Beatles News
The Beatles could finally win Record of the Year at the Grammys for "Now and Then," breaking a ... [+] historic losing streak that's continued for decades.
For the first time in almost 30 years, The Beatles are nominated for a Grammy. Two of them, actually. Throughout that time, projects attached to the rockers have been up for, and even won trophies, but the group itself wasn’t actually in the running for a prize. Now, the Fab Four may be headed for another win, and the musicians have another chance to fix a black spot on an otherwise sterling legacy.
The Beatles hold the record for the most nominations among groups in the Record of the Year category. That field is considered, perhaps only countered by Album of the Year, as the top honor at music’s biggest night. The pop and rock legends have competed for the honor five times now, including this ceremony, but so far, the band has always been beaten.
Throughout the years, The Beatles landed in the Record of the Year vertical with all of the following hits: “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (lost to "The Girl from Ipanema" by Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto), “Yesterday” (lost to "A Taste of Honey" by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass), “Hey Jude” (lost to "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon & Garfunkel), and “Let It Be” (lost to "Bridge over Troubled Water," again from Simon & Garfunkel). Each time, another smash that dominated pop culture bested the quartet, but none of those acts are in the running today.
“Now and Then” could finally give The Beatles a Record of the Year Grammy, which is the last of the big four categories the band never won. The first time the group was nominated, the four musicians earned Best New Artist. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ended up being named Album of the Year, beating several other Beatles collections at other ceremonies that didn’t come out on top.
Source: Forbes
A lock of hair cut from the head of an unwitting Paul McCartney outside a BBC studio is for sale at a British collectibles company.
Paul Fraser Collectibles are listing the dark-brown hank of Beatle hair that fan Martha snipped outside a recording, probably for the BBC show Saturday Club, in 1965 or 1966. Martha’s confession recalls a time when fans could get relatively close to the Liverpool band and other stars of an exploding British beat scene.
Paul McCartney’s hair is for sale alongside his signature. Image courtesy Paul Fraser Collectibles.
With most of the band in her autograph book, Martha and a friend went one step further to show their admiration for the Fab Four.
“At school we made plans to cut a piece of Paul’s hair (back then it was a ‘normal’ thing to do) and went prepared with scissors. When the Beatles left the studio we mobbed them with a crowd of other fans and just grabbed Paul’s hair and cut! “Sounds a dreadful thing now,” she says. They even wrote via the band’s fan club offering an apology but never heard back.
60 years later that girlish enthusiasm has produced a valuable artefact of the most exciting era in British – maybe world – youth culture.
The snipped hair is being sold with an autograph collected separately. Paul Fraser, chairman of Paul Fraser Collectibles said: “Both are frozen in time from those spine-tingling days. When the Beatles were transforming music, and transforming the world, with every new record they made.
“The style of Paul’s signature indicates he signed it in the mid 60s – 1964 onward.” Beatle hair was sold along with any and every other aspect of their lives in the frantic heyday of Beatlemania.
Surviving fragments are now rare, and may, Paul Fraser says, have considerable resale value.
Source: news.justcollecting.com/Colin Ricketts
Despite having starred in a Pizza Hut commercial back in 1995, Ringo Starr has admitted he's never before been able to enjoy a piece of pizza. Famed Beatles drummer and one-time Pizza Hut spokesperson Ringo Starr has admitted he’s never eaten pizza before.
The veteran musician made the somewhat surprising confession while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to promote his 21st studio album, Look Up. As part of his chat, Kimmel asked Starr to set some rumors about himself straight. First on the list was the claim that Starr had never eaten pizza. “I’ve never had a pizza,” Starr confirmed, as the audience expressed their shock at the news. “Or a curry.”
“I’m allergic to several items,” Starr continued. “With pizza, you don’t know what you’re putting in it half the time. Or the curry. So I’m strict with myself since it makes me ill immediately.”
“I used to think you had the greatest life, and now I realize mine is better,” Kimmel joked in response. Added Starr: “Yours is better because you’ve had a pizza.”
Starr’s need to abstain from pizza also goes hand-in-hand with his longtime vegetarianism, but is made all the more surprising given his role as a one-time spokesperson for noted restaurant chain Pizza Hut.
Appearing in a 1995 ad campaign for the chain, Starr promoted Pizza Hut’s newly-introduced stuffed crust as part of a 30-second spot which saw him teasing a reunion from The Beatles. The ad’s punchline sees Starr joined by members of The Monkees instead (“Wrong lads,” he quips), with all four musicians appearing to bite a piece of pizza… crust-first. We now know, however, that Starr doesn’t actually follow suit.
Source: billboard.com/Tyler Jenke
George Harrison’s legendary diary entry from the day he left The Beatles has seen the guitarist dubbed an “icon”.
