Beatles News
Once in a blue moon, a cultural or historical event will happen that shakes our idea of what is and isn’t possible. The “unsinkable” Titanic’s tragic fate. Putting a man on the moon. From a purely pop cultural standpoint, The Beatles breaking up was another one of those “this will never happen” moments.
The Beatles were one of the first musical acts to make being in a band cool. This pioneering status, paired with just under a decade’s worth of chart-topping hits and international stardom, made the band’s official split in 1970 all the more jarring—to the public, anyway. The Beatles repeatedly said they saw the split coming, and John Lennon was no exception.
But what was a bit more surprising, perhaps even to the other Beatles, was a revelation that John Lennon spoke about three years after the Fab Four split for good. What Caused the Beatles To Split, Anyway?
The answer to that question changes depending on who you ask and is, most likely, an amalgamation of several causal factors that blended into one another until the Beatles couldn’t take it any longer. But from a strictly legal, financial perspective, one of the most pressing reasons that the Beatles decided to break up was Paul McCartney’s unwillingness to have Allen Klein manage Apple Corps’ finances following the death of Brian Epstein.
McCartney didn’t trust Klein and wanted his father-in-law, Lee Eastman, to take Epstein’s place. The band outvoting McCartney and hiring Klein was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Clashing egos, creative differences, a desire to explore outside of the band they had been in since they were teenagers and adults: all of these explanations came to a head in the final months of 1969 and early 1970.
Three years later, John Lennon reflected on the entire debacle during an appearance on Weekend World. “They’re always trying to pinpoint what happened,” he said. “Why The Beatles split up. Right? Well, The Beatles were splitting up themselves. Disintegrating is the word for it. I think the Klein-Eastman situation really pushed it over the hill.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
When the surviving Beatles — Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — reunited in the studio in the mid ’90s, the band members felt they weren’t alone, as “strange goings-on” hinted at John Lennon’s supernatural presence.
The trio’s team-up, coming 25 years after the Fab Four disbanded, and a decade and a half after the death of John Lennon, represented the time they’d worked on new music together as they set about bringing the unreleased John Lennon song “Free as a Bird” to life.
It was one of two new songs, alongside “Real Love” — also born from John Lennon’s mind — to feature on 1995’s Anthology box set. As news of a fourth addition in the Anthology series broke last week, McCartney’s reflections on the unusual incidents that surrounded the recording of “Free as a Bird” have come to light.
“There were a lot of strange goings-on in the studio — noises that shouldn’t have been there and equipment doing all manner of weird things,” McCartney once told OnHike.com (via The Mirror). “There was just an overall feeling that John was around.”
Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, had given the rest of the band the two of his demos with the view of transforming them into finished songs. The unexplainable occurrences weren't exclusive to "Free as a Bird" either; the "Real Love" sessions were just as creepy.
“We put one of those spoof backward recordings on the end of the single for a laugh, to give all those Beatles nuts something to do,” McCartney said with a laugh. “I think it was the line of a George Formby song.” Formby was a popular entertainer when the Beatles were growing up and a favorite of the group's members, particularly Harrison.
“Then we were listening to the finished single in the studio one night, and it gets to the end, and it goes, ‘zzzwrk nggggwaaahhh jooohn lennnnnon qwwwrk.’ I swear to God.
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“We were like, ‘It’s John. He likes it!’”
Lennon once told his son Julian if he ever needed to contact him from beyond the grave, he'd send a white feather. That wasn't lost on McCartney when the three musicians stepped outside the studio for an impromptu photo opportunity. At the last minute, a white peacock entered the frame.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Phil Weller
The Beatles have been busy. So has New Orleans-based Beatles expert Bruce Spizer.
Just as the Beatles announced that the 1995 “Anthology” documentary will be rereleased and expanded on screen, on vinyl and in print this fall, Spizer has released the ninth and final book in his meticulously researched Beatles Album Series about the band’s recorded output.
The utilitarian title of Spizer’s “Beatles For Sale To Help!” conveys the span of albums covered in the new book.
