Beatles News
Not many 85-year-olds are as fit as Ringo Starr. The former Beatle has released yet another album. On it, he indulges his lifelong passion for country music – with some high-profile guests.
Working on his 2025 album Look Up with T Bone Burnett was so much fun that he is now following it up. The restless Brit has been back in the studio with the American country icon and has emerged with his 22nd studio album, Long Long Road.
The album title has something autobiographical about it, and, at 85, Starr is looking back.
“Yeah, well, we’re talking about that now because of Long Long Road. It’s like the road I’ve taken,” he says, pointing to the various stops in his life.
“We got out of Liverpool, and we went to London, and then we went to New York, and, you know, all of those are stop marks on your walk of life. It’s so far out.”
But despite its retrospective theme, Long Long Road is still a modern country album, thanks also to prominent guest musicians Burnett brought into the Nashville studio for the recordings – Sheryl Crow, Annie Clark aka St Vincent, Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz.
Source: scmp.com
Pattie Boyd got a reminder of her place in rock history this week. The former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton revealed on Instagram that she attended a recent intimate concert by Clapton and heard him perform two songs famously written about her: “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Perhaps no woman has inspired as many classic rock songs as Boyd. The former model and actress was the muse behind Harrison’s “I Need You,” “For You Blue” and “Something,” as well as Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues,” in addition to “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Clapton fell for her while she was married to his friend Harrison and wrote both “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Layla” out of his unrequited love for her. She and Harrison divorced in 1977, and she married Clapton in 1979, but their marriage was over by 1989.
Clearly, time has healed wounds. As Boyd revealed in an Instagram post this week, she took in one of Clapton’s two concerts at G Live in Guildford on Monday, April 20, held as warm-up shows for his 2026 tour. “Fabulous to see Eric in the relatively intimate G-Live venue in Guildford on Monday evening,” she wrote on Instagram. “Great to hear ‘Old Love,’ ‘Layla’ and ‘Wonderful Tonight’ (amongst others) live again.”
Boyd entered rock history in 1964 when she was cast as a schoolgirl in the Beatles’ debut film, A Hard Day’s Night. She and Harrison began dating as the cameras rolled and were married in 1966.
By then Harrison and Clapton were two years into a friendship that began in December 1964, when the Yardbirds — with whom Clapton was then performing — opened for the Beatles’ Christmas show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. The two men bonded over their shared love of guitar, leading to a close friendship that included Clapton playing on the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in 1968.
By 1970, however, Harrison and Boyd’s marriage was strained, and Clapton had become infatuated with her, much to Harrison’s displeasure. Boyd later recounted how the two eventually fought a guitar duel over her, noting that Clapton emerged as the victor.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Elizabeth Swann
A public reunion of the world's best-loved songwriting duo nearly took place the night of April 24, 1976.
During a broadcast of the sketch comedy Saturday Night Live, executive producer Lorne Michaels delivered a plea to camera for a Beatles reunion. Lorne Michaels offering $3000 for a Beatles reunion.
"It's also been said that no one has yet to come up with enough money to satisfy you. Well, if it's money you want, there's no problem here," Michaels said. "The National Broadcasting Company has authorised me to offer you this cheque to be on our show. A certified cheque for $3000."
The crowd laughed at what was a comically small sum. "This cheque is made out to The Beatles," Michaels continued.
"You divide it anyway you want: if you want to give Ringo less, that's up to you." Unbeknownst to Michaels, Lennon and McCartney were watching TV together a few blocks away.
The pair had buried the hatchet and had tuned in to what was at the time a new comedy program. Lennon later revealed they gave serious consideration to crashing the studio for a sudden cameo. "We were watching it and almost went down to the studio, just as a gag," he said.
"We nearly got into a cab, but we were actually too tired." The next day McCartney arrived unannounced at Lennon's door to hang out.
Lennon rebuked McCartney for not calling first, and the two went their separate ways, never to see each other again.
Source: 9news.com.au/Nick Pearson
With “Long Long Road,” his twenty-second studio album, Ringo Starr has settled into one of his career’s finest grooves. While he will surely be remembered for his classic 1970s LPs “Ringo” (1973) and “Goodnight Vienna” (1974), his recent return to his country roots has been a genuine boon for music lovers everywhere.
