Beatles News
No one can blame Paul McCartney for being a bit trepidatious about starting another band venture after breaking up with the world’s biggest outfit. That kind of heartbreak must have stung every time he got on stage, at least for a little while. Nevertheless, McCartney built a second life as frontman of another band, Wings. They may not have earned the recognizability or the cultural cachet of The Beatles, but they were successful in their own right; even if McCartney couldn’t always see that.
According to the rock legend, one of his peers, David Bowie, helped put things into perspective for him. The avant-garde star made
Wings always had a big burden to overcome. The Beatles’ success was unprecedented. Fans expected a lot from McCartney’s follow-up, and that pressure certainly weighed on him. ”Anything Wings did had to be viewed in the light of The Beatles,” McCartney once said.
Under that constant lens, McCartney struggled to block out the noise. Even though Wings did well for themselves, they didn’t go toe-to-toe with The Beatles, and that sullied any hope of reveling in that success.
“The interesting thing is that, looking back on some of the work, some of the stuff, it’s better than you think it was, but because it got such harsh criticism…from me,” McCartney once explained.
“The critics gave us a hard run, but I was particularly hard on us,” he added. “I remember looking at a book, there was an album we did, I think it was Back To The Egg, which didn’t do well, and I remember thinking, ‘God, complete disaster.’”
David Bowie’s Help
It wasn’t until he revisited that time in his career with Bowie that he realized things weren’t all that grim. Bowie, who experienced some momentary downslides himself, helped to put things in perspective.
“Years later, I remember looking at it with Bowie in this old book—one of these who-did-what Hit Parade books, looking it up—and it was like number eight in America,” McCartney continued.
“And I thought most people would give their right bloody arms to be number eight,” McCartney continued. “But eight, and I wasn’t satisfied. The Beatles had been number one. This is all right, keeps you going. But yes, a lot of the stuff is underrated, because of that.”
Understandably, McCartney couldn’t see the forest for the trees as he tried to make his second band work. However, time has been kind to Wings. Surely now, McCartney can revel in the unlikely success of his post-Beatles band. Not just any band could have stepped out of that monumental shadow as much as Wings did.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
There has never been a band with more influence over popular music than The Beatles. It is an inarguable fact. They incorporated countless genres into their work, pushing the boundaries and exponentially expanding what was possible for music. Over their decade-long career as a group (can you believe it was only ten years?) they produced a vast variety of music that literally changed the world.
5 “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967)
Starting off on a wonderfully strange note: “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” As iconic as it is perplexing, the otherworldly track is the third on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – hands down the most psychedelic album in The Beatles' catalog. The song was inspired by a drawing Lennon’s nursery-aged son, Julian, brought home from school one day. It is also often posited that the first letter of each noun in the title, which spell out “LSD” when put together, is an obvious drug reference. Lennon refuted this theory emphatically. That being said, it was no secret that The Beatles’ music was influenced by hallucinogens during this time.
4 “In My Life” (1965)
John Lennon called “In My Life” his “first real major piece of work,” despite its being released halfway through the band's career. It was the first time he had written autobiographically, approaching songwriting from a literary angle rather than as a means to an end for a pop song. This song, and the entire Rubber Soul album upon which it appears, marks a departure from traditional Western music.
Source: collider.com/Audrey Connelly
An eight-year legal battle with Universal Music over a long-lost demo tape held by a famed Abbey Road sound engineer is finally set for a showdown in court. A Los Angeles judge says Universal Music Group (UMG) can keep pursuing a legal battle demanding the return of what the label has called the “first known Beatles recording” from the estate of a famed Abbey Road sound engineer.
In a decision this month, Judge David Cowan ruled that Calderstone Productions — a UMG unit that administers the Beatles catalog — had legal standing to seek to recover the rare tape from the estate of Geoff Emerick, who the label claims stole it decades ago.
The Beatles records
Emerick’s estate, which says he rescued a piece of history from destruction, had argued UMG couldn’t show a “chain of title” to prove it was the rightful legal successor to Abbey Road, meaning it lacked ownership rights in the first place.
