Beatles News
When The Beatles released the “Get Back” single in 1969, the track instantly connected with the record-buying public. With a toe-tapping pulse and a clutch assist from Billy Preston, the track shot to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
While promoting the single, Paul McCartney described the composition he wrote as something the band “made it up out of thin air” while working in the studio early in ’69. To paraphrase Paul, once they had the words, they laid down the track and that was that.
It definitely wasn’t that simple, though. John Lennon’s guitar solo on the song is a reminder that George Harrison walked out on the band during rehearsals for “Get Back.” (John took over lead duties with George gone.)
As for the song falling from the sky, you can make a case that didn’t happen, either. A track George originally worked out for The White Album shares several things in common with “Get Back.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
While the songwriting credits on the record never changed, John Lennon and Paul McCartney weren’t collaborating a great deal by the late 1960s. Looking back at The Beatles’ run, many point to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) as the end of the line for the Lennon-McCartney machine.
“A Day in the Life,” the crowning achievement of Sgt. Pepper’s (and maybe the band overall), might have been the last example of the pair fully working together. If you go by No. 1 singles that were pure Lennon-McCartney, you have to go back earlier.
During the Rubber Soul sessions (1965), John and Paul topped the charts on both side of the Atlantic with the single, “We Can Work It Out.” (In America, the song went out on the Yesterday…And Today album; in England, it was just a single.)
While it started as a hit-in-the-making idea from Paul, the contribution from John pushed in to its classic status.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The Beatles have opened an immersive listening exhibition based on their classic album ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ — which promises to be as close as you can get to experiencing the album being played live.
The event at Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool has been designed by The Beatles’ firm Apple Corps in association with Tate Liverpool, Dolby Laboratories and National Museums Liverpool.
It’s based on the new mix of the album released in 2017 by Giles Martin, son of Sir George Martin, who produced the original ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album in 1967.
A statement of the presentation of the album in Dolby Atmos sound said: “This is an immersive sound environment which feels as if the band is performing live in the space. It will transport listeners to Abbey Road this Christmas.” Free tickets for the experience are sold out, but further similar events are planned for 2020.
Source: John Earls/nme.com
Elvis Presley was a huge idol for The Beatles in the early days and, when Beatlemania exploded, the band were desperate to get to meet the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison tried to set up a meeting with Elvis’ manager Colonel Parker in 1964, but to no avail. The following year, they managed to sort out for the band to go to Elvis, rather than the other way around.
In a newly unearthed interview, Elvis’ ex-wife Priscilla Presley, who was his girlfriend at the time The Beatles came to visit, recalled how the day went.
She greeted the band at the door at Graceland that evening and briefly showed them around before taking them to see Elvis where he was relaxing in the den.
“They were so cute,” Priscilla said. “They were so excited but so nervous.
Source: Minnie Wright/express.co.uk
There’s something overwhelmingly endearing about Ringo Starr’s “What’s My Name?” — the title track off of his 20th studio album, which dropped in October. Perhaps it’s because, despite being all about Ringo, it was written by long-time All-Starr Band member Colin Hay. Or maybe it’s the fact that the chorus comes from a refrain Ringo often throws out at live shows. Or maybe it’s simply because the song is fun — my husband and I often throw up the peace sign while dancing to it in the car.
“Well I’ve seen it all from the mountains of Napal to Reno, Nevada,” Ringo boasts, “I’ve taken all the falls, I was climbing up the walls and now it doesn’t matter/Nothing stays the same, but I’m still in the game/What’s my name? Ringo!”
Source: Brenna Ehrlich/rollingstone.com
One of the more touching friendships to come out of the sixties was the mutual respect and appreciation the legend Bob Dylan held for the late, great Beatles guitarist George Harrison. Here, we’re looking back at a special duet of the Dylan tune ‘If Not For You’ that the pair shared during the rehearsals for ‘The Concert For Bangladesh’.
The track featured on Dylan’s then-current record New Morning as well as Harrison’s solo debut following The Beatles’ split; All Things Must Pass and finds a happy home in this footage.
