Hi Mole. Usually "A and R" meant "Artists and Repertoire" (but who cares). In the sixties, I think a lot of them became "babysitters" to their wealthy clients, cause they had to justify their jobs and salaries. The emergence of the "Singer-songwriter" changed the nature of a lot of recording industry jobs, and you're right about the Beatles' influence on that. Producers lost a lot of their power as well. Can you imagine a "40s" style producer waiting around for 6 hours for Mick and Keith to stagger in for a session, ha ha!

Rick