I admit a certain bias (as the trifecta of Help!, Rubber Soul, and Revolver are my favorites of their albums, and amazingly came one after another in the brief '65-'66 era) but I would recommend it to any fan.
November 24, 2022
Very engaging. I rarely listen to the Beatles as their music is in my head as if by osmosis, like many of us of a certain age, whether we bought the LPs or heard 'em endlessly on the radio. Jonathan Gould's cultural study and Bob Spitz' deft biography both pleased me, as all my life I've been interested in the impacts of the band rather than their songs, if that makes sense. (One of my earliest memories was reasoning [sic] that the reason they were so popular was until 1964, there was only classical music to listen to, so younger people were excited about this invention of an alternative to symphonies--this thought must have been when I was three or four years old...). Anyway, Simon Vance narrates Steve Turner's study well, with slight Liverpudlian accents for the Four when they're quoted, and a verve that matches the month-by-month narrative. It had the right amount of detail, and convinced me I might be ready to tackle the 44 hours of Mark Lewisohn's "Turn On" while we await his volume 2.
August 14, 2017
Oh the details! For someone interested in a deep experience of the story behind the lives of the fab four during the creation of Revolver and the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper era, this is about a rich experience as you can expect.
Fun, and always personable, Steve Turner allows us to peek through the window, exposing John with his anxieties over meeting Bob Dylan and his troubles with his thoughts of God quoted in the media, Paul and his dealings with art collecting and girl trouble, George and his interest in the Sitar and Indian culture, and even Ringo with his inability to white music and desire to open of a beauty salon once he's no longer a Beatle.
Fun, and always personable, Steve Turner allows us to peek through the window, exposing John with his anxieties over meeting Bob Dylan and his troubles with his thoughts of God quoted in the media, Paul and his dealings with art collecting and girl trouble, George and his interest in the Sitar and Indian culture, and even Ringo with his inability to white music and desire to open of a beauty salon once he's no longer a Beatle.
December 6, 2023
This is a rich, detailed, slightly exhausting trip through one of the most important years of the Beatles. It goes into the general hobbies and interests that informed the making of Revolver - their first “we’ll never be able to play this live” album - and the personal growth that happened to each of them afterwards. Steve Turner gives a strong feel for the period and underscores the big developments going on for the band, primarily the decision to stop touring. Many things led to that, but increasingly complex music and disastrous tours like the one to Manila would have been significant. And generally the thought of these blossoming musicians at this time in their career gamely trotting our Long Tall Sally seems ridiculous.
There is an element of repetition as Turner dutifully reproduces the same questions being asked and answered (you still won’t roll your eyes as hard as John being asked why he was so mean to Jesus) and there are times when the book feels slightly over generous in its detail, but it’s hard not to be impressed when the author casually chucks in soundbites he picked up in person. It’s another thoughtful case study for Beatles readers.
There is an element of repetition as Turner dutifully reproduces the same questions being asked and answered (you still won’t roll your eyes as hard as John being asked why he was so mean to Jesus) and there are times when the book feels slightly over generous in its detail, but it’s hard not to be impressed when the author casually chucks in soundbites he picked up in person. It’s another thoughtful case study for Beatles readers.
December 19, 2016
You'd think I'd have read all there is to read about the Beatles, yes? Surprisingly, Turner takes some well-known points in the Beatles chronology and revisits them in a unique way: focusing solely one year, incorporating numerous events in their history, many of which have nothing to do with the actual recording sessions. In the process, we're treated with very personal stories of the group: their reactions to the hells of touring (including their infamous stop in Manila), the real story behind John's 'bigger than Jesus' comment (it was a miniscule part of a much larger four-part feature by Maureen Cleve, focusing on all four band members and how they live their lives outside of the band), and even Brian Epstein's diminishing role as manager and his slow downfall into depression.
Highly suggested for both new and longtime Beatle fans alike.
Highly suggested for both new and longtime Beatle fans alike.
April 22, 2019
Fascinating look at the year Revolver came out and Sgt. Pepper started to be recorded, the year they "insulted" Ferdinand Marcos and John said the Beatles were more popular that Jesus in England, the year John met Yoko, George started studying the sitar in earnest, and Paul started buying Magritte paintings, while touring the UK and around the world. They were 25 and 26, the Establishment was ready for the Beatles to be over, and they were really only getting started.
I wish there were more photos, but this book has everything else.
I wish there were more photos, but this book has everything else.
August 17, 2017
This book was fascinating, insightful and I loved it. It's about the Beatles. It explores in depth that year when they seemingly morphed from the Fab Four Moptops into counter cultural icons, when their music changed so rapidly that it seemed beyond belief. I enjoyed the trip and relished the immersion in those days which seem so long ago and out of reach now. Highly recommend for people who love and are interested in music and how it is made, as well, of course, for Beatles fans.
July 13, 2025
Have you ever desperately needed to know just what exactly John Lennon was up to on September 5, 1966? If so, this is the book for you. It's a nearly day-by-day account of what each one of the Beatles did, said, wrote and played in the seminal year of 1966. From their chaotic final tour, the boundary-breaking recording sessions of Revolver, George Harrison's first visit to India, and other major events, '66 was the year that the Beatles officially transitioned from lovable pop group to cutting-edge creative visionaries, and this book attempts to explain how it all happened. It's not for the most casual of fans; Steve Turner very much presupposes that his target reader is already deeply steeped in all of the Beatles lore. It's all about packing in all of supporting details that other, less focused books would leave in the footnotes, in an attempt to draw a portrait of the Beatles in flux. As a lifelong Beatles nerd, I was fascinated to learn that on September 5, John Lennon flew from London to Hanover to begin filming a supporting role in Richard Lester's How I Won the War. Others may find this, and other, trivia facts unbearably dry. It just depends on how much Beatles lore is too much Beatles lore. Despite Turner's best efforts, there really isn't any great new insight into what magic chemistry made the Beatles so important, besides just being four unusually open-minded and gifted young men who also just happened to be in the very right place at the very right time.
March 25, 2020
Turner produces a fantastic and informative book detailing The Beatles wondrous year of 1966 in which they go from the hardships of touring to putting an end to that grind and making advanced music in the studio.
Turner says that Paul first took LSD on December 13, 1965 at Tara Browne's house which is about a full year before Paul himself says he tried the drug so that was an interesting nugget to uncover.
