Beatles News
A book of autographs that includes signatures of all four of The Beatles is set to be auctioned.
The book, with an estimated sale price of £4,500, also includes a piece of a broken plectrum used by Paul McCartney.
Seller Julian Dennis, said it was time to pass on the "fascinating keepsake", with the Fab Four's 60-year-old signatures, and much more.
"I was, and still am, a massive Beatles fan and their music has accompanied me throughout my life," he said.
His book also features a personal message from Beatles' road manager Mal Evans.
Source: By Alice Cullinane/bbc.com
Known for his talents as both a musician and songwriter, Donovan landed numerous hits like “Colours,” “Catch the Wind,” and “Sunshine Superman.” He also helped John Lennon learn the style of finger-picking in 1968. Lennon would go on to use that style in songs like “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and “Julia.” While always willing to help fellow artists, the musician recently admitted to mentoring George Harrison after noticing he was “in the shadow” of other great stars like Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Discussing his time in music with Record Collector magazine, Donovan recalled his time with Harrison. “I became George’s mentor for songwriting,” he said. “He was in the shadow of John and Paul for so many years and I said, ‘Look, I’ll show you a few tricks, how to encourage the songs.’ There’s a way to encourage the song to come.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Chris Piner
Paul McCartney was proud of writing 1 Beatles song. He could hardly believe it when a friend disliked the song for its sound.
Throughout their time as a group, The Beatles received praise for the way they pushed musical boundaries with their songs and albums. This has earned them a permanent place in the musical canon. As they were releasing songs, though, it occasionally brought them ridicule. While listening to a new Beatles song, a friend responded with disbelief. He thought it sounded like a joke.
In 1965, The Beatles released Rubber Soul. The album marked a shift for the band into more introspective, mature songs. When the band played one of the album’s songs, “Michelle,” for a friend, though, he responded with confusion.
“We’d just put out ‘Michelle,’ and I remember one night at the Ad Lib club David Bailey hearing it and saying, ‘You’ve got to be joking — it is tongue in cheek, isn’t it?'” Paul McCartney said in The Beatles Anthology. “My reaction was: ‘Piss off! That’s a real tune,’ and was quite surprised that he’d think that.”
Over time, though, McCartney grew to understand Bailey’s reaction. The song was a departure from The Beatles’ earlier work and the music of the first half of the decade.
“Looking at the Sixties now, I can see why he did, because everything was very ‘Needles And Pins’, ‘Please Please Me’, and suddenly — ‘Michelle,'” McCartney said. “It came a bit out of left field, but those are often my favorites. I mean, one of Cliff Richard’s best ones was ‘Living Doll.’ When he came out with that it was quite a shock, with its acoustics; but it was a well-formed little song.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
In a recent Instagram post, former drummer for The Police, Stewart Copeland (a groove monster in his own right) offers specific evidence of Ringo Starr's superior stills at achieving groove in a song.
Copeland suggests comparing the three different versions of "Love Me Do," the first Beatles recording. The first one is with original Beatles drummer, Pete Best, the second is with a hired session musician, Andy White, and the third is with Ringo.
At one point in Copeland's post, he claims that, when Andy White is on the throne, and George Martin has moved Ringo over to the tambourine, the groove of the song has actually migrated along with him. It's pretty subtle, listening to it here, but it's a fun thought.
Since there is so much perennial debate over Ringo's skill as a musician, it's nice to see a breakdown of his undeniable strengths, which as Copeland points out, are groove and inventiveness.
Source: Gareth Branwyn/boingboing.net
Paul McCartney was proud of writing 1 Beatles song. He could hardly believe it when a friend disliked the song for its sound.
Throughout their time as a group, The Beatles received praise for the way they pushed musical boundaries with their songs and albums. This has earned them a permanent place in the musical canon. As they were releasing songs, though, it occasionally brought them ridicule. While listening to a new Beatles song, a friend responded with disbelief. He thought it sounded like a joke.
In 1965, The Beatles released Rubber Soul. The album marked a shift for the band into more introspective, mature songs. When the band played one of the album’s songs, “Michelle,” for a friend, though, he responded with confusion.
