Beatles News
Unlike John Lennon, the chronic oversharer avant la lettre, Paul McCartney has always been guarded about his interior life, rarely using his songs to deliver the gossip about what it’s like being Paul McCartney. For McCartney, the entertainer’s imperative is to entertain, not broadcast his angst. Moreover, he seems to find it necessary to guard, to fence off, his actual self, forever presenting himself to the world as relentlessly afflicted by goofy joy. In the immortal phraseology of a now-defunct music magazine, he is Fab Macca Wacky Thumbs Aloft. Yet on his 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt, McCartney showed, in the track “Don’t Be Careless Love,” a tormented side. The speaker, noting “the midnight lamp” burning down, resolves to stay up until his love returns home.
He continues:In my dream you’re running nowhere Every step you’ve taken turns to glue Walking down a spiral staircase Falling through, falling through. Later the singer worries about his companion being “chopped into little pieces / by some thugs.” It might be the most haunted, introspective song McCartney has ever written. For the man with everything, only one thing really mattered: Linda, his wife from 1969 until her death in 1998. McCartney used to say that all the love songs he wrote during their relationship were about her, and in this fragile yet sweeping spiritual he told us everything about what she meant to him.
Fine as it is, though, “Don’t Be Careless Love” isn’t even one of the five best songs on the masterly Flowers in the Dirt, one of the handful of great albums McCartney did after the 1970s (along with 1982’s Tug of War, 1997’s Flaming Pie, and 2005’s Chaos and Creation in the Backyard). Flowers has just been rereleased in various formats, including a sumptuous boxed set containing the original, remastered album plus unreleased demos (some of them collaborations with Elvis Costello), gorgeous artwork, and charming facsimiles of handwritten letters to McCartney, including one from his new songwriting partner. “Greetings from dirty old Dublin,” Costello wrote in an undated note reprinted on pink paper. “We are in our last couple weeks here and the place is going upside down with U2 fever.”
By: Kyle Smith
Source: National Review
Of all the art that the Beatles brought into the world, their cinematic misadventures are probably less fondly remembered than their music. But in addition to 12 studio albums, 13 EPs, and 22 singles, the Fab Four also released five films in their comparatively few years together. These efforts comprised two feature films, a TV movie, a cartoon, and a documentary, all of admittedly inconsistent quality. Looking back now, these films provide a fascinating insight into the phenomenon of Beatlemania.
For Beatles fanatics such as myself, the music alone makes them a joy to watch and re-watch, but as pieces of cinema in their own right there’s plenty to still be enjoyed and appreciated. Their influence on modern culture can be felt from music videos to animated films - perhaps not quite as iconic or ubiquitous as the band’s songwriting, but nonetheless essential in the story of British cinema.
The first Beatles film, 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, was conceived by United Artists as a cheap cash in on The Beatles’ exploding popularity, and was shot in black-and-white for a limited budget of £500,000. Thanks to director Richard Lester, however, it’s probably the band’s most artistically successful live-action film. These days, Lester is often derided as the man who ruined Superman II, but it’s difficult to fault his work in elevating A Hard Day’s Night into something cinematically spellbinding.
The film ostensibly portrays a day in the life of the world’s four most famous musicians, with Steptoe And Son’s Wilfrid Brambell playing Paul McCartney’s mischievous grandfather. It has a realist, almost faux-documentary style that’s clearly rooted in the British New Wave, but whenever the music kicks in the film veers into hyper-real montage sequences. As the four lads play cards on a train, the first bars of I should Have Known Better drift onto the soundtrack and suddenly their instruments are in their hands, playing along to the beat. These interludes are beautifully shot and edited in a way that captures the energy of the Beatles’ music - it was a new and dynamic style of film-making which crystallised the carefree spirit of sixties Britain.
By: Mark Allison
Source: Den of Geek
Ringo Starr is a fan of Justin Bieber.
The 76-year-old music icon - who is best known for being the drummer in the Beatles - has admitted to liking the 'Sorry' hitmaker, but Ringo doesn't think Justin is as big as his band once were.
During a conversation with a reporter, Ringo was asked: "If the Beatles and Justin Bieber were touring together in their prime, who would open?"
And Ringo - who appeared in the legendary group alongside Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison - had little hesitation in replying: "Justin."
Then, the reporter said: "Beatles all the way, right?"
To which Ringo nodded and added: "All the way, brother."
Despite this, Ringo admitted to being a fan of Justin, whose most-recent album 'Purpose' earned him widespread critical acclaim and commercial success.
Ringo told TMZ: "But we love Justin. That's the second question I'm not going to answer."
Meanwhile, Ringo previously revealed the crucial role his former bandmate Sir Paul played in him being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2015.
