Beatles News
George Harrison is one of the most famous religious converts in the history of rock music. Despite this, many fans don’t know why he decided to become a Hindu. Some people convert to another religion because they have mystical experiences or fall on hard times. George, on the other hand, went down a different spiritual path because of a visit to a restaurant.
George’s journey began when he was brought up as a Catholic. According to the book George Harrison on George Harrison, he associated Catholicism with pain and fear — though he acknowledged he may have “misinterpreted” his childhood religion. He stopped caring about Catholicism when he was 12 or 13. However, religion would become an important part of his life again someday — and George’s Catholic upbringing was clearly reflected in some of his solo music.
Source: cheatsheet.com
While many rank “Yesterday” among the greatest songs ever written, Paul McCartney didn’t want to release it as a Beatles single in 1965. Paul pointed to the arrangement, which featured a string quartet and no one from The Beatles other than him.
“We were a little embarrassed about it,” Paul later said in an interview from Beatles Anthology. “We were a rock ‘n’ roll band.” While The Who’s Pete Townshend might disagree with that take, Paul got his wish about “Yesterday” remaining a non-single (at least on the U.K. market).
The following year, Paul wrote another outstanding composition that ended up with a string accompaniment: “Eleanor Rigby.” But this time around producer George Martin suggested taking all the guitars out completely.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Sir Paul McCartney has said working with Sir Ringo Starr once again was “a sort of magic.”
The 78-year-old has paired up with Starr, 80, on Beautiful Night, a track from McCartney’s 1997 Flaming Pie album which is due for re-release.
The release is coming as part of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection which also sees 32 bonus audio tracks and a 128-page book containing previously unpublished images by Linda McCartney.
Starr’s contribution has now led to a new music video of Beautiful Night being released, as well as a new EP for the track.
Speaking to PA, McCartney explained: “I’d been saying to Ringo for years that it’d be great to do something, because we’d never really done that much work together outside The Beatles.
“One night Jeff (Lynne, Electric Light Orchestra co-founder) suggested, ‘Why don’t you get Ringo in?’ and I said, ‘OK.’ It just sort of happened.”
He continued: “I had this song Beautiful Night which I’d written quite a few years ago. I’d always liked it but I felt I didn’t quite have the right version of it.
Source: Kimberley Bond/standard.co.uk
After nearly a decade of strong work with The Beatles, could Ringo Starr pick one song with his favorite drumming? Ringo did, and he pointed to a track that never made it on a Beatles studio album. The song he picked was “Rain,” the B-side to 1966’s “Paperback Writer” single.
“I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat,” Ringo said in the Paul McCartney biography Many Years From Now. “I think I just played amazing.”
Indeed, Ringo shows off a few of his tricks on “Rain,” which John Lennon wrote (with an assist from Paul). But mostly it’s the energy Ringo brings to his fills that made the song such a highlight for him. And the track kicks off with a Ringo break.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Buckingham Palace released some very special gin this week and it looks like Ryan Reynolds wanted to make sure Paul McCartney got some.
The Green Lantern star appears to have sent the former Beatles singer/bassist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member a special order of Buckingham Palace Small Batch Dry gin. He posted the receipt to Instagram on July 14... but he made some slight alterations to the addresses on it. See if you notice anything about the addresses, payment method and shipping method below...
Ryan likes pranking other stars, and has often done similar things to Hugh Jackman. He's also pranked Paul like this before. Last year, just after meeting the legendary musician, he posted a photo of the two on Instagram, writing, "Have you ever had a dream to meet someone so badly and somehow it comes true? You're welcome, Paul."
Source: HELLO! Canada/ca.hellomagazine.com
The “Quiet” Beatle? Ha! While that particular sobriquet dogged George Harrison for nearly 40 years, here’s tangible proof that moniker was more in need a for quick nickname or (lazy journalism!).
The latest entry in Chicago Review’s Press’s essential “Musicians in Their Own Words” series features scores of interviews Harrison gave to newspapers and magazines, and on TV and radio appearances spanning the years 1962-2001.
Some of them are well-known in Beatles lore, other less, a handful were never before published, and some just rarities. In the last category, there’s a 1979 radio BBC radio session in with Harrison and Michael Jackson (???) in the studio discussing recent music from Foreigner, Bob Marley, and Cat Stevens in addition to their own stories.
Source: Bob Ruggiero/houstonpress.com
No innovator gets far without a little help from their friends. It’s well known The Beatles took influence from musical giants who came before them. At the same time, they took influence from contemporaries like the Moody Blues. Here’s how the Moody Blues’ Mike Pinder led John Lennon down the path to create “Strawberry Fields Forever.”It all starts with an instrument called the Mellotron. Firstly, according to the book Electronic and Experimental Music, Harry Chamberlain invented the Mellotron in 1947. The instrument sounds otherworldly to many fans. Subsequently, Mellotrons gained popularity after Streetly Electronics began manufacturing them. Mike Pinder, a member of the Moody Blues, was also a salesman for Streetly Electronics. Predictably, his band started using the Mellotron in their music. In fact, the instrument became central to their album Days of Future Passed.
Source: cheatsheet.com
It was largely business as usual in last week’s Nielsen Music Midyear Report. Streaming is up, traditional album sales are down, vinyl’s heroic resurgence persists, and CDs and digital albums continue their death march into obscurity. Oh, and BTS is still crushing it.
The Korean pop septet’s new album, Map of the Soul: 7, is the bestselling physical album of the year and the only one to sell over 500,000 copies in the United States, more than doubling the sales of runner-up Kenny Chesney. Map of the Soul: 7 is also the ninth-biggest overall album of the year, moving 842,000 equivalent units derived from album sales, track downloads and streams.
Additionally, BTS landed at No. 2 among all pop artists in terms of total consumption, right behind Billie Eilish. In total, the boy band has moved 1.417 million album-equivalent units through the first half of 2020. Only one other group has eclipsed 1 million album units in the U.S., and they’re a group to which BTS often gets compared: The Beatles.
Source: Bryan Rolli/forbes.com
Ringo Starr's role as a glue guy in the Beatles was confirmed once they began solo careers. Long after the group split, his individual sessions drew far-flung former members back together once more.
Along the way, the affable drummer came to dominate the list of Top 25 Partial-Beatles Reunion Songs. Seven tracks come courtesy of Starr's solo projects; he's also a regular presence on tracks with George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
At least half the Beatles are present for many of these tracks, and in several instances three of the four ex-bandmates appear. The most famous are the so-called "Three-tles" reunion songs in the '90s, as the others came together to complete a pair of the late Lennon's songs.
Other notable partial reunions date from just after the group's 1970 breakup through modern-era collaborations as recent as the '10s. Several even include classic-era producer George Martin.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
Alan Parsons, the studio engineer and the former producer of Pink Floyd, recalled the times when he worked with The Beatles and revealed that Paul McCartney was a pretty demanding musician on the recent interview he gave to Sweetwater.
Parsons talked about the first years in his career when he began to work as an assistant engineer on the 1969 album ‘Abbey Road‘ and 1970’s ‘Let It Be‘ of The Beatles. He explained that he continued to work with Paul McCartney and got used to his working style, which was tough.
Alan Parsons, who has worked in 1973 with Pink Floyd on ‘The Dark Side of the Moon‘, mentioned the creation process of ‘Abbey Road’ when he got to know McCartney better. He said:
“Well, yes. As a result of working on the ‘Abbey Road’ album, at least half the time they were there making it, but I got to know Paul a bit better.
Source: Dilara Onen/metalheadzone.com
