Beatles News

It was the first Beatles record I bought, but it wasn’t my favorite Beatles song.

I’d heard “She Loves You” in the fall of 1963, and, while the buddy I first heard it with (a story I have related before) mocked the song (as did the deejay who introduced it), I’d been immediately smitten, though I diplomatically kept my opinion to myself. Thereafter, when I listened to far away radio stations in big cities like Chicago and New York on my transistor radio at night when I was supposed to be going to sleep, I listened for “She Loves You.”

I think I may have heard it twice between that first time and the advent of what we know as Beatlemania. I freely admit that my memory of this period is fuzzy. I was in my 12th year and between the time I first heard “She Loves You” in mid-November and when I began hearing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and other Beatles songs November 22, 1963 happened. Like most Americans I walked around in a dull daze for a while, so I hope I may be forgiven for an imperfect memory of the timeline of events.

So, Christmas 1963 came and went. I got several replacement batteries for my transistor radio among my presents which ke details

Once dubbed “Beardsley in blue jeans”, the artist Alan Aldridge, who has died aged 73, created some of the most enduring pop imagery of the 1960s and 70s. His illustration of the Who on their second album A Quick One (1966) was a distinctive period piece in which huge song titles swirled out from the musicians’ instruments and earned him a Grammy nomination. His poster for the 1966 Andy Warhol film Chelsea Girls, featuring the naked 16-year-old model Clare Shenstone adorned with suggestive artistic enhancements, was a notorious tour de force that briefly threatened to get Aldridge arrested on pornography charges.

He later formed a close working relationship with the Beatles and their Apple Corps company, and one of his best-known projects was The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (1969), which featured Aldridge’s reality-warping artistic interpretations of such songs as Yellow Submarine, Nowhere Man and A Hard Day’s Night. A second volume was published in 1971. Aldridge was appointed “His Royal Master of Images to their Majesties the Beatles” by John Lennon. His catalogue was further embellished by posters for the Rolling Stones and the sleeve for Cream’s album Goodbye Cream (196 details

They are the biggest band in pop music history and usually credited with being the most influential. But in reality The Beatles were an average group who did little to change the musical landscape – at least according to one academic, who claims to have the science to back it up. Despite the Fab Four’s 600 million record sales, Professor Armand Leroi dismisses their output as ‘ditties for prepubescent girls’ and claims they ‘sat out’ the musical revolution of the 1960s. 

His findings come not from a background in music, but from evolutionary biology. ‘As fruit flies evolve, so too does pop,’ he says. ‘Every new song comes with its own burden of mutations. Some of them bad, but a few of them flourish and get passed on to future generations. Listen carefully, and you can hear the music evolve.’ Not surprisingly, the heretical suggestions have drawn the ire of Beatles fans, including music expert Paul Gambaccini who blasts Prof Leroi as ‘preposterous’, threatening to ‘dissect him like a fly’ in a head-to-head debate. 

The academic, from Imperial College London, used computer algorithms to analyse singles from every major b details

JOHN LENNON thought he was just a kid — in the end, though, George Harrison proved himself The Beatles’ fastest learner. In their earliest days, Paul McCartney would always have the fresh-faced teenage George tagging along with him, but Lennon felt he was wet behind the ears.

The truth, however, was that George had already put in the hours and mastered all those American guitar tricks that neither John nor Paul could do!

Later, George would continue to outdo them with some of the band’s greatest numbers. It must have galled him when Frank Sinatra described his Something as a Lennon-McCartney song, but it was from the pen of Harrison, as was Here Comes The Sun, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Taxman and others. This weekend, the world remembers George, who would have been 74 on Saturday. To mark the occasion, an impressive box set of every solo recording comes out on good old-fashioned vinyl records, as does a special George Harrison turntable to play them on, and an expanded version of a book featuring his works.

George had a sad last few years before his death at just 58, having throat cancer surgery in 1998, being attacked by a knife-wielding intruder the next year, and having to deal w details

In celebration of what would’ve been George Harrison’s 74th birthday, we count down his best Beatles songs.

Today (February 25) would be the legendary George Harrison’s 74th birthday. Before the Beatles split, the guitarist contributed several of the very greatest songs in the Fab Four’s canon. Here are his 10 best Beatles tracks.

10. ‘I Need You’ Appears on: ‘Help!’

About the song: A simplistic love song was the first of many that Harrison would go onto write. Essentially, this was his big break as a songwriter for The Beatles after releasing two albums with no songwriting contribution from the guitarist. They decided to use it and recorded ‘Ticket to Ride’ that same day.

Best lyric: “Please remember how I feel about you, I could never really live without you.”

9. ‘You Like Me Too Much’ Appears on: ‘Help!’

About the song: This song, released on the ‘Help!’ album, was written by George Harrison and uses vocal overdubs for his voice. Bob Dylan later used the piano introduction in the song for his song ‘Temporary Like Achilles’.