The iconic band entered the Hall of Fame back in 1988, but Ringo was the last member of the group to be inducted as a solo artist - and he had his long-time friend Sir Paul to thank for the recognition.
He explained: "[Paul] talked to somebody and they're going to put me in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and he's going to give me away like I'm the bride and I will accept."
Source: Brampton Guardian
George Harrison played a number of guitars during his years in the Beatles, from Gretsch and Rickenbacker models in the early days to his famed 1968 rosewood Fender Telecaster in the band’s final year.
One guitar that doesn’t get talked about much is the 1961 Fender Stratocaster Harrison played starting in 1965. The guitar became one of his favorites. Indeed, in the clip shown at the bottom, probably from the early Nineties, Harrison discusses his love for the Fender Strat and says he continued to use the guitar throughout his career.
As the clip begins, Harrison recalls how, in the Beatles’ early days, he had a chance to buy a Stratocaster. At the time, American-made guitars were hard to find in England. Unfortunately, before he could buy it, the Strat was purchased by the guitarist in Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, the group in which future Beatle Ringo Starr played drums.
“By the time I got there, it was gone,” Harrison recalls. “I was so disappointed. It scarred me for the rest of my life.”
At the time, he says, “I didn’t like the guitar sound I had. And it was a Vox amp and a Gretsch guitar. [But] it was early days and we were lucky to have anything.”
Eventually, both Harrison and John Lennon became owners of matching 1961 Fender Stratocasters with Sonic Blue finishes. The guitar were purchased for them in 1965 while the Beatles were recording their album Help! In the clip, Harrison says the guitars were bought during the making of Rubber Soul, but both guitars made their earliest appearances on “Ticket to Ride,” from 1965’s Help! Harrison used his Strat extensively on Rubber Soul, also from 1965, including on the track “Nowhere Man.” He continued to use the guitar for the remainder of the group’s albums.
By: Christopher Scapeletti
Source: Guitar World
The BBC has pulled the plug on a TV special celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the first worldwide simulcast, during which the Beatles premiered the son All You Need Is Love”. And the cancellation threatens a San Francisco component of the project, produced by the Antenna Television.
On June 25, the BBC was planning to air several three-minute segments from dozens of cities around the world, including London, Venice, Italy, and San Francisco. For the videos, local arts producers would create visual spectacles on the theme of love.
Chris Hardman, founder and artistic director of San Francisco’s Antenna Theater, was planning San Francisco’s contribution: a live video stream in which two planes would sky-write a heart over the Golden Gate Bridge while local choruses sang the iconic Beatles’ song from a fleet of boats on the San Francisco Bay.
“The timing,” Hardman said Monday, “was perfect, with the anniversary of the Summer of Love.”
“The last time I talked to them, the word was full steam ahead, green light,” Hardman said. “And then three days ago we got an email from the BBC saying, ‘We’re just not going to do it.’”
By: Cy Musiker
Source: KQED
“At the actual breakup of the Beatles, it was painful,” Paul McCartney said during a 1990 television interview. "We likened it to a divorce.”
Twenty years earlier on April 10, McCartney signaled the end of the Fab Four during his unveiling of his solo album “McCartney.”
On April 9, McCartney released a Q&A package to the British press in which he explained his reasons for making his solo album. Compiled with the help of Apple executives, the self-interview also contained questions McCartney imagined he would be asked regarding the possibility of the Beatles splitting up.
While stopping short of saying that the band was finished, McCartney stated that he did not know whether his "break with the Beatles" would be temporary or permanent.
It didn’t quite feel real, in part, because of the way McCartney phrased it — and also, the Beatles' final album “Let It Be” was yet to be released.
From the group’s first studio contract in 1962, it was clear that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were something special.
The Ed Sullivan Show
In February 1964, the group made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” during their first American tour. It took no time at all for “Beatlemania” to overtake America.
Source: VOA News
There's something magical about hearing Sgt. Pepper outtakes in Studio Two of Abbey Road — the same room where the Beatles made the album. The studio looks the same as it did in 1967 — even the same baffles hang on the wall. "Abbey Road is a bit like a salad bowl or a teapot," producer Giles Martin, son and heir to George Martin, tells Rolling Stone. "The walls absorb music."
There's no better place for Rolling Stone to experience an exclusive tour of the Pepper vaults, as Martin spends a hard day's afternoon giving us a one-on-one preview: the previously unheard and unreleased treasures on the new 50th Anniversary Edition of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The box has alternate takes of each song — in some cases drastically different and all offering revelatory insights into the most legendary of rock masterpieces. It's the first time the Beatles have opened their vaults and released new recordings since Anthology.
