Beatles News
When it comes to sketching out his concert setlists, Paul McCartney must suffer from a veritable embarrassment of riches. In the United States alone, he has authored or co-authored 32 number-one songs — enough to comprise a single live performance all by themselves. And this doesn't even begin to account for perennial Beatles- and Wings-era favorites like the Abbey Road medley or "Live and Let Die," which are showstoppers in and of themselves.
Paul McCartney's "1964: Eyes of the Storm" makes for a truly elegant collection of photographs, a Beatle's-eye-view, if you will, of the fabled group's spectacular rise to international superstardom. Comprised of some 275 never-before-seen images, McCartney's photographs brilliantly capture the onset of Beatlemania both within and beyond the shores of the Beatles' homeland.
"1964: Eyes of the Storm" pointedly begins after the band's national ascendancy during their performance on the October 13th installment of Val Parnell's popular variety show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium. With "She Loves You" burning up the charts, the Palladium served as Ground Zero for the fan frenzy that was so peculiar to the Beatles' fame. By beginning his photograph narrative a few months hence, in December 1963, McCartney's book demonstrates the Beatles and their circle in the act of not only consolidating their brand but conquering the global music scene.
Source: Kenneth Womack/salon.com
The Beatles often experimented with recording techniques to improve their sound. However, the band never perfected the new music technologies that were emerging then, leading to some sloppy versions of their songs. One Beatles song, in particular, got “destroyed” by the constant tampering of it, according to John Lennon.
“Revolution” was released in 1968 as the B-side to “Hey Jude.” While the song got Lennon’s political views out there, it wasn’t the version he liked. The track has been released multiple times with different variations. “Revolution 1” was recorded before the official release and is noticeably slower. Paul McCartney and George Harrison believed “Revolution 1” was too slow to be a single, so they released a faster version.
In a 1974 interview for New York’s WNEW-FM, Lennon acknowledged many differences between stereo and mono mixes and pointed to “Revolution” as an example of why remixing-in-mono can sometimes make songs worse.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison’s son, Dhani, grew up surrounded by legendary musicians. Harrison had many friends in the industry who would visit often, and Dhani got to know many stars that the average person could only dream of meeting. Reflecting on his childhood, Dhani said it was “mindbending” to see so many rock stars just casually hanging out in his house. George Harrison was friends with many classic rock stars. In addition to the other members of The Beatles, Harrison was also close with the members of The Traveling Wilburys, which included Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. He was also close friends with guitarist Eric Clapton.Since he worked closely with these excellent musicians, they often recorded and rehearsed at his home studio. Harrison’s son, Dhani, grew accustomed to coming home from school and seeing some legendary rock star. While many would consider him lucky, it did give him an interesting perspective on his situation.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
On November 4, 1963, the Beatles played at the Prince of Wales Theatre, in London, exuberant, exhausted, and defiant. “For our last number, I’d like to ask your help,” John Lennon cried out to the crowd. “Would the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.” Two weeks later, the band made their first appearance on American television, on NBC’s “Huntley-Brinkley Report.” “The hottest musical group in Great Britain today is the Beatles,” the reporter Edwin Newman said. “That’s not a collection of insects but a quartet of young men with pudding-bowl haircuts.” And, four days after that, “CBS Morning News with Mike Wallace” broadcast a four-minute report from “Beatleland,” by the London correspondent Alexander Kendrick. “The Beatles are said by sociologists to have a deeper meaning,” Kendrick reported. “Some say they are the authentic voice of the proletariat.” Everyone searched for that deeper meaning. The Beatles found it hard to take the search seriously.
Source: Jill Lepore/newyorker.com
A majority of The Beatles’ songs were relatively short because that’s what fits better for radio play. Besides ‘Hey Jude’, most of their hits were three or four minutes. In one of his more experimental modes, Paul McCartney developed a 15-minute song that he got The Beatles to play with him. It’s still never been released, but the former Beatle said it could see the light someday.
