Beatles News
Former Journey frontman Steve Perry recently signed a new record deal with Dark Horse Records, the label founded by late Beatles guitarist George Harrison. Perry’s first release on Dark Horse was The Season 3, an expanded version of his 2021 holiday album The Season.
Perry recently was interviewed about The Season 3 on an episode of “Dark Horse Radio,” a Harrison-themed radio show that airs on SiriusXM’s The Beatles Channel. During his appearance, Steve also discussed some of his favorite Harrison songs and recordings, both with The Beatles and as a solo artist.
Among the tunes Perry singles out were the Beatles songs “I Need You” and “Here Comes the Sun,” and the Harrison solo tune “Beware of Darkness.”
About “I Need You” and Perry’s Own Version of the Song
Perry began with “I Need You,” a 1965 Beatles song from the Help soundtrack that was written and sung by Harrison. Steve covered the tune on his 2018 solo album, Traces. For his version, Perry put a mellow, R&B-flavored spin on the tune.
Source: Matt Friedlander/americansongwriter.com
"Rubbish", "boring" and "appalling": just three of the word used to describe the Fab Four's self-produced TV movie, which aired on Boxing Day 1967. But why did the film get that sort of reaction?
The Daily Mirror called it "rubbish". The Daily Express said it was "boring". The Daily Mail's TV critic said it was "appalling". This was The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour - a one-hour film made for television that went out on Boxing Day 1967, a mere six moths after the Fab Four had stunned the world with their masterful album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
These days, Paul McCartney, who was the main driving force behind the production, claims it was a huge influence on film students and the whole "road movie" genre. At the time, Magical Mystery Tour - which was released in the immediate aftermath of the death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein - was a new experience for the group. It was a rare misfire.
The Beatles in costume for for the I Am The Walrus segment of Magical Mystery Tour. Paul is the hippo, George is the rabbit, Ringo is the parrot and John, of course, is the walrus.
The Beatles in costume for for the I Am The Walrus segment of Magical Mystery Tour. Paul is the hippo, George is the rabbit, Ringo is the parrot and John, of course, is the walrus. Picture: Alamy
Source: Martin O'Gorman/radiox.co.uk
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr of the Beatles started out in Liverpool, England, but it wasn’t long before the band took the entire world by storm. As the group ascended to superstardom, the famed foursome expanded their horizons and put down roots around the UK and beyond.
The group’s 1964 song “I’ll Follow the Sun” is “a ‘Leaving of Liverpool’ song,” McCartney explained in his 2021 book The Lyrics. “I’m leaving this rainy northern town for someplace where more is happening.” The Beatles’ rise to fame is explored in the new documentary Beatles ’64 (streaming now on Disney+), featuring never-before-seen footage of the group and its legions of fans during the frenzy of Beatlemania. Of course, it wasn’t all massive crowds and wild concerts; the four led quieter lives in their time at home, where they wrote some of their greatest hits. To provide a peek behind the curtain into their private worlds, we rounded up some domestic snapshots of the iconic musicians below.
Source: Michael Gioia/architecturaldigest.com
Sir Paul McCartney has big plans for 2025.
On Saturday, Dec. 21, the Beatles musician, 82, answered a series of fan questions on his website, including what his New Year's resolution is — to "finish an album."
"I’ve been working on a lot of songs, and have had to put it to the side because of the tour," McCartney wrote. "So, I’m hoping to get back into that and finish up a lot of these songs."
He added: "So, how’s about that? ‘My New Year’s resolution is to finish a new album!’"
McCartney also revealed his holiday plans following his Got Back tour dates involved a "well-deserved rest."
"It’s Christmas, so it’s family time for me," he wrote. "We’ve got the decorations up already actually. And I’m one of those guys that loves to overdo decorations, so I need a minute to sit back, relax and enjoy them."
McCartney released his last solo album, McCartney III, in 2020 and represents the third part of a musical trilogy that began with his 1970 solo album McCartney and was later followed by McCartney II in 1980.
In December 2020, the "Maybe I'm Amazed" performer revealed on The Howard Stern Show that Taylor Swift decided to move the release date of her album Evermore so that it wouldn't conflict with McCartney's own LP.
"I did the Rolling Stone cover with Taylor Swift, and she just emailed me recently, and she said, 'I wasn't telling anyone, but I've got another album,' " he recalled. "And she said, 'So I was going to put it out my birthday.' And then she said, 'But I found out you were going to put [your album] out on the 10th. So I moved it to the 18th.' "
Source: Ilana Kaplan/people.com
Imagine you’re in the midst of a period of personal tumult, you’ve overextended yourself with activities to the point it’s wearing on your very physical being, and you have to pull it all together to write and record an album of new material. On top of all that, you used to be a Beatle, meaning that pretty much the whole world is focused on your every musical utterance.
That’s where George Harrison was when he made his 1974 album, Dark Horse, released 50 years ago this month. Unsurprisingly, it’s a little rough-and-tumble at times. But it also provides a fascinating glimpse at what Harrison might have been had he chosen a confessional singer/songwriting post-Beatles career, instead of burrowing into his cosmic mysteries.
Keep It Dark
George Harrison earned a reputation as a recluse of sorts in his post-Beatles days, someone who wanted none of the spotlight his immense talent afforded him. That view of him doesn’t square with the Harrison who was a dynamo of activity for the first five years of his solo career.
