Let’s say you’re an American Beatles fan in the Sixties, Seventies, or Eighties. You chat with a British fan about your favorite albums. But you have no idea what they’re talking about — what is Beatles for Sale? Or With The Beatles? Meanwhile, they’ve never heard of U.S. classics like Meet the Beatles or Something New or Yesterday and Today. You both agree how great Rubber Soul is — but you’re discussing two different Rubber Souls. How can this be?
That’s because the Beatles albums were totally different in the States. The vinyl box set 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono collects the first 7 Capitol LPs rushed out in the first wave of the Beatlemania invasion. (That’s counting A Hard Day’s Night, officially a United Artists soundtrack.) Capitol did not regard the moptops as true artists expressing themselves on wax — the label just wanted to crank out product as fast as possible, before fickle fans fell out of love with these long-haired limey loverboys. So they chopped up the 14-song U.K. albums into 11 or 12-song quickies. The Beatles couldn’t get any of their original albums released intact in America until Sgt. Pepper in 1967. The U.S. version of Revolve details
Comedian, actor and author Paul Reiser joined host Kenneth Womack to talk about sharing the Beatles with younger generations, his new comedy special “Life, Death & Rice Pudding” and much more on a special bonus episode of “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.
Reiser, the 11-time Emmy Award nominee known for such TV shows and movies as “Diner,” “Aliens,” “My Two Dads” and “Stranger Things,” told Womack he “always wanted to perform. I wanted to get the laughs.” And through co-creating, producing and starring in the hit show “Mad About You,” he got to do just that. Though comedy was always his professional focus, he said he is ultimately moved the most by music – and that all began with seeing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February of 1964.
“My older sister was already into them,” said Reiser, “and I have a vivid recollection of being drawn to the TV. There was just this imprint of importance. You didn't know it was going to be the cultural touchstone that it is, details
Sean Ono Lennon has offered a rare insight into what first inspired him to become a musician.
The US singer – the son of the late Beatles star John Lennon and his wife, artist Yoko Ono – has released a number of well-received solo records and collaborated with fellow musicians including the alt-rock band Cibo Matto. He has also composed several film scores.
In a new interview, Lennon reflected on how his father’s death in 1980 led to him pursuing music to fill a “void”.
“I never played music because I was good at it,” he told People. “I lost my father and I didn’t know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him.
“When you’ve lost a parent, things like that motivate you – because you’re trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better.”
Lennon was recently nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Boxed of Special Limited Edition Package, thanks to a major reissue of his father’s 1973 album, Mind Games. The limited edition collection includes remixes produced by details
Watching Sir Paul McCartney perform or speak in interviews, it's easy to momentarily forget that the legendary Beatles musician is now 82 years old. Despite his age, McCartney remains a dynamic force on stage, receiving high praise for his headlining performance at Glastonbury in 2022.
The prolific singer-songwriter has been captivating audiences for nearly seven decades, and his recent 'Got Back' tour saw him performing across various countries in 2022 and 2023. Remarkably, each show lasted almost three hours, showcasing his extraordinary stamina.
As a father-of-five, many wonder about the secret behind his enduring energy. Over time, McCartney has shared several of his methods for maintaining youthfulness, as reported by Express.co.uk.
One notable aspect of his lifestyle is his diet. McCartney became a vegetarian in the 1970s alongside his late wife Linda. In 1991, Linda launched her own range of vegetarian food products, which remain popular to this day.
Discussing his dietary choices, McCartney said in the 2021 cookbook "Linda McCartney’s Family Kitchen": "Now of course, it’s really not difficult at all. You just go down the shops and most places will have great veggie options. " details
Ringo Starr will be releasing a new project on Jan. 10, 2025, and he’s got an all-star team of collaborators to make it the best it can possibly be. Here’s everything we know so far.
The Beatles star and former drummer is well on his way to gifting fans with a new country album featuring Alison Krauss. Titled ‘Thankful,’ the album is said to be a second preview of ‘Look Up,’ a collaborative project with T Bone Burnett.
Like its “thankful” name, Starr hopes to inspire and spread positivity with the songs on the album. Apart from producing and co-writing nine of the 11 tracks on the album, the 84-year-old also sings on it alongside Burnett and Kraus.
He previewed the album with the debut track “Time On My Hands,” saying of the song, “I love this track. I wrote it with my producer and engineer,...
Source: imdb.com
detailsThe Beatles had a great deal of magic to them, and that magic arose from the peculiar chemistry between four people. Remove even one of them, and it just couldn’t persist. Ringo Starr knew that, and that’s perhaps what made his decision to leave the band in 1968 all the more striking.
