Beatles News

When George Harrison stopped by to plug a new project for his old friend Ravi Shankar on July 24, 1997, it was almost as if he somehow knew this would be his last TV appearance. Sparked by an intuitive line of questioning by VH1’s John Fugelsang, Harrison turned expansive on his faith and what happens when we die.

Most of that, as you’d expect, was initially left on the cutting-room floor, as VH1 chose to focus instead on the musical portion of their conversation. Harrison was diagnosed with throat cancer later that year, and during the period before he died, the network reedited the former Beatles star’s segment to include his meditation on death.

VH1 then aired the expanded version on the day Harrison died, finally giving full voice to a remarkably deep conversation on the nature of death and salvation. Song performances included “Any Road,” a previously unheard number that later appeared on 2002’s Brainwashed; “If You Belonged to Me,” from the Traveling Wilburys‘ 1990 album, Vol. 3; and, most touchingly, the title track from All Things Must Pass.

How Harrison got there was pure happenstance. When he showed up unannounced with Shankar, he agreed to answer a couple of questions. “George had just produced the Shankar project Chants of India, and they were going to come and give us a little 10-minute sound bite and then take off,” Fugelsang told Chuck Daly in 2013.

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The debate over marijuana legalization doesn’t seem likely to end anytime soon, but if and when it’s ever decriminalized, enthusiasts should toke up in honor of the Beatles, who publicly came out in favor of it 50 years ago.

As noted by the Beatles Bible, the band members and manager Brian Epstein were all among the signatories when 64 of Britain’s best and brightest were rounded up to urge discussion of the issue by taking out a full-page ad in the London Times on July 24, 1967. Prompted by the arrest of acclaimed photographer and International Times founder John Hopkins — and his subsequent nine-month sentencing for possession — the group sought to call attention to what they deemed an unnecessarily harsh public policy.

Arguing that marijuana is “the least harmful of pleasure-giving drugs, and … in particular, far less harmful than alcohol,” the ad added, “Cannabis smoking is widespread in the universities, and the custom has been taken up by writers, teachers, doctors, businessmen, musicians, scientists and priests. Such persons do not fit the stereotype of the unemployed criminal dope fiend.”

Although none of the Beatles were in attendance at the meeting where the plan for the ad was hatched, their signatures weren’t offered without thought; in fact, it was Paul McCartney who ultimately ended up footing the bill after meeting personally with a pair of the group’s leaders. Although he hoped in vain to have his financial support kept a secret, his fears of a public backlash directed at the group proved unfounded.

Source: Ultimate Classical Rock

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In The Beatles’ 1966 song Taxman, George Harrison berates Harold Wilson’s proposed 95pc “supertax” on the UK’s highest earners. “If 5pc appears too small,” he sings bitterly, “be grateful I don’t take it all.”

But there was one man to whom the Fab Four were genuinely thankful for keeping their Revenue bill down: their accountant, Harry Pinsker.

Many people claim to have been in The Beatles’ inner circle, but Pinsker truly was. From 1961 to 1970 he oversaw their finances, set up their companies, helped buy their homes, and even signed off their grocery shopping.

“I first met them in my office – they were just four scruffy boys,” recalls Pinsker, now 87. “I hadn’t heard of them – few people had outside Liverpool. That changed.”

This is a bit of a tough question as all four of them were in the great Beatles movies “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Help!” and “Yellow Submarine,” and their songs have been used to great effect in countless films. Each of them is an Oscar-winner, having nabbed the award for best original score (for a musical film) for the 1970 documentary “Let it Be.”

But individually, each Beatle’s film work has run the gamut in quality/quantity.

John Lennon

Before his death in 1980, Lennon had acted in very few films. His key role outside of the Beatles films was in 1967’s “How I Won the War,” which reunited Lennon with Richard Lester, director of “A Hard Day’s Night.” In the WWII comedy, Lennon plays an enlisted man who falls victim to the pratfalls of his hapless commander.

Though little came of his acting career, Lennon has 840 movie/TV soundtrack credits to his name, more than any other Beatle.

