Beatles News
Before The Beatles split up, the relationship between Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney became extremely frayed. In the early-1970s McCartney was working on releasing his first-ever solo record - an album which was eventually released on April 17, 1970. But before the album, McCartney, hit store shelves, he was asked by the Apple Corps bosses to push it back. The person who told him this news was none other than Starr.
Starr was instructed to go to McCartney's farm and explain to him that he needed to change the release date of his album.
McCartney later recalled: "I was just fed up with that. 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."
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
George Harrison would have been “very happy” that relationships between Beatles’ members are cast in a more positive light by a new documentary, his son has said.
The film aims to provide an honest insight into the relationship between the men and their creative process during the January 1969 recording sessions.
Dhani Harrison said his father had always been “bummed out” that this part of the world-famous rock band’s history was associated with negativity.
The documentary, to be released later this month and directed by Peter Jackson, is made entirely from never-before seen footage.
Source: Mike Bedigan/independent.ie
George Harrison didn’t look back on his days a Beatle with complete fondness. George hardly looked back on those days at all, actually. He was proud of most of The Beatles’ work, but that was the past. George primarily lived in the here and the now, and never understood the people who were still caught in the craze of The Beatles years after they disbanded.
George always had a hard time being “Beatle George.” However, the end of his time as a Beatle was the worse for him. To make matters worse, George’s struggle to stay in the band was caught all on camera. The Beatles were filming Let It Be. So, the prying cameras paired with George’s growing tensions with his bandmates grew to a boiling point, and George quit.
No wonder George said the film aggravated him to the point where he could hardly watch it. It was like watching a car crash. But what would he say about Peter Jackson’s upcoming documentary, The Beatles: Get Back?
Source: cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney has admitted that Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back documentary has changed his perception of their split.
The three part film, which is coming to Disney+ later this month, focuses on the making of the band’s penultimate studio album ‘Let It Be’ and showcases their final concert as a band, on London’s Savile Row rooftop, in its entirety.
“I’ll tell you what is really fabulous about it, it shows the four of us having a ball,” McCartney told The Sunday Times after watching the film. “It was so reaffirming for me. That was one of the important things about The Beatles, we could make each other laugh.
He continued: “John and I are in this footage doing ‘Two Of Us’ and, for some reason, we’ve decided to do it like ventriloquists. It’s hilarious. It just proves to me that my main memory of the Beatles was the joy and the skill.”
Source; Damian Jones/nme.com
It's January 1969, and the Beatles are unrecognizable from the wide-eyed mop-tops who appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" just five years prior. Their popularity is unrivalled. They've stopped touring and fame is exacting its price. Now comes a self-imposed stress: they've given themselves three weeks to record 14 songs that they'll play to a live audience, all the while, trailed by cameras. The astonishingly intimate footage was recently extracted from a London vault and placed in the capable hands of filmmaker Peter Jackson. His resulting three-part documentary series, "Get Back," drops Thanksgiving weekend on Disney Plus. It adds considerable light and joy to what was always considered to be the Beatles' darkest period. You might say Jackson took a sad song, and well, you know the rest.
Source: Jon Jon/cbsnews.com
LSD played a big role in The Beatles‘ evolution of music. It famously brought John Lennon and George Harrison closer together after they unknowingly took LSD for the first time after a dinner party host plopped some in their coffees. And it also created tensions in the band when Paul McCartney announced his hesitation to participate.
Two years after the first time Harrison took LSD, he gave an interview where he shared his thoughts on the psychedelic.
Harrison felt there was a misunderstanding that after he took LSD, he was a huge proponent of the psychedelic. He said in an interview with Melody Maker in 1967 that it should be a totally individual choice.
“This is a thing that I want to try and get over to people,” he said, as recorded in the book George Harrison on George Harrison.” Although we’ve been identified a lot with hippies, especially since all this thing about pot and LSD’s come out, we don’t want to tell anyone else to have it because it’s something that’s up to the person himself. Although it was like a key that opened the door and showed a lot of things on the other side, it’s still up to people themselves what they do with it. LSD isn’t a real answer.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
In 1967, George Harrison was deep into his spiritual journey. He spent many of his days dutifully practicing meditation and Yoga. But despite where he was at spiritually, the Beatle continued to be one of the wealthiest musicians of his time. Had he ever considered giving up all his earthly belongings to focus on what’s important? Yes. Here’s why he didn’t.
When Harrison was interviewed by Melody Maker in 1967, he was asked if he’d ever considered getting rid of his material wealth. The Beatle said he had but, ultimately, decided against it.
“Now that I’ve got the material thing in perspective, it’s OK,” he said, as recorded in the book George Harrison on George Harrison. “The whole reason I’ve got material things is because they were given to me as a gift. So it’s not really bad that I’ve got it because I didn’t ask for it. It was just mine. All I did was be me.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
George Harrison was Bob Dylan’s No. 1 fan. The ex-Beatle had many friends, from all walks of life, including Monty Python comedian Eric Idle, Formula 1 race car driver Jackie Stewart, and his musical and spiritual guru Ravi Shankar. However, Dylan was one of George’s oldest friends. They first met in 1964, and Dylan gave The Beatles their first joint.
They collaborated through the years, most notably on George’s debut solo album All Things Must Pass and later with the Traveling Wilburys. But their friendship went deeper than that.
George met Tom Petty in 1974. By then, George and Dylan had already established a tight bond, and Petty instantly recognized it. Still, Petty was welcomed as an equal and later joined George and Dylan in the Traveling Wilburys. A year after George died in 2001, Petty reflected on George’s relationship with Dylan during an interview with Rolling Stone. Petty said that George often quoted Dylan “like people quote Scripture.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
Those are the claims from the original cinematographer Tony Richmond, who remains adamant the group, aside from Ringo, were “not getting along” as they neared the end of their illustrious career as a band.
Respected Richmond contends there was “bad blood” between Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon in late 1969 as they made the Abbey Road album.
Richmond says that Oscar winner Jackson will likely not include that “dark and gritty” footage in the new six-hour film, out at Thanksgiving on Apple TV.
The English-born award-winning director feels that the new film is too long and is uncomfortable at the digitisation of his original film footage.
Source: Eli Pacheco/toysmatrix.com
Legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has teamed up with Masterclass to provide an online course on drumming and creative collaboration. The course will launch on November 22.
Ringo’s involvement was announced during Masterclass’ first-ever First Look event, where the online education subscription platform revealed their upcoming line of new courses, learning experiences, and initiatives to aid underserved communities.
The event took place at the Whitney Museum of American Art and also featured announcements of singing courses that will be offered by Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey in 2022.
“MasterClass puts you in the room with the world’s best, giving members unprecedented access to the greatest minds of our time,” said David Rogier, founder and CEO of MasterClass. “Today’s announcements will expand that opportunity with new classes, features, integrations and partnerships that will help deliver access to the platform to more people in more ways and in more places.”
Source: Emma Wilkes/udiscovermusic.com
