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Beatles News
When The Beatles showed up at EMI studios in 1962 for their first major recording session, they were unknown in London. Only the hippest guys at the company’s labels had heard of them, and the old-guard producers and engineers couldn’t care less.
However, one young engineer in the studio that day went on to work with the band on their greatest albums (including Sgt. Pepper’s and Abbey Road). His name was Geoff Emerick, and he became one of the top names in the recording industry.
Yet in ’62, when The Beatles arrived to record “Love Me Do,” Emerick was as unknown as the band he heard play. But his recollections from that day are priceless. He mentions the “quite fidgety and quite funny” John Lennon calling an EMI employee named Norman “Normal.”
He also notes the affable bass player (Paul McCartney), a “dejected” and short drummer (Ringo), and a lead guitar player who was very young and “almost emaciated” (George Harrison). The other thing that struck Emerick about George that day in ’62 was the black eye he sported.
Source: cheatsheet.com
He really does get by with a little help from his friends.
As the years passed, you didn’t hear any Beatles blaming Yoko Ono for splitting up the band. After all, they were there and knew firsthand that George Harrison could hardly stand Paul McCartney by 1969. Meanwhile, Paul had his own widely discussed issues with John Lennon.
That’s not counting the fistfight George and John had while the band was being filmed for Let It Be. And we won’t get into the time Ringo walked out on the group during the White Album sessions. Or the time a few months later when George quit the band for a while.
Indeed, the period from early ’68 through late ’69 had “Beatles breakup” written all over it. As it turned out, that happened to be the same time the love between John and Yoko blossomed and the two got married.
But before The Beatles went their separate ways, they had one more masterpiece to record: Abbey Road. Just as the sessions were getting underway, John and Yoko made an entrance that freaked everyone out. Decades later, the chief engineer called it the craziest thing he’d seen.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Because of their crazy schedule and recording-contract demands, John Lennon and Paul McCartney always needed fresh songs to fill out the next album. As even Beatles fans will admit, they didn’t always come up with winners, but they had to finish them and move on to the next project.
By the time they got to Rubber Soul, John and Paul’s songs had become much more complex, but they still weren’t above recycling simpler, older material. That’s how Paul ended up pulling out and rehashing one of his earliest songs.
As Paul noted in his biography Many Years From Now, that’s how “Michelle” ended up on Rubber Soul. Back in the late ’50s, he’d play the song as an instrumental at parties where he’d wear a turtleneck and “pretend I could speak French” to impress girls. (Bear in mind he was hardly 17 at the time.)
At the suggestion of John, Paul decided to bring it out and add lyrics — including some French ones — for the band’s latest album. But he definitely didn’t speak the language, so he needed help from someone who did.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Only John Lennon appeared in the final movie
The new film Yesterday, which imagines a world in which only one person remembers The Beatles, was originally meant to feature cameos from all of the Fab Four.
In the movie, singer-songwriter Jack (played by Himesh Patel) wakes up to discover The Beatles never existed and he is the only person with any knowledge of their music. After attempting to remind the world of the group, he begins to play their songs as his own and achieves huge success.
Yesterday features only one of the legendary group, changing John Lennon’s story so he lives a long life instead of being murdered by Mark Chapman. During an appearance on the Empire podcast, writer Richard Curtis and director Danny Boyle revealed they had originally intended to feature all four members of the band.
“When [Jack] first goes to Liverpool, I’d written a long scene where he just goes to a pub and he bumps into George [Harrison] and Ringo [Starr],” Curtis said. “It was, I hope, a sweet scene, and they were just two delightful, oldish men who’d once been in a band together […] music enthusiasts who had never got any further.”
Source: Rhian Daly /nm details
Most people can agree that Paul McCartney is one of the greatest performers of our time. He released countless songs that he wrote himself and, according to Smooth Radio, has done duets with some of the biggest names in the music industry. Born in Liverpool, England, McCartney’s contributions to music have been so significant that he was knighted in 1997 and now entitled to call himself “sir.” That is quite an accomplishment for anyone, and we can only imagine that the former Beatle is nothing less than honored.
