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.
Source: Rosie Pentreath/classicfm.com
detailsBeatles fans are started to speculate what the expanded ‘Let It Be’ box set may look like when it is released in October.The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ secret was leaked last week after former Apple Records box Tony Bramwell blabbed on social media about a 5-disc box set coming on 15 October. That was spotted by Beatle vlogger Caitlyn Larkin who put the news out to Beatles fans via her YouTube channel before Bramwell deleted his post.The expanded ‘Let It Be’ is expected to be released ahead of the Peter Jackson ‘Get Back’ movie, Jackson’s remake of the 1970 ‘Let It Be’ film. The original film was made by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. It was released to cinema, later to VHS and had an occasional broadcast on Free To Air television in the 1980s but have never been released on DVD or Blu-Ray.
Source: noise11.com
detailsRock star excess hit its peak in the 1980s. It went beyond the bad behavior of throwing televisions out of hotel rooms, or the decadent pleasures of mud sharks and Mandys. The Beatles, who were the biggest band to come out of the rock and roll era, set standards for excess, beating Elvis’s Pink Cadillac tour when they thought about buying their own Greek island. Their success was ensured by their producer, George Martin, who allowed the band to exceed the limits of the EMI studios they created music in. Gracie Otto’s documentary Under the Volcano is the story of how Martin’s post-Beatle career enjoyed greater heights by finding an entirely new level of indulgence. For the second time in his career, the “fifth Beatle” exceeded all expectations about how to produce a sound.
Source: Tony Sokol/denofgeek.com
detailsAfter spending two years in Germany with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Pete Best was kicked out of The Beatles 59 years ago today on August 16, 1962. After Pete was removed from the band the remaining members of the Fab Four hired Ringo Starr to fill his spot.
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Ringo at the time was performing with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, but was called up by Paul who had an offer he couldn't refuse.
The drummer settled into the band rather quickly, going on to record some songs with them almost as soon as he joined.
Pete, on the other hand, went back to Liverpool.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
detailsRingo Starr will be dropping a new EP, Change the World, on September 24th via UMe. Like his previously released Zoom In EP from March, the four-song set was recorded at his Roccabella West home studio.
Starr collaborated with several artists and songwriters on the set. Lead single “Let’s Change the World” was written by Toto’s Joseph Williams and Steve Lukather, who also play on the track. “Just that Way” was co-written and performed by Ringo and his longtime engineer Bruce Sugar.
Source: Althea Legaspi/Rolling Stone.com
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George Harrison’s former No.1 album All Things Must Pass returns to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart for the first time since 1971, as the set re-enters at No. 7 (on the Aug. 21-dated list) following its 50th anniversary reissue on Aug. 6.
The album was newly mixed and reissued in a variety of formats for its re-release. All versions of the album, including the original 1970 release, are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Recently, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of All Things, a project featuring a recreation of its famous cover as a public, living art installation became available for public view in London’s Duke of York Square, King’s Road, Chelsea. It pays tribute to George’s love of nature, of gardening, and to his wry sense of humor.
Designed by renowned floral artist Ruth Davis, of All For Love London, it will be available to visit until August 20. The interactive art features gigantic versions of two gnomes, the largest measuring five meters, which have been created out of flowers and foliage, bark, grasses and moss. They sit atop a large circle of turf in a meaningful and sacred shape, and are surrounded by the seasonal, impermanent beauty that Harrison e details
A classical statue which featured in a groundbreaking performance by The Beatles is going under the hammer.
The 5ft (1.5m) fibreglass Aphrodite was seen by up to 700 million TV viewers worldwide as the group took part in the first live satellite broadcast in 1967.
The Beatles represented the UK as John Lennon wrote All You Need Is Love just days before to reflect the event's Summer of Love and flower power theme.
The Greek goddess of love statue will be auctioned in Liverpool on 28 August.
Source: BBC News
detailsPaul McCartney has shared a video unveiling how the ultra-trippy film clip for his track ‘Find My Way’ came to life.
The colourful, disco-inspired clip in question was released last month. In it, a digitally de-aged McCartney (played by Jordan Johnson) dances down the halls of a hotel before being teleported to a variety of other locations.
The clip was directed by Andrew Donaho (Janelle Monae, The Strokes, Khalid) and co-produced with Hyperreal Digital, which specialises in the creation of hyper-realistic digital avatars. Take a look at it below, then watch how McCartney was made young again in his behind-the-scenes video:
“In the same way the track has these seamless transitions from one section to the next, we wanted to do the same thing visually,” Donaho said in the making-of video. “So we created this oner… It’s not a oner, it’s a handful of takes stitched together, but it has the feeling of a neverending shot.”
