The Beatles

Phil Spector defined the toxic music svengali – a figure that persists today

Spector, who has died aged 81, created a culture of cruelty that was seen by the music industry as a symptom of genius. It’s a scenario that has played out again and again

Laura Snapes

18, Jan, 2021 @4:03 PM

Rihanna, Nazi hunting and Tiger Woods: the top documentaries to watch in 2021

The new year finds several superstar docs as well as projects digging into both the recent and resonant past

Adrian Horton

06, Jan, 2021 @2:53 PM

Pierre Cardin obituary

One of the great fashion designers known for his avant-garde style and space-age creations

Veronica Horwell

29, Dec, 2020 @5:31 PM

Paul McCartney: McCartney III review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

Returning to the critic-confounding solo home recordings of his McCartney series, this album is – some oddities and filler aside – affectingly personal and hugely enjoyable

Alexis Petridis

10, Dec, 2020 @12:00 PM

The Avalanches' teenage obsessions: 'I cried hearing Strawberry Fields Forever'

With the release of their new album this month, the Australian psych-poppers reminisce about BMX bikes, Christian Slater and Morrissey’s potent melancholy

Interview by Rhi Storer

02, Dec, 2020 @7:00 AM

Beatles biography One Two Three Four wins Baillie Gifford prize

Craig Brown wins prestigious award for nonfiction with book that judges say ‘has reinvented the art of biography’

Alison Flood

24, Nov, 2020 @6:23 PM

Doctor Who's sonic pioneers to turn internet into giant musical instrument

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop made the famous science fiction theme tune and worked with the Beatles. Now it is preparing to make history

James Tapper

15, Nov, 2020 @10:00 AM

'We were lucky people didn't throw tomatoes': Klaus Voormann on his Beatles and Plastic Ono days

He played with the Fab Four in Hamburg, inspired their moptops, drew the famed Revolver cover, and gigged with Yoko Ono. As his illustrations are published, the great musician relives his fabulous escapades

Alexis Petridis

04, Nov, 2020 @6:00 AM

Spencer Davis obituary

Founding member of the Spencer Davis Group, the band that enjoyed success in the 1960s with hits including Keep on Running and Somebody Help Me

Adam Sweeting

21, Oct, 2020 @5:14 PM

Paul McCartney to release new album recorded alone in lockdown

McCartney III, about ‘freedom and love’, continues solo series begun in 1970 in secret as the Beatles broke up

Ben Beaumont-Thomas, with reviews by Alexis Petridis

21, Oct, 2020 @4:00 PM

Detective who busted John and Yoko lifts the lid on corrupt 1960s policing

Norman Pilcher, who made some of the 1960s’ biggest arrests and was jailed for perjury, says he is setting the record straight

Duncan Campbell

18, Oct, 2020 @8:45 AM

Kate Summerscale's 'true ghost story' leads Baillie Gifford prize shortlist

The Haunting of Alma Fielding joins five other books, whose subjects range from the Beatles to the brain, competing for the £50,000 prize for nonfiction