The Fab Four- The Beatles.

The Fab Four- The Beatles.

For the Beatles it must have seemed like yesterday which is how it probably felt. Sadly the Fab Four are now just the dynamic duo because the remaining two Beatles are still alive and the story can still be told by the two men who made it  possible all those decades go. When Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr were at their height of their fame the world was quite naturally a different place but for those whose memories are of the childhood type, the very legend that was the Beatles can never really be treasured because as a child four young lads from Liverpool forming quite the most astonishing pop band seemed quite simply beyond my understanding.

In last night's excellent documentary - or maybe I should call it a rockumentary- Ron Howard, formerly of the 1970s American TV comedy 'Happy Days', produced a warts and all, powerful account of the Fab Four in all their varying 1960s guises. The Beatles story is now almost as well chronicled as any of the 'Fab Four's contemporaries but none would know quite how wide and far adoration and idolatry would take them.

 There were the books, the films, the big concert venues, the small halls, the large halls and then those vast outdoor stadiums where it all went so terribly wrong in the end because the four lads from Liverpool could no longer hack it, no longer able to endure the intolerable pressures that came with their celebrity, the sense that this was no longer the fun it used to be.

 There was the incessant travelling, the endless world touring, living with each other, getting on each other's nerves, the gruelling miles on the road, the rows and the arguments, the joky banter and, at first, the essential compatibility. In the end, the programme showed what amounted to that sad farewell, the final outdoor concert on a blustery rooftop in the West End of London where all four Beatles, now considerably wiser and mellower, sent out a stereophonic blast of their old hits across the capital city.

Last night Channel 4 did admirable justice to the life and times of the Beatles on their global journey to the far distant corners. It was a journey preceded by the formative years when John, Paul, Ringo and George would strike up instant friendships, frequently gathering in the intimacy of prodigiously lyrical bedrooms. Then a seed was sown which would bloom into the most brilliant of colours. This then was no rags to riches story, simply a rich tableaux of four boys, their simple pop music ambitions and how their down to earth, unassuming natures would win the hearts of millions of girls across the world.

What we saw last night was the emergence of one of the most famous pop bands of the 1960s, the natural evolution of Beatlemania, the 1950s influences of rock and roll, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley and the unseen archive footage of a monumentally successful band spreading their rock commentaries, the supremely humorous songs and lyrics, the quirky and the whimsical tunes that none of us could ever get out of our head.

We were now shown some old footage of hastily assembled Press conferences, frantic rushes through heaving airports, the boys waving and grinning at their fans obligingly from the plane steps. We were treated to those first nights at a Blackpool theatre in the early 1960s, to those mammoth tours of  firstly Sweden and then the exotic odysseys that took them to Hong Kong and then Australia. It almost seemed like the Beatles early, embryonic years as a group were somehow destined to take them to those far flung corners of the universe.

In often strict chronological order we were given delicious helpings of 'Twist and Shout', 'Please Please Me' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand, which by the end of the 1960s had almost become as familiar and hummable as the National Anthem' and Land of Hope and Glory. There were frequent interviews with the boys from  American journalist  Larry Crane followed by the early groundbreaking years at Hamburg and everything that seemed to turn our cultural lives inside out with.

We know by now about the million selling gold and platinum records, the albums and the singles, the unforgettably poetic lyrics, the tunes we could never get enough of. Here we had four well scrubbed, boys next door lads, dressed in the tight, if impeccably grey suited attire of the age, guitars slung playfully around their necks and haircuts that were seemingly revolutionary. Besides, very few social commentators would ever forget those mop top hair styles, the pudding basin haircuts and the kind of sound that reduced millions and millions of girls around the world to hysterical jelly.

Then we saw the Beatles flying off to the United States of America, a country that they somehow knew they would conquer with stylish ease. Their appearance on the iconic Ed Sullivan show introduced the Americans to the kind of music they'd never heard of before. Indeed when Hollywood star Whoopi Goldberg went into raptures about the Fab Four after first setting eyes on them, every TV and radio station across the States would pour huge amounts of money into the promotion and publicity of the group.

Before long, the Beatles had become the hottest of properties. The programme showed John, Paul, Ringo and George singing 'All My Lovin' and 'I Saw Her Standing There' in front of wildly boisterous TV audiences during the 1960s. Now the very essence of this apparently clean cut and respectable pop band from Liverpool had been vividly captured. Hundreds and thousands of young girls would faint and go weak at the knees at the very mention of their name. It was madness, hysteria and fan worship at its most obsessive.