Best lyric: “You&rsquo details

“All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.”

George Harrison didn’t exhibit the moody genius of John Lennon. Neither did he possess the charming boyish delight of Paul McCartney or the brilliant dry humour of Ringo Starr. But the ‘quiet Beatle’ owned a personality that went far higher and beyond that of his fellow bandmates. With strikingly good dark looks, an inherent musical tendency, and the soul of an Indian sage, George Harrison’s extraordinary life as a leading but humble musician of the greatest age of rock is perhaps the most interesting one to speculate, possibly because of his incessant urge to keep it behind closed doors.

Born into a working class family in Liverpool, Harrison claimed that he received his musical affinity from his mother, who while expecting him would tune into the mystical tunes of the sitar and tablas from Radio India every Sunday. A backbencher in school, Harrison would spend class-time doodling pictures of the greatest guitars. On a bicycle-ride back home, enlightenment hit him in the form of Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel, strumming its way out of a neighbour’s window. Determined to harbour this new kindlin details

The Fab Four’s iconic first performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in February 1964 is what initially inspired the devotion of many Beatles fans.

For Drew Harrison, the John Lennon of Beatles tribute band The Sun Kings, which bring the Liverpool lads’ tunes to Fairfield on Saturday, the story was different. For one thing, he was only 3 years old in 1964.

“When I was 7 in 1968, I was living in New Jersey and at a summer school class I heard ‘Dear Prudence’ from ‘The White Album,’ ” Harrison said. “It was magical to me. The reason I am talking to you right now is because that song kicked my butt.”

From being a Beatles fan, Harrison emulated his heroes and went on to become a musician.

“I went from wanting to be a brain surgeon when I was in high school to realizing I wanted to play music. The first two albums I ever had were John Lennon’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’ and Steve Wonder’s ‘Innervisions.’ Those two albums formed me. I couldn’t sing Stevie no matter how hard I tried,” Harrison said. “I got that Lennon album at a time when I had just started to question things. He said details

In early 1971, with The Beatles involved in some bitter legal disputes with each other and with their own management, Paul McCartney recorded Ram with his wife Linda and three hired guns, guitarists David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken, and drummer Denny Seiwell. The album was eviscerated by critics on its release, with Jon Landau and Robert Christgau particularly vicious in their assault on both the album and McCartney’s general reputation relative to John Lennon. Some writers were grudgingly complimentary about McCartney’s sheer mastery of the craft of production, but almost no one could be heard to support the material itself.

There has certainly been a reappraisal, with some glimmering that Ram represents not a failure to live up to The Beatles (or to the expectations of Village Voice writers), but rather a beginning of something new. Perhaps AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine is correct that “in retrospect it looks like nothing so much as the first indie pop album, a record that celebrates small pleasures with big melodies.”

I have always loved Ram – it never occurred to me to find it wanting. I listened to it with headphones as a nine year old, and I put the vinyl on in the details

John Lennon and Paul McCartney have long been ranked among the premiere songwriters of the 20th century. That the pair both wrote for the same band is certainly a central element of the The Beatles’ standing in rock history. Any band with two great songwriters is certainly very, very lucky.

As we all know, the Fabs didn’t have two great songwriters – they had three. The emergence of George Harrison’s songwriting talent only serves to reiterate that, as in so much of their lives and career, The Beatles were winners of whatever history’s equivalent of the Powerball is.

George, who was given the moniker “the quiet Beatle,” might better have been denominated “the independent Beatle.” Because he was younger (and remember, Paul, and George got together when they were very young and Paul had to sell John on allowing George to join the band that eventually became THE band), his status was predicated on 1) his guitar playing (which was better than anyone’s, not excluding John or Paul) and 2) his absolute commitment to the cause (which equaled John’s and Paul’s). That he might be a creative contributor was a matter of little importance to the creative details

There's a barbershop in Buenos Aires where you can have any haircut you want - as long as it's a Beatles haircut. The most popular style is the John Lennon 1967 Sergeant Pepper cut, a look that's still going strong 50 years after the release of the Beatles' hit record.

Welcome to the Beatles barbershop of Buenos Aires, where the only haircuts on offer are inspired by the styles of the Fab Four.

Hairdresser Gerardo Weiss has brought together his twin passions to create what he claims is one of only four Beatles-inspired barbershops in the world. After a long career working for top Argentine hairdressers, Weiss decided to forge his own path and opened a barbershop back in 1988.

His modest salon was nothing out of the ordinary, until one night in 2004 he had a dream that would change his life forever. "One day I dreamt that The Beatles were waiting for me at the door of the barber shop and I fell asleep in the dream and I couldn't attend to them, a very, very crazy thing. It made me feel so worried, so bad, I woke up so upset, that I changed everything instantly, overnight. I took out the pictures of conventional cuts, I started to fill the walls with pictures of them and I said to myself, 'from now on, thi details

Fashion designer Stella McCartney has apologised after video emerged showing her leaving the scene of an accident involving a taxi driver, without providing her full details.