The big takeaway was the leaving touring behind coupled with individual interests, travel, meeting other people outside their circle, taking drugs, and immersing themselves in literature, film, art, and other bands music such as The Byrds, Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Stones, etc... all helped in producing the work of art known as "Revolver".
An end to touring meant an opening of immense creativity for the band and an advancement in their music using deeper lyrics with meaning and instruments that were not on prior albums.
The lads were able to relax their minds and float upstream and never really looked back.
Turner says that Paul first took LSD on December 13, 1965 at Tara Browne's house which is about a full year before Paul himself says he tried the drug so that was an interesting nugget to uncover.
The big takeaway was the leaving touring behind coupled with individual interests, travel, meeting other people outside their circle, taking drugs, and immersing themselves in literature, film, art, and other bands music such as The Byrds, Dylan, The Beach Boys, The Stones, etc... all helped in producing the work of art known as "Revolver".
An end to touring meant an opening of immense creativity for the band and an advancement in their music using deeper lyrics with meaning and instruments that were not on prior albums.
The lads were able to relax their minds and float upstream and never really looked back.
March 4, 2019
This is excellently written. It proceeds as an almost daily chronicle of what the Beatles were reading, thinking, saying and doing in 1966. Who did they meet? What did they think? How did it influence them?
The book shows the massive influence of LSD, TM, Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan on how they changed over the course of the year. It was a year where they recorded Revolver> and started in on Sgt. Pepper's. John met Yoko at the end of the year. The book does a good job of portraying how they were riding a cultural wave, surfing it and staying on top of it, while all around them a revolution was occurring.
I was particularly interested in George Harrison's early visit to India and what he saw as wrong with Christianity and right with religion in India.
The book shows the massive influence of LSD, TM, Ravi Shankar, and Bob Dylan on how they changed over the course of the year. It was a year where they recorded Revolver> and started in on Sgt. Pepper's. John met Yoko at the end of the year. The book does a good job of portraying how they were riding a cultural wave, surfing it and staying on top of it, while all around them a revolution was occurring.
I was particularly interested in George Harrison's early visit to India and what he saw as wrong with Christianity and right with religion in India.
October 21, 2020
I've read many books about the Beatles and many tell the entire tale or simply the tale from a particular perspective. This one however limits itself to 1966 and is able to go into greater than usual detail about The Beatles' experiences and their music during that one year in which they stopped touring, John met Yoko, George focused on Indian music, and Paul led the development of Sgt Peppers. I found the book quite readable and learned a few new things to add to my Beatles knowledge. So if you are a fan, I highly recommend it.
August 8, 2017
I was always baffled how they did soooo much in such little time. And 1966 has it all - quitting touring, Revolver, eastern influence, meeting Yoko, 'bigger than Jesus,' starting Sgt Pepper...I devoured this in a weekend, Beatles style.
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July 29, 2024Seriously exhaustive. I think the only details he missed were the exact timings of all of their potty breaks that year.
September 3, 2025
Detailed account of a pivotal year in the Beatles' career
March 3, 2023
The Beatles’ pivotal year under a microscope
At the beginning of 1966, The Beatles were still perceived by the general public as the wacky Fab Four, capable of eliciting frenzied screaming from thousands of mostly female fans in large stadiums, a precedent they set with the record-breaking Shea Stadium concert the previous August. Despite some puzzlement at the maturing musical sounds in their latest album, the groundbreaking ‘Rubber Soul,” the sales of the album were still putting it at the top of the charts, with a new hit single, “We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper,” also selling well. They still had live performance commitments arranged by their manager Brian Epstein and they were still cheeky and wisecracking in press conferences, the four of them together creating an impenetrable armor of witticisms.
At the end of 1966, they had set the bar for innovative, adventurous recording, stopped playing live as the loveable mop tops, had an eventful year full of death threats, rough treatment directed from foreign nationals, controversial remarks, record burnings, one new masterpiece of recorded music that forged frontiers no one had reached and were laying down tracks for their next wonderful recording adventure.
The beginning and end of 1966 for John, Paul, George, and Ringo were miles apart though only separated by twelve months. What Steve Turner does in his book ‘Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year’ is to put the entire year under a microscope and depict it one month at a time, spending as much space on this momentous year as many authors have spent on the entire Beatles career.
The slightly less hectic pace at the beginning of 1966 was a godsend to each of the Beatles to catch their breaths and pursue some individual interests which, at this point in their career, strengthened their collective efforts rather than pull them apart, as was to happen a few years later. By the end of 1965, each of them had taken LSD, even Paul, the holdout until December. Steve Turner says this provides a different meaning to Paul’s song, “Got to Get You into My Life,” which Paul has since stated was an ode to marijuana. The lyrics make more sense when taken to describing an acid trip—“took a ride”…”another kind of mind”. In early 1966, Paul was broadening his outlook by funding an alternative book/art store, Indica Books and Gallery. This was where avant-garde artist Yoko Ono had some of her works displayed and where John would meet her later in the year.
George would marry Pattie Boyd earlier in the year and would investigate Indian culture and music, especially Ravi Shankar. He bought one sitar, had an even better one shipped out to him on his honeymoon in Barbados, and began learning to play it while they were there.
John and Ringo and their wives took a vacation to Trinidad in January and after their return later in the month, John struggled with his middle-class suburban lifestyle, with the dependable escape hatch of psychic journeys via LSD for days at a time.
All of the Beatles soaked up the influences of the surrounding culture as well as the rapidly expanding musical styles produced by their British contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals, and The Yardbirds as well as American artists such as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, The Impressions, and the writing/producing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.
During this time, each of the Beatles were interviewed for in-depth feature articles by Maureen Cleve, a news journalist who had become a trusted friend of the band since her insightful coverage of them in 1963. These were published individually and the one with John included his comment, said disparagingly, that the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus. The piece was reprinted in an American magazine, Datebook, including John’s and Paul’s interviews. Quotes from each of them were included on the cover. Paul’s quote: “It’s a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty n---“; John’s quote: “I don’t know which will go first—rocknroll or Christianity”. Datebook editor Art Ungar wanted to stir up controversy so he highlighted, at greater length, John’s quote that the Beatles were now bigger than Jesus. It’s an interesting insight into the contemporary culture in the American Bible Belt that Paul’s racial comment was ignored while the furor was over John’s Jesus comment. The editor Art Ungar sent advance copies to DJs throughout the South and Midwest who took the bait and fanned the flames of indignation.