“We’d just put out ‘Michelle,’ and I remember one night at the Ad Lib club David Bailey hearing it and saying, ‘You’ve got to be joking — it is tongue in cheek, isn’t it?'” Paul McCartney said in The Beatles Anthology. “My reaction was: ‘Piss off! That’s a real tune,’ and was quite surprised that he’d think that.”
Over time, though, McCartney grew to understand Bailey’s reaction. The song was a departure from The Beatles’ earlier work and the music of the first half of the decade.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Best Classic Bands site reports that George Harrison will be the subject of a new biography coming from acclaimed Beatles biographer, Philip Norman. The book will be titled George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle.
It is described as a rare and revealing portrait of the most misunderstood and mysterious Beatle, and is based on decades-long research and unparalleled access to inside sources. The publishing date is set for October 24, 2023, from Scribner in the U.S. and Simon & Schuster in the U.K. Norman is the author of the New York Times bestseller John Lennon: The Life and the million-copy selling Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation.
In its announcement, the publisher notes: “Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, Harrison, particularly in his early decades, battled feelings of inferiority. He was often the butt of jokes from his bandmates owing to his lower-class background and, typically, was allowed to contribute only one or two songs per Beatles album out of the dozens he wrote.”
Source: Ljubinko Zivkovic/livinglifefearless.co
John Lennon said The Beatles didn't pay much attention to their manager. Still, they didn't want to make music without him.
The Beatles began working with their manager, Brian Epstein, on their rise to fame. He helped them grow as artists and was an essential part of their success. Though he appreciated the way The Beatles changed his life, he once decided he’d had enough of them. The band told him that if he sold them to another label, they would stop making music altogether.
Though Epstein was the band’s manager, he didn’t have all that much power over them.
“Brian could never make us do what we really, really didn’t want to do,” John Lennon said in The Beatles Anthology. “He wasn’t strong enough.”
Epstein grew frustrated with this dynamic, though, and eventually told The Beatles he was going to sell them to another label. They refused to listen to him on this, either.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr lied about his job to impress girls. He shared that this didn't always work out the way he intended it to.
Before The Beatles, Ringo Starr’s career ambitions had a lot to do with what would look good to girls. After recovering from an illness, Starr took a job on a boat with hopes of earning a position at deep sea. He also hoped the position would win him popularity with women. His attempts at flirting didn’t often go well, though.
Starr was sick for much of his childhood. Once he began to recover, he took a job on a local boat, hoping it would launch a career for him.
“Then I worked on the St. Tudno, a pleasure steamer that went from Liverpool to Menai in North Wales,” he said in The Beatles Anthology. “I wanted to go deep sea, and this was an easy way to get my ticket. If you did three months on the local boats, it was easier to get on the big liners. I got as far as the day boats, but that was it.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
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"Day Tripper" by Otis Redding (1966)
Since the Beatles had great respect for Redding as an artist, it made sense the soul and R&B legend would take his turn at one of the band's biggest hits. "Day Tripper" seemed like a song made for Redding's special vocal styling. His soulful take on the classic, with Booker T. & the M.G.'s backing him up, is one of the great covers of all time.
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"Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" by Jimi Hendrix (1967)
The legend goes that Hendrix was so captivated by the title track from one of the greatest records of all time that he couldn't wait to play it live on stage. He did so just days after the record was released. In true Hendrix greatness, he shreds from beginning to end without an ounce of pretentiousness. Hendrix was not shy about his respect for the Beatles, and the feeling was mutual, as Paul McCartney would often talk about.
Source: Jeff Mezydlo/yardbarker.com
The Beatles returned in 2023 with their first new single in decades, much to the delight of fans. The band’s “Now And Then” cleverly utilized artificial intelligence technology to allow all four members of the group to contribute to the tune–even though half of the outfit is no longer with us. “Now And Then” became a quick hit on many Billboard charts, but on most of those, it didn’t hold on very long.
The single is still present on a handful of Billboard rankings to this day, months after it was released. As the cut continues to perform well, it has not only become a welcome win for the group, but their longest-charting hit single on a number of lists.
“Now And Then” has spent the most time on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. That tally ranks the most-consumed rock and alternative tracks in the U.S., as its name suggests. The list uses a methodology that combines sales, streams, and radio airplay to show what rocking tunes America loves.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
