Postcard kindly supplied by Alan Chrisman.
Acknowledgements to Cavern City Tours who hold an annual International
Beatles Convention in Liverpool. Phone 0151-236-9091
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items come at the top
Disney+ had the biggest increase in video streaming
last week, recording a 7.1 per cent jump in users
launching its mobile
app, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of Apptopia
data.
Walt Disney Co.’s flagship streaming service released
two highly anticipated programs over the Thanksgiving
holiday. “The
Beatles: Get Back,” a three-part documentary from
director Peter Jackson, was assembled from hours of
footage shot with
the band in 1969 as they recorded what would become
their final album.
Disney+ also debuted “Hawkeye,” a new series about the
bow-slinging Marvel superhero starring Jeremy Renner.
Disney+ reported 118.1 million subscribers for the
quarter that ended Oct. 2, although that was the
slowest rate of growth
since the service’s launch in 2019.
ViacomCBS Inc.’s Showtime had the biggest decline in
streaming among top U.S. providers for the week ended
Nov. 28.
Downloads of the Starz app rose 39 per cent for the
top increase. DAZN app downloads showed the biggest
decline.
One of the cops who shut down The Beatles’ rooftop
concert said he has no regrets cutting the now-classic
concert short.
The concert in its entirety is the culmination of the
new documentary The Beatles: Get Back, which premiered
over the
Thanksgiving holiday weekend on Disney+. In an
interview with the U.K’s Daily
Mail, Ray Shayler, who was a 25-year-old
constable at the time, recalled the day in vivid
detail.
Originally, a rookie constable was called to the scene
at 3 Savile Row, but Shayler said, “He looked a bit
worried about it
and, to be fair, a young lad on his own with not much
experience would have had rings run around him by
those sorts of
people…So because I’d been at the job for three years
and had more experience, I offered to go with him.”
Shayler said that he and his colleague were posted at
a station about 150 yards away from the concert and
could hear it
happening from the station and only walked to the
Apple Corps building once they received a number of
noise complaint
calls. Initially, they weren’t allowed in the Apple
building, but once they explained they received noise
complaints, the cops
were allowed in.
The Beatles and their personnel didn’t give the cops
any trouble once they arrived with Shayler noting, “I
asked how long it
was going on for. [Beatles road manager Mal Evans]
said, ‘One more record’, so I said, ‘You might as well
be hung for a
sheep as for a lamb. Get on with that one and then it
stops.’ It was a discussion; it never got heated.”
As for whether Shayler was star-struck by the moment,
he said, “I wouldn’t say I was a fan – I didn’t like
The Beatles much
when they went a bit Hare Krishna, but we had a few
Beatles records and LPs at home; I liked their music.
But when I got
on the roof, I had a job to do and I thought, ‘Well,
we’ve got to try and stop this.'”
He added, “Actually, someone asked me how I felt being
the man who stopped The Beatles’ concert. But I
wouldn’t say that
was true. I didn’t stop The Beatles – I merely
suggested it would be a good idea if they didn’t carry
on.”
One person who couldn’t believe the day he had was
Shayler’s wife, Wendy. She was a big Beatles fan, and
Shayler said she
was “really envious” when he got home after his shift
to recounted his day.
When The Beatles reconvened in early 1969 to make a
new record, the concept was both clear and vague. What
was clear
is they wanted to "get back" to their roots—making
music together, as a live band, with no overdubs. What
was vague was
how'd they document and present the work.
Recording engineer Glyn Johns and filmmaker Michael
Lindsay-Hogg, who had both recently worked on The
Rolling Stones
Rock and Roll Circus, were to capture the entire
process of rehearsal and recording sessions. The songs
would be revealed
in full to the public in a TV concert, filmed at some
to-be-decided exotic location.
With plans still in the works, the rehearsals began on
a soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios. Those
sessions turned
fraught, the TV idea was scrapped, and the band moved
to their newly constructed Apple Studio instead.
Though the film crew and "warts and all" documentary
approach remained, the eventual album and film—which
changed
titles from Get Back to Let It Be—turned
out to be greatly edited down and polished.
Director Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back—an
eight-hour, three-part documentary that begins
streaming on Disney+
November 25—restores the original
footage, presenting the making of Let It Be
in all its rollicking glory. This includes those
fraught rehearsals at Twickenham, the salvaged
sessions at Apple, and the full Rooftop Concert
performance.
For musicians and gearheads, Get Back is a
feast for the senses, displaying the band's
late-period gear like it's never been
seen before.
We've compiled this guide as a kind of companion and
easy reference.
What gear did The Beatles use to make Let It Be?
Find it all below.
Let It Be Guitars
Paul McCartney's go-to bass for the proceedings was
his '63
Hofner 500/1 Bass. It can be seen throughout the
recording
sporting a "Bassman" sticker, which had originally
been affixed to his Fender Bassman speaker cabinet
(more on that later).
McCartney's
Rickenbacker 4001S and his original '61 Hofner can
be seen sparingly in the film, with the '61 Hofner
being
stolen soon after. As for McCartney's acoustic guitar
parts, he used his trusty Martin D-28.
George Harrison was spoiled with incredible guitars at
the time, switching between his '57 Gibson "Lucy" Les
Paul (a gift from
Eric Clapton that had been
converted from a Goldtop) and his iconic,
custom-built Rosewood Telecaster prototype (a gift
from Fender). He also had his Gibson J-200 acoustic on
hand, which John Lennon used throughout the sessions
too. Harrison
soon gave that to Bob Dylan.
For the majority of his guitar work, Lennon used his
finish-stripped
Epiphone Casino. His similarly stripped Martin
D-28 was on
hand but rarely used, while he played a Hofner
Hawaiian Standard lap steel for a few select parts.
Because the band wanted to record without overdubs,
that meant someone besides McCartney had to play bass
any time
Paul played the piano. While John and George also had
a
Fender Jazz Bass nearby, they most often played
the six-string
Fender VI through McCartney's Bassman amp.
Let It Be Amps
As mentioned above, McCartney's amp for the sessions
was a '68 Fender Bassman head and 2x15 cabinet. These
cabinets
from Fender at the time were tall, 40" total
vertically, with the speakers stacked on top of one
another.
Lennon and Harrison's main amps were matching
'68
Silverface Fender Twin Reverbs. Additionally,
Harrison had a
147RV
rotating Leslie speaker—another gift from Clapton—that
he used extensively on the record.
Let It Be Drums
Especially during the Twickenham sessions—when Ringo
Starr's station was set up on a high riser, backlit by
the
soundstage's rainbow-colored lights—his drum kit was
the star of the show. It was a
'67 Ludwig Hollywood kit that had been
new for the White Album.
A five-piece set, it included a 14x22" kick, 16x16"
floor tom, as well as an 8x12" and a 9x13" tom.
However, Starr preferred
his '63 Jazz Festival 5.5x14" snare, opting to use it
instead of the Hollywood's.
Let It Be Keys
The most exciting addition to the standard Beatles
lineup was not any one keyboard but a certain keyboard
player, with Billy
Preston joining the group at Apple Studio and
becoming, unofficially, a "fifth Beatle" for the
proceedings. Preston made great
use of a
Fender Rhodes Suitcase 73 electric piano, which
had been freshly delivered to the band, express from
California.
Other keys in the room included a
Hammond
with Leslie, a
Lowrey
DSO Heritage Deluxe organ, an unmarked upright piano,
and the Blüthner grand piano heard on tracks like "The
Long and Winding Road."
Recording Equipment
Let It Be fans new and old often
want to know: What are the mics The Beatles used for
the Rooftop Concert? The slender
vocal mics that
Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison are singing into are
AKG C30As. Based around the brand's C28 capsule,
these mics included long attachments that kept the body of
the mic far away from the head, making them ideal for
filming.
The mics were used throughout the sessions,
not just on the rooftop finale.
Other AKG mics can be seen throughout the
recording process—D19s
for vocals, D25s suspended on boom arms, a D20 on
the kick drum—while
Neumann U 47s,
KM 56s,
and plenty of
U 67s capture vocals, drum overheads, and more.
At Apple Studio, following a disastrous
attempt at a custom console, The Beatles borrowed a
pair of REDD consoles from
Abbey Road, including the REDD.37 used on earlier
recordings and later owned by Lenny Kravitz. Behind
the console, you can
also see a few Fairchild limiters.
For playback and vocal monitoring on, first,
the Twickenham soundstage and, later, the Apple Studio
live room, the band
employed brand-new Vox and Fender Solid State PA
systems.
If you're watching the new documentary
and spy gear we've missed, let us know.
Sources for this article include: Andy
Babiuk's Beatles Gear, Glyn Johns' Sound Man, and The
Beatles Recording Reference
Manual: Volume 5.
November 28, 2021 Beatles biographer Hunter Davies on Get Back:
‘We see the band having fun. All true – I remember it
well’ Peter Jackson’s new Disney documentary offers
a positive new look at the band on the point of their
break-up, says the
Beatles biographer Hunter Davies
by Hunter Davies for inews.co.uk
Photo: Hunter Davies
The further we get from The Beatles, the bigger they
become. I thought that when they broke up in 1970,
that would be it.
I still loved them dearly (sob, sob), but they were
bound to be superseded – equally creative composers of
popular music
would come along and some performer would sell more
records.
But blow me down, The Beatles today are here, there
and everywhere, their influence as great as ever. I
estimate 50,000
people worldwide are making a living out of the band –
by playing in lookalike groups, lecturing, giving
guided tours, holding
Beatles conferences, selling Beatles tat.
Well, not all of it is tat – $1m has just been offered
for a copy of the lyrics of “Yesterday” in Paul’s
handwriting. (It belongs
to me, but is in the British Library and going to them
in my will).
Now we have near-hysteria about The Beatles: Get
Back, a three-part series from Disney – even
though it is only a
rehashing of the acres of video footage shot by
Michael Lindsay-Hogg back in 1969 for his film Let it
Be. A good deal of it
has already been seen or known about by Beatles fans
for decades.
Its director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings),
has ploughed through 60 hours of video film and 150
hours of audio that
have been lying in Apple’s vaults for 50 years. But he
has the advantage of modern magic to enhance dull
period sounds and
ancient hazy shots and, to judge by the credits, an
army of people to help. Jokes and catty remarks by
John, which I could
never work out the first time, are now loud and clear,
even though I am deafer than I was 50 years ago.
When Lindsay-Hogg made Let It Be, he tended
to accentuate the rows. Everyone knew at the time the
band was about to
split, so he was recording that story. Fifty years
later, Jackson has accentuated the positive – which is
perfectly
permissible. It has happened for centuries with
Shakespeare: theatre directors are always coming up
with new ways to
make the old stuff different, supposedly fresh and
relevant for today.
And so we see the band having fun in the studio,
larking around, John making faces behind Paul’s back,
breaking into silly
voices, clearly enjoying each other’s company. All
true: I remember it well, sitting for months in Abbey
Road during 1967 and
1968 as they recorded Sgt Pepper, and I gathered
material for my biography of the band.
What is missing from the new series is a lot of the
tedium – naturally enough, who wants to watch all
that? I used to sit
there thinking, “Bloody hell, this is the 100th go at
that take,” which to me seemed perfect the first time.
The best stuff by far is the footage of the
performance on top of the Apple building in Savile Row
in 1969. Like all fans, I
have seen the highlights many times, but Jackson has
polished it up, given it a narrative and tension,
using shots I have
never seen before – I don’t remember seeing the
sergeant arriving, nor so many vox pops. Lindsay-Hogg
did a stupendous
logistics job, not just cinematic: he had nine crews
on the job – on rooftops, in the street, in the
entrance hall. The cost
must have been enormous.
We see the crowds gather in the street, looking up,
amazed. We hear interviews in which the clothes and
accents seem to
be from 1939, not 1969. Best of all, we see the two
policemen arrive, so young, so useless, trying to look
authoritative and
stop this dreadful rooftop noise. Then the
self-important sergeant strides down the road.
We know what’s coming – but it still comes as a shock
when eventually the sound is turned off. And that was
it. The
Beatles were turned off, never performing together in
public again.
In a postwar Britain divided by class
identity and economic decline, they were complex,
emotional men whose music still
thrills
They Shall Not Grow Old was the title Peter Jackson
gave to the first documentary he made, and he could
have named his
latest exactly the same way. Instead it is called Get
Back, and while the earlier film restored archive
footage of the young
British men who fought the first world war, this new
one – nearly eight hours long and making its debut in
three parts this
weekend – does the same for the young British men who
conquered the world by more peaceful means; four of
them to be
precise, known for ever as the Beatles.
Obsessives across the globe have had their
anoraks zipped up in readiness for a while, eager to
study the differences
between the ninth and 13th take
of Don’t Let Me Down, but the resonance of these films
is not confined to muso
aficionados alone. On the
contrary, they have something to say to anyone
interested in Britain and how it’s changed – and
in
the universal themes of friendship, creativity,
regret, loss and time.
The brightest light shed on Britain comes in the
film’s climax: the famous rooftop concert on a cold
January lunchtime in
1969. Part of the crew who had
been filming the band over the preceding month, as
they worked up material for what would
become the Let
it Be album, went into the streets below to interview
Londoners who were hearing what was the first live
Beatles performance for nearly three years.
For a 2021 audience, it’s a revelation. The buildings
of Savile Row are not all that different, but in every
other respect, the
past truly is another country. The vox pops show a
London that is largely white, English-born and marked
by a class divide
that is wide and clear. There are men in suits, ties
and bowler hats – disapproving of the disruption to
business in the area –
and cheeky-chappie cabbies giving an approving thumbs
up. There are young women sharing their delight in a
cockney
accent that has all but vanished, and plummy ladies
who lunch. What’s missing is the group that would
dominate now:
everyone in between. Statistically, Britain today is
majority middle class; no one would have suggested
such a thing then.
It’s a jolt to realise this is the same country: we
seem to have so little in common. In fact, one of the
few points of
connection between this place and that one – besides
the Queen – is the Beatles. They listened to them
then; we listen to
them now. There’s a cheery optimism to the London of
1969, and the Beatles were surely part of that too.
Yes, the postwar
years had been humbling; the economic and political
story was one of decline. But it was possible to cling
to a mild form of
British exceptionalism, at least in terms of popular
culture. Because when it came to pop music, Britain
really did lead the
world.
And yet, when you watch the Beatles in these films,
it’s not the Britain of 1969 that you’re thinking
about. That’s chiefly
because the four somehow stand outside it, or rather
ahead of it. They look so current, so fresh – John
wearing trainers,
George in baseball boots – they seem like visitors
from the future, emissaries from 2021 who have somehow
landed in the
world of Bedford vans, Charles Hawtrey and the Daily
Sketch.
The modernity finds other expressions too. The form is
contemporary: all that fly-on-the-wall footage,
watching the
dynamics of a group close up, suggests that to the
long list of innovations credited to the Beatles,
perhaps we should add
an early form of reality TV. But the content of the
conversations brims with modernity too.
There’s an arrogant temptation to assume that it’s the
current generation of men, in particular, that has
acquired emotional
intelligence, that the men of 50 years ago were
strangers to empathy or self-awareness. But then you
eavesdrop on John
Lennon and Paul McCartney reflecting on how they have
driven George Harrison to walk out. We’ve already seen
it for
ourselves in the film, the way the older two treat
Harrison as a kid brother, failing to enthuse over
songs he has tentatively
brought to the group. “It’s a festering wound,” says
Lennon, “and yesterday we allowed it to go even
deeper. And we didn’t
give him any bandages.”
They say explicitly that, since the death of their
manager, Brian Epstein, they’re missing a father
figure. McCartney has
stepped into the leadership vacuum but he knows that
none of them likes it, including him: “I’m scared of
me being the
boss,” he says. On the well-worn topic of Yoko Ono’s
constant presence, glued to Lennon as the band plays,
McCartney is
understanding rather than irritated. “They just want
to be near each other,” he says, adding that it
needn’t be “an
obstacle, as long as we’re not trying to surmount it”.
Indeed, Get Back serves in part as a study in male
friendship. What you see on screen between John and
Paul, especially
when they play, is a chemistry that crackles as
fiercely as any sexual or romantic attraction. The
connection between the
two is so intimate, the shared glances full of such
understanding, that when they play Two of Us, you
realise that the love
that song celebrates is theirs – even if they didn’t
know it.
Which brings us to the music. There can be few truer
expositions of the creative process than these films.
Yes, it can be
long and tedious and repetitive, going over the same
ground again and again. Yes, it’s as much about hard
work as innate
talent – and the Beatles’ work ethic, returning to the
studio to make a new record a matter of weeks after
they had finished
the “White Album”, is striking. But we also witness
the miracle of the act of creation. Before your very
eyes, McCartney’s
random strums turn into Get Back: it’s like watching a
chick hatch from a shell.
All of this has great poignance, because we know what
they don’t: that the concert on the roof will be their
last
performance together and that, a little over a decade
later, John Lennon will be dead. Part of you is filled
with regret: you
want to urge the four of them to find a way to keep
going, if only for a little longer; you pine for all
the songs that went
unwritten and unsung.
And the larger part of you marvels at what these four
people in their 20s did in little over six years:
creating music that is
truly timeless, in the sense not only that it will
live on, but that much of it seems to exist outside
time altogether. The finest
Beatles melodies sound as if they are part of nature,
as if they always existed and were only waiting to be
picked up.
This is why Jackson could once again have found his
title in that same poem of war. Because even without
his masterful
digital effects, the Beatles will always be those four
young men bursting with improbable talent. Age shall
not weary them.
Jim Keltner Drums For Rock Royalty, Including
Paul Simon, Eric Clapton. But You Don’t Know His Name
by Jim Clash for Forbes
Jim Keltner is one of the best studio drummers in the
world, having recorded and played with John Lennon,
Eric Clapton, John
Fogerty, George Harrison, Neil Young and Simon &
Garfunkel. But few outside of the music business know
his name, and he’s
okay with that. He told me he has never sought the
spotlight. In our exclusive interview series, Keltner
discussed many
things, including his early influences, relative
anonymity as a popular musician, involvement with the
“12 Drummers
Drumming” charity auction for veterans with PTSD and
Cream drummer Ginger Baker’s African influences. Here,
in Part 1, we
focus on two of the most famous talents he has had the
pleasure of working with: Clapton and Lennon.
Following are edited
excerpts from a longer conversation.
Jim Clash: The list of those you have
recorded with reads like a who’s-who in the music
business. Let’s discuss some off
them. How about Eric Clapton?
Jim Keltner: That’s a special case
[laughs]. I wish this unbelievable crap [his
anti-vaccine stance] hadn’t happened. What
Eric has done to himself is something nobody seems to
be able to explain. And he is not explaining it,
either, which is the
worst part. He’s just doubling down. I hope he can
find a way out, because people are going to eliminate
him. Hopefully, this
won’t snuff out the great music part of his career.
But it doesn’t change my opinion of the man. I can’t
tell you how much I
love Eric, one of my very favorite to play drums with,
an unbelievable guitar player. He also is a great
singer. When he
connects with a good song, like any good artist, you
can’t go wrong.
Cream was one of my favorite bands of all-time, just
like about everybody else I know. Jack’s [Bruce]
singing was incredible.
Anytime you put on a Cream record, it sounds great,
feels great, never seems dated. But Eric didn’t like
his singing back
then. In fact, we were at lunch one day, between
sessions working on one of Eric’s albums, just sitting
around talking about
our favorite Clapton eras. I joined in, said mine was
Cream. Eric just looked up and said, “Oh, f’ck off,’”
in a funny way, of
course [laughs].
Delaney, Bonnie And Friends really helped launch a
bunch of us. For me, it started a relationship with
John [Lennon] and
George [Harrison], unreal. Eric fell in love with
D&B’s music, and we opened for Blind Faith, Eric’s
band with Ginger Baker and
Stevie [Winwood]. They would take their limos, private
jets and stuff, but Eric would travel with us on our
funky bus. In the
back, Delaney [Bramlett] would try to teach him how to
strengthen his voice, sing out more, how to “call the
hogs.” Delaney
was from Mississippi, with a lot of farm time. They
were doing this hog-calling really loud [laughs]. Eric
always credited
Delaney with helping his singing.
Clash: How about John Lennon, what
was he like as a person?
Keltner: As a person, John was like
your big brother, the guy who knows more than you, has
been around longer, is smart
and really sweet-natured. Ringo [Starr] is one of my
closest old friends. He said awhile ago that I’d love
this new Peter
Jackson film [The Beatles: Get Back] that showed how
much the guys enjoyed being around each other, what
great friends
they were, how much fun they had making their records.
There had never been anything like that before the
film. It was
always about the competition between John and Paul,
George being unhappy about this or that, Ringo having
problems and
quitting the band. Later on, in their personal lives,
John and Yoko [Ono] had their thing together, were
criticized. But I knew
the side of them that was fantastic. My wife knew them
as well, and they loved us a lot as a couple. In New
York, playing
on John’s records was like a dream to me.
Clash: What was John like as a
musician?
Keltner: John was an incredible
guitar player, not a lead like Eric or George, but he
played rhythm like nobody’s business.
And the phrasing of his singing was incredible, too.
Think about what it meant to be cut down at the age of
40. You’re just
getting started, in a way. John had this amazing life
as a kid, being a Beatle. He, Eric and The [Rolling]
Stones were all just
teenagers when they became heroes to the world. By the
time they were in their 30s and 40s, they had done so
much. And
they had so much more to do. When you think in those
terms with John, you can just imagine what he would
have been up
to later: the person that he was, his thinking about
social issues and then just the music in him. Now, he
might be judged by
just his last few solo records. That’s not right,
because it was only a period for him. I played on some
of those, by the way,
and personally loved them. They were over the moon.
John would have far surpassed that.
November 27, 2021 Now Streaming: The Beatles Get Back (Part Three)
Jewish doctor who loves The Beatles created
America’s only museum devoted to them Bobby Entel started collecting band
memorabilia in his 20s, says his collection on display
in Dunedin, Florida is ‘a very fulfilling
hobby and a labor of love’
by Bruce Lowitt
Jewish Press of Pinellas County via JTA — Bobby Entel didn’t watch The Beatles’
February 9, 1964 performance on the
Ed Sullivan Show. He was seven years old at
the time and in bed. Nor did he ever see them in person, visit their hometown
of
Liverpool, or cross Abbey Road.
But he’s more than made up for that. When he’s not working as a radiologist
in Dunedin, Florida, he can often be found at
Penny Lane, the free museum he
opened in 2018 that features his extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia.
That’s where
he goes to escape the realities of life.
“This is my happy spot, my relief area,” Entel said, seated in a nook at
Penny Lane while “Something” from the Abbey Road
album played softly in the
background and a pair of nearby tourists studied a guitar signed by Paul
McCartney. “It’s a very
fulfilling hobby and a labor of love.”
There are several museums dedicated to The Beatles in England and one in
Holland. But except for a floor dedicated to them
at the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in Cleveland, Entel believes his is the only permanent Beatles exhibit in
the United States.
“In the years we’ve been open, nobody’s ever come in and
said, ‘You should see the one in New York or Wyoming.’”
England is where Entel’s fascination with The Beatles began in earnest.
“My interest in them evolved from just liking their music to being intrigued
with their cultural influence, the impact they had
on politics, on hairstyles,
on clothing and on the music world,” he said. “It happened for me over a period
of time…and I
didn’t start collecting anything until I was in my 20s and
spending a few months as a medical student in London.”
Entel bought his first Beatles memorabilia at the Portobello Road Market in
London and brought them home to Florida, where
he started going to flea markets
and antique stores in the Tampa Bay area where he usually found lower-end items
–
buttons, pins, records.
“I’d also meet people who’d say, ‘I know a dude who’s got a bunch of Beatles
stuff he wants to move out. Want his number?
’ And I’d say, ‘Sure,’ and I’d offer
maybe a hundred bucks for a whole care package of junk that maybe had a few good
items.”
By the time Entel was in his 30s, his Beatles collection had outgrown the
closet space he had allotted to it. He started
decorating his walls and buying
more expensive and rare items from online auction houses like Heritage and
Sotheby’s, not to
mention eBay. “I went from pins and buttons and posters to
signed guitars and their clothing. I also have pieces of their
hair,” Entel
said.
At first when friends suggested he open a museum, he dismissed the idea. “I’d
tell them, ‘I’m a doctor. What do I know
about a museum?’” But he knew George
Ann Bissett, then the director of the Dunedin Fine Art Center and now its
president
and CEO, and her husband Colin, a native of Liverpool who “really had
a sense of the Beatles’ early days,” Entel said.
Colin Bissett is now the curator of Penny Lane and a
museum guide.
“I went to school with Rory [Roag] Best, Pete Best’s
brother and we used to go see them,” Bissett said.
Pete Best was the
Beatles’ drummer for two years before being replaced
by Ringo Starr on Aug. 19, 1962.
Bissett added: “They were nothing like they turned out
to be. They were just local guys.”
With just 600 square feet for its exhibition space,
the museum holds about 1,000 items, only about a
quarter of Entel’s
collection, and receives about a thousand visitors per
month.
“I have stuff at home that I can’t display here
because it’s a small place. I have Ringo Starr’s drum
set that he played on a
Super Bowl commercial. I have Beatles pinball
machines, Beatles jukeboxes, a couple of Beatles slot
machines from Las
Vegas.” Not to mention Beatles puppets and
marionettes, gold and platinum records, posters, lunch
boxes, toys, a serape
worn by Ringo, and John Lennon’s electric razor and
the TWA bag he put it in when he traveled.
Now Entel is looking for a larger space, “maybe a
place where we could show films. Maybe a kitchen, a
space for a band.”
He said he’s been contacted by potential sites in St.
Petersburg, Florida and Washington, DC “But I want to
stay in Dunedin.
It’s where I grew up and downtown is charming.”
And Entel likes the way the museum inspires visitors
to share their own recollections of The Beatles and
their music’s impact
on their lives.
“There are times I’ll see something I’ve looked at a
hundred times and I’ll think, ‘Wow, I didn’t even
notice I had that.’ It’s a
visual overload but I kind of want it to be that way,”
Entel said. “What I love the most is the people who
come in and tell
their stories, their memories.”
November 26, 2021 Now Streaming: The Beatles Get Back (Part Two)
The Beatles and Canada: book tells
little-known stories of world's best-known band While the Beatles’ story understandably
tends to centre on their British rise and their impact
in the U.S., Canada has
what author John Robert Arnone calls a “second-tier
footing” in their global narrative.
Ian McGillis for the Calgary Herald
The Beatles aren’t lacking for attention these days.
Peter Jackson’s keenly anticipated Get Back, a
documentary promising a debunking of the standard
Beatles breakup
narrative , premièred this week on Disney+, while The
Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, a two-volume annotated
and slipcased
collection of Paul McCartney’s Beatle and solo lyrics,
is now in bookstores. Both are prestige projects, done
on the grand
scale we’ve come to expect, and have been welcomed by
fans everywhere.
But there are other routes into the Beatles’ story —
more humble approaches that take into account the ways
in which the
Beatles affected individual lives all over the world,
including Canada, and continue to do so. Enter John
Robert Arnone, a
Canadian Fabs devotee on a mission.
“The two great passions in my life are the Beatles and
my country, so putting those two things together is
what I call an
act of cultural patriotism,” said the retired
60-year-old from his Ontario home. “We get the history
of the Beatles’
connection to Canada piecemeal, in media reports and
archives. I wanted to put it all together. I try not
to get too
philosophical about this, but I will say that we all
make connections to music, and as Canadians we are
historically
connected to the Beatles, so that story had to be
told.”
The result is Us and Them: Canada, Canadians and the
Beatles (FriesenPress, 289 pages), a book that
identifies a gap and
fills it with a vengeance.
While the Beatles’ story understandably tends to
centre on their British rise and their phenomenal
impact in the United
States, Canada has what Arnone calls a “second-tier
footing” in their global narrative, both during the
Beatles’ active years
and in their solo careers.
“You can’t really write a book about the Beatles
and Argentina, or Norway, or Japan that would go on
for more than a
couple of chapters,” he said. “But with
Canada you can.”
Us and Them more than backs up Arnone’s claim.
Spanning 70-plus years, from George Harrison’s
pre-Beatles family
connections in Ontario and Quebec to
present-day viral online phenomena, the book packs
surprises at every turn.
Few will know or remember, for example, that the
Beatles topped the Canadian charts a solid two months
before their U.S.
breakthrough, thanks to the relative autonomy
of the Canadian branch of Capitol Records. She Loves
You dominated
Canadian airwaves when the Ed Sullivan
appearance wasn’t even a rumour.
The Beatles’ story, in hindsight, is perfect.
Everything happened exactly as it should have, because
… well, because they
turned out to be the Beatles. But as Arnone
demonstrates, the received version is as much a
function of what didn’t happen
as what did, and it’s remarkable how often
Canadians played a part.
Take the story of Carroll Levis, a
Vancouver-raised expat who hosted a 1950s U.K. talent
show called Star Search and didn’t
much rate the teenage John, Paul and George,
all of whom failed auditions for the show.
“They slipped through his fingers,” said Arnone.
“He didn’t advance them through his show, and whatever
could have
transpired if he had, didn’t happen. Had this
Canadian not done that, we might never have had the
Beatles. It speaks to the
quirks of timing and coincidence and cosmic
alignment that ultimately gave us this band.”
Some of the most entertaining passages in the book
involve random cameos, like the theory that the title
of their epochal
1967 album might have been influenced by
their brush with a certain Sgt. Randall Pepper, an
Ontario policeman who worked
security on the band’s 1966 Toronto visit. Arnone goes so far as to interview his daughter.
“That’s a delightful piece of possible Canadiana,”
said Arnone. “McCartney contradicts it, and I give
great deference to what
he says. But I’m happy to highlight a story
like that because what is true, what is forgotten and
what is unclear are all part
of the great Beatles history.”
The list goes on, at a dizzying rate. A Canadian
woman played a part in facilitating the band’s first
experience of LSD, an
event with seismic cultural ramifications; a
Canadian session musician played the charmingly
out-of-tune country fiddle on
the White Album track Don’t Pass Me By, the
first Ringo Starr composition the band recorded.
Deposed drummer Pete Best’s
autobiography, cited by Arnone, includes an
account of drunken Canadian soldiers on shore leave
wreaking havoc in
Hamburg’s Top Ten Club, witnessed by an
impressionable 18-year-old Harrison, who must have
wondered if his Canadian
relatives had to deal with this sort of
thing.
The Klaatu saga, in which the debut album by an
anonymous Canadian studio band was briefly thought by
some to be the
work of the reunited Beatles, will ring bells for
fans of a certain age. The whole 1977 episode is a
case study in cultural
desperation. “It says a lot about how much we
missed them,” said Arnone. Indeed, Klaatu sounded at
best a bit like 10cc.
But the story lives on, and Arnone provides a
coda that very few will have known about involving
George Martin, McCartney
and a former member of Klaatu.
At times Arnone’s choices are downright inspired, as when he
includes the story of Emma Stevens, the Nova Scotian teen
whose YouTube cover of
Blackbird went viral to the point where it drew the notice of McCartney himself.
“At a certain point in my research, I began to
think that there were too many famous people
involved,” said Arnone. “So I
worked extra hard to find ordinary Canadians who
had a place. And it doesn’t get much better than an
Indigenous teenager
from Nova Scotia getting McCartney’s
attention because of her Mi’kmaq version of one of his
songs. The fact that for a brief
shining moment this language got
international attention, and was cited by the United
Nations as a language deserving of
preservation … it’s beautiful.”
Montreal, as many will suspect,
looms large in Us and Them; the 1969 Lennon-Ono bed-in
at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel is an
especially fecund source of
stories. One of those, little-known hitherto, involves
the role played by a certain Montreal daily
in the genesis of Lennon’s
best-loved song.
“If the Montreal Gazette hadn’t run a story about a
Cree woman (Lillian Piché Shirt) protesting on the
steps of the Alberta
legislature, and if John Lennon hadn’t read
that story while he was in that bed, he may never have
made the call to the
Edmonton radio station that got him in touch with
her, and they may never have had the phone
conversation that may have
helped inspire the song Imagine.”