Source: Micah Mertes / World-Herald staff writer - Omaha.com

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If you looked at the music sales charts this year and saw the Beatles’ masterpiece “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” perched in the top spot, you weren’t having a flashback to 1967 and the Summer of Love, when the album was first released. Yes, the Beatles got back this year, and you’ll get no argument from Geoff Emerick, the Grammy-winning engineer of that landmark album, that it’s absolutely where they once belonged. Emerick began his career as a teenager in 1962 for EMI in London, where he assisted the production of the Beatles’ recordings, including their first hit, “Love Me Do.” Over the years Emerick has twirled the knobs for a dazzling array of music greats, including Kate Bush, the solo Paul McCartney, Supertramp, Elvis Costello and another Brit sonic masterpiece, the Zombies’ “Time of the Season.” But his first time in Variety was tied to his Grammy win for “Sgt. Pepper” in 1968.

By the time “Sgt. Pepper” arrived, you’d already logged many hours with the Beatles at Abbey Road.

I was dropped into the deep end of the pond. I was mastering American records for the U.K. market one day, and the next day, when I was around 19, I was working on “Revolver.”

As great a record in its own way as “Sgt. Pepper,” if not better?

The Beatles knew from listening to American records that sounds could be better than what we were hearing in the U.K. So we worked on microphone positioning, miking the drums, working to get something more than the wishy-washy Cliff Richard sounds.

What were they aiming for?

I remember John telling me he wanted his voice to sound like “the Dalai Lama singing on a mountain” for “Tomorrow Never Knows.” So we hit on the idea of taking a spinning Leslie speaker from the Hammond and putting John’s voice through it.

There’s been a lot of publicity around the rerelease of “Sgt. Pepper” and the fact that it’s been remixed.

And an awful lot of it has been misinformation that I frankly find both defamatory and disrespectful. I’ve read that we put no time into the stereo mix, which is just inaccurate. We put just as much into the stereo mix as we did the mono mix. And to hear that [producer] George Martin would have loved to have all the tracks we have today to work from, I would say, “No, he wouldn’t.” But of course he’s not here to ask.

 Source: benjamin wachenje for Variety

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By any measure, Paul McCartney is the most successful musician of all time.

With his bands and his solo career, Sir Paul has sold more albums than anyone. McCartney is among the top Grammy winners, and he has dozens of platinum albums.

Of course it helps that he was part of the Beatles.

With 178 million albums sold, the Fab Four are the top-selling artist of all time in the U.S. The group had 43 platinum certifications, 26 multiplatinum and six diamond.

But McCartney’s solo work and his material with Wings have kept him in the spotlight, selling albums and winning more awards since the Beatles’ breakup. And McCartney’s tours have ranked among the top 15 worldwide for the last six years.

We took a look at McCartney and the Beatles statistics, and, in some cases, checked to see how he and they compare with other major musicians. See the stats below.

Credit where credit’s due

Some might say McCartney deserves only ¼ of the credit for his time in the Beatles.

I say no.

He should get full credit.

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A Dallas-based auction announced plans to sell what's said to be the first recording contract signed by the Beatles. It is expected to sell for $150,000, as part of a larger collection to be sold on September 19. (Aug. 21) AP

“Revolver” probably would have been a very different album without drugs and Indian music.

The former inspired much of John Lennon’s inventiveness, which paved the way for the legendary “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” the following year. And the latter heavily influenced George Harrison’s songwriting and musicianship as he contributed three of his own songs.Revolver" by The Beatles. (Photo: Submitted)

Released on Aug. 5, 1966, in the United Kingdom, the album directly preceded the band’s final concert on Aug. 29, 1966, in front of 25,000 people at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

“Musically, I felt we were progressing in leaps and bounds.”
— Ringo Starr, The Beatles

During the recording process the band spent about 300 hours in the studio, where producer George Martin said their ideas were beginning to become “much more potent,” according to TheBealtes.com. Ringo also recognized the more experimental nature of the album, building on what they started with “Rubber Soul.”