But in an Oct. 16 ruling, Judge Cowan rejected that argument: “Calderstone shows how the chain of title gives it the right to pursue its underlying conversion claim,” the judge said, using the legal term for the civil law equivalent of theft.
The decision, exclusively reported by Billboard, sets the stage for a trial early next year over the big remaining issue: Whether Abbey Road legally abandoned ownership of the tape. The estate says it was basically thrown away and that Emerick saved it. UMG argues back that it was always company property: “At issue in this action is a highly valuable artifact of rock and roll history that was stolen.”
But before then, the estate is already pushing the judge to reconsider his ruling. In a motion last week, lead counsel Kenneth Fruendlich argued that the decision “rewrites” the decades-old documents at the heart of the case and would create “a manifest injustice.” That motion remains pending.
Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Judge Cowan’s decision.
Source: billboard.com/Bill Donahue
From pre-fame Matt Damon to Danny DeVito in Jordan Marsh and Yoko Ono in Boston, this Newton native has seen it all. We asked him about his decades-long career as a Boston culture photog.
I called Jamaica Plain photographer Roger Farrington ostensibly to talk about his photos of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
It speaks volumes about his decades-long career as a Boston-area photographer that those photos — the last ever taken of Lennon in a studio— were the tip of the iceberg.
Soon the Newton native is telling me about the time he’d photographed Matt Damon before “Good Will Hunting.” Danny DeVito riding the escalator in Jordan Marsh. Now-King Charles talking to shoppers on Newbury Street.
“It was ridiculous! It was a circus! I mean — oh, I had Elizabeth Taylor!” he says, jumping into a tale of Liz’s Hasty Pudding parade that ends with locals chasing her entourage “all the way through Harvard Square to the Lampoon Building, shouting ‘Liz, Liz, Liz!’”
Oh! And that time Andy Warhol was on Newbury Street. Farrington photographed the Queen of Thailand’s royal visit to Boston. Vanna White. Richard Pryor. Oh, and Alec Baldwin! Stories spill out, each more colorful than the last.
Farrington, 74, doesn’t speak about past gigs— he exclaims! There is a palpable wonder in his voice that he was there. That he captured these moments! He vividly remembers each assignment, and his enthusiasm oozes in each tale.
After graduating from Connecticut College in 1975, Farrington worked five years as a publicity photographer for the Charles Playhouse before going freelance in 1980.
And that summer, he got one helluva gig in New York. Ono needed a press release photo for a major announcement: Lennon and Ono were returning to the recording studio after a half-decade absence.
Source: boston.com/Lauren Daley
When Dick Rowe infamously passed on four young Liverpudlians on New Year’s Day 1962, he didn’t just make a historic blunder—he also kicked off the greatest vinyl detective story in rock history.
New Year’s Day 1962.
Most of London was sleeping off a hangover. But The Beatles arrived at Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London.
They arrived after a grueling 10-hour overnight drive from Liverpool through a severe snowstorm. They were in London to perform a high-stakes audition that their manager, Brian Epstein, hoped would secure their first major recording contract.
Over the course of the session, the group dashed through 15 tracks chosen specifically by Epstein to showcase their range.
Rather than unleashing the raw, sweaty rock-and-roll energy that was currently tearing the roof off the Cavern Club, the setlist leaned heavily into polite pop covers and stage standards.
This is the 15-song track list from the audition session.
Lennon-McCartney originals:
“Like Dreamers Do”
“Hello Little Girl”
“Love of the Loved”
Covers and standards:
“Money (That’s What I Want)”
“Till There Was You”
“The Sheik of Araby”
“To Know Her Is to Love Her”
“Take Good Care of My Baby”
“Memphis, Tennessee”
“Sure to Fall (In Love with You)”
“Three Cool Cats”
“Crying, Waiting, Hoping”
“September in the Rain”
“Bésame Mucho”
“Searchin’”
After the audition, Decca said “no, thanks” to The Beatles. Executive Dick Rowe allegedly uttered the ultimate line of music-industry regret: “Guitar groups are on the way out.”
Decca chose Brian Poole and the Tremeloes over The Beatles because the Tremeloes were based in London, making it more convenient for regular studio and session work.
