Beatles News

EPSTEIN: THE MAN WHO MADE THE BEATLES is a window into the private world of Brian Epstein, the music entrepreneur whose stellar career as The Beatles' manager made him a household name, yet whose controversial personal life remained the purview of only friends and close business associates.

This two-hander play imagines this brilliant but troubled man's drug-fuelled final days whilst looking back upon his illustrious adult life and meteoric career from his drama school days to managing the world's biggest pop group. Epstein died in 1967 at the age of 32 of an accidental drug overdose.

Epstein first discovered the Beatles in November 1961, during a lunchtime Cavern Club performance. He was instantly impressed, and saw great potential in the group. After being rejected by nearly all major recording companies in London, Epstein secured a meeting with George Martin, head of EMI's Parlophone label. In May 1962, Martin agreed to sign the Beatles, partly because of Epstein's conviction that the group would become internationally famous. In 1997, Paul McCartney said, "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian."

Source: Broadway World

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A number of John Lennon fans and vinyl collectors were irked recently when the copy of his solo album Rock 'N' Roll that was included in a box set was defective. Universal Records has announced intentions to replace all of the faulty copies.

Lennon was released as the first box set to feature all eight of the former Beatle's solo albums in one vinyl collection (not including his work with wife Yoko Ono). Those who jumped right in quickly found that Rock 'N' Roll, his 1975 LP, was flawed. It wasn't just that the disc was damaged but that it had been pressed incorrectly: The track "Sweet Little Sixteen" was played twice on the album, which meant that "You Can't Catch Me" wasn't included at all. Universal Music set up a website for fans to switch-out the faulty version with a working one.

By: Ryan Book

Source: Music Times

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The three strange Lennon-McCartney hits that went to No. 1 without Lennon or McCartney—and what they tell us about the secret to recording a smash.

Fifty-one years ago this summer—in late June 1964—the No. 1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop chart was a Lennon-McCartney composition. Only it wasn’t by the Beatles, and John Lennon had nothing to do with it. It was a Paul McCartney–penned song recorded, and taken to the chart summit, by a British duo named Peter and Gordon, one of whom was McCartney’s would-be brother-in-law.

Seventeen years after that, in late June 1981, the Hot 100’s No. 1 song also sported Lennon-McCartney writing credits. Only neither man had anything to do with this song, a disco medley of covers—mostly Beatles tunes, though not entirely—by a Dutch studio collective calling itself Stars on 45. Lennon and McCartney weren’t even singing on the record; their vocals were covered by a bunch of sound-alike Dutchmen.

The fact that these two singles rank among the only non-Beatles, Lennon-McCartney compositions to top the chart—ever—says something about the quirky place the Fab Four’s catalog holds in the America details

Macca magic touches every stage he steps on – as evidenced at this year’s Roskilde Festival.

TAKING SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY for granted is easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s the ex-Beatle who will always be an ex-Beatle. But last Saturday’s spectacular at Denmark’s Roskilde Festival rammed home every damn reason for his legendary status. For two hours and 40 minutes of all-time classics delivered with magnificence, this was the beginning and end of music. When something’s this great it can make you wonder if there’s any point seeing another gig, ever.

Of course, sanity returns. There is other music – there has to be. But that doesn’t change the fact that THIS WAS PAUL McCARTNEY! On stage, being PAUL McCARTNEY! Sounding JUST LIKE Paul McCartney! OK, there was some trouble holding the long, high notes in The Long And Winding Road. Nonetheless, at Roskilde, he was all he should be and more.

By: Kieron Tyler

Source: Mojo

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Ringo Starr turned 75 on July 7th, and to celebrate, Paul McCartney has shared with Rolling Stone an exclusive, behind-the-scenes video from this year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in Cleveland, where he delivered his fellow Beatle's induction speech. In this four-minute video from before, during and after the April 18th ceremony, fans can follow McCartney from rehearsals to backstage to the ceremony-closing all-star jam and watch as the bassist hangs out with Stevie Wonder, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, Joe Walsh and, of course, Ringo. 

In the video, Wonder congratulates Starr on the Rock Hall honor. With McCartney standing beside them, Starr jokes with Wonder that they're considering reuniting the band and asks the "Superstition" singer if he wants to join.

Next, McCartney soundchecks the Beatles' "I Want to Be Your Man" while Armstrong poses for a photo alongside the bassist. After witnessing all the rockers onstage to soundcheck the evening's final all-star jam, it's time for the ceremony (but not before Walsh performs some hilarious antics in a backstage hallway).

By: Daniel Kreps

Source: Rolling Stone

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Like his father, the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, Dhani Harrison is a musician. He made his professional debut on his dad's last studio album, Brainwashed, issued after George's death in 2001. Now 36, Dhani composes film scores and is half of a band, the newno2 – named after a recurring character in the late-Sixties British television show, The Prisoner – with another musical son, Paul Hicks. (His father, Tony, is the founding guitarist of the Hollies.) 

