The watercolour painting of Lennon has been given a pre-sale estimate of £20,000. A portrait of John Lennon by his close friend and former bandmate Stuart Sutcliffe is to be sold at auction.
The pair met when they were both students at Liverpool College of Art and Sutcliffe was The Beatles' original bass guitarist, but he quit in July 1961 to focus on his art career.
The watercolour by Sutcliffe, who died in April 1962, is thought to be his only portrait of Lennon.
Chorley-based Tracks Auctions has given it a pre-sale estimate of £20,000.
The auction house said the work was painted by Sutcliffe in 1961 or 1962 at his studio in the attic of his girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr's family home in Hamburg.
A portrait of Kirchherr by Sutcliffe has also been included in the sale, with a similar auction estimate.
Source: BBC News/bbc.com
detailsIn January of 1969, The Beatles entered Twickenham Film Studios to begin work on the music that would culminate in the Let It Be film and album. George Harrison, just back from his visit with Dylan and The Band in Woodstock, NY, was anxious to share his many new compositions with the group and, he hoped, to recreate the collaborative atmosphere he had experienced with The Band. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
John and Paul had always been the dominant songwriters in The Beatles. In their eyes, George was still the “kid” who didn’t have the same experience as a songwriter as Lennon and McCartney. Even as Harrison was writing better and better songs, such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “It’s All Too Much,” he was still fighting to get his songs the same attention as those of Lennon and McCartney.
Source: Scott Freiman/culturesonar.com
detailsProducer George Martin used a classical composer as an influence for the piano solo on The Beatles’ ‘In My Life’ Known as the fifth Beatle, George Martin was responsible for many of The Beatles’ most magical musical moments. He produced most of their projects and impacted their work more than fans might realize. One song where Martin’s impact can be heard distinctly is “In My Life”, as he created the infectious solo.While all The Beatles were trained musicians, none were classical music experts, nor did they know how to read sheet music. However, the band did find some inspiration in classical composers. In an interview with This Cultural Life podcast, Paul McCartney said he enjoyed Bach, and he was attracted to the “mathematical aspect” of his music.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
detailsJohn Lennon knew The Beatles would break up after he met Yoko Ono.
Decades after The Beatles disbanded, talks about who caused the split continue to take over the internet as some blamed Lennon while others said it was because of Paul McCartney.
However, the late The Beatles member reportedly said in the past how meeting Ono sparked the beginning of the band's ending.
Lennon broke his silence before his death on Dec. 8, 1980, during which he said The Beatles' breakup started in 1966 when he met Ono.
The report reposted by Express UK noted that The Beatles cited creative differences, disagreements with the management, and band members' feuds as the reason behind the split. However, Lennon offered a different answer and said his wife was the reason behind the group's disbandment.
"The old gang of mine was over the moment I met her. I didn't consciously know it at the time, but that's what was going on," he said years after meeting her at an exhibition in London.
The couple first bumped into each other in November 1966 while Lennon was still married to Cynthia Lennon. Aside from The Beatles, Ono also caused Lennon's split from Cynthia.
Source: Angeline Sicily/musictimes.com details
George Harrison found Beatlemania overwhelming and voiced his frustration with the obnoxious antics of Beatles’ fans in a letter to a young fanGeorge Harrison was an essential member of The Beatles, but he found Beatlemania overwhelming. Fans turned out in droves to see the band perform when they came to town. However, many audience members didn’t know how to contain themselves, leading to them screaming like seagulls or behaving violently toward the band. The guitarist once expressed his frustrations with audiences via a letter he sent to a fan.
During the 1960s, Beatlemania took the world by storm. Thousands of fans would pack stadiums and concert halls whenever The Beatles came to their city. Their music dominated the charts, and everyone wanted to see the band that made rock n’ roll the mainstream genre of the industry.
Fans often took their love of the band to the extreme. Eventually, it caused The Beatles to stop touring in 1966. However, George Harrison accidentally gave fans ammunition when he mentioned in an interview that his favorite candy was Jelly Babies. Fans would then bring this candy to concerts and hurl them at the band. Harrison delivered a response to this in which he wasn&r details
Sir Paul McCartney revealed Tuesday that he plans to use AI technology to “extricate” John Lennon’s voice from a previously unheard track to create “the final Beatles record,” reports the BBC.
“We just finished it up and it’ll be released this year,” McCartney, 80, told the outlet.
The musician said that in order to use Lennon’s voice, he turned to “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson for help.
“He [Jackson] was able to extricate John’s voice from a ropey little bit of cassette that had John’s voice and a piano,” explained McCartney. “He could separate them with AI — he could tell the machine, ‘That’s the voice, that’s the guitar, lose the guitar.’ And he did that, so it has great uses.”
“We were able to take John’s voice and get it pure through this AI so then we could mix the record as you would normally do,” continued the singer.
While the former Beatles frontman did not specify the name of the track, it is speculated to be titled “Now and Then” which was composed by Lennon before his death in 1980.
Source: Jack details
Paul McCartney said a classic song from The Beatles' 'The White Album' came from a difficult time in John Lennon's life.Paul McCartney said John Lennon got into heroin while writing songs for The Beatles’ The White Album. John was suffering at the time. Subsequently, Paul said that John’s suffering led to a good track.The 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now discusses”Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” from The Beatles’ The White Album. In the 1940s and 1950s, “monkey on the back” or “monkey” were slang terms from the jazz subculture. They both referred to heroin addiction.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
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Last year, Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band had to postpone tour dates due to COVID. “It was a bit awkward because the first tour went down. The second tour went down. But we have great confidence we’re going to do all the gigs this year,” Ringo tells Closer.
