Beatles News
Peter Asher is more than qualified to take us on a journey through the Beatles’ many songs and adventures. He’s a longtime friend of the band, and in the late ’60s was a producer for the Beatles’ Apple label, signing such talents as James Taylor. He’s been producing stars ever since and recently hosted SiriusXM’s radio show about the Fab Four, “From Me to You.” Though hardcore Beatles fans won’t find much that’s terribly surprising about the band in Asher’s new book, “The Beatles from A to Zed,” the writer and producer excels at excavating details and connections that sparkle and entertain.
Adopting Asher’s alphabetical format, here are some delightful — and less-than-delightful — takeaways from Asher’s book. (Space limitations kept me from including the full alphabet.)
A: A is for Abbey Road Studios. It was originally known as EMI Recording Studios and was inaugurated by Sir Edward Elgar, England’s famous classical composer who wrote that school graduation grind, “Pomp and Circumstance.” A is also for allusions. In James Taylor’s song “Carolina in My Mind, he mentions “the holy host of others standing around me.” That “holy host,” Asher reveals, is the Beatles. The title of Paul McCartney’s song “Queenie Eye” alludes to a Liverpool street game, but Asher, a well-off Londoner, has never heard of it. (One point for working-class Liverpool.)
Source: Sibbie O'Sullivan/washingtonpost.com
Millennials can put Boomers down all they want, but I’m damned okay with the fact that I got to experience the undisputed best band ever changing the world in real time. And all these years later, they’re still blowing our minds. I almost cried when the first remixed notes of “Come Together” poured from my pre-MP3 stereo, simultaneously remembering the joy that original Abbey Road produced from the moment I got it in my seventh-grade hands and feeling the losses that still ache — of the Beatles, of John and George, of youth’s dreams.
But this edition, judiciously remixed by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, instantly reignited that joy. Throughout, the vocals and instruments just pop more vividly (and Billy Preston is fully heard at last), without disturbing the perfection of the Beatles’ last — and finest — masterpiece. And the add-ons are next-level. Too often, bonus content is underwhelming, but not here. The demos and alternate takes are incredible versions in their own right, often just as extraordinary as the chosen ones. And while several have appeared on the Anthology collection or elsewhere, they’re in full context here, enhanced by the 100-page coffee-table book detailing each.
Source: Lynne Margolis/americansongwriter.com
If you liked hearing The Beatles reference past songs in their work, 1968 was a very good year. The releases kicked off in March with Paul McCartney’s “Lady Madonna,” in which listeners got the chorus, “See how they run.”
That repeated a line from “I Am the Walrus,” the John Lennon masterpiece from a year earlier. But many more references would follow on the White Album (released later in ’68). On “Savoy Truffle,” George Harrison called out “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” from earlier in the recording sessions.
But John would outdo everyone with his laundry list of references on “Glass Onion.” Keeping the chain alive, he referenced both “Lady Madonna” and “I Am the Walrus” in the track while adding nods to songs from Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour.
The intent was to address the Beatles fans who were going overboard with interpretations of every word and sound on Fab Four recordings. And, even by John’s standards, “Glass Onion” was a mischievous bit of work.
Source: cheatsheet.com
If you read about John Lennon’s songwriting methods, you realize he got ideas from everywhere. For what became his least favorite Beatles song, John used a line from an Elvis hit as a jumping-off-point on “Run For Your Life.”
In the Fab Four’s psychedelic days, John said he used a drawing his son Julian wrote as the inspiration for “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” And on his Sgt. Pepper masterpiece “A Day in the Life,” the song started just as John described. (He “read the news today, oh boy.”)
Starting in 1968, you hear the influence of Yoko Ono on his Beatles work. Whether it’s John’s turn toward experimental music or the lyrics to “Yer Blues,” it’s clear Yoko’s input had affected his writing.
It wasn’t just conscious songwriting efforts. Even relaxing on a couch while listening to Yoko play classical piano could inspire a song. And that very thing happened with this Abbey Road track.
Source: cheatsheet.com
For his 50th birthday this year, Joe Boucher’s wife took him to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. This past summer, on the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, he went to the music festival site in upstate New York, stood where the stage had been and imagined what it was like.
He’s walked in the crosswalk at Abbey Road and stood on the stage at the Cavern Club, where the Beatles started out in Liverpool. Rock ‘n’ roll is part of his DNA, culturally and otherwise. “I am the youngest of five kids, and I grew up with a good classic-rock pedigree,” said Boucher, concert manager for the Portland Symphony Orchestra and an ardent Beatles fan.