As with his 16 previous Beatles books, Spizer published the latest through his own 498 Productions with a hardback cover and heavy, glossy stock. The 264 pages are chock-full of full-color photographs of album and singles covers, relevant news magazines — Spizer likes to discuss Beatles releases within the context of what was going on in the world at large — vintage advertisements and promotional items from his personal collection of memorabilia.
Such is Spizer’s expertise that Universal Music Group, Capitol Records and the Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd. consult with him on Beatles-related projects. He wrote the questions for the Beatles-themed special edition of Trivial Pursuit.
He often speaks at Beatles-related conventions around the globe. This week, he’ll reprise two of his popular presentations in his hometown.
On Sunday at 12:30 p.m., the Prytania Theater hosts Spizer's "Beatles and Bond” talk. He'll narrate an audio/visual presentation about the Beatles’ second film, “Help!,” followed by a screening of the James Bond film “Goldfinger.”
He’ll then elaborate on how “Help!” parodied several scenes from “Goldfinger,” cutting between footage of both films. Tickets are available at the Prytania box.
Source: NOLA
Sir Paul McCartney is close to finishing his first solo album in more than five years.
The Beatles legend is not only nearing completion on his follow-up to 2020's McCartney III, but the 83-year-old musician is said to be plotting a return to his homeland for a UK tour in 2026.
A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: “Paul has been working on the album all year and initially hoped it would be out by the end of this year but as with most things plans change.
“It’s not quite finished but the majority of the album is done and Paul is really proud of it.
“As for live shows he’s told his team he wants to tour the UK again, so live gigs next year are also happening.”
Until then, Macca has a US tour kicking off next month, which will commence on September 29 in Palm Desert, California, and is currently due to end on November 25 in Chicago.
In February this year, Macca put on a series of intimate concerts at New York’s iconic Bowery Ballroom.
Meanwhile, McCartney has co-authored a book about his time in Wings, set for release in November.
The icon formed the rock band in 1971, after the Beatles split, and McCartney has shared his experiences in a new book called Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
The chart-topping star said: "I’m so very happy to be transported back to the time that was Wings and relive some of our madcap adventures through this book.
"Starting from scratch after the Beatles felt crazy at times. There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, ‘OK, this is really good.’ We proved Wings could be a really good band. To play to huge audiences in the same way the Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz."
McCartney formed Wings with his wife Linda, drummer Denny Seiwell, and guitarist Denny Laine.
The group released seven studio albums - including 'Band on the Run', 'London Town' and 'Venus and Mars' - between 1971 and 1981.
McCartney co-authored the tome with historian Ted Widmer, who said: "Wings was about love, family, friendship and artistic growth, often in the face of tremendous adversity."
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Source: music-news.com
Each of The Beatles has enjoyed a successful solo career. I wouldn’t say that the band’s beloved late guitarist, George Harrison, is anywhere close to underrated. However, when compared to the likes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, I don’t think he gets as much love as he deserves for the big things he did as a solo artist post-Beatles. Let’s look at just a few moments that prove George Harrison was capable of outshining his past with the Fab Four.
He Formed One of the Best Supergroups
The Travelling Wilburys were a killer supergroup. There’s no denying that. Formed in 1988 and lasting just a few short years, this group was made up of some of the greatest artists in rock and folk. Members included George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. And songs like “Handle With Care” and “She’s My Baby” would have never hit the airwaves if Harrison and Lynne hadn’t come up with the idea together while working on the former’s 1987 record, Cloud Nine.
All Things Must Pass was technically George Harrison’s third album as a solo artist. However, it was his first after The Beatles broke up in 1970, and also the first of any former Beatles’ records to hit No. 1. It certainly makes sense why. This folk rock venture is absolutely gorgeous. All Things Must Pass was a carefully put-together work. It’s full of songs that Harrison had been working on while still part of the Fab Four. His songwriting talents really came out on this record, and it proved that he was on the same musical level as The Beatles’ two principal songwriters.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
The “rose-tinted glasses” worn by The Beatles in several of their music videos were picked up by Paul McCartney from an optician.
