Apple of My Eye

The Beatles pioneered so much in the recording studio during their short time together that it's easy to forget that they formed their own record company in April 1968. Their business plan: to find and fund new musical talent. By the end of the year Apple had signed James Taylor and struck lucky with Mary Hopkin. The much-admired Badfinger followed, along with albums by obvious associates (Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Yoko Ono) and not-so-obvious (John Tavener, Modern Jazz Quartet, Radha Krishna Temple) with mixed financial and artistic success. But The Beatles were not businessmen and the early optimism of shiny newness soon soured into chaos. Major acts such as 10cc and Crosby, Stills & Nash slipped through their fingers. Allen Klein was appointed to sort out the mess, but disenfranchised nearly everybody. Paul left The Beatles and sued the others. In 1975, The Beatles' partnership was legally terminated and Apple Records, a vanity label in all but name, was quietly put to sleep. Apple Of My Eye revisits each of the albums and singles released by Apple between 1968 and 1975, underpinned by the business and legal context of the last days of the world's greatest band.