A musician who spent years on the road in rock bands, Boucher is writing the second act of his musical story by creating orchestral rock shows and shares his passion for the Beatles with “Imagine: The Beatles Solo Years,” at 7 p.m. Friday at the Sanford Performing Arts Center, an 850-seat theater that opened a year ago in Sanford High School.
Source: Bob Keyes/pressherald.com
Most of the stories of the White Album sessions are dark. There’s the one about Ringo feeling so unwanted he left the country while recording “Back in the USSR.” Or how George Harrison brought in Eric Clapton so the other Beatles would pay attention to a song he wrote.
Paul McCartney famously referred to this record as “the tension album,” and the selfishness of the band members was a big part of that. According to just about everyone there, you’d only see a Beatle get excited when recording one of his own songs. Otherwise, it was every man for himself.
But there were exceptions. Before “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” became a sore spot for all parties, the Fab Four had a grand old time goofing around doing the backing vocals. And, judging by Beatles quotes, it sounds like they also had fun recording “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.”
After they’d finished the record, Paul described that John Lennon-penned classic as a highlight of The White Album. In fact, he went out of his way to describe how much he loved “Happiness.”
Source: cheatsheet.com
What would’ve happened if George Harrison hadn’t returned to The Beatles in January 1969? That’s been a fascinating topic ever since George took his leave from the band during the sessions for Let It Be.
For John Lennon, George’s departure didn’t represent the end of the world. “Let’s get in Eric [Clapton],” he said calmly. “He’s just as good and not such a headache.” To reinforce the point, John (always ready to burn someone) began playing The Who’s “A Quick One, While He’s Away.”
But it wouldn’t be that simple. For starters, Paul McCartney and Ringo didn’t agree to call in Clapton as a replacement for George. And that wasn’t the only thing keeping one of the era’s guitar gods from joining the Fab Four.
If John bothered to run it by Clapton, he probably would have gotten a “no” in reply. By early ’69, George and Clapton had already solidified what would become a lifelong friendship.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The following extract from the book describes George Harrison’s budding involvement with The Beatles as a key songwriter; and how after a few false starts he would cement this role with Here Comes The Sun. When George Harrison unveiled his latest composition, “Here Comes the Sun,” it was much to the delight of his bandmates. With songs like The White Album’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and, more recently, “Something,” Harrison had finally proven his mettle as a songwriter of the highest order. For Lennon, “Something” had been a revelation. As he later recalled, “Paul and I really carved up the empire between us, because we were the singers. George didn’t even used to sing when we brought him into the group. He was a guitarist. And for the first few years he didn’t sing on stage. We maybe let him do one number, like we would with Ringo.” By the time Harrison started his life as a working songwriter, “there was an embarrassing period where his songs weren’t that good,” Lennon added, “and nobody wanted to say anything, but we all worked on them—like we did on Ringo’s. I mean, we put more work into those songs than we did on some of our stuff. So he just wasn’t in the same league for a long time—that’s not putting him down; he just hadn’t had the practice as a writer that we’d had.”
Source: happymag.tv
Before he founded Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was a very busy man on the London recording scene. In fact, he was one of the top session guitarists of the era. During the mid-1960s, he played the solo on Donovan’s “Sunshine Superman” as well as rhythm guitar on records by The Who and The Kinks.
And when Joe Cocker’s take on “With a Little Help From My Friends” shot to No. 1 in ’69, it went there with Page’s searing lead guitar. Basically, if a producer wanted any sort of guitar work without having to prep the player, he could call Page, who’d get the job done.
That included recordings for film scores. So when Parlophone chief George Martin needed incidental music recorded for a film starring his hot new act, Page got the call. But it wasn’t a situation where Martin wanted to use a session musician over one of The Beatles (as he’d done in the past).
Source: cheatsheet.com
For those who ever wished to see Jamie Oliver and Lil Nas X sharing a canvass, right now is your fortunate day
The long-lasting art work for The Beatles‘ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Membership Band’ album cowl has been up to date for the 21st century, with a wide range of fashionable musicians, celebrities and popular culture figures included on the newly designed piece.
The art work was designed by German artist TrippieSteff as a part of a remake of a number of basic album covers, together with Blondie’s ‘Parallel Lines’ and Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’, by a crew of graphic designers and artists.
The brand new art work, which options Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Drake and Lil Nas X rather than the unique Fab 4 on the centre, depicts a spread of up to date figures together with Elon Musk, Kylie Jenner, Bernie Sanders and BoJack Horseman. See the brand new design under.
Source: heraldpublicist.com