There are many rumored, unreleased songs from The Beatles that fans have been scouring for. One of these mythical tracks is “Carnival of Light”, an “avant-garde” 15-minute instrumental track created by McCartney. The song emerged when David Vaughan, a friend of McCartney’s, asked him to record music for an event called The Million Volt Light and Sound Rave or the Carnival of Light Rave.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Listen, do you want to know a secret? It's probably not a great sign when you need three directors to finish one movie, but alas, the upcoming Beatles manager movie, Midas Man, has finally reached post-production after a very turbulent production.
Deadline reports that Joe Stephenson “quietly” took over the reins of the film sometime this year and finished the filming aspect of the production. The film is now in post-production and he took over for Sara Sugarman after “creative differences” and “scheduling issues.”
But even Sugarman wasn't the first director in place for this Beatles film. Jonas åkerlund was originally set to direct the film but left during the shoot due to disagreements with the producers.
This particular Beatles film revolves around Brian Epstein (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), the famous manager of the Fab Four. Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan, Lukas Gage, and Bill Milner also star in the film. Rosie Day will play Cilla Black and Jey Leno will play legendary talk show host Ed Sullivan.
All four of the Beatles will also be in the film. Jonah Lees plays John Lennon, Blake Richardson plays Paul McCartney, Leo Harvey Elledge plays George Harrison, and Campbell Wallace plays Ringo Starr.
Source: Andrew Korpan/clutchpoints.com
Some people must practice tirelessly to perfect their abilities, while others are naturally gifted. They have an exceptional talent that they improve upon whenever they use it. That appears true with Ringo Starr, who has played the drums since childhood.
Starr has had several outstanding performances on the drums from his career, and he selected one in a conversation with Modern Drummer. In his response, the former Beatle said he never practices but keeps improving as he gets “more comfortable” with playing.
“‘Drumming Is My Madness’ is one, because it was fun,” Starr shared. “It was Harry Nilsson, Jim Keltner and I. For the Ringorama CD, we specifically made it sort of drum-prominent, and I sort of played some really good stuff. [laughs] Though I never practice, I do feel I’m getting better. It’s just how it is. The more you do it, the more comfortable you are with it.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison's solo career had plenty of peaks: Three No. 1 songs in "My Sweet Lord," "Give Me Love" and "Got My Mind Set on You." A total of eight Top 20 hits, including the No. 2 hit "All Those Years Ago." Nine Top 20 albums, topped by the seven-times-platinum No. 1 smash All Things Must Pass.
That career-defining triple album was quite a post-Beatles introduction, and his 1973 follow-up Living in the Material World became yet another chart-topping success. But Harrison got into the Top 5 on the album chart only one more time, with 1974's Dark Horse. The misses began to arrive more often than the hits, in particular in the late '70s and early '80s.
Harrison mounted an impressive career comeback with 1987's Cloud Nine, and its companion all-star Traveling Wilburys project, only to fall silent until a final posthumous release. The gold-selling Brainwashed returned the late Harrison to the Top 20 in 2002, while also completing a career that finally moved him out of the considerable shadows of bandmates Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
In 1966, The Beatles were at the peak of their fame, but touring was draining the life out of them. Live performances had been how they built an audience and catapulted to fame. By 1966, though, it not only strained their creativity but put their lives at risk. Paul McCartney was the last Beatle to keep pushing for live performances. After a disastrous tour leg in the United States, though, even he agreed that it was time to take a break.
The Beatles’ 1966 tour saw them face trouble nearly wherever they went. They received death threats, battled nasty weather, and had all of The Philippines turn against them. Even when people were well-intentioned, the sheer number of fans became dangerous.
They arrived in the United States already exhausted, but things only continued to get worse. John Lennon had recently said The Beatles were more popular than Jesus, and many people in the South boycotted the band. They felt their lives were in danger.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
It's a fact: The Beatles paved the way for a generation of stars that followed them.
During their ten year tenure as a group, the Fab Four broke an insurmountable series of records and completely changed the landscape of pop and rock music.
They were the perfect package of charming personalities and songwriting chops that shifted ahead of the times, moulded popular music culture to their whim as they went.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon, together with the talents of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, also wrote an inexplicable number of enduring hits that remain as potent today as ever.
We surely all remember the first time we heard The Beatles and all have our favourite song of theirs - the band have provided the soundtrack to most of our lives.
Source: Thomas Curtis-Horsfall/goldradiouk.com
