Episode 19 – Beatles ’68 pt3

It's April 1968 and The Beatles are back from India and open for business with a new company: APPLE. The concept of Apple Corps began as a clever way to reinvest money into creative endeavors, rather than pay it all to the taxman...but it soon blossomed into, as Paul put it, a type of "western communism" that sought to change the world of pop music from the top down and the bottom up. The company would be divided into several sectors including records, manufacturing, retail, publishing and technology, each designed by the Beatles themselves to promote art, music, culture, innovation and talent that they each believed in. At the heart was Apple Records, and John, Paul, George and Ringo each set out to discover, nurture and promote talented fresh faces of music such as Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, The Iveys, Jackie Lomax and others. Apple was a massive undertaking, and could not have come at a more unstable period for the group. Upon returning from Rishikesh with a renewed sense of inner self, John put months of secret correspondence to bed (literally) with Japanese conceptual artist Yoko Ono Cox, sending his marriage into a tailspin. George, meanwhile, became the increasing target of bitterness and resentment from his bandmates for having involved them with the Maharishi in the first place, whom John especially felt personally betrayed by. All this while the boys readied themselves to return to the studio and begin the most challenging sessions of their musical career...