On This Day, Dec. 5, 1974…

Paul McCartney and Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became a huge hit and remains McCartney’s most successful non-Beatles album.

The album produced two hits, the title track and “Jet,” and went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.

The cover featured McCartney, his wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine posing as escaped convicts alongside actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, British boxer John Conteh, U.K. broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, and English entertainer Kenny Lynch.

To celebrate the anniversary, McCartney released a special 50th anniversary edition of the album in February 2024.

McCartney’s post-Beatles career with Wings is also the subject of a new documentary, Man on the Run, premiering globally on Prime Video on Feb. 25, 2026.

Source: Everett Post

The childhood home of George Harrison of The Beatles is now open to visitors for the first time ever through scheduled guided tours.

Located at 25 Upton Green in Speke, the family home of George Harrison played a formative role in the ‘quiet’ Beatle’s early life and musical development, serving not only as his family residence from 1950 to 1962 but also as an early rehearsal space for The Beatles in the years before Beatlemania.

The experience has been developed and will be delivered by Dale Roberts, tour guide and co-owner of the property, who has spent over a decade sharing Beatles history with visitors from around the world. He became co-owner of the Harrison family home a year ago, after Ken Lambert asked him to come on board as an owner. Ken won the house at auction in 2022 in a well-publicised purchase of the property, Ken would turn into an Air BnB for guests to stay in.

“George’s story is a Liverpool story”

“This house is a reference point to a local Liverpool musician who would just so happen to be part of a phenomenon that changed the world. There has been huge interest globally in where The Beatles came from, and 25 Upton Green has always felt like a missing piece of that wider cultural experience. Making this accessible to the public on a regular basis feels like the right next step for The Beatles Industry”

25 Upton Green was the Harrison family’s home for twelve years, during which George Harrison attended Dovedale Primary School, then the Liverpool Institute for Boys, the same school attended by Paul McCartney, another resident of Speke. George and Paul would meet each other while getting the bus together from the area towards Penny Lane.

Source: Rhys Fairhurst/theguideliverpool.com

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The Beatles are back on the Billboard charts thanks to Anthology 4, the new addition to the band’s Anthology series, which was recently reissued.

Anthology 4 features 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and more. It debuted in the top 10 on five Billboard charts, including both the Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts, where it landed at #9.

The album is also at #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #3 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.

Anthology 4 was released as a standalone and was also part of the larger The Anthology Collection box set, with both debuting at #48 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The Collection includes the first three Anthology releases, which originally came out in the '90s, and hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.

The release of The Anthology Collection coincided with the Disney+ debut of the newly restored and remastered version of the Anthology documentary series, which aired on ABC in 1995. The new version was expanded from eight to nine episodes. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book was also released in October.

Source: Jill Lances/yahoo.com

The Beatles are famous for struggling to agree, but when it came to this one song Paul McCartney wrote for the Fab Four, three of them agreed unanimously about how much they hated the song. Nearly 60 years ago, the group released one of their most iconic albums, Abbey Road, and McCartney wrote one of their most forgotten hits, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. However, the song and the sessions frustrated the group, and it is considered their worst song.  Why Were the Beatles Members Frustrated With Paul McCartney and "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer"?

“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” almost did not make it onto the album, as John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr disliked the song due to the song’s complexity. McCartney first wrote the song in 1968 after the group’s trip to India, and it was intended for Let It Be. Even after the song was rejected, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” would soon find its way onto the Abbey Road album, but it almost destroyed the band.

As the songwriter, McCartney wanted the song to sound a certain way, but none of his bandmates were able to match his creative vision. This caused tension in the studio, as McCartney’s perfectionism resulted in many hours and sessions being poured into this one song. McCartney even added a blacksmith’s anvil as part of the recording process, but he still was not satisfied with how “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” sounded.

To add to the tension and the frustration of the bandmates, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” was Lennon’s first session with The Beatles since his car accident. When he began working on the song with the rest of the group, Lennon was quick to leave, as he felt that he did not have to sit through a tough session while still recovering from his injuries, especially as it was, according to engineer Geoff Emerick, in Lennon’s words, “Granny music.” Lennon returned to the studio after spending two weeks with Yoko Ono for “Come Together”.

Source: Teguan Harris/collider.com

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Two Beatles songs — "Real Love" and "I'll Get You" — return to multiple charts as the band's Anthology 4 and the Anthology Collection both debut inside the top 10. LONDON - MAY 19: English singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon (1940-1980), English singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney, English musician, singer and drummer Ringo Starr and English musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Beatles attend a press party at the home of manager Brian Epstein supporting the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, May 19, 1967, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images)

 The Beatles never have a completely quiet week on the charts, as people all around the world stream and buy the band’s music constantly. The group typically performs best in the United Kingdom, where all four musicians — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr — are originally from and where the outfit got its start.

As The Beatles score two new charting albums with both Anthology 4 and the larger, more all-encompassing The Anthology Collection, multiple tunes from the rockers find their way back to several different tallies, as there has been a lot of buying going on with all things connected to The Beatles.  The Beatles Bring “Real Love” Back to Multiple Charts

Between the two Beatles cuts that return to the charts in the U.K., “Real Love” is the bigger winner, as it finds its way to a pair of rosters at the same time. “Real Love” reenters the Official Singles Downloads ranking at No. 82 and the Official Singles Sales tally at No. 89.

“Real Love” appears on both sales charts in the U.K. for only the second time. The track debuted on those rosters back in November 2023, decades after its original release. At the time, “Real Love” launched at No. 25 on the ranking of the most downloaded cuts throughout the nation and No. 29 on the general list of the bestselling songs, and then it quickly disappeared.

When Did The Beatles Release “Real Love”?

The Beatles released “Real Love” in 1996 as a single from Anthology 2. The track, which was originally a demo written by Lennon, was finished by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr and shared along with “Free As a Bird.” Both tracks became hits, and “Real Love” and “Free As a Bird” served as the final Beatles songs until “Now and Then” was finished with the help of artificial intelligence technology and shared with the world in 2023.

Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com

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Sam Mendes has added eight to the cast of The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, Sony announced on Thursday. They are David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Leanne Best (Walk-In), James Norton (Happy Valley), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything), Bobby Schofield (The Covenant), Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Sherwood), Arthur Darvill (Broadchurch), and Adam Pally (Happy Endings).

Morrissey will play Paul McCartney’s father Jim McCartney, with Best as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, Norton as manager Brian Epstein, Lloyd as long-time music producer George Martin, Schofield as road manager and trusted confidant Neil Aspinall, Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Darvill as press officer and friend Derek Taylor, and Pally as controversial music manager Allen Klein.

As previously announced, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, with each telling the story of a different member of the band. Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood also star in the respective roles of Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd.

We were first to report on the Beatles films from Mendes, all of which will be released with full theatrical windows in April 2028. Sony Pictures is financing and distribute them worldwide.

Mendes is directing from scripts written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne. A collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions, the films will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.

This marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorized the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films.

Source: Matt Grobar/deadline.com