As a member of The Beatles, which were one of the biggest musical sensations ever, there aren’t too many people who are not familiar with McCartney. The Beatles released countless songs, so many, in fact, that a lot of fans may have trouble choosing a favorite. What we don’t often think of is that the members of the group themselves have certain songs that they prefer over others. So, what was McCartney’s favorite Beatles song?
Source: cheatsheet.com
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When you read about the inspiration for Beatles songs, you get some surprises. A good example comes with John Lennon and “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” Because of the song’s trippy nature — and the initials in the title — many thought it was written about LSD.
But John said that wasn’t true. Looking back, he said Alice in Wonderland served as the main inspiration, while a drawing by his son Julian supplied the title. (On “Hey Jude,” the wildly popular Paul McCartney ballad, the songwriter also had Julian Lennon in mind.)
Other tracks speaks for themselves. It’s no mystery what inspired “The Ballad of John and Yoko” or John’s “In My Life.” On the other hand, Paul was much less inclined to write autobiographically and include personal details in songs.
We can’t say for sure, but we doubt many understood Paul was speaking about the U.S. civil rights movement when he penned “Blackbird.” An even bigger surprise comes when you hear about him writing “Got to Get You Into My Life.” Paul said it’s not about a woman at all.
Source: cheatsheet.com
As a 1960s rock band, The Beatles went heavy on guitars, and that’s what got the crowds screaming. In early hits like “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” the clanging guitars and pulsing drums get your attention and hold it.
But The Beatles were far more than a straight rock band. As their songwriting matured and more instruments entered the pictured, keyboards took more prominence in the music. On 1965’s Rubber Soul, John Lennon’s classic “In My Life” featured a piano solo that sounded Baroque.
By 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney featured the piano on his “Lovely Rita” and “When I’m Sixty-Four.” The epic “A Day in the Life,” chiefly written by John, also went heavy on piano all the way down to the crashing, three-keyboard ending.Yet despite all the piano you heard on these records, there wasn’t more than one solid keyboard player in the group. That was Paul, who later showcased some of his best work on The White Album.
Source: cheatsheet.com
As The Beatles drifted apart in the late 1960s, you found more and more recordings missing members of the group. In the case of “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” the track went out without the help of Ringo or George Harrison because both were out of town at the time.
However, if you look at Abbey Road or Let It Be, you’ll find various tunes missing the contributions of one or more Beatles. That person was usually John Lennon, who either wasn’t present during the recording sessions or simply didn’t want to play on a song he didn’t write.
In the middle of the documentary Let It Be, you get the idea John wasn’t interested in the slightest as George rehearsed his tune, “I Me Mine.” Rather than thinking how he might contribute, John grabs Yoko Ono and takes her for a waltz on the studio floor.
Later in 1969, during the Abbey Road sessions, John was even more dismissive of Paul’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” Though he was in the studio that day, he just didn’t want any part of the song.
John seemed to hate everything about ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.’
Source: cheatsheet.com
For much of his life, Michael Callahan didn’t look like Ringo Starr, not even when he wore a wig and impersonated the young Ringo in a Beatles tribute band called Shout.
But as the older Ringo, Callahan, AKA Ringer Star, has found a niche. There are other portrayals -- drummers in Beatle tribute bands appearing in the different phases from goofy mop top Ringo to the Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road eras. But in his research, Callahan has not found another performer impersonating the famed Beatle drummer in his present incarnation.
People have asked Callahan if he got plastic surgery to look like Starr. “My standard answer is that Ringo had to become a senior citizen in his 70s to start looking like me,” Callahan said.
Source: Jeff Guy/wellingtondailynews.com
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In Rocketman, Elton John is shown picking his stage persona via a bandmate's first name and looking at a John Lennon poster. But is this really what happened?
