It’s been 55 since the Beatles split up, but a show that’s coming to Guildford in September could possibly be the next best thing to hearing them perform.

An audience at G Live will hear all 30 songs from the “White Album” played by a Canadian touring company just as they sound on the record, note for note.

The “White Album” – officially titled simply The Beatles – must surely be one of the most diverse music projects of all time, containing styles as varied as folk, country rock, blues, old time music hall, hard rock, psychedelia and avant-garde. So this performance by Classic Albums Live could be the ultimate Beatles challenge.

Craig Martin – “We pay the album the ultimate respect” 

CAL is no tribute band in the usual sense. Their founder, Craig Martin, says: “The concept take is simple: perform classic albums exactly the way they were recorded – note for note, cut for cut, as the original artists intended it to be. No gimmicks, just pure musical excellence.”

From that first few seconds when you hear the rushing sound of a jet coming in to land (in the opening track, Back in the USSR) the audience is transported through 93 minutes of some of the Beatles’ finest music.

CAL is considerably bigger than most touring outfits. “When we perform the Beatles, we hire a great many musicians to get every sound just right,” says Martin. “When it comes to properly performing ‘Glass Onion’ or ‘Revolution 9’ it’s all hands on deck. Our string and horn sections have become well versed in orchestral percussion.”

Ah yes, Revolution 9. How do they handle that surreal cacophony of sound effects and tape loops that goes on for eight minutes and 22 seconds?

Martin acknowledges the difficulty. “We have been working our way through Revolution 9 since the series began,” he says. “Seeing this performed live confuses half the audience and thrills the other half.”

So what are the main challenges involved in performing such an iconic album?

“Getting the beautiful sound of the voices is always the most daunting task,” Martin says. “We take our time and find the musicians for the right part. Matching the musician to the album is crucial. When we say note for note, we mean it.”

Source: guildford-dragon.com/David Reading

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“What goes on tour, stays on tour” goes the old adage, yet for Paul McCartney on January 16th 1980, some secret ‘sustenance’ for Wings' long-anticipated Japanese tour became global news as the beloved ex-Beatle was locked up for a staggering nine days when a sizeable bag of marijuana was found on his possession.

To confound matters even further, Paul’s 7.7 ounce (219 gram) bag of fresh Hawaiian cannabis wasn’t even hidden. It had been naively stuffed within within his carry-on luggage alongside clothes and other essentials. Seemingly, without a hint of subtlety.

As Paul and his wife (and bandmate) Linda passed through security at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, a diligent customs officer opted to be as thorough with his screening of the incoming music legend as he had been with the rest of the new arrivals.

After all, Paul had form.

Having been arrested in Sweden in 1972 and at his home in Scotland the same year for pot-related offences (possessing it, and growing it respectively), simply getting permission to come to the hyper-stringent Japan had been something of a legal hoop-jump, as the country’s rigid laws had zero tolerance for drugs of any sort.

But, after finally being granted the long-sought work visas (which had previously put pay to a mooted 1975 tour of the country), eleven dates were now on the calendars of delighted Asian fans.

This tour was set to take in premiere venues of Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo, with the latter featuring a return to the Nippon Budokan where, over a decade before (and in a previous musical outfit) Paul had previously put on a memorable show alongside his bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. A time when the entire world was gripped by Beatlemania.

But now things were quite different.

Unzipping the suitcase, the customs officer was aghast to find the not-even-slightly concealed bag of marijuana, which had a street value of 600,000 yen.

There was a tense moment when Paul and the officer met each others’ eyes.

Source: musicradar.com/Andy Price

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 Why Moon wanted to join The Beatles as a drummer has nothing to do with jealousy, but more to do with admiration. Moon had always been a fan, a friend, and an occasional collaborator who even offered backup vocals in their track “All You Need Is Love,” long before The Beatles’ breakup. As iconic and essential to rock music as Moon is, he would have never fit in with The Beatles.

The Beatles and The Who, although friendly, were also compared to each other by music fans. Both bands were on a trajectory to greatness, as The Who climbed the charts and England and worldwide descended into Beatlemania. However, while tension was well and truly alive in The Beatles, something even more violent was occurring in The Who.

Internal conflicts rocked his relationship with the band, and Moon grew frustrated with it, especially after he chased fellow member Pete Townshend with a knife. Moon was dealing with drug use during his time as a drummer in The Who, which contributed to the tension. Things came to a head when Roger Daltrey flushed his drugs down the toilet, prompting him to search for other bands to join.
Paul McCartney Turned Down Keith Moon’s Preposition

When Moon asked McCartney for a spot in the Fab Four, he politely turned him down as they were not looking for a new drummer. Starr was the perfect fit for The Beatles as he matched the sound and the aesthetic the group needed. Even when he was the first to leave The Beatles, he returned behind the drum kit to feed more Beatlemaniac fans with more classic rock songs that defined the genre. However, McCartney did point him to Starr’s direction to speak to him about the preposition, but whether that conversation was had is unknown.

