Beatles News

Liverpool is no stranger to shows about John Lennon, from Bob Eaton’s benchmark titular musical production to Scott Murphy’s ‘lost weekend’ play Walls and Bridges. And Liverpool audiences generally have a better working knowledge of the ex-Beatle than perhaps some others might. So it’s a brave man, or men, who present another telling of the Lennon life story here in his home city. But while the subject matter of Lennon Through a Glass Onion is nothing new, it comes with an international pedigree, and – critically – with the blessing of Yoko Ono herself. Added to which, it’s not really a play at all. In fact, it’s a slippery customer to pin down. Part-concert, part-monologue, it’s I suppose what one might term aural storytelling, but narrated from somewhere inside the contrary musician’s head.

It’s December 8, 1980, and John – just turned 40 and finally comfortable and contented in his own skin – is returning home to the Dakota Building after a recording session. Idly noticing a fan who has been waiting hours to see him (Chapman klaxon), Lennon (Liverpool’s Daniel Taylor) starts musing on his life, the nature of fame and fandom, fri details

A massive new biography of Paul McCartney casts a sly eye on the revered rock star’s love life.

“Paul McCartney,” by Philip Norman, the author of the best-selling “Mick Jagger,” comes in at 818 pages. While most of it is concerned with the icon’s musical career, it also peers closely at the women at McCartney’s side through the decades.

First off, doe-eyed McCartney was never the “nice” Beatle, the one even parents could embrace, though that’s how he played it in the early throes of Beatlemania. According to Norman, McCartney hit it off with so many ardent young fans the numbers were legendary. McCartney once bragged to a cousin about a foursome he’d particularly enjoyed as the only male. Eventually, the lad from Liverpool settled into a fairy-tale romance with the upper-crust doctor’s daughter, Jane Asher, even living with her family for a few years.

First off, doe-eyed McCartney was never the “nice” Beatle, the one even parents could embrace, though that’s how he played it in the early throes of Beatlemania. According to Norman, McCartney hit it off with so many ardent young fans the numbers were legendary. McCart details

It was 46 years ago today (April 17th, 1970) that Paul McCartney released his first solo album apart from the Beatles. Although McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had all produced and released solo projects before, the McCartney album was the first solo mainstream record released in the aftermath of the group's breakup.

McCartney featured an assortment of tracks recorded at home and in the studio, featuring McCartney on all instruments, with the help of his wife Linda McCartney on harmonies. Several of the songs were Beatles-era rejects, such as "Junk," which was originally intended for the band's 1968 self-titled double set commonly known as "The White Album." Early versions of "Every Night," "Teddy Boy," and a snippet of "Maybe I'm Amazed" were also rehearsed by various members of the band during the next year's Let It Be sessions. The instrumental track "Hot As Sun," also performed during the January 1969 sessions, dated as far back as 1960.

Although Lennon had quietly quit the band the previous September, none of the Beatles said anything about the split publicly until McCartney issued a self-penned interview included in the press copies of album.

Sadly, 28 years to the date of details

It could rank as the classic rock concert of the century — six bands and performers who revolutionized popular music in the 1960s gathering in the Southern California desert over a single weekend in October. The company that stages the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is planning a three-night event featuring Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Neil Young and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters — all Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees — Oct. 7-9 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, The Times has learned.

The six acts have never shared a billing before, and it also would be the first time that Dylan and ex-Beatle McCartney — representing what are widely considered the two most important rock acts of the 1960s — have played on the same bill, albeit on different nights.

The concert is being organized by Goldenvoice, the Los Angeles-based promoter that is a unit of AEG Live, according to people with knowledge of the plans. They could not speak publicly because negotiations with the performers were being finalized.

“It will be their full stage productions, with full sets,” said one person close to the project. That would be in contrast to most festiv details

The birthplace of the modern American documentary is Wisconsin, where Robert Drew brought a crew in early 1960 to film the campaigns of John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in that state’s Democratic Presidential primary. Albert Maysles was the cinematographer of its most iconic sequence, a long hand-held tracking shot following Kennedy from backstage to a lectern. There, Maysles caught Kennedy in the magic moment—the transformation from private to public, from casual manner to stage manner. Yet Drew’s fundamental insight is the unified field of cinematic activity—in a word, the filmmakers are present and are an inextricable part of the proceedings that they film. Everything that takes place in front of the camera—and, for that matter, behind it—is a performance, even the ordinary activities of ordinary people.

For Maysles and his brother, David Maysles, who worked together to make documentaries for decades to come, performance became their fundamental subject. Their first feature was “Showman,” about the producer and distributor Joseph E. Levine, and its very title bears a paradox: Levine was a man who put on shows, but he himself was, in the film, a man who became a show. details

This week, 50 years ago, the Beach Boys concluded the sessions in Los Angeles that produced Pet Sounds. They wrapped up on April 13, to be precise, by which time Brian Wilson, never the cheeriest soul, was a gibbering wreck. The same day, at Abbey Road, the Beatles recorded Paperback Writer, and rushed it out as a single before Revolver sprang, fully armed from the head of Zeus, in August.