By the time of this exposure in July, just before The Beatles were scheduled to begin their next (and last) American tour, they had already had a dangerous brush with authoritarian rage in the Philippines, where first lady Imelda Marcos had invited them to a special event for her pre-teen daughter and her friends. The Beatles had not been informed of this until the evening before and they, including their manager, were adamantly opposed to making this appearance on their day off. This inadvertent snub led to a removal of VIP treatment and security. They were shoved and treated roughly as they rushed through the airport to catch their plane out of the country.
Three months earlier, they began recording the masterpiece, ‘Revolver,’ in which they absorbed all those cultural, spiritual, and chemical influences to produce a studio track, John’s “Tomorrow Never Knows”, a virtual guidebook to the spiritual approach toward exploration with LSD, with lyrics adapted from Timothy Leary’s book, ‘The Psychedelic Experience’, a paraphrase of texts from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This song, with the help of tape loops that Paul had made and which each Beatle spooled through tape heads at varying speeds, continually creating newer mosaics of sound, could never be replicated in live performance.
The rest of the album included varieties of styles from Indian to classical to Motown to Tin Pan Alley and beyond, their boldest artistic statement to date. From the tragic poem of loneliness (“Eleanor Rigby”) to the children’s singalong (“Yellow Submarine”) and varying states in between, the album was stylistically and lyrically adventurous. Drugs played a role in the subject matter of at least a handful of songs beyond “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Got to Get You into My Life” with “Dr. Robert” and “She Said She Said,” in which an argument between John and Paul resulted in Paul leaving the studio and the other three proceeding to finish the recording. The nature of the argument has never been made clear either through John (alluding to it in a conversation with Paul in the ‘Get Back’ documentary), Paul’s later remarks, or in this volume.
There’s not a great deal of new information that I had not been aware of previously but by depicting each month in detail, Turner connects the gaps, creating a flowing narrative in which the rapid pace of the Beatles’ individual and collective interests emerge in stark contrast with the prevailing public expectations that they will continue to perform infectious pop tunes to screaming fans. To me it’s analogous to a baby chick outgrowing its egg shell until it finally hatches and evolves at its own unconstrained pace. He fleshes out details such as George’s Indian education, John’s film acting experience in ‘How I Won the War,’ (during down time between shots he began writing “Strawberry Fields Forever”) and Paul’s experience composing a movie score with ‘The Family Way’ (actually one basic melody expanded through many variations and orchestrated by George Martin).
There are a couple of inaccuracies in the book but nothing major. Turner says that the credit of Anil Bhagwat playing tabla on “Love You To” is one of only two instances of an outside musician being credited on a Beatles recording, the other one being Alan Civil playing French horn on “For No One” from the same album. However, on ‘Rubber Soul’, George Martin was credited as playing piano and harmonium and Mal Evans was given credit for playing organ. After ‘Revolver’, no outside musician was created until the release of the “Get Back”/”Don’t Let Me Down” single in 1969 featuring Billy Preston on organ.
I had read a previous book by Steve Turner on the Beatles, ‘The Gospel According to the Beatles’ which was interesting although I felt that the premise was stretched to fill a complete book. ‘Beatles ‘66’ has the opposite problem. So much happened in this twelve-month period that could have been included. I had also been unaware when reading the previous book that Turner had journalist cred through interviews with individual Beatles and others associated with them over the years.
Until Mark Lewisohn eventually publishes the next volume of his massive Beatles biography, in which he will undoubtedly be covering 1966, Steve Turner’s ‘Beatles ‘66’ is probably the best in depth depiction of this very important period in the evolution of the group, when they and the rest of the world in that eventful decade were hurling through time at breakneck speeds.
At the beginning of 1966, The Beatles were still perceived by the general public as the wacky Fab Four, capable of eliciting frenzied screaming from thousands of mostly female fans in large stadiums, a precedent they set with the record-breaking Shea Stadium concert the previous August. Despite some puzzlement at the maturing musical sounds in their latest album, the groundbreaking ‘Rubber Soul,” the sales of the album were still putting it at the top of the charts, with a new hit single, “We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper,” also selling well. They still had live performance commitments arranged by their manager Brian Epstein and they were still cheeky and wisecracking in press conferences, the four of them together creating an impenetrable armor of witticisms.
At the end of 1966, they had set the bar for innovative, adventurous recording, stopped playing live as the loveable mop tops, had an eventful year full of death threats, rough treatment directed from foreign nationals, controversial remarks, record burnings, one new masterpiece of recorded music that forged frontiers no one had reached and were laying down tracks for their next wonderful recording adventure.
The beginning and end of 1966 for John, Paul, George, and Ringo were miles apart though only separated by twelve months. What Steve Turner does in his book ‘Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year’ is to put the entire year under a microscope and depict it one month at a time, spending as much space on this momentous year as many authors have spent on the entire Beatles career.
The slightly less hectic pace at the beginning of 1966 was a godsend to each of the Beatles to catch their breaths and pursue some individual interests which, at this point in their career, strengthened their collective efforts rather than pull them apart, as was to happen a few years later. By the end of 1965, each of them had taken LSD, even Paul, the holdout until December. Steve Turner says this provides a different meaning to Paul’s song, “Got to Get You into My Life,” which Paul has since stated was an ode to marijuana. The lyrics make more sense when taken to describing an acid trip—“took a ride”…”another kind of mind”. In early 1966, Paul was broadening his outlook by funding an alternative book/art store, Indica Books and Gallery. This was where avant-garde artist Yoko Ono had some of her works displayed and where John would meet her later in the year.
George would marry Pattie Boyd earlier in the year and would investigate Indian culture and music, especially Ravi Shankar. He bought one sitar, had an even better one shipped out to him on his honeymoon in Barbados, and began learning to play it while they were there.
John and Ringo and their wives took a vacation to Trinidad in January and after their return later in the month, John struggled with his middle-class suburban lifestyle, with the dependable escape hatch of psychic journeys via LSD for days at a time.
All of the Beatles soaked up the influences of the surrounding culture as well as the rapidly expanding musical styles produced by their British contemporaries The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, The Animals, and The Yardbirds as well as American artists such as Bob Dylan, The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson, The Impressions, and the writing/producing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.
