Thirty years after Sir Paul McCartney helped open the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) in a former Liverpool school, the institution has reached a milestone that blends history with a new beginning. At its 2026 graduation ceremony, LIPA conferred its first LIPA degrees and celebrated more than 400 graduating students from 28 countries. The event, held on 21 July at the Liverpool Experience Campus, also honoured leading figures from film, theatre, music and arts management, with McCartney present as the institute’s Founding Patron. Read more details about it, as per LIPA's website, here:

Read More>>>

Source: 

TOI World Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM

Both men agreed that John wrote just one line of “I Saw Her Standing There”, changing Paul’s “she’d never been a beauty queen” to “you know what I mean”, but contentious disputes over some of The Beatles’ biggest hits have been highlighted in several post-split interviews. These include “Help!” (John claimed full authorship, Paul countered it was “70-30”), “Ticket To Ride” (John said Paul only contributed “the way Ringo played the drums,” Paul said “give him 60 per cent of it”), “In My Life” (John said Paul composed the middle-eight, Paul said he did the entire melody), “Eleanor Rigby” (John claimed 70 per cent of the lyrics, Paul said it was more like “half a line.”)

Paul takes over (1967)
Brian Epstein’s unexpected death saw Paul attempt to wrest control of the group’s managerial affairs, starting by conceiving and directing the Magical Mystery Tour film. At the time, John remained passive and happy to play along, but later, when it had been savaged by critics, he expressed mixed feelings, describing the project as “chaotic and unfocussed.” In his 1983 book The Love You Make, group confidante Peter Brown claimed John wanted to “junk it, rather than be embarrassed by it.” If the film gave the impression of Paul installing himself as the unofficial leader of the band, their next album did little to contradict it.

The White Album fractures (1968)
“You could cut the atmosphere with a knife,” studio engineer Ken Scott said of the sessions for the sprawling double album, from the moment when John brought in a bed for Yoko Ono on the very first day. It sparked a breakdown in communication between the two chief writers, now working almost entirely separately, but with Paul increasingly driving the direction of the record, or at least trying to. Biographer Philip Norman wrote that John thought Paul’s songs were “cloyingly sweet and bland,” while Paul thought John’s were “harsh, unmelodious and deliberately provocative.” Lennon later suggested “the breakup of The Beatles can be heard on that album.”

“How Do You Sleep?” begins… (1969)
As viewers saw in the film Let It Be and the subsequent Get Back three-parter, the studio continued to be a war zone. At one point Paul rails against John for not learning the lyrics to “Two Of Us” (ironically one of their most positive and uplifting shared lead vocal), as he struggles to get the rest of the group to match his intense work ethic. In a quieter moment he tells cameras he’s taken on the “captain of the ship” mantle reluctantly. “I’m scared of me being the boss, and I have been for, like, a couple of years. And I never get any support or anything. So, I just say, ‘Hell, well, fuck it.’ We can’t carry on like this indefinitely. We seem to, but we can’t.”

Source: uncut.co.uk/Terry Staunton

Read More<<<

“The Third Eye: Early Photographs,” a new book featuring hundreds of personal photographs taken by George Harrison during his years with the Beatles, has arrived just in time for holiday gifting season.

Released Oct. 6 by Random House, the 352-page hardcover offers a rare look at Beatlemania from inside the band, featuring more than 250 photographs and 8mm film stills captured by Harrison between 1963 and 1970. Many of the images have never been published before, making it a can’t-go-wrong gift for even the most avid Fab Four collectors in your life this holiday season.

Rather than revisiting the band’s history through the familiar lens of press photographers, “The Third Eye” documents John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Harrison through the eyes of one of their own. Armed with his Pentax camera, Harrison photographed his bandmates during their whirlwind rise to international fame — including their first trip to the U.S and motorcades through Australia to shopping excursions in Paris and travels through India and Tahiti.

The result is a refreshingly candid collection of photos of one of the most extensively photographed bands in history, with intimate portraits and behind-the-scenes snapshots of each member.

The book was compiled and curated by Harrison’s widow, Olivia Harrison, who also contributes a forward. Irish novelist Colm Tólbin provides an introduction, while acclaimed author George Saunders contributes an afterword. The photographs are accompanied by commentary from Harrison himself, including previously unpublished remarks about the images.

“George once said to me, ‘We were the only ones who never saw The Beatles,'” Olivia Harrison, who met the Beatle in person in 1976, writes. “This book contains some of what they, and he, saw from the center of the cyclone they unexpectedly created. George’s images take me behind not only his Pentax viewfinder but into his mind’s eye, His Third Eye, and beyond. I am there by his side as he focused the camera and chose when to let in the light.”

“I can linger beside him as he stopped time with each squeeze of the shutter,” she continued. “It fills me with joy.”