Imagine that.
November 25, 2021 Now Streaming: The Beatles Get Back (Part One)
And in the Twitter universe, Star Wars
actor Mark Hamill posted his support this
morning for The
Get Back docuseries in a
humorous way.
November 24, 2021
Ottawa
Beatles Site Retrogroove:
Joe
Bonamassa - "Taxman" - Live at The Cavern Club
The
Beatles docuseries "Get Back" starts tomorrow
on Disney+. And
while you're patiently waiting, have a blast with Joe
Bonamassa's
cover of the Beatles "Taxman." As my best friend Dave
said: "That, bar none, is the best, bluesiest,
cover
of Taxman that
I’ve ever heard. Joe Bonamassa,
is a truly talented blues master guitarist and singer
with a really great
backing band!" In
response to my friend Dave's remarks is this:
"Beatle fans, have a listen and you'll agree!"
Taxman was written by George Harrison.
- John Whelan, special for the Ottawa Beatles Site
George Harrison's All Things Must Pass is
nominated for a Grammy
November 23, 2021
Neil
Young Is The Only Person To Perform Paul McCartney’s
Original ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ Lyrics
by Paul Cashmere for Noise11
Paul McCartney has revealed to Howard Stern that his
original lyric to ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was a
mistake and that
John Lennon had him change it. But then McCartney told
Neil Young the story and Young performed the original.
McCartney wrote ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ with the
opening lyrics “well she was just 17, never been a
beauty queen”.
Paul told Howard Stern that when he presented the song
to John Lennon “we both looked at each other and I
knew he was
going to say that and I knew ‘oh, this is not good’.
It wasn’t good. It was a rhyme but it wasn’t good.”
Decades later Paul told Neil Young about the line.
Neil then sang the line at a music industry benefit.
“Years later I was
getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Neil
Young was there. I told him that story. There was a
MusiCares thing,
a big benefit in LA and Neil was playing there and he
did that song and he used that line”.
Paul McCartney considers ‘I Saw Her Standing There’
the best song he has ever written.
‘I Saw Here Standing There’ was track one side one of
the very first album for The Beatles ‘Please Please
Me’. The first live
recording at the Cavern Club in Liverpool later 1962.
It was a slow song then. The version you know was
recorded on 11
February 1963 at EMI Recording Studios at 3 Abbey
Road, London. The studios were renamed Abbey Road
Studios after The
Beatles’ Abbey Road album in the 1970s.
Glyn Johns Remembers
November 22, 2021
Ringo Starr teaches drumming
He
filmed the Beatles in crisis. Five decades later, the
world is watching again.
Hudson's Michael Lindsay-Hogg sees his footage of 'Let
It Be' sessions recontextualized for Peter Jackson's
new 'Get Back'
by Casey Seiler for the Times Union
HUDSON — There's 28-year-old Michael Lindsay-Hogg in
January 1969, dodging in and out of the frame as the
Beatles —
alternately playful and cranky — construct an album's
worth of songs that will come to be regarded as
classics. He is
smoking an enormous cigar.
And there's Lindsay-Hogg, 81, on a Zoom call from his
home in Hudson. Unshaven but stylish and bursting with
enthusiasm,
he's embarked on a series of interviews with media all
over the world ahead of this week's release of
"Get Back," Peter
Jackson's three-part Beatles documentary that will
begin streaming on Disney+ on Thursday.
The new project repurposes the 57 hours of footage
Lindsay-Hogg and his crew shot for what was initially
planned as a
Beatles TV special, but ultimately resulted in an
80-minute "Let It Be" theatrical film that wasn't
released until the spring of
1970 — weeks after the world's most famous band had
announced their terminal breakup.
"I'm pleased," Lindsay-Hogg said with evident
understatement. "Because I thought, for a variety of
reasons, that (the film)
'Let It Be' wasn't really given its due."
Lindsay-Hogg's documentary ended up a victim of the
ex-Beatles' mixed feelings about the project, which
captured the
escalating tensions within the band — including but
not limited to guitarist George Harrison's efforts to
stake out a larger
role as a songwriter. At one point, Harrison quietly
quits the band for several weeks, and then returns.
The project was also
complicated by financial disputes within Apple Corps
Ltd., the Beatles' company, as Paul McCartney began to
lose
confidence in the leadership of the band's imposing
new manager Allen Klein.
"So we have a movie which was shot before they broke
up, and then was put on the shelf for a while for a
lot of internal
reasons," said Lindsay-Hogg, who began directing the
Beatles' video clips with
"Paperback Writer" in 1966. "And then it's
released when they're broken up — and everyone thinks,
'Oh, it's the breakup movie. This is what
we've been having
nightmares about for such a long time: Mommy and Daddy
are broken up.' And so it was regarded as this kind of
slightly
soiled remnant of what had been a glorious four or
five years when the Beatles had taken over the
world."
The "Let It Be" film was ultimately pulled from
release, and in recent decades has circulated
primarily in bootlegs and ancient
VHS tapes. "It was slightly put under the carpet by
Apple," Lindsay-Hogg said.
He has abundant respect for Jackson, the New Zealand
filmmaker best known for his epic "Lord of the Rings"
and "Hobbit"
trilogies, who courted Apple about gaining access to
its archives of Lindsay-Hogg's footage as well as
hours of previously
unheard audio from the same sessions.
"Peter asked me to tell him the story of ‘Let It Be’
and who was looking after it near the release,"
Lindsay-Hogg said. "I told
him I was — no one else, really."
"So except for you, 'Let It Be' was really an orphan,"
Jackson told him.
“And I thought, oh my god, if anybody’s ever found the
word to describe what it had gone through — this
sturdy, brave
little movie — he did," Lindsay-Hogg recalled.
Though Lindsay-Hogg hoped for decades to see his "Let
It Be" re-released — a case he would make periodically
to the
band's former members, especially McCartney (the
"go-to guy" for Beatles-related projects, he said) —
the filmmaker wasn't
interested in revisiting the dozens of hours of
footage in the Apple vault.
"I did it 50 years ago; I don't want to do it again,"
he said. “I said, ‘Listen: Whatever use I can be to
Peter, I’m there.’"
He and Jackson consulted regularly during the three
years of work on "Get Back," even as the pandemic
delayed the new
film's release for more than a year. Jackson at times
"was trying to be like Sherlock Holmes. ... 'Do you
remember what was
going on on day six? I can't figure it out.' "
Lindsay-Hogg's footage received a thorough digital
reworking by Jackson's team, giving "Get Back" a new
look that could be
seen even in the way the band's famously shaggy hair
appears. Jackson — who gave an even more striking
overhaul to
footage from World War I in his 2018 documentary "They
Shall Not Grow Old" — wanted it "to look as modern as
it could; he
wanted you to be there and not feel the window, the
impediment of old footage," Lindsay-Hogg said.
Though he's only seen about a third of Jackson's
finished film, Lindsay-Hogg is in an enviable
position: He remains proud of
his decades-old work while admiring what another
filmmaker on the other side of the world has done with
the raw material.
"I gave Peter a lot of good footage," he says with a
laugh. "He's put it together masterfully, and he gets
right down to the
bone."
Lindsay-Hogg and his wife moved to Hudson a few years
ago from Los Angeles; they grew fond of the region
after their
daughter attended college at Bard and ended up
settling in Columbia County. The small city's
walkability is a major asset for
the filmmaker, who doesn't drive.
"We like the vibe as well as the convenience of it.
... It's a cool city," Lindsay-Hogg said.
Before and after his work on "Let It Be," his career
has been peripatetic and varied. He directed 1968's
"The Rolling Stones
Rock and Roll Circus," another snakebit but remarkable
TV special featuring an all-star lineup of the Stones
as well as The
Who, Jethro Tull, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono in a
side project called the Dirty Mac. The "Circus" was
shelved for a
quarter-century before receiving ecstatic reviews at
the 1996 New York Film Festival ahead of its video
release.
Lindsay-Hogg went on to direct dozens of classic
videos for the Stones as well as concert films for
Neil Young and Simon &
Garfunkel (plus Paul Simon's "Graceland: The African
Concert"). In addition to the acclaimed 1981
miniseries adaptation of
Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited," his directing
credits include the feature films "The Object of
Beauty" and "Two of Us,"
the latter a 2000 dramatization of a 1976 Manhattan
encounter between McCartney and Lennon (played by
Aidan Quinn and
Jared Harris) that ended up being the last time the
pair saw each other before Lennon's killing in 1980.
Lindsay-Hogg is one of those figures who connects
dizzying strands of cultural history. An example: The
giant cigars he can
be seen smoking during the "Let It Be" sessions were a
habit he had picked up from Orson Welles, with whom
Lindsay-Hogg
had appeared onstage in his early days as an actor.
(Lindsay-Hogg's 2011 memoir "Luck and Circumstance: A
Coming of Age
in Hollywood, New York, and Points Beyond" goes into
detail about his relationship with Welles — including
his suspicions that
the "Citizen Kane" auteur was his biological father.)
Asked if the Beatles' breakup might be one of the
reasons for their continued popularity — that scarcity
breeds fondness —
Lindsay-Hogg said he isn't so sure. The songs were and
remain the strongest attraction, he believes, and the
fact that the
best of them were about love as opposed to sex — a
subject that, he notes, got much more attention in the
music of the
Stones.
In America, he said, the Beatles arrived as the nation
was barely three months past the November 1963
assassination of
President John F. Kennedy. Their energy was a salve on
a traumatized nation, or at least on its younger
generation.
"The Beatles came on television," Lindsay-Hogg said,
"and there it was: joy and not tragedy coming into
your living room."
Almost 60 years later, as the nation emerges from
another kind of ordeal, they're back.
November 21, 2021
Mojo
Magazine collectors edition - the companion piece to
the Beatles Get Back Book
Yesterday I went down to Chapters book store on Rideau
Street, here in Ottawa. It's not far from Chateau
Laurier hotel
where Paul McCartney stayed at (about a 5
minute walk away) while waiting to perform at the
Canadian Tire centre on
July 7, 2013.
As of this writing, "The Lyrics" by Paul McCartney has
sold out in all Chapter book stores in Ottawa. So I
hope Paul is making
arrangements with the publisher to print more copies.
Hopefully it will be available again before or after
Christmas.
In the meantime I decided to pick up a copy of the
Beatles Get Back book. This is a very impressive "must
have" book for
Beatle collectors. The page layouts are well
presented and serves as historical testimony on one of
the last few efforts by
the Beatles trying to recapture their rock and roll
roots like when they first started out together.
While picking the Beatles Get Back book, I noticed
Mojo Magazine's special coverage on the Get Back
docuseries that is
produced by Peter Jackson. I decided to purchase a
copy. It's nicely packaged. The Mojo edition includes
a black and white
poster (about the size of the poster inserts that fans
got in the White Album.) Printed on the back of the
poster, Mojo
identifies the band members: "Ringo Starr, Paul
McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Lennon at Apple
Studios, January 24, 1969." The back cover also
contains photo advertising for The Beatles - Get Back
book.
Not only does Mojo do a deep dive on the Beatles film,
book and music, they also have special write-ups on
Joni Mitchell and
the passing of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts.
The first two photographs below are scans that I made
while the magazine was still sealed up in durable
plastic. The artwork
is unique to the plastic cover as it is not found on
the actual cover of the magazine, so its worth
preserving. All you need is
pair of scissors and slowly cut across the very top
and you are left with the plastic pouch to preserve
the magazine and the
two gifts inside.
The remaining photos is what housed the CD that came
with it.
- John Whelan, special for the Ottawa Beatles Site
November 20, 2021
From
Facebook the Beatles announce:
"Check out the reviews for the 'Let It Be' special edition packages!"
November 19, 2021
Peter Jackson explains the magic of The Beatles: Get
Back by News Hub
November 18, 2021
Some photographs from the Get Back Documentary Preview, November 16, 2021,
at
London’s Cineworld Leicester
Square
Paul
McCartney’s “Lyrics” Earned the Beatle
Approximately $3.7 Mil in First Four Days of
Publication
by Roger Friedman for Showbiz 411
EXCLUSIVE Paul McCartney is literally printing
money right now.
On Tuesday, November 2, his two volume “The
Lyrics” was released. When NPD BookScan
counted the sales, “The Lyrics” had sold
36,950 copies for the weekend ending November
6th.
That’s $3,695,000 just in the US in
four days.
“The Lyrics” is number 1 this week on the
New York Times non fiction hardcover
bestseller list, and the combined hardcover
and e book
sales.
At BookScan, “The Lyrics” is currently
number 8 on the overall bestseller list, and
number 3 on hardcover non fiction.
It’s quite possible “The Lyrics” has sold
100,000 copies in the US since November 2nd,
which would be the equivalent of 200,000
books.
We’ll know more on Friday.
Beatles and McCartney fans are scooping up
the two volume set mostly at $100.000. (It was
briefly discounted by Amazon to $60.) Any
why not? This is now the permanent record,
the last word so to speak by McCartney on 154
songs. Some of them are tossaways, but
least 125 are of major interest. In
the volumes he names “Here, There and
Everywhere” as the favorite of all the songs
he’s composed.
Well, Lennon-McCartney, McCartney-Lennon,
McCartney on his own or with anyone else is an
extraordinary catalog, the Bach or
Beethoven of our lifetime. I hope
next year he offers a Volume 3 with songs he
left out. But for now, this should keep
everyone busy.
(PS If only Adele had tried one of
those songs!!)
November 16, 2021
Paul McCartney says ‘The Beatles: Get Back’
documentary changed his perception of their split
The Peter Jackson film will premiere on
Disney+ later this month
By Damian Jones for New Music Express
From the top: John Lennon, Paul
McCartney, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and Beatle
producer Sir George Martin, George Harrison, Paul and
John
share some fun together. Photo credit: Apple Corps and
Disney+
Paul McCartney has admitted that Peter Jackson’s
The Beatles: Get Back documentary has changed his
perception of their
split.
The three part film, which is coming to Disney+ later
this month, focuses on the making of the band’s
penultimate studio
album ‘Let It Be’ and showcases their final concert as
a band, on London’s Savile Row rooftop, in its
entirety.
“I’ll tell you what is really fabulous about it, it
shows the four of us having a ball,” McCartney told
The Sunday Times after
watching the film. “It was so reaffirming for me.
That was one of the important things about The
Beatles, we could make
each other laugh."
He continued: “John and I are in this footage doing
‘Two Of Us’ and, for some reason, we’ve decided to do
it like
ventriloquists. It’s hilarious. It just proves to me
that my main memory of the Beatles was the joy and the
skill.”
Asked if it had changed his perception of the band’s
eventual split, he said: “Really yes. And there is
proof in the footage.
Because I definitely bought into the dark side of The
Beatles breaking up and thought, ‘God, I’m to blame.’
“It’s easy, when the climate is going that way, to
think that. But at the back of my mind there was this
idea that it wasn’t
like that. I just needed to see proof.”
John Lennon privately informed his bandmates that he
was leaving the Beatles in September 1969, before the
following year
saw McCartney famously announce his self-titled debut
solo album with a press release that stated he was no
longer
working with the group – breaking their split to the
world.
“We made a decision when The Beatles folded that we
weren’t going to pick it up again,” he said. “You talk
about how
something has come full circle and that’s very
satisfying, so let’s not spoil it.”
He also said that looking back now, he may have
reunited with Lennon in later years.
McCartney added: “We could have. And I often now will
think, if writing a song, ‘OK, John, I’ll toss it over
to you. What line
comes next?’ So I’ve got a virtual John that I can
use.”
“I think the biggest misconception at the end of The
Beatles was that I broke The Beatles up, and I lived
with that for quite
a while,” he added. “Once a headline’s out there, it
sticks. That was a big one – and I’ve only finally
just gotten over it.”
The Beatles: Get Back documentary will
premiere on Disney+ on November 25, 26 and 27.
"The LOST Beatles Album | Cancelled By Apple -
Should It Be Re-released?" - Asks Parlogram Auctions
'A Collection of Beatles Oldies' was a
popular and highly successful Beatles album worldwide
for 20 years before being
dumped by EMI/Apple in 1987. Whilst derided in the UK
as a cynical cash grab back in 1966, it became a
lifeline for fans in
countries where it was impossible to find any Beatles
records at all. Behind the Iron Curtain being one such
location. Join us
in this video, we trace the album's history from
concept to deletion, look at pressings from around the
world and make a
case for it reinstatement back into the official
Beatles canon.
Photo credit:
John Whelan, personal vinyl collection. Camera
type: Canon Powershot SX50
Photo credit: John Whelan, personal vinyl collection.
Camera type: Canon Powershot SX50
November 13, 2021
Paul McCartney "The Lyrics" hits number on the New
York Times Best Seller list!
November 11, 2021 Song featuring George Harrison and Ringo Starr
discovered in attic by the Irish Examiner
A song featuring George Harrison and Ringo Starr has
been played in public for the first time, after the
composer discovered
the tape more than 50 years after it was recorded.
Suresh Joshi, 77, said he met The Beatles stars when
he was recording music for a documentary at London’s
Trident Studios
in 1968, at the same time as the group was recording
Hey Jude.
He said they recorded the song Radhe Shaam together,
which was played for the first time at Liverpool
Beatles Museum in
Mathew Street on Wednesday.
Mr Joshi said that when he first met Harrison, who
died in 2001, he came across as “very lonely”.
Singer Ashish Khan performed the vocals on the track
while Harrison played the guitar and Starr offered to
accompany on
drums.
Mr Joshi said: “It was a miracle for me to have big
stars like that play for me.”
Harrison was known to have been inspired by Indian
music and culture and Mr Joshi said he turned to
meditation to give him
confidence.
The song was never released as they all moved on to
other projects.
It was only during lockdown, when Mr Joshi was
speaking to family friend Deepak Pathak, that he
encouraged him to try to
find the tape, which was in a box in the loft of his
Birmingham home.
Mr Joshi said: “I told Deepak that I had known The
Beatles and I think he thought ‘this man has gone
nuts’ so he said ‘prove
it’.
“I found photographs from the time and then finally I
found the tape.”
The song was almost lost for good when they tried to
play the tape in a machine which caught fire, but it
was rescued and
restored by music producer Suraj Shinh, known as
Nimbus.theproducer.
Mr Pathak approached the museum with the track and
they arranged for it to have its world premiere on
Wednesday. It will
be released online later.
Museum owner Roag Best, brother of The Beatles’
original drummer Pete, said: “This was the first time
George or Ringo had
layed for anybody else outside Beatles and then that
track just got put on the backburner.
“We are actually the first people in the world to hear
this song.”
Ottawa Beatles Site editorial:
The BBC is reporting that the song "Radhe Shaam,"
was written and produced by broadcaster
Suresh Joshi in 1968. The above video broadcast is
taken from the recent BBC broadcast that features
George and Ringo
performing on the song.
November 9, 2021
Maureen Cleave, Swinging Sixties correspondent
who chronicled the rise of the Beatles as John
Lennon’s
confidante and was the source of the ‘bigger
than Jesus’ scandal – obituary
by the Telegraph
Maureen Cleave, the journalist, who has died aged 87,
was a friend and confidante of the Beatles on their
ascent to global
stardom in the mid-1960s; she famously became John
Lennon’s muse and relayed to the world his most toxic
quote about
the group being more popular than Jesus.
In January 1963 she was a glamorous young pop
columnist on the Evening Standard, a fashionable,
buzzy paper that
chronicled the stirrings of Swinging London through
the eyes of writers whose average age was at least a
generation
younger than the rest of Fleet Street.
A 28-year-old Oxford-educated former debutante, she
was the first London journalist to catch on to the
Beatles
phenomenon, furnishing the group their first major
splash in the metropolitan press in a piece headlined
“Why The Beatles
Create All That Frenzy”, a fortnight after the release
of their second single, Please Please Me and their
first appearance on
ITV’s Thank Your Lucky Stars.
“They wear bell-bottomed suits of a rich burgundy
colour with black velvet collars,” she noted. “Their
shirts are pink and
their hairstyles are French.” She quoted an unnamed
Liverpool housewife as saying: “Their physical
appearance inspires
frenzy. They look beat-up and depraved in the nicest
possible way.” This anonymous admirer was Gillian
Reynolds, later a
distinguished Daily Telegraph columnist, and Maureen
Cleave’s best friend at Oxford.
Maureen Cleave was swiftly admitted to the Beatles’
inner circle (where she was known as Thingy), enjoyed
privileged
access to “the boys” and accompanied them from
Liverpool to London for their first concert at the
Palladium and in 1964 on
their first trip to the United States.
“For two years they were out of breath,” she
remembered. “They ran to escape screaming mobs of
frightening harpies.
‘Come on, Thingy,’ they’d roar at me as I pelted after
them. They were smuggled in and out of food lifts.
Once, in America,
just like the Marx Brothers, they dashed through a
Palm Court orchestra playing to ladies eating ice
cream.”
Lennon, for his part, took a particular shine to
Maureen Cleave, admiring her intellect as well as her
looks – including her red
boots by Anello & Davide which were considered rather
outré for the time. She wore virtually no make-up and
her hair was a
natural chestnut colour; it was styled by Rose
Evansky, the inventor of the “blow wave”. Lennon
likened her prose,
meanwhile, to that of Richmal Crompton’s Just William
books, a compliment Maureen Cleave claimed was like
being compared
to Shakespeare.
But once the Beatles had become the most famous
entertainers in the world, she witnessed at first hand
the destructive
force of modern celebrity. When she rang Lennon up at
his stockbroker’s Tudor-style mansion in Weybridge, he
would ask
her what day it was, for the Beatles had long since
lost the ability to distinguish day from night.
Whatever the true extent of her relationship with
Lennon, Maureen Cleave certainly came to influence his
creativity. In 1964
she happened to be interviewing him on the day the
Beatles were to record the song A Hard Day’s Night.
Arriving in a taxi
with Lennon at the EMI recording studio in Abbey Road,
she found the tune was already in his head and the
words scribbled
on the back of a birthday card a fan had sent his baby
son Julian.
Maureen Cleave during the 1960s.
The lyrics included the lines: “But when I get home to
you/I find my tiredness is through/And I feel all
right”. Considering this
rather feeble and awkward, Maureen Cleave suggested
something rather more risqué: “I find the things that
you do/Will
make me feel all right”.
Lennon agreed the change, and kept it in, giving her
the amended written lyric as a memento. After she
chided Lennon for
only writing songs with one-syllable words, he
consciously worked “anybody”, “independence” and
“appreciate” into the
lyrics of the song Help!
She was reputedly the inspiration for his song
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), a track on the
Beatles’ Rubber Soul
album (1965) about a man having an extra-marital
affair. Although the number was said to be
autobiographical, speculation
about the identity of the girl in the song always
mentioned Maureen Cleave, among others.
According to one American biographer, Lennon claimed
Norwegian Wood was based on a extramarital affair he
was having
with her and that the song was his work entirely. On
the other hand Paul McCartney disputed this, insisted
it was written
between them at Lennon’s mansion in a single
afternoon, and that the fanciful title was a joke
about the cheap pine walls in
the bedroom of Peter Asher, brother of the actress
Jane Asher, whom McCartney was dating at the time.
For her part, Maureen Cleave said that in all her
encounters with Lennon he made “no pass” at her,
although Lennon, while
confessing to his wife Cynthia that he had indeed
slept with her (among thousands of other women), later
recanted and
claimed he could not remember who the song was about.
In 2009 Philip Norman in his biography of Lennon
revealed it was
about his affair with the German wife of the
photographer Robert Freeman, who lived in the flat
below Lennon and his wife
Cynthia when the couple lived in central London.
In the spring of 1966 Maureen Cleave profiled Lennon
for the Evening Standard, portraying him as a lazy,
restless but
reflective and thoughtful figure who was reading
widely about religion, and coolly reporting him as
saying: “Christianity will
go. It will vanish and shrink… We’re more popular than
Jesus now.”
Four months later, on the eve of a Beatles US tour, an
American teen magazine picked up the article and
headlined the
quote, detonating a media firestorm. Beatles records
were burned in the Bible belt of the Deep South and
outraged local
radio stations banned Beatles airplay. The Ku Klux
Klan arranged anti-Beatles demonstrations, the Vatican
denounced
Lennon and Beatles albums were banned in South Africa.
In London Maureen Cleave defended Lennon’s remarks,
saying he had merely acknowledged Christianity’s
decline in postwar
Europe which meant that the Beatles were, to many
people, better known than Jesus.
“With a PR man at his side,” Maureen Cleave recalled
many years afterwards, “the quote would never have got
into my
notebook, let alone the Oxford Dictionary of
Quotations, where it ended up. As it was, the Evening
Standard didn’t even put
it in the headline. We were used to him sounding off
like that and knew it was ironically meant. But the
Americans have little
sense of irony, and when the article appeared in a
magazine, all hell broke loose. It was the last time
the Beatles ever
toured.”
Maureen Diana Cleave was born on October 20 1934 at
Sligo in the north-west of Ireland. In September 1940
she and her
mother and sister were bound for India, where her
father was an army officer, when their ship was
torpedoed by a German
U-boat off Rathlin Island. The family spent five hours
in a lifeboat before being rescued.
From Rosleven boarding school in Athlone, Maureen went
up to St Anne’s College, Oxford, in 1954, and in 1957
took a Third
in Modern History, having come out as a debutante in
1955 and been presented at court. Starting at the
Evening Standard
as a secretary in the typing pool, she had written
almost nothing for the paper when the editor Charles
Wintour appointed
her as a showbusiness correspondent and gave her a
column called “Disc Date”.
In January 1963 she wrote about Terence Stamp, a
successful young film star from Stepney, aged 25. A
week later, her
Oxford friend Gillian Reynolds tipped her off about
the Beatles, “this odd group in Liverpool who inspired
an unaccountable
frenzy in the young”, and she travelled north to
interview them.
On the train she met the Daily Mail’s star feature
writer, Vincent Mulchrone, on an identical mission,
and that evening
watched the Beatles play a one-nighter at Liverpool’s
Grafton Rooms before embarking on a provincial tour
supporting Helen
Shapiro.
Taken by Brian Epstein to see the queues that had
formed two hours ahead of the show, Maureen Cleave was
told by some
of the girl fans that they had not bought the Beatles’
first single, Love Me Do, in case the band became
famous and left
Liverpool.
By 1966 they were the most famous foursome on the
planet, and Maureen Cleave interviewed each of them in
turn for a
series in the Evening Standard called How Does A
Beatle Live?, concentrating on their home lives and
their detachment –
particularly Lennon’s – from reality. Opening with her
opinion of his personality in a single sentence –
imperious,
unpredictable, indolent, disorganised, childish,
vague, charming and quick-witted – her profile of
Lennon still stands as his
most famous interview.
When her piece appeared in the Standard in March 1966
Lennon’s “bigger than Jesus” remarks went virtually
unnoticed in
largely godless Britain. But because of the incendiary
reaction when the article was syndicated in the US the
following
summer, resulting in death threats and genuine fear,
it has featured in every biography of Lennon and the
Beatles since, and
its influence on the group itself can scarcely be
overestimated. It was, as one American writer noted,
the greatest blow to
the Beatles’ favourable image in the group’s history.
Although Lennon expressed regret for any offence
caused by his remarks, he declined to withdraw them.
Maureen Cleave
even offered to take the blame, and to say that she
had made up the quotes. Perhaps unwittingly, she
changed the rules of
engagement of pop music journalism, replacing the
traditionally anodyne encounter between press and pop
star with a more
probing style and casting Lennon in the role of
spokesman for a generation. A new type of journalism
would soon emerge
that reflected this change: when Rolling Stone
magazine first appeared the following year, its cover
star was John Lennon.
Maureen Cleave severed her links with Lennon shortly
after the controversy in 1966, the year she married.
“It was
exhilarating while the novelty lasted,” she wrote many
years later, “though Lennon, far from being surprised
and grateful,
seemed rather nettled he hadn’t been famous sooner. ‘I
was always surprised I wasn’t a famous painter. I used
to look in
the paper and half expect to see my photograph there.’
He found his own story, the Beatle story, romantic; he
liked to talk
about the rags and the riches and, by the time they
reached the top, fame had so cut them off from real
life there wasn’t
much else to do but talk.”
Ten years after Lennon’s murder in New York in
December 1980, Maureen Cleave wrote an affectionate
memoir of him in The
Telegraph Weekend Magazine. “Once or twice I had been
tempted to call and see him. What had happened to my
old friend?
Friend, buddy and pal, as he used to say.” But after
the “bigger than Jesus” debacle, she admitted that he
might not have
been keen to see her.
At the Evening Standard she conducted frequent
interviews with other famous musicians of the 1960s,
including Bob Dylan
and the Rolling Stones, memorably posing the question:
“But would you like your daughter to marry one?” The
satirical
magazine Private Eye guyed her as Maureen Cleavage,
often linking her to a fictional pop group called the
Turds, and their
charismatic leader Spiggy Topes, based on the Beatles
and John Lennon respectively.
Over the next 40 years she continued as a
distinguished interviewer of people in all walks of
life for the Telegraph and Saga
magazines among many others. In August 1992 she
collapsed on the platform at Tottenham Court Road tube
station with
symptoms later diagnosed as ME (myalgic
encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue).
She married, in 1966, Francis Nichols, an economist
and farmer, whom she met at Oxford and who predeceased
her in 2015.
They had three children.
Maureen Cleave, born October 20 1934, died November 6
2021.
November 8, 2021
Beatles manager Brian Epstein to be celebrated
with statue
A new statue of Beatles manager Brian Epstein, showing
him walking to see the band, will celebrate his legacy
in Liverpool,
The Brian Epstein Legacy Project wants to place the
work on Whitechapel, close to the music impresario's
record shop.
A spokeswoman said the crowdfunded work would be the
first in the city centre to commemorate an LGBT
figure.
Sculptor Andy Edwards said showing Epstein in full
stride was a nod to his Pier Head statues of the Fab
Four.
Epstein discovered The Beatles in 1961 after seeing
them play at the Cavern Club, which was just a short
walk from his
NEMS Record Store. Sir Paul McCartney would
later refer to him as "the fifth Beatle".
'Justly honoured'
The project spokeswoman said Epstein's
five-year deal with the band "saw them become more
professional and guided
them not simply to the top of the music charts but
into cultural history".
His death in 1967 was "seen as the beginning of the
end for The Beatles", she added.
He was also instrumental in the careers of several
other local acts, including Gerry and the Pacemakers,
Cilla Black,
Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas, and Tommy Quickly.
The spokeswoman said that "although his sexuality was
not publicly known until after his death, it was well
known amongst
his friends and business associates [and he] faced
many personal challenges".
"Epstein was only 32 when he died and did not live to
see the changes that could have impacted on his
freedom to publicly
express his sexuality [as] laws were changed a month
after his death," she added.
Tom Calderbank, who has led the project, said he was
"absolutely delighted" to be submitting the plans for
the work.
"This is a tribute to the hard work, enthusiasm and
tenacity of our committee who have spent five years
working towards
this goal," he said.
"The Epstein family have supported us from the start,
and I'm made up we're able to repay that faith by
confirming that
Brian will finally be justly honoured in his
hometown."
Edwards said his design for the statue was "intended
to be in the same style as our Beatles statues".
"It relates to them not only in the walking pose, but
it maps the short journey Brian would take to The
Cavern from his NEMS
office, or maybe to meet his boys on the waterfront.
"He could also, of course, be off to see Gerry, Billy,
Tommy, Michael or Cilla."
Kevin McManus, head of Unesco City of Music in
Liverpool, said Epstein "changed music management
forever".
"Brian is such an important figure in Liverpool
history that it is fitting that his significance is
now set to be recognised," he
added.
The planning application will be decided upon by
Liverpool City Council later in the year.
November 7, 2021 American Songwriter: Live chat with Ringo
Starr and Linda Perry this coming Tuesday
THE LYRICS
1956 to the Present
By Paul McCartney
Edited and with an introduction by Paul Muldoon
When they first started to write songs as teenagers in
Liverpool, John Lennon and Paul McCartney decided to
credit
everything they wrote to “Lennon and McCartney,” no
matter what or how much either of them had contributed
to the
words or the music. The echo of Rodgers and
Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and other famous
songwriting teams led
people to assume that Lennon and McCartney were
adhering to the traditional division of songwriting
labor, with one partner
serving as the composer, and the other, the lyricist.