During this time, each of the Beatles were interviewed for in-depth feature articles by Maureen Cleve, a news journalist who had become a trusted friend of the band since her insightful coverage of them in 1963. These were published individually and the one with John included his comment, said disparagingly, that the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus. The piece was reprinted in an American magazine, Datebook, including John’s and Paul’s interviews. Quotes from each of them were included on the cover. Paul’s quote: “It’s a lousy country where anyone black is a dirty n---“; John’s quote: “I don’t know which will go first—rocknroll or Christianity”. Datebook editor Art Ungar wanted to stir up controversy so he highlighted, at greater length, John’s quote that the Beatles were now bigger than Jesus. It’s an interesting insight into the contemporary culture in the American Bible Belt that Paul’s racial comment was ignored while the furor was over John’s Jesus comment. The editor Art Ungar sent advance copies to DJs throughout the South and Midwest who took the bait and fanned the flames of indignation.
By the time of this exposure in July, just before The Beatles were scheduled to begin their next (and last) American tour, they had already had a dangerous brush with authoritarian rage in the Philippines, where first lady Imelda Marcos had invited them to a special event for her pre-teen daughter and her friends. The Beatles had not been informed of this until the evening before and they, including their manager, were adamantly opposed to making this appearance on their day off. This inadvertent snub led to a removal of VIP treatment and security. They were shoved and treated roughly as they rushed through the airport to catch their plane out of the country.
Three months earlier, they began recording the masterpiece, ‘Revolver,’ in which they absorbed all those cultural, spiritual, and chemical influences to produce a studio track, John’s “Tomorrow Never Knows”, a virtual guidebook to the spiritual approach toward exploration with LSD, with lyrics adapted from Timothy Leary’s book, ‘The Psychedelic Experience’, a paraphrase of texts from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This song, with the help of tape loops that Paul had made and which each Beatle spooled through tape heads at varying speeds, continually creating newer mosaics of sound, could never be replicated in live performance.
The rest of the album included varieties of styles from Indian to classical to Motown to Tin Pan Alley and beyond, their boldest artistic statement to date. From the tragic poem of loneliness (“Eleanor Rigby”) to the children’s singalong (“Yellow Submarine”) and varying states in between, the album was stylistically and lyrically adventurous. Drugs played a role in the subject matter of at least a handful of songs beyond “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Got to Get You into My Life” with “Dr. Robert” and “She Said She Said,” in which an argument between John and Paul resulted in Paul leaving the studio and the other three proceeding to finish the recording. The nature of the argument has never been made clear either through John (alluding to it in a conversation with Paul in the ‘Get Back’ documentary), Paul’s later remarks, or in this volume.
There’s not a great deal of new information that I had not been aware of previously but by depicting each month in detail, Turner connects the gaps, creating a flowing narrative in which the rapid pace of the Beatles’ individual and collective interests emerge in stark contrast with the prevailing public expectations that they will continue to perform infectious pop tunes to screaming fans. To me it’s analogous to a baby chick outgrowing its egg shell until it finally hatches and evolves at its own unconstrained pace. He fleshes out details such as George’s Indian education, John’s film acting experience in ‘How I Won the War,’ (during down time between shots he began writing “Strawberry Fields Forever”) and Paul’s experience composing a movie score with ‘The Family Way’ (actually one basic melody expanded through many variations and orchestrated by George Martin).
There are a couple of inaccuracies in the book but nothing major. Turner says that the credit of Anil Bhagwat playing tabla on “Love You To” is one of only two instances of an outside musician being credited on a Beatles recording, the other one being Alan Civil playing French horn on “For No One” from the same album. However, on ‘Rubber Soul’, George Martin was credited as playing piano and harmonium and Mal Evans was given credit for playing organ. After ‘Revolver’, no outside musician was created until the release of the “Get Back”/”Don’t Let Me Down” single in 1969 featuring Billy Preston on organ.
I had read a previous book by Steve Turner on the Beatles, ‘The Gospel According to the Beatles’ which was interesting although I felt that the premise was stretched to fill a complete book. ‘Beatles ‘66’ has the opposite problem. So much happened in this twelve-month period that could have been included. I had also been unaware when reading the previous book that Turner had journalist cred through interviews with individual Beatles and others associated with them over the years.
Until Mark Lewisohn eventually publishes the next volume of his massive Beatles biography, in which he will undoubtedly be covering 1966, Steve Turner’s ‘Beatles ‘66’ is probably the best in depth depiction of this very important period in the evolution of the group, when they and the rest of the world in that eventful decade were hurling through time at breakneck speeds.
May 18, 2019
My first Beatles record was the 45 version of “Hey Jude” as an eleven year-old in Ossining, NY. The book mostly covers 1966, which predates the McCartney masterpiece by a couple of years. 1965 had been a break out year with “Rubber Soul” selling over one million albums in nine weeks in the U.S. The most radical departure from the teeny bopper pop songs was Paul’s “Eleanor Rigby,” a depressing and meditative dirge. The use of LSD was common and the Beatles music was strongly influenced by its’ mind altering properties. Encounters with Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar and Mick Jagger are told in colorful detail. Death threats by right wing nuts in Japan caused a massive amount of security for concerts there and a trip to the Philippines provides a funny anecdote regarding the future shoe queen, Imelda Marcos. The next controversy and most well known was the John Lennon quote, “the Beatles are more popular than Jesus.” Two DJ’s in Birmingham, Alabama read it on the air and encouraged their listeners to burn Beatles records in protest. A reporter for UPI spread the story and all hell broke loose, especially in the “Christian” south. History repeats, as the same red neck ass***** are President Tweets biggest supporters. Other than some KKK protests, the final U.S tour was completed without incident. The band had burned out after 1,400 live shows which ended in 1966 in San Francisco. Concerts were a thing of the past as the Beatles created magic in the recording studio. The turning point may have been the unique blending of sounds used in Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” and McCartney’s “Penny Lane.” The album “Revolver” was recorded in 1966 and is considered the most influential record in rock history. That view was to be altered with the release of the Sgt. Pepper album the following year. My personal favorite is “Abbey Road.” Even as individual artists, all of the Fab Four experienced continued success. John’s “Imagine,” Paul’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” George’s “My Sweet Lord,” and Ringo’s “Photograph” were huge hits. I highly recommend Steve Turner’s book to Beatle’s fans and to all music lovers in general.
March 15, 2025
Have you ever wanted to know what Ringo Starr was doing in March 1966? Have you ever wondered which art exhibitions Paul McCartney visited? Have you ever wondered which days all of the Beatles spent in the studio? If you have ever wondered about these, and many other questions, this is exactly the book you have been looking for.