The group had lost manager Brian Epstein the year before, his death from an overdose accelerating a feeling of being adrift. Numerous projects – the Magical Mystery Tour film, a trip to India – would help to plug that gap, but a sense of inertia had set in.
During the sessions for what would become The White Album, Ringo Starr decided that he had simply had enough. Walking out of the band, he informed John Lennon he was leaving before going on holiday to Sardinia.
“I went to see John [Lennon], who had been living in my apartment in Montagu Square with Yoko [Ono] since he moved out of Kenwood,” Starr recalled, “I said, ‘I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it, and you three are really close.’”
He would tell the Anthology film makers: “I had definitely left. I couldn’t take it anymore. There details
As perhaps the most famous band of all time, the Beatles have been the subject of their fair share of conspiracy theories. However, among speculation about coded messages in “Helter Skelter” and urban legends about John Lennon meeting aliens, the idea that Paul McCartney died long ago and was replaced by somebody else has endured more than any other. This wild claim was said to have taken place at the height of the Beatles's fame, and it proposes that John, George, and Ringo somehow managed to find the perfect Paul replacement at the drop of a hat.
Not only does the notorious ‘Paul is Dead’ theory boggle the mind with its sheer ridiculousness, but McCartney has had an almost equally impressive career with his post-Beatles band, Wings, and as a solo artist, meaning that the new Paul was arguably even more talented than the original. Those who swear by this outlandish theory are not without their evidence, as some have pointed to clues in Beatles music and album artwork that hint the original McCartney may no longer be of this world.
The Paul Is Dead Theory Explained. Some claim McCartney died during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The urban legend that details
A guitar bought by George Harrison for about £58 has sold at auction for more than £1 million.
The Futurama electric guitar was bought by The Beatles star when he was a 16-year-old apprentice electrician in 1959 and was paid for in 44 instalments after his mother signed a hire purchase agreement at Frank Hessy’s music shop in Liverpool.
It went under the hammer in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday at Julien’s Auctions’ Played, Worn & Torn sale, fetching 1.27 million dollars (£1.03 million) – twice its initial estimate. Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, said the figure set a world record for the highest sale of a George Harrison guitar.
The Futurama electric guitar was bought by George Harrison for about £58. “George Harrison’s iconic Futurama guitar, one of the most important guitars in rock and roll history and formative to The Beatles’ sound, has made history at today’s auction,” Mr Nolan said.
“We’re beyond thrilled to add this Harrison guitar to the Julien’s Auctions’ million-dollar club, which already includes guitars from John Lennon, Eric Clapton, and K details
Austin Butler as Elvis truly changed Hollywood, because now, not only are we getting Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan and Selena Gomez as Linda Rondstat, but Paul Mescal is also reportedly in talks to lead one of four upcoming biopics about The Beatles. Each movie, set to come from director Sam Mendes, will focus on a different member of the band — and their unique points of view — but will intersect to “tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history,” per Variety.
Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming Beatles movies.
Is there a new Beatles movie coming out?
Yes, director Sam Mendes is developing four movies about The Beatles — one for each member of the band. Each individual movie will tell a story from the perspective of one member (including Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison).
“I’m honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies,” Sam Mendes told Variety.
Where can I watch the new Beatles biopics?
Each of the four movies will be released in theaters, thanks to Sony Pict details
A one-on-one fight between friends is always hard to watch, but add another person to one side, and it turns even more vindictive—something perfectly encapsulated by the Paul McCartney diss track John Lennon recruited George Harrison to play on. To be fair to Lennon and Harrison, McCartney had technically thrown the first musical punch.
Nevertheless, watching the former Beatles (sans Ringo) blow off steam was a somewhat saddening development in their artistic legacies.
The Paul McCartney Diss Track John Lennon and George Harrison Recorded
John Lennon put “How Do You Sleep” on his 1971 record, Imagine, one year after the first unofficial breakup rumors and messages began popping up around the Beatles. The song features George Harrison on slide guitar and seems to directly refer to their former bandmate, Paul McCartney, which Lennon would later say was a direct response to McCartney’s track “Too Many People,” released the same year.
“Too Many People,” from the 1971 album Ram, doesn’t name anyone specifically. However, it’s hard not to pick up on the subtext in McCartney’s lyrics post-Beatles breakup. Too many people going underground, t details
The Beatles posing together. From left to right: musicians George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul ... [+] McCartney and Ringo Starr, circa 1965. The Beatles debut their new "single" “From Us To You” inside the top 10 on a chart in their home country, earning yet another smash on one more tally.
