Beatles News
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
Ringo Starr has given the thumbs up to Yesterday, the recent Beatles movie directed by Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis.
Speaking from the red carpet of the Global Citizen Awards at the Royal Albert Hall, Ringo appeared to not remember about the film, but gave his seal of approval after being reminded by his Bond actress wife Barbara Bach.
“Oh yeah – I loved it,” Ringo explained.
“I mean, what a great concept. You know?” he added.
Yesterday movie: director Danny Boyle and star Himesh Patel on a world without The Beatles
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The movie, which hit cinemas in June, follows the story of a fledgling musician whose life takes a dramatic turn when he realises he’s one of only a handful of people left in the world that remembers The Beatles songs.
Actor Himesh Patel plays Jack Malik, a wannabe musician who makes a name for himself by fraudulently claiming The Beatles songs are his own creations.
Source: Adam Bloodworth/nme.com
They were the original boyband, but The Beatles were not allowed to be men, revealed George Harrison to Billy Connolly before he died in 2001. The 77-year-old comedian reminisced of his friendship with The Beatles on The Adam Buxton Podcast last week, sharing an amusing case of mistaken identity when Harrison was thought to be a retired Manchester United footballer.
Connolly said he never met John Lennon, but admitted: “I’m friendly with all the other Beatles.
“I like George Harrison. He’s not my favourite, none of them is my favourite. I treasure my friendship with them.
“George was a lovely man. I spent a lot of time with him. A lot more than the other ones.
“I remember we went for Chinese food in the East End of London and a waiter came out and served us.”
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
More than fifty years after The Beatles broke out into still unparalleled success, we look at five key songwriting techniques imparted onto us by the fab four.
The Beatles showed the world that you could write and perform your own songs. Fifty-six years after “Love Me Do” was released, there is still so much to learn from The Beatles and their innate sense of songcraft, which is both timeless and arguably unrivaled, even to this day.
So here is our list of five things The Beatles taught us about songwriting, in reverse order of randomness.
Source: Owen Davie/hypebot.com
Fifty-five years after their legendary performance at the Ed Sullivan Theater, The Beatles have come back to New York as a holiday pop-up.
Running from Dec. 11 to 22 in the SoHo district of Manhattan, the store features “the first wave of products” since Sony Music took over the licensing rights for Beatles merchandise in North America.
The mix ranges from holiday sweaters, hats and scarves to albums, books, tree ornaments, coffee mugs, branded toys, a turntable and a pinball machine. Items include an Abbey Road 50th Anniversary long sleeve tee, Help! striped pom beanies and I Feel Fine totes.
Source: Tom Ryan/retailwire.com
After months of rumours and speculation from fans, Taylor Swift has been confirmed as the second headliner for Glastonbury 2020.
The US superstar, who celebrated her 30th birthday this week, shared the news on Twitter on Sunday evening.
Swift shared a picture of herself holding a poster for the event, which included a nod to her recently-released festive track, with the line: "From Christmas Tree Farm to Worthy Farm."
Next to it, she wrote: "I’m ecstatic to tell you that I’ll be headlining Glastonbury on its 50th anniversary - See you there!"
The Lover singer had long been rumoured to be performing, after fans spotted a gap in her 2020 tour plans.
She's now the second headliner confirmed for the event, following Paul McCartney's announcement that he will close the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night of the annual event.
Source: Rachel McGrath/standard.co.uk
Ringo Starr has never been shy about naming favorite songs from his time with The Beatles. When interviewers ask him about the dark days of The White Album, Ringo brings up the good memories, including the boys bashing their way through “Yer Blues” in a tiny Abbey Road studio.
If you ask Ringo about the favorite song as far as his own drumming goes, he’s also got an answer. That would be “Rain,” the rocking Revolver-era B-side to “Paperback Writer.” “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” Ringo once said about his drum part. “I was possessed!”
But that was the Beatles era. Once it ended and Ringo found himself as one of four solo musicians with the “former Beatle” label, things were different. At that point, he had to construct a live set using his own material.
Source: cheatsheet.com
35 years ago, one of the founders of heavy metal, Deep Purple were joined on stage by their longtime friend and Beatles guitarist George Harrison to deliver a stunning jam in Sydney, Australia.
The connection between George Harrison and Deep Purple’s drummer Ian Paice, who were also one time neighbours, and the band’s late keyboardist Jon Lord clearly runs very deep. One moment you can see this strong bond is in this footage which sees Harrison join the band for a special performance.
Harrison had been on holiday in Australia when Paice and Lord got in contact with The Beatles man to invite him to perform in Sydney. One fun moment in the performance is how Harrison was introduced, the band reference Harrison’s childhood address by welcoming “Arnold Grove from Liverpool”.
With Harrison on board, there was only one more thing left to bring, the rock and roll. So Deep Purple, accompanied by George Harrison, run through an extended jam session on Little Richard’s iconic bop, ‘Lucille’.
Source: Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