As the saying goes, “Location is everything.”
Decca viewed the Tremeloes as more polished at the time, leaving The Beatles’ audition tapes to gather dust in corporate vault obscurity.
But while Decca wrote off the session as a dead end, those 15 songs captured four young artists right on the threshold of reshaping global pop culture.
Source: culturesonar.com/Thomas Clifford
Much has been said and written about the break-up of The Beatles - and what might have been the catalyst that drove the final nail in the coffin. It was a combination of things - band members feeling neglected, resentment (“We’re the grooves, so just watch it, okay?”), pressure to deliver new music, the aftermath of Brian Epstein’s premature death, the drudgery of living in each others pockets day-to-day for years... and according to the narrative at the time, Yoko’s presence while the group was at work.
The Fabs fall apart
It’s not even entirely clear who split the group. John Lennon claimed he wanted out but didn’t know how to break it to the other three so rather than confront them, he let it simmer - perhaps hoping it would all run its natural course and peter out. Then, in April 1970, Paul McCartney let slip that it was all over in a press release interview for his new solo album that there would be no more Beatles - no new music, no tours or shows, no more writing collaborations with John.
To the question, “Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?” Paul bluntly replied, “No”. He elaborated, citing “personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family”. He added that he didn’t really know if the break from the Beatles would be ”temporary or permanent".
By this time, all four members had left the band at one point or another only to be persuaded to come back. Ringo had had a bellyful by the time of the White album and slipped off to Sardinia. George (“I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all”), upped and left during the Get Back sessions, hurling a sarky potshot: “I’ll see you ‘round the clubs”. His bandmates’ embarrassment was captured and can be seen in Peter Jackson’s documentary.
Source: en.as.com/Andy Hall
The argument about who the “Fifth Beatle” might have been is a bit of a pointless one. No one was on a par with the contributions made by the four members themselves. But it’s intriguing to look back at the group’s history and note some of the fascinating characters who were a part, however tangential, of their story.
For instance, there was Alexis Mardas, aka Magic Alex, who briefly popped up in the group’s orbit in the late 60s. Alas, when the group needed Mardas to step up with his supposed technical expertise in 1969, things didn’t go as planned.
The Magic Man
A native of Greece, Alexis Mardas first started making the rounds of British pop stars when he became acquainted with Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones. In 1966, he met John Lennon when both men were frequenting the Indica book shop in London. Soon, Mardas joined Lennon’s entourage.
Mardas often boasted of his undiscovered technological innovations, many of which drew the wonder of Lennon. Some of his promised (but never quite realized) innovations included a house that hovered above the ground and music speakers embedded in wallpaper.
Unfortunately, Mardas also seemed to be a magnet for controversy within the group. He gossiped to John Lennon about Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s supposed flirting with female members of the retreat The Beatles took to India, causing Lennon to sour on the guru. And Lennon’s first wife Cynthia also accused Mardas of untoward behavior at the end of her marriage to John.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
There are lots of opinions swirling on the internet about The Beatles’ final years as a band, with some Fab Four fans posthumously judging the musicians for what they did (and didn’t do) in the tumultuous last few years of the 1960s. However, I would argue that Paul McCartney showed tremendous foresight when he—along with Ringo Starr and George Harrison—rejected a song John Lennon proposed the band release as their next single in the fall of 1969.
For some context, The Beatles had just released their penultimate album, Abbey Road, on September 26 of that year. The album’s lead single, “Something”, with “Come Together”, was set to come out on October 6. On September 30, fresh from the album release, John Lennon went into the studio to record “Cold Turkey” with the Plastic Ono Band, having been turned down by his other bandmates.
The Plastic Ono Band version came out on October 20. The songwriting credit was solely John Lennon. This marked a first for the musician who previously released all of his other compositions, even the personal ones, under the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
“Cold Turkey” Never Would Have Worked as a Beatles Song
It’s true that “Cold Turkey” is an intensely, viscerally personal song by John Lennon. But that’s not the sole reason why The Beatles didn’t record the song. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” couldn’t have been more personal and specific to Lennon’s life. Yet, the Fab Four recorded and put out that personal song in May 1969. Perhaps that spring release played its own role in the band’s refusal. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” had already been banned by radio stations worldwide. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the band to assume “Cold Turkey” would bring much of the same.