The New York Times critic Dan Sullivan, writing in
1967, credited
McCartney for most of the group’s music, which he
lauded for originality “matched by John Lennon’s
freshness as a lyricist.”
The composer Ned Rorem, much the same, thought
McCartney was responsible for the music and, as such,
“the Beatles’
most significant member.” Patting Lennon on the
moptop, he congratulated him for writing lyrics “well
matched to the
tunes.”
Over time, as the Tin Pan Alley model of songmaking
faded into memory and singer-songwriters became
pervasive in pop
music, the proposition that both Lennon and McCartney
could be composers and lyricists in equal measure — as
well as
singers and instrumentalists — seemed easier to grasp.
In fact, a new conception of pop artists as do-it-all
vertically
integrated singularities redefined pop artistry,
thanks in large part to the Beatles having changed the
rules. Yet the ongoing
(or never-ending) conversation about the Beatles has
long been informed by a lingering perception of Lennon
as the word
man, the more literary and cerebral Beatle, and
McCartney as the more musical one, an intuitive artist
attuned to the
pleasures of the senses. This line of thinking has
tended to diminish McCartney in the eyes of rock
critics more disposed to
textual analysis than musicology, and it clearly
drives McCartney bonkers, as he demonstrates on a
grand scale with the
lavishly prepared two-volume boxed set of books “The
Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.”
McCartney, a songwriter of staggering prolificacy, has
been writing or co-writing songs — as well as music of
other kinds,
including extended works in classical forms, a ballet
score and experiments in electronica — at a steady
rate with few
pauses since 1956, when he was 14. “Fans or readers,
or even critics, who really want to learn more about
my life should
read my lyrics, which might reveal more than any
single book about the Beatles could do,” McCartney
writes in the foreword
to “The Lyrics.”
The books present the words to 154 of the songs
McCartney has created on his own or with various
collaborators — with
Lennon while they were Beatles; with his first wife,
Linda, before and during their participation in
McCartney’s post-Beatles
group Wings; with their bandmate Denny Laine; and with
a few others from time to time — over the years. The
books’ title,
in its declarative terseness, proclaims the books’
definitiveness. It’s not “Selected Lyrics” or “Paul’s
Favorite Lyrics” or
“Lyrics That Remind Paul of a Little Story He’d Like
to Share,” but just “The Lyrics,” and it’s misleading.
The books provide a
carefully curated selection of lyrics: 154 out of the
more than 400 songs McCartney wrote or co-wrote on 22
Beatles studio
albums and 26 Wings and solo albums, along with
singles and B sides.
It would be easy to fill the rest of this review space
with the titles of less-than-print-worthy lyrics from
McCartney’s vast
catalog. One can’t blame him for not including goofy
doggerel such as “Oo You,” “Mumbo” and “Bip Bop.” Nor
should one
fault McCartney for the pride he takes in the lyrics
selected for these books, though some are
treacherously close to
doggerel, too. (I’m thinking of “My Love” and “Live
and Let Die,” the latter of which has been rewritten
since the original
published sheet music to eliminate “this ever-changing
world in which we live in,” though the amended lyric
is still awfully
trite.) To read over the words to these 154 songs is
to be impressed not merely with McCartney’s
productivity but with the
fertility of his imagination and the potency of his
offhand, unfussy style. The best of the songs
collected here (“For No
One,” “She’s Leaving Home,” “When Winter Comes,” “On
My Way to Work” and quite a few more) reflect eyes
fixed on the
small niceties and curiosities of everyday life and a
mind that bounces freely, taking childlike pleasure in
that freedom. “The
Lyrics” makes clear that McCartney has written on a
high level long past his Beatles years, and even the
weakest lyrics in
the books have a character all their own: a feeling of
giddy playfulness and unguarded experimentation.
They’re a joy to
read because they exude the joy their maker took in
their making.
Like most pop lyrics, the words to McCartney’s songs
are considerably more effective with the music they
were written for.
With the addition of melody, harmony, instruments, the
human voice and studio electronics, a piece of
recorded music can
come together like, say, “Come Together” — a song by
Lennon that McCartney transformed in the studio by
radically
altering the music. “The Lyrics” does not present a
partial view of McCartney’s songs, though; it presents
a different view of
them. In the absence of music, the books add to the
words with new elements of accompaniment: photographs,
reproductions of manuscripts, images of mementos and
artifacts related to the songs or the time of their
making, and
lengthy commentary by McCartney. These materials are
far from ancillary and actually constitute the bulk of
the contents of
“The Lyrics.” (Only 156 of the books’ 874 pages are
used for lyrics.)
The commentary was constructed with the aid of Paul
Muldoon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, who also
happens to be a
rock musician and songwriter. In 24 sessions (face to
face before the pandemic, and then by
videoconference), Muldoon led
McCartney in conversations about the songs and later
edited McCartney’s language to produce the
first-person prose in the
books. The text is loose and ruminative, and it
reveals a great deal about what McCartney thinks about
life and music, and
what he would like us to think about him.
Over and over, McCartney shows how deeply he is
steeped in literary history and how much his output as
a songwriter has
in common with the works of the likes of Dickens and
Shakespeare. “John never had anything like my interest
in literature,”
he announces at the top of his commentary on “The
End,” before pivoting to a mini-lecture on the couplet
as a form. “When
you think about it, it’s been the workhorse of poetry
in English right the way through. Chaucer, Pope,
Wilfred Owen.”
Apropos of “Come and Get It,” the trifle he wrote and
produced for Badfinger, McCartney notes, “When you’re
writing for an
audience — as Shakespeare did, or Dickens, whose
serialized chapters were read to the public — there’s
that need to pull
people in.” Aaaah … we realize: Paul really is a
word man, the more literary and cerebral Beatle.
As one would expect from the pop star who posed with
his baby tucked in his coat on his farm for his first
post-Beatles
album, McCartney talks with ardor and respect for his
parents, his extended family in Liverpool, and the
traditional values of
hearth and home in general. He attributes the buoyant
positivity of his music to the happiness in his family
life and, by
extension, ascribes the bite and cynicism that
distinguishes much of Lennon’s work to the domestic
upheaval in John’s early
years. To McCartney, a dark view of humanity is a
failing and must be a mark of suffering, rather than
an attribute of
thought.
While pronouncing his love for Lennon as a longtime
friend and creative partner, Paul is pretty rough on
him at points in “The
Lyrics.” His main crime is one of omission, passing on
opportunities to point out Lennon’s signature
contributions to songs
they wrote collaboratively, such as “A Day in the
Life.” In the context of conflicts between the two of
them, McCartney
describes Lennon as “stupid” or an “idiot.” Yes, we
all know that McCartney can’t help defining himself in
relation to Lennon.
Still, as he shows convincingly throughout “The
Lyrics,” you don’t have to make the other guy out to
be an idiot to prove
that you’re a genius.
David Hajdu is the author, most recently, of “A
Revolution in Three Acts: The Radical Vaudeville of
Bert Williams, Eva
Tanguay, and Julian Eltinge.”
THE LYRICS
1956 to the Present
By Paul McCartney
Edited and with an introduction by Paul Muldoon
Illustrated. 874 pp.
Liveright Publishing. $100.
November 5, 2021 Paul McCartney knew he'd never top The Beatles
— and that's just fine with him
by Terry Gross for NPR
This is a really terrific interview with Paul was
conducted by Terry Gross for NPR's "Fresh Air"
broadcast. The report
has also been
transcribed in print format.
Above: Paul McCartney during the days of Beatlemania
and Terry Gross who recently interviewed Paul.
Paul McCartney says romance with Nancy was meant
to be due to mutual love of dancing
Sir Paul McCartney and businesswoman Nancy Shevell got
together during a holiday in Morocco with his brother
White Horse Pictures and Homegrown Pictures have
teamed on an untitled documentary feature about the
legendary musician and genius keyboardist Billy
Preston. He was called the Fifth Beatle, because he
the only non-member ever to be credited on a Beatles
recording. He had plenty of his own hits and co-wrote
the song Joe Cocker made famous, You Are So
Beautiful. Fifteen years after his death in 2006,
Billy Preston was inducted this past weekend into the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Paris Barclay, the multi-Emmy-winning director,
producer, and writer (In Treatment, Glee, Sons of
Anarchy) will direct. Cheo Hodari Coker (Creed
II, Luke Cage, Ray Donovan) is writing the film
alongside Barclay.
The film is produced by Homegrown’s Stephanie Allain (Hustle
& Flow, Dear White People, 2020 Oscars), White
Horse’s Jeanne Elfant Festa, (Bee Gees: How Can
You Mend a Broken Heart) and Nigel Sinclair (Pavarotti,
George Harrison: Living in the Material World).
The exec producers are Barclay, Daniel Shaw, G. Marq
Roswell, Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde, and White
Horse Pictures’ Nicholas Ferrall and Cassidy Hartmann.
Coker is co-producing and Erikka Yancy serves as the
film’s supervising producer. Pic is presented by
Concord Originals alongside Impact Partners, Chicago
Media Project, and Play/Action Pictures, Polygram
Entertainment, Dave Knott, and Sobey Road
Entertainment.
Said Allain: “A singular figure in music history,
Billy Preston lent his genius to elevate the most
celebrated artists of the 20th Century. Grateful to
work with this team, using this soundtrack to explore
his personal journey and finally place him front and
center.” Barclay said “the Billy Preston we know was
an incomparable musician,” but the Billy we’ll see in
this documentary was a mass of contradictions. I’m
thrilled to dig deeper into the complex man under the
Afro, and behind the famous smile.”
A self taught prodigy keyboard player, Preston was
just 16 when he met the not-yet-famous Beatles while
playing for Little Richard while they toured Hamburg
in 1962. He befriended the young, impoverished band by
sneaking them food and drinks. Later in the ’60s, this
led to Preston playing on The Beatles’ Let It Be
and Abbey Road albums as a credited musician,
and performing with the Beatles in their last live
performance as a group – the famous Roof Top concert.
The Grammy Award-winning artist had solo career that
included number one hits, and working with The Rolling
Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nat King Cole, Sly
Stone, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke,
Aretha Franklin and Mahalia Jackson, among others.
Preston is featured in the upcoming Peter
Jackson-directed documentary The Beatles: Get Back.
Despite an enviable career in music, Preston had
a challenging personal story that involved sexual
abuse he endured as a child. He struggled with his
sexuality and had substance abuse problems he used to
make his pain. Only later in life did he come to terms
with his truth and so find his peace.
Barclay and Hodari Coker asked to make a shout out to
those who knew Preston or worked with him, who and may
have recordings, photographs, or personal memories to
make contact through
http://www.billyprestondoc.com.
UTA Independent Film Group with White Horse Pictures
helped raise the funding and they will broker sales of
the film.
Allain’s Homegrown is repped by UTA, First Artists and
Marcy Morris; Barclay is ICM and Lovett Management.
November 3, 2021 The Lennon Wall in Prague Czech Republic
Photo credit: Utkarsh Kapoor, India.
Original ‘Let It Be’ Director Defends His
Film: ‘I Don’t Care’ That Ringo Hates It
Michael Lindsay-Hogg looks back on his time with the
Beatles, from hearing John and Yoko’s audio sex tape
to watching (and
recording) George quit the band
By Brian Hiatt for Rolling Stone
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, director of the long-lost
1970 Beatles documentary
Let It Be,
is about to see his 56 hours of original
footage recut into an entirely different movie:
Peter Jackson’s three-part, six-hour-long,
painstakingly restored
The Beatles:
Get Back,
which debuts Nov. 25 on Disney+. But Lindsay-Hogg
doesn’t feel like his earlier work is being erased.
“The original
thing exists,” says the director, who hasn’t seen
Jackson’s full film yet — he was told it’s still not
quite finished. “And I know
what I think of the original thing.”
Lindsay-Hogg was a director on the legendary U.K.
music TV show Ready Steady Go!, and he went
on to shoot video clips
for the Beatles and Stones, as well as The Rolling
Stones Rock and Roll Circus, which was finally
released on home video in
2004. In late 1968, the Beatles recruited him for a TV
special that eventually morphed into Let It Be,
a vérité documentary
that captures the Beatles in the final year of their
existence as a band, though not their actual breakup:
They went on to
record all of Abbey Road after the Let It
Be sessions. It remains the rawest and most
unvarnished look at the Beatles, which
is the main reason the film remains officially
unavailable, though Lindsay-Hogg is hopeful that may
soon change.
Lindsay-Hogg, 81, looked back at his film and some of
the controversies surrounding it in a recent Zoom
conversation with Rolling Stone, conducted as he was recovering
from heart-valve replacement surgery.
Let It Be was
briefly available on home video in the 1980s, but
never since. How frustrating was that for you, and how
did you learn of this new plan to let Peter Jackson
take on the footage? I was always
agitating for Let It Be
to be released in some form. Because there did seem to
be an audience for it. I like Let It Be. And I always thought,
for a variety of reasons which weren’t its fault, it
was positioned badly in the world of rock & roll
documentaries, and even Beatles lore. About three
years ago, I went to London and saw my friend Jonathan
Clyde, who’s a key player at [the Beatles’ company,
Apple Corps.], and he said, “There’s something going
on now that we ought to talk about. Peter Jackson has
had a look at a lot of the old material. And he’s
thinking maybe he’d like to have a whack at it. And
what do you feel about that?”
And I think they were expecting me to in English
parlance, throw a wobbly. I didn’t throw a wobbly at
all. I said, that would
be great. Because I didn’t want to do it again. I
did mine. I’ve seen those 56 hours [of footage]
years ago. I love Peter’s
work. And so I thought, if it’s going to go into any
hands, he’s imaginative, and he’s tough, and, I
learned, he loves the
Beatles. I had to cut out certain things, which I
always hoped would come to light again. Now he’s going
to release six hours
versus an hour and a half. There was no way that we’d
have had six hours of Beatles in 1970 as a movie!
At one of your initial meetings with the Beatles to
discuss the project that became Let It Be,
did John really play
an audiocassette recording of him having sex with
Yoko? Well, he put it in
the cassette player and he pressed the button. And at
first, you couldn’t be sure what it was, because
you heard murmuring voices. But then you knew because
of the intimate way they were talking, because of
pauses,
because of silences, because of murmurs of pleasure
that that’s what was going on. I remember thinking it
was an
extraordinary salvo. And that it was him saying, “This
is what’s going on now. And it is her and me. It’s not
you, not the
other three guys I have grown up with. It’s her and
me, and this is an aspect of my life that isn’t going
to change.” So I
think that was more like a calling card.
That’s certainly a powerful way to deliver that
message. Weird! These were guys who had shared
one-room apartments and
a small bathroom in Hamburg for months at a time. And
they knew each other and they’re all wildly
heterosexual. And they
kind of were silenced by this. And then one of them
said, “Well, that’s interesting.”
Ringo is being openly sour about your original
movie. He told me that there was “no joy” in it. Personally, I don’t care. That’s his opinion. And
we all have them. I mean, the polite version is
everybody’s got elbows and
everybody’s got opinions. I like Ringo. And I don’t
think he’s seen the movie for 50 years. Don’t forget,
we shot it in January
’69. We are editing it through August, maybe September
’69, and it’s probably ready, September, October ’69.
And there’s
some issues about when it’s going to get released,
because [business manager] Allen Klein wanted to have
a seat on the
board of MGM, and he was trying to use the film to
parlay that. Then that didn’t work out, so he went
back to United
Artists. But that’s around the time that the Beatles
are starting to break up.
And I think, if you haven’t
seen the movie in a long time, and you may not have
the best memory in the world, all that kind of gets
mixed up in your brain about what it was like. Because
when I saw it last, I’m thinking, “What is he talking
about?” In fact, there’s great joy and connection and
collaboration, and good times and jokes and affection
in Let It Be. It ends with the concert on the
roof, which is the first time they played together in
public for three years, when they are magical. And
they’re having such a good time. They realize, wow,
we’ve been missing this. And through much of the
picture, they’re happy and they’re trying to work
things out. You don’t always have a smile on your face
when you’re trying to work something out. You’re
thinking. So I just don’t think he’s seen it for a
long time. And again, with respect, I don’t care. As a
human being, he’s wonderfully quick and funny.
In your recollection,
playing on the roof was your idea, right? I figured it was my job to say we need a place
we’re going to, we need a place to end, we need a
conclusion. And that’s when I said, “Why don’t we do
it on the roof?” Because I thought that was part of my
job, to offer them choices. Because it wasn’t that
they lacked ideas or imagination. God, no. But you had
to help focus them because they had a million other
things to do, including making an album.
We know that George Harrison temporarily quit the
Beatles while you were filming, but that didn’t end up
in your
movie. Peter Jackson has said his version will include
it. What was behind your choice not to put all that
in? Well, I didn’t have a key piece of information,
which Peter now has. We used to have lunch together
every day in the little
commissary in Twickenham [Studios, where the first
segments of the film were shot], and I got our sound
guy to bug the
flowerpot. George wasn’t there at the beginning of the
lunch, and then he came up and stood at the long end
of the table.
He’s wearing this beautiful black corduroy hat, and he
said, “See you around the clubs.” Meaning, I’m off.
And so I’ll see you
in the Scotch Club or the Ad Lib, but I’m gone [from
the Beatles]. And John always reacted to provocation
very quickly, and
so he said, “Oh, well, you know, let’s get in Eric
Clapton, he’s not such a headache.” But when I played
back the audio, all I
got was the clatter of cutlery and plates and
[inaudible] voices. Peter has access to this
extraordinary new audio
technology that can separate the audio within a track,
and so he’s got some of that lunch, I think.
So you’re sitting there at
lunch with the Beatles: George announces he’s leaving
the band right in front of you, and John proposes
replacing him with Eric Clapton. You must have been so
furious that you weren’t filming those moments. Yeah, “Where are
the cameras?” was my main thought. But it didn’t
surprise in one way, because John and Eric had already
been playing together — they played together at the
[Rolling Stones’] Rock and Roll Circus. I knew they
were working friends and probably also dope friends.
Beyond that missing audio,
was there also a sense that the Beatles didn’t want to
show George leaving in the movie anyway? I understood — and
remember, they were the producers as well as the
performers — that they more or less wanted Beatle-dom
to look like a good place to be, that in Beatle-dom
the bridge to the castle was not going to fall down.
That there weren’t sharks in the moat, that the
battlements weren’t on fire, that Beatle-dom was still
sort of as you wished it to be. Which meant that
George quitting the Beatles wouldn’t give exactly the
picture they were looking for in the movie.
How was that conveyed to
you? It’d be like,
someone — it could be Paul, it could be Ringo and Paul
— might say, “You know when George left? I don’t know
if we need that in the movie. Everything’s back to
normal now, so…”
As it is, the brief moments
of tension you do show between Paul and George are
among the most famous Beatles footage ever captured. A lot of people
were surprised. Because the Beatles had been portrayed
as the moptops, that they were just fucking adorable.
In real life, they were tough. This just goes back to
where they came from. Liverpool is a tough town. I
wouldn’t particularly want to run into Paul McCartney
in a dark alley, if he didn’t like me.
Particularly in the scenes
of the Beatles rehearsing at Twickenham Studios in the
early portions of the film, it feels like you were
deliberately demythologizing the Beatles. I wanted to show
that they didn’t just turn up in their velvet suits
and their glossy hair. A lot of work went into it. And
rehearsals, even for the participants, can be drudgery
and draining…. I always wanted it to be a clear look
at the Beatles, because I had no agenda.
You told me years ago that
while you were filming, the Beatles were beginning to
get on one another’s nerves. Now we have this new
narrative that, actually, everything was not nearly as
bad as all that, and we’re gonna see in this six-hour
version that overall they were getting on quite well.
Which is true? Well, it’s like
talking about any family: both. Both are true. If it
was Tuesday, they might not be getting on that well.
They might be frustrated by the work. They might be
frustrated by what was going on at home. George might
be frustrated by the fact that he wasn’t getting his
due, as he thought. John might be frustrated by having
some bad heroin. Who knows. But also, they were there
to work for the most part. These are human beings
living their lives, good days and bad days.… Peter has
a bigger canvas, so he’s going to paint a bigger
picture.
How certain were you that
John was using heroin during the sessions? Well, I suspected.
There was a very interesting character who was around
with the Rolling Stones and with John called Spanish
Tony. Tony was a handsome guy who was Keith’s
connection. It’s amazing Keith is still alive. Tony
was an affable guy — I mean, he wasn’t gonna come up
to you with a knife in his pocket — but when he was
there, it would be something to do with drugs. I also
knew from what people saying that John was dabbling.
And as we knew from “Cold Turkey” [a single released
later that year], it became more than dabbling.
Are you still confident
that the original Let It Be will be coming
out in some form? Well, when I first
met Jonathan Clyde that day, he said the plan is to
find a way to put Let It Be out again.… The plan
was that Let It Be would come out in some
form, after Peter’s had had its run — could be one of
the streaming sites in some form, could be a limited
theatrical release. I know that [Quentin] Tarantino’s
theater in Hollywood, the New Beverly, wanted to show
it as a film. It’s in everybody’s interest to put out
Let It Be again after Peter’s because they’re
totally different films. They’re not competitors.
October 30, 2021 The Beatles official Facebook page announces
"The Beatles: Get Back" book is ranked at #6 on
the Best Sellers list!
From NBC News NOW: "New Documentary celebrates
Fanny, pioneering all-woman rock band"
Click on the Fanny poster for documentary screening
times.
October 29, 2021 Elton John Remembers Performing With John
Lennon At His ‘Magical’ Final Concert
October 28, 2021 New details of plan for 'immersive, world
class' Beatles attraction in Liverpool
Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram confirms vision for
'globally significant' tourism project that could
involve hologram
performances by the Fab Four
by the Liverpool Echo
Plans are being drawn up for an 'immersive, world
class and cutting edge' new Beatles attraction at
Liverpool's waterfront.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in his budget speech
today that £2 million would be allocated towards
creating a major
new attraction dedicated to the Fab Four in the city.
He said the funding announcement was largely down to
the work of new Liverpool-born Culture Secretary
Nadine Dorries,
but the ECHO can reveal that today's news comes after
years of work from local leaders.
The ECHO understands the plans, which are at a very
early stage, could see the use of hologram technology
to create an
immersive experience of the city's famous band,
similar to a project recently announced by ABBA.
The £2 million announced by government today will go
towards working up more detailed plans for what is
likely to be a far
more expensive project.
Mayor Rotheram told the ECHO that today's announcement
in Parliament is the 'culmination of many years of
hard work to
help develop this exciting project for our region.'
He said: "This would be a truly world-class,
cutting-edge immersive Beatles experience.
“Since 2018, we have been funding concept development
to create a globally significant attraction.
"During that time, I’ve been in talks with a number of
ministers – including this Chancellor’s immediate
predecessor – to turn
this vision into a reality.
“It has the potential to become an unbelievably
important tourist attraction, unlike anything on offer
anywhere else in the
world.
"It would bring even more visitors from across the
globe to build on our unique position as home to the
single most influential
musicians to walk the planet."
He added: “The Beatles helped to firmly cement
Liverpool on the map in the 60’s. Their legacy still
draws millions of visitors
over half a century later, which adds millions of
pounds to our economy every year.
“I’m really excited by the idea that Liverpool could
be the home of such an exciting immersive experience,
which I believe
has the potential to do again what The Beatles once
did – take us stratospheric.”
Today's announcement has been met with some criticism
from local people, with many arguing that the money
could be far
better spent in a city with serious issues around
poverty and deprivation.
Others suggested there is more to the city than The
Beatles and that there are already a number of
attractions dedicated
to the band.
The Combined Authority was keen to stress that this
funding could only be used on cultural projects.
October 27, 2021 The Beatles' 'Let It Be' Returns to Billboard
Charts After Special Edition Reissue
The former Billboard 200 No. 1 album re-enters the
chart at No. 5, also hits No. 1 on Top Album Sales.
by Keith Caulfield for Billboard
The Beatles’ Let It Be surges back onto the
Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Oct. 30),
re-entering at No. 5 following its
deluxe special edition reissue on Oct. 15. The set was
first released in 1970 as the final studio effort from
the band, and
also doubled as the soundtrack to the documentary film
of the same name. The album spent four weeks atop the
Billboard
200 (June 13 – July 4, 1970-dated charts) and is one
of a record 19 No. 1 albums for the group.
For its special edition, the album was reintroduced in
a variety of expanded formats and editions, including
many with
previously unreleased tracks. All versions of the
album, old and new, are combined for tracking and
charting purposes.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums
of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric
consumption as
measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise
album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and
streaming equivalent
albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10
individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750
ad-supported or 1,250
paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video
streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct.
30, 2021-
dated chart (where Let It Be re-enters at No. 5) will
be posted in full on Billboard's website on Oct. 26.
For all chart news,
follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter
and Instagram.
Let It Be earned 55,000 equivalent album
units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 21 (up
3,899%), according to MRC Data.
Of that sum, album sales comprise 48,000 (up 11,570%;
making it the top-selling album of the week), SEA
units comprise
6,000 (up 589%; equaling 8.34 million on-demand
streams of the set’s tracks) and TEA units comprise
1,000 (up 1,180%).
Let It Be was last on the Billboard 200 dated
Dec. 4, 2010, when it ranked at No. 120. It was in the
top 10 on the Aug. 8,
1970 chart, when it placed at No. 4.
The Let It Be reissue precedes the arrival of
director Peter Jackson’s upcoming documentary series
The Beatles: Get Back.
The three episodes will premiere, respectively, on
Nov. 25, 26 and 27 exclusively on Disney+.
The rerelease of Let It Be is part of the
ongoing series of expanded reissues of select studio
albums by The Beatles. It
follows reissues of Abbey Road in 2019 (first
released in 1969), The Beatles in 2018 (often
referred to as the White Album,
first released in 1968) and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band in 2017 (first released in
1967). All four albums originally hit
No. 1 shortly after their release, and then returned
to the top 10 after their recent expanded reissues.
*Top Album Sales and Catalog Albums both launched
in 1991, Soundtracks began in 2001 and Tastemaker
Albums started in
2005. Top Album Sales ranks the top-selling albums of
the week by traditional album sales, Catalog Albums
ranks the
week’s most popular older albums [generally those more
than 18 months old] by equivalent album units,
Soundtracks ranks
the week’s most popular soundtracks by equivalent
album units and Tastemaker Albums ranks the week’s
top-selling
albums at independent and small chain record stores.
Billy Preston to get Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame award
Gary Graff of Cleveland.com is reporting that
keyboardist Billy Preston "will receive a Musical
Excellence Award from the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame to recognize his prolific work
as a sideman and session hand -- for a music who’s-who
list that includes
Little Richard, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, the Rolling
Stones, Eric Clapton and many more." The award will be
officially
announced on Saturday, October 30.
Bobby V Covers The Beatles’ Classic ‘I Want
You (She’s So Heavy)’ It will appear on the upcoming compilation
project, "Beatles Soul."
by Keithan Samuels for Rated R&B
R&B crooner Bobby V has released his cover of The
Beatles’ 1969 classic “I Want You,” lifted from their
album, Abbey
Road.
The cover arrives in two versions, including a
seven-minute extended mix, which is runs nearly the
same length as The
Beatles’ original version.
Bobby V’s cover will appear on the forthcoming Beatles
Soul EP, which drops on December 3, via
Oro-Music/Empire. The
project will also include Raheem DeVaughn’s previously
shared remake of the band’s 1970 hit
“Let It Be.”
In February, Bobby V released a new tune titled
“Reply.” The self-produced track is the lead-off
from his upcoming
project, Appetizer.
Although there isn’t a release date set
for Appetizer just yet, it should hold over fans until
he’s ready to release his next
album, Sunday Dinner. “It’s an amazing R&B album,”
Bobby V told Rated R&B in an interview. “Real
music and live
instrumentation — just continuing the legacy of R&B
and giving that real music.”
Listen to Bobby V’s cover of The Beatles’ “I Want You
(She’s So Heavy)” below.
October 26, 2021 In his first live in-person event in two
years, Paul will appear at Southbank Centre to discuss
his career-spanning
book 'THE LYRICS'
Brian Wilson: Beach Boys and The Beatles always shared
love and respect
by Celebretainment
Brian Wilson says The Beach Boys and Beatles have "always" shared a "mutual
love and respect".
The 'God Only Knows' hitmaker - who has named 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts
Club Brand' as his favourite ever album -
revealed the two legendary bands had a close bond.
Asked to name his favourite record of all time, he told Mojo magazine: "I'd
have to say 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band'.
"Obviously, I love The Beatles and we have always had a mutual love and
respect for each other.
"They say that it was birthed from hearing 'Pet Sounds'... I don't know...
but I just love that album."
The 79-year-old star was also asked which musician - beside himself - he has
wanted to be, and he admitted it was a tough
one to answer.
He said: "That's a hard question... I'd have to put Elton John at the top of
that list because of his voice and he is great on
piano. I admire him as a person too."
And he had further praise for the 'Rocket Man' hitmaker when the publication
asked him for his favourite "Saturday night
record".
He added: "Anything rock 'n' roll is a great Saturday night record, all
kinds. I can't really pin one down... how about
'Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting'?
"That's a good one from Elton."
Brian is loving his rock music at the moment, and he's eyeing up making an
album in that genre in as his next project.
He revealed: "I've been wanting to make a rock 'n' roll album for years and
years. I have some ideas, so hopefully I'll be able
to do that one next.
"My favourite rock 'n' roll band to listen to are The Rolling Stones. They
are always my go-to rock 'n' roll band. I love them
so much."
Brian Wilson's latest pop video as of October
21, 2021.
October 25, 2021 Understanding the Glyn Johns "Get Back" mixing
sequences
Today I thought we would provide Beatles fans
with a list of the four different "Get Back"
compilations that engineer Glyn
Johns made during 1969/1970. Please note that Glyn
Johns mix included Paul McCartney's "Teddy Boy" on the
first
three compilations. The fourth assemblage did not
include that song.
October 23, 2021 Get ready to rock at the Rainbow Bistro in
Ottawa: "The Beatles Reunion Show - What if?"
October 22, 2021 The Beatles film: First look at Fifth Beatle
Brian Epstein in Fab Four biopic
THE BEATLES FILM Midas Man has received its first look
at the titular hero of the story - Brian Epstein, the
manager of the
Fab Four - as well as another Liverpool legend.
by Callum Crumlish for Express
Beatles manager Brian Epstein and their music
producer George Martin at the EMI Studios at
Abbey Road St. John's
Wood, October 1964.
Later this year the newest film based on the story of
The Beatles is due for release. Midas Man takes a
different angle on
the Fab Four's story, however, as it focuses solely on
Brian Epstein, the band's manager.
This week the film received its first look at Brian
actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd in costume.
Earlier this year in April Jacob was announced to be
taking on the role of the iconic man behind the
scenes.
The star is best known for playing Townes in the
Netflix hit The Queen's Gambit.
Jacob's first shot as Brian, which can be seen below,
shows him in the dapper attire the Beatles' leader was
known for.
With a coy smile and a poised finger, Jacob truly encompasses the
upper-class dignity held by the iconic music manager.
This wasn't the only news to come from the Midas Man bosses at Studio
Pow.
It was also revealed this week that fellow Liverpudlian Cilla Black will
also be getting the Hollywood treatment in the
upcoming biopic.
Cilla will be played by Rosie Day of Outlander fame, with the fiery red
hair that the Blind Date star is known for.
A number of other historic people have also been
cast in the film.
The band's producer, George Martin, will be played
by Charley Palmer Rothwell.
Meanwhile, Gerry Marsden, of Gerry and the
Pacemakers, is due to be played by another young star,
Jordan Kelly.
The actors in the roles of John Lennon, Paul
McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have not
yet been announced.
The synopsis of Midas Man indicates it will focus
solely on George Epstein's journey into discovering
The Beatles.