Back in England the Beatles were still packing them into the provincial theatres where the group had first cut its teeth. An appearance at a Blackpool theatre during the mid 1960s sent hundreds of girls into crazy paroxysms of delight. There were screaming fans, girls gasping with wonder, holding their hands in front of their eyes in a kind of hyper ventilating, feverish excitement. It had all become too much by the time the boys paid their last ever visit to the States. The Shea stadium in New York became the right moment to call it a day, that critical, make or break performance that simply deafened them and rendered outdoor concerts singularly pointless.

Then there were the film years when, dipping their toes into the glamorous world of film making, the Beatles began to experiment with new styles of music, new instruments and hugely innovative sounds. It was now though that the world of the movies lured the Fab Four into an entirely different area of their careers. 'A Hard Day's Night' was an insightful and engrossing film which featured both John, Paul, Ringo and George in strange settings and comical moods.

Around them the Beatles were always acutely aware of world events and their music was an accurate reflection of those dramatically changing times. In America Vietnam had sharply reminded an alarmed American public that their country had been caught up in a war that seemed to get progressively more tragic and fatal as the weeks, months and years passed. But now was the time for both America and the rest of the world to unite and America became a symbol of that sense of solidarity.

The Beatles were now caught up in the dreadfully divisive Civil Rights Movement when thousands took to the streets raging at racism, prejudice and segregation, furious at the upheaval that had shaken America to the core. Then small groups of angry religious movements began to make a noise and, stunningly, turned violently against the English pop group they thought they could both trust and idolise. Almost overnight all Beatles records were burnt and protesters with placards voiced their raw hatred against the band.

After similar uprisings in Japan and the controversial fall out from street riots in America, the Beatles now seemed to stand alone while all around them seemed to be falling apart. The completion of 'Help' their next film in 1965, looked as if it had salvaged their image. 'Help', was quite obviously a cry from the heart, a bittersweet proclamation that suggested that the group had had enough. All of those thousands of hours spent in the privacy of Abbey Road, re-winding reel to reel tape recorders, George Martin carefully and caringly guiding the Beatles to the very peak of their powers and the masterpieces that 'were Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band', 'A Hard Day's Night' and many more. It would become overwhelming and eventually break them.

There were various contributions from those in Hollywood who had probably had never known anything quite like this. The Beatles were compared to Mozart in terms of sheer prolific output. By now the 1960s had begun to draw to a close, Paul McCartney had grown the thickest of beards, John Lennon had begun to lose interest in everything and everybody around him, George looked as if he really couldn't be bothered and Ringo was quite content to clown around in Press conferences with a blissful disregard of Britain, America, Hong Kong and every country on the map. Now it was time to wind things down, time for the Beatles to go their separate ways and the world to spin on its axis.

When the lights had gone out at the Shea stadium and the ear-splitting noise from Beatles fans slowly faded into a heady, heated New York night, Paul, John, George and Ringo sensibly retired from centre stage. A food wagon showed the Fab Four being gratefully ferried into the peaceful haven of their dressing rooms. This was the defining end of an era.Time to go back to home to their roots at Liverpool, to those happy, carefree days when John and Paul would endlessly lark around with speakers and guitars, tuning the guitars, relieved to know that history had been made.

Ron Howard's many layered and thought provoking Channel 4 production, had opened up hitherto hidden corners of the Beatles as you may never have seen them before. These were the touring years, the years of twisting and shouting, shaking cropped hair vigorously and meaningfully, screwing up their faces with meaningful intent and just enjoying life because if you didn't enjoy your lives during the 1960's you may have been in the minority. During the 1960s you jumped up and down enthusiastically with your guitars and flirted with a million cameras.

Even now just a verse from 'Yesterday' , Help, 'Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band', 'Hey Jude and most underratedly, the epic 'A Day in the Life' still send abundant shivers down the spine. They were the most beautifully and perfectly written song lyrics and to this day it is easy to believe that in any town and city, market town and village of New York, Sydney, Hong Kong and of course Britain, a vinyl paradise is selling a huge stock of Beatles memorabalia. They are celebrating a generation, a decade of inspirational lyrics, a treasure chest of images, characters and musical grace notes that should never ever be consigned to the dustbin of history. If you missed 'The Beatles' Eight Days A Week' the Unseen Concerts' I would heartily recommend it. Check it out.