Almost 50 years ago, as a sixth-former on holiday in London, I was fortunate to speak to Paul, George and Ringo. I watched them enter EMI Studios at Abbey Road. After waiting outside overnight, I was there when they came out the following morning at 5:30am. I got Paul\u2019s autograph the previous day
\n(8 August) and Ringo\u2019s and George\u2019s in the early hours. (John left by a side entrance in his Rolls to avoid the small group of fans who had kept vigil). Naturally, I eagerly awaited the release of their
\nsummer recordings \u2013 on vinyl, of course!
\nFirst, the single Hey Jude (mono) and The Beatles in November \u201968. I bought both on the day of their release at House Of Andrews record shop in Durham city. (Now closed, of course). They didn\u2019t disappoint. Classics, which have stood the test of time. The White Album has turned a creamy yellow. Time and greatness: endurance come together.
\nWill any of today\u2019s music stand that test of time in the same way? I doubt it. 1968 was a very
\nspecial year in the history of pop music. Classic albums of 1968: The Mothers\u2019 We\u2019re Only in It For The Money, the Stones\u2019 Beggars Banquet, Simon & Garfunkel\u2019s Bookends, Cream\u2019s Wheels Of Fire\u2026 and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Almost 50 years ago, as a sixth-former on holiday in London, I was fortunate to speak to Paul, George and Ringo. I watched them enter EMI Studios at Abbey Road. After waiting outside overnight, I was there when they came out the following morning at 5:30am. I got Paul\u2019s autograph the previous day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9950,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-194855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letter"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n