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Beatles News
Over the years, George Harrison built up quite a following as “the quiet Beatle.” Fans loved his style as the Beatles’ lead guitar player and his occasional songwriting effort, starting with “Don’t Bother Me,” which he penned in 1963.
That track appeared on the second album by the Fab Four. By the mid-’60s, George’s skills as a songwriter had grown to the point that one of his tunes (“Taxman”) led off the classic Revolver album (1966). Beatles producer George Martin had definitely begun to believe in him by then.
Though George still struggled with technical aspects of his guitar playing, there was no questioning the maturity of his songwriting by ’66. Meanwhile, his explorations of Indian music and meditation expanded the band’s musical palette and made the Beatles stronger for it.
While Revolver was a great showing for George, his song-count fell off a cliff with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. On that landmark album, George only had one track. But he roared back the following year, posting his highest song total on any Beatles album.
Source: cheatsheet.com
And they say legends don't do signings
Paul McCartney is going to be signing copies of his new picture book Hey Grandude! in London, it has been revealed.
Read more: The wisdom of Macca: what Paul McCartney told students at the college he founded
The Beatle will take part in a rare signing at the Piccadilly branch of London’s Waterstones alongside illustrator Kathryn Durst to celebrate his new children’s book on September 6.
During the special appearance, McCartney will read the story of ‘Grandude’ – “a super-cool Grandad who takes his grandchildren on a whirlwind magical mystery tour, from tropical seas to Alpine mountains, all before bedtime!”
The news was shared from McCartney’s official Twitter account today (August 8), on the same day as the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ iconic ‘Abbey Road’ photoshoot.
Source: Will Lavin/nme.com
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‘Something’ was the one and only time The Beatles ever allocated George an A-Side. When I spoke to George in 1994 he told me that as a songwriter it frustrated him that be was given a lower priority than Paul and George. “It wasn’t so much the “A” side of a single but it was frustrating at times when we had to wade through millions of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’s” before we could get to one of mine. You know because I think now that when you look retrospectively that there were a couple of my tunes that were good enough, or better, than one’s that Paul or John had written occasionally. But you know, that’s just how it was. It doesn’t bother me really. I was just on hold for a while”.
George also confirmed that ‘Something’ was not written about his then wife Patti. He was thinking of Ray Charles when he wrote it. “I just wrote it and then somebody put together a video and what they did, was they went out and got some footage of me and Patti, Paul and Linda, Ringo and Maureen, it was at that time, and John and Yoko and they just made up a little video to go with it, so then everybody presumed I wrote it about Patti, but act details
On the morning of Friday August 8th, 50 years ago, The Beatles were photographed walking across a pedestrian crossing in London.
The image of George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon striding across the road outside EMI studios in St John's Wood became the cover shot of their Abbey Road album and probably the most iconic photo of the Fab Four.
It was taken by the late Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan who stood on a ladder in the middle of the street while a policeman blocked the traffic. The whole thing was done in roughly 10 minutes.
Glasgow-based author Ken McNab, author of And in the End: The Last Days of the Beatles, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that relations between the band members were strained at the time and it was just weeks before they split up entirely.
He said: "They were professionally and personally exhausted".
Mr McNab said Macmillan, who died in 2006, was very modest about the picture.
Source: Douglas Frase/bbc.com
Photographer Iain Macmillan fired off just six snaps of John, Paul, George and Ringo — The Beatles — striding single-file across a zebra crossing while a police officer stopped traffic on Abbey Road.
Key points:
- The image was taken at 11:35am on August 8, 1969
- It became the cover image of Abbey Road, The Beatles' 11th studio album
- Less than a year after the album was released on September 26, 1969, the band had split up
Fifty years on from that moment on August 8, 1969, it is estimated the suburban crossing in London, England, is photographed at least six times every hour, as thousands of fans seek to imitate what became one of the most enduring images in pop culture.
That count surged yesterday as fans gathered, some travelling from across the globe, to celebrate the milestone anniversary.
Source: abc.net.au
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The Beatles detailed expanded 50th anniversary editions of their classic 1969 album, Abbey Road. The new editions will be available on September 27 and feature a remixed version of the LP along with previously unreleased outtakes and demos from the recording sessions.
Each of the new Abbey Road 50th anniversary editions come with the updated album remixed from the original eight-track session tapes. The Super Deluxe Edition comes with 23 outtake and demo tracks, including “The Long One” rehearsal of the Abbey Road side two medley, and a Blu-ray disc containing a Dolby Atmos mix of the record, a 5.1 surround mix of the album and a hi-res stereo mix of the album. Also included is a 100-page hardback book containing never-before-seen photos, track-by-track analysis and session notes, a foreword by Paul McCartney and more.
Source: Andy Kahn/jambase.com
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The Beatles' upcoming expanded box set of 1969's Abbey Road promises another treasure trove of previously unheard music. But with no track listing available yet, eager fans are left to guess about just what will be included on the reissue.
Will we finally get an officially released version of the medley in its intended order? George Harrison's lost guitar solo on "Here Comes the Sun"? The extended version of "Carry That Weight"? "Her Majesty" with John Lennon on slide?
Until the official news arrives, it's all conjecture. But here's a deeper look at some of the most intriguing leftovers from the sessions that produced Abbey Road.
First, note that many of these songs began their lives well before the album's main recording dates in the summer of 1969. The Beatles' initial run-throughs of "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" actually date back to the White Album demo sessions on May 29, 1968, at George Harrison's Kinfauns estate in Esher.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
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Why did The Beatles cross the road 50 years ago? Abbey Road, to be exact?