The movie's tagline reads: "On Thursday, 9th November 1961, a man
named Brian descended the stairs to a cellar in
Liverpool and changed the world forever."
Midas Man's producer, Kevin Proctor, recently praised Jacob as
Epstein. He told Variety: "One of the reasons we loved Jacob
for this role is that Brian Epstein was the
personification of dapper, quintessential charisma,
and Jacob felt like the man to
bring that to life.
"The fact that he’s been able to do just that to such electrifying
effect in one image shows that we have the right guy."
Jacob himself said: "It has been inspiring to learn
about Brian’s life and his achievements, and it is an
enormous honour to
represent him on screen.
"His style is a key ingredient to my understanding
of his character. It reveals his flair, creativity,
sensitivity and good taste.
"And his fastidious elegance was also a kind of
armour against a challenging, sometimes dangerous
world."
Midas Man is due to hit cinemas on
December 31, 2021.
October 21, 2021 The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night Releasing To
4k Ultra HD Blu-ray
by hdreport
Richard Lester’s The
Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night (1964) is getting a
4k release on Ultra HD Blu-ray from The Criterion
Collection. The 2-disc edition arrives Jan. 18, 2022,
featuring three choices for audio – monaural, stereo
and 5.1 surround.
The new 4k digital restoration was approved by Lester
and the Ultra HD Blu-ray offers Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range.
Bonus features include audio commentaries, 1964
interviews with the Beatles, behind-the-scenes footage and photos, two
documentaries, and more.
The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Night has a list
price of $49.95.
October 20, 2021 Flashback: The Beatles Play a Frenetic ‘Long
Tall Sally’ in 1962
Paul McCartney just labeled the Stones a “blues cover
band,” but his own band played plenty of incredible
covers in the early Sixties as well
by Andy Greene for Rolling Stone
Earlier this month, Paul McCartney spoke to
The New Yorker about the Rolling Stones
in a less than artful way. “[The
Beatles’] net was cast a bit wider than [the
Stones’],” he said. “I’m not sure I should say it, but
they’re a blues cover
band, that’s sort of what the Stones are.”
Mick Jagger responded when the Stones played in Los
Angeles on October 14th. “There’s so many celebrities
here tonight,”
he said. “Megan Fox is here; she’s lovely. Leonardo
DiCaprio. Lady Gaga. Kirk Douglas. Paul McCartney is
here. He’s going to
help us — he’s going to join us in a blues cover
later.”
First off, Kirk Douglas died on February 5th, 2020, at
the incredible age of 103. He was most certainly not
at the Stones
concert last week. (Did Mick mean Michael Douglas?)
Secondly, it’s hard to imagine that Jagger took great
offense at
McCartney’s comments. The Beatles and the Stones had a
friendly rivalry back in the Sixties, but the pop
universe was big
enough for them both and the cold war between them has
been suspended since about 1970.
Jagger probably also understands that McCartney meant
to say that the Stones grew out of the London R&B
scene and
stuck largely to blues covers in their very early
days. The Beatles, meanwhile, were more focused on
pop, rock, and soul
music by the likes of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Ray
Charles, Smokey Robinson, Carole King, and Carl
Perkins.
McCartney phrased it better when he spoke to Howard
Stern last year. “They are rooted in the blues,” he
said of the
Stones. “When they are writing stuff, it has to do
with the blues. We had a little more influences. …
There’s a lot of
differences, and I love the Stones, but I’m with you
[Howard]: The Beatles were better.”
Back in 1962, both bands’ sets consisted almost
entirely of cover songs. There are precious few live
tapes of either group
from this era, but a series of Beatles gigs at
Hamburg, Germany’s Star Club in December 1962 were
captured for posterity.
The sound quality is extremely poor, but you can still
hear the incredible joy and energy they brought to the
stage even
though they regularly played for upwards of eight
hours a night on little sleep.
Sticking to that schedule required a diet high on
amphetamines. (“In Hamburg the waiters always had
Preludin … and they
were all taking these pills to keep themselves awake,
to work these incredible hours in this all-night
place,” John Lennon
once recalled of the period. “And so the waiters, when
they’d see the musicians falling over with tiredness
or with drink,
they’d give you the pill.”) You can almost taste them
in your mouth when you listen to this raucous
rendition of Little
Richard’s “Long Tall Sally.” Once they got famous,
their concerts lasted just about 30 minutes and were
usually drowned out
by the sound of screaming fans. That’s why many
Beatles fans say if they could travel back to any era
and see the band, it
would be during their time at places like the Star
Club.
The Beatles and the Stones became the two biggest
bands in the world because of the strength of their
original songs.
Labeling the Stones just a “blues cover band” is
keeping them forever frozen in the amber of 1962 and
1963. But then again,
their only studio album in the past 15 years is
Blue and Lonesome from 2016, and it’s nothing but
blues covers …
Ringo Starr releases his new video "Coming
Undone" featuring Trombone Shorty
Change the World is the follow-up to Starr's
previous EP Zoom In, which was released
earlier this year. Both EPs found the
drummer working with new people, such as hit
songwriter and producer Linda Perry—who wrote and
performs on the track
“Coming Undone” on Change the World. “In some
conversation, Linda Perry came up mainly with her work
with Pink. And we
called: “Hello, Linda. Have you got a song?’ And she
said ‘no.’ But as she was leaving her studio—this is
her story—as she
was closing the door, a song came to her. She went in
the studio. She's playing bass, she's playing rhythm,
and she's
singing along with me. I mean, she's part of it. It's
so great for me to have that support.”
The track also features the acclaimed New Orleans
musician Troy Andrews, who's better known by his stage
name of
Trombone Shorty. “[Linda] put everything on and in the
middle, she sort of did a throat trombone solo
(imitates a trombone
sound). I said, ‘Man, a trombone would be great on
this track.’ And so we thought Trombone Shorty. We got
in touch with
him: ‘I’ve got this song, it would be an honor if you
could play for me.’
“I just play drums and send the [music] files back,”
he continues. “And then he put on this whole brass
section, never mind
just the trombone. Wow. It turned into that because of
him. He had this idea and it worked. It works so well
and it gave
that track such a different feel of where we were
going, because it’s a very sad song in its way. But
that section just lifts it
for me.”
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews
October 18, 2021
Giles Martin on Remixing and Expanding the Beatles’
‘Let It Be’ — and What the Future Holds for Their
Deluxe Editions
The producer is also putting his ears and technology
to use on Peter Jackson's 'Get Back' docu-series.
by Chris Williams for Variety
Giles Martin just couldn’t let
“Let
It Be” be — even though, as he has with each of
the deluxe
Beatles packages he’s worked on, he challenged
himself to make sure a fresh mix and expanded boxed
set had a raison d’etre. In this case, giving a more
unified sound to a 1970 album that was all over the
map in its original incarnation was reason enough to
submit it to a remix. But above and beyond that, what
Beatles fan hasn’t yearned to get high-quality
versions of the famous outtakes — whether it was an
hour-and-a-half’s worth or 52 hours’ worth?
For better or worse, the just-released “Let It Be”
special edition is not
a 52-disc set. But Martin believes the two CDs of vintage outtakes that are
included in the new box are an essential distillation of what fans will want to
hear from those 1969 sessions. And he sets the bar high, wanting even these
bonus collections to be something that would make a great listen for somebody
who’d never heard the Beatles before.
Martin — the son of original Beatles producer George
Martin, and now a sought after producer, arranger and audio expert in his own
right — sat down to talk with Variety on a recent visit to Los Angeles.
The Englishman was between visits to spots around the U.S. that included meeting
with his Sonos team in San Francisco and taking a look at the relaunch of the
Beatles show “Love” in Las Vegas. He’s also working on arranging music for a
Broadway adaptation of “The Devil Wears Prada” with friend Elton John (Martin
worked on the “Rocketman” film). More urgently, though, at the time, Martin was
still working on the mix for Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” docu-series, which
covers much of the same territory as the “Let It Be” boxed set, even though he
wrapped up work on the latter about a year and a half ago.
Maybe most importantly for some impatient Beatlemaniacs,
we asked: Will he be letting “Revolver” be, after the current flurry of activity
ends? Read on to find out. (The Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.)
VARIETY: How much did your work on the film and
on the boxed set overlap, or did you think of them as completely separate
processes?
MARTIN: You do approach things
differently, because when you think about what you’re going to add as extras to
a boxed set, if something is on the film and looks really good but may not sound
that good, you keep it to the film. But if it’s something that should be on a
record, it should be on a record. When you’re considering how much to include
from outtakes, there was, like, 52 hours of material. I was probably more
aggressively editing stuff down [for the boxed set] because we have six hours of
film coming out. But I was collaborating with Peter (Jackson) on what audio bits
I was selecting, and sending stuff over to him. It was a constant sort of back
and forth as what they were finding interesting. And we’re mixing the films, so
we knew what they were working on as well. … The boxed set is almost trying to
tell the story of the (entire) record, including the Phil Spector stuff. And
obviously the film is just purely tied to that period of time in Twickenham
(Film Studios) and (at Apple Corps headquarters) in Savile Row. It ends with the
rooftop — the natural end of that story.
Did you face special challenges with the stuff
that was recorded on film at Twickenham Film Studios, and making that material
sound as good as the multi-track recordings that were done at Apple a bit later?
Well, that’s a good question, actually. “Let It Be” was
only (recorded over) a relatively short period time – it was three weeks. All of
(the material from Twickenham) is on Nagra, which is the old format of recording
film. It’s a mono, single, narrow tape format. When they move out of Twickenham
— because that’s when they’re getting pissed off at everything, and it’s cold,
and they start at 10 in the morning, and George walks out and all that sort of
stuff — they go to Savile Row, where Billy Preston is, and that’s where they
have the (multi-track) recording. And then the rooftop (concert) obviously is
8-track. It is what it is, and yeah, we throw as much technology at these things
as you can, but you have to be careful when you’re doing restoration work. And
that’s why it’s been good collaborating with Peter and his team, because they’re
really, really good at this stuff. I thought I was good at this stuff, and
they’re way better than I am. The audio stuff as well — it’s really remarkable
what they can do. It’s a collaboration process.
But you have to be careful with cleaning stuff up, that
you don’t make things too shiny and too digital. You don’t want to want to
change the sound, because (remixes) actually can date very quickly, as we’ve
experienced on legacy stuff in the past. … You’re always walking a fine line
with releasing stuff that wasn’t intended to be released. You feel like you’re
going through a dirty underpant drawer.
(Selectivity about outtakes) also quite often has to do
with the quality of the performance, more than sound quality. There are Beatle
fans that want absolutely everything. They want all 52 hours of footage. But to
be fair, the way that bootlegging goes, most of those people actually have the
material anyway — you can find it on the Internet. So my job was to present it
in the best possible way.
I’m a huge fan, but in the days of bootleg CDs,
when I would go into a shop in the Village and see a bootleg boxed set of “Let
It Be” material with what looked like about 30 discs of outtakes, I would think,
there is a limit to just how deep a rabbit hole I want to go down with this
stuff.
It does get boring very quickly. You know, I talked to
Paul about this. I thought we were going to release the record last year. I
think my deadline was May (of 2020), over a year ago. I was phoning them (the
Beatles and their survivors) up and sending them music from my house, because I
was working at home. And I remember Paul goes, “Well, how many versions of ‘Get
Back’ do people actually want?” I just laughed and went, “Well, there’s people
who want
every single version of ‘Get Back.’ But I don’t know that that’s the right
thing to do.” So you have to walk that fine line. My belief is always: If
someone had never heard the Beatles before, then they should be interested in
what they’re hearing. There’s no point in having a record just so you have it.
You’re meant to listen to it. Do you know what I mean? There’s people
that just want to own stuff. And that’s not why we’re doing what we’re
doing.
I have the Bob Dylan boxed set that has every
note that was played in the studio over the course of 1965, but I can’t say I’ve
gone back and played the whole thing through a second time.
Well, that’s the thing. When I think of the things that
we did with the White Album — the Esher demos and that sort of stuff — those
stand up in their own right. They’re interesting records; they’re valid. But the
other thing we’re trying to do is, you are trying to sort of break down and tell
a story of how a song evolved. Because that’s quite interesting, to me, as
opposed to just another version.
For the people who expect a dump of everything,
it can be hard to accept that there’s a curatorial process, even though most
people are happy to have you sifting through everything for the gold. Who makes
those final selections? Is it you along with Paul and…
Yeah, it’s me, and then I get the approval from them.
They don’t sift through everything. I mean, that’s the last thing they really
want to do, and I’m not surprised. It’ll be me that makes the final decision —
well, it will be me that suggests the final (track rundown), and then they make
the final decision.
You feel really comfortable with having the two discs of outtakes in
this set.
Yeah, I do, actually. It was funny because I kind of
forgot what was on them, because it’d been a year in this strange world we’re
living in — and I went back during this process of having to talk about it, and
I was like, “Well, this is kind of interesting!” Things like George playing
“Something,” or the gestations of songs, and you hear the vibe of what it’s
like. That’s the other thing to represent in that short space of time that I get
given on a record — the atmosphere and the vibe, to a certain extent. So I quite
enjoyed listening to it, and that’s always a good sign.
Do you have favorite moments from the outtakes
or rehearsals? Even just dialogue-ise, there are some laugh-out-loud things they
say, or the moment where suddenly John is talking about getting his divorce in
the middle of…
… of (“She Came In Through”) “The Bathroom Window,”
yeah. Well, there’s lots of things. In the perception of “Let It Be,” it feels
like there’s a continuing theme that we’re glossing over the pain and
destruction of the Beatles. But “Let It Be” really wasn’t that bad. My (early)
perception of “Let It Be” was like, it’s the breakup of the Beatles. But of
course it’s as the breakup of the Beatles because it’s the last album that came
out, but it wasn’t the last album they recorded. They were going back and
started recording what was going to be “Abbey Road” after “Let It Be.” It was
only when I was doing (the boxed set for) “Abbey Road” that I realized that they
were back in Trident Studios, of all places, doing “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”
about two or three weeks after the rooftop concert. So it’s hardly the breakup
of the Beatles.
And the conversations… What I like about “Let It Be” is
that, even though it’s a different Beatles, it shows you the way they
collaborated. Like John playing “Gimme Some Truth” with Paul. And even though it
obviously (eventually) appears on John’s album, “Imagine,” I like the fact that
he’s just purely open to Paul’s suggestions… They’re a songwriting partnership.
That’s why George got isolated. In the film they say to each other, “We need
more songs.” And John would go, “Well, I’ve got Sunday off. I’ll try and write a
rock ‘n’ roller.” And Paul would go, “Well, I’ll try and do that as well. So
we’ll see what you got.” And then Paul starts playing “Let It Be,” and John
goes, “Well, you just need some words for it.” There’s still that collaboration
that happens between the two — a respect for each other that you hear that’s
surprising.
From exposing myself to this, I think that with “Let It
Be,” they’re aware of the failings in their marriage, and the fact that a lot of
them are moving on. However, they’re trying to stay together, and that’s why
they’re going back to try and play live and be the Beatles and do the Cavern
Club and do “One After 909” and all that kind of stuff — they want to go back to
that vibe. And of course you can’t, because you’re a different person. It
doesn’t work. But that’s what “Let It Be” is, to a certain degree.
George starts singing “Something,” and it becomes
apparent from listening to it that John and Paul would have helped each other,
but they wouldn’t necessarily help George, because he’s not
Lennon-and-McCartney. George is even referred to by John as “Harrisongs.” He’s
also writing very good songs at this point, obviously, and “All Things Must
Pass” (heard on the set in its most formative stages) is a good case in point.
But then when he’s doing “Something” and he goes, “’attracts me like a
pomegranate’ — I can’t think of what that word’s going to be,” I think that’s
really funny. John is trying to teach him how to just write. He says, “Well,
just do it over and over again with words… or don’t.” [Laughs.] This is the
advice from Lennon: “Do this… or don’t do it!” And I like that.
I like that comradery that comes through, which is
strange for “Let It Be.” Because people’s perception of “Let It Be” is there’s
this hugely dysfunctional chaos that happened. I think what it was is: it was
just a bad idea. That’s what “Let It Be” was. I mean, think of any band these
days — especially the biggest band in the world — going, “You know what we’re
going to do? We haven’t written any songs, but we’re going to do a concert in
three weeks’ time with a bunch of new songs.” And I think they probably would
have achieved that in 1965 or ‘66 or ‘64, but that’s because they were all in
the same room together all the time, where John and Paul were bashing out
(songs). Brian Epstein would say, “You’ve got two weeks to do an album,” and
they go and do “Revolver” or “Rubber Soul.” In this case (by 1969), they had
their big houses, and they went home and watched TV. But in those earlier days
they’d be in a van and they’d be stuck and they would be finishing songs. So
when you hear ”Gimme Some Truth,” you think, if you would just spend those two
hours, they could probably get it done. But they don’t.
I’ve talked with Ringo about some of this
before, and he, like Paul, is very open about not liking the original “Let It
Be” film…
[Laughs.] He hates the original film.
But now some people are worried: Will none of
that tension be represented in the Peter Jackson film, and will it be like
everyone was happy-go-lucky and it was the most wonderful time in the world?
I don’t think so. I mean, let’s face it, it’s six hours
— three two–hour (episodes). I’ve got to say, Peter loves a
trilogy! … You know, I’ve seen all the footage. And the original film was just
boring. I mean, that’s the problem.
And there were limits to technology. What Peter Jackson
has done is amazing. They’ve synched all of the audio footage and video footage
together, which is not easy. Because the cameras, for instance, were
battery-operated cameras, and they’d slow down as they went on. So it’s tricky
to do.
No, I think it’s honest. I do. I think people will see
that when they watch it. The Twickenham stuff is taxing to get through, because
you’re watching people who are geniuses in their craft looking for ideas, and
that’s hard to watch. But then at Apple (Corps headquarters, where the bulk of
the finished recordings were done), they seem much happier. That’s what the
journey is. And the rooftop… I didn’t really know that the rooftop performance
made up four tracks on the album. I should know this stuff; people find it
surprising that I’m on the same journey as the people I’m doing the records for.
… But they obviously played really well, and they knew they played really well.
… I think when you look at like the famous flare-up between George and Paul,
where George says, “I’ll play what you want, or I won’t play at all — whatever
pleases you”… I mean, I was in a band — we had much worse flare-ups than that.
In all honesty, it’s not that bad.
Not the harshest thing anyone in a band ever said to another member.
Yeah. I mean, they do talk about their impending
divorce, but in a kind of jovial way. They’re very much aware of what the
Beatles are. They still are, Paul and Ringo. –Like all those hugely successful
artists, they’re very aware of their own position in the psyche. And I think
Paul says, “Once daddy left” — talking about Brian Epstein — “we’re not the
same.” And it’s true, they weren’t the same.
There’s that extended part of the “Let It Be”
story that, as you say, isn’t covered in the new film, but is part of the boxed
set, which is the involvement of Phil Spector as the album gets finished. In
your lighter notes essay for the new set, you make a good point, which is
basically that there were, like, four producers on the album. There’s your dad.
There’s Phil Spector, later on. There’s Glyn Johns in the early stages, sort of
acting in that role, even though, as engineer, producer is not his title. And
then, you say, there’s a sense with the “Let It Be” project in which the Beatles
were ultimately producing themselves.
Certainly when it comes to the three producers, as it
were, they have very, very different approaches to production. I mean, they’re
all brilliant. My dad was a blueprint man. The biggest argument I ever had with
my dad was… Do you know what Pimm’s is? It’s an English drink where you mix
lemonade with this thing called Pimm’s. Anyway, I didn’t measure out properly
how to put it together. I thought it was too strong and needed more lemonade.
Well, he just lost it. And that was my dad. He liked things to be organized.
Which is a funny thing, because the White Album and “Let It Be” were not, but
“Abbey Road” is.
And Glyn Johns is an engineer-producer, but very, very
good. Ethan Johns, who is his son, as you may know, told me that the advice his
dad gave to him was, “When the hair stands up on the back of your arm, you’ve
got a good take.” It’s like an instinctive thing, opposed to my dad being much
more organized.
And Phil Spector was Phil Spector. He wanted to mold an
artist into his own vision. That was Phil Spector.
And so when mixing “Let It Be,” you have to bear that in
mind. You’re trying to get some unification to it, to have a cohesive album. I
had to say to Paul, “We’re going to mix the album, and we’re going to mix it
with all the stuff you didn’t like on it.” And he goes, “That’s fair enough.
It’s on it.” You know, they did “Let It Be… Naked” (a stripped-down
version of the album, released in 2003, instigated by McCartney to correct
Spector’s perceived excesses). … We mix these things, and people don’t really
care. Fans don’t really care when things were done or how they were done. They
just want to listen to some music, to try to unify everything together.
What do you think your brief was, in doing a
remix on “Let It Be”? Because going back to the first full-album remix you did
with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” it was said to be partly to clear
up the mono/stereo differences. When you’re getting at this point in the game…
Well, no one actually gives me a brief. I had to give
myself a brief. My brief was almost, as I say, to unify the tone of the album.
You have the rooftop; you have the Apple (headquarters) recordings; you have
overdubs. You have “Across the Universe,” which was recorded separately before
everything else (in 1968), and you have “I Me Mine,” which was recorded
separately after everything else. (After “Abbey Road” was released, three of the
Beatles reconvened — without Lennon — in the first days of 1970 just to get a
proper studio version of “I Me Mine,” which turned out to be their final
recording.) And my job was to just approach it like it’s all done at the same
time, it’s all the same record, and it should sound all part of the same record.
It shouldn’t sound like it’s fragmented. So that was my
brief, to a certain extent, to try and make the Phil Spector overdubs feel like
that they were done at the same time as the rest of the band. Which I think on
the original they don’t, really; they sound like they’ve been added on, to a
certain degree. So it’s more harmonious — more homogeneous, I suppose, if that’s
the right word.
I was wondering if you might have toned down
what some people would consider Phil Spector’s over-production on “Let It Be” or
“The Long and Winding Road.” It seemed like you might’ve, just a little bit, but
everything is still there.
Yeah, not really. [Long pause.] I think maybe it’s less
intrusive in its sound, the Phil Spector stuff… The intent is just to treat it
like an album, as opposed to the way it was constructed, under a cloud, by Allen
Klein getting Phil Spector in and Paul McCartney not knowing and all this sort
of stuff. To forget about all of that … It’s funny. People sort of perceive “Let
It Be” as not the best Beatles record. Which it probably isn’t. But you think
about it: It has “Let It Be” on it, which is one of the most listened-to Beatles
songs of all time. It has “Get Back,” it has “Across the Universe,” it has “The
Long and Winding Road.” And I like songs like “Dig a Pony,” actually. And then
people talk about it being the breakup of the Beatles. Well, why would they
write “Two of Us” if it was the breakup of the Beatles — the breakup of John and
Paul?
Was there any thought of using the
pre-Spector, more stripped-down versions of the songs as a starting point for
the new remix, rather than sticking faithfully to the familiar 1970 version as
the basis of it?
Well, yeah, that’s what I talked to Paul about at Abbey
Road. … I wasn’t involved in “Let It Be… Naked.” It was around the time I was
doing “Love,” at the same time, or it might’ve been just before, I don’t know.
But I wasn’t involved in “Let It Be… Naked,” which I think (included) alternate
takes as well. No, it wouldn’t have made sense.
Because we’ve been on this journey — almost by accident,
without any planning, in a classic Beatles way. “Sgt. Pepper’s” came up (as a
prospect for a remix and boxed set). I didn’t really want to do it. I thought,
well, why are we doing this? And then I said to the Beatles, “Let’s do three or
four mixes and see what it sounds like.” it sounded good and valid, and so we
ended up doing it. And then the White Album came along and there were the Esher
demos we found and all that kind of stuff, and you go, okay, let’s do that. And
then “Abbey Road”… And so it wouldn’t have made sense to try to rewrite history.
You know, the “Let It Be” album is the “Let It Be”
album. It was released, and lots of people like it. I like it. I don’t have a
problem with the Phil Spector stuff, personally. … Yeah, it does change. And
it’s interesting hearing “Across the Universe” without the ADT-ing on John’s
voice, without the Phil Spector stuff — it just sounds like a folk song! It
sounds completely different. But I don’t have any gripes about (the album as
first released). It wouldn’t have made any sense for us to do that. That was not
what we’re trying to do.
This boxed set marks the first authorized
release of the early version of the album that Glyn Johns put together, when it
was still going to be called “Get Back” and be a back-to-basics album. What do
you think of the Glyn Johns vision of the album?
Well, I think Glyn provided the Beatles with what they
wanted — and then when they got it, they didn’t really want it. The Glyn Johns
album is a representation of what they did at that time. I think what they did
at that time wasn’t at the level they hoped it would be. …. I think Glyn made a
fine album with what he had, because they were going, “We don’t want any
overdubs. We want it to be live, and this is what it should be.” I’m pleased
it’s on there, because it’s one of those things that a lot of people know about
and a lot of people have… It has been bootlegged, but I think in a bad version.
… And also, that helps tell the story, because that’s what triggered Allen Klein
to go, “Listen, let’s go and get Phil Spector and he can finish it.”
It’s really enjoyable as an alternate-universe
version of the album. But if had come out in that form in 1969, there would have
been a big sense of disappointment, even though it’s fun.
Yeah, I really enjoy it. It sounds cool. It’s very Glyn
Johns. What Glyn is brilliant at is capturing the spirit of live performance on
a record. That’s why the Who is so good. (Johns went on to engineer, produce or
co-produce all the Who’s ‘70s and early ‘80s albums.) He’s very good with vibe.
I mean, he looks like Austin Powers through half of the film.
One last question. There are people who insist a
transformative remix couldn’t be done on the pre-4-track Beatles albums because
of so many elements being blended into the two basic tracks. But of course,
Beatles fans do speculate pretty much across the board: Is there an
opportunity to do something with “Revolver” and “Rubber Soul,” now that you’ve
gone through the Beatles’ timeline from “Sgt. Pepper” forward?
I think there is. I think we have to do it, and I’ve
said this before… If you take something like “Taxman” from “Revolver” [a track
often cited for its bizarre stereo separation], “Taxman” is guitar, bass and
drums on one track, and vocals and a sort of shaking and guitar solo (on the
right). And it sounds good; they’re amazing recordings, and amazing mixes. You
know, we have to look into what technology we can do to make things de-mixed and
all this kind of stuff, which I’m looking into. So I’m looking for the
technology to do it with, to do something really innovative with “Rubber Soul”
and “Revolver,” as opposed to just a remastering job, because it’s been
remastered already. So I think we will. I think we also will look at outtakes as
well.
There’s such an overwhelming desire to do something with
them, by fans. And at the same time, there’s the thing in the back of your mind:
There’s no point in just doing this to make money or as a sales thing, or
because we’d done the others. It’s more important that we do it for the right
reason. So there’s your answer: yes. If, the same as “Sgt. Pepper,” I can find a
reason to do it, then yes. An actual experience reason to do it, as
opposed to just because we’ve done it.
But you do think it’ll be possible to do
something, sooner or later, even with the difficulty of untangling those limited
tracks?
Yeah, I think we’re getting there with technology. I
think we are. I’m not doing it at the moment, though, I can tell you that
much. But hopefully. So, yeah — watch this space.
— end of
article.
The definitive version of the Beatles' "Let It
Be" doesn't exist — but this new deluxe remix sizzles
With this new box set of "Let It Be" and a book,
"Get Back," Beatles fans will have plenty to obsess
over
With the deluxe remixed
release of the Beatles' "Let It Be," I am convinced
that the album will always defy attempts at creating a
definitive edition. In the long history of the
Beatles' recorded output, and the various and ongoing
efforts to spin the events of January 1969 in one
direction or another, it has simply become too
beguiling to know what really happened, much less
fully encapsulate the band members' creative
intentions with their work. When it comes to "Let It
Be," you just can't pin it down.
And that goes for the entire
"Get Back" saga — the project that the Beatles
undertook in that fabled month and that eventually
morphed into the "Let It Be" LP release in May 1970.
Originally conceived to accompany the documentary
directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the album finally
saw the light of day in the hands of Phil Spector, who
carried out post-production duties after earlier
attempts by Glyn Johns and George Martin to bring the
LP to the marketplace had fallen short in the Beatles'
estimation.
The deluxe box set, engineered
by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, is a valiant effort
indeed. There are a few blemishes, to be sure. Beatles
aficionados might understandably yearn for more
material from the Twickenham sessions, and a loud
contingent has already voiced their displeasure at not
having access to a full version of the Rooftop
Concert.
Even still, Martin and Okell
have scored knockout remixes on several counts. Their
remix of "Let It Be" absolutely sizzles. The sheer
beauty of Paul McCartney's vocals — especially during
the "I wake up to the sound of music" section — is a
wonder to behold. And George Harrison's guitar solo
has never sounded brighter and more passionate.
And then there's "I've Got a
Feeling," quite possibly the highlight of the entire
set. Bristling with energy, the track benefits from
the new remix's enhanced sonic separation. The
electric groove that drives the guitar-oriented "I've
Got a Feeling" has never seemed more alive than in
Martin and Okell's hands. The same could be said for
the album version of "Get Back," which sounds like it
was recorded yesterday, as opposed to nearly 53 years
ago.
There are a few misfires,
albeit minor ones. Once you've heard the ethereal
beauty of the "Let It Be . . . Naked" version of
"Across the Universe," every other take seems less
profound. With its varispeeded vocals, the Spector
version feels flat and uninspired by comparison. Try
as they might, the Martin and Okell remix notches
barely a modest improvement, particularly considering
the source. By the same token, I prefer the halting
clarity of the Naked version of "Two of Us" in
contrast with the remix.
Yet listeners will be buoyed,
no doubt, by Martin and Okell's successful muting of
Spector's cloying post-production work on Harrison's
"I Me Mine" and, in an especially fine instance,
McCartney's "The Long and Winding Road." The
orchestration is still alive and well in both cases,
but more effectively balanced with the Beatles'
original instrumentation.
The deluxe set is rife with
outtakes, along with Glyn Johns' original 1969 mix.
While superfans will have long held such morsels in
their collections, much like the Esher tapes'
reincarnation in Martin and Okell's White Album mixes,
there's nothing like enjoying them in top-notch
stereophonic sound.
The "Let It Be" box set's
bravura release appears contemporaneously with the
"Get Back" book, edited by John Harris from the
Beatles' candid conversations at Twickenham and later
at Apple Studio, where they completed work on the
recordings, including the climactic Rooftop Concert on
January 30, 1969. Beatles fans are well aware of these
confabs, particularly those who've undertaken the
Herculean effort to consume the contents of the
voluminous Nagra reels, the recordings that
Lindsay-Hogg surreptitiously made during his film
production.
As for the book, "Get Back" is
beautifully adorned with photographs by Ethan Russell
and Linda McCartney, several of which have been
published here for the very first time. It was
Russell, incidentally, who witnessed the lion's share
of the session, later reporting to me on Salon's
"Everything Fab Four" podcast (listen to the episode
here) that if the cameras weren't rolling, the Beatles
rarely engaged each other, retreating into their own
headspace.
In his foreword, Hanif
Kureishi takes great pains to paint the Get Back
sessions as being more convivial than history has
previously reported. "In fact this was a productive
time for them, when they created some of their best
work," he writes. "And it is here that we have the
privilege of witnessing their early drafts, the
mistakes, the drift and digressions, the boredom, the
excitement, joyous jamming and sudden breakthroughs
that led to the work we now know and admire."
And while there is indeed much
to admire about the Beatles' work during that time —
the sessions produced three chart-topping U.S. hits in
"Get Back," "Let It Be," and "The Long and Winding
Road" — it is vital that we remember their actions and
comments to the contrary during that very same period.
On January 10, Harrison quite literally quit the band
after a heated argument with Lennon, only to be coaxed
back into the fold several days later in time for the
group's return to Apple Studio. And by his own
admission not long afterwards, Lennon described the
album's production as "the most miserable sessions on
earth." It's all there in the Nagra reels.
