"Prisoner" I am very pleased we share a mutual admiration for a much overlooked masterpiece from the Fabs. I must however confess my personal favourites are "Abbey Road", "Beatles For Sale" and "Help!" which I am sure you are well aware; Sir George added his technical wizardry to.In defense of the Beatle sound "Scaramouche" it was honed and crafted in Hamburg between 1960 -1962 and listening to the poor quality recordings that exist (Lennon was quoted as saying "our best stuff was never recorded" not knowing these tapes existed) I have been amazed at how diverse and insightful their reportoire was; bearing in mind the slump in standards since the initial explosion of Rock and Roll circa 1956 -1958.At this time the likes of Fabian and Bobby Vinton polluted the stream of consciousness .The early raw Beatles had more in common with later garage bands like The Kingsmen, MC5 and later The Clash etc but were able to deliver a standard or showtune with an assured, uncomplicated, professional ease that far outclassed any "Working Class" combo treading the boards at that time. Sure, they were rough around the edges but that merely added to their overall charm and appeal.I can assure you that had these qualities not been present they would have been passed over by Sir George as just another Beat group on the one hit wonder trail. The DC5, and most others, could only dream of having such a rich and varied maelstrom of musical and creative attributes -presented with Mr Epstein's showbusiness aplomb how could they fail to be the biggest thing since Elvis and then ...the rest is musical history that will live forever.

Regards.

Sidewinder.