The Beatles don’t release “new” music very often. The band was all but done with doing so for decades before they returned with “Now and Then” in late 2023, which the remaining two members promised would be the last thing they’ll release…probably. While they’re not writing and recording like they did so many decades ago, those companies that own the rights to everything they made continue to share archival projects and previously unreleased tunes and recordings—and fans snap them up without hesitation.
The Fab Four collect new hits on two charts in their home country of the United Kingdom this week. The band even manages to return to the top 10 on a tally with a debut, which is surprising given how long it’s been since they first split.
The Beatles’ latest offering, “From Us To You,” debuts at No. 9 on this week’s Officia details
The Beatles 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono Reviewed: Track selection not withstanding, Beatlemania’s stateside iteration still sounds thrilling
New vinyl boxset collects The Beatles' first six American studio LPs in mono.
America and Britain are two nations separated by salt water, a common language (per George Bernard Shaw) and different Beatlemanias. The U.K. phenomenon in 1963 remains the gold standard for pop hysteria, a massive rush of love at the speed of light detonated by a handful of singles and an album, Please Please Me, almost half of which was covers from the club sets.
The former colonies were late to the party – EMI's Yankee arm, Capitol Records, spent that year exercising its right of first refusal – but we caught up fast. And this deluxe, vinyl set of the Beatles' first six American studio LPs from mono-master tapes in period sleeves (also available separately) – is hardly the full chaos. Add the cash-ins by ’63 licensee Vee-Jay plus the sudden worth of the 1961 Hamburg sessions and nearly two dozen U.S. albums and 45s were issued over 1964. Capitol's trade pitch for The Beatles Story, a two-LP audio documentary released that November and a bonus in the box, put it b details
John Lennon’s legacy remains impeccable, even decades after his death. His music is still reaching new people and impacting the charts, which is an incredible accomplishment after so much time has passed. The former Beatle launches one of his most famous tracks on a pair of tallies this week, earning not just Lennon, but also his wife, another hit—one that’s already become a smash in many other regards.
“Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” reaches two charts in the United Kingdom for the first time this week. At first glance, it looks like the single has already landed on the two tallies it appears on at the moment, but further research seems to suggest that it’s actually new to these lists.
Lennon and Yoko Ono see “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” appear on both the Official Singles Downloads and Official Singles Sales charts this week. The tune settles at Nos. 78 and 86, respectively. Those individual tallies report the song as a return, but the single’s own page via the Official Charts Company—the U.K.’s Billboard equivalent—states that this frame is its first on those two rosters.
Different versions of “Instant Karma” ha details
The Beatles are never completely absent from the music charts in their home country. People all across the United Kingdom—and most other nations, honestly—are constantly streaming and buying the music the band created during their 10 years together (as well as here and there after then), and they keep the rockers on the weekly rankings.
Their presence on the U.K. charts usually consists of one or two songs, and often just a single album. Frequently, just one of the band’s most successful compilations manages to find space on the competitive albums rankings, and it’s not odd to see the group swap one title for another in subsequent frames.
This week is different for The Beatles, though. Two of their compilations are present—and on more than one chart apiece, as well. The titles both manage to return, which means there’s a whole lot of listening to the biggest hits from the band in the U.K. at the moment.
Between their two wins, 1967-1970 is the bigger hit for The Beatles. That gathering of singles from the years in the release’s title—though it’s also commonly referred to as The Blue Album—reappears on the main consumption chart at No. 55. It&rsq details
Few artists have left as indelible a mark on music and culture as John Lennon. From his revolutionary work with The Beatles to his bold solo career, Lennon’s songwriting transcended boundaries, touching hearts and challenging minds across the globe. His lyrics, often infused with raw emotion, wit, and a deep yearning for peace and unity, continue to resonate with listeners of all generations. In this article, we’ll take a journey through Lennon’s most iconic songs, from his introspective ballads to his powerful anthems of change. These tracks not only showcase his musical genius but also offer a window into the mind of an artist unafraid to confront the complexities of life, love, and the human condition. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or a newcomer to his timeless catalog, these top 10 John Lennon songs will remind you why his music remains as powerful and relevant today as ever. So, sit back, turn up the volume, and get ready to experience the very best of an artist whose voice still echoes across generations. Let’s dive in and celebrate the legacy of a true music legend!
Source: Edward Tomlin/singersroom.com