Even after getting rejected by The Animals and The Beatles, Moon didn’t leave the band. He stayed and contributed to more of The Who’s greatest songs and classics, such as “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again” as the band gained more popularity. Moon stayed in The Who as their drummer until his unexpected death in September 1978.
Keith Moon Was Essential to The Who, Just as Ringo Starr Was to The Beatles

The Who were not always the best of friends, even when tensions lessened. Still, they always came together to create classic hits, and continued as a band in Moon’s honor after he died of a drug overdose. Sadly, as for The Beatles, tensions continued to rise, which ultimately led to their breakup.

Source: collider.com/Teguan Harris

John Lennon's friend Elliot Mintz said the star was "insanely jealous" of Paul McCartney's success with Wings in the 1970s. Lennon stepped out of the spotlight in 1975 to raise his son Sean. Mintz appeared on Billy Corgan's The Magnificent Others podcast

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, its chief songwriters Paul McCartney and John Lennon experienced different levels of solo success — something that irked Lennon in the years before his tragic death, according to a friend.

Lennon’s longtime friend and confidante Elliot Mintz appeared on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast on Wednesday, July 30, and opened up about the “Imagine” singer’s complicated feelings toward McCartney in the 1970s.

After the Beatles went their separate ways, McCartney, 83, formed the band Wings, and saw commercial and critical success with hits like “Jet” and the chart-topper “Listen to What the Man Said.”

Lennon, meanwhile, released a number of solo albums, but stepped out of the spotlight in 1975 to focus on raising his son Sean, whom he shared with wife Yoko Ono.

“He spoke so lovingly of Paul. But then when John was not making any music between 1975 and almost ‘80, and Paul would have these mega-hits with Wings, John became insanely jealous about that,” Mintz recalled. “He was jealous of the amount of attention and accolades, and the fact that Paul was filling stadiums.” 

 Mintz, 80, continued, “At that time, John was just looking after Sean. John would say to me, ‘They’re not embracing me the way they are him.’ And I said, ‘John, you’re not on a concert stage. You’re not in a stadium. You’re not making music,’ And he said, ‘You’re missing the point. They’re embracing his genius, but have you heard ‘Silly Love Songs’? And I would say, ‘Look, let’s be fair. He’s done things other than ‘Silly Love Songs.’ But that would go nowhere.”

Source: people.com/Rachel DeSantis

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Ringo Starr is considered one of the most amicable Beatles. He was more or less left out of the three-way fight his former bandmates were entangled in towards the end of their career. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have opinions on the way things soured. One nasty conversation with Paul McCartney in the middle of their breakup had Starr throwing the gloves off. Though his bandmates said much worse to each other, learn more about the surprising jab Starr gave McCartney in one of his solo pursuits. A Fight Between Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney Led to an Insult-Filled Song.

Though Starr has a reputation for being sweet and sympathetic, that didn’t mean he was immune to the fighting. The end of the Beatles’ career was marked by numerous issues. That kind of thing would weigh on anyone, even the middleman.

While the band was in conversations to end things (the legal part of their partnership, anyway), Starr went to see McCartney, who had all but given up on the band’s future. McCartney, believing that Starr had been sent by the rest of his bandmates and label figureheads, let his anger get the better of him.

“Ringo came to see me,” McCartney once recalled. “He was sent, I believe – being mild-mannered, the nice guy – by the others, because of the dispute. So Ringo arrived at the house, and I must say I gave him a bit of verbal. I said: ‘You guys are just messing me around.’ He said: ‘No, well, on behalf of the board and on behalf of The Beatles and so and so, we think you should do this.’”

“I was just fed up with that,” he added. “It was the only time I ever told anyone to get out! It was fairly hostile. But things had got like that by this time. It hadn’t actually come to blows, but it was near enough.”

“I went to see Paul,” Starr added from his perspective. “To my dismay, he went completely out of control, shouting at me, prodding his fingers towards my face, saying: ‘I’ll finish you now’ and ‘you’ll pay.’ He told me to put my coat on and get out. I did so.”

Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper

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 The director of the Cavern Club, the Liverpool nightclub described as the birthplace of The Beatles, says the venue "has to focus" on younger fans ahead of the city's annual International Beatleweek later this month.

Jon Keats told BBC Radio Merseyside "younger fans luckily are attending the festival more and more every year, which is important".

He said: "That's a big thing that we have to focus on and that is happening because younger people are finding The Beatles for themselves."

"At the heart of everything, it's about the music, it's all the emotions those four musicians left us," he added.

The week-long festival, which celebrates the legacy of the Beatles, begins on 20 August.

Source: bbc.com