It is a diary-like book that looks at the day to day life and activities of four fairly ordinary men who all had the good fortune to form a band, wrote a lot of songs that connected with a lot of people and became figureheads for the swinging sixties.
This isn’t just a book about the Beatles, it is more than that. It places them in history, of what is happening at the time, in world events, culture, music. It is the year of Sergeant Pepper, of a creative rivalry between the Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, the band’s who wanted to go one better, to be the ones who burned the brightest, before burning out completely.
It may be hyperbole to suggest that the Beatles changed pop music forever, but they certainly had a good go at it. They spent hours in the studio, crafting Revolver, which moved the band away from their rock and roll live sound, and produced such experimental work as Tomorrow Never Knows.
There is a sense of change in the book, the Beatles are no longer a touring band, having become tired of playing to people who screamed, rather than listened. We also see the fallout, particularly in Bible-belt America of John Lennon’s infamous ‘bigger than Jesus’ quote.
The book is a forensic study of the Beatles, but also of the state of music at the time. George Harrison’s excursion into Indian music and his exploration of the Sitar are well explored, as are the states of the Beatles relationships.
Although many books have, and will always be written about Paul, John, George and Ringo, Beatles 66 is probably the only book that will look at a particular year, and stage in the musical and social development of the Beatles in such detail. If you have even a passing interest in the 1960s, the Beatles and popular culture, then this book is a very interesting read.
It is a diary-like book that looks at the day to day life and activities of four fairly ordinary men who all had the good fortune to form a band, wrote a lot of songs that connected with a lot of people and became figureheads for the swinging sixties.
This isn’t just a book about the Beatles, it is more than that. It places them in history, of what is happening at the time, in world events, culture, music. It is the year of Sergeant Pepper, of a creative rivalry between the Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, the band’s who wanted to go one better, to be the ones who burned the brightest, before burning out completely.
It may be hyperbole to suggest that the Beatles changed pop music forever, but they certainly had a good go at it. They spent hours in the studio, crafting Revolver, which moved the band away from their rock and roll live sound, and produced such experimental work as Tomorrow Never Knows.
There is a sense of change in the book, the Beatles are no longer a touring band, having become tired of playing to people who screamed, rather than listened. We also see the fallout, particularly in Bible-belt America of John Lennon’s infamous ‘bigger than Jesus’ quote.
The book is a forensic study of the Beatles, but also of the state of music at the time. George Harrison’s excursion into Indian music and his exploration of the Sitar are well explored, as are the states of the Beatles relationships.
Although many books have, and will always be written about Paul, John, George and Ringo, Beatles 66 is probably the only book that will look at a particular year, and stage in the musical and social development of the Beatles in such detail. If you have even a passing interest in the 1960s, the Beatles and popular culture, then this book is a very interesting read.
May 25, 2020
Oh no, I thought, when a friend recommended Steve Turner’s “Beatles ’66: The Revolutionary Year.” Another Beatles book? I love the Beatles, but is there anything fresh to say, besides what the indefatigable Mark Lewisohn is putting in volume 2 of his exhaustive biography? (Don’t die, Mark!)
Well.
Not only is “Beatles ‘66” a worthy addition to the Beatles literary canon, Lewisohn’s going to have to dig deeper to find a few nuggets that didn’t make Turner’s book. It helps that Turner has followed the band since the ‘60s and is as well-connected as any Beatles expert, quoting from personal interviews with Cynthia Lennon, McCartney paramour Maggie McGivern, various members of the Fabs’ inner circle, and even some tangential folks, such as tour assistants and DJ pals. Moreover, he seems to have read every article about the band in ’66, including mentions in Indian newspapers and American teen magazines, and has enough knowledge to put it all in context with events of the epochal year.
So, why IS 1966 so important? In Beatles lore, it’s 1967 that’s the peak of the mountain, the year the band released the “Penny Lane”/”Strawberry Fields Forever” single and, on June 1 – practically the very center of the year – “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” only to be followed by the apparent first forebodings of the band’s downfall, with the death of manager Brian Epstein and the failure of the “Magical Mystery Tour” movie.
But, as Turner makes clear, 1966 was the year the band truly went from the lovable mop-tops of Beatlemania to serious musicians – not least to themselves, though the first glimmers of the “adult” Beatles could be seen as far back as the “Help!” soundtrack LP. The year began with “Rubber Soul” in stores and “We Can Work It Out” atop the singles charts. By year’s end, the group had gone on a disastrous tour – enough to put them off touring completely – released “Revolver” (still their best LP, in my opinion), weathered the “bigger than Jesus” controversy and recorded “Strawberry Fields,” with “Penny Lane” and “A Day in the Life” just around the corner.
Paul McCartney immersed himself in avant-garde music, leading to the tape-spliced squalls of John Lennon’s LSD-influenced “Tomorrow Never Knows,” while George Harrison took formal lessons on the sitar in India. Ringo relaxed with his family and played the best drums of his life, partly thanks to new Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, who sharpened the sound of the rhythm section.
Moreover, it was a year in which energy and tumult were present in equal measure, with musicians and other artists feeding each other’s creativity. In May, the Beach Boys’ Brian Johnston journeyed to London with the landmark “Pet Sounds” and was greeted by Beach Boys fan Keith Moon, who helped introduce him to Lennon and McCartney – both of whom were hugely moved by the record. (McCartney has often said that “God Only Knows” is his favorite song.) The Animals’ Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to town later that year, blowing away a room full of the UK’s finest guitarists; word was that Eric Clapton retreated to his house to practice for days on end.
The Kinks were still big; the Who was the band of the moment (the Beatles loved the Who’s edgy, power chord-filled singles); and Bob Dylan came to town, making John Lennon uncomfortable.
Just typing all that is making me gasp for air, but there was more – besides "Revolver," notably a global tour that forced the band off the road once and for all. Why play when nobody can hear you, when the press corps’ questions are still stupid and dull, when you’re practically killed while running from a van to a hotel to a hall to a plane?
Turner digs deep into all this, turning up new tidbits every chapter. I had no idea that the Kinks’ Ray Davies felt threatened by the Beatles, giving “Revolver” a lukewarm song-by-song review. (Ray! “Face to Face” is just as good!) Or that McCartney was such a fan of Rene Magritte. Or that there was a plan for the Beatles to record at Stax Studios in Memphis … and get together with Motown’s Holland/Dozier/Holland. Or that the band was actually friendly with Art Unger, the editor of Datebook, the magazine that reprinted Maureen Cleave’s fateful “bigger than Jesus” Lennon interview in America. (Datebook did play up some of Lennon’s more provocative quotes, but to be fair, none of them had made a ripple in the months the interview was around before it appeared.) Or that the “Sgt. Pepper’s” cover was partly inspired by a list Frank Zappa had included with the Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out.” (The Mothers would repay the favor(?) with the cover of their 1968 LP, “We’re Only In It for the Money.”)