Starr’s previous forays into country and western include the exquisite “Beaucoups of Blues” (1970), produced by Pete Drake, and last year’s “Look Up.” With T. Bone Burnett holding forth in the producer’s chair yet again, “Long Long Road” matches its predecessor’s penchant for warmhearted storytelling and well-played musical confections.
And like his frequent tours with his All-Starr Band, Starr’s backing band on “Long Long Road” features a selection of top-notch players and guest artists. Having written or co-written six of the album’s songs, Burnett has proven himself to be one of Starr’s most able and industrious collaborators. He also has a knack for teasing out some of Starr’s best performances in years.
Source: salon.com/Kenneth Womack
Cover songs pop up in the most unexpected places. Even in the 80s, when everyone was trying to take music fearlessly into a new era, artists often made those futuristic moves with songs that were somewhat long in the tooth.
These four songs from 1988 all ascended to high levels on the US pop charts. And all were first performed in the 60s.
“Got My Mind Set On You” by George Harrison
Cloud Nine represented a return to the limelight for George Harrison after years of mostly steering clear of the machinery of the music scene. To make this grand return, Harrison chose “Got My Mind Set On You” as the LP’s first single. Aside from the modern drum sound, the song seemed as Beatlesque as Harrison had permitted himself to be on a recording in many years. That’s why people are often surprised to learn that Harrison sourced the song from a 1962 R&B single by James Ray. Harrison first heard it in 1963 while on a pre-Beatlemania visit to America. Those minimal lyrics, which emphasize the single-minded pursuit of the narrator, clearly stuck with Harrison. The song hit No. 1 in January of 1988, the last ever US chart-topper by a solo Beatle.
“A Groovy Kind Of Love” by Phil Collins
Collins enjoyed success with various cover songs throughout the 80s, including The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” and Stephen Bishop’s “Separate Lives”. With “A Groovy Kind Of Love”, he took the source material and found a way to update it for an 80s audience. The British band The Mindbenders made it to No. 2 on the charts in 1966 with the song. Collins dusted it off as a single on the soundtrack of Buster, a film in which he starred in 1988. He slowed the tempo down just a tad and added a dreamy instrumental section in the middle. Those changes gave the song a bit more emotional heft, which Collins played up with a strong vocal. This take on “A Groovy Kind Of Love” didn’t stop at No. 2, reaching the top spot instead.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
Released in 1967 as the final track on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles was accompanied by some of the band’s most iconic songs, from “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” to “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
But unlike the pop and rock influences present in the other songs on the album, the side two song took an experimental turn that ended up influencing the genre for decades to come.
It starts with a soft strumming guitar that’s quickly joined by piano, followed by John Lennon’s voice softly singing about reading the news, telling the story of a man’s tragic death as the drums kick in. The song then takes a turn with orchestral glissandos and tape effects, shifting the mood dramatically, before there’s an abrupt twist via an alarm clock sound. Paul McCartney then sings in an upbeat tone about waking up and starting his day, eventually explaining he “went into a dream.”
At that point, vocal harmonies jump in, moving the song back to Lennon’s dreamy soundscape, which once again gets interrupted by urgent strings that border on musical discord. A piano chord breaks through for around 30 seconds, softly fading out of the experimental pop song.
Source: yahoo.com/Gabriela Arevalo
Beatles legends Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have teamed up to record what could be their final song together - a nostalgic duet about growing up in Liverpool. Home To Us will appear on Sir Paul’s new album when it is released next month.
And there is even a new ‘Fab Four’ on the track, as it also features backing vocals from the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and Texas’ Sharleen Spiteri. A small gathering of fans were treated to an album preview in Los Angeles last week with Beatle Sir Paul. And amongst the songs played was Home To Us, which initially Ringo played drums on but later also sang on. The pair are thought to duet on the chorus.
Sir Paul told the audience: “Ringo’s never done a duet with one of the Beatles.” Ringo also confirmed he had made a song with Sir Paul on the Jimmy Kimmel show earlier this week, but kept the full details under wraps.
Ringo said: “It started two years ago with the drums, it was like in reverse, the drums went on first. It’s amusing and very real because that is where we come from.” The theme of the song is based about where they grew up in Liverpool which Sir Paul describes as being “a little rough, but home to us”.
