Beatles News
The Beatles’ 1968 trip to India marked a clear dividing line for the group. When they arrived back in England, they would begin The White Album and begin disintegrating as a band. John Lennon would tell his bandmates he was quitting the following year.
But by early ’68, the Beatles still had a lot left in the tank. First up was The White Album, which was the group’s longest record by far. Though Paul McCartney worked on his own for several tracks and Ringo quit the band for weeks during the sessions, it stands as a masterpiece.
Most of the material for that record came from songs they wrote in India. During the weeks they were there studying with the Maharishi, John and Paul wrote several White Album tracks in between meditation sessions and hanging out with Donovan and the Beach Boys’ Mike Love (among others).
Source: cheatsheet.com
Everyone loves Ringo Starr. Not only was he the drummer in one of the biggest, most influential bands of the 20th century, but he’s also one of the most positive and upbeat Twitter users ever, sending out no less than 10 emojis with each tweet and flashing peace signs in every photo. Last year, Ringo Starr was knighted by The Duke of Cambridge, and he continues to tour with his All-Starr band.
On this day in 1977, Starr spoke in an interview about his sixth solo album, Ringo the 4th, as well as The Beatles era, his work with T. Rex’s Marc Bolan and how he chose the name Ringo Starr. During this interview, you can briefly hear a thunderstorm blaring and Ringo eating. It’s a candid, jovial chat from one quarter of the iconic Fab Four.
Source: Ellen Johnson/pastemagazine.com
At the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, an all-star band was put together to celebrate George Harrison's induction. Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, Dhani Harrison, and Prince were among the artists making up the band. Performing The Beatles classic ,"While My Guitar Gently Weeps," Prince's guitar solo at the end of the song spans three minutes and represents some of his finest work.
Rumor has it that Prince utilized the national stage to show off his guitar chops after not being named to Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. While this has never been confirmed, you could reasonably see how this would be the case with the emotion he played with.
The New York Times published a fascinating account of how it all came together back in 2016. Essentially, Joel Gallen (producer and director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony) thought of the idea of bringing everyone up on stage to perform the track with Prince taking the solos. Prince was inducted into the Hall of Fame that year, which is how Gallen got the idea.
Source: Marty Rosenbaum/wxrt.radio.com
Summer can elicit a range of emotions from excitement to fear of missing out, and Beach Boys’ frontman Mike Love addresses each one on his latest solo album “12 Sides of Summer.”
Among original material, revamped band classics and covers, listeners will find a poignant reimagining of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” written by Love’s late friend, George Harrison.
“There was something very special about singing ‘Here Comes the Sun’ — a song that was so meaningful to me and millions of other people — on the album,” says Love, who plans to perform the track in tribute to Harrison with The Beach Boys in Saratoga on Sunday. “Doing it with the traditional harmonies that we’re known for was a beautiful and mystical experience.”
Love’s friendship with Harrison, dating back to the 1960s, was strengthened after The Beach Boys singer (and songwriter of classics “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Dance, Dance, Dance,” “California Girls” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”) traveled with The Beatles to Rishikesh, India in 1968 to study under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guru known for developing Transcendental Meditation.
Source: Joshua Rotter/sfexaminer.com
In 1964 the Beatles invaded the United States, performing on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for an audience of 73 million people. The Beatles went on to dominate the U.S. pop charts for years.
Now, more than five decades later, the Fab Four continue to be the most celebrated musical group in rock history and Beatlemania is alive and well.
“Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson recently announced he is going to be putting together a new film featuring footage from the Beatles’ 1969 “Let it Be” sessions, and Capitol Records is re-releasing the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album at the end of September.
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beatles’ classic animated film, “Yellow Submarine” (released in the United States on Nov. 13, 1968).
Source: centraljersey.com
For a Beatles fan, attending a recreation of the Beatles last public rooftop concert from atop of a building in Liverpool is dream come true, and the recent Monday night concert last week on August 26 with perfect sunny weather was a once in a lifetime experience.