Source: The Spectrum.com

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Famed British performer Paul McCartney plans to return to the Iowa Events Center this summer for a one-night only concert, his second ever in Des Moines.

In case you didn't already know: Paul McCartney is performing in Des Moines on Friday, as part of his “One on One" summer tour.

So it's only fitting that July 21, 2017, is declared "Paul McCartney Day" in Polk County.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald tweeted a photo of the proclamation at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning.

McCartney, 75, is a storied songwriter and famed member of The Beatles. He is an 18-time Grammy Award winner and has sold an estimated 700 million records worldwide with The Beatles, Wings and through solo efforts.

Friday will be McCartney's third performance in Iowa. He first performed in 1990 at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames and again in 2005 at Wells Fargo Arena.

Source: Des Moine Register

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Ringo Starr has just turned 77. It's a few days after his celebrity-packed “Peace and Love”-themed birthday bash at Capitol Records in L.A., and he’s holding forth inside a Beverly Hills hotel on a warm summer afternoon. Among other things, about how he almost ended up decamping to Nashville last year with his pal and former Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart to make a country album. And about living in Los Angeles, where he first bought a house back in 1976 (“I love America,” he tells Billboard, “but I love L.A.”). He's even talking about those long strings of emojis he tacks on to the ends of his tweets -- which, by the way, he posts himself.

At some point during the conversation, you find yourself wondering whether it’ll always be like this. That one of the most famous drummers in rock music will remain the act you’ve known for all these years and keep this up well into his eighth decade. And why shouldn't he?

Ringo Starr may get old, but as far as he's concerned, being Ringo never does.

“I love joy,” he says. “I love the light. I’m still doing what was my dream at 13, and that’s playing. I think that helps. I promise you this, though -- I’m not this happy-go-lucky every day. But overall, my general demeanor is peace and love and joy.”

About that last part -- no matter what the entry point is during a conversation with Ringo, that’s where he inevitably steers things. To his three-word flower-child mantra, the catchphrase that’s as much a part of his persona as his trademark dark shades, two-finger peace salute and performing “With a Little Help From My Friends.”

Take, for example, asking him about his songwriting process, the first tentative fruits of which materialized toward the end of The Beatles’ run, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney had already taken their craft to stratospheric musical heights. On his 19th solo album Give More Love, set for a Sept. 15 release, the drummer doesn't pretend to be anything but the reliably uncomplicated showman he’s been since he first started working with his own material. And how does a drummer write a song, anyway?

“What usually happens is with the writers I write with, one of us will have a line,” he says. “I usually have a whole list of lines, and then we sort of just think what we’re gonna do. The best [new track] to talk about is 'So Wrong for So Long.' Somebody said that to me in 2008, and I just thought, 'that’s a great line,' and finally turned it into a record, into a track.”

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BOSSIER CITY, La. - The parking lots, as well as grassy area across the street from CenturyLink arena in Bossier City began filling up with cars with license plates from surrounding states early Saturday afternoon, as former Beatles and Wings member-turned-solo artist Paul McCartney kicked off his United States tour Saturday.

When the doors opened at 6:30 p.m., people began flowing into the arena, which was filled to capacity before the official 8 p.m. start time.

But when Sir Paul and his band bounded up the steps to the stage around 25 minutes late, no one seemed to care, as the 75-year-old rocker immediately got the huge crowd on their feet with an elaborate, yet pure, rendition of the Beatles classic 1964 hit, “Hard Days Night.”

Throughout the evening, McCartney interspersed early Beatles tunes with those from his years with Wings, and many in the audience never sat down during the almost three-hour concert…singing along with many of the songs.

Though many people in the audience clearly remembered the Beatles early days, some only remembered Wings, the band McCartney and his late wife Linda formed after he left the Beatles in 1970.

And others, obviously grandchildren of the original Beatles’ fans, were there for the sheer love of pure rock and roll.

McCartney asked the crowd how many there were from Bossier City, and got a rousing response – but then, when he asked how many were not from Bossier City, the response became thunderous.

Source: Nancy Cook

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