Even by the frantic standard he set during that time period, the year 1974 was extremely excessive. Harrison took on a producer’s role on albums by both his old friend Ravi Shankar and the British duo Splinter. Those duties dovetailed with the new record label he was starting, as he shed his ties to The Beatles’ Apple label.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
It was a monumental year for The Beatles, as they celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first time they arrived in the U.S.
In February 1964 The Beatles — Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — made their first visit to the U.S. to play The Ed Sullivan Show, which was seen by a then-record 73 million viewers, a moment that launched Beatlemania in America.
The moment in history was highlighted in 2024 with the documentary Beatles ’64, directed by David Tedeschi and produced by Martin Scorsese, which debuted on Disney+ in November. It featured never-before-seen footage of the legendary group and their fans during the height of Beatlemania.
The anniversary was one of many Beatles-related highlights of 2024. Among the others:
Sam Mendes announced he’ll be directing four movies about The Beatles, each one told from the point of view of a different band member. So far no casting has officially been announced, but Ringo let it slip that Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan would be playing him.
McCartney’s original backing track for “Blackbird” was used for Beyoncé‘s interpretation of the song, retitled “Blackbiird,” which appeared on her album Cowboy Carter. He called it a “killer version” of the song.
Source: kslx.com
The Beatles knew how to produce hit after hit throughout their career like it was easy. And quite a few of those hits were heartwrenching ballads. Let’s take a look at a few of The Beatles’ best ballads worth revisiting! Just keep in mind that this list is far from exhaustive. The Fab Four put out far too many memorable ballads to include on such a short list!
1. “And I Love Her”
This ballad from A Hard Day’s Night came from a period of The Beatles’ career when John Lennon and Paul McCartney were interested in penning soft, delicate tracks. And they definitely succeeded in that with “And I Love Her”.
Written by McCartney, this song is a dramatic ballad and an ode to falling in love with that special person. Even though McCartney should get the most credit for this track, we can’t help but applaud George Harrison for his guitar riff contribution to “And I Love Her”.
2. “Blackbird”
Some would say “Blackbird” is the very best out of all of The Beatles’ ballads. We can certainly understand why many fans would agree with that sentiment. This standout track from The White Album was McCartney’s attempt to write a soothing anthem of sorts for African-American women who were struggling during the Civil Rights movement in the United States at the time.
Source:americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
These days Brenda Lee is best known for the perennial 1958 holiday classic "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," which she recorded when she was 12 years old. But during the '60s, she was the hottest female pop star on the planet — the Taylor Swift of her time.
She was such a huge star that she scored back-to-back No. 1 hits in 1960 with "I'm Sorry" and "I Want to Be Wanted" while she was still in her teens. Early in the decade, she even headlined a show where her opening act was The Beatles. Lee talks about her connection to her fellow rock and roll legends in the new PBS American Masters documentary Brenda Lee: Rockin' Around.
When I started touring in England, I was popular [there] before I ever was here," Lee, 80, says in the documentary. "There was this group that opened this show for me known as The Silver Beatles, who became The Beatles."
While hanging out with the Fab Four, she says, she forged an especially close connection to one of them in particular.
"John was my favorite Beatle," Lee recalls. "I loved them all, but John was, to say the least, irreverent, had a great sense of humor. He was magical. He was a genie in the bottle, and he let me have the cork. John Lennon said I was the first female rocker."
Source: Jeremy Helligar/people.com
Towards the end of Come on to Me – a song about sexual chemistry from the near-end of the Paul McCartney solo catalogue – the 82-year-young musician whips off his blue jacket, displaying its elegant patterned lining. The reaction is wildly appreciative, if not quite the one that once met this former teenybopper idol at the screaming height of Beatlemania. “That is the biggest wardrobe change of the evening,” he quips. (Swapping his Höfner bass for an electric guitar several times doesn’t count.)
Welcome, then, to the eras tour – no, not that one, another one; one where costume changes are in inverse proportion to the number of lifetimes and cultural disruptions it spans. The McCartney timeline goes deep; inextricable from world events. The mood tonight is one of witnessing history, with clots of multigenerational fans luxuriating in the songs that moved tectonic plates and carved glaciers, shaping everything that came after.
The Quarrymen – the Beatles-to-be – recorded In Spite of All the Danger in 1958 when Elvis Presley was in the army, the peace symbol was adopted by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and BOAC began ferrying air travellers across the Atlantic. The ingredients of the Beatles’ catalogue were all there: confidence in their material, vulnerable romance, not to mention George Harrison’s contribution.
Tonight, on the 2024 leg of McCartney’s Got Back world tour (it began in 2022, with a memorable pit stop at the Glastonbury festival), it feels like a time capsule opened in an unimaginably different future, where the pace of change, fast then, now approaches greased quantum velocity.
Source: Kitty Empire/theguardian.com
The Beatles producer George Martin was responsible for molding the band’s sound into what it was, with lush orchestral arrangements and more highbrow compositions. When Martin initially heard the Beatles, he wasn’t that impressed. But, as he said once in 1964, “I just thought they were interesting and thought they had something slightly different, and I liked to know something more about them.”
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Martin’s partnership with the Beatles spanned 13 albums, and he brought his classical knowledge to the group’s diamond-in-the-rough beginnings. The partnership led to some of the Beatles’ most notable works, and Martin always kept things transparent and realistic. When he didn’t like something, he made it known.
There was one song that George Harrison wrote for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that Martin despised, and he removed it from the record. However, the backstory of the track “Only A Northern Song” is more complicated than George Martin’s whims.
Source: Lauren Boisvert/americansongwriter.com
