It’s no secret. The Beatles are the best rock & roll band ever. They were back then, they are today and will always be. Paul, John, George and Ringo changed the entire world and human experience like no other group could ever hope to.

First came Beatlemania, that cultural shock wave of mop tops, Beatle boots and yeah yeah yeah. Those early days of hysteria and unparalleled chart-topping success set the stage. But it was their songs that made the The Beatles the greatest band ever. Those wonderful and amazing recordings between 1965 and 1969. Each of those Beatle songs border on and sometimes exceed perfection. No longer were they simply made up of chords and chord progressions, verses and choruses. No longer was it just guitar parts, drum beats and great singing. Those individual recorded sounds became pristine pieces of a magnificent whole. Each of those Beatle songs is a vivid painting, a unique landscape of delicious colors, textures and passions that allows you to be taken somewhere else. Listen to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ or ‘Within You Without You’ or ‘Taxman’ or ‘A Day In A Life’ or ‘Eleanor Rigby’ or ‘Blue Jay Way.’ Those are not just well written songs - they are emotionally powerful experiences, magical journeys. The genius of the songwriters was married to the recording magic that George Martin and the Fab Four produced. Together they created astonishing vistas no one had ever heard/seen before.

The Beatles invited you into an absolutely new world, one that had not existed until they created it. Many of their songs transcend music. In my opinion, a number of their songs are among the most significant works of art and inspiration ever created. And yet, they were just being who they were: fun-loving, irreverent, extremely talented working class guys who were quite surprised they had taken the world by storm. In the calm eye of that storm, in the recording studio, George Martin, as no other Producer of a musical group had before, allowed the lads total freedom to experiment and playfully explore. As the band’s originality soared, he and his technical staff were constantly challenged to keep up. No one had ever recorded like that before. His team had to invent devices and new recording techniques on the spot. Major recording advances happened sometimes overnight. And what sensational music they made! We couldn’t get enough.

They mirrored the world and at the same time, led it. We came of age with The Beatles. We lived with them through all their experimentations. They set trends and broke them. The fabric of society had been moved. And throughout, their overriding message was “love.”

I’m a guitarist. I’m also a painter. I am blessed to have a few different ways my own creative juices can manifest and flow. At times it’s like being swept along un a river of childlike wonder and discovery. The Beatles helped show me that. I learned how to sing harmonies with the Beatles. I learned how to formulate guitar solos. As a late-blooming songwriter and lyricist, I’d learned early on from the masters: John, Paul and George.

Looking back, two events dramatically changed my life when I was barely a teenager. The first was the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964. Any young person who saw that program and lived through the early Beatle years was different, somehow more receptive and hip, more cognizant of the world around them. In black and white television, that night rocked America as no other.

The second event happened to me a few years later when, as a classically and jazz-trained young guitarist who had just joined his first rock band, I heard Eric Clapton’s solo on Cream’s, ‘I Feel Free.’ In those few moments, the heavens open up for me. Suddenly that was possible! Soloing like that was what I wanted to do. Both were life changing events for me – a metamorphosis, an awakening. And now, every time I hear ‘While My Guitar Gentle Weeps’ and sink into that incredible and emotional painting... well...

The music of The Beatles connected on a very deep level to artists and non-artists everywhere. Subconsciously people knew those songs were evocative paintings or little movies, exciting visual stories told by mysterious storytellers that took the listener somewhere else. Everybody wants to be transported somewhere else, especially if they can be gone for three or four minutes.. and come back refreshed! Simply, that was and is The Beatles.

The artwork in this book has been inspired by Beatles music. These varied images are bold and colorful, playful and serious. The artists within have put their soul and heart into these works. This book is a glimpse at how other people translated the feelings that ‘The Best Band Ever’ gave them. None of these pieces assumes anything, nor attempts to ‘do anything’ for the beholder. None try to be ‘great.’ They were inspired by true greatness.

It is a huge and humbling honor to have been asked to write this Foreword. I was exhilarated and apprenhensive. What could be written? That I still miss George and John very much? That George Harrison’s death was much more devastatating to me than I would’ve guessed it would be ? Last month at a truly phenomenal Paul McCartney concert, I found my tears flowing a number of times during the show. This morning I’m reveling in three CDs back to back – Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s. It’s wonderful to have their musical legacy so close at hand, those incredible ‘paintings’ to jump into. Thank you gentlemen. You continue to enrich our lives.