Elizabeth Kirkwood
The Fab Four for a new generation
Beatlemania has been given a new lease of life—as if that was needed?—following a flurry of Beatle-related releases, including their first computer game and the launch of their digitally remastered albums. No doubt both events will get fans and fanatics of an older generation chatting about how the legacy of the Beatles should be “preserved,” or in the case of the computer game, reinvented for a younger generation.
Aside from pillaging parents’ treasured record collections, from this Wednesday one surefire way a download-savvy generation will be able to listen to and buy Beatles music is on i-Tunes, after the long battle to secure legal rights was resolved earlier this year. In the past Apple Corps—run by Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and the Beatles’ widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrisob—have always been extremely cautious about the potential for commercial exploitation.
Such dilemmas of wealth and celebrity were discussed by Paul McCartney when he was interviewed by an old school friend, Jonathan Power, in Prospect magazine earlier this year. McCartney, who is not known for his political views, was unusually open about such matters, including 9/11 and the ethos of the 1960s.
Read and comment on the wide-ranging interview, free to read in full, here.
Tom Chatfield
A pre-political Paul, pictured at school
Our 5,000-word interview with Paul McCartney has been making headlines around the world this month, with newspapers from Toronto to New Zealand cherry-picking Sir Paul’s claims about introducing his fellow Beatles to the Vietnam war. The interview itself is part of the content we only make available in full to subscribers. But, to let all our readers see behind the news reports into the conversation that actually took place, we’ve just made the first 1,000 words of the piece available to everyone for free on our website. You can read them here; and can find out, among other things, how Sir Paul looks back today on his reactions to 9/11 and how, despite his pacifism, he would have been prepared to defend his own country.
You can, of course, read the piece in full by buying the latest issue of Prospect from any major newsagent in the UK until the end of January 2009; or by taking out an online subscription to access every article in every issue of Prospect from anywhere in the world instantly. Or you can borrow a copy from one of your generous Prospect-reading friends…
Will Irwin
All we are saying is give Prospect an interview
It’s always nice to be talked about. And, with the latest Prospect about to hit the shops—out tomorrow, and hopefully on the doorsteps of subscribers this morning—we thought we should see what people have been saying about us this last month.
Our interview with Sir Paul McCartney (in the new edition) has been widely trailed, with a bunch of headlines in last Sunday’s newspapers, and more responses from various commentators. The Sunday Times had it on the front page, followed up by The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and The Daily Mail. All four cherry-picked Sir Paul’s claims about introducing his fellow Beatles to the Vietnam war. The Lennon-McCartney relationship seems enduringly fascinating, and their Vietnam tussles make a nice addition to other relationship undercurrents, adding political rivalry to “who wrote the best tunes?” Elsewhere, Lord Skidelsky’s article on reinventing globalisation—the cover story for the new edition—has already been trailed by Madeline Bunting in the Guardian on Monday, and been spotted in Canada’s National Post.
We’ve ventured onto the airwaves over the last month too, especially with David Goodhart and Toby Young debating social mobility on Radio 4’s Today Program. Toby’s meritocracy essay was picked up by The New Zealand Herald. Confirming Prospect’s antipodean reach, Tim Butcher was also invited to appear on Australian ABC radio, to talk about China’s role in the turmoil in the eastern Congo and his recent Prospect article, “The Curse of Leopold.” Meanwhile, in what approached a clean sweep of the Anglosphere, Thomas Wright’s recent piece on Europe and America was run in the Toronto Star.
And that is quite enough self promotion for one day; until, that is, we start putting up the new edition, later this afternoon.
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