And P.S.: Turner even alludes to the “Paul Is Dead” rumor, given that, if you believe the elaborate tapestry about that story, Mr. McCartney died early in the morning of November 9, 1966 (the day after a “stupid bloody Tuesday” row). Turns out Paul was in Kenya, getting away from it all.
For all of these “whoa” moments, though, what impressed me about Turner’s telling was a sense that 1966 was very much part of a continuum – not just for the Beatles, but for music and art in general. I don’t know why, but having heard and read so much about these events for years, I picture them as discrete pieces, as if they have no connection to events of the years before or after, because they’re so different – as different as Herman’s Hermits is from the Jefferson Airplane. But of course they’re all related – just ask the Monkees, spun off of the “Hard Day’s Night”-era Beatles, about their 1967 opening act, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And the Beatles were pals with the Monkees, particularly Micky Dolenz.
Turner manages to link everything together. The world of “Beatles ‘66” was a small one, all seemingly mixing at the Bag o’ Nails or the Scotch of St James, reading the same books and aware of the same trends – and then pushing them in new directions and suggesting new works to investigate. I’ve long thought that 1966 was the greatest year in pop music history (“The Ballad of the Green Berets” and “Elusive Butterfly” notwithstanding), but “Beatles ‘66” also suggests that it’s one of the great creative years, period, a time when you could still bring outré ideas into the mainstream (a book called “The Passover Plot” informed Lennon’s religious thinking) and make them palatable to the masses.
Of course, part of the reason that happened was the miracle of the Beatles, who had the ability to soak up so much diversity and re-create it as something fresh. It’s happened since – I think of the line that connects the comedy Goons and Nichols and May to Beyond the Fringe, Monty Python, National Lampoon, and “Saturday Night Live” – but it’s become the exception in our splintered, overly attention-demanding times. We’ll never see the likes, or the life-force, of the Beatles again.
Makes me want to turn off my mind, relax, and float downstream.
Well.
Not only is “Beatles ‘66” a worthy addition to the Beatles literary canon, Lewisohn’s going to have to dig deeper to find a few nuggets that didn’t make Turner’s book. It helps that Turner has followed the band since the ‘60s and is as well-connected as any Beatles expert, quoting from personal interviews with Cynthia Lennon, McCartney paramour Maggie McGivern, various members of the Fabs’ inner circle, and even some tangential folks, such as tour assistants and DJ pals. Moreover, he seems to have read every article about the band in ’66, including mentions in Indian newspapers and American teen magazines, and has enough knowledge to put it all in context with events of the epochal year.
So, why IS 1966 so important? In Beatles lore, it’s 1967 that’s the peak of the mountain, the year the band released the “Penny Lane”/”Strawberry Fields Forever” single and, on June 1 – practically the very center of the year – “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” only to be followed by the apparent first forebodings of the band’s downfall, with the death of manager Brian Epstein and the failure of the “Magical Mystery Tour” movie.
But, as Turner makes clear, 1966 was the year the band truly went from the lovable mop-tops of Beatlemania to serious musicians – not least to themselves, though the first glimmers of the “adult” Beatles could be seen as far back as the “Help!” soundtrack LP. The year began with “Rubber Soul” in stores and “We Can Work It Out” atop the singles charts. By year’s end, the group had gone on a disastrous tour – enough to put them off touring completely – released “Revolver” (still their best LP, in my opinion), weathered the “bigger than Jesus” controversy and recorded “Strawberry Fields,” with “Penny Lane” and “A Day in the Life” just around the corner.
Paul McCartney immersed himself in avant-garde music, leading to the tape-spliced squalls of John Lennon’s LSD-influenced “Tomorrow Never Knows,” while George Harrison took formal lessons on the sitar in India. Ringo relaxed with his family and played the best drums of his life, partly thanks to new Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, who sharpened the sound of the rhythm section.
Moreover, it was a year in which energy and tumult were present in equal measure, with musicians and other artists feeding each other’s creativity. In May, the Beach Boys’ Brian Johnston journeyed to London with the landmark “Pet Sounds” and was greeted by Beach Boys fan Keith Moon, who helped introduce him to Lennon and McCartney – both of whom were hugely moved by the record. (McCartney has often said that “God Only Knows” is his favorite song.) The Animals’ Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to town later that year, blowing away a room full of the UK’s finest guitarists; word was that Eric Clapton retreated to his house to practice for days on end.
The Kinks were still big; the Who was the band of the moment (the Beatles loved the Who’s edgy, power chord-filled singles); and Bob Dylan came to town, making John Lennon uncomfortable.
Just typing all that is making me gasp for air, but there was more – besides "Revolver," notably a global tour that forced the band off the road once and for all. Why play when nobody can hear you, when the press corps’ questions are still stupid and dull, when you’re practically killed while running from a van to a hotel to a hall to a plane?
Turner digs deep into all this, turning up new tidbits every chapter. I had no idea that the Kinks’ Ray Davies felt threatened by the Beatles, giving “Revolver” a lukewarm song-by-song review. (Ray! “Face to Face” is just as good!) Or that McCartney was such a fan of Rene Magritte. Or that there was a plan for the Beatles to record at Stax Studios in Memphis … and get together with Motown’s Holland/Dozier/Holland. Or that the band was actually friendly with Art Unger, the editor of Datebook, the magazine that reprinted Maureen Cleave’s fateful “bigger than Jesus” Lennon interview in America. (Datebook did play up some of Lennon’s more provocative quotes, but to be fair, none of them had made a ripple in the months the interview was around before it appeared.) Or that the “Sgt. Pepper’s” cover was partly inspired by a list Frank Zappa had included with the Mothers of Invention’s “Freak Out.” (The Mothers would repay the favor(?) with the cover of their 1968 LP, “We’re Only In It for the Money.”)
And P.S.: Turner even alludes to the “Paul Is Dead” rumor, given that, if you believe the elaborate tapestry about that story, Mr. McCartney died early in the morning of November 9, 1966 (the day after a “stupid bloody Tuesday” row). Turns out Paul was in Kenya, getting away from it all.