Unlike his father, Dhani is – with his mother, Olivia – a caretaker. Since George's passing, Dhani has been active in the archiving and release of his father's solo legacy, including a 2004 box, The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992; a 2012 rarities CD, Early Takes: Volume 1; and the first comprehensive reissue of George's early life away from the Beatles, The Apple Years 1968-1975. The centerpiece of that set – seven CDs with bonus tracks plus a DVD, issued in September – is, of course, the 1970 masterpiece, All Things Must Pass.

But The Apple Years begins with George's initial, eccentric excursions – the 1968 Indo-rock film score, Wonderwall; the '69 Moog holiday, Electronic Sound – and runs through the details

On May 22, 1965, children across England – and maybe some parents, too – finished their afternoon tea and took to the couch to watch the latest episode of the increasingly popular BBC 1 program, Doctor Who. A new storyline was beginning. Over six cliff-hanging episodes, “The Chase” would feature the Doctor and his friends being pursued across space and time by their arch nemeses, the Daleks.

Shaped like pepper pots, the Daleks were mechanical creatures that glided around on unseen wheels, barking out the word “exterminate!” in a nails-on-chalkboard screech and zapping people with electronic rays. They were terrifying and kids loved them. The Daleks had become a phenomenon. There were Dalek toys and books and board games. And, that summer, there would be a big screen Doctor Who and the Daleks movie, starring Peter Cushing as the Doctor. In color!

But, right then, on TV, the picture was still black and white and the Doctor was veteran character actor William Hartnell. The Daleks hadn’t shown up in the story yet and the Doctor – a kindly/crotchety man who looked to be in his early 60s – was in his time and space machine, the TARDIS, enjoying some down time with details

Sir Paul McCartney reviews his songs as he sings them to stop himself becoming emotional.

The legendary musician found fame in band The Beatles in 1960 and has since forged a successful solo career as well as fronting his own group Wings.

His tracks are known for their meaningful lyrics, many of which were inspired by events in his own life. He doesn't let the emotions take over him too much while performing though as he understands his songs are interpreted in various ways.

"I'm really doing them just because they're songs. I mean, when I do Let it Be I'm not thinking about my mum. If there's one thing I know it's that everyone in that audience is thinking something different. And that's 50,000 different thoughts, depending on the capacity of the hall," he explained to British magazine Esquire. "Obviously, when I do Here Today as I do, that is very personal. That is me talking to John [Lennon, Paul's former Beatles bandmate who was killed in 1980]. But as you sing them you review them. So I go, [sings] 'What about the night we cried?' And I'm thinking, 'Oh, yeah: Key West'. We were all drunk. We'd delayed Jacksonville because of a hurricane."

Source: MusicNews.com

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Yoko Ono took out a full-page ad in the New York Times on Friday calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reject state permits for a pipeline that would transport gas fracked in Pennsylvania into New York's Southern Tier.

The ad, paid for by the anti-fracking activist, artist and widow of John Lennon, called on Cuomo and President Barack Obama to reject the Constitution pipeline.

“We must stop fracking, which means we must not transport fracked gas across our state where it is headed for foreign export markets,” she wrote. “The danger to our homes is also the danger to the rest of the world, as we continue to harm the climate, the world is watching us.”

In the ad, Ono called the pipeline a “scar that never heals” and said it had an Orwellian name.

Plans call for the Constitution pipeline to become part of a network that will transport natural gas to New England, where governors have called for more capacity amid dramatic price spikes. Federal regulators have already largely signed off on necessary approvals for the pipeline. Some residents who have fought the pipeline running through their land have been taken to court by the developers.

By: Scott Waldman

Revolver marked an important milestone for the Beatles: It represents the group at their most experimental to date. Backwards guitars, eerie sound loops, surrealist lyrics: nothing was off-limits for their 1966 masterpiece. A perfect example of this early innovation is “I’m Only Sleeping,” the primarily John Lennon-penned track that features sound effects, a stellar Lennon vocal, and an unusual Harrison guitar solo.

While many fans believe “I’m Only Sleeping” refers to drugs, the words also refer to Lennon’s habit of sleeping late. In his infamous interview with journalist Maureen Cleave on March 4, 1966, he claimed that he was “physically lazy. … I don’t mind writing or reading or watching or speaking, but sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more.” Cleave even mentioned that “he can sleep almost indefinitely, is probably the laziest person in England.

” According to other sources such as Rolling Stone and the Beatles Bible, the story may also derive from John Lennon’s annoyance at Paul McCartney waking him up for a songwriting session. Lennon scribbled the initial lyrics on the back of an envelope, althoug details