Jon Keats, Cavern City Tours Director and performer, led the audience in shouting "Hello Liverpool, We Love the Beatles" from the rooftop was sheer joy, along with taking in the fabulous performances by three different bands that started at 6:30 pm and ended sharply at the 10 pm curfew.
A picture tells a thousand words and the International BeatleWeek Rooftop concert from the top of the Shankly Hotel in downtown Liverpool says it all, with the landmark Royal Liver building in the background.
Source: Katie Hickox, Beatles News Liverpool correspondent
Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross and the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz will lead an all-star cast of rockers paying tribute to The Beatles’ “White Album” in a tour that visits the Palace Theatre on Nov. 30.
Jason Scheff, vocalist for the band Chicago, and Joey Molland, guitarist from Badfinger, round out the lineup.
Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. concert will range from $59.75 to $79.75, increasing by $5.25 the day of the show. Tickets to the general public go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at ThePalaceTheatre.org or by calling the Palace box office at 724-836-8000. A promoter presale begins at 10 a.m. Thursday via Eventbrite.com with the passcode “PALACE”.
Along with Beatles “White Album” selections such as “Helter Skelter,” “Back in The U.S.S.R.,” “Blackbird” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the artists will mix in their own hits. So Cross could sing “Sailing” or “Ride Like the Wind,” and Rundgren could do “Bang The Drum All Day” and “Hello It’s Me.”
Source: Scott Tady
Within music, few artists are universally sacred. To some, Bob Dylan’s voice is intolerable, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is overwrought and Patti Smith’s Horses is pretentious caterwauling. But for every venerated act that’s enriched popular culture, no one has remained as monolithic as The Beatles. Ever since Decca infamously passed on them in 1962, The Fab Four experienced a well-documented rise to international superstardom that has never really ceased.
A harmonious marriage between songwriting acumen and marketability, we may have escaped the mass hysteria that propagated ’60s Beatlemania, but their legacy is viewed as largely beyond reproach. Cited as the year-zero for countless genres, this widespread canonization means that some new body-art has caused an uproar in recent weeks.
Source: Robert Blair/highsnobiety.com
Respected Beatles historian and author, Bruce Spizer, recently announced the imminent release of his 11th book on The Beatles, The Beatles Get Back to Abbey Road, a 50th Anniversary celebration of the landmark album. Through essays by Beatles scholars such as Al Sussman, Jude Southerland Kessler, Frank Daniels, and Piers Hemmingsen, as well as a wealth of information from the author himself, Spizer supplies the complete history of the Abbey Road LP, brought to life via color and original black-and-white images. Once again, as with Spizer's Sgt. Pepper and White Album books, he includes a delightful section of both celebrity and fan memories and photos.
On Friday, September 20, Spizer will be honored with a Book Release Party during Beatles at the Ridge in Walnut Ridge, AR, where he is a Featured Speaker for the 2019 BATR Authors and Artists Symposium. Spizer will address symposium attendees, joining a panel of noted Beatles scholars such as Featured Author Jim Berkenstadt and Featured Artist Ken Orth, as well as Lanea Stagg, Sara Schmidt, Patti Gallo-Stenman, Terry Crain, James Ryan, Susan Ryan, Jude Southerland Kessler, Terri Whitney, and artist Rande Kessler.
Source: beatlesnews.com
By 1969, Frank Sinatra had done his best work as a singer and actor. His groundbreaking albums on Columbia, Capitol, and Reprise (his own label) had gone out at various points over the previous 25 years. And Sinatra’s incredible run as an actor wouldn’t continue into the ’70s.
However, Sinatra still had a lot left in the tank. Anyone who’s seen his 1974 MSG performance (part of his “comeback”) can attest to the crackling energy in the building that night. But at the same time, it was clear the Chairman of the Board was on the downswing of his career.
After all, the ’60s had belonged to The Beatles. By ’69, the Fab Four’s incredible run of No. 1 hits had made mincemeat of chart and sales records set by performers who’d come before. In 1970, Sinatra acknowledged the band’s greatness as songwriters by covering a tune from Abbey Road (1969).
Source: cheatsheet.com