For all of these “whoa” moments, though, what impressed me about Turner’s telling was a sense that 1966 was very much part of a continuum – not just for the Beatles, but for music and art in general. I don’t know why, but having heard and read so much about these events for years, I picture them as discrete pieces, as if they have no connection to events of the years before or after, because they’re so different – as different as Herman’s Hermits is from the Jefferson Airplane. But of course they’re all related – just ask the Monkees, spun off of the “Hard Day’s Night”-era Beatles, about their 1967 opening act, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. And the Beatles were pals with the Monkees, particularly Micky Dolenz.
Turner manages to link everything together. The world of “Beatles ‘66” was a small one, all seemingly mixing at the Bag o’ Nails or the Scotch of St James, reading the same books and aware of the same trends – and then pushing them in new directions and suggesting new works to investigate. I’ve long thought that 1966 was the greatest year in pop music history (“The Ballad of the Green Berets” and “Elusive Butterfly” notwithstanding), but “Beatles ‘66” also suggests that it’s one of the great creative years, period, a time when you could still bring outré ideas into the mainstream (a book called “The Passover Plot” informed Lennon’s religious thinking) and make them palatable to the masses.
Of course, part of the reason that happened was the miracle of the Beatles, who had the ability to soak up so much diversity and re-create it as something fresh. It’s happened since – I think of the line that connects the comedy Goons and Nichols and May to Beyond the Fringe, Monty Python, National Lampoon, and “Saturday Night Live” – but it’s become the exception in our splintered, overly attention-demanding times. We’ll never see the likes, or the life-force, of the Beatles again.
Makes me want to turn off my mind, relax, and float downstream.
October 1, 2017
Fascinating month-by-month reconstruction of a pivotal year in the lives of the Beatles. The author does an excellent job recreating the social, intellectual and musical lives of each of the Beatles in a year that included their last tour as a band, the creation of one of their finest albums and a pop masterpiece, John's infamous comment about the Beatles being "bigger than Jesus" and huge leaps forward in their artistic and personal development.
I am a pretty hardcore Beatles fan and have read quite a few Beatles books over the years but I still learned a ton. I especially like how Turner connected what they were reading, watching and listening to the form and content of the songs on Revolver. Highly recommended for all Beatles fans at any level, and for those interested in the culture and politics of the 60s (especially in Britain).
I am a pretty hardcore Beatles fan and have read quite a few Beatles books over the years but I still learned a ton. I especially like how Turner connected what they were reading, watching and listening to the form and content of the songs on Revolver. Highly recommended for all Beatles fans at any level, and for those interested in the culture and politics of the 60s (especially in Britain).
December 10, 2020
Disappointed in this one. The author went into too much detail on how and why George was enthralled with the sitar. To me, that section was both irrelevant and boring.
I was also irritated with the author's take on the wonders of LSD. Sure, it influenced the Beatles' music during this time period. It also, in later years, made John, in particular, a nearly useless blob. There's nothing cool about going through life as a stoned -out druggie.
Also, the author makes a glaring error concerning how John met Yoko. Did not happen that way. And btw, Mr. Turner, there's nothing too enthralling about Yoko either. Referring to her as an artist is both laughable and sad.
All in all, the author's bias towards the wonders of psychedelic drugs and too-detailed sections on the importance of an obscure Indian instrument made this book a dull read.
I was also irritated with the author's take on the wonders of LSD. Sure, it influenced the Beatles' music during this time period. It also, in later years, made John, in particular, a nearly useless blob. There's nothing cool about going through life as a stoned -out druggie.
Also, the author makes a glaring error concerning how John met Yoko. Did not happen that way. And btw, Mr. Turner, there's nothing too enthralling about Yoko either. Referring to her as an artist is both laughable and sad.
All in all, the author's bias towards the wonders of psychedelic drugs and too-detailed sections on the importance of an obscure Indian instrument made this book a dull read.
June 25, 2017
“In December 1965 the Beatles had been fresh-faced touring idols widely thought of as a fad that was on the verge of dying out. Although dissatisfied with their musical progress, they had no clear idea how to continue as the Beatles while simultaneously growing up as musicians and lyricist. A year later they were studio-based artists flag-waving for the avant-garde who were maturing with their audience and gaining the respect of serious music critics.”
The above passage, written by Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year author Steve Turner pretty much sums of his book on The Beatles, and the need for such a book on The Beatles. Having found their way to success, at a time when rock ‘n’ roll was considered a fad, and when the same music wasn’t being written about seriously, nor was anyone considering taking it seriously, it would have been easy for the Fab Four to make their money, churn out what was expected of them, and eventually fade from the scene. John, Paul, George and Ringo were merely four lads from Liverpool whom no one expected much from. What they hadn’t counted on was the fact all four of them were intelligent and talented young men, who had the ability and desire to grow, and it was because of this ability that The Beatles are the musical and cultural icons that we know today.
“We can’t just stop where we are or there’s nothing left to do,” said Paul McCartney in 1966. “We can go on trying to make popular records and it can get dead dull if we’re not trying to expand at all and move on into other things. Unless you’re careful, you can be successful and unsuccessful at the same time.”
Whether you’re a fan of The Beatles or not, you cannot argue their place in the history of modern music – their influence and all of the boundaries they broke that in turn changed the face and style of 20th Century music and rock ‘n’ roll in general.
“Musically, we’re only just starting,” said George Harrison back then. “We’ve realized for ourselves that as far as recording is concerned most of the things that recording men have said were impossible for 39 years are in fact possible. In the past, we’ve thought that the recording people knew what they were talking about. We believed them when they said we couldn’t do this, or we couldn’t do that. Now we know we can, and it’s opening up a wide new field for us.”
It was this curiosity and this drive that kept The Beatles from being a mere footnote in music history, and in Steve Turner’s book, he examines that year, 1966, when the Fab Four seemed to mature into their fame, and began desiring for something more, something significant to come out of their good fortune and their chosen vocation.
