Magic Alex Mardas: the engineer who promised The Beatles the world
A band as big as The Beatles would never be safe from a few hangers-on. After becoming one of the biggest acts in the world and retreating from the road in 1966, the Fab Four had spent the past three years in the studio creating one classic after another. Once they started falling apart during The White Album sessions, Paul McCartney was convinced they needed a change of scenery.
Enter ‘Magic Alex’. When he started working with The Beatles, Magic Alex Mardas was an electronics producer who promised to guide the group into the next phase of their career. The only problem? None of them were looking to innovate.
When working on the skeleton for the album Let It Be, The Beatles’ mindset was to strip things down to their bar band roots, getting in touch with the same band that ignited a fire in the bellies of kids at The Cavern Club. In trying to match their energy, Mardas began supplying them with certain state-of-the-art equipment to help them achieve new sounds beyond their wildest dreams.
The technology didn’t stop at music, either. Mardas had originally gotten the idea to give the band a flying saucer and ride around on them to garner inspiration for new material. By the time all of these promises were supposed to be realised, The Beatles started to understand how much of a bullshit artist Mardas was.
In trying to get all these innovative musical instruments together, ‘Magic Alex’ had cut corners in every spot, not even understanding the proper way to make a studio. Although the band had thought it would be a good idea to reach outside their home at Abbey Road Studios, the initial sessions using the new equipment led them back to their old stomping grounds, working away at songs with the most primitive equipment they had.
There are even a few clips in the recent Get Back documentary where fans get to see some of Mardas’ “inventions”, including a guitar built for John Lennon that looks like a glorified children’s toy from a certain angle. Even though each member laughed off his antics in the only way they knew how to, they had more to worry about than electronic Apple Scruffs.
After their famous rooftop performance, the band decided to shelve the tapes and work on the album Abbey Road instead. Once their contract demanded another album, though, these sessions were taken off the shelf and brought into Phil Spector’s hands, who released a new version of the record with different bells and whistles that didn’t sit well with what McCartney was looking to do.
By that point, though, none of that mattered. The business dealings with the infamous Allen Klein had driven the group apart, with McCartney announcing via a press release on his first solo album that The Beatles were done. ‘Magic Alex’ might have been looking to become the next electronic whiz to introduce The Beatles to the future, but all he remains is a footnote in the sad final months of history’s most celebrated artists.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Beatles Newsletter
All the latest stories about The Beatles from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.