Paul McCartney’s daughter issued a statement on Tuesday saying she was “very apologetic” about the accident after driver Arash Nabezadeh released footage of the aftermath to The Sun.

McCartney was said to have given Nabezadeh her registration number, but failed to provide him with her personal details, driving off when the 32-year-old began filming her. In footage of the incident, the designer is heard saying, “take the number of my licence plate. Do whatever you need to do, no problem”. The law states that if you are involved in a collision you must give your full name, address and registration number, or report the incident to the police within 24 hours.

Following the accident, Nabezadeh followed the celebrity to the gates of her children’s school to try and get further details from the 45-year-old. McCartney, Nabezadeh said, took his number and her husband, Alasdhair Willis, called the next day to give their insurance details. Nabezadeh told The Sun: “I didn’t even know who she was details

Washington has 27 specialty license plates celebrating law enforcement, snow sports, firefighters, rhododendrons and more. Some lawmakers think using John Lennon to fight hunger justifies a 28th.

Bipartisan bills in the House and the Senate aim to create a new license plate and source of income for Feeding Washington, a nonprofit organization that supports food banks around the state. The plates would feature a self-portrait of the former Beatle with the word “imagine” across the bottom. I

nitial revenue will go to the Department of Licensing to cover the cost of establishing the new plate, but the rest will go to Feeding Washington. The plates would cost $40 initially with a $30 renewal fee. 

“This provides a great opportunity to provide support across the state to help people live a better life,” said Michael Towner, special projects director for Imagine License Plate Program.

The organization says similar specialty plates in Florida have raise more than $3 million for anti-hunger efforts. Supporters needed 3,500 signatures to apply for a new plate design with the state Department of Licensing, Towner said. They stopped taking signatures after they reached 4,850.&nb details

Sir Paul McCartney has been dubbed a "really talented magician".

The 74-year-old musician was recently spotted showing off his trickery at a party in Los Angeles, and onlookers have described his act as "really good".

One fellow party-goer said: "Sir Paul is a really talented magician. He often performs tricks during any showbiz bash he attends. He's actually really good, people are always so shocked."

It has been claimed that The Beatles legend is thinking about expanding his career prospects and making his magic tricks available for hire.

The source added to the Daily Star newspaper: "He even mentioned that he would have to start hiring himself out for parties."

However, the 'Hey Jude' hitmaker will have his work cut out for him if he wants to take his magic to the stage, as he recently admitted he suffered from terrible stage fright during the early days of The Beatles and at one concert at Wembley in London he nearly gave it all up for good because it was so "painful".

Asked by a fan on his website what his biggest fear is, he admitted: "Performing, it was always the idea that the audience didn't like you and you had to prove yourself.

Source: Simcoe.com

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I was the species of moody adolescent who drove people away from me when that was the last thing I wanted, so I spent a lot of time alone. I had private enthusiasms. I liked to be in the woods by myself, I liked to sleep, I liked to swim underwater, and I liked to sit in my room and listen to music, usually repetitively, while looking at the record’s cover. The first record I did this with was the Kingston Trio’s “At Large,” which belonged to one of my older brothers. I played it often enough that I was able finally to establish who among the three men on the cover was Dave Guard, who was Bob Shane, and who was Nick Reynolds; also, who had the husky voice, who had the tenor, and who had the slightly stiff delivery. Likewise, several years later, staring at the cover of the Grateful Dead’s first record, I determined who was Bob Weir, who were Captain Trips, Phil Lesh, and Bill the Drummer, and who was Pigpen. (People tend to look like their names, and when they sing they often sound like their names, too.) When “Revolver” came out, in 1966, I already knew who the individual Beatles were—they had cunningly saturated the culture by then—but, even so, I stared at their images wh details

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have reunited in the recording studio for the first time since 2009.

The Beatles shared a picture of themselves following a studio session on Sunday, suggesting that they had been working together on new material. Shared on Starr’s Twitter page, the caption read: “Thanks for coming over man and playing. Great bass. I love you man - peace and love.” McCartney is expected to feature on a number of tracks from Starr’s forthcoming follow-up to 2015’s Postcard from Paradise.

Eagles star Joe Walsh was also in the studio at Starr’s home over the weekend, leading fans to believe that an epic collaboration in the works.

Producer Bruce Sugar, who has worked with both Starr and Walsh on a number of their most recent releases, also posted a snap of himself with the Beatles. “Magical day in the studio today with these two,” he wrote.

McCartney and Starr last worked together back in 2010 on tracks Peace Dream and Walk With You for album Y Not.

Rumours of a new collaboration surfaced last week when the pair were spotted having dinner together in Santa Monica, alongside Walsh, Tom Hanks and Dave Grohl.

By: Jennifer Rub details