Comments along the lines of
Kureishi's foreword suggest that there is an effort to
replace the reality of "Let It Be" with a wide-eyed,
nostalgia-ridden myth. But even still, I for one am
hopeful that Peter Jackson's upcoming three-part "Get
Back" documentary will tell the unvarnished story of
the saga behind the making of the penultimate Beatles
studio album. Willfully attempting to gloss over the
rancor that characterized aspects of the original
sessions robs the band of one of their most
magisterial of triumphs: In just a few short weeks,
they went to hell and back, only to emerge, in the
last possible moments, to perform a concert for the
ages, along with the recording of a spate of classic
songs. The whole business, with all of the stress and
tension, made for a come-from-behind victory of which
only the finest musical fusions are capable. And the
Beatles are the finest of them all. Full stop.
Which brings us back, full
circle, to "Let It Be," the end result of the
so-called Get Back project. The deluxe remixes are
worthy additions to the Beatles' most notoriously
convoluted production. But there's no getting around
the fact that the goings on back in January 1969 — the
interpersonal machinations and lack of any clear
artistic intention, then and now — will never really
be untangled in the cold light of the present day.
Simply put, Let It Be will always be an enigma, albeit
a truly wondrous one.
Two
interesting facts about the Let It Be Super Deluxe
soundtracks
by John
Whelan, special for the Ottawa Beatles Site
The Beatles
recording of Get Back is heard in part on the Gerry
Anderson TV production of "UFO" in episode 19 entitled
"Ordeal." Here is what script writer Tony Barwick
wrote in the manuscript: "NB: The
music used for the opening party scene is The
Beatles' "Get Back". The
instrumental playing during the subsequent party
flashback scene is "Trampoline" by
The Spencer Davis Group. The song "Beautiful
Dreamer" sung by Colonel Paul Foster while in
the sauna at the end is by Stephen Foster written in
the early 1860's."
So how did a
partial audio presentation of the Beatles Get Back end
up on the TV show? Simply put, Lew Grade had control
over the Beatles publishing at that time. Plus, he was
also the prime financial backer for the UFO series.
The shooting date for "Ordeal" was July 27, 1969. To
quote directly from Billboard: "1969: After relations
between the Beatles and [Dick] James deteriorated,
James sold his stake in Northern Songs to ATV Music,
owned by Lew Grade, and despite Lennon and McCartney's
attempts to offer a counter bid, ATV gained control of
the catalog. Later that year, the duo sold their
remaining shares to ATV, leaving them without a stake
in the publishing of their own songs (they both
controlled their own respective songwriting shares)."
As of this
writing, if you search Youtube for the UFO episode,
you will find it but the party scene that has the
Beatles "Get Back" music on it has been muted for
copyright reasons. You can, however, find the episode
(and the entire season) on Amazon Prime Video
streaming with the Beatles music unmuted (in this
instance, it is listed as the 22nd episode.)
The other
interesting fact: Billy Preston is a featured vocalist
on the Let It Be Super Deluxe box set. On the "Get
Back Apple Sessions, Rehearsals and Apple Jams", side
four features "Without A Song" which has Billy Preston
jamming with John and Ringo. This is a really a lovely
touch by the surviving Beatles to allow the brilliant
keyboardist to sing and perform on a track. It is
their way — The Beatles way —
of sealing for
the record that Billy Preston is indeed one of the 5th
Beatles. The other two are Brian Epstein, the Beatles
manager and George Martin, the Beatles producer.
Review: The Beatles As Nature Intended by Lee Zimmerman for American Songwriter
The Beatles/Let It Be (Box Set)/Ume
Four Stars
Few box sets have been greeted
with as much anticipation as the newly revised and
revisited Let It Be. Delayed due to the
pandemic and now available in a variety of formats—
five CDs + BlueRay, five LPs, Two CDs, a single LP,
single CD, digital and even a picture disc —it offers
Fab Four enthusiasts the definitive offering they’ve
been waiting for over the course of more than 50
years. Granted, there have been a plethora of bootlegs
to fill in the gaps courtesy of rehearsals, outtakes,
and unreleased material culled from the many, many
hours of filming, but as with most sets of this size,
it’s always nice to have the official version with the
book, artwork, and additional information.
Naturally, there are
omissions. Most of the bootlegs take pains to include
the cover songs the band would use to warm up and work
their way into a session. Some are included here
—“Save the Last Dance For Me” on the original Glyn
Johns version of the album, a return to “Please Please
Me,” a medley that includes “Save the Last Dance for
Me,” and a fanciful version of “Wake Up Little
Susie” that segues into “I Mean Mine” on the disc
titled “Apple Sessions.” Mostly though, the cursory
material is mostly eliminated in favor of early
attempts at songs that would later show up on
Abbey Road—“Polythene Pam,” “She Came in Through
the Bathroom Window,” “Something,” and a jam that
evolves out of “Oh Darling.” That particular disc,
titled “Apple Sessions,” is of real value and well
worth the acquisition inane of itself.
That said, hearing Glyn Johns’
mix of the album “as nature intended” makes for the
most satisfying listening, given that it excludes the
added embellishment of strings and effects that Phil
Spector added after the fact to the consternation of
Paul McCartney in particular. “Let It Be” and “Long
and Winding Road” ring with a resolve that was buried
beneath the wall of sound that listeners became
familiar with early on. So too, the playful asides
that Johns left in offering more of a flavor of what
actually transpired at the time, all loose and playful
sans the tension that plagued their early efforts at
Twickenham Film Studios. The studio chatter is
interesting as well, adding to the spontaneity and
genesis of several songs, including those that didn’t
make the final cut—“All Things Must Pass,” Ringo’s
“Octopus’s Garden” and Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” in
particular.
As with most box sets, much of
the attraction comes in the form of the accompanying
hardcover book, and in this case, the reflections
shared by Glyn Johns, the track by track description
of each song in the set, and the other ancillary
essays offer invaluable insights into the band’s
original intent and the album’s evolution from a
rehearsal for a possible live performance (which later
became the so-called “rooftop concert”) to an actual
stand-alone set of songs. McCartney’s foreword is
especially interesting as it puts the entire effort
into context.
If there’s any complaint at
all, it’s the lack of more photos. After all, with
hundreds of hours of footage, there could have been
more visual variety. The original English release in
1970 came with a thick coffee table book filled with
great visuals of the group that were culled from the
filming. Sadly, the binding was extraordinarily
flimsy, causing the pages to come out after even an
initial examination. Some effort to replicate that
book would have been nice, but perhaps the
accompanying hardcover book on the making of Let
It Be will make up for the scarcity of pictures
that should have been shared here.
Still, taken as a whole, the
Let It Be box is an essential addition to any
collector’s library, a collection that documents a
critical time in the final stages of the Beatles’
existence. Few albums were accompanied by such sad
circumstances, but now, visited anew, the joy and
jubilation are evident after all.
October 17, 2021
The Belated Debut of "Fancy Me Chances," an Early
"Lennon-McCartney Original"
by Jordan Runtagh for People (edited text from the
original article entitled: "Rethinking Let It Be: A
Detailed Guide to the
Expanded Version of the Beatles' Controversial Swan
Song")
Even at the apex of their fame in the mid '60s, the
Beatles occasionally resurrected early songwriting
attempts that had lain
dormant for close to a decade. Among the most
distinguished are "I'll Follow the Sun," "Michelle"
and "When I'm Sixty-Four,"
all of which date back to the '50s pre-Fab era. The
back-to-basics mentality of the Get Back project
provided the Beatles
with a perfect opportunity to air out a lengthy list
of their primitive tunes. In the original Let It Be
film, McCartney can be
heard name-checking long-forgotten titles like "Too
Bad About Sorrows'' and "Just Fun." Bootleg session
tapes reveal
versions of "Because
I Know You Love Me So," "Won't
You Please Say Goodbye," "Thinking
Of Linking," and
"I'll
Wait Till Tomorrow," most stretching back to
Lennon and McCartney's time in their pre-Beatles band,
the Quarrymen.
Rehearsals for "Two of Us" on Jan. 24 triggered a
particularly acute burst of nostalgia as McCartney and
Lennon worked out
Everly Brothers harmonies over two acoustic guitars.
It reminded them of their teenage writing sessions
camped out in
McCartney's father's living room, scrawling words and
chord changes in a school exercise book. Each
completed composition
was topped off with the lofty heading: "Another
Lennon-McCartney original." Now, years later,
McCartney couldn't resist
writing "Another Quarrymen Original" on the lyric
sheet to "Two Of Us." Though McCartney had written the
song about
aimless drives with new girlfriend Linda Eastman, it
may as well have been about his friendship with
Lennon, and the choice
of arrangement underscored the sentimentality of the
song.
Clutching their acoustics, the pair frequently paused
work on "Two of Us" to launch into impromptu versions
of staples from
their Quarrymen-era set: Everly Brothers covers and
rootsy acoustic tunes that swept Britain during the
late '50s skiffle
craze. One of these was "Maggie May" (also spelled
"Mae"), a 19th century Liverpool folk song about a
ne'er-do-well Lime
Street hooker that had gained popularity thanks to a
1957 recording by the Vipers Skiffle Group,
coincidently produced by
"Fifth Beatle" George Martin.
The Beatles busked through two takes of the song, both
delivered with comically thick Scouse accents. The
abbreviated
second version surfaced on the official Let It Be
album, while the first segued into another early
Lennon-McCartney original,
"Fancy Me Chances." (Later heard in part on the
Let It Be…Naked "Fly on the Wall" bonus disc.)
Though slight, it's a sweet
tune and the moment is oddly thrilling. The chance to
hear a lost Lennon-McCartney song is always cause for
celebration,
and their voices brim with exuberance. But it also
fulfilled the poignant promise of "Two Of Us" — their
memories stretching
back longer than the road ahead.
October 16, 2021 Ottawa Beatles Site rating for the Let It Be
Super Deluxe Edition
Is there such a thing as a runt in The Beatles’
litter? A ridiculous notion really when we’re talking about perhaps the most
perfect discography in music but I do remember a journalist – a noble breed
against whom I won’t countenance an ill word – saying something along the
lines of how Let It Be was often the first Beatles record people
bought – because of the cover – and it’s the worst one. Spitting out this
class of rot – that it’s the “worst one” – is a bit like grumbling about a
Himalayan peak that isn’t quite as tall as the others; it’s still pretty
impressive, it’s still The Beatles.
A confession here; Let It Be is the only
Beatles studio album I didn’t own – until last Wednesday. I replaced all the
eighties vinyl – and the crappy first-round CDs – with The Beatles In
Mono vinyl box/monolith when it was released. It is a thing of eternal
joy and worth four times whatever ridiculous price I paid for, an initial
investment that has been recouped a thousand times over. The thing is, it
doesn’t include the last two Beatles albums. I, of course, as a reasonably
sensible person, bought Abbey Road separately, for, as I’ve said
before, if side two of that final recorded work was all they had done, we’d
still be talking about them, but I never got around to putting money on a
counter for Let It Be.
Why is that? Any record that has the title track,
‘Get Back’, ‘Across The Universe’ and the great ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ on it
has got to be good. Maybe I read that comment from my colleague in the
rockin’ fourth estate and thought he had a point. I’ll even admit that such
was my unfamiliarity with it – compared to everything else that bore their
name – that when I bought
Anthology 3 upon its release, I heard the versions of tracks like
‘Dig A Pony’ or ‘Two Of Us’ and thought ‘that’s a good song, how come I
don’t know it?’.
I suspect the problem is this. I, like even the more
casual Beatles fan, have read more about The Beatles than I have about
almost anyone else and I’ve seen a crappy bootleg of the Let It Be
movie a few times - it’s not quite the disaster some have said it is, but it
is short on laughs. I know the stories about the rushed recordings in an
unsuitable space with cameras - and other people - over their shoulders. I
know the story about them all telling Glyn Johns to fuck off up the yard
when he initially handed them his version of the sessions, Get Back.
It's included here and is, while interesting and worth having, hardly the
revelation we might have expected. I’ve also heard McCartney giving out,
repeatedly about what Phil Spector, at Lennon’s behest, did to the finished
tapes. There’s no getting around it, he did over-egg a song as great as ‘The
Long And Winding Road’ with layers of mush. I’m a fan of the
Macca-sanctioned
Let It Be… Naked
where the Abbey Road boffins despectorised the tapes but, slightly
surprisingly, there’s no sign of it here. Has it been written out of their
history?
With all that weight on it, I gave it a swerve – or
at least what you could class as a swerve in comparison to the amount of
time I’ve spent with everything else they did - and surely I wasn’t that
only one? This fiftieth anniversary box – the last Beatles re-release for
the foreseeable? Probably not – allows foolish doubters like me, then, to go
at it again. The good news first. There has been some grumbling in certain
quarters about the very idea of Giles Martin, and Sam Okell, even thinking
about remixing The Beatles (“I tend towards the ‘fuck all wrong with it to
begin with’ camp,” one Mr P McLoone told me during the week, over a mug of
ale). This is a load of old hooey. Okay, I might personally prefer the mono
mixes of Sgt. Pepper’s and The White Album, but that
doesn't mean I don’t enjoy what they’ve done and, if anything, they might
even have improved
Abbey Road, as unlikely as that sounds. And it's not like the other
versions are going anywhere.
From what I remember, they’ve
definitely achieved something similar with Let It
Be. It, somehow, sounds less… tired. Ringo’s
drum, and his bass drum, in particular are brighter,
‘Dig A Pony’ certainly sounds more robust and
worthwhile, 'Across The Universe' is a gorgeous,
underrated bit of Lennon, and ‘Let It Be’ is such a
great song that it’s easy to take it for granted. This
new mix elbows you a gentle reminder, and the hairs on
the hairs on your arms still perk up when Harrison
plays that solo with the horns behind him.
On side two, McCartney’s bass
and soul hollering blast out of ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’,
Lennon’s early ‘One After 909’ rollicks along like the
greatest garage band in the world after a few
sherries, and ‘Get Back’ hums like it was recorded
last Tuesday, with a reinforced suspension. And what
about ‘The Long And Winding Road’? Perhaps for the
sake of historical accuracy, the tacked-on syrup of
the strings and brass and backing vocals are still
there but the men in the white coats have pulled down
the fader ever so slightly. It’s a great song from a
time when such things were falling out of McCartney,
the best Beatle. There! I said it!
All that – as well as that -
being said, Let It Be is still unlikely to be
anyone’s choice as their greatest record. They might
have been having the craic with ‘Dig It’ and ‘Maggie
Mae’ but you probably won’t be, and, as much as I love
George Harrison, I just don’t think ‘I Me Mine’ or
‘For You Blue’ count amongst his greatest songs, but
the genius indeed far outweighs the less good, and
Martin and Okell have made it sound better than it
ever has before. In fact, I suspect this is going to
be the definite version going forward. Let me
paraphrase McCartney, although he was talking about
The White Album; “It’s great, it’s the bloody
Beatles, shut up!”
The big box is filled out with
two records of outtakes as well as that Glynn Johns
mix. As has been said elsewhere, the pickings are
slimmer than on the boxes that came before, but it is
The Beatles, working, so of course it’s worth hearing,
and you have already decided for yourself whether
you’re going to put your hand in your pocket or not.
McCartney arsing around with a version of ‘Please
Please Me’ that could have come from before the war
before going into a take of ‘Let It Be’ that, yet
again, has the listener marvelling at how gifted he
is, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ sounding splendid on the
‘value for money’ additional EP (I know it’s from
another session, but it would have been nice to have
‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’ too), an early version
of one of Harrison’s greatest song, ‘All Things Must
Pass’ – why didn’t they work this up?, Lennon’s
nascent ‘Gimme Some Truth’ where you can hear him
writing it as it goes along, the thrill of hearing the
band work on various snippets of the material that
would blossom into Abbey Road, and Billy
Preston, as fifth a Beatle as anyone, giving it some
on ‘Without A Song’ – it really is like sitting on the
side of Olympus, witnessing the Gods as they forged
the world from clay.
All this, and
we’ve yet to see what Peter Jackson comes up with.
Jaysus, we’re spoilt. It’s the bloody Beatles. Shut
up!
Photo: Beatle Producer George Martin with his
son Giles Martin
More than fifty years after Let It Be, the
twelfth and final studio album released by The
Beatles, the project is getting a
remix from producer Giles Martin. For those who may
not know, Giles is the son of longtime Beatles
collaborator George
Martin. Giles has now remixed four albums by The
Beatles over his career, telling NME he's "been
working on Beatles projects
for longer than my Dad produced them, which is kind of
embarrassing.”
For many fans of The Beatles, Let
It Be is not only notable for being the band's
last release, but for being the group's most
divisive album. Released a month after the group
split, Let It Be was produced by Phil Spector rather
than George
Martin. Paul McCartney has famously described the
album as being "overproduced" and even released a
stripped-back
version of the project in 2003.
“I have the legacy of my Dad
talking about what an unpleasant experience Let It
Be was, and how upset he was. It hurt
him," Giles told NME of his Dad's ousting on that
final album. "The Beatles said they wanted a live
album and didn’t need him
to produce it, and then Spector did everything they
said they wouldn’t do. That hurt him, and I think it
hurt Paul too.”
“Phil Spector was very
different to my Dad – he was an artist-producer, so he
wanted everything to sound like Phil Spector
had done it," Giles continued. "My Dad was more of a
sensitive, blueprint producer. He would take the ideas
and interpret
them, like a satellite dish that could beam them onto
a vinyl record. Spector would force his character on
it, but you can’t
really take away from the iconic sound that he gives."
Giles describes Let It Be as "an album that’s
kind of fragmented in its creation," which is
something he aimed to fix in his
version. "How can we make it more unified in its
sound? So I suppose my approach was to make it sound
more like
an album," he told the outlet.
Despite being considered a
controversial outing for The Beatles, Giles has a hard
time considering Let It Be a "forgotten"
album. “I find it quite amusing that this is
considered a ‘forgotten’ Beatles album, or whatever,
and yet it has one of the
most successful Beatles songs of all time on it," he
said. "And that’s the Beatles! And then you look at ‘Let
It Be’ and you
realize it has all these songs on it that are pretty
bloody amazing. You think, ‘Jesus, they were kinda
good, weren’t they?’”
The Let It Be remix boxset drops on Friday
(October 15). In addition to Giles remix, fans of The
Beatles can also look forward
to The Beatles: Get Back, a new book about the band,
coming out on the very same day. Peter Jackson’s
highly anticipated
three-part TV documentary Get Back is also set to
premiere on Disney+ in November.
October 13, 2021 Get Back: Official Promo Poster and Video
Trailer for Disney +
In The Beatles‘ heyday, each member was painted as
this larger-than-life caricature of a rock star. But
what were John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo
Starr really like? Harrison answers that question in
one of his columns
for the Daily Express in 1964. Here’s how each of The
Beatles acted behind closed doors, and why they put on
that famous
“blasé” attitude.
The Beatles’ personalities, from George
Harrison’s perspective
“A lot of rubbish has been written about our
personalities,” Harrison wrote with the help of Daily
Express writer Derek Taylor,
as recorded in the book
George Harrison on George Harrison. So he went to
set the record straight himself.
“John is supposed to be a relaxed, laconic comedian,”
he began. “But this isn’t the whole picture or even
the right one. John
is a little shy, defensive, always aware of people,
interested in their motives and not always pleased by
what he finds.”
Starr, on the other hand, was “the party boy” of the
group.
“In public, Ringo sings little and says less,” wrote
Harrison. “But in private he is the star—far and away
the party boy of the
four of us. He talks plenty, wittily, in a dry,
throwaway style. He’s the one the girls want to dance
with. The life and soul.”
And then there’s McCartney.
“Paul, easy-going, wide-eyes,” he wrote. “Paul has
concealed depths. He has strong views on everything,
great belief in
himself, and immense ambition. He is a born leader,
though within the Beatles no one leads.”
George Harrison writes about The Beatles
famous ‘blasé’ attitude
“As a foursome we are aware of our success:
grateful and pleased but no more than that,” Harrison
wrote. “We never boast
and try not to think boastfully, because we know there
is a cliff-edge at the point where vanity takes over
from
self-confidence. And we are not yet ready to die.
Their collective unimpressed persona was a result of
attempting to process all the amazing things happening
to them at the
time.
“With so much happening during the last year we’ve
built a defense mechanism to keep things in
perspective,” he wrote.
“We’ve become blasé deliberately because if we hadn’t
we’d have gone round the bend with nervous
excitement.”
That’s also why they’d joke around so much.
“We’ve been getting most of our kicks from soft
things—like singing the wrong line or nearly missing a
plane,” wrote Harrison.
“When you’re together as much as the four of us
are—and often under pressure—you get to laughing at
simple things. We
play life on a low key and this way we avoid rows.”
This easy-going, jokey attitude also helped to keep
the peace.
“We never have bad arguments, which is surprising
because there’s a lot of artistic temperament under
the surface and not
one of us is like the other,” he wrote.
The Beatles were excited to go to America
But there was one thing that got The Beatles outwardly
excited, and that was traveling to America to play
Carnegie Hall.
“John, Paul, Ringo and I are full of confidence,”
wrote Harrison. “For once we’re knocked out with
excitement and
anticipation.”
Their mission was to prove to their American audience
that The Beatles were, indeed, worth the hype.
“We will step into the piercing spotlight on the great
stage at Carnegie Hall and we will sing and play as
well as we can, as
hard as we can as we always do and always did,” he
wrote. “More than that we can’t do and we believe it
will be enough.”
It was enough.
October 12, 2021
Beatles photographer Ethan Russell talks ‘Get Back’
book, the Rolling Stones, and The Who As a young photographer, Russell lucked into
an assignment for John Lennon and Yoko Ono and would
shoot the band's final photo.
by Stuart Miller for the Press-Telegram
When a young Ethan Russell saw
Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 iconic film
“Blow-Up,” he decided he wanted to be a
photographer.
After his father bought him a camera, Russell
began exploring the rock scene in his hometown
of San Francisco before decamping for London.
He didn’t
discover the swinging scene he’d hoped to find
there but after a long dry spell, he lucked
into an assignment: Photographing John Lennon
and Yoko Ono. His
pictures captured their love for each other
and soon after, Russell was in the studio,
snapping pictures of the Beatles as they
recorded the album that
became “Let It Be.”
Those photos (along with pictures by Linda
McCartney) are now included in a glossy new
book “The Beatles: Get Back,” out Oct. 12 from
Callaway Arts &
Entertainment. The tome is a companion piece
to Peter Jackson’s Apple+ docuseries, which
revisits unseen hours of band footage that
captures the band as
they were breaking up. Russell also did the
final photoshoot of the group.
From there, the photographer moved on to other
rock legends, shooting tours and album covers
and books for the Rolling Stones and The Who.
In addition to
the “Get Back” book, his pictures (which also
capture Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and others)
are in his new book of photographs.
(https://shop.ethanrussell.com/).
Russell says he never took a photography course.
“There’s a low barrier for entry to photography but sometimes you can tell the
person operating the camera cannot see what is there,” he said in a Zoom
interview. “The central act is seeing the picture. If you don’t see it you can’t
shoot it.”
He credits his success in
capturing the moment to a childhood spent hunting blue
jays on his parents’ ranch. “You gotta be really
quiet, you can’t move quickly, you have to look for
where you might see something, you have to be able to
sight it and you get one shot.”
This conversation has been
edited for length and clarity.
Q. How did you get this job?
I was there one day talking about earlier photos I had
taken of John and Yoko. I said I was going to go down to the studio. They told
me they had no need for me, but I went down anyway. When I got down there, Neil
[Aspinall, an Apple executive] showed up and said, “We’ve decided to let you
come down.” So then I went and got my cameras. Nobody ever told me what to do.
Neil had said, “You can come for one day.” And I said,
“I won’t do less than three days.” I don’t know why these things come out of my
mouth. After that, I was showing the photographs to Derek Taylor, the press
agent, in [Apple executive] Peter Brown’s office. I was projecting the pictures
against the wall, and they looked good—it was a hell of a location for
photographs, and I used it well, taking big wide shots.
Suddenly Paul McCartney walks in and then John with
Yoko and then George Harrison. After they saw the photos they hired me for a
longer period of time. Then somebody said, “We should do a book” and I went for
the balance of the filming. [The book was released in the English version of the
“Let It Be” album but not in America.]
Q. You’ve talked about
being impressed by the band’s work ethic yet of being
aware of the tension. Were you trying to capture both
truths?
Photography is representational. It’s not an abstract
process. You can try to use photography to represent a mood, but you’re sort of
swimming upstream against what the technology does. The technology just says,
“There it is.” I sensed the mood, but I wasn’t trying to capture it. I’m
just taking the pictures. The biggest value I deliver was not, “Look at this
cool picture,” it’s making you feel like you are there in the room with The
Beatles.
Q. You were in the room. What was it like hearing them create new music?
Rather pathetically, I didn’t listen. My gift is all
here in my eyes. Put a camera there and it’s like I put earmuffs on, too. It is
absurd that I was sitting there and the Beatles were making records right in
front of me. Later on the Stones’ tours, people would say, “That was a great
show.” and I would just shrug. I wasn’t listening.
Q. Did you have favorite shots of the Stones from all your time with
them?
One is Keith Richards in rehearsal bent over his guitar
by an amp with Charlie Watts blurred in the background. It’s 100 percent
natural, I didn’t light it. And it’s Keith before he’s a druggie, so it’s also
him doing what he loves the most.
I have a famous shot of Mick [Jagger] and Keith from
behind on stage, which is when I realized that’s a great angle because then you
are seeing what the band sees.
I also love the shots of Keith and then Mick talking to
their hero, Chuck Berry. Stanley Booth, who wrote a book about the Stones, wrote
that Keith was so adoring he looked like “a little English schoolboy.”
Q. You love capturing the
moment but you also proved willing to stage a shot,
like the one in an airport of Richards standing
beneath a sign about “a drug-free America” or the
cover of “Who’s Next.”
As a working photographer, you do what you think works.
As a rule, I never changed anything but we were waiting in customs and I saw
that sign and said, “That’s too good to miss.” I called for Mick and Keith both
to come. Keith was closer and came first and after a shot or two a customs
official said, “Stop or we’re confiscating your film.”
The “Who’s Next” cover was totally improvised. They had
no cover and had almost finished the album. One day, we’re driving in the rain
and Pete [Townshend] is going 100 miles an hour so when we pass these shapes I
don’t say anything, but then there’s a roundabout and he slows down. No
roundabout, no Who’s Next cover—at that moment, he says, “Have any ideas” and I
tell him about these shapes, so he zips around and speeds back.
The minute you see that monolith thing, you think about
“2001.” [Roger] Daltrey and [John] Entwistle started acting like the apes from
the movie. In my book, I have a whole contact sheet of the band doing the apes.
But it was no good for the cover.
Then I looked up and Pete had [urinated] on it. That
was real. The others couldn’t so I poured water on it to make it look like they
had. It’s show business. And then we’re down the road at 100 miles an hour again
and I’m just saying, “I hope this works.”
But the real sky was grey that day so the sky in the photo was taken a
different day.
Q. Tell me about the book of black-and-white photos
you created to help tell the story of The Who’s iconic rock opera
“Quadrophenia.” [It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Album Package.]
Even before I went to England, I loved “A Taste of
Honey,” a black and white English film, and of course “A Hard Day’s Night.” The
black-and-white photos of the English photographer Bill Brandt were also very
evocative to me. But in England, I was doing rock stars and had worked in color,
so for this book I decided to use black-and-white.
I believe the songwriters were the most important
writers of my generation, so I wanted to figure out what Pete was saying and
then bring that to the photos. When I delivered the artwork which was eighty
boards. Pete says, “I thought you said it was going to be six pages.” [Russell
shrugs and laughs] I said, “I might have, but here’s what I’ve got now.”
The book wasn’t glossy—the paper was purposely
newsprint-y– so they could make it as cheaply as possible. The English didn’t
care about it because they knew the mods and rockers story, but I’ve been told
that the book helped Americans appreciate the album in a way they never would
have otherwise, so at the end of the day it ended up working out for record
company and The Who.
October 11, 2021 Belated Happy Anniversary to Nancy and Paul
from the Ottawa Beatles Site and their fans!
October 10, 2021
“I Think We Should Have a Divorce”: Inside the
Beatles’ Last Chapter
With Peter Jackson’s docuseries, Get Back, on
the way, a new book and box set illuminate the most
famous breakup in pop
history.
by Alan Light for Vanity Fair
For more than 50 years, nobody has known what the
hell to do with Let It Be.
The Beatles certainly didn’t. After shooting over more than 60 hours of
themselves rehearsing and recording in January of
1969, the resulting film didn’t come out until the
following May, by which time the greatest band of all
time had broken up.
Despite the triumphant, climactic performance on
the rooftop of their Apple Records office building,
the movie felt
claustrophobic and sour, and the Fab Four soon
distanced themselves from it; Let It Be was
only briefly available on VHS in
the early ’80s and was never released on DVD.
As for the accompanying album, they rejected an initial edit of the
live-in-the-studio takes by engineer Glyn Johns bearing
the title Get Back, handed the tapes to
Phil Spector, the most famous producer in the world
(turning their own attention to
making Abbey Road), and then complained
about the final version, which would be the last
Beatles record released. In 2003,
they assembled an unsatisfying de-Spectorized album
called Let It Be…Naked, which felt like
Paul McCartney’s attempt to
wrestle the legacy of songs like “Let It Be” and
“The Long and Winding Road” away from the syrupy
strings and background
vocals added by the now notorious Spector
but—particularly since this is the most-bootlegged
material in rock history—
changed no one’s opinion of the project.
And for the fans, Let It Be has always been complicated. On the one
hand, the old footage and the raw tapes were the
closest we ever got to watching the Beatles work in
the studio, meaning they’ve been pored over with
Talmudic precision;
on the other hand, so much of it is sloppy and
half-assed, and it’s so tightly wound up in the
group’s demise, it’s been hard
to find much pleasure in listening or watching. The
material has also carried the weight of being their
farewell statement—a
lot for a three-week experiment to carry—when in
fact the magnificent Abbey Road, which
largely sounds like it was
recorded by an entirely different band, was really
the last work the Beatles did together.
This fall, though, Let It Be is finally getting a full overhaul and
a massive re-examination. On October 12, the Get Back
book
collects transcripts from 120 hours of the sessions
along with hundreds of photos by Ethan Russell
and Linda McCartney.
Three days later, the Let It Be box set
comes out, in multiple configurations up to the
five-CD (plus one Blu-Ray) “Super
Deluxe” edition. The season culminates over
Thanksgiving weekend with the three-part, six-hour
Get Back docu-series,
directed by Peter Jackson,
streaming on Disney+. (On November 2, McCartney adds
to the flood with his notes on some of
this era’s songs in his mammoth The Lyrics
anthology.)
The excitement among Beatlemaniacs about the Jackson film—which,
he promises, will not repeat a single shot from the
original Let It Be—is tempered by the
concern that it will whitewash this problematic month,
which began on January 2,
1969, when the group convened on a cavernous
soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios in London. For
21 days, cameras
and tape recorders documented their work (first at
Twickenham and then at their own hastily assembled
Apple Studio)
before wrapping up on January 31, the day after the
rooftop performance.
The sessions were fraught and unfocused, and of course we all
know how the story ends. But the surviving Beatles insist
that it wasn’t all miserable, and that the
documentary will illustrate the emotional range of
their interaction at the time and
the joy they all felt in making music together.
“[T]he new film shows the camaraderie and love the
four of us had between
us,” writes McCartney in a foreword to the notes
for the box set. “It is how I want to remember The
Beatles.”
The Get Back book, at least, reveals some unexpected
nuances to the Let It Be period, and ultimately shows that
the band
was suffering from boredom and lethargy rather than
hostility. The initial concept was that they would
play a big concert,
their first since 1966, somewhere—in a Libyan ruin?
on an ocean liner? in an empty Royal Albert Hall?—and
the rehearsals
would be filmed for a resultant TV special.
But it’s instantly clear that there’s no real enthusiasm for this
plan; within a couple of days, George Harrison says “I think we
should forget the whole idea of this show,” and
director Michael Lindsay-Hogg (as
much a presence on these tapes as
the Beatles themselves, as he pleads with them to
come up with a plan) inspires much hilarity when he
says that “the thing
to do is just to be very flexible about every
aspect of the enterprise.”