Before he was Elton John, he was known as Reggie Dwight. Not quite the popstar name.
So, Reg went about picking a new onstage persona that kicked off a new era of his flamboyant and hugely successful life.
But was what happened in Rocketman really what happened?
Why did Elton John pick his name?
In 1962, Reg and his friends formed a band named Bluesology.
A few years later, Bluesology was backing American soul and R&B musicians such as the Isley Brothers, Major Lance and Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles.
Source: Tom Eames/smoothradio.com
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Is it on your bucket list to meet a Beatle? Where there's a will — and the money to purchase a Ringo Starr painting — there's a way.
The Danielle Peleg Art Gallery in Keego Harbor will be hosting an exhibit and sale of limited-edition, hand-signed art by Ringo Starr from July 26-31.
The event is tied to the legendary Beatles drummer's concert on Aug. 1 with his All-Starr Band at the Colosseum at Caesars in Windsor, Ontario, just across the river from Detroit.
The tour, which marks 30 years of Starr's concerts of famous friends, will feature band members Colin Hay of Men at Work, founding Toto member Steve Lukather, Santana and Journey member Gregg Rolie, and more.
If you buy select artworks from the gallery, Starr will meet and take a photo with you at the Windsor show, according to a Friday press release from Rock Art Show.
The free art show is open to the public.
Source: Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press
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In Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting director Danny Boyle’s latest film, Yesterday, viewers are asked what the world would be like if The Beatles didn’t exist through the eyes of somebody who remembered that they did. This marriage between the Fab Four and film is not a new one, but when people think about this marriage, they are more likely think about films such as A Hard Day’s Night, Help, or Yellow Submarine.
However, their footprint on the industry has lived on for nearly 50 years since the band called it quits in 1970. From jukebox musicals, to fictional retellings of the bands’ members, to dramas guided by a character’s love for the band, The Beatles have been the basis of several films spanning nearly every genre, but these are some of the most memorable.
Source: screenrant.com
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Paul McCartney kicked off a three-hour, career-spanning set with the iconic opening strain of “A Hard Day’s Night” at San Jose’s SAP Center on Wednesday, July 10 — and from there, the 77-year-old never let up as he barreled through decades of hits from every phase of his career.
McCartney brought the crowd to hushed reverence during a stirring rendition of “Blackbird,” while later on, the mood was decidedly different when the riff-laden excess of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” brought everyone to their feet. It’s no surprise that McCartney’s contributions to pop rock’s greatest songbook continue to enthrall generation after generation. Even when the newest songs to join his set list — a handful of fairly forgettable tracks from McCartney’s 2018 solo release, “Egypt Station” — were, by contrast, tepidly received by the crowd, he wasn’t the least bit fazed.
“When we do a Beatles song,” he playfully moaned, “a galaxy of phones light up. When we do a new song, a black hole suddenly emerges. That’s OK, though. We don’t care.”
Source: Joshua Kosman/datebook.sfchronicle.com
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Danny Boyle's new film Yesterday has brought renewed interest in The Beatles' iconic catalog.
As previously reported, multiple classics by the Fab Four infuse July 13-dated tallies after the first full tracking week following the movie's June 28 theatrical release. In the film, the lead character, portrayed by Himesh Patel, finds that he is the only person alive who remembers The Beatles, leading him to begin performing their music and passing it off as his own.
On the strength of the group's five entries on the Hot Rock Songs chart, Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon concurrently debut on the newly launched Rock Songwriters chart, tied at No. 4.
The weekly Rock Songwriters chart is based on total points accrued by a songwriter for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Rock Songs chart (which blends streaming, airplay and download sales data); plus, genre-based songwriter and producer charts follow the same methodology based on corresponding "Hot"-named genre charts. As with Billboard's yearly recaps, multiple writers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
Source: Xander Zellner/billboard.com