At 82, the former Beatle is still as excited as a schoolboy to get behind his drum kit. “Playing has never been grueling,” says the musician. “When I’m on the road, I want to play. I don’t want to sit in a hotel and relax for three days. I’d rather play every night, then have a day off so we can get to the next venue.”
During the pandemic, the nine-time Grammy winner kept himself busy by creating a five-song EP, Zoom In, from his home studio. “It was a lifesaver,” he says. “But we were all in masks, and that’s not what music is about.” Ringo also lent his drumming and singing skills long distance to pandemic projects by other artists. “I didn’t see them!” he says. “They just send the files and I do whatever I do.”
Source:yahoo.com
Brian May is a massive fan of The Beatles and their guitarist George Harrison, and he considers the one time he met him a career highlightWhile The Beatles split in 1970, the Liverpool band’s influence has lasted for generations. Many fantastic musicians emerged who fused the band’s impressive songwriting and instrumentals into their own work. Brian May considered George Harrison an inspiration for his guitar ability. He only met the former Beatle once but considered it a “precious moment” of his life. In 2001, Harrison was terminally ill due to a lengthy cancer battle. Before his death in November of that year, May reflected on Harrison’s legacy and shared the one time he met him. In an interview with Guitarist Magazine, May said he had the lucky opportunity to perform with the “Something” singer at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London for the Water Rats Ball.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
detailsJohn Lennon said that the lyrics of The Beatles' "Revolution" contained some commentary on how people should interact with cops.John Lennon said The Beatles‘ “Revolution” wasn’t attacking the concept of revolution. In addition, he said it contained some commentary on how people should interact with cops. Notably, he regretted writing one lyric from “Revolution.” In The Beatles’ “Revolution,” John famously sings “But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao / You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow.” In a 1971 interview from the book Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, the “Imagine” singer criticized the line. “The thing I regret was making a reference to Chairman Mao, which might spoil any chances I have of going to visit China,” he said. “I’d love to go and see what’s happening there. But I wrote the Chairman Mao line in the studio ’cause I didn’t have any words.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
detailsPaul McCartney said The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" was meant to be a joke. In addition, he explained how The Beatles' producer changed the song to give it some vitality.Paul McCartney said The Beatles’ “When I’m Sixty-Four” was meant to be a joke. In addition, he explained how The Beatles’ producer changed the song to give it some vitality. Notably, the tune was the Fab Four’s best foray into a certain genre.In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul recalled adding “When I’m Sixty-Four” to the tracklist of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ was a case of me looking for stuff to do for Pepper,” he said.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
detailsA click track helps musicians stay in sync, but Ringo Starr has never felt he needed to use it. The Beatles’ drummer has worked with a number of musicians over the years, and many have noted his impeccable timekeeping. He said that part of this talent comes from his belief that no musician is perfect. This knowledge allows him to better keep time with the other musicians in a band.
Guitarist Steve Lukather has worked with Starr in his All-Starr Band and finds himself endlessly impressed with the former Beatles’ skill.
“Ringo’s brilliant, man, very soulful, and a bad-a** drummer,” Lukather said, per The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Ringo is the chicken that laid the first egg for all the rest of the drummers in the world. There would not be any of these other rock drummers, if not for him … The grooves he plays are such an important thing. And he’s never played to a click track. He said: ‘I am the click track’!”
Starr explained that he saw the click track as a detriment to his playing.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
The beginning of 1969 in London, weather-wise, was a miserable affair. February and March were the coldest they'd been all decade, and spring seemed like it would never come. George Harrison's mental state mirrored the frigid weather, per "All Together Now: The Abc of the Beatles Songs and Albums." He had temporarily quit The Beatles during a recording session for the album "Let It Be," frustrated by Paul McCartney's controlling nature, among other issues, according to Newsweek. Then he got tonsillitis and temporarily lost his singing voice before being busted for marijuana possession, which at the time meant a possible prison sentence.
Source: Andrew Amelinckx/grunge.com
detailsWhen it comes to sketching out his concert setlists, Paul McCartney must suffer from a veritable embarrassment of riches. In the United States alone, he has authored or co-authored 32 number-one songs — enough to comprise a single live performance all by themselves. And this doesn't even begin to account for perennial Beatles- and Wings-era favorites like the Abbey Road medley or "Live and Let Die," which are showstoppers in and of themselves.
Paul McCartney's "1964: Eyes of the Storm" makes for a truly elegant collection of photographs, a Beatle's-eye-view, if you will, of the fabled group's spectacular rise to international superstardom. Comprised of some 275 never-before-seen images, McCartney's photographs brilliantly capture the onset of Beatlemania both within and beyond the shores of the Beatles' homeland.
"1964: Eyes of the Storm" pointedly begins after the band's national ascendancy during their performance on the October 13th installment of Val Parnell's popular variety show, Sunday Night at the London Palladium. With "She Loves You" burning up the charts, the Palladium served as Ground Zero for the fan frenzy that was so peculiar to the Beatles' fame. By beginning his photograph narrative a few details
The Beatles often experimented with recording techniques to improve their sound. However, the band never perfected the new music technologies that were emerging then, leading to some sloppy versions of their songs. One Beatles song, in particular, got “destroyed” by the constant tampering of it, according to John Lennon.
“Revolution” was released in 1968 as the B-side to “Hey Jude.” While the song got Lennon’s political views out there, it wasn’t the version he liked. The track has been released multiple times with different variations. “Revolution 1” was recorded before the official release and is noticeably slower. Paul McCartney and George Harrison believed “Revolution 1” was too slow to be a single, so they released a faster version.
In a 1974 interview for New York’s WNEW-FM, Lennon acknowledged many differences between stereo and mono mixes and pointed to “Revolution” as an example of why remixing-in-mono can sometimes make songs worse.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
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