With no real sense of purpose, simmering tensions emerge,
especially between Harrison and McCartney. “I always hear
myself annoying you,” McCartney says, and Harrison
drily responds, “You don’t annoy me any more.” After
years as a junior
partner in the band, Harrison’s songwriting had
improved and increased, so he’s frustrated by being
limited to only one or
two slots per Beatle album (oddly, the group is
willing to work up the eminently forgettable “For You
Blue” for inclusion on
Let It Be, but not the sublime “All Things
Must Pass”).
One thing the two bandmates could agree on is that the death of
manager Brian Epstein in 1967 was a huge blow. “Ever
since Mr. Epstein passed away…it’s never been the
same,” says Harrison. “We’ve been very negative since
Mr. Epstein
passed away,” McCartney replies. “There really is
no one there now to say, ‘Do that.’…but that’s only
growing up. You
know, your daddy goes away at a certain point in
your life. You stand on your own feet.”
Things go downhill fast with Harrison. “The Beatles have been in
the doldrums for at least a year,” he says at one point. “I
think we should have a divorce.” And on January 10,
he suddenly and off-handedly says “I think I’ll be…I’m
leaving…the band
now.” John Lennon immediately leaps in to say that
he thinks the Beatles should continue (possibly with
Eric Clapton) even
if Harrison quits, later adding that the situation
with the guitarist is “a festering wound…I’m still not
sure whether I do want
him.”
Contrary to popular myth, the Get Back
transcripts show Lennon—accompanied at all times by Yoko Ono—to
be amenable
and open. “I’ve said yes to every idea that’s come
up so far,” he says, “America, Pakistan, the moon.”
And in a
conversation with Harrison and Ringo Starr,
McCartney proves to be impressively understanding and
sympathetic about
Ono’s presence and role in Lennon’s life.“He’s not
going to sort of split with her just for our sakes,”
he says, “it’s all right, let
the young lovers stay together…Obviously, if it
came to a push between Yoko and the Beatles, it’s
Yoko. They just want to
be near each other. So I just think it’s silly of
me or anyone to try and say to ‘em, ‘No you can’t.’”
With some prescience, he
adds “It’s going to be such an incredible sort of
comical thing like, in fifty years’ time, you know,
‘They broke up ‘cos Yoko
sat on an amp.’”
With no one at the wheel, McCartney repeatedly tries to get the
band focused. He’s self-aware enough to joke about it (“I
really sound like I’m the showbiz correspondent
trying to hustle us to do a Judy Garland comeback”),
but his jolly demeanor
has its limits. “I want a decision,” he proclaims
at one point. “Because I’m not interested enough to
spend my fucking days
farting round here while everyone makes up their
minds whether they to do it or not.”
The Twickenham rehearsals fizzle out on January 16. Five days
later, when the band reconvenes at Apple, Harrison is back
(the book’s editor simply notes “George’s return is
not mentioned on the tapes”), keyboardist Billy
Preston has been brought
in, and the TV broadcast has been scrapped.
Instead, they will make an album, film the recording,
and possibly do some kind
of local, low-key concert.
Finally given a target, the Beatles kick into gear—one thing that
defined their greatness was their ability to confront a
moment when all eyes were on them and then exceed
all expectations. “It’s hard, though, ‘cos every time
we do anything
it’s got to be really awesome,” says Starr, and yet
the last-minute decision to set up on the roof,
playing songs they just
barely knew, presented them with an occasion to
rise to.
The Get Back book is curiously fascinating, even
(especially?) at its most mundane, like a full page of the band
debating
their lunch orders. The Let It Be
box set, though, doesn’t really have much chance for
revelation. The original album was
recorded on makeshift equipment, so the sonic
improvement is welcome, and officially releasing the
Glyn Johns cut (despite
such weird choices as sequencing the two big
ballads back-to-back) is a good addition to the
historical record. But between
the Naked album, the outtakes included on
the
Anthology series, and the widespread bootlegging,
every Beatle fan already
knows what this stuff sounds like. Lunatics (like
me) will exhaustively debate the merits of “Get Back”
Take 8 versus Take
19, but there’s no great a-ha moments, no major
surprises or undiscovered gems in the two discs of
outtakes. Completists
have also noted the absence of anything from
Twickenham (which was recorded, remember, for
television, not for audio
release) and the lack of the complete 42-minute
rooftop concert (which some speculate may be a
contractual issue with
Disney, holding it back for the new film, and also
involves listening through multiple takes of some of
the songs.)
Maybe the ramshackle nature of the Let It Be
recording calls for a less conventional treatment—an interactive
Choose-
Your-Own-Adventure album or something that would
allow listeners to explore different strands of the
sessions (the Beatles
covering their own songs, or jamming on R&B and
country classics). The selections on the box seem to
concentrate on one
story line: Since it was unclear what this studio
time was intended for, it became a kind of open
workshop for material that
would turn up over many years, in many forms. Early
versions of five songs that wound up on Abbey Road
are included, as
well as songs from Lennon and Harrison solo albums
that followed the break-up. It’s an argument that
Let It Be wasn’t just
the Beatles spinning their wheels, it was a time of
creative fertility—maybe more than one band could
handle.
It remains to be seen how Peter Jackson’s film will present this
fateful month in Beatle history. There’s no denying the power
of some (though not all) of this music, nor the
unsettled feeling of a band unraveling. “We just sort
of put ourselves through
the torture of being filmed” is how McCartney
describes the experience to one visitor, “having
nothing to say and just sort
of wiggling, nervously.” Even on the very first day
of filming, you can hear the wistfulness in Harrison’s
voice when he talks
about his recent visit with Bob Dylan and the Band
in Woodstock. “They’re just happy to be a band,” he
says, from the
other end of a long and winding road.
October 9, 2021
If John Lennon were still with us, he would have
turned 81 on this date
Tonight, Yoko Ono continues the tradition of
rededication of John Lennon's birthday and his
activism for world
peace through the Imagine Peace Tower in Reykjavik
John Lennon and Yoko Ono exhibition at the
Vancouver Art Gallery
Lizzie Bravo was a Beatles fan who
was invited by the band to sing backing vocals as they
recorded “Across the Universe” in 1968.
Died: October 4, 2021
Details of death: Died of
heart complications in Brazil at the age of 70.
Across the Universe
Bravo was just a teen when she and her close friend
traveled from their native Brazil to London with hopes
of meeting the
Beatles. They realized they’d never have the chance to
see the band in concert, since they had stopped
touring in 1966, so
they talked their parents into sending them overseas
to visit their idols. In London, they spent much of
their time outside
Abbey Road studios, waiting for the Beatles to enter
and exit so they could see them. They and other fans
became familiar
faces to the band, who signed autographs and posed for
photos.
As the Beatles were recording “Across the Universe,”
Paul McCartney wanted to try adding a high backing
vocal to the
chorus, but there were no professional female singers
available. McCartney came out to ask the fans if any
of them could
hold a high note. Bravo and another fan, Gayleen
Pease, volunteered, and they were invited into the
studio, where they
sang and shared tea with the Beatles. The version of
“Across the Universe” they recorded was not the one
included on “Let
it Be” in 1970, but it was released in 1969 on the
compilation “No One’s Gonna Change Our World”
benefiting the World
Wildlife Fund. Bravo later published “Do Rio a Abbey
Road,” a book of the many photos she took of the
Beatles during her
time in London.
Bravo on the recording session
“John said both of us had to sing into this
[microphone], and… I got close, and he said – twice –
‘Closer.’ Yes, John. And
then he said again, ‘Closer.’ And John was here
[gestures next to her face]! And I was paralyzed – I
couldn’t move. My
heart was beating so hard, I thought, it’s gonna come
out in the mic.” —from a 2010 interview
October 6, 2021
Ringo Starr Jams With Nandi Bushell, Chad Smith & More
on Beatles Classic to Drum Out Hunger
by Gil Kaufman for Billboard
Beatles drummer Ringo Starr is part of a massive,
all-star group of the world's greatest skin pounders
who've gathered for a
cover of his band's "Come Together" for a good cause.
The effort, part of
WhyHunger's "Drum
Together" campaign, brought
together 100 of the world's elite drummers to raise
funds to build a "just, hunger-free" world.
Among the artists joining Starr are 11 year-old drum
prodigy Nandi Bushell, as well as the Red Hot Chili
Peppers' Chad Smith,
Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron, session legends Jim Keltner
(who helped organize the campaign) and Steve Gadd
(Steely Dan), as
well as Santana's Cindy Blackman Santana, Bruce
Springsteen and the E Street Band's Max Weinberg, the
Police's Stewart
Copeland, Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), Liberty
DeVitto (Billy Joel), Bernard Purdie, Carmine Appice
(Vanilla Fudge), Will
Calhoun (Living Colour), Leland Sklar (James Taylor)
and Dorothea Taylor, among many more.
The funds raised by the recording will support
WhyHunger’s mission to end global hunger by "tackling
its root causes and
investing in grassroots solutions to advance the human
right to nutritious food for all," according to a
statement.
"We all can agree that no kid should be hungry, and
everyone should have access to nutritious food. This
is a great cause
that I've supported in the past and a great track -
one of my favorite Beatles songs. So when Jim Keltner
asked me to join
all these other drummers I was happy to. Peace and
love," said Ringo in the statement.
The project was conceptualized and produced by Tony
Award-winner Brian Resnick (Hadestown) and
legendary
drummer/educator Dom Famularo, with the latter saying,
"When it comes to impactful compositions, ‘Come
Together’ is at
the top of the list. It was the perfect song to
galvanize this community for such a critical cause."
The jazzy, 10-minute video for the effort opens with
Starr playing the song's iconic intro, then quickly
being joined by a
galaxy of players drumming along on a wide variety of
percussion instruments and impressive kits, joined by
horns, guitars
and vocalists, with plenty of time for a number of
them to get in ripping drum solos. “I’m thrilled to
have the opportunity to
help unite the world through music and to help lift up
such an important cause alongside my beloved drumming
community,"
said Keltner in the statement. "Hunger affects far too
many across the globe, and I urge everyone to join
forces with us to
support WhyHunger’s work to end hunger.”
The organization notes that the global COVID-19
pandemic has had a dramatic impact on hunger and
poverty rates across
the globe, "exposing just how many millions of people
are struggling to make ends meet." WhyHunger says 90
cents of every
dollar raised will go directly to programming, with
the funds from the campaign fueling "transformative,
community-led
solutions across the U.S. and around the globe that
advance the human right to nutritious food for all."
Though they started in Liverpool, The Beatles
had fans all over the world. The band says they knew
they made
it big when they realized how popular they were in
America. Their first trip overseas was a big one,
filled with
anticipation. But America loved them. The U.S. was no
more immune to Beatlemania than the U.K. In 1964,
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and
Ringo Starr frequently got asked “Are the American
fans any
different to the British?” Here’s Harrison’s take.
In Harrison’s column for the Daily Express (assisted
by Daily Express writer Derek Taylor), he wrote about
The Beatles’ first trip to America and the differences
between American fans and their fans back home.
“People have asked me here, ‘Are the American fans any
different to the British?'” he wrote, as recorded in
the
book George Harrison on George Harrison.
“They’re not really. They still react in the same way
and shout the
same things, except it’s in an American accent. They
use different phrases in their letters. I had a note
today
from a boy who wrote that he had no father and no
brothers and asked: ‘Will you be my big brother?’
That’s a
new one.”
American fans were different on the phone, apparently,
too.
“In England if they get on the phone they’ll go on
talking and talking for ever,” wrote Harrison. “The
Americans
are quicker and straight to the point. They say: ‘I
just want to welcome you to America. I think you’re
great. I
know you’ll enjoy it here. Goodbye.'”
The Beatles were ecstatic to come to America
The Beatles were famous for their generally blasé
attitudes. But they couldn’t help but get excited
about playing
in America — about their star power reaching overseas.
“We have one aim: to conquer the United States,”
Harrison wrote just before the trip. “We know we may
be
knocked and knocked hard. No nation likes to be taken
by storm by foreigners. And the U.S., birthplace of
pop
music, isn’t going to give us an easy run.”
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr had a lot to
live up to.
“The build-up in curiosity value has been tremendous
and we hope this will be an advantage,” wrote
Harrison.
“But there’s a chance that the advance publicity may
act against us. We’re totally exposed—naked you might
say—and the Americans are going to look very long and
very hard at us. ‘So O.K.,’ they’ll be saying with
their
shrew showbiz eyes. ‘You’re here. So what’s so good?
Show us.’ We hope to show them.”
And they did. They showed them.
American girls love Ringo Starr
The first big appearance The Beatles made in America
was on The Ed Sullivan Show.
“It went fine,” Harrison wrote of the performance.
“Mind you we had something great going for us—the
audience.
And something else. About half an hour before we were
going to go on the Ed Sullivan Show our Press agent,
Brian Sommerville, handed us a telegram.”
The telegram was a note from Elvis Presley welcoming
the band to America and wishing them a good show.
“It was a terrific gesture and made us feel
wonderful,” wrote Harrison. “So we went before the
cameras in great
form.”
Like their audiences back in England, The Ed
Sullivan Show audience was very enthusiastic when
watching
The Beatles (one Beatle in particular).
“The audience was fabulous,” wrote Harrison. “They
started screaming from the second we appeared. Mind
you, Ed Sullivan had given us a great build-up. The
fans shouting and cheering like crazy. Especially over
Ringo.
He really seems to have something big for the American
girls. But he doesn’t know what it is. He just shakes
his
head and they go mad.”
And just like that, a few head shakes sealed the deal.
The Beatles had conquered the United States.
September 29, 2021
BeigeMusic covers The Beatles "Dig A Pony"
September 28, 2021
The Let It Be project: The Beatles discussions from
1969
Ottawa Beatles Site Retrogroove: All girl rock
band "Fanny" covers Cream's "Badge" which was written
by
Eric Clapton and George Harrison
September 27, 2021
Long-lost John Lennon interviews from Winnipeg-born
journalist go up for auction
by the CBC news
Growing up, Leo Zeilig had always known the story of
how his dad once snagged
a series of interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
in the late 1960s.
But it wasn't until recently, while stuck at home
during pandemic lockdowns
last year, that his sister stumbled across a box
tucked away in her Los Angeles
basement and they finally discovered what had become
of those recordings from
their late father, Winnipeg-born freelance journalist
Ken Zeilig.
Inside the box were 12 reel-to-reel tapes holding
three interviews — 91
minutes — of unaired audio of the iconic couple. The
story continues here.
September 24, 2021
New video interview with the great Ringo Starr on the
Jimmy Kimmel show
Sir Ringo Starr has criticised world leaders gathered
in New York for the United Nations general assembly,
saying:
“I do wonder about politicians, do they have kids?”
The former Beatle, 81, is releasing an EP called
Change The World and referenced its title as he
suggested those in
power were not doing enough to fight environmental
issues.
US President Joe Biden, China’s President Xi Jinping
and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are among those
attending or
speaking at the event.
Speaking during an online press conference, Sir Ringo
said: “The expression ‘change the world’, we are
changing it
for the kids. There are all those people meeting in
New York right now. Half the world is on fire, half of
it is under
water.
“They are still, ‘Well, we won’t do that’. I think we
have to do a lot. So, I would like to change the world
for the kids.
“I do wonder about politicians, do they have kids? Do
their kids have kids? Isn’t that reason enough to let
us breathe
and let us find water.”
Sir Ringo also expressed surprise at the number of
people not wearing masks in London.
The drummer, who is a great-grandfather, recently
returned to the UK with his wife Barbara Bach from
their home in
Los Angeles to visit his extended family.
He said: “Barbara and I were just over in England. We
went over there to see our kids and the grandkids and
everybody.
We had a couple of weeks there, which was great.
“You are still a bit like ‘woah’. Walking up King’s
Road we are the only ones with masks on. But that’s
how it is.
“This year I feel we can move. Because of the
vaccination we can actually move a little more than we
did last year.”
He also remembered Rolling Stones drummer Charlie
Watts, who died in August, as a “great guy” and added:
“He had a
harder band than I did to keep together.”
Sir Ringo recalled a party at his home in the 1970s
attended by Watts and Led Zeppelin drummer John
Bonham.
He said: “You have got three drummers just hanging
out. Bonham got on the kit. It’s not like on stage
where you nail
them down so they are steady. As he was playing the
bass drum was hopping away from him.
“You had Charlie Watts and Ringo holding the bass drum
for him as he played – and you think, ‘Ah man, that
would have
been a great little video, a TikTok or a photo, would
have gone worldwide’.
“But in the 70s I had parties and you will never find
any photos because I wouldn’t let you take photos in
my house. I
always think that would have been a great shot to
have.”
Change The World will be released on Friday September
24.
MOJO 336 – November 2021: The Beatles Paul
McCartney, Peter Jackson, Glyn Johns and Michael
Lindsay-Hogg
deliver the truth behind the legend of the Beatles’
notorious January 1969. Includes: the inside track on
Jackson’s
upcoming Get Back films and new angles on the Fabs’
*Let It Be LP. Also this month: Charlie Watts – an
in-depth
tribute; Genesis – the comeback!; Patti Smith by Lenny
Kaye; the secrets of The Meters’ voodoo funk;
Screamadelica at 30. Plus: Tori Amos; Lee ‘Scratch’
Perry; Steve Van Zandt; Endless Boogie; Joni Mitchell;
Don
Everly; Johnny Marr; Roger Taylor; Shane MacGowan; The
War On Drugs; Shel Talmy; and everything you always
wanted to know about Ethiopian pop but were afraid to
ask!
THIS MONTH’S COVERMOUNT CD is Fab Gear: 15
hand-selected Beatles covers by artists including The
Black Keys,
Swamp Dogg, Jim James, Judy Collins, Richard Thompson,
James Booker, Bettye Lavette, The 13th Floor Elevators
and more!
PLUS: BEATLES ART PRINT! Purchasers of our bagged
newsstand edition also get a posh art print, featuring
a rare
shot of the band at their Apple headquarters,
recording *Let It Be.
September 22, 2021
Meanwhile, Up on that Roof
September 20, 2021 Catching up with Blackbird songstress Emma
Stevens
I thought today we would post recent musical
activity regarding Emma Stevens who got such high
praise from Paul McCartney for
her cover version of "Blackbird."
On July 1 of this year a new musical
video done by Emma which was
released on Youtube. The song is called "I Want To
Rise" and once
again just like "Blackbird", Emma sings this new one
so beautifully.
Three new United Nations stamps honoring
musician John Lennon and the 50th anniversary
of his song Imagine
have an announced issue date of Sept. 21,
which is also the International Day of Peace.
A new set of stamps and souvenir sheets from the
United Nations Postal Administration is joining
worldwide anniversary
commemorations of John Lennon’s Imagine.
The celebrated song, which envisions a peaceful
world devoid of hunger and greed, was first recorded
and released by
Lennon 50 years ago in 1971.
On Sept. 21 the United Nations is issuing three
semipostal stamps, one each denominated for use from
the U.N. post offices
in New York City; Geneva, Switzerland; and Vienna,
Austria; as well as three single-stamp Imagine
souvenir sheets with
stamp designs and denominations that differ from
those of the individual stamps.
The issue date corresponds with the annual
observation of the International Day of Peace.
Cartor Security Printing in France printed these
issues using offset lithography.
The individual stamps are each printed in panes of
20 and feature a different engraving-style portrait of
Lennon by Swedish-
born artist Martin Morck, who has gained worldwide
prominence as an engraver of postage stamp designs.
Each portrait is modeled after a well-known
photograph of Lennon, who rose to fame as a founding
member and songwriter
of the Beatles, and continued his musical career
with solo work and collaborations after the group
broke up in 1969.
Born in Liverpool, England, in 1940, Lennon was
shot and killed outside his Manhattan home in 1980.
The single stamps are printed and denominated in
black, and a black tablet along the bottom reads
“IMAGINE – 50th
Anniversary” in dropout white. On the Geneva stamp
the phrase is in French, and on the Vienna stamp it is
rendered in
German.
The single semipostal stamps in the souvenir sheets
each show one of the three photographs of Lennon upon
which Morck’s
portraits are based.
At far left on each souvenir sheet, printed in
white on a gold field, is a small self-portrait sketch
of Lennon, the words
“IMAGINE” and “John Lennon,” and a facsimile of
Lennon’s signature.
The complete lyrics to Imagine are printed
in black in the center. The words are in English on
the New York sheet,
translated into French on the Geneva sheet, and in
German on the Vienna sheet.
The name of the stamp image photographer is printed
directly below the stamp at right, and at bottom right
is the message
“Surcharge will help fund the United Nations
Peacekeeping Operations,” again translated into the
respective language for the
Geneva and Vienna sheets.
Copyright information for the Imagine
lyrics and the photographs also is printed on the
souvenir sheets.
The denominations on the souvenir sheet stamps are
printed in gold, unlike the single stamp issues.
Rorie Katz of the UNPA designed the stamp issue.
The $1.30+50¢ stamp and $2.60+$1 souvenir sheet
stamp for the post office at U.N. Headquarters in New
York show a
famous image of Lennon in dark glasses with his
arms crossed in front of him, wearing a sleeveless
T-shirt emblazoned with
“NEW YORK CITY.” The photograph was taken in August
1974 by Bob Gruen (born 1945).
A different photograph taken by Gruen in the same
month was used as the basis for the U.S. John Lennon
forever stamps
issued Sept. 7, 2018 (Scott 5312-5315).
The denominations on the U.N. New York issues
correspond to the international rates for 1-ounce
letters ($1.30) and large
envelopes weighing 1 ounce or less ($2.60).
Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan (1938-2006),
famous for taking the photograph of the Beatles
crossing the street
single file for the cover of the 1969 album
Abbey Road, also took the 1971 photograph of
Lennon used for the stamps
denominated in Swiss francs for use from the Palais
des Nations in Geneva.
The denominations are 1.50 francs+0.50fr for the
single stamp, which pays priority letter rate for
international mail, and
2.60fr+1fr for the souvenir sheet stamp, which
fulfills the same rate for heavier mail weighing up to
50 grams (about 1.76
ounces).
The picture is a full-face image of Lennon wearing
his familiar eyeglasses with metal frames and small
round lenses.
The same photo was previously used as the basis for
artwork by Andy Warhol that appears on the cover of
the 1986 Lennon
compilation album Menlove Ave.
David Nutter (born 1939) was the photographer for
the 1969 wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.
His photograph
of Lennon with longer hair and beard, wearing a
dark turtleneck sweater, appears on the €2.85+€1
souvenir sheet stamp for
use from the U.N. post office at the Vienna
International Centre, and is rendered as a portrait by
Morck on the €1+€0.50
single stamp. The 1969 photograph used for this set
was taken in London about one month after the wedding.
The denominations for the Vienna issues meet
priority rate for small letters mailed throughout
Europe (€1) and registered
mail service on international mail (€2.85).
The individual stamps each measure 35 millimeters
by 50mm (about 1.38 inches by 1.96 inches) and the
souvenir sheets are
110mm by 70mm (4.33 inches by 2.75 inches).
The print quantity for each variety is 150,000
individual stamps in panes of 20, and 20,000 souvenir
sheets.
“The year 2021 marks the 50th Anniversary of the
recording of Imagine by the English rock
musician,” the UNPA said in
announcing the new issue. “Released in 1971, the
song, which is the most successful single of Lennon’s
solo career has
been covered by artists in every genre around the
globe. It has been performed at some of the world’s
biggest events,
including concerts for Peace, Hunger, New Year’s
celebrations and at several Olympic Games – including
the recent opening
ceremony of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The song Imagine has also been played as a
hopeful message during
troubling times throughout history.
“The song lyrics encourage us to put aside all
differences and unify to imagine a world of peace,
without greed, without
hunger, without barriers separating people and
nations. John Lennon’s message of peace, love and
goodwill conveyed
through his music, still resonates today.”
For information about ordering the United Nations
John Lennon/Imagine stamps and souvenir sheets,
visit
the UNPA website;
email
unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 212-963-7684 or
800-234-8672; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand
Central
Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.
The UNPA advises that it is anticipating a late
shipment from the printer and that orders for John
Lennon/Imagine stamps will
be delayed.
September 16, 2021 Upcoming live broadcast: "The Lyrics - Paul
McCartney in Conversation with Paul Muldoon,
November 5th"
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Half a century ago, four Danish teenagers
interviewed John Lennon for their school paper. A
cassette tape with a 33-minute audio recording of
the chat, which also includes an apparently
unpublished song by the late
Beatle, will be auctioned in Denmark later this
month.
The 16-year-olds were not star-struck when they did the interview in
northern Denmark on Jan. 5, 1970. At the height of
the Vietnam War and the Cold War, Lennon and his
wife Yoko Ono had “a message of peace, and that was
what was
important to us,” recalled Karsten Hoejen, who made
the recording on a tape recorder borrowed from the
local hi-fi shop.
The tape chiefly consists of Lennon and Ono speaking about being in
Denmark and world peace, Hoejen said Wednesday.
Alternative societies mushroomed in Denmark from
the late 1960s, attracting people from abroad, and
music festivals were
organized inspired by those on the Isle of Wight
and Woodstock.
“Their peace message was what we came for,” Hoejen told The Associated
Press. “There was a very relaxed atmosphere, a
cozy atmosphere. Lennon and Ono had their feet on
the (coffee) table.”
Lennon and Ono were in the Danish region of Thy where Ono’s ex-husband
had moved to and brought Kyoko, the couple’s
then five-year-old daughter with him. They stayed
for about a month and tried to lie low — which worked
for about a
week. Then a local newspaper reported their
presence and the press rushed to interview them. The
four 16-year-olds
wanted to interview Lennon for their school
magazine but turned up late for the official press
conference.
“We knocked on the door” and moments later they sat next to the British
musician and Ono. Hoejen held the microphone,
and his friend Jesper Jungersen photographed.
At some point, “someone ... I cannot recall who ... asked Lennon if could
play the guitar for us.” He played and sang with
Ono ‘Give peace a chance’ and “then they sang
‘Radio Peace.’” It was made for a radio station in The
Netherlands but was
never aired, Hoejen said.
The items — the tape, 23 still photos and a copy of the school paper —
have been estimated to be worth at least 200,000
kroner (nearly $31,800).
“What also makes (the tape) interesting is that it is a time pocket.” It
was recorded on an old-fashioned tape recorder,”
said Alexa Bruun Rasmussen of Denmark’s main
auction house Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneer that will
auction the items on
Sept. 28.
“When listening to the tape, you realize that they talk straight from
their hearts. This is not a staged press conference.”
The four boys behind the interview eventually found out that they “were
sitting on a treasure. So the cassette was put in a
bank vault,” Hoejen said, and they debated what to
do with it.
“A collector or a museum would likely get more of it than us having it in
a bank vault,” he said. “So we decided to sell it.”
September 15, 2021 Ringo’s joy at new version of Let It Be
documentary that shows the Beatles weren’t at war
RINGO STARR is delighted The Beatles' break-up will be
rewritten in new documentary The Beatles: Get Back,
after five decades of the world believing the Fab Four
hated one another.
by James Desborough for the Express
The drummer reckons people were presented with an
image that the four youthful pals had turned on each
other. He has
long been unhappy that fans felt the band were at each
other’s throats recording their final album, as
portrayed in the Let
It Be film 51 years ago. Ringo is overjoyed
Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson has recut a new
version, this time serving
up more of “the joy and laughter” between members.
Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be 1970
documentary film is
famed for a confrontation between Paul McCartney and
George Harrison, with other tensions between members.
That has incensed Ringo for decades, and
he is glad the original 80 minutes’ “dark
portrayal” will be eclipsed by Mr Jackson,
whose six-hour version will “rewrite
history” in a new documentary series.
Ringo said: “The point I am trying to
make was from day one, 30 days later, no matter
what happened we had an album, we
did the show on the roof and did all this
video.
“There is no doubt of the record and we
did have a few ups and downs, but that is what
life is all about.
“First of all I never liked the film that
came out. It was always [centred] around four
seconds of a month. I thought there
was no joy and no laughter, and I was
telling Peter Jackson this.”
He added: “We found 56 hours of unused
footage.”
Ringo is delighted with the new version,
which will air on Disney+ over three nights in
November.
He said: “Peter started putting it
together then he’d fly into LA and show me pieces
of it.
“We were laughing, we were lads. But to get
back to the original one, there was a discussion and
there were four guys in a
room for a month, that had up days, down
days, music days. But the music never, ever
once got lost in what we were
doing.
“It was the first time we went in the studio,
especially George and I, and John did not have any
songs and Paul didn’t have
any songs.
“Usually they had two or three, so we could
start. So there was a whole discussion. But when you
look at it, it’s a six-hour
documentary and it is like the ocean, the
waves of joy and ‘Oh what is that going on?’
“Laughter and playing great. We never stopped
loving each other. Once we heard the count in...
whatever was going on,
everybody did their best.”
Ringo spoke of his emotions about the
upcoming release while launching his four-track EP,
Change The World.
Paul McCartney was watching TV, saw a trumpeter
playing a Bach Brandenburg Concerto on screen, and
next
minute invited him to play on one of the Beatles’
biggest hits.
Picture this. Paul
McCartney, watching TV in a most ordinary scene, and
happening across footage of the English
orchestral trumpeter David
Mason performing a Bach Brandenburg
Concerto. So inspired, he becomes, that he
knows he just must
invite him to play on a new Beatles song he’s
percolating on.
That’s how the story of the
notoriously high piccolo trumpet solo on ‘Penny Lane’
starts.
Vocalist McCartney was
looking for something to embellish the jaunty 1967
English pop song, so when he heard
Bach’s Brandenburg
Concerto No. 2 in the hands of the virtuosic Mason,
he’d found just the colour the Fab Four
didn’t even know they
needed.
The next day, the story
goes, Beatles producer George Martin (AKA The Fifth
Beatle) had called the unsuspecting
trumpeter, and invited him
to record at Abbey Road Studios with the most famous
band in the world.
Mason, who played with the
Philharmonia Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra for a living, later told The
Bath Chronicle, “I
did not even know who the Beatles were when I was
asked to do a recording session with them.
For me it was just another
job.”
Modest Mason headed to the
hallowed Abbey Road Studios on 17 January 1967 and
didn’t take long to lay down the
embellishment that the
sofa-splayed McCartney had dreamed of in front of that
TV. It did take a bit of trial and error
first though.
“I took nine trumpets along
and we tried various things, by a process of
elimination settling on the B flat piccolo
trumpet,” Mason said.
“We spent three hours
working it out: Paul sang the parts he wanted, George
Martin wrote them out, I tried them.
But the actual recording was
done quite quickly,” he continued.
“They were jolly high notes,
quite taxing, but with the tapes rolling we did two
takes as overdubs on top of the
existing song.”
The piccolo trumpet is so
high, naturally, that people who weren’t there
mistakenly believed that Mason’s track had
been artificially pitched
up, to make it sound higher.
“I read in books that the
trumpet sound was later speeded up but that isn’t true
because I can still play those notes
on the instrument along with
the record,” the trumpeter himself recalled.
The lyrics of Penny Lane
refer to a real street (see above) in Liverpool, where
the Beatles hailed from, and mention
of the sights and characters
that McCartney remembered from his childhood.
Mason later contributed to
several other Beatles’ songs, including ‘Magical
Mystery Tour’ and ‘All You Need Is Love’.
David Mason was an English
trumpeter, who spent his career playing as an
orchestral, solo and session musician.
He was born in London and
studied at the Royal College of Music before
performing in the Scots Guards, Royal Opera
House orchestra, the
Philharmonia Orchestra (Classic FM’s Orchestra on
Tour), and the Royal Philharmonic.
Mason became a part of
classical music history when he performed as the
flugelhorn soloist for the world premiere of
Vaughan Williams’ Symphony
No. 9 in April 1958.
He passed away in 2011 at
the ripe old age of 85, and not before being
remembered for his incredible orchestral and
solo career – and for being
the legendary trumpeter who played all the right high
notes with the Beatles. Bravo.