The new remix has long been craved by hardcore Beatle heads, who have always complained about the diffuse stereo mix. The mono version was the one George Martin, engineer Geoff Emerick and the band spent weeks mixing — but the stereo version was rushed out without the Beatles even there in the room. "They were trying to create this immersive world that the stereo didn't have," Giles Martin says now. "Nobody paid much attention to the stereo mix. What we did was work out what they were doing in the mono mix and apply it to stereo."
No matter how well you know the album, this remix is full of nuances any fan will notice, especially the bottom end —Ringo’s kick drum really reveals new dimensions. It's a tribute to the band and their producer. "My dad, especially on Pepper, was almost like a satellite dish that managed to capture all their ideas and mash them down to this little black piece of plastic that changed the way people listen to music."
By: Rob Sheffield
Source: Rolling Stone
Julian Lennon is teaching children how to “Imagine” a better world — and build it themselves.
Like his rock-icon father John Lennon, the 54-year-old musician, photographer, film producer and activist is using his art as a rallying cry.
With a little help from his friends, New York Times bestselling author Bart Davis and Croatian illustrator Smiljana Coh, he’s written Touch the Earth, the first in a planned trilogy of illustrated books designed to educate children on the fragile beauty of the planet — and what they can do to protect it.
Out Tuesday (just ahead of Earth Day on April 22), a portion of the proceeds will go to support the efforts of Lennon’s White Feather Foundation, which fights for environmental and humanitarian causes across the globe.
Lennon spoke to PEOPLE about Touch the Earth, its message and its touching connection to his late father.
PEOPLE: What moved you to write the book series?
Julian: After having written songs about environmental and humanitarian issues, worked as executive producer on several award winning documentaries and founded the White Feather Foundation, I asked myself what was next in that line of thought and direction. What could I do to reach people who were complacent about those very issues?
After a lovely chat with a dear friend of mine, Bart Davis — an incredibly talented writer — we mulled over the idea that [children] were the only age group I hadn’t really reached out to, as such. So we decided to play around with ideas, until we came up with the first book together.
By: Jordan Runtagh
Source: People
The storied “Beatles Ashram” awaits beyond a long and winding road across the Ganges River in Rishikesh, the Himalayan town where The Beatles lived in 1968 and composed their curious chapter of renunciation.
Nearly five decades later, the ashram is derelict yet still alive, a peaceful yet eerie abandoned ghost village that the Rajaji Tiger Reserve is now slowly consuming – like endless desires eating away humans and demigods of fame and fortune as The Beatles were circa 1967.
The iconic British band met Transcendental Meditation founder “Maharishi” Mahesh Yogi in London in 1967, and their India odyssey followed. And worldwide media attention followed them.
“I followed The Beatles to Rishikesh with my photographer colleague Raghu Rai,” Saeed Naqui reported in Indian newspaper The Statesman. “Almost every newspaper in the world had sent their senior reporters. Not to much avail, though. The ashram was out of bounds for the media.
” … We walked on ’til I spotted the Maharishi under a tree with The Beatles. I promptly sneaked Raghu Rai in and he took a shot with the aid of his zoom lens. The Statesman had its scoop.”
This printed interview appeared on April 9th 1970 as a press release in advance promotional copies of Paul McCartney's first solo album entitled 'McCartney.'
There have long been misconceptions that Paul had written the questions himself. Paul told the Canadian magazine 'Musical Express' in 1982, "That's one thing that really got misunderstood. I had talked to Peter Brown from Apple and asked him what we were going to do about press on the album. I said, 'I really don't feel like doing it, to tell you the truth,' but he told me that we needed to have something. He said, 'I'll give you some questions and you just write out your answers. We'll put it out as a press release.' Well of course, the way it came out looked like it was specially engineered by me." This was also confirmed in Peter Brown's book 'The Love You Make.'
In the press release interview, Paul answers questions about the future of the Beatles, concerns about the Beatles' new management, as well as questions about the writing and recording of his first solo album.
Paul is asked if the release of the 'McCartney' LP is a rest away from the Beatles or the start of a solo career, to which he replies that it is both. But when asked if he is planning a new album or single with the Beatles he answers in the negative. When questioned if he forsees a time when Lennon and McCartney will become an active songwriting partnership again, he answers directly and simply, "No." Is his break with the Beatles temporary or permanent? Paul's responds that he does not know. When asked the reason for his break with the group, Paul lists: "Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family."
While John Lennon had privately left the Beatles months earlier, it was from this interview that the story of a Beatles' split spread instantly as news headlines around the world. On April 10th, the Daily Mirror ran a front-page story with the bold print headline, 'PAUL IS QUITTING THE BEATLES,' while CBS News in America declared, "The Beatles are breaking up."
By: Jay Spangler
Source: The Beatles Interviews
