Apple Records was a noble experiment created in the spirit of the 1960s by four musicians who came to represent everything that was best about those tumultuous, experimental, and liberating times. The Beatles started out with the greatest of intentions, but reality soon got in the way. Much has been written about this period in the history of The Beatles' evolution and dissolution---some of it true, some of it wildly exaggerated, but not much of it first-hand. The Longest Cocktail Party is a rare exception. Written by Richard DiLello, who served as Apple Record's "House Hippie" from 1968 to 1970, this unusual first-hand glimpse into The Beatles' empire humorously chronicles the stranger-than-life stories that were to become legendary, including visits by the Hell's Angels and endless tales of celebrity antics. Alfred Music is proud to offer this latest edition, which features a new and insightful foreword by the author. Originally published by Playboy Press in 1972, The Longest Cocktail Party has proven itself a timeless chronicle of this most colorful period in pop history.

This volume is not only fast-paced and funny but also manages to be immensely poignant about the demise of the Fab Four and the death of the sixties' dream.

More than thirty years after they split, the Beatles remain the ultimate pop band - the most popular, the most respected, the most influential. This new Rough Guide covers the Fab Four from every angle, delving deep into their music and lyrics, their movies, their solo careers and much more. Features include: - The Life and the Music: from Liverpool clubs to world domination, from Beatlemania to the break-up and beyond, here's the story of the recordings and the gigs, as well as the haircuts, girlfriends, scandals and psychedelia. - The Canon: the inside track on the 50 essential Beatles songs. - Beatles On Screen: the movies, the promos, the TV appearances. - The Fifth Beatle: George Martin, Brian Epstein, 'Magic Alex' and others - the people closest to the Beatles. - Beatle Country: the landmarks of Beatles lore. - Beatleology: the best books, the weirdest cover versions, the most obsessive websites, the obscurest trivia.All you need is this!

In September 1969, the Beatles released their final recorded work, Abbey Road, using a variety of progressive musical ideas that expressed the group's approach to multi-track recording and offering songs that constituted a highpoint in the Beatles' musical corpus. Of particular interest is the concluding sequence of songs (tracks 8-17): seemingly unrelated fragments woven together into a musical form that has thus far defied attempts at categorization. The Beatles' Abbey Road Medley: Extended Forms in Popular Music offers an analysis of these fragments, commonly known as the Abbey Road Medley, in order to understand and explain the emergent musical form and to clarify the relationships between music recording and music composition. Thomas MacFarlane provides an overview of the Beatles—their history and their music—within the context of popular music and culture between 1962 and 1970, paying particular attention to the production of the album Abbey Road and the pivotal role of producer George Martin on the Abbey Road Medley. After explaining his method of analysis, MacFarlane applies it to the recording and transcription of the Abbey Road Medley, examining the implications of the work's structure and demonstrating how the Beatles expanded the parameters of the popular music form by incorporating recording technology directly into the compositional process. Drawing conclusions about musical form and practice in the recording process of the 1970s and beyond, MacFarlane also suggests other examples of rock music that were influenced by Abbey Road. An appendix transcribing the author's interview with the Beatles' de facto manager Peter Brown, a selected discography, a bibliography, and a selection of photos conclude the book, which will be of particular interest to musicians and Beatles fans alike.