The two friends stand side by side and perform the song as a duet as a warm-up for their impending live show at Madison Square Gardens on August 1st, 1971. The show would turn out to be a lasting moment in Harrison’s illustrious legacy as the former Beatles organised a benefit gig for the people of Bangladesh following years of turmoil, war, and famine.
Source: FarOut Magazine
The Beatles’ ‘A Day In The Life’ is not just the mercurial ending to one of the greatest records ever in Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but is also a composite of true stories married, mixed and matched into one of the band’s best songs.
The song’s first verse is possibly one of the most engaging in music history. Written by John Lennon, the first line of the song refers to the loss of one of both Paul McCartney and Lennon’s friends—Tara Browne. In this first verse, Lennon sets out the tone of the entire song; we are all viewing this and many other tragedies together, as one audience.
On this day in 1966, Browne, the heir to the Guinness fortune, was in a fatal car crash. The 21-year-old was a friend of the band’s and his death would’ve clearly rocked Lennon and Co. to their core. A month later, and just a few days before The Beatles would go into the studio to lay down ‘A Day In The Life’, there was an article in the paper surrounding the custody battle for Browne’s two children.
Source: Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
Who can argue with Ken Womack? Certainly, nobody who heard him speak earlier this month at the Morristown & Township Library, or who has read his new book, Solid State, The Story of Abbey Road and the End of The Beatles — a shiny stocking-stuffer for the Beatlemaniac on your Christmas list.
EMI TG12345 Mk1 was the first solid-state, eight-track recording machine used at the Abbey Road studio in London where the Fab Four recorded most of their hits.
With twice the tracks of their previous tube-driven gear, the TG console enabled the Beatles to expand their musical palette for Abbey Road. Although hailed by many fans as the crowning achievement of a seminal band at its creative peak, the Beatles’ final album confounded some critics who had trouble embracing its distinctly clearer, warmer sonic quality.
The warm sound is all the more remarkable considering the deepening chill within the group in 1969.
Somehow, Womack writes, the now-jaded lads from Liverpool managed to Come Together one last time.
Source: Kevin Coughlin/morristowngreen.com
Iconic co-founder of the Beatles, Paul McCartney was the recent subject of conversation during the most recent episode of the Pink Floyd podcast entitled, ‘The Lost Art of Conversation: A Pink Floyd Podcast.’ Here, one certain Pink Floyd art worker who worked besides Storm Thorgerson discusses how Sir Paul was not too fond of his partner, who, according to fellow Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour some felt was ‘Tyrant-like’. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.
Uncredited Pink Floyd Art Worker: Storm and I had a very volatile relationship and Storm could be volatile as well as volatile with clients. I mean, Storm stood his ground over imagery and pictures that he believed in and I can remember many a fight with people like Peter Gabriel and with David [Gilmour], Roger [Waters] and some people did not like to work in particular. [For example] Paul McCartney was never too keen on Storm, he liked me but he didn’t like Storm because he could be confrontational but the joy of that was he believed in the process. Storm believed in the end result and to him, the idea was everything. This Paul McCartney disturbing teen drug claim was revealed.
Source: Mike Mazzarone/alternativenation.net
Even famous people have their musical idols. John Lennon with Chuck Berry, Celine Dion with Barbra Streisand. And Billy Joel with The Beatles. Although the 70-year-old Joel is friendly with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, he knows he’s in the presence of rock royalty when he’s around them.Here’s the pretty funny, and completely relatable, story of the day these two music legends visited together.
Joel has had an ongoing residency at the historic venue in New York City; in fact, his is the first musical residency at the arena.
The Madison Square Garden Company announced recently that Joel will be continuing his incredible monthly residency in April of 2020 with a 75th consecutive show.
I’m having a lot of fun,” Joel told Pollstar in 2018. “People show up, we throw ‘em on the stage. We change up the setlist, dive into the obscurities. We do covers, we do silly stuff. We try to be as spontaneous as possible. If I start to get an idea for a song that I want to do at the moment, not even my song, we just go ahead and do it.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