Iconic glasses featured in music videos for The Beatles were, according to McCartney, picked up out of a necessity to make the drab recording studio that much better. Ordering “half a dozen” different colours, the Let It Be songwriter brought them to the sessions as a way of livening things up. George Martin, The Beatles’ long-serving producer, added that fluorescent poles were also added into the studio to kindle the band’s creativity. McCartney shared: “If you remember, we all came in with rose-coloured or funny-coloured specs, and where I was living.
“There was a little optician round the corner, and I sort of popped in and said, ‘Do you do different coloured lenses and everything?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, I do anything.’ So I ordered up like, half a dozen different colours, you know, rose, green, blue, and took them to the sessions.
Producer Martin confirmed he remembers the glasses, but also remembers the Fab Four’s strong dislike for the drab studio. White walls and the lack of atmosphere proved stifling for the band, who were offered some fluorescent pipes to liven the place up.
Martin replied: “That was to give you a bit of atmosphere in the studio. I remember all of you saying, ‘This is a sterile place, it’s just white walls and bloody awful.’ I had to do something to liven it up. So they put in three fluorescent stands with red, blue, and white.”
But McCartney says it was “red and green”, not “red, blue, and white”. The Wings frontman says he knows this “because I’ve got them in my studio.” Martin would add they were installed to give the Fab Four some “inspiration”, with McCartney jokingly adding: “And boy, did it ever. We grooved after that.”
McCartney has spent decades in the studio, and one of his major projects with The Beatles after the band disbanded was in remastering Let It Be. His dislike for the work Phil Spector provided the album prompted McCartney to create Let It Be… Naked.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
Brian Epstein, the Fab Four's manager, guided them from Liverpool's Cavern Club to global fame. When he died 58 years ago this week, the band was left suddenly adrift. Three years earlier, Epstein had told the BBC how he knew they would be "the biggest attraction in the world".
When The Beatles were told that their manager, Brian Epstein, had been found dead in his London home on 27 August 1967, they were sent into a tailspin. "It was shattering, sad, and a little frightening," Paul McCartney told Barry Miles in his 1997 biography Many Years from Now. "We loved him."
Epstein had been instrumental in the Fab Four's rise from playing local Liverpool clubs to being the biggest band in the world. He had shaped their early image, helped them get a recording contract, managed all their business affairs, and championed them relentlessly. And he had always believed in them. When the BBC's Panorama profiled him in 1964, the pop impresario said that when he signed the band in 1961, he already knew they would be "one of the biggest, if not the biggest attraction, theatrical attraction, in the world".
By the time of the Panorama interview, Epstein was managing a whole roster of artists, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Tommy Quickly. He had "unique judgement of what will be a hit and who will make it", said BBC reporter Michael Charlton. "When only one in 50 of the multitude of pop records catches on, Epstein's young stars have captured hit parades all over the world."
Source: bbc.com/Myles Burke
Ever since The Beatles broke up, everyone and their mother has seemingly been blaming their demise on Yoko Ono. The conspiracies that she broke the band apart and that John chose her over the band are incredibly far-fetched and, frankly, unfair. Thanks to these loose and unfounded claims, Paul McCartney has often stated that Yoko was not the sole reason for The Beatles’ disbandment. However, McCartney has definitively declared that he was not a fan of her joining in on The Beatles recording sessions.
If anyone has watched The Beatles: Get Back, they know that Yoko was present for nearly the entire recording process of the band’s final album. Consequently, fans and critics were always curious as to what her presence made The Beatles feel like. Well, eight years before the release of the film, McCartney divulged exactly why he wasn’t a fan of it. Paul McCartney Reveals His Reason on the Matter
In a 2013 interview on The Howard Stern Show, McCartney went fairly in-depth on the matter in a candid fashion. Being McCartney, he was, of course, polite, cordial, and kind, but he put the rumours to rest with his answer. So, if you’re still crafting your rumors about Yoko and The Beatles, then give this a listen so you can tame your imagination.