And indeed it did. As Lennon later recalled, “Cold Turkey” was “banned again all over the American radio, so it never got off the ground. They were thinking I was promoting h****n, but instead… I’m not preaching about ‘em. I’m just saying a drug is a drug, you know. Why we take them is important, not who’s selling it to whom on the corner,” Lennon told David Sheff in one of his final interviews in 1980.
Had The Beatles followed through and released “Cold Turkey”, the band would have had yet another highly controversial song in their catalogue for radios to ban. Who knows what effects that could have had on their musical legacy? On the legacy of the individual musicians? Most importantly of all, Lennon releasing “Cold Turkey” by himself was highly effective in distancing himself from the Fab Four. If he hadn’t released it, there’s a chance his former Beatles persona would become too sticky and hard to shake.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
There's quite a lot of ground to cover in the upcoming Beatles biopics, but a source tells Closer that one of the four-part films' heartbreaking plotlines will center around the death of Paul McCartney's beloved first wife, Linda.
"Linda is a big character in the world of the Beatles," reveals the source, and director Sam Mendes "has opted to make her a huge part of these movies by hiring Saoirse Ronan, who is a four-time Oscar nominee, to play her."
McCartney, 84, wed Linda in 1969 and the pair, who shared daughters Mary, 57, and Stella, 55, and son James, 49, were married for nearly 30 years. He also adopted the photographer's daughter Heather, 63, from a previous marriage.
After the Beatles broke up in 1970, "it was Linda who saved" McCartney from his "deep, deep anger," the "Maybe I'm Amazed" singer told biographer Tom Doyle, per The Times U.K., and the pair went on to play together in the band Wings.
Then in 1998, Linda tragically lost her battle with breast cancer at the age of 56.
"When it comes to Linda's illness, the movies will go there, and they're doing it in a tasteful way that is fully aligned with Sir Paul's own wishes for the project," insists the source, adding that McCartney has given his full blessing.
Paul Mescal's portrayal of McCartney opposite Ronan, 32, will be key to bringing the legendary Beatle's love story to life on the big screen, Closer's source notes.
"The love and the tears have to be real and ultimately, Mescal is great at that stuff," the source says of the Hamnet star, 30. "It's genuinely going to be an event for audiences to see … but it could be a little much for the real-life Sir Paul to sit through himself."
After all, "it's one thing to read a script for a movie and it's quite another to see incredible actors playing out your own personal, tragic love story on the screen," the source admits.
Source: yahoo.com/Kaitlyn Monteiro
There are lots of opinions swirling on the internet about The Beatles’ final years as a band, with some Fab Four fans posthumously judging the musicians for what they did (and didn’t do) in the tumultuous last few years of the 1960s. However, I would argue that Paul McCartney showed tremendous foresight when he—along with Ringo Starr and George Harrison—rejected a song John Lennon proposed the band release as their next single in the fall of 1969.
For some context, The Beatles had just released their penultimate album, Abbey Road, on September 26 of that year. The album’s lead single, “Something”, with “Come Together”, was set to come out on October 6. On September 30, fresh from the album release, John Lennon went into the studio to record “Cold Turkey” with the Plastic Ono Band, having been turned down by his other bandmates.
The Plastic Ono Band version came out on October 20. The songwriting credit was solely John Lennon. This marked a first for the musician who previously released all of his other compositions, even the personal ones, under the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
“Cold Turkey” Never Would Have Worked as a Beatles Song
It’s true that “Cold Turkey” is an intensely, viscerally personal song by John Lennon. But that’s not the sole reason why The Beatles didn’t record the song. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” couldn’t have been more personal and specific to Lennon’s life. Yet, the Fab Four recorded and put out that personal song in May 1969. Perhaps that spring release played its own role in the band’s refusal. After all, “Ballad Of John And Yoko” had already been banned by radio stations worldwide. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable for the band to assume “Cold Turkey” would bring much of the same.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