Last month the first track from the album, The Boys From Dungeon Lane, was released called Days We Left Behind. The album is said to be a revisit to his the formative years in Liverpool that went on to shape not only his life, but “the very foundations of modern popular culture”.
Speaking about Days We Left Behind, Paul said: “This is very much a memory song for me. The album title, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, comes from a lyric in this track. I was thinking just that, about the days I left behind and I do often wonder if I’m just writing about the past but then I think how can you write about anything else? It’s just a lot of memories of Liverpool.”
Source: mirror.co.uk/Mark Jefferies
Ringo Starr is getting candid about his days with the Beatles, including the one rule the band never broke even as their fame skyrocketed.
The legendary drummer revealed the one simple habit that remained unchanged until the very end. They always shared rooms on tour.
"You guys were roommates when the Beatles would tour," host Jimmy Kimmel said during Monday's episode of his show, prompting Starr to reflect on the band’s early days.
The legendary drummer said the band always shared two rooms between four members. "Well, we were always four of us in two rooms," Starr said. "So, I was roommates with everybody. You know, Paul was roommates with everybody. Depended where they put the suitcases. We just went and shared a room."
The host asked whether that changed once they became the biggest band on the planet. Starr revealed it didn’t.
"No, right up to the last day of the last tour — or the last night of the last tour — we shared," Starr said.
Long before private jets and sprawling entourages became standard for global superstars, Starr and his bandmates — Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison — were simply four young men navigating fame together, suitcase by suitcase. Kimmel took the conversation in a more humorous direction, asking, "Wow. That’s really cool. When you visit each other at your homes now, do you get into bed together ever?"
Starr laughed, "No. No, not anymore."
Source: Stephanie Giang-Paunon/Fox News
“ If I didn’t do it as a job, I would do it as a hobby, because it’s just in me. There’s something magical in any art form about discovering ‘that thing’ ... it’s just so exciting, and it never gets boring.” ”
Neville, whose work explores the inner lives of cultural figures from backup singers to Fred Rogers, approached the project with a guiding principle rooted in music itself. Before assembling the film, he began by constructing what he described as a “soundtrack” of McCartney’s post-Beatles songs, using them as a narrative blueprint.
“The great thing about making a film about a songwriter is their songs,” Neville said. “The songs tell you that they need to be there, because he’s narrating some part of his life through them.”
That approach shaped the structure and emotional arc of “Man on the Run.” The result is a peek into a life propelled by a sense of restlessness, insatiable creativity, exploration, and forward motion. Despite setbacks that could have discouraged others — a bizarre television special, a handful of commercial flops and an infamous international arrest — McCartney pressed on.
For McCartney, watching this period if his life unfold on screen isn’t without discomfort.
“There were bits of it that got embarrassing, where I thought, maybe we should take those out, because I’m going to be sitting there squirming like I was tonight,” McCartney said, laughing.
Source: brown.edu
Ranking The Beatles is either a rite of passage—or a guaranteed way to start an argument you won’t win. For a band this canonized, even suggesting one album sits below another feels borderline reckless. Just as we did with our ranking of every Rolling Stones album, that’s exactly why we’re doing it anyway.
And before anyone jumps in: yes, there are technically debates about how many studio albums exist. But in 2026, the only list that matters—the one that drives the streams, the searches, and the algorithm—recognizes 13. That includes Magical Mystery Tour, officially folded into the canon during the CD era reset. Using cultural impact, streaming longevity, and actual front-to-back replay value, this is the ranking that reflects how people listen now—not just how music critics wrote about them 50 years ago.
13 Yellow Submarine (1969)
While the title track is a global icon, the album is often viewed by historians as a contractual obligation rather than a cohesive studio statement. As the Beatles' most incomplete album, it paired four new tracks with George Martin’s orchestral film score, lacking the unfiltered creative density found in their primary discography.
Despite its lower ranking, the title track remains a top-tier streaming asset, yet the album itself holds the lowest consistent session rate of the late-era releases. In a catalog defined by precision, this record serves as a fascinating outlier that audiences treat more as a placeholder than a mandatory front-to-back listen.
Source: screenrant.com/Sarah Polonsky