The year 1966 saw the release of The Beatles Revolver album, a piece of vinyl that helped redefine what an album was. Before 1965’s Rubber Soul, which helped plant the idea for Revolver, rock ‘n’ roll albums were just a collection of individual songs meant to capitalize on the success of the hit singles. With Rubber Soul and then Revolver, The Beatles were starting to create music that challenged the listener, music they couldn’t possible perform live, at that moment in time. It was during 1966, that The Beatles also decided to stop touring, having survived the disastrous tour that took them to the Philippines, and a nerve-wracking tour of the U.S. after John Lennon’s much misunderstood quote about Jesus (they were facing potential violence and death threats). Realizing they weren’t growing as musicians playing live, seeing as no one was listening to them, merely screaming, they found their creativity in the studio and decided that was where they should focus their attention. This focus, along with bringing about Revolver in 1966, had them embarking on the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album - an album credit with truly changing music and albums forever.
In telling the tale of 1966, Steve Turner breaks the book down into twelve chapters and explores the Fab Four’s lives in detail during that year. He reiterates the often misunderstood fact that Paul McCartney, not John Lennon was The Beatle most closely associated with London’s avant-garde scene, and manages to give us other insights into the character and thoughts of each of the group’s members.
There are a lot of books written on The Beatles, and I’ve read many. I’ve actually read enough that I shouldn’t read any more. It’s getting harder and harder to find an author with anything new or interesting to say. In focusing on just one year in the life of this legendary band, Steve Turner has found an angle that seems fresh and works. Of course, he has to thank The Beatles themselves, because during that year, they evolved into something interesting, an evolution that is worth writing and reading about.
Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year is an interesting book and a great read. I’d have to say it is up there with the best of the books I’ve read about The Beatles. So, if you’re a Beatles fan, it is definitely worth the time, and if you’re not, but merely a fan of popular music and such, it is definitely worth reading, as when we look at music today, studios with hundreds of tracks available to musicians and what not, it is hard to fully understand the limitations The Beatles had to overcome to create the music they did. How they approached it, how they changed it, and how they challenged it should not be minimized or taken for granted, but instead celebrated. Hopefully, Steve Turner’s Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year, will help us remember how four seemingly average blokes from Liverpool got together, started a band, and managed to do something that defied the odds, and had a lasting impact on the world of music.
The above passage, written by Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year author Steve Turner pretty much sums of his book on The Beatles, and the need for such a book on The Beatles. Having found their way to success, at a time when rock ‘n’ roll was considered a fad, and when the same music wasn’t being written about seriously, nor was anyone considering taking it seriously, it would have been easy for the Fab Four to make their money, churn out what was expected of them, and eventually fade from the scene. John, Paul, George and Ringo were merely four lads from Liverpool whom no one expected much from. What they hadn’t counted on was the fact all four of them were intelligent and talented young men, who had the ability and desire to grow, and it was because of this ability that The Beatles are the musical and cultural icons that we know today.
“We can’t just stop where we are or there’s nothing left to do,” said Paul McCartney in 1966. “We can go on trying to make popular records and it can get dead dull if we’re not trying to expand at all and move on into other things. Unless you’re careful, you can be successful and unsuccessful at the same time.”
Whether you’re a fan of The Beatles or not, you cannot argue their place in the history of modern music – their influence and all of the boundaries they broke that in turn changed the face and style of 20th Century music and rock ‘n’ roll in general.
“Musically, we’re only just starting,” said George Harrison back then. “We’ve realized for ourselves that as far as recording is concerned most of the things that recording men have said were impossible for 39 years are in fact possible. In the past, we’ve thought that the recording people knew what they were talking about. We believed them when they said we couldn’t do this, or we couldn’t do that. Now we know we can, and it’s opening up a wide new field for us.”
It was this curiosity and this drive that kept The Beatles from being a mere footnote in music history, and in Steve Turner’s book, he examines that year, 1966, when the Fab Four seemed to mature into their fame, and began desiring for something more, something significant to come out of their good fortune and their chosen vocation.
The year 1966 saw the release of The Beatles Revolver album, a piece of vinyl that helped redefine what an album was. Before 1965’s Rubber Soul, which helped plant the idea for Revolver, rock ‘n’ roll albums were just a collection of individual songs meant to capitalize on the success of the hit singles. With Rubber Soul and then Revolver, The Beatles were starting to create music that challenged the listener, music they couldn’t possible perform live, at that moment in time. It was during 1966, that The Beatles also decided to stop touring, having survived the disastrous tour that took them to the Philippines, and a nerve-wracking tour of the U.S. after John Lennon’s much misunderstood quote about Jesus (they were facing potential violence and death threats). Realizing they weren’t growing as musicians playing live, seeing as no one was listening to them, merely screaming, they found their creativity in the studio and decided that was where they should focus their attention. This focus, along with bringing about Revolver in 1966, had them embarking on the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album - an album credit with truly changing music and albums forever.
In telling the tale of 1966, Steve Turner breaks the book down into twelve chapters and explores the Fab Four’s lives in detail during that year. He reiterates the often misunderstood fact that Paul McCartney, not John Lennon was The Beatle most closely associated with London’s avant-garde scene, and manages to give us other insights into the character and thoughts of each of the group’s members.
There are a lot of books written on The Beatles, and I’ve read many. I’ve actually read enough that I shouldn’t read any more. It’s getting harder and harder to find an author with anything new or interesting to say. In focusing on just one year in the life of this legendary band, Steve Turner has found an angle that seems fresh and works. Of course, he has to thank The Beatles themselves, because during that year, they evolved into something interesting, an evolution that is worth writing and reading about.
Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year is an interesting book and a great read. I’d have to say it is up there with the best of the books I’ve read about The Beatles. So, if you’re a Beatles fan, it is definitely worth the time, and if you’re not, but merely a fan of popular music and such, it is definitely worth reading, as when we look at music today, studios with hundreds of tracks available to musicians and what not, it is hard to fully understand the limitations The Beatles had to overcome to create the music they did. How they approached it, how they changed it, and how they challenged it should not be minimized or taken for granted, but instead celebrated. Hopefully, Steve Turner’s Beatles ’66 – The Revolutionary Year, will help us remember how four seemingly average blokes from Liverpool got together, started a band, and managed to do something that defied the odds, and had a lasting impact on the world of music.
August 30, 2017
There were certainly some interesting bits to this book, but a lot of the details I didn't already know felt a little pointless, and I find some of the author's interpretations of songs and lyrics a little suspect. Not that they couldn't be right, certainly, but he seems to state as fact several things that would be better classified as opinion or conjecture. It was also just a slow read, and I think the format was the culprit — instead of arranging things thematically and really delving into a particular person or subject, the text kept skipping along from one thing to the next chronologically, which made some parts of it feel really disjointed. It wasn't terrible, and I did learn some things, but I've definitely read better music biographies.
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