It wasn’t to create an iconic image, though they did. Nor did they intend to spark conspiracy theories that Paul McCartney was dead. (He’s barefoot and out-of-step with his bandmates on the “Abbey Road” album cover. What else could that mean?)
The reality is much more practical. On Aug. 8, 1969, The Beatles simply needed a cover photo for their next album.
But the significance, though unknown at the time, would be much greater. “Abbey Road” was the band’s final album together. And the last time all four band members worked together was Aug. 20, 1969. They broke up the following year.
Source: Steve Hartsoe/today.duke.edu
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In the 60s, the Beatles wowed thousands of people all across the planet with their music. Four trendy men made themselves living legends and their songs became well-known by all generations…
The Beatles, the group that shook up the crowd. A group of four guys, adored by their thousands of fans all around the world. A group that rocked us for a decade before they split up. Ten years together that bonded them for life. Unfortunately, the friendship between these four men was shattered when John Lennon was killed by a deranged fan on 8th December 1980. 20 years later, George Harrison passed away as a result of lung cancer on 29th November 2001.
Source: Anna Wilkins/gentside.co.uk
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Ringo Starr brought out The Beach Boys to play The Beatles song ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ during a recent performance in Chicago.
Starr and his band were booked as headliners for the Ravinia Festival, one of oldest outdoor music festival in the United States. As Starr rolled through a series of hits taken from his extensive back catalogue, the former Beatles drummer successfully combined material from his solo career with that of the band in a rousing performance.
Having played fan favourites such as ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, Yellow Submarine and more, Starr also produced cover versions of Toto, Buck Owens and Carl Perkins in a fulfilled performance. For his final act though, the 79-year-old had something very special planned to close the show.
Having seen The Beach Boys perform at the festival the same day, Starr invited Mike Love and the band back to the stage for a performance of 1967 Beatles classic ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’.
Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk
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When Beatles fans in America think of “Beatlemania” and the 1964 British Invasion, most think of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” as the signature song of that moment. They have good reason to do so: That track represented the band’s first No. 1 hit on this side of the Atlantic.
However, the Fab Four had notched several No. 1 hits in the UK by February of ’64. “Please Please Me,” the band’s first huge success on the charts, went all the way to No. 2 in early ’63. That April, “From Me to You” became the first chart-topping single on the Beatles’ resume.
In July , The Beatles were the dominant force in British pop and went to EMI studios on Abbey Road to record their next single. Prior to the actual recording session, the band took some publicity photos outside.
Source: cheatsheet.com
We’re stepping back in to the Far Out Magazine Vault to revisit the iconic moment when John Lennon performed his classic song ‘Imagine’ live on television in 1972.
The performance, coming as part of ‘The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon’, broadcast from the Americana Hotel on 7th Avenue in New York City. With Yoko Ono on the keyboard, the duo were backed up by Elephant’s Memory band and rolled through a rendition of ‘Imagine’ as well as Yoko’s political song ‘Now or Never’ and ‘Give Peace a Chance’.
Introducing the pair to the stage, Lewis described Ono and Lennon as “…two of the most unusual people in all the world, and I don’t mean just in the world of entertainment. They fit no patterns, meet no standards except the standard of excellence. Ladies and Gentlemen, John Lennon and Yoko.”
Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk
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While there are a lot of bands who are straightforward about the origin of their names, The Beatles was not one of them. Despite the fact that The Beatles was a legendary group and their name is known all around the world, even to this day, not many people have any idea why they are called “The Beatles.”
If you’re curious about how The Beatles got their famous name, read on below to learn more about this interesting tidbit.
The Beatles started with The Quarrymen
Before The Beatles was even a thing, there was a group known as The Quarrymen. This band was started in the 1950s by John Lennon and a few schoolmates from Quarry Bank High School.
Paul McCartney joined the group in 1957 after seeing them play live. George Harrison also joined a year later.
By 1960, Lennon began studying at the Liverpool College of Art and his former schoolmates left the band. Thus, “The Quarrymen” no longer felt like a fitting name since the group was not made up of Quarry Bank students anymore. They decided to come up with a new name.
Source: cheatsheet.com
It was perhaps prophetic The Rose Queen was paraded on a float that bright July day.
Picked from a local Sunday school, ribbons and homemade roses in her hair, she perched shyly on her throne and waved regally to the merry residents assembled along the streets of Woolton, Liverpool, on July 6 1957.
Following less elegantly was another float, an old coal truck, with a raggle taggle band of schoolboys playing instruments and singing loudly on its trailer.
One young lad sat with his skinny legs in drainpipes dangling off the back, strumming his guitar and blasting out his tune.
This was skiffle band The Quarrymen, and that was John Lennon, en-route to entertain visitors at Woolton's St Peter's Church summer fete – and unbeknown to him, make history.
Source: Emily Retter/mirror.co.uk
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‘Something’, a song written by George Harrison and included as part of The Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road, marked a historic moment for the band in becoming the first Harrison composition to be released as a Beatles A-side.
With Harrison taking lead vocals on the track, he would later admit that the song was written about the Hindu deity Krishna and, when speaking to Rolling Stone in 1976, explained: “All love is part of a universal love,” when discussing his writing style. Detailing further, it emerged that Harrison had written the song about his wife, Pattie Boyd, and he once said: When you love a woman, it’s the God in her that you see.”
Harrison’s love song is regarded by many as some of his finest work and, as the years have passed, countless major figures have attempted to put their own spin on it. The likes of Shirley Bassey, Joe Cocker, Peggy Lee, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John and Frank Sinatra have all added their versions of ‘Something’.
Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk
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