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While The Beatles didn’t go into Abbey Road (1969) declaring it to be their final album, it certainly felt that way to the band members (and producer George Martin). In the previous year and a half, they’d had so many battles in the studio it was difficult to keep track of them.

If Ringo walking out on the band wasn’t a giant red flag, then John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s near-brawl had to be. Then there was the actual fight between John and George Harrison, as well as the fact the band’s Grammy-winning engineer quit during The White Album (1968) sessions.

In short, no one could have been shocked when John told the other Beatles he was quitting a month after they completed Abbey Road. As far as the band’s final statement went, the Fab Four had already made one with the medley on the second side of its last studio album.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Paul McCartney's Band on the Run - Sunday, August 25, 2019

Before we proceed with the album of the week, an abject renewal of one of my pleas to the technological innovators out there.

The Beatles will be marking the 50th anniversary of their second-to-last album, Abbey Road, with a Sept. 27 release that will include, among other formats, a 2-CD set containing a new stereo mix from the album and alternate versions of its songs; and a four-disc Super Deluxe edition with three CDs of stereo music, and a Blu-ray with high-resolution stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos mixes. The latter is multi-directional sound, including above the listener's head.

Since the Beatles have so much influence nearly 50 years after they broke up (John Lennon said he was leaving the group during a Sept. 20, 1969 meeting with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr), it would be nice if the Super Deluxe release of Abbey Road would prompt a proverbial kick in the rear to audio technicians to finally produce a pair of headphones that very convincingly simulates surround and Atmos effects. It would be a boon to those of us who live in condos and have neighbours who cannot even tolerate music played at low volumes.

Source: Joel Goldenberg The Suburban

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If you want to know how close George Harrison and Eric Clapton were, start with George’s first wife, Pattie Boyd. Harrison married Boyd, a model who’d appeared in the Beatles film A Hard Day’s Night, in 1966. By all accounts, they stayed happily married for the rest of the decade.

But by the end of the ’60s, Clapton had fallen madly in love with Boyd. Maybe George didn’t notice it at first, because he asked Clapton to play the guitar solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in 1968.

Later, he couldn’t help but notice. After George and Boyd split up in 1974, she began a relationship with Clapton and married him five years later. George remained friends with the two and attended their wedding. He’d even jokingly refer to himself as “the husband-in-law.”

Needless to say, the two had a friendship that was built to last. George even wrote a song for his pal that appeared on the Beatles’ White Album.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Thirty members of the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) gathered at Rose Marie Battey’s Chalmers Lake home and garden for their monthly meeting featuring a luncheon and presentation by Henry Feinberg on The Beatles. PEO is an organization of women which promotes education for women.

 PEO was founded 150 years ago and currently has 220,000 members in United States and Canada. Michigan has 4,700 members in chapters throughout the state. Marilyn Beckham, a member of Birmingham Chapter J, explains, “We meet in member’s homes, work to raise money for scholarships and have pleasant social times. We sponsor continuing education for members, also. During the history of PEO, $330,000,000 has been raised for women’s education. There is also a loan fund which only charges 2% for loans.”

As geese and swans floated peacefully by on the lake, musicologist Henry Feinberg, an instructor at Oakland Community College and piano teacher, began his fascinating talk on the history of The Beatles. His pleasant manner, sense of humor, and great fund of knowledge kept the audience attentive.

Source: Diane K. Bert/hometownlife.com

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The official Instagram account of the legendary late musician, John Lennon posted a really golden-worth photo of John and revealed a very little-known story of how Paul McCartney convinced John and other bandmates of not touring forever.

As you will read the story below, Paul McCartney called the band’s Cavern Club show ‘worse than those early days’ that the band played in front of only 23.000 fans.

Here is the story: Amidst hangers and locker cubbies, John Lennon lounges backstage before the Beatles’ show at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, on August 21, 1966, photographed by Bob Bonis. These few moments of peace turned out to be fleeting, as once The Beatles took the stage, they were pummelled with a downpour. Though the venue had constructed a makeshift shelter out of slivers of corrugated iron, rain still dripped on the amps and created a downright soggy attitude in the band.

