Beatles News

A popular restaurant known for its ‘fab’ selection of groovy food is celebrating a landmark anniversary. For more than three decades Mike Power and his staff at Sgt. Peppers restaurant in Lowestoft have worked many a hard day’s night. And this year marks the 35th anniversary since the restaurant opened in 1982.

A record sleeve covered in doodles by John Lennon as he brainstormed ideas for an album cover has emerged for sale for £15,000. The black felt tip pen sketchings are believed to have been Lennon's initial ideas for the cover of his 1974 album Walls and Bridges and span both sides of an opened-out record sleeve. The record sleeve was given by the former Beatle to Jesse Davies, a session musician who provided lead guitar on the album. One of the drawings depicts a flying saucer with the word "UFOer" written on the bottom of the object, most likely influenced by Lennon's UFO sighting that year. This sighting was mentioned in the album liner notes: "On the 23rd Aug. 1974 at 9 o'clock I saw a UFO J.L."

Paul McCartney has announced that he’ll release a three-track cassette for this year’s Record Store Day. Titled Flowers In The Dirt – The Cassette Demos With Elvis Costello, the limited edition release features I Don’t Want To Confess, Shallow Grave and Mistress & Maid which were all recorded in 1989. It’ll be on sale on April 22 and comes after the re-launch of the Flowers In The Dirt Archive Collection, which will arrive on March 24. McCartney says: “The demos are red hot off the skillet and that’s why we wanted to include them on this boxed set. “What’s great about these songs is that they’ve just been written, so there’s nothing more hot off the skillet as I say. That was the kind of great instant thing about them. “I hadn’t listened to them in ages but when I did I knew we had to put them out. We made a little tape of them and sent them to Elvis, who loved them too. We said we should put out an EP or something and now the moment’s finally arrived.”

Before he was a Led Zep, before he was a Yardbird, Jimmy Page was an incredibly busy London session guitarist with several notable production credits under his belt. And we're not talking about long-forgotten recordings made under a flickering lightbulb in his cousin's basement; Page played on countless high-profile sessions, appearing on seminal tracks by the Who, Donovan, Joe Cocker, the Kinks and many more. One thing he never did, however, is play on a Beatles song. That honor went to only a handful of non-Beatles, including (but not limited to) Billy Preston, Alan Civil, Beatles producer George Martin, the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones, good ol' Anil Bhagwat and, of course, Eric Clapton.

In new court papers, the song publishing giant says the former Beatle is "clearly forum-shopping." Paul McCartney waited decades for his opportunity to reclaim rights to songs he authored as a member of The Beatles. Now, Sony/ATV Music Publishing is telling a judge he should have to cool his heels a little longer. McCartney made his move in January, suing to confirm that under the termination provisions of U.S. copyright law, he gets to recapture his share. The lawsuit in New York federal court followed a stunning U.K. decision, Gloucester Place Music Ltd v. Le Bon, where it was ruled late last year in a dispute involving Duran Duran songs that American termination law took a backseat to an interpretation of contracts under English law.

For Paul McCartney, it was an all-too-familiar feeling. There he was, paired with an acerbic, rough-voiced co-writer with Liverpudlian roots, sitting face to face as they strummed acoustic guitars, finishing each other's musical phrases and lyrics, singing in comfortable harmony. "We would write in the same method that me and John used to write," says McCartney, recalling his wildly productive late-Eighties collaborations with Elvis Costello. "I figured, in a way, he was being John. And for me, that was good and bad. He was a great person to write with, a great foil to bounce off, but here's me, trying to avoid doing something too Beatle-y!"

The scream at the end – “no reply!” – is one of the bleakest moments in the breakup song genre. “It was my version of “Silhouettes”: I had that image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the phone, although I never called a girl on the phone in my life. Because phones weren’t part of the English child’s life.” – John Lennon on “No Reply”

Merseyside is packed with fantastic tourist attractions and some of the biggest Hollywood stars have been drawn here for a spot of sight-seeing. A-listers including Tom Hardy , Kim Cattrall and Bob Dylan have been seen snapping selfies and exploring our cultural hot spots. Here are 10 times a celebrity was spotted on the tourist trail in Liverpool . When the Sex and the City star was in town filming Agatha Christie thriller Witness for the Prosecution, she squeezed in a quick trip to Crosby beach to see the Iron Men. Kim regularly comes back to Merseyside - she was born in Liverpool, before her family migrated to Canada - and was enthralled by Gormley’s “spectacular sculptures”, tweeting a picture of herself at the Another Place installation.

I watched a couple of documentaries (thank you Open Culture) this week featuring rock stars from the classic era, one about a living musician, the other about one who has, alas, shuffled off this mortal coil. What I found most interesting about each of these films is the reminder that it is very difficult for any successful artist, especially for a David Bowie or Paul McCartney, who have enjoyed success at the highest level of their art, to move forward. In a popular art form such as rock music has been, part of the problem is commerce; one who is successful and whose art is embraced by a wide public sells much “plastic ware,” as Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman wrote. They feel constant commercial pressure to repeat their sales success – a pressure that can make any artist choose a safe route.

The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl is the only official live Beatles album ever released. Recorded in 1964 and 1965 but not put out until 1977, the album is a fairly disappointing listen. Though recorded at the peak of Beatlemania, when the Fab Four were still riding a euphoric wave of success driven by their touring years, the concerts tapes were rendered near unlistenable by the insane racket produced by the 10,000 strong crowds. The Beatles were on point on those nights, and George Martin can seldom be associated with any technical shortcoming within the band’s career. Rather, the limitations of mastering technology in the 70s are to blame for the dismal quality of the original recordings.