Beatles News
In 1969 when Abbey Road by The Beatles was released I was dating Ann Burgess. She was my first serious girlfriend in London. It had taken me two years to get over the girl I’d been seeing back home in Ireland.
I mean the reality was, if I’m being absolutely truthful, the girl in Ireland was a girl who was a friend, rather than a girlfriend. She might even have been one of the reasons I left my home in Ireland when I’d just turned 17 in 1967. The other main reason would definitely have been my love for The Beatles, but that’s another story altogether. At the same time it brings us back nicely to the Abbey Road album. Abbey Road was released on Friday, September 26th, 1969 and I (quite literally) rushed out on release day to buy it. I was living in Wimbledon in south London at the time and bought it in Goodness Records up on Wimbledon Bridge and it would have cost me £1, 12 shillings and 6 pence. This would have been about a sixth of my weekly wage.
Source: irishtimes.com
The Beatles are often cited as the greatest band of all time. As such, the members of the group took lots of inspiration from other artists ranging from Victorian novelist Lewis Carroll to Nigerian congo player Jimmy Scott. Among the band’s many influences were the films of Walt Disney. Here’s how Disney classics inspired the Beatles.
Walt Disney inspired a Beatles hit
Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs gave the world many iconic songs including “Heigh-Ho” and “Sunday My Prince Will Come.” It was one of the lesser-known songs on the soundtrack, however, that inspired a Beatles hit. The Beatles’ debut studio album Please Please Me includes a smooth ballad called “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” that was inspired by the first song in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: “I’m Wishing.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
With Ringo Starr’s announcement of a 2020 All Starr Band tour — which includes three Florida dates — the former Beatle is almost as busy as he was in the early 1970s.
Starr, 79, has tour dates on June 26 at St. Augustine Amphitheatre, June 27 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood and June 28 at Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.
The tour opens May 29 in Ontario, Canada, and includes dates in New York, New Hampshire, Boston and Atlanta.
Presale tickets for the Florida dates and several others go on sale at 10 a.m. Wednesday through Ticketmaster.
Why should you consider seeing Starr in 2020? He’s turning 80 on July 7. Even with a little help from his friends, the road can’t go on forever. He’s not Tony Bennett, after all.
Source: miamiherald.com
Kenneth Womack, an established historian, author and professor of English at Monmouth University, gave a presentation displaying his specialized knowledge in literature, creative writing and the fab four.
Within his hour-long presentation on Oct. 29, the author delved into the band’s creation of the album.
On Oct. 15, Womack saw the release of his latest book, “Solid State: The Story of ‘Abbey Road’ and the End of the Beatles,” which comes during the 50th anniversary of the album’s release. Throughout his presentation, Womack focused on the “Abbey Road” medley, the eight-song collection found on side B of the record.
“The medley is essentially a selection of songs in a suite that concludes their career, so it has a very powerful place in their story,” Womack said.
Source: tcnjsignal.net
When Eric Clapton headed into Abbey Road studios to play guitar on a Beatles song in 1968, he didn’t take it lightly. In fact, he tried to convince George Harrison it was a bad idea. “What will they say?” Clapton wondered.
Prior to Clapton’s solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” no rocker had gone into a Beatles session and played lead on a record. So you can see why even a pro like Clapton would be nervous about it. Nonetheless, he recorded the solo and it turned out great.
Later that year, Clapton played with John Lennon again when the two (along with Keith Richards, Yoko Ono, and Mitch Mitchell) played a few tracks for the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus. At that point, Lennon knew how Clapton played and liked his guitar style.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The Beatles have never been particularly shy about their influences. In fact, during their early years, they never even had to say it. The band’s first album featured two tracks made famous by The Shirelles. And their second US release had covers of Chuck Berry and Little Richard songs.
Later, when the band only recorded original songs, you’d have to listen more closely to hear the influences. George Harrison said the band had Otis Redding in mind when he and Paul McCartney worked out the guitar part for “Drive My Car.”
And Paul said he was thinking of the Lovin’ Spoonful hit “Daydream” when he wrote “Good Day Sunshine.” While the Fab Four was the biggest band on earth by the time they made the White Album (1968), they were still looking to one-up major bands on the scene.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Every now and then it’s worth taking a detour away from the politics that divide us to the eternal truth that binds us — today’s music pretty much sucks.
Back in high school we had extended debates on the key existential question of our time — who’s better, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. Oh, we made time for other burning life-or-death questions: Ginger or Mary Ann, Star Trek or Star Wars (Trek), Roger Moore or Sean Connery (the first is still the best)? But those issues were not about the core issue of multi-generational importance, rock music.
We arrogantly knew in our bones, in our very fiber that the battling bands of Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Who, etc. made the greatest music not just of our time, but of all time. “Our” music wouldn’t die. Time has proven we were right. Take that bobby-soxers.
In case you’re not feeling old enough, let me remind you that The Beatles’ last, and in my opinion finest, studio album, Abbey Road, was released 50 years ago. A remixed boxset was released this year to commemorate the occasion and to keep squeezing the golden goose, and it has reached No. 1 in the U.K. charts and No. 3 in the U.S.
Source: denverpost.com
Of the many remarkable late releases by The Beatles, the band’s “Get Back” single stands out for many reasons. For starters, it wasn’t just a song; Get Back was also the working title for the band’s new album. After years of studio experimentation, the band wanted a live feel for its next record.
That meant getting back to playing as a band. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. In the second week of January (1969), George Harrison quit the group after more bickering. That’s how John Lennon took over on lead guitar on “Get Back.”
The departure of Harrison led to another new sound on a Beatles record: the electric piano of Billy Preston. When “Get Back” was released in April, it was the first Fab Four record with a credited guest soloist (The Beatles With Billy Preston). Not even Eric Clapton had gotten that honor.
Source: cheatsheet.com
We’re dipping back into the Far Out Magazine archives to deliver some more dreamy harmonies from The Beatles by revisiting their 1969 song ‘Octopus’s Garden’.
The track, written and sung by Ringo Starr, was featured on the band’s eleventh studio album Abbey Road and marked a turning point for the drummer who was given creative freedom. “‘Octopus’s Garden’ is Ringo’s song,” George Harrison once said. “It’s only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind you, and it’s lovely.”
Detailing why the song is so loved by Beatles fans, Harrison added: “Because it’s so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realising it.”
Hilariously, the song was inspired by the time Starr was on a boat belonging to comedian Peter Sellers in Sardinia in 1968 and, when he ordered fish and chips, he actually received squid instead. Having never eaten it prior, Starr was taken aback by his surprise meal which kickstarted a conversation with the boat’s captain who would tell a story about how ‘octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build a garden.’
Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk
On the face of it, The White Album (1968) looked great for George Harrison. Compared to Sgt. Pepper’s, on which George had only one song, The Beatles double-album release the following year featured a huge crop of tracks by the band’s lead guitarist (four altogether).
However, that’s not to say the release was dominated by George. Far from it, in fact — John Lennon and Paul McCartney each had over 10 songs on the two LPs. All in all, it was the sort of record that gets called “sprawling” for good reason.
George Martin, the Parlophone chief who produced almost every Beatles album, wanted the album to be much shorter. However, The Beatles’ top songwriters (John and Paul) didn’t seem prepared to cede any ground.
So everyone plunged forward, with only one track by George and a wild one by John being scrapped from the original 32-song count. And that’s what Beatle George didn’t like about it.
Source: cheatsheet.com