Source: Enes K./metalheadzone.com

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So often the ‘forgotten’ Beatle, Ringo Starr remained the backbone of the band that kept the rest in tow. With the least writing credits to his name, it seemingly became a common lazy joke in reference to Ringo’s impact—or lack thereof—on the success of The Beatles.

However, Ringo’s unorthodox drumming style has given the band some of their most memorable moments in their songs. Take, for instance, the John Lennon-written bluesy classic ‘Come Together’. Starr’s drums on this single are noticeable from the first few bars which sits perfectly alongside McCartney’s chilled bass line. Starr once explained how he “plays with his shoulder” which leads to some off-beat instances that make some of his songs hard to repeat with the same results.

Source: Far Out Magazine

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Orchestra Kentucky will celebrate 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ iconic “Abbey Road” with a performance of entire album at the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Sept. 21. Featuring “Something,” and “Come Together,” the Beatles’ 11th studio recording was released in September 1969 and included one of the most discussed album covers of all-time.

Prices begin at just $17, with tickets available online any time at OrchestraKentucky.com, by calling the Orchestra Kentucky administrative offices at (270) 846-2426 open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, or by calling the SKyPAC Box Office at (270) 904-1880 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

“The Beatles have been a big part of the Retro Series since the series began,” said Orchestra Kentucky Music Director Jeff Reed. “I knew I wanted to feature their music in Orchestra Kentucky’s 20th season, and the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road afforded the perfect opportunity. We are going to perform Abbey Road in its entirety, as close to the original recording as humanly possible, and then have a second half of the Beatles’ greatest hits.”

Source: Matt Wickstrom/lanereport.com details

1969. Before the year was out, we proved you could put a man on the moon. You could gather half a million people together in the name of peace and music. But you could not, for love nor money, keep together four young men who were outgrowing the band that had changed the culture forever.

The last year of the 1960s was as busy for the Beatles as it was tumultuous. Within 12 months they would record two albums: Abbey Road — celebrating the 50th anniversary of its U.S. release in October, and Let it Be, with an accompanying film that documented both the fighting and the genius present in the studio. Individually, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison pursued separate lives. Two of them married; one became a father; all of them readied their post-Beatles solo debuts. But before they went their own ways, they began the year with an electrifying live set — their first since 1966 — on a London rooftop.

Source: By Saleah Blancaflor  /People Magazine

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Paul McCartney has referred to the Beatles’ White Album (1968) as “the tension album,” and you only need to hear a few of the stories to understand what he meant. You might as well start with the time he and John Lennon nearly got into a fistfight in the studio.

That confrontation occurred during the recording of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.” By the time Paul was content with the endless takes and new arrangements on that song, Grammy-winning engineer Geoff Emerick had quit his job in the control room. A month later, Ringo walked out on the band.

We haven’t even mentioned George Harrison leaving for Greece out of frustration during the sessions for “Not Guilty” (a song that later got bumped). In short, Beatles morale was at or near its lowest point while making The White Album.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The Music in My Head – 8/20/19 - Thursday, August 22, 2019

A good one today from George Harrison! It’s really a tribute to his old bandmate, John Lennon, who was shot and killed in December of 1980. The following Spring, George released a song called, “All Those Years Ago.” He had actually written the song already, but after what happened to John, he decided to write some special lyrics, and dedicate it to John’s memory. Obvously, a lot of people liked it! The song made it all the way to #2 in the country, and stayed there for 3 straight weeks, and the only reason it didn’t top the charts is because it came out at the same time with “Bette Davis Eyes,” a giant hit record by Kim Carnes. George got a lot of help on this one, too, from Ringo Starr on drums, and Paul McCartney on bass. In fact, Paul had Wings at the time, so Denny Laine ended up on keys and background vocals, and Paul’s wife, Linda, also sang on the song. George had certainly had his share of differences with John over the years, but if you listen to the song and pay attention to the words, it’s apparent that he obviously looked up to him—almost like a big brother. 