─ End of article ─
The Ottawa Beatles Site Retrogroove: St. George Quintet does
an instrumental cover of "Eleanor Rigby"
Personnel:
Liesbeth Baelus (violin)
Kaja Nowak (violin)
Marie-Louise de Jong (viola)
Wouter Vercruysse (cello)
Bram Decroix (double bass)
Recording by Henk Waegebaert, Brussels, February 29th,
2016
What will we see in this long-anticipated treat for
Fab Four fans? “A lot of joy,” Beatles drummer Ringo
Starr promises of
Peter Jackson’s re-edit of the notoriously dour 1970
film Let It Be. But how much joy? Here’s a tally for
The Beatles: Get
Back.
6
Hours of footage in the documentary series
14
Number of songs the band wrote and rehearsed during
the making of the project
42
Length, in minutes, of the Beatles’ final live
concert—on the roof of Apple Records in London. It’s
shown in its entirety during
the last of Get Back’s episodes, which debut
over three straight nights
60
Hours of never-before-seen footage the series is
culled from
150
Hours of unheard audio that, like the video, has
been painstakingly restored
The Beatles: Get Back,Premiere,
Thursday, November 25, Disney+
This is an excerpt
from TV Guide Magazine’s 2021 Fall Preview issue. For
more inside scoop on the new fall TV
season, pick up the
issue, on newsstands now.
─ End of article ─
The Ottawa Beatles Site Retrogroove: Real women playing real
music: Fanny doing a cover of "Hey Bulldog"
September 9, 2021 ‘I was a hypocrite on the make’: unheard John
Lennon interviews up for auction
Newly discovered tapes feature 91 minutes of
fascinating discussion about Lennon’s favourite
Beatles songs,
his ardent love for Yoko Ono and being ‘possessed’
by fame
A fascinating cache of mostly unheard interview
tapes with John Lennon is up for auction this month,
offering an insight
into topics including his favourite Beatles songs,
his love for Yoko Ono, the corrupting power of fame
and his feelings of
hypocrisy over initially accepting an MBE.
The 91 minutes of recordings and interviews were
conducted by a Canadian journalist, Ken Zeilig, on
three occasions in 1969
and 1970, as the Beatles were beginning to
fracture.
Only around five minutes of them have been aired
before, in a TV broadcast in the late 1980s. Zeilig
died in 1990, but the
tapes have only recently been discovered by his
family. They are estimated to sell for between £20,000
and £30,000.
On the greatest Beatles songs, Lennon says on the
recordings: “I’m prejudiced, I like my own, you know.
[laughs] I like
Revolution #9” – the freeform sonic experiment at
the climax of The White Album. Asked to name more, he
picks I Am the
Walrus, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day in the
Life and Rain.
He says the Beatles were influenced by the composers
Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage – “it influenced
our music, and
then other people’s music” – but plays down the
significance of the group. “People said the Beatles
created a whole new
way of life and thinking. Well, we didn’t, we were
part of it. If there was a big wave in the ocean which
was the movement,
we were on the front of the wave. But we were not the
movement itself.”
Lennon is interviewed alongside Ono, who he had
married in March 1969, and speaks with great
tenderness of his love for
her. Ono, he says, “recultivated the natural John
Lennon … that had been lost in the Beatles thing, in
the worldwide thing,
and all that. [And] made me myself.” He longs to
die at “exactly the same minute” as her, “otherwise,
even if it’s three
minutes later, it’s gonna be hell. I couldn’t bear
three minutes of it.”
On love itself, he says: “It has its storms to go
through, and snow, but you have to protect it. It’s
like a pet cat … [love
has to be] nurtured like a very sensitive animal,
because that’s what it is.”
Lennon and Ono had recently staged a pair of peace
protests, in beds in Montreal and Amsterdam hotel
rooms, against the
Vietnam war. Speaking to Zeilig, Lennon gives his
reasoning for protesting rather than giving financial
aid: “People will
probably say: ‘Why didn’t you give rice?’ and our
answer is, we are trying to prevent cancer and not
cure it after it’s
happened. If we have enough money we will do both,
we will try and do both. But we really believe in
prevention rather than
cure."
He explains why he returned his MBE in 1969: “A
protest against Britain’s involvement in Biafra and
Nigeria, and about
Britain’s backing of the United States morally
and verbally in Vietnam. I had to write three letters:
one to the Queen, one to
[prime minister] Harold Wilson, and one to the …
something of the Chancellery.”
Zeilig asks him why he originally accepted
and Lennon replies: “Well, I was a hypocrite,
and I was on the make … if you get
a medal for killing, you should certainly
get a medal for singing, and keeping Britain’s
economics in good nick.”
Lennon describes fame in dark terms,
comparing himself to a pilgrim that is
constantly tempted: “We became possessed by a
spirit of people adoring us … having all
that energy that people gave to us … we lose
the way.” He is also disparaging of
music critics: “The critic can never be the
artist and so never understand what is going
on. He can only hope, he can only
sort of judge it … people are wasting their
time writing about music. I mean who are they
writing it for?”
The imminent end of the Beatles, who broke
up in mid-1970, is presaged when he is asked
for their future plans. “The
Beatles never made plans after they stopped
touring,” Lennon says. “Plans were always made
for them. And once there was
nobody making plans for us, we didn’t want
any plans, so we don’t make them.”
The auction takes place on 28 September.
Paul Fairweather, of Omega Auctions in
Merseyside, said: “John’s witty insight
and proclamations are vintage Lennon and
there is much in here that will greatly excite
Beatles fans. They are a hugely
important find.”
This week also marks the 50th anniversary
of Lennon’s song Imagine, first released on 9
September 1971. The occasion is
being celebrated with the lyric “imagine
all the people living life in peace” being
projected on landmarks around the world,
including St Paul’s Cathedral in London,
the Berlin Wall, and in New York’s Times
Square.
Ono, 88, said: “John would have loved this.
Imagine embodied what we believed together at
the time. We are still together
now and we still believe this. The
sentiment is just as important now as when it
was written and released 50 years ago.”
A limited edition vinyl version of the
Imagine album is being released this week,
featuring outtakes including the original demo
of the title track.
─ End of article ─
The Ottawa Beatles Site presents: direct from Ontario
"Studio 1954 The Reflections" cover of "One After 909".br /> Enjoy!
Sue Laver: Keyboards, Vocals, acoustic guitars, tambourine
Vladimir Antunovic: Drums, vocals, electric guitar
What a great train tune!
September 6, 2021 Harry Nilsson released a 45 on Mercury Records
in 1963 under the pseudonym as 'Johnny Niles' that
revealed his pop genius talents on a song called
"Donna, I Understand"
In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Harry Nilsson was
one of pop music’s premier singers and songwriters. He
wrote hit songs for
The Monkees and Three Dog Night, had hit records of
his own (ironically, often covers of other people’s
songs), and was
named by two of out of four Beatles as their
favorite American artist. Unfortunately, he later
became just as well known for
his prodigious drug and alcohol intake, and being
John Lennon’s partner in crime during his early ’70s
“Lost Weekend,” when
he was briefly separated from Yoko Ono. Though
still adored by his old drinking buddies at the time
of his death, he was
mostly removed from the music industry and is
surprisingly unknown regardless of his ’70s fame.
John Lennon with Harry Nilsson holding
lithographs of the "Pussy Cats" LP covers. The
album was produced by John Lennon
during John's "Lost Weekend" period.
Despite his doughy features and angelic light
blonde hair, Nilsson grew up as hard as they come on
the mean streets of pre-
gentrification Brooklyn. His father abandoned the
family when he was a toddler, an event which left
lingering psychic scars,
and his mother struggled with alcoholism and
poverty. According to cousin Doug Hoefer, as a
teenager Nilsson once robbed
a liquor store to help his family make the rent.
When told by his uncle they could no longer afford to
feed and house him, he
made his way to Los Angeles, which he called “a
great improvement.”
On the West Coast, Nilsson honed his singing and
songwriting chops while working a day job at a bank.
He began hustling
songs to music publishers, some of which were
recorded by The Monkees, before landing a recording
contract as an artist.
As both a writer and vocalist, Nilsson had a gift
for melodies, praised in the documentary by the likes
of Randy Newman and
Beach Boy Brian Wilson. His lyrics could be
alternately playful, melancholy or caustic, and his
vocals had a warmth and
clarity which drew you in and made you marvel at
their innate beauty. Though his music is at times
overpoweringly melodic,
the depth of feeling in his singing and the
complicated emotions his lyrics conveyed gave his best
songs a weight and power
most pop music of the era usually lacks.
While Nilsson’s early albums earned him acclaim and
the admiration of The Beatles, who sang his praises in
interviews, his
version of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” made
him a star after it was featured in the 1969 film
Midnight Cowboy. 1970 saw
the release of The Point!, a song cycle
which was turned into a popular animated children’s
special and featured the hit
single “Me and My Arrow.” The following year saw
his biggest success yet; the album
Nilsson Schmilsson, which featured
three Top 40 singles, including his a cover of
Badfinger’s “Without You,” which won a Grammy Award
for “Best Male Pop
Vocal” and was the biggest hit of his career.
Like a million other musicians, before and since,
success brought out the worst in Nilsson. Already carrying huge
psychological baggage from the traumas of his
childhood, he became adversarial with producers and management and
seemed to expend most of his effort being the life of
the party. Friends recount tales of benders that lasted days, powered
by mountains of cocaine and inhuman amounts of brandy
and cognac. He blew out his voice during sessions with John
Lennon, which many feel never fully recovered, and was
later bought out of his recording contract with RCA.
If there is a bright spot in Nilsson’s life, it seems
to be his 1976 marriage to third wife Una O’ Keeffe. He would remain
devoted to her until his death, and they would raise
six children together. While his final years saw him briefly bankrupt,
friends says before his death he was back on his feet
financially and as happy as they had ever seen him. Nilsson died of
heart failure in 1994 at the age of 52.
Perrry Botkin discovers Harry Nilsson.
The late Botkin was a Grammy-winning composer
whose work appeared on hit shows like ”Happy
Days,“ ”Laverne & Shirley,“ ”Mork & Mindy“
and ”The Smothers Brothers Show.“
September 2, 2021 50th Anniversary Edition of the "Imagine"
album to be released
August 30, 2021 Ottawa Beatles Site Retrogroove: "I'm The
Greatest" by Ringo Starr
Personnel:
Drums: Ringo Starr
Piano and Harmony Vocal: John Lennon
Guitars: George Harrison
Bass: Klaus Voormann
Organ: Billy Preston
Producer: Richard Perry
Composer: John Lennon
Heart Guitarist Nancy Wilson Speaks on How Her
Hero Paul McCartney Treated Her When They Met, Remembers John Lennon
From Ultimate Guitar.com
During an appearance on
The Mistress Carrie Podcast, Heart guitarist Nancy
Wilson talked about her musical hero, The
Beatles icon Paul McCartney.
When asked, "Did you ever get a chance to actually
talk to any of The Beatles as a peer?", Nancy replied (transcribed by
UG):
"I got to talk to Paul about three different times before his couple
shows that I went to see. One was with Wings, and then
it was his newer band, the Paul McCartney Show I
guess.
"And he's exactly the guy you want him to be. He's really generous and
sweet, and there's no pretense with Paul
McCartney, he's just a good person, and he's kind
of upbeat guy.
"For all the stuff that he's had to live through, that's pretty
impressive to me. Losing John [Lennon], losing Linda along the
way, and continuing to just push forward with his
optimism and his beautiful talent...
"And the new album he just did [2020's 'McCartney III'] is really cool,
and he's really, and then we just saw this incredible
documentary with [producer] Rick Rubin...
"Even if you know The Beatles very well, again, it's another masterclass
in melody and structure, songwriting, singing it,
playing it. All this stuff he's done so well, he's
the master.
"As a songwriting team, that was one of the things Paul talks about quite
frequently in his interviews, John's cynicism and
temper, and balance out his positive melodic thing
that he was so good at.
"And so John would kind of put the darkness into the lightness and create
the art. Darkness and light.
"John Lennon's father was a little 'ne'er-do-well,' and he was always
missing and a tad of a sailor guy. John had a lot of
pain, and both John and Paul had lost their moms in
the teenage years of their lives.
"So they had lots to connect to, but I think with Paul, his family had a
much more happy-go-lucky and musical, and
supportive, and John's was more of a lonely kid
with a chip on his shoulder, so that really rounded
out the equation of the
two artists."
Do you still have the first guitar you ever played?
"No, it was such a piece of rubbish, I got rid of
it, I gave it away or something. Should've burnt it
because it was
unplayable, there was no baring of the F chord, you
could never manage to do on that guitar.
"The bridge was not fixed down, so it was going out of tune all the time,
so I moved the bridge a little just to try to keep it
more in tune as I've played it.
"But I learned how to get strong on that guitar because it was so
terrible, it was like a piece of plywood with a pipe for a
neck."
August 28, 2021 Ottawa garage band "The Meadow" belts out "Oh
Darling" turning it into a local top-ten hit
The Meadow (sometimes known as "Mythical Meadow") was
a band from Ottawa, Canada. This cover version actually made
the #10 spot on Ottawa radio "CFRA Best 580 Sellers"
list on March 7, 1970. They previously recorded material composed by
Les Emmerson (from "Five Man Electrical Band" fame
whom had a hit with "Signs"; "I'm A Stranger Here" and "Absolutely
Right") "You've Got That Lovin Look"
https://www.discogs.com/A-Mythical-Meadow-Youve-Got-That-Lovin-Look-I-Am-The-Sun/release/7969340
August 27, 2021 The Unheard ‘Let It Be’: An Exclusive Guide to
the Beatles’ New Expanded Classic The new special edition box set will shed
fresh light on the Beatles’ misunderstood masterpiece. Here are the 10
most revelatory moments
by Bob Sheffield for Rolling Stone
Of all the Beatles’ classic albums, Let It Be is the
one with the most daunting reputation. We’re all used to hearing it as
their
break-up album. The one where the Fabs fall apart. The
one they began as a back-to-basics rebirth, until it became their
tombstone. The messy film soundtrack that arrived in
May 1970, just as the band was breaking up. The one Phil Spector
took over. Their darkest, most divisive music. But
that’s never been the whole story. This is also the album with classics
like
“Let It Be,” “Across the Universe,” “Get Back,” and
“Two of Us.” Let It Be always raises the question: How did John, Paul,
George, and Ringo make such uplifting music in their
hour of darkness?
That’s the fascinating mystery behind Let It Be
— and it’s about to get more fascinating. Rolling
Stone took a one-on-one
exclusive tour of the new
Special Edition of Let It Be, which drops
on October 15th. It’s a crucial box set that finally places
this wildly misunderstood music in the Beatles’
story.
For the full report:
continue reading...
Surviving Beatles Paul McCartney
and Ringo Starr are knighted. But it
is Giles Martin
who lords over the band’s peerless
music catalogue.
Even so, the man in command of all those classic recordings shows not a hint
of ego. Martin talks humbly and freely about
the songs originally produced by his dad, George
Martin, who is also a “Sir.”
When the younger Martin casually mentions, “I spoke with Paul this morning,
actually … ,” he doesn’t bother with a surname.
This Paul is McCartney, the rock legend. In Martin’s life, Paul is a family
friend, too. The two chatted earlier this month
about the relaunch of “Love” at The Mirage. The
show sprouts anew Thursday night, ending its 17-month
“intermission,” as
the company calls it.
Martin has remastered all the music for the show, and stopped through a
couple weeks ago to check on the sound system,
and to give a lift to the cast and crew. He also
hung for a chat inside the theater, visiting Vegas for
the first time since
March 2020. Highlights of our time together:
Johnny Kats: Since you just talked to
Paul, what does he have to say about the show?
Giles Martin: He is just so proud of
the fact that his legacy, or their legacy, continues on. We built this
place where people
come and enjoy the music. I think at some point, all
people of all generations come here.
Kats: Paul is still asking you about
the quality of the show?
Martin: It’s funny, I said, “So, we
had a tech run-through last night, and he goes, “How was it?” And I said,
“Well, there’s a
couple things I need to iron out, but I’ve got to go
to L.A.” And he said, “You’re going to go to L.A. and iron out all the
problems?” And I went, “No, no, I’m going to go to
L.A. to do another thing.” He’s like, “Right. You’re working on something
else …” I had to say to him, “I’m here looking at the
show.” And he goes, “Good. Good. Make sure it’s good.” Because it’s his
music, and it’s his show. It’s their show, really.”
Kats: With the “Love” show, you’ve
become a caretaker for the Beatles’ legacy, at least in terms of live,
ticketed
performances. Huge responsibility, right?
Martin: Well, I don’t personally —
there are very, very good people around us that have a lot of work in
this. But yeah,
looking back, 15 years, there was a huge risk in doing
this show. The guys who work with me here were asking me about
this last night, and I was saying, “In all honestly,
there was a risk that opening a Beatles show in Vegas would be seen as
something that was, I don’t know, cheesy.”
Kats: But it’s been a beautiful show.
Martin: For The Beatles legacy,
“Love” has a great impurity and great intent. When it opened, it had such
an amazing
response from everyone. It still has such an amazing
response. It’s become this thing that is part of the Beatles.
Kats: You’re involved in the updated
“Let It Be” documentary by Peter Jackson, “Get Back,” coming in November.
Have you
seen the final cut of that?
Martin: I have, yeah. It’s great.
The thing about Peter Jackson is, he is very good, and
so is the team around him. I’m
working on the sound restoration and video
restoration, and it’s like being there with the band.
It’s really fascinating. It’s
really compelling viewing, seeing how they react to
each other.
Kats: You have seen it all, too,
right?
Martin: I’ve been through 52 hours of
dialogue and video, and then I see something or hear something like, when
Paul opens
“Love” with, “We’re doing a live show,” which is from
“Let It Be.” You suddenly realize, “Of course, it is him.” I think it’s
going to blow people’s minds, watching it.
Kats: You’d once told me that, if I
remember it right, the “Let it Be” sessions were not entirely a sad moment
in the Beatles’
career.
Martin: “Let It Be” is seen as the
break-up album, but people get it wrong because it was the last album that
came out,
but it was actually done in January 1969. In February,
they were recording “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” which is in the
“Love” show, and then they went on to do “Abbey Road.”
So, sorry, if they were breaking up they didn’t do a very good job
of it (laughs).
Kats: There was some tension, though,
right?
Martin: They were breaking up when it
was released (in 1970). I mean, listen, George (Harrison) did walk out
halfway
through, but Ringo walked out during the “White
Album,” you know, because Paul and John (Lennon) were quite intense to
be honest with you, and the two of them got sidelined.
Kats: The “Love” soundscape CD has
been out for quite a while. Is there an idea that you might remake that,
or do a part
two, a sequel or something related?
Martin: I think I’ll do a sequel. The CD was hugely
successful, but I was so nervous because my dad had made all the
Beatles stuff for his son and got the job of
chopping it up. I thought I would get lynched for it
and I kind of wanted that
creation to exist in this space. I was nervous
about it going out of this space because I didn’t
think it would make much
sense. But then it came out, and it was really well
received. People love it.
Kats: It couldn’t have been anybody else who could do the
music for “Love,” when you think about it, you know? It had to
be you.
Martin: Yeah. I suppose so. On the other side, I remember
when Apple signed the deal with Cirque, saying they were going
to go ahead with this show. I was in New York. I
spoke to a friend of mine who is a producer and said,
“Oh, my God, I’m
going to do The Beatles. I’m not sure I want to do
The Beatles, because if I do The Beatles, that’s what
I’ll be known for
doing.” And he goes, “Well, if you don’t want to do
it, I’ll do it.” I was like, “OK, maybe I should do it
after all.” (Laughs)
Kats: We had a chance to talk 10 years ago, with your dad,
at the fifth anniversary of “Love.” It was a great moment. How
do you feel now about your involvement in his
original work?
Martin: Well, you know, I have a huge personal link to the
show. I think my dad was 79 when I started working on the show
… he was kind of an old man, and we started working
on the show way before Cirque did. The way we worked
is, I said
maybe we can just chop the music to create a
collage of sound. I planned to get The Beatles to do a
concert they never
played. That was the original idea. Dad was not
well at the time, he was actually having an operation.
I went into that
hospital room and played him the opening of the
show, and he liked it.
Kats: Did he have concerns about how it would be received?
Martin: He was just worried that I was going to upset The
Beatles, in fact. But Paul was happy.
Kats: I remember you being together a lot because of “Love.”
Martin: Yeah, that opened the door to us then spending a
long time together. I would work in the studio, and he would
come in like on a Thursday or Friday and I would go
through all the tapes with him. I’d go through and ask
him questions,
and then we would go to lunch together and we spent
so much time together as a father and son. It’s almost
like Benjamin
Button, you know. We lived our lives in reverse, to
a certain degree.
Kats: He died around the 10th anniversary, yes, during the
show’s refresh period.
Martin: We spent quite a long time persuading people we
wanted to refresh of the show. My dad fell ill in January, the year
before we did the refresh. I remember I couldn’t
come out, because my dad was dying. People were
hamstrung because I
wasn’t here. I realized I had to come out. My dad’s
doctor said he might make another month, or three
weeks. My dad said,
“You should go. You have to go.” I went home, and
he died about 10 days later, after we did the
10th-anniversary
(refresh).
Kats: That is amazing.
Martin: It was such an important bond for the two of us. It
was way more important for me than the show itself, because
we spent so much time together. I got the chance to
go through his work, and to do something truly
creative with his work,
that he loved, that people hear now. It’s like I
was proving my worth to him. It was an amazing time.
Kats: When you were working with your dad, did he leave you
with anything in these sessions that you take with you, like
pearls of wisdom?
Martin: The thing about my dad is, he just taught me to be
strong, never accept second best, and also to be humble. To
be kind to people, and to respect everyone, not
because of who they are but the fact that they’re all
human beings. That
was the most important thing, because my dad was a
very kind and nice man. Musically, of course, he
taught me a lot. But
the most important thing is he taught me was to be
compassionate and kind.
August 25, 2021
Ottawa Beatles Site Retrogroove: "Come And Get It" by
Paul McCartney and the Hollywood Vampires;
Badfinger's hit version of "Come And Get It" moves up
to #22 on Ottawa's "CFRA Best 580 Sellers" for
the week of March 7, 1970
COME AND GET IT
Composed originally by McCartney in 1969
during The Beatles'
Abbey Road album sessions, it was later given
to Apple band
Badfinger.
This version is taken from the Hollywood
Vampires album
(Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp
supergroup), which
features McCartney on lead vocals, piano and
bass, and
drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr.
The footage is from the behind the scenes
session.
August 24, 2021 Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones,
peacefully passes away at 80
Rest In Peace Charlie!
Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts dies at
age 80 by the Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Charlie Watts, the self-effacing and unshakeable Rolling Stones
drummer who helped anchor one of rock’s
greatest rhythms sections and used his “day job” to
support his enduring love of jazz, has died, according
to his publicist.
He was 80.
Bernard Doherty said Tuesday that Watts “passed away peacefully in a London
hospital earlier today surrounded by his
family.”
“Charlie was a cherished husband, father and grandfather and also as a member
of The Rolling Stones one of the greatest
drummers of his generation,” Doherty said.
Watts had announced he would not tour with the Stones in 2021 because of an
undefined health issue.
The quiet, elegantly dressed Watts was often ranked with Keith Moon, Ginger
Baker and a handful of others as a premier
rock drummer, respected worldwide for his muscular,
swinging style as the band rose from its scruffy
beginnings to
international superstardom. He joined the Stones
early in 1963 and remained over the next 60 years,
ranked just behind Mick
Jagger and Keith Richards as the group’s longest
lasting and most essential member.
The Stones began, Watts said, “as white blokes from England playing Black
American music” but quickly evolved their own
distinctive sound. Watts was a
jazz drummer in his early years and never lost his affinity for the music
he first loved,
heading his own jazz band and taking on numerous
other side projects.
A classic Stones song like “Brown Sugar” and “Start Me Up” often began with a
hard guitar riff from Richards, with Watts
following closely behind, and Wyman, as the bassist
liked to say, “fattening the sound.” Watts’ speed,
power and time
keeping were never better showcased than during the
concert documentary, “Shine a Light,” when director
Martin Scorsese
filmed “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” from where he drummed
toward the back of the stage.
And about 3 hours ago, this is what Paul
McCartney and Ringo Starr had to say about Charlie Watts
We have been notified of the death of Sheila Bromberg,
the London orchestral musician who play harp on ‘She’s Leaving
Home’.
Sheila was 92.
After studies at the Royal College of Music, she
played harp in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the
London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic,
Bournemouth Symphony and the BBC Concert Orchestra. Aside from the
Beatles she recorded with The Beatles, The Bee Gees
and Bing Crosby.
Watch [a] video...to hear her explain how she
remoulded the Beatles’ song.
Ottawa Beatles Site editorial: And then there
is this cute little story that Sheila Bromberg revealed May 3, 2011:
"It's been a harp day's night"
by Tom Jenningsfor the Oxford Mail
WORKING with Beatles legend Paul McCartney
may be a dream come true for most musicians.
But a harpist from Chipping Norton said working on Sgt
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had truly been a hard day’s
night.
Sheila Bromberg, of Rock Hill, played on She’s
Leaving Home, but said working with Sir Paul had been a
nightmare.
February 9 marked the 50th anniversary of the band’s
first gig, in the now world famous Cavern club,
Liverpool.
At that time, Mrs Bromberg worked as a session
musician in London and was regarded as one of the best
harpists in
the country.
During the 50s, 60s and early 70s she worked with
stars from Frank Sinatra and Dusty Springfield, to
Morecambe and
Wise and Rolf Harris.
But in 1967 she received a call from a ‘fixer’ – a
middleman between producers and session musicians – for
a three-hour
recording. She did not know who it was for.
The now 82-year-old said: “He asked if I was free
from 9pm to midnight, but I had been working since 8am
that morning
and really didn’t want to go.
“Unfortunately, I did a lot of work for that
particular person and didn’t want to say no because
otherwise they would
choose someone else next time, and you don’t want
that.”
She arrived early and began tuning her harp, when she
suddenly became aware of someone standing behind her.
It was Paul McCartney and Mrs Bromberg was about to
become the first woman musician to play on a Beatles
album.
He briefly asked about the music she was playing,
before disappearing to the control booth. For the next
three hours
McCartney had Mrs Bromberg and the other session
musicians play the same piece over and over.
Mrs Bromberg said: “After every take he would say:
‘No I don’t want that, I want something... err...’”
She said the musicians became more and more
frustrated as the night wore on, until, at midnight, the
orchestra’s
leader stood up and said they were leaving.
McCartney responded: “Well, I suppose that’s that
then.”
Mum-of-two Mrs Bromberg said: “Thinking back, I’m
really proud to be part of it, but at the time I could
have wrung his
neck.
“He didn’t know what he wanted, which was very
annoying, but when you listen to the album you realise
what he really
wanted – and that was the album.”
Sgt Pepper’s is widely regarded as one of the
greatest albums of all time and spent 27 weeks at the
top of the UK chart.
Mrs Bromberg, who now teaches the harp, said: “I feel
very grateful to have been chosen to have been on it.
“And I feel very proud that that piece of work has
given such a tremendous amount of pleasure to everyone.
“But what amazes me, of all the music I’ve performed
in, I’m noted for four bars of music. I found that a
little bit bizarre.”
August 20, 2021 This week in history: The Beatles rock out at
Comiskey Park
Fans exploded with excitement as The Beatles took to
the stage at Comiskey Park on Aug. 20, 1965. Here’s a look
back at that unforgettable concert.
by Alison Martin for the Chicago Sun Times
As published in the Chicago Daily News, sister
publication of the Chicago Sun-Times:
Every rock band has its die-hard fans, but few fans could match the fervor,
excitement and utter devotion that
Chicago’s Beatles worshippers showed when the band
arrived for a Comiskey Park concert in 1965.
Just one year earlier, Beatlemania arrived in the U.S. in February 1964 when
the Fab Four — John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison —
performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” More than 73
million people
across more than 23 million households tuned into
the show, according to Mark Lewisohn, author of “The
Complete
Beatles Chronicle: The Definitive Day-By-Day Guide
To the Beatles’ Entire Career.”
Whatever it was about the band — the music, that long hair, the accents —
teenagers, especially girls, became
obsessed with the lads from Liverpool.
Now for this performance on Aug. 20, 1965, the Chicago Daily News sent
reporter Betty Flynn to follow the band and
document the Beatlemania taking of the teens of
Chicago.
“In just 24 hours,” Flynn wrote, “the Beatles tore through Chicago,
shattering many teenage hearts, shredding some
adult nerves, and, apparently, enjoying every
minute of it.”
Thronged by fans at every step, the Beatles left the O’Hare Sahara Inn at
2:50 p.m. by sneaking out a side corridor
and into a station wagon parked in an alley, Flynn
reported. “Outside, the police told the girls, some of
whom had
waited since 4 a.m., the demigods had left.”
The Beatles performed at the International Amphitheater the previous year,
and none of that enthusiasm had waned.
At Comiskey Park, fans went wild when the band,
“wearing khaki army-like jackets, [raced] onto their
stage atop
second base,” the reporter observed.
“I can’t believe it, George, I love you, George, oh George,” Flynn heard one
blonde fan “with glasses and a bad
complexion” shriek with a voice “already sounding
sandpaperish.”
Flynn mentioned only one song the Beatles played, “Ticket to Ride.” Instead,
she focused on the ecstasy going on in
the crowd.
“Every movement brings another shriek of pain, of joy, of frustration,” she
wrote. “Paul rocks back and forth, brisk and
steady, then switches to a knees-up-and-down
movement. Suddenly, he lifts the end of his guitar
twice, quickly, into
the air. There is madness in the stands.”
Later at a press conference between shows, McCartney answered most of the
questions, Flynn said. Someone asked:
How was the Chicago security? “It was so good this
year we couldn’t get our friends in,” McCartney joked.
Another asked what would happen when the band’s fame fades. “We’ve no idea
... it doesn’t matter though,” McCartney
answered.
Did they mind when their fans kept screaming during performances? “We’ve
proved we can be heard over the screaming,”
McCartney said. “The people paid to get in. Who are
we to say what they should do when they get in?”
Then one reporter asked Starr directly, “Why doesn’t Ringo smile?”
“It’s just the face,” he said seriously. “I’m quite happy inside.”
August 18, 2021 Leonard Cohen's problem with The Beatles
by Far Out
Leonard Cohen enjoyed a considerably
different swinging ’60s to The Beatles. Still, they both enjoyed the same
excesses that the decade had on offer, yet their
trajectories couldn’t have been pointing in more opposite directions.
While The Fab Four were intent from their teenage
years in becoming musical sensations, Leonard Cohen had an
unconventional school of thought and an even more
peculiar start to his life as a serenading singer. Cohen was 33
when he decided to plunge into musicianship; he became
unconvinced with his life as a poet and felt like the potency
of his message within the written word was being lost.
After seeking pastures new, everything fell into place for him,
and his musings spread internationally.
With that in mind, Cohen made a leap of faith, left
his revered poetry career behind and, instead, channelled his
talents into songwriting. His debut album, Songs
Of Leonard Cohen, arrived in 1967 while The Beatles were at the
peak of their powers, and the folkie wasn’t in the
business of chasing the hit parade.
When The Fab Four rose to fame in the early ’60s, they
weren’t trying to persuade grown men in their late twenties
like Cohen, and he struggled to enjoy their must, but
eventually, he appreciated their celestial talent. “I’m interested
in things that contribute to my survival,” he later
reflected to The New Yorker. “I had girlfriends who really
irritated
me by their devotion to the Beatles. “I didn’t
begrudge them their interest, and there were songs like ‘Hey Jude’ that
I could appreciate. But they didn’t seem to be
essential to the kind of nourishment that I craved.”
Cohen’s remarks are reasonable, and it’s
understandable why an esteemed poet couldn’t get on board with those
early Beatles records. He required something filled
with meaning and something that would correspond with him on
an obscenely deep level.
