John Lennon often talked about the fact that he wanted the verses to the songs that he wrote to have the same musical potency as the choruses. Although he never stated this intent, Lennon also had a knack for dropping lines into the middle of his songs that could stop you in your tracks with their profundity. In his classic song “Strawberry Fields Forever”, a couplet in the second verse summed up much of what the song was meant to convey. And it also provided a stunning glimpse into just how Lennon saw himself within the wider world.

As The Beatles prepared to make new music in 1967, John Lennon and Paul McCartney originally gave themselves a brief to write about their childhoods. Although they soon abandoned the idea, it stuck around long enough to influence the songs that would serve as the band’s first single of the year, a double A-side.

McCartney wrote “Penny Lane”. The song takes a specific look at the people and places he remembered encountering as a kid. Lennon based “Strawberry Fields Forever” around a local park area within the grounds of a Salvation Army home. But the location simply served as a touchstone for happier memories, a la Rosebud in Citizen Kane.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia

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‘The Beatles Anthology’ Expands With a 9th Episode and 4th Volume

This episode goes behind the scenes of the 1995 documentary; new mixes of “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” are coming out; and an updated book is due.

The Beatles are back: Unreleased demos and never before seen footage are coming later this fall.

The fourth volume of the band’s “Anthology Collection” of recordings (including 13 new demos) is arriving, along with a capstone episode to the 1995 eight-part documentary and a 25th-anniversary edition of “The Beatles Anthology” book.

The album, “Anthology 4,” includes new mixes of “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” The release will accompany remastered versions of the first three “Anthology” albums as well, and will be available Nov. 21.

Source: nytimes.com/Michaela Towfighi

John Lennon was certainly not a man known for biting his tongue, whether conversationally or musically through his lyrics, and that included his feelings about a controversial career move Bob Dylan made in the late 1970s. (Though, to be fair to Lennon, everyone seemed to have an opinion on this interesting pivot in the singer-songwriter’s discography.)

Lennon’s snarky response to arguably one of the best songs to come out of this Dylan era never made it to an official album. The song landed on posthumous archival releases, though, granting us insight into Lennon’s opinions that went deeper than what he was willing to divulge to the press. 

Love it or hate it, Bob Dylan’s Christian era was a pivotal moment in his career. For critics, it was difficult to reconcile this gospel-preaching Dylan with the 1960s rebel who spoke out against authoritarian figures of all kinds. For Dylan purists, it was one of many unique stages in his musical career, yet another testament to the songwriter’s broad abilities. These camps inevitably included some of Dylan’s contemporaries, who felt strongly one way or another about his late 1970s career shift. John Lennon tried to ride the fence on the issue…to the press, anyway.

Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis

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The classic music documentary series, The Beatles Anthology, is being remastered by Peter Jackson’s production companies and will stream on Disney+ later this year. As well as digitally enhanced versions of the original eight episodes, there will also be a brand new ninth episode, created from previously unseen behind-the-scenes footage of Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr coming together around the release of the original series.

The series, which was first broadcast by ITV in 1995, was hailed as the definitive documentary on the Beatles thanks to the way it reunited the surviving three Beatles with their producer George Martin, former press officer Derek Taylor and one-time road manager Neil Aspinall to tell the tale of their career in their own words. Its release was accompanied by the single, Free As a Bird, the first new piece of music put out by the scouse quartet since their disbanding. It was so shrouded in secrecy that record label EMI used armed guards to protect it ahead of its release.

The remastered series, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the original, is the latest Beatles project from Jackson’s Wingnut Films and Park Road Post teams. They previously worked on the eight-hour Disney+ docuseries The Beatles: Get Back – which used remastered footage originally filmed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg for his 1970 film Let It Be – and the accompanying concert movie, which Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw called “unmissable.”

It will be accompanied by an album featuring session outtakes, previously unreleased demos and other rare recordings, curated by Martin’s son Giles. Anthology 4 includes new mixes of the singles originally released to accompany the Anthology TV series, Free As A Bird and Real Love, featuring de-mixed John Lennon vocals used by the songs’ original producer, Jeff Lynne. Giles Martin has also remastered the three original Anthology albums, released in 1995 and 1996. The project will be released in November, alongside an updated version of the Anthology book.

Source: theguardian.com/Alexi Duggins

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Sir Paul McCartney has hinted at a return to the Anthology series of albums by The Beatles.

Appearing on McCartney's Instagram, as well as Sir Ringo Starr's and the official Beatles accounts, a new post appears to make a nod towards the famous series of albums. The carousel of images contained the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4, with no caption.

Each of the numbers feature images from the Beatles' three-volume double set of albums inside. This has led to Beatles fans speculating what this could mean, and many are now convinced that the post is a precursor to the return of the Anthology series.

Anthology was a multimedia project that was put together by the three surviving Beatles at the time, featuring live versions, alternate takes, unreleased material, outtakes and never-before-seen interviews and photos.

Anthology 1 was released in late 1995, followed by 2 and 3 the following year.  The series also featured the first new music from the band since the death of John Lennon, with McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr working with Jeff Lynne on the tracks 'Real Love' and 'Free as a Bird'.

It also included remnants of a song called 'Now And Then' from 1978. In 2023, they were able to use AI technology to finally release it using clean Lennon vocals. Fans are now hoping that perhaps the same technology could be used to release fresh versions of 'Free As a Bird' and 'Real Love'. It's possible that the post could be looking towards a re-release of the Anthology documentary on Disney+.

More details on the cryptic posts are expected to be released in the coming days.

Source: goldradio.com/Tom Eames

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr had a frightening near-death experience after being involved in a terrible car accident. In 1980, Starr, now 85, met Barbara Bach on the set of the movie Caveman, and the pair quickly formed a bond.

Just a few months later, they were en route to a party in Surrey when their visibility was hampered by thick fog. As they approached a notorious black-spot at the Robin Hood Roundabout on the A3 at 60 mph, Starr had to swerve to avoid an oncoming truck.

This caused the couple to skid fifty yards, leading to Starr's white Mercedes crashing head-on into two lampposts. Despite injuring his leg, Starr managed to get his partner out of the car to safety.

After extracting his Bond star girlfriend from the wreckage, the musician reportedly went back to the car to grab a pack of cigarettes.
Miraculously, both escaped the crash with minor injuries, but the horrifying collision completely totaled Starr's luxury car, reports the Express. 

In a chilling coincidence, the accident occurred just half a mile away from where Marc Bolan tragically died in a car accident just three years earlier.

Just three weeks after their crash, Bach, now 77, told her father that she planned to marry the Beatles star. The couple married in a ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall a year later, in 1981, and have remained married ever since.

Source: MSN

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