Source: variety.com/Anna Tingley

Read More<<<

Mal Evans worked alongside the biggest pop group in the world, but his greatest thrill came when he accompanied the Beatles to meet his musical hero, Elvis Presley.

As the Beatles’ road manager, Evans had a front-row seat as the Liverpool quartet became global superstars. He began working with them as a roadie and bodyguard in August 1963, eventually becoming a trusted insider who accompanied the band on tour and in the studio. He even helped Paul McCartney develop the idea of an alter ego for the group while the two were on holiday in 1966 — a concept that would help give rise to the Beatles’ landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Evans had planned to write a book about his adventures with the group and received permission from all four Beatles to do so. Sadly, he never completed it. He died in 1976, aged 40, after police shot him during a confrontation at his home. Distraught over his impending divorce, Evans had waved an airgun at officers. His death is widely understood as a possible case of suicide by cop.

Beatle Paul McCartney with Beatles road manager Mal Evans, shown on his arrival in India February 20, 1968, to join the other Beatles at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's transcendental meditation center.
Evans and Paul McCartney arrive in India, February 20, 1968, where they joined the other Beatles at the meditation center of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. (Image credit: Getty Images)

Now, however, his stories of life with the Beatles are finally being published. Evans’s family made his recordings available to Kenneth Womack, one of the world's foremost Beatles scholars and the author of numerous books about the band. Those include his 2023 biography of Evans, for which he gained access to recordings Evans made on a portable cassette recorder in 1975 while working on his memoir.

“It’s the book Mal was going to publish, taking us into the heart of Beatlemania, reminding us how electrifying it was,” Womack told The Guardian. “He pulls no punches. He shows us the Beatles. It’s very powerful. It’s a treasure trove of new material.”

Among the stories is an account of the Beatles’ August 27, 1965, meeting with Presley at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, during the group’s U.S. tour that year.

Source: guitarplayer.com/Christopher Scapelliti

Read More<<<

Though the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney will go down in history as one of the greatest musical collaborations, there’s a grey area for some songs.

Songs that are registered as a Lennon-McCartney credit aren’t all that they seem, with some songs written more heavily by one songwriter than the other. Though most of The Beatles‘ songs would feature the credit, songs like Strawberry Fields Forever and Yesterday were written primarily by Lennon and McCartney separately. But there are other songs in the band’s discography that were given the joint songwriting tag despite there being little to no overlap in the writing process. Speaking of this overlap with Playboy Magazine shortly before his death, Lennon shared another song that had been swept up in the collaborative tag.

Playboy Magazine asked: “When you talk about working together on a single lyric like We Can Work It Out, it suggests that you and Paul worked a lot more closely than you’ve admitted in the past. Haven’t you said that you wrote most of your songs separately, despite putting both of your names on them?”

Lennon replied: “Yeah, I was lying. It was when I felt resentful, so I felt that we did everything apart. But, actually, a lot of the songs we did eyeball to eyeball.” Despite writing those songs “eyeball to eyeball,” the credit has long been a sore spot for McCartney, who actually tried to have the Lennon-McCartney credit flipped.

The move was not received well by Yoko Ono and Ringo Starr, who both suggested that the change wouldn’t matter. Veteran drummer Starr called McCartney’s actions “petty and silly,” and while the Wings frontman has cooled off on the credit controversy, people are still outraged.

Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow

Read More<<<

George Harrison’s songs were typically spiritual, folk-leaning, and harmony-driven. But that’s not the whole story of the former Beatle’s solo career. His sound is as varied as his other Beatles bandmates’. He tried on experimental synth sounds and funky anthems. Harrison left no bounds on the work he delivered during his life, and these three songs below show that perfectly.
“It’s What You Value”

“It’s What You Value” is a little funkier than Harrison’s typical fare. It’s a bright, upbeat anthem that adds something unexpected to the mix. It’s not worlds away from his top hits, but it’s different enough to shock some surface-level fans.

“But I’ve found it’s all up to what you value / Down to where you are / It all swings on the pain you’ve gone through / Getting where you are,” Harrison sings over a surprisingly commercial instrumental. This song feels a little too straight for Harrison’s conventions, yet he proved he could lean that way and get away with it.
“Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”

This classic jazz cover was released on Harrison’s posthumous album, Brainwashed. Harrison left his classic rock tones behind for soft ukulele playing. It’s a brighter, simpler approach than most of his discography.

“I want to cross you off my list / But when you come knocking at my door / Fate seems to give my heart a twist / And I come running back for more…I should hate you / But I guess I love you / You’ve got me in between the devil and the deep blue sea,” the lyrics read. Harrison made this standard his own. Many artists have covered this track over the years, but none have done it the way the former Beatle did.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper

Read More<<<