McCartney started his story by stating, “Let’s face it, we didn’t welcome Yoko in the studio.” “Even the guy’s wives and the girlfriends and stuff weren’t really welcome in the studio,” continued Paul McCartney. Given that rule, when Lennon invited Yoko into the studio, the band was perplexed and taken aback. McCartney attested to that fact, saying, “It was like ‘uh no excuse me, we’re working.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
The night Elvis Presley played with The Beatles is fondly remembered as the most epic jam in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. That is, if it actually happened.
What is certain is that Elvis politely hosted the Fab Four at his Bel Air home on Aug. 27, 1965, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were in Los Angeles to perform two shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Elvis, looking every inch a rock god, greeted the quartet with his future wife Priscilla Beaulieu and his “Memphis Mafia” inner circle at his side.
“The Beatles were in awe, and I can say that because they told me that the next day,” Jerry Schilling, Elvis’ longtime friend, tells USA TODAY, while discussing the new Elvis collection “Sunset Boulevard,” which spans Presley’s LA studio sessions from 1970 to 1975. “But it got kind of quiet” after they were ushered into the den.
Elvis sat on the couch, holding his Fender bass guitar, as the four shaggy-haired Beatles stood and sat uneasily. Then Elvis announced, “If you guys are going to look at me all night, I’m going to bed,” Schilling, 83, recalls. “Everyone burst out laughing and that broke the ice. Not that there was any cold ice at all. I don’t care what anyone says, I was there, it was a great night.”
Elvis fiddles with an electric bass inside Graceland on March 7, 1965, months before hosting The Beatles at his California home in Bel Air.
By all accounts, Charlie Rich’s “Mohair Sam,” one of Elvis’ favorite songs of the moment, was playing on repeat. George went off with Larry Geller, Elvis’ hairstylist, and “there was probably some grass going on,” Schilling says, pausing for a beat. “Let me be honest, there was.”
Starr and Schilling took on Beatles roadie Mal Evans and Elvis’ cousin Billy Smith in a game of pool. But what happened next is hotly debated. Did The Beatles jam with Elvis?
Source: usatoday.com/Kim Willis
Everyone has their favorite Beatles album, including the iconic musicians themselves, but one album in particular seemed to drive a wedge between two of the bandmates.
While many fans would name Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as their favorite, featuring hugely popular hits, the 1967 record divided Paul McCartney and George Harrison. While McCartney touted the album as his favorite, Harrison said it felt like taking a step "backwards" from their revolutionary craftsmanship.
While their eighth album was Paul's "baby," Harrison had grown tired of that particular sound. Comparing it to Rubber Soul and Revolver, Harrison said Sgt Pepper was "not as enjoyable" as the other two and said it "felt like going backwards."
He said, "Everybody else thought that Sgt Pepper was a revolutionary record – but for me it was not as enjoyable as Rubber Soul or Revolver, purely because I had gone through so many trips of my own and I was growing out of that kind of thing."
Revolver was created after Harrison's time in India with Ravi Shankar, where he honed his own voice as a musician. The track Love You To in particular was inspired by that time in Harrison's life and how it shaped his personal musical style.
McCartney, however, said in 1991 that Sgt Pepper was his favorite of their repertoire, though he loves all of the albums the band created. He said, “I’d pick Sgt. Pepper’s, myself, because I had a lot to do with it.” He continued, “It wasn’t entirely my idea but to get us away from being ‘The Beatles’ I had this idea that we should pretend we’re this other group."
He remembered George being distant from the record. “George wasn’t very involved in that album,” McCartney said later. “He just had one song. It’s really the only time during the whole album, the main time, I remember him turning up.”
Sgt. Pepper's is a blend of pop and rock music featuring some heavy hitters, such as With a Little Help from My Friends and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which the band insisted was not code for LSD.
Beatles fans were in a frenzy this week after the band's official Instagram account posted a cryptic hint at some big announcement. The page posted four slides, each displaying the numbers one, two, three and four alongside imagery connected to the band, including several of their most iconic album artwork.
Source: irishstar.com/Shannon Brown