Source: Matt Doria/nme.com
detailsWoodstock defined a generation in the summer of 1969 but not long afterwards a Toronto music festival made its own noise with the likes of John Lennon, Little Richard and the Doors.
Filmmakers say work is underway on “Rock & Roll Revival,” a documentary named after the one-day Canadian festival that took place Sept. 13, which they call “the second most important event in rock and roll history.”
While the concert, held at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, remained in the shadow of the more famous Woodstock weekend, its story is one rife with drama.
Source: thestar.com
detailsBenson’s latest book, titled Paul (out now from Taschen), focuses on his iconic images of Paul McCartney. The Scottish photographer first stepped into Macca’s world in 1964, when he was a photojournalist working on London’s Fleet Street. He was about to depart for Africa on assignment when his editor called with a change of plans: he’d fly to Paris instead to capture the Beatles, and he wasn’t too happy about it.
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detailsAlready one of history's greatest rock bands, The Beatles were even more than the sum of their parts. In the wake of the band's legendary 1960s run came a number of high-profile solo releases from each individual member. That includes Ringo, who's eponymous 1973 album peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. charts and yielded two No. 1 singles … with a little help from his friends, of course.
What's no less striking than the substantial output of each respective Beatle is the evolution of their signature sounds and styles. From George Harrison's idiosyncratic slide guitar to John Lennon's raw candor, certain albums were nearly as groundbreaking as the group efforts that preceded them. Acclaimed releases such as All Things Must Pass and Plastic Ono Band also helped redefine the personas of their creators.
Source: Jacob Osborn, Stacker News/newsweek.com
detailsA new documentary will dig into John Lennon’s final show as a member of the Beatles.
In 1969, Lennon played a solo show in in Toronto with a hastily-assembled version of the Plastic Ono Band that included stars like Eric Clapton and Yes drummer Alan White.
Just days later, Lennon would officially leave the Beatles.
The film, Rock & Roll Revival, includes rare footage from that show, shot by legendary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker.
Rock & Roll Revival will premiere sometime next spring.
Source: 1055koolfm.com
detailsAfter The Beatles’ popularity exploded in the early 1960s their Beatlemania expanded to America. The demand for tickets to a Beatles concert increased exponentially, forcing the band to begin booking stadium tours to keep up with demand – however, this ended up working against them. The sheer scale of stadiums was not suited to amplifiers of the time, meaning their sound was dreadful. The band began their final concert tour 55 years ago today, on August 11.
The final show on the concert tour was held later that month on August 29 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California.
The band played to an audience of 25,000 attendees and even brought along an orchestra.
The Fab Four played 11 songs overall. Once their guitars were silent they got into an armoured car and were transported to Los Angeles.
While on the flight George Harrison told his bandmates: “That’s it, then. I’m not a Beatle anymore.”
Source: Pravin Jadhav/samacharcentral.com
detailsSir Ringo Starr left a video message for fans on his Instagram today, teasing some special news. The Beatles drummer’s post was captioned: “Tune in this Thursday, August the 12th at 4pm PT to catch Ringo on @talkshoplive with a special announcement! Check the link in bio for exact times and how to tune in. Peace & Love – Team Ringo.”
n the accompanying footage, Sir Ringo stood in front of a statue of a horse in a T-shirt labelled “PEACE LOVE 77”.
The 81-year-old said: “Peace and Love everyone! Peace and Love! Everyone, it’s Ringo.
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
detailsThe world knows so many different Paul McCartneys: the charming young moptop, the Sixties avant-garde innovator, the bearded family man, the rock & roll legend. But the stunning new Hulu docuseries McCartney 3, 2, 1 presents Paul like we’ve never seen him before: the proud music geek. It’s just Macca in deep conversation with fellow legend Rick Rubin, as they listen close to the Beatles’ music, sharing memories and focusing on the sonic details. 3, 2, 1 has struck a nerve with fans, because there’s never been a music doc quite like it. “Each song’s got a story of how you wrote it,” McCartney tells Rolling Stone. “And luckily, I can remember a lot of the circumstances.”
It comes at a time when Beatles fans are feverishly awaiting Peter Jackson’s new Get Back doc, which finally drops this fall. Get Back premieres on Disney Plus in November, across three nights, digging into a wealth of unseen footage from the 1969 sessions for the album that became their bittersweet farewell, Let It Be. There’s also the new 50th anniversary edition of George Harrison’s 1971 epic solo statement, All Things Must Pass, which is sprawling with previously unheard treas details