Review by Miranda Taylor of "Across the Universe: The Magic and Mystery of the Beatles' Creativity" by Steve Taylor

In Across the Universe: The Magic of the Beatles' Creativity, Steve Taylor accepts part of the Beatles' story: four working-class Liverpudlians who represented a nascent democratic collective consciousness - especially at the Beatles' creative zenith. But Taylor also argues that this interpretation flattens the Beatles' creativity as a group into a monolith and, in turn, homogenises their individual forms of creativity. Taylor analyses the band through a more revisionist lens in terms of their creativity and spirituality. The book begins with John and Paul's almost uncanny synchronicity at their first meeting at the St. Peter's Church fete in Woolton; it then follows a broadly chronological account of the band's chemistry, and how that managed to transform the Fab Four into embodiments of the 60s zeitgeist.

Taylor manages to distinguish the Beatles from other cultural staples of the 60s through the assessment of their creativity. Over twelve chapters, Taylor explores the unique circumstances that led to their creative success. He highlights the importance of Carl Jung's synchronicity, and, by following the Beatles chronologically, he is able to turn their narrative into a study of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. 

Through this, he persuasively frames their creative and spiritual development as simultaneously a movement toward self-actualisation and a rise to creative prominence. He describes the Beatles reaching the fifth, and highest level, of self-actualisation, a group dynamic that feels a need to evolve or progress; a group that fundamentally wants to grow intellectually, creatively, and spiritually. Self-actualisers have intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivation; their motivation is fulfilled entirely from the self, rather than prestige or popularity. The Beatles' commercial success was, in this reading, a by-product, rather than the ultimate goal. Taylor insists that self-actualisation is the essential difference between the Beatles and most of their contemporaries. One example he highlights is Gerry and the Pacemakers: in 1964, they were about on the same level as the Beatles, yet by 1967 they had remained static, whilst the zeitgeist had shifted dramatically. The Beatles were able to match the zeitgeist, intuitively and with deft precision.

Personally, I thought that Taylor's emphasis on George Harrison stands out as the clearest of his arguments. Much previous research sidelines Harrison despite him being the member most devoted to the work of spirituality. Harrison continued to stick to a life of spirituality even after the Beatles’ split, and their subsequent, as Taylor puts it, "descent ... like a river split into tributaries then [stopping] and not flowing." Taylor resists the "quiet Beatle" caricature and frames him as integral to the band's creative development, highlighting how during the later Beatles period, Harrison seemed to lose interest in the guitar as his primary instrument. During this era, Taylor notes how Harrison moved towards sitars and organs, evident on "Blue Jay Way" and "It's All Too Much." Without the guitar as his primary mode of expression, Harrison's creativity was audible in the group's projects. Taylor cleverly uses this to show that Harrison's creativity is not a side story to the Lennon-McCartney narrative. Rather, it exists as one that proves to be a distinct route to the group's apex of self-actualisation.

Across the Universe serves less as a conventional biography of the Beatles than a psychological and spiritual revisionist study of the Beatles' creativity. Taylor makes the band's ostensible "magic" and "mystery" less monolithic yet simultaneously more human through his chronological retelling of the band's story. He is able to give familiar material a new angle, even if at points he risks making coincidence do a bit too much explanatory work, only lightly implying the existence of something otherworldly. But for Beatles fans interested in the subject, the book acts as an incredibly thoughtful contribution to a comprehensive study of the Beatles' creativity, offering even the most knowledgeable fans a new orientation of a familiar story. The Beatles' "magic" emerges as the convergence of distinct, synchronised, and sustained group creativity.

 

About the reviewer
Miranda Taylor is studying English Literature and History at University. She loves the music of the Beatles, the Monkees and My Chemical Romance. 

You can read more about Across the Universe by Steve Taylor on Creative Writing at Leicester here.