Fascinatingly, his attitude towards the group in 1967
on the CBC radio documentary, How The Beatles Changed The
World, doesn’t reflect the aforementioned
comment. Cohen spoke in superlative terms about the group: “I find the
[Beatles music] all speak to me, and they speak to a
part of me that seems very perishable,” he said. “Sometimes I feel
like it has perished, and what they are speaking is an
elegy.”
When asked to name a specific song he likes by the
group, Cohen couldn’t quite manage the task. Although he did
explain, that’s because he doesn’t own a record player
but enjoys everything he’s heard when he listens to The Beatles
at a friend’s house. The mercurial artist then recites
some lyrics to ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ despite not knowing the
song title and describes the track as “very, very
beautiful”.
The host then asked Cohen if he thinks the Liverpool
band are poets, to which he states they’ve done enough to be
heralded with that tag. “They are dealing with some
essence, and handling it in a state of grace, certainly they are
poets,” the Canadian elucidated.
Despite not necessarily being caught up in
Beatlemania, Cohen could respect and appreciate The Beatles’ wider
significant cultural impact, even if their songs
didn’t provide him with the “nourishment he craved”. Vitally, he
understood the vital importance of The Fab Four, even
if he had to seek elsewhere for stimulation.
August 17, 2021 George Harrison All Things Must Pass 50th
Anniversary Gnome Garden, Duke of York Square, King's Road,
London, UK.
August 13, 2021 Ringo Starr releases a new pop video entitled
"Let's Change The World"
From Ringo's Official Facebook pages
August 12, 2021 ‘Rock & Roll Revival’: Music Doc In The Works
That Tells Story Of Toronto Festival Featuring Fabled John Lennon
Performance That Led To The End Of The Beatles
An exclusive by Peter White for Deadline
Summer of Soul isn’t the only
documentary
about a lesser-known music festival that has
historical significance.
Deadline understands that a film is in the
works
about the Toronto
Rock & Roll Revival, which is
best known for a rare solo performance by
John Lennon, the first for the Plastic Ono
Band,
during his final days as a Beatle.
Rock & Roll Revival (w/t) is directed
by
Ron Chapman (The Poet of Havana)
and will
tell the story of the Toronto event in
September 1969, held the same year as
Woodstock and Harlem Cultural Festival.
The one-day music festival at the University
of Toronto’s 20,000-seat Varsity Stadium was
put together by young renegade promoter
John Brower with artists including Chuck
Berry,
Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley,
Gene Vincent, The Doors and Alice Cooper.
However, with dismal ticket sales, the concert
almost was canceled before Brower invited
Lennon and he said yes.
Lennon had been in the studio with The Beatles
putting together the Abbey Road album and
he didn’t have a band for his two solo albums
so he got together a group consisting of Eric
Clapton, Yoko Ono, Yes drummer Alan White
and bass player Klaus Voorman, who designed
the artwork for the Revolver record.
Lennon reportedly was nervous about the show
and is thought to have tried to back out.
Concertgoers in Toronto also didn’t believe he
would appear, and it wasn’t until Lennon and
YYoko Ono boarded a flight and were escorted
to the stadium by the Vagabonds Motorcycle
Club that all the tickets sold out.
Lennon, Ono and the band played songs
including a cover of “Blue Suede Shoes,” as
well as “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” The Beatles’
“Yer Blues” and a new song “Cold Turkey” as
well as Ono’s “Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s
Only Looking for A Hand in the Snow).”
It’s thought that after Lennon returned to
London is when he decided to leave
The Beatles.
The doc will use rare
cinematic archive that includes unreleased concert
footage from D.A. Pennebaker’s original 16mm film, and
a narrative primarily told through the eyes of those
who were there.
Pennebaker, arguably best
known for the Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look
Back and Monterey Pop, used some of the
footage in his film Sweet Toronto.
Pennebaker Hegedus Films is
exec producing the project, which is produced by
Vancouver’s Screen Siren Pictures, Toronto’s Chapman
Productions, Paris’ Films A Cinq. Trish Dolman, Sally
Blake and Ron Chapman produce the doc, which is
written by Phyllis Ellis.
Production kicked off this
month on the 90-minute film. It will shoot in Toronto,
Los Angeles, New York, London and Berlin, ready for a
spring release touring the festival circuit.
It will air on Crave in Canada
and Arte in France and Germany.
August 11, 2021
Prestigious rankings for the "All Things Must Pass
50th Anniversary Edition" culled from the official
George Harrison Facebook pages
NEW YORK (AP) — George Harrison’s landmark
album “All Things Must Pass” is celebrating its belated 50th anniversary
and the former Beatles’ son thinks a new remixed
collection might make the perfect post-pandemic soundtrack.
“I think that the message of this record is more ready
to be received now than it was when it first came out,” said
Dhani Harrison. “The message is clearer and now it’s
sonically clearer. This is a really important bit of music.”
The original collection was audacious for its time —
the first triple studio album in rock history, a virtual flurry of vinyl.
The anniversary editions out this week make that look
quaint, containing eight LPs (or five CDs) plus a Blu-ray audio disc,
with the remixed album, demos, outtakes and jams.
There are reprinted archival notes, track annotations,
photos and memorabilia. The most expensive edition comes in its
own wooden crate, complete with figurines of the
famous garden gnomes featured on the album cover. But first is the
music, which Rolling Stone lists among the 500
greatest albums of all time.
“We’re not trying to make it sound modern,” said
triple Grammy Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks. “I’m not trying to put
any sort of stamp on it. We are very respectful to the
mixes that were there and follow them as much as possible.”
The skeleton of “All Things Must Pass” was recorded
over two days in late May 1970. On May 26, Harrison record 15 songs
backed by Ringo Starr and his longtime friend, bassist
Klaus Voormann. The next day, he played an additional 15 songs for
co-producer Phil Spector on just an acoustic guitar.
The original 23-track album — complete with hits
“Isn’t It a Pity,” “What Is Life” and “My Sweet Lord” — has been remixed
for the anniversary editions from Capitol/UMe and are
now augmented with 47 demos and outtakes, 42 of them previously
unreleased.
The 1970 session tapes produced 25 hours of music,
including several songs that didn’t make the album like “Cosmic Empire,”
“Going Down To Golders Green,” “Dehra Dun,” “Sour Milk
Sea,” and “Mother Divine.”
Dhani Harrison and Hicks started work on the
anniversary editions five years ago, re-digitizing and listening to every
song
and every take made during the sessions. It was an
ever deeper dive than the 30th and 40th anniversary reissues. Hicks
calls the new work “forensic.”
They emerged from the vault with some 110 different
songs and Harrison and his team had to decide how to present what
he’d found. He recalled once listening to a Beach Boys
box set that had 10 versions of every song and didn’t want to go
that route.
Instead, he wanted to bring the listener into the
recording process to hear how the songs had evolved. “What we were
looking for was the ones that really stood out and
that really screamed something new,” said Harrison.
Listeners familiar with the album track “Let It Down”
— a dynamic tune that got the Spector Wall of Sound treatment and
resembles a James Bond theme — may be stunned to hear
the stripped down, heartfelt acoustic demo version Harrison
recorded on Day 2.
There’s a slowed-down version of “Isn’t It a Pity”
that’s even sadder than the album version, and a sublime version of “Art
of Dying” that’s arguably better than the final. Some
songs got sped up and some got slower during the process, potentially
blowing the mind of anyone who thought the final
versions were somehow the only way to play them.
“Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. It does change
the way you hear the whole record forever. But it doesn’t ruin the
experience of knowing the record,” said Harrison.
A very human George Harrison — who died at age 58 in
2001 — can also be heard in the mix. He’s captured asking for
orange juice — while playing a very cool version of
“Get Back.” His “Going Down to Golders Green” is Harrison doing his very
best Elvis impression, a real treat. There’s also
Harrison’s recording of “It’s Johnny’s Birthday,” a gift to mark John
Lennon’s
30th birthday.
The demos reveal the origin of a very rootsy “Woman
Don’t You Cry For Me,” which would become the opening track of his
1976 album, “Thirty Three & 1/3.” And during the 14th
take of “Isn’t It a Pity,” a fed-up artist goes off-script to instead
sing: “Isn’t it a pain/Why we do so many takes?”
Harrison and Hicks have dubbed Disc 5, which contains
session outtakes and jams, the “party disc.” “We wanted to show
that the guys were having fun,” said Hicks. “It’s
emotionally a very heavy album. It touches on a lot of deep subjects. So
we really wanted to show a lighter side to some of the
content.”
Harrison collected quite a roster of musicians to help
him on “All Things Must Pass,” including Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Ringo
Starr, Billy Preston, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett,
Pete Drake and even a young Phil Collins (whose bongo work never made
the album).
“It was a pretty mean squad of people that he
recruited, you know what I mean? Like, he wasn’t messing around with this
record,” said Harrison.
The younger Harrison also investigated stories behind
the songs, like the album opener, “I’d Have You Any Time.” He learned
that Clapton struggled at times to play Harrison’s
notes. “It was incredible to hear Eric say how hard it was because that’s
a
guy that doesn’t find playing guitar very hard.”
The “All Things Must Pass” recording sessions began
just six weeks after the April 1970 announcement of The Beatles’
break-up and the younger Harrison notes that his
father was going through a lot during that time: In addition to the band’s
break-up, he lost his mother and he was also leaving a
lover.
“It’s a family time capsule and there’s so much love
in it,” said Dhani Harrison. “He was brave to do this when he did it. It’s
lightning in a bottle. I don’t think that those
conditions come around maybe once in a lifetime for an artist.”
HERE comes a play about Beatle George Harrison,
writes Globe arts correspondent Peter Grant.
The 'Quiet Beatle' will be celebrated at the Liverpool
Theatre Festival in September.
Something About George – The George Harrison Story
is not a tribute show but it does pay tribute to the
much-loved
and missed icon who had so many other strings to his
bow from film producer to global philanthropy.
The 75-minute production, which closes the ten day
festival, features Beatle classics as well solo ouput including My Sweet Lord, Something and hits
from the Traveling Wilburys catalogue.
It stars Liverpool-born West End performer, musician,
director Daniel Taylor as George. He will be joined on stage by
keyboard player Ben Gladwin and Jon Fellowes on lead
guitar.
Blood Brothers star Daniel trained at
Webber Douglas Academy Of Dramatic Art in London.
He has also produced, directed, and performed
acclaimed Shaskespeare productions at Liverpool's
Epstein Theatre.
It is not the first time Daniel has played a
Beatle. He has previously portrayed John Lennon in the
award-winning
Lennon Through A Glass Onion.
Speaking in his home-grown Liverpool accent he
said: “I’m thrilled being able to tell George
Harrison’s story, especially
his journey after those heady days in the Fab Four.
For me, The Beatles are the greatest band that ever
lived. After
all his achievements, George is still one of the
most underrated songwriters that has ever lived.
“As someone who writes and performs their own
songs, and I have done since I was just 12-years-old –
and it’s all
because of the inspiration of songs like Here Comes
The Sun, and While My Guitar Gentle Weeps.
''Working on the show, I have been astounded with
George’s post Beatles journey and the life that
followed, and the
music he went on to create.”
The premiere is written by Jon Fellowes, who
co-produces shows alongside Liverpool-born
singer-songwriter Gary
Edward Jones and theatre producer Bill Elms, who is
also the Artistic Director of Liverpool Theatre
Festival.
It is hoped the show will be developed further into
a full-scale production with plans to tour the UK.
Liverpool
Theatre Festival 2021 features mainstream and
established acts, artists, and shows. It will adhere
to any Covid-19
and Government guidelines required at the time.
Other Festival shows are: 2Gorgeous4U (September 1);
The Last Five Years (September 3); Everybody’s
Talking About Musicals (September 4); Electric Dreams
(September 5);
August 7, 2021 All Things Must Pass Gnome Installation from
August 6 to August 20
From the George Harrison Facebook page...
London: You’re Invited to the
All Things Must Pass Gnome Installation to honour George’s ‘All Things
Must Pass 50th
Anniversary’. Make your way to Duke York Square, Kings
Road, Chelsea to recreate the iconic album cover, featuring
George in his garden with friends. This stunning
public, living art installation is by renowned British florist Ruth Davis
of All For Love London. Share your photos and videos
to celebrate George’s masterpiece with the hashtag #ATMP50.
August 6, 2021
To help celebrate the new remastered release of the
"All Things Must Pass" album,
here is "Awaiting On You All"; "Wah-Wah" and "Beware
of Darkness"
All things must pass, but George Harrison is
forever.
The late singer-songwriter released his three-LP
solo album, an explosion of pent-up musical energy
after the dissolution of the Beatles, 50 years ago.
Well, 51 — but much like the Olympics, Harrison’s
estate is calling for a do-over of 2020. And a vast
new box set celebrating the album’s anniversary, on
sale Friday, only proves that the quietest Beatle
arguably had the most to say.
“These are very introspective songs,” said
Olivia Harrison, the musician’s widow, on a Zoom
call from England. “And joyous, too. And brave, I
think. Brave for the honesty of how he was
feeling. Because you can’t write these things
unless you’re feeling them or you’re understanding
them. So they’re very raw.”
Harrison died from lung cancer in 2001, at age 58, shortly after overseeing a
30th anniversary set of “All Things Must Pass.” Bearing earnest spiritualism,
indelible melodies and a fascinating fusion of English rock, Indian and American
southern styles, the album hits just as hard after a half-century as it did at
the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Its multicultural unity comes as a pleasant
shock in our time of inflamed division, and Harrison’s introspective lyrics and
Zen wisdom — “Sunrise doesn’t last all morning, a cloudburst doesn’t last all
day” — are a balm in this late stage of a global pandemic.
“It doesn’t feel like this is going to
pass, but it will,” said Olivia, 73. “And I
think it’s good to be reminded.”
The extra year proved beneficial for Dhani
Harrison, George’s son, who guided the project
— along with his frequent collaborator Paul
Hicks — of remixing and unearthing unheard
materials for the “mega” anniversary set.
Manufacturing and shipping delays affected the
vinyl edition, which includes eight LPs. The
younger Harrison, 43, also oversaw the artwork
and liner notes, featuring a trove of quotes,
photos and scrapbook materials, and even the
design of replica figurines of his father and
the reclining gnomes from the original album
cover.
“I’ve kind of been in charge of all that
myself,” Dhani Harrison said by phone from
England, where he was stuck during the
pandemic, making an album of his own. “I used
to work as a designer, so this is one of my
passion things. I’ve devoted my year to doing
‘All Things Must Pass’ and building the next
five years of what we’re working on with G.H.”
Dhani and Hicks spent two years plumbing
and remixing all 18 reels from the summer 1970
sessions at Abbey Road. Thanks to modern
technology, the new mixes of classics like “My
Sweet Lord” and “Isn’t It a Pity”
spotlight formerly buried instruments and
elevate Harrison’s voice above the famous
“wall of sound” created by the late producer
Phil Spector.
Olivia, who represents Harrison in Beatles
business at Apple Corps Limited, was wary
about that at first, “but actually they were
right,” she said, citing her husband’s stated
belief — from his introduction to the
30th-anniversary remastering — that these
songs “can continue to outlive the style in
which they were recorded.”
“There were things that were smothered in
there,” she admitted. “He said, ‘I’d like to
liberate some of the songs from the big
production. That seemed appropriate at the
time.’ So I think Paul and Dhani have been
very balanced in how they’ve liberated some of
them. You still have the power behind it, but
I think George is more present — and very
intimate. Much more intimate than it was
before. You feel a connection with him.”
Dhani’s ears perked up at discoveries such
as the synthesizers in “Isn’t It a Pity,”
which were previously inaudible “just due to
the clarity and the reverb and the digital
compression on the remaster from 2001,” he
said. “I thought there were tracks that we
just had muted, but they were in there. The
sonic soup in the middle was fogging it up.
And then, suddenly, once you hear it you can’t
unhear it. It was like rediscovering it again.
It was kind of the same feeling I had when
they did the remaster of ‘Sgt.
Pepper’s.’”
Some of the alternate songs and outtakes
from the sessions have been leaked over the
years, but are now available in radically
higher quality. There’s a slower version of
“Isn’t It a Pity” that Dhani called a
“heartbreaker,” and what sounds to him like
“an Allman Brothers version of ‘Run of the
Mill.’” Early iterations of “Cosmic
Empire” and “Down to the River (Rocking
Chair Jam),” which wouldn’t appear on official
records until many years later, were first
captured in 1970. A “party disc” includes
Harrison jamming with his musicians and doing
punny versions of his serious lyrics.
“A lot of the laughing and the outtakes and
the little bits of noise between the tapes,
I’d never heard before,” said Dhani. “And
that’s just priceless. It gives you shivers
when you hear someone talking and it just
sounds like they’re in the other room.”
George Harrison, shyly strumming and
harmonizing behind the competitive wattage of
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, had been
tending to a whole garden of his songs from
1966 through ’69. Many were auditioned and
workshopped as Beatles songs but didn’t make
the cut, and Harrison gave away the rejected “My
Sweet Lord” and “All
Things Must Pass” to his friend Billy
Preston. “Isn’t It a Pity” was written in 1966
and almost made it onto the “Revolver” and
“Let It Be” albums, but instead sat in
darkness.
When the Beatles split up, the 27-year-old
Harrison went to Woodstock, N.Y., and jammed
with The Band and Bob Dylan in May 1970. Then
he took that energy and his merry band of
friends — including Preston, Ringo Starr, Eric
Clapton and the group that would become Derek
and the Dominos — into Studio Three at Abbey
Road and poured his heart out.
“All Things Must Pass” went to No. 1 on the
Billboard album chart after it came out in
November 1970, and was nominated for album of
the year at the Grammys. It outsold all of his
fellow Beatles’ solo albums.
An earlier photo of Dhani, Olivia and George
Harrison.
It outshone them all as well. Perhaps
because it contains an entire universe, the
body and soul of a deep thinker pondering
relationships between humans as well as with
the divine. Harrison wasn’t just deep, he was
open. Who else would have seamlessly stirred
the Black gospel tradition with Hare Krishna
mantras into the No. 1 charting earworm “My
Sweet Lord”?
“And he got sued for it!” Olivia said,
laughing — referring to the messy 1976 lawsuit
in which a judge ultimately ruled that
Harrison “subconsciously” copied “He’s So
Fine” by the Chiffons. “He wasn’t trying to
steal anybody’s song,” Olivia said.
Musically, the album has the looseness of a
live jam band — a very good jam band —
but also the tightness of carefully crafted
songwriting by a late bloomer chomping at the
bit. Even the other musicians were a kind of
extension of Harrison, something that was
recently reaffirmed for his wife.
“When I put the needle down on the first
record, and I hear that introduction to ‘I’d
Have You Anytime,’ I’m in for the whole
album,” Olivia said. “I always just thought,
ah, Eric [Clapton] — so beautiful, so perfect.
Dhani was talking to Eric, and Eric said, ‘You
know, your dad told me what to play. He wanted
me to bend this note like three times. It was
really hard, but he just told me what to
play.’ And I thought: Yes, because when I hear
those few notes, it’s so simple, it’s so
George.”
Olivia, sitting in the “cottage industry”
based in Henley-on-Thames where she and Dhani
created the new set, showed off the slightly
tattered copy of “All Things Must Pass” that
she bought in Los Angeles in 1970, four years
before she met her husband. She remembered
making her friends give it their undivided
attention.
“It really had a profound effect on me,”
she said, recalling how she used to tell
Harrison about her favorite songs on the
album. “He would be surprised that I loved
‘Let it Down.’ ‘Really? John didn’t like that
song.’ And I thought: Well, I love it.”
Listening to the album 50 years on, Olivia
has come to appreciate its strong country
vibes even more. The backing band included
several players from Tennessee and Texas —
singer Bobby Whitlock, trumpeter Jim Price —
with Pete Drake playing pedal steel guitar on
the Dylan-influenced “Behind
That Locked Door.” When Norah Jones asked
to cover it at L.A.’s George Fest in 2014, she
told Olivia: “Well, because it sounds so
country.”
Angel Olsen
covered “Beware of Darkness” last
fall.
Lorde recently said “All Things Must
Pass” has the best album cover in history. And
Post Malone’s song
“Stay” was inspired by Harrison.
Clearly, the kids are still listening.
Olivia said she hopes to
commemorate the 50th
anniversary of “The Concert
for Bangladesh,” as well as
eventually release other
never-before-heard songs by
Harrison. Last year, Dhani and
his manager David Zonshine
resurrected George’s record
label, Dark Horse, with a
focus on reissuing selections
from the label’s catalog (Ravi
Shankar was one Dark Horse
signing) as well as titles
from other artists, including
Joe Strummer.
2021 is a bountiful year
for Beatles lovers. Peter
Jackson’s six-hour documentary
“Get Back,” which focuses on
the group in 1969 and ’70,
will drop on Disney+ in
November. “McCartney 3, 2 ,1”
is streaming on Hulu, and
Harrison’s music was featured
in the Apple TV+ docuseries
“1971: The Year That Music
Changed Everything.”
Olivia believes that legacy
wasn’t really something her
husband thought about. He knew
this album “meant things to
people,” she said. “He knew it
helped people in their lives —
people wrote to him, they told
him. And he said, ‘Even if
it’s one person, even if it
helps somebody, then that’s
great.’ But he wasn’t
concerned about how he would
be remembered.
“Not that he didn’t want
to be remembered,” she added,
“but he didn’t expect
to be remembered. Which I
always thought was
impossible.”
August 4, 2021 To help prevent Covid 19, Sir Paul McCartney
urges everyone to get vaccinated
From Facebook...
August 2, 2021 Giving pieces a chance: The incredible rock
music collection hidden for decades
For years, late music journalist Ritchie Yorke’s
incredible music collection sat out of sight in a
suburban Brisbane home. Now,
it will have a public home with the National Sound
and Film Archive.
by Tony Moore for the Brisbane Times
Minnie Yorke at her Brisbane home last month.
Photo credit:
Dan Peled
For decades, in a modest postwar house on a quiet
suburban Brisbane street, one of the world’s most
remarkable collections
of music memorabilia was tucked away in boxes, out
of sight and unknown to the public.
A black hat gifted by Jimi Hendrix, a rare
unreleased recording of Aretha Franklin and an
early, preview pressing of Let It Be — a gift from a Beatle, no less.
A rare preview pressing of the Beatles’ Let It
Be, a gift from John Lennon to Brisbane music
journalist Ritchie Yorke.
Photo credit: Dan Peled
This collection of thousands of rare recordings,
notes, letters, interviews, books, pre-release
singles and albums was
gathered over five decades by late Brisbane music
journalist Ritchie Yorke.
Surely worth far more than the
modest address that housed it, the collection of
thousands of historical treasures was, until
recently, in search of a more
secure home. That search ended last week, when the
National Film and Sound Archive in
Canberra took possession of the
collection, dashing hopes it would remain in Brisbane.
Before that, however, Yorke’s widow
Minnie invited this masthead into her home to see the
collection as Ritchie left it when
Minnie Yorke describes her late
husband as a “music nutter” and a “hoardaculturalist”.
“He has collected ticket stubs from
every show, backstage passes, press releases, all
sorts of T-shirts and promotional
materials from record companies,”
she says.
Minnie Yorke at home, which until recently
housed a truly remarkable music collection.
Photo credit: Dan Peled
“Then we also have vinyl in amongst all of that.
We also have every interview he has ever done;
there is a transcribed
copy, and a handwritten story, then a typed copy
and a printed story.
“Fifty-five years. That is a lot of stuff.”
It sure is.
During an interview about the hit film Almost
Famous, director and writer Cameron Crowe, himself
a former music journalist
with Rolling Stone, reportedly told
Yorke: “I should be interviewing you.”
Yorke was a close friend and confidant of John
Lennon and Yoko Ono, bonding with the ex-Beatle
over their troubled
relationships with their fathers, who shared the
same name, Alfred.
There was also their shared love of rhythm and
blues.
That famous Montreal Bed-in for Peace? Yorke was
there, sitting on the floor right by Lennon’s
right elbow.
Ritchie Yorke with notebook (left) beside John
Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969.
Photo credit: Gerry Deiter supplied
courtesy of Joan Athey.
“They both loved the old R’n’B music. You know
John just loved old R’n’B music,” Minnie Yorke
says.
Long after Lennon’s death, Ono stayed in touch
with Yorke, who she playfully called an enemy of
the Blue Meanies, the bad
guys from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine
animated movie.
“People will still say to this
bloody day that Yoko broke up the Beatles,” she says.
“That is bullshit. That is absolute bullshit.
“In Ritchie’s mind, with Yoko being
a performance artist, that allowed John to understand
that his magnetic charisma and
the power of the Beatles and the
position they were in, John was to speak for good and
not for evil.
“So that was the birth of the peace
movement.”
The collection includes dozens of
recorded interviews with John and Yoko, along with
personal notes and letters from the
couple, many of which were used in
Yorke’s 2015 book, Christ You Know It Ain’t Easy:
John and Yoko’s Battle for Peace, for
which Ono wrote the foreword.
Minnie Yorke with a signed and dedicated Life
With the Lions album by John Lennon and Yoko
Ono. Photo credit: Dan Peled
Some selected pieces, such as original newspaper
front pages and Red China posters, are touring
Canada with Ono’s peace
exhibition, Growing Freedom, marking 50
years since the War is Over peace campaign.
There is a black jumpsuit, one of two bought by
Lennon in 1969 to wear during peace protest
interviews in Toronto, which
Lennon gifted to Yorke for “peace services
rendered”.
Yorke wore the jumpsuit in 1969 while he protested
the Vietnam War on John and Yoko’s behalf, on the
border between
Hong Kong and mainland China, with Canadian
rockabilly star Ronnie Hawkins.
Ritchie Yorke (left) and Ronnie Hawkins on the
China-Hong Kong border in 1969.
Yorke arranged a protest at the mainland China and
Hong Kong border at the Lok Ma Chau village, where
the Chinese could
read “War is Over” posters in English and Chinese.
The stunt took peace to the newspaper front pages,
exactly as planned.
Yorke and Lennon remained close friends until the
Beatle was murdered in 1980.
But Yorke’s huge collection goes well beyond John
and Yoko.
It traces the earliest days of Australian pop
music in the 1960s to the emergence of the
supergroups of the 1970s and
1980s, then back to Brisbane’s glory days of live
music.
Journalist Ritchie Yorke’s rich collection
will now be housed in Canberra.
There’s a black hat with a red band and small
black feather, a gift from Jimi Hendrix.
“Jimi was busted going into Canada trying to play
a show for 27,000 people the next day,” Minnie
Yorke says.
“Ritchie stood as a character witness for him and
Jimi gave him his hat.”
Jimi Hendrix gave his hat to Yorke as a thank
you. Photo credit: Dan Peled
There are colourful clothes and shoes from
London’s hip Carnaby Street in the mid-1960s,
posters, master tapes, notebooks,
audio and video recordings and film.
“We’ve got film of Ritchie playing tennis with Van
Morrison,” Minnie says.
“There is a letter from Van Morrison saying, ‘Get
a f---ing haircut’. Ritchie loved telling that
story.
“There is also an acetate of Aretha Franklin doing
Eleanor Rigby with horns. He was in the
studio when that was recorded
and that was a very, very powerful moment in his
life.”
Closer to home, Yorke was always an evangelist for
music.
In 1963, he was sacked from a Toowoomba radio
station for playing Stevie Wonder eight times in a
row, against
management’s directive that “n----- music” not be
played on air. Management had to break down the
door to exact that
punishment.
A signed white label test pressing of Led
Zeppelin’s debut album. Photo credit: Dan
Peled
There’s a cassette of Regurgitator songs before
the Unit album was released in 1997 and a signed
poster from the
Go-Betweens, with messages from songwriters Robert
Forster and Grant McLennan.
The collection also includes goblets, records and
memorabilia from Tom Jones, rare recordings from
Van Morrison, Aretha
Franklin, Phil Spector, Delaney and Bonnie, Led
Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers Band.
There are gifted gold records from Dire Straits —
Yorke was a DJ in Canada in 1978 and was the first
to play their first
album in Canada and the US — and from Procol Harum
for linking them with a symphony orchestra for a
top 10 live concert
recording.
After many years, Minnie has finally achieved what
her husband wanted, a safe place for his
collection that can be
accessed by the world.
“Amen, Ritchie would say,” she says. “Amen.”
The search for the collection’s new home ended
when the Canberra-based National Film and Sound
Archive heard a 1969
recording of Yorke interviewing Lennon.
A representative phoned Minnie in Brisbane asking
for information.
She told them a little of the breadth of the other
recordings and interviews Yorke had collected over
five decades and within
days an archivist travelled to Brisbane.
“They got the big picture,” she says. “They
understand that Ritchie was a powerful force in
the history of popular music in
Australia and around the world.
“Now they have invited Ritchie to be a national
treasure. That means Ritchie will be recognised in
the history books, where
he belongs.”
Archive curator Thorsten Kaeding describes Yorke
as an “amazing Australian journalist and
broadcaster”.
“Starting his career in Queensland, his love of
music and enterprising spirit took him to England,
Canada and finally back
home to Australia,” he says.
“Along the way he became one of our most
significant music critics and friend to some of
the most important artists in
popular music.
“The NFSA is delighted to be working together with
Minnie Yorke to help celebrate Ritchie’s life and
career.”
Over the past month the collection has been
shifted to storage for travel to Canberra, where
it will be digitised, catalogued
and linked with other museums and exhibition
spaces.
Minnie Yorke has mixed emotions about Ritchie’s
collection leaving the city in which he was born
and died, but she wants to
keep the collection together.
“He was a very humble man and the Brisbane people
in this town overall didn’t really understand the
gravitas of his career
and legacy,” she says.
“As much as it might be a bit disappointing, I
think we’ve gone to the next level by going to
Canberra.”
The State Library of Queensland wanted to
“cherry-pick” Yorke’s work in the state.
“But by taking it to Canberra, it goes national
and is kept in its entirety,” she says.
“They are looking at the collection right from the
beginning all the way to the end.”
August 1, 2021 Watch New Video For George Harrison’s
Unreleased Take Of ‘Isn’t It A Pity’ The extensively expanded, Super Deluxe
Edition box set of ‘All Things Must Pass’ is
released on Capitol/UMe
on August 6.
by Paul Sexton for Udiscovermusic
Another previously unreleased outtake from
the recording sessions for George Harrison’s
unforgettable 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass has been released today
(30).
Accompanied by a new animated video directed by
Alan Bibby and Jonny Kofoed of the New
Zealand-based creative house,
Assembly, it’s Take 27 of one of the album’s
enduring highlights, “Isn’t It A Pity.” The
extensively expanded, Super Deluxe
Edition box set of All Things Must Pass
is released on Capitol/UMe on August 6.
The evocative video adopts a painterly style with
themes that address such themes as the clockwork
inevitability of time.
It captures the reflective spirit of the song via
a collage of quintessentially English imagery
subverted by nature. The
alternative recording is one of 17 outtakes that
will feature in the box set. “Isn’t It A Pity”
featured twice on the original
album in markedly different versions, and is
presented in the new release in three additional,
unreleased incarnations, the
original studio demo and two outtakes.
The demo gives the listener an insight into how
well developed the song was even at an early
stage. The atmospheric
Take 27 has a character all of it own, providing a
window into Harrison’s creative process and the
various experiments
he made with arrangements and instrumentation in
his attempts to perfect the song. The take is
closer in spirit to
Version 2 on the original album, taking the song
at a slightly slower pace and with a simple,
exquisite arrangement.
The 50th anniversary box set edition of All
Things Must Pass has already been given an
enthusiastic seal of approval by
both Uncut and Mojo magazines.
Uncut gave it a 10/10 review, noting: “This
new mix updates [Harrison’s] finest work for
today, in greater detail than ever before, while
still managing to retain the atmosphere that binds
these 106 minutes
together.”
Mojo wrote: “The original mix’s misty
distance has gone, replaced with a clarity and
definition that Harrison and Spector
didn’t achieve (or seek) the first time around.
Previously, one had to, like Spector during the
playbacks, turn it up very
loud to get the full effect. Not anymore. These
mixes come to you."