Source: Ron Stutts/chapelboro.com

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By the late ’60s, many Beatles fans probably couldn’t recognize the band that once serenaded the world with “Love Me Do” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” They had long hair and beards, no longer played live concerts, and wrote songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “It’s All Too Much.”

There were many reasons for the changes, and drugs had to rank somewhere near the top of that list. After Rubber Soul, their full-fledged pothead record, the band made the acid-tinged Revolver and equally far-out Sgt. Pepper’s.

But drugs only counted as one reason. The band’s full commitment to the studio and maturity as songwriters encouraged them to take their music as far as they could. George Harrison’s backwards guitar solo and John Lennon’s “I Am the Walrus” came from a few of those efforts.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The Beatles didn’t take long to catch the attention of the top names in the music industry. In the summer of 1964, Bob Dylan insisted on visiting the band in New York. And when 1965’s Rubber Soul hit the airwaves, The Beach Boys were simply knocked out by it.

By ’65, The Beach Boys had already notched multiple No. 1 hits and had many more chart successes. However, they weren’t taken terribly seriously, as they mostly sung about catching waves and dating girls with cool cars. In some ways, their songwriting was like The Beatles’ had been in 1964.

But that changed after hearing tracks like “In My Life,” “Girl,” and other knockout songs from Rubber Soul. For Brian Wilson, the creative force behind The Beach Boys, he now had a mission: to top The Beatles’ latest album.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Ringo Starr does jumping-jacks on the edge of the stage as he sings “Yellow Submarine” to an audience of one: me. It’s the day before he’s due to kick-off the North American leg of his All-Starr Band’s 30th-anniversary tour, and the group are rehearsing at the very un-rock ‘n’ roll hour of 10:30 a.m. They maneuver with the power and agility of a pro sports team training for the championship. Yesterday was the first time they’d played together since they wrapped a string of Japanese dates three months earlier, but the 14th incarnation of the ever-evolving supergroup sounds as tight as ever. A handful of sound technicians and crew jog busily around the empty Colosseum Theater at Caesar’s Palace in Windsor, Ontario. Tomorrow, every one of the 5,000 seats will be filled but for now, I am the sum total of the roaring crowd and I applaud as the song comes to an end. It’s the only socially acceptable way to vent my excitement. It’s not every day you get a private show from a Beatle.

Source: Jordan Runtagh/people.com

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The Beatles’ body of work has been so worshipped, scrutinized and dissected that 50 years later, one could wonder what’s left to discover. After all, how much more can one say about “Abbey Road”? It’s arguably the greatest album by the greatest group of all time, and is one of the premiere artistic statements of its era. And as the final album the Beatles made together — it was recorded after “Let It Be” but released before  — it was created in a spirit of pre-breakup détente: The Beatles knew they were splitting up, so they made one last big effort for the team, and consequently, “Abbey Road” has none of the tension and contentiousness of “The White Album” and “Let It Be.” It’s all harmony, in every sense of the word.

Although the Beatles’ catalog has already been revisited several times — first on CD in the ‘80s, then the “Anthology” rarities series in the ‘90s, then in meticulously remastered stereo editions in the ‘00s, then in mono, and now in 50th anniversary editions — each one has revealed tantalizing surprises for longtime fans.

Source: Jem Aswad/var details

Sunday marked 55 years since the fab four made a whole lot of Winnipeggers twist and shout without singing or strumming a single note during their little visit to the city. George Harrison waves, upper left, as he and Ringo Starr, right, John Lennon, lower left, and Paul McCartney, not pictured, descend the steps of their plane after landing at the Winnipeg airport on Aug. 18, 1964. (CBC)

The Beatles landed at the Winnipeg airport on Aug. 18, 1964. Their brief stopover on the tarmac was punctuated by screams and cries from the droves of young fans who flocked to the airport to greet them.

"It's the first place that they ever set foot in Canada," said music historian John Einarson. "They didn't come and play, they didn't come and perform, but they came for the fans ... and fuel."

Source: cbc.ca

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