Studio session tensions bubbled over for Harrison during the Get Back rehearsals, prompting him to briefly quit the band. Ringo Starr had previously departed the band towards the end of The White Album recording but rejoined a short while later. Starr had felt he “wasn’t playing great” and that he was “an outsider” but after a holiday to Sardinia, he rejoined the band. Harrison’s departure from the Get Back sessions lasted five days and has since been immortalised in a diary entry.
January 10, 1969 saw Harrison write in his diary he had “left The Beatles”. The full entry reads: “Got up, went to Twickenham. Rehearsed until lunchtime – left The Beatles – went home.” One fan dubbed Harrison an “icon” for his diary entry and departing from The Beatles while another said it was a “dark day” for fans of the Fab Four. Harrison’s rather stoic attitude to The Beatles has been celebrated by fans in a Reddit thread, who shared similar stories about the Something and All Things Must Pass songwriter.
One user recalled: “I remember his son, Dhani, telling a story about how he was chased home from school once when he was 6 by bullies who were singing “Yellow Submarine” as a taunt. When George came home Dhani was still upset about what had happened and he said, ‘Dad, how come you never told me you were one of the Beatles?’ And George replied, ‘Oh, sorry, I probably should have told you that’.”
In the five-day downtime Harrison had after leaving The Beatles, he wrote Wah Wah, the song which features on his triple album, All Things Must Pass. Lyrical readings include jabs at Paul McCartney’s criticism of Harrison’s guitar playing to Lennon’s lack of interest in the Get Back project. He too would leave The Beatles, announcing his departure in a meeting Harrison was absent from.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
The Beatles ended their historic run as a band on Jan. 30, 1969. On that date in history, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr gathered on the rooftop of the Apple Corps. headquarters for their last-ever live performance. Billy Preston, often dubbed the “Fifth Beatle,” played electric piano during the set.
Five stories atop central London, the band played their final show for a project originally titled Get Back. The Beatles hoped that the project, as the title suggested, would help them return to their roots.
However, the resulting film and album, which were later renamed Let It Be, became the band’s final project together when they were released in May 1970. Rolling Stone reported that the rooftop concert wasn’t always planned for that location. A cruise ship, the Sahara desert, the Giza pyramids, and a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater were first considered. Ultimately, the rooftop was chosen, though whether Lennon or Starr suggested it first is widely debated.
The Day of The Beatles’ Rooftop Concert
Knowing he was going to witness something special, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who previously worked with The Beatles on “Hey Jude” and “Revolution,” made it his mission to capture the show from every imaginable angle. One camera even caught the reactions of people who were passing by and happened to hear the commotion, Gold Radio reported.
The police shut down the show after 42-minutes due to noise complaints from surrounding business, the first outlet reported. The Beatles continued to play, finishing the performance with a third take of “Get Back,” per Gold Radio.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Paige Gawley
An extremely rare, eight-inch acetate record with Connecticut ties featuring several iconic songs from “The Beatles” has been rediscovered after six decades, according to Nate D. Sanders, who will auction off the item on Thursday.
Issued in the 1960s by Capital Records, the acetate includes songs such as “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That.”
The record’s journey traces back 61 years, when local teenager Cherie Pinsky won it through a drawing contest hosted by WPOP radio in Hartford. Pinsky secured the priceless piece of memorabilia after her drawing of “The Beatles” won the radio station’s contest.
According to Nate D. Sanders, an industry leader in documents and autographs, the acetate is in remarkably good condition. While it bears several surface scratches and still as Pinsky’s name on each side of the label, the item is still housed in its original sleeve.
The acetate was released in limited quantity at the height of Beatlemania in 1964 and is identified on its label as Master X44914 and X44913. Only a handful of these items are known to exist, making the acetate a remarkable relic of music history.
Nate D. Sanders says that Pinsky’s drawing of “The Beatles” launched her career as an artist.
More information regarding the acetate and the auction can be found here. The minimum bid is currently $2,500.
Source: Fox61.com
Out of all of The Beatles’ albums, the cover of Abbey Road from 1969 is by far the most memorable. In fact, the iconic cover photo has impacted pop culture in a number of surprising ways. So, what’s the story behind it?
The photo on the cover of Abbey Road shows John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison walking along a crosswalk outside of EMI studios in London, England, on Abbey Road. The band had recorded the majority of their career recording there, so it was only fitting to make the scene part of the album.
The photo is a fascinating piece compositionally. Paul McCartney is shoeless, everyone is wearing a designer suit except for a denim-clad George Harrison, and the vibe is just unreal.
Surprisingly, the photo wasn’t the result of a tireless photo shoot that was aiming for perfection. Rather, the shot was snapped during a few-minute break on August 8, 1969.
That very day, the band was recording the songs “Oh! Darling”, “The End”, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” in the nearby studio. During a break in between sessions, the Fab Four walked outside to be photographed by Iain Macmillan. He only took six photos in the entire shoot, which only lasted a few minutes. The group only crossed the road three times before the shoot was over. McCartney looked at the contact sheet and decided that the fifth frame was the best. And the rest is history!
The Legacy of ‘Abbey Road’ by The Beatles
The Beatles are actually walking away from the studio in that photo, which is apt. Abbey Road wasn’t their last album, but it was the last album they had recorded together before calling it quits. It makes sense why the photo became such a focus of pop culture obsession.
Source: americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney has announced a 50th anniversary vinyl edition of his 1975 Wings album Venus and Mars.
The album was Wings’ fourth and the follow-up to their classic Band on the Run. Venus and Mars would reach number one on the album charts on both side of the Atlantic, going on to sell over four million copies worldwide.
Mostly recorded in New Orleans, this period would saw a change in the Wings lineup as McCartney would recruit guitarist Jimmy McCullough and replace short-lived drummer Geoff Britton midway through recording, with the more Macca-friendly Joe English. The album features fan favourite ‘Letting Go’ and hit single ‘Listen To What The Man Said’, which reached number one in the US singles chart.
The vinyl is half-speed mastered edition, cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road and there’s no bonus material just a “meticulous reproduction” of the original UK pressing, with an OBI-strip. Venus and Mars will also be available– digitally only – in Dolby Atmos for the first time, having been newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Venus and Mars will be reissued on 21 March 2025 via MPL and UMe. It’s only available via Universal/McCartney channels until Friday, when it will be listed in ‘normal’ retail outlets.
Source: superdeluxeedition.com
This is FRESH AIR. Ringo Starr has released a new album of country songs called "Look Up." It's a collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett, who wrote many of the songs. And it features appearances by Alison Krauss and a new young bluegrass star, Billy Strings. Ringo recently taped a country special that will air on CBS in the spring, and in February, he'll make his debut at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. Not bad for an 84-year-old ex-Beatle. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review of "Look Up."
RINGO STARR: (Singing) It's a long way down and there's no bottom. You had the blues, but you forgot them. Look up. In the midnight hour, look up. Love is the higher power. Keep your eyes on the skies. Don't look down on the shadows town. Look up.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Beatle fans have known of Ringo Starr's love of country music ever since he had The Fab Four cover the Buck Owens hit "Act Naturally" in 1965, singing a rare lead vocal. "Look Up" isn't even Ringo's first country album. That was way back in 1970. It was called "Beaucoup Of Blues" and was more self-conscious and lugubrious than the new one, which radiates the confidence and ease that an aging professional can bring to his material.
STARR: (Singing) Every time I think about you, I never want to live without you. And every time you come around, I'm spellbound. I'm spellbound. Yeah. When I see you on the boulevard, my spirit flies and my heart beats hard with a love that's deathless and I'm breathless.
TUCKER: While producer T Bone Burnett has written most of the music here, he and Ringo have selected some clever new songs, including a couple by an old pro, Billy Swan. Swan will forever be known for one beautiful No. 1 hit, "I Can Help" from 1974. Swan's always charming songwriting yields this lovely interlude called "You Want Some."
STARR: (Singing) Well, I got love to give, baby, that's better than none. You want some? You want some? Deep down in my heart is where it all comes from. You want some? Oh, baby, you want some?
TUCKER: What makes Ringo such an effective country vocalist? Well, the rhythmic sense that made him a great rock drummer guides the way he phrases, giving a country lyric the air necessary to breathe life into the story it's telling. Freed from the demands of rock 'n' roll volume when singing with the Beatles, Ringo's crooning possesses the kind of relaxed authority that usually only a genius like Willie Nelson or Ray Charles can make sound so easy.
STARR: (Singing) I used to have a true love, everything was fine, but now she's found a new love. She's no longer mine. I thought it was forever, but she had other plans. Now these arms are empty, and I've got time on my hands. I turned my collar up, kept my eyes turned down. I walked the empty streets, the blue side of town. When she was my baby, I was a busy man. But she slipped through my fingers, and I've got time on my hands.
Source: bpr.org/Ken Tucker
Fans of George Harrison are calling his work on an unused How Do You Sleep take “the best playing he ever did”.
Post-The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote retaliatory songs against one another. Lennon’s How Do You Sleep was a response to McCartney’s Ram track, Too Many People. Harrison joined Lennon on How Do You Sleep, a song which featured on Imagine and was dubbed a personal jab at McCartney after the fallout of the Fab Four. McCartney had joked he was planning a follow-up, titled Quite Well, Thank You, but it never came to pass.
Fans of How Do You Sleep and Harrison are now saying an earlier take of the song hides one of his best performances as a guitarist. A post to The Beatles’ subreddit saw people share their fondness for his guitar playing on How Do You Sleep. One user wrote: “George’s guitar on How Do You Sleep (Takes 5 and 6) is some of the best playing he ever did.”
Another user agreed, adding: “Even on the official album version I’d agree with that statement. He had a lot of career moments where he shined as a guitarist but this is my number one.” A third suggested “everyone” was in top form on this “insane take”. They wrote: “In those versions, everyone kinda pops off.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