You can argue until you are blue in the face but, by any reasonable standards, Pet Sounds and Revolver must be considered the two finest pop music records ever made. This was also, as we shall be reminded once again this summer, the year that England’s footballers, wearing strawberry jam shirts, won the World Cup. Yes, 1966 was a great time to be young. Half a century later, with a retro movement gaining ground day by day, a younger generation may enjoy the fruits that Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Wilson (in that order) dropped from the tree in the traditional manner. In case you hadn’t heard, vinyl is back, fortissimo.

Yesterday was Record Store Day, the annual event intended to entice a new audience into the joys of vinyl. And it seems to be working. LPs are being eagerly sought – even by those who don&r details

A young girl’s remarkable tale of how she took a day trip-per out of school to Meet The Beatles will grace the small screen in a BBC documentary.

Vivien Stevenette was pulled out of class aged 10 - with a little help from her mother - to meet ‘the Fab Four’ at the height of Beatlemania. 

Vivien - now a retired schoolteacher from Baron Court in Werrington - will tell her story on BBC 4 show The People’s History Of Pop tomorrow night at 9pm.

Vivien said: “It was 1964, and like most girls I loved The Beatles. “My mum worked at the Old England Hotel in Sutton on Trent. She was at the bank when she got a call from the owner, who said ‘The Beatles are here, you have to come back.’ “She came into school - which she never did, and told some sort of fib and took me out of the class. When we got into the car, she sort of exploded, and said The Beatles were there. 

“It took 10 minutes to get to the hotel. I remember my mum driving fast.” When they arrived, they found John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney sitting in the dining room tucking into poacher’s soup, ham and eggs and trifle. 

Source details

An exhibition of celebrity portraits including David Bowie and the Beatles is set to go on show in Liverpool next week. The Wall to Wall Gallery in the Metquarter is staging the show of work by artist Ron Chadwick who is renowned for his canvasses featuring high-profile subjects. The exhibition, running from April 23 to May 7, will be the artist’s debut show in the North of England, and he will make a personal appearance at the gallery on the opening day.

At the centre of the exhibition will be a series of paintings and limited edition works of the Beatles, including a painting of the Fab Four in Hamburg, entitled Four Lads Who Changed My World. Other work features legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, Alfred Hitchcock and Miles Davis. Wall to Wall’s Zoe Ayre says: “Four Lads Who Changed My World holds particular relevance to him, since it was the Beatles who first inspired the young Ron to pick up his biro and begin sketching and painting the kind of icons through which he has forged his name as an artist.

“These works are now sold in galleries and feature in collections.” The Kent-based artist’s style is heavily influenced by the pop cultural revolution of the 1960s, both by the pio details

The Beatles are known as the greatest band to ever exist – and many argue ever will exist. But the way in which we view this is in a limited way, we haven’t got the ability to time travel so our generation doesn’t know of the highs and lows the band had – Unless of course, we take the time to read about them.

For me, I regularly read about the Beatles and I can tell you – There wasn’t a stranger year for the Beatles than 1966. This time 50 years ago the worlds greatest ever band was experiencing their low point. The band had went to the Philippines and had accidentally snubbed a party invite from the first lady. Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager had simply declined a formal invite from what he seen as political PR and thought nothing of it. However the nation took this as a huge insult, and literally chased the Beatles out of the country. The police withdrew all help meaning the Beatles had to defend themselves from attacks from the locals who had suddenly began to hate them. Lennon got home and said that “He wouldn’t visit Manilla ever again unless it was with an H-Bomb.”

As we know from that comment, Lennon was prone to say comments that people may find of details

The Beatles legend gave the crowd in Fresno, California, everything they had hoped for and more as he kicked off his world tour. And it wasn't just the thousands of fans who were having the time of their lives. "This is cool," McCartney told them. "I just want to take a little minute to drink it in for myself." One of the highlights was a rousing rendition of A Hard Day's Night.

Admittedly, the man has a pretty extensive back catalogue upon which to draw, but it still seems incredible that he hasn't performed this iconic crowd-pleaser live since the Beatles' heyday. The last time the band played the track live was way back in 1965, a whopping 51 years ago. McCartney also performed other Beatles classic during the show including Eleanor Rigby and 1962's Love Me Do, the Fab Four's first No1 single. The 73-year-old left far younger artists in the shade with a stggering three-hour show in which he delivered a remarkable 38 songs.

The One on One show spanned McCartney's entire career right up to 2015’s global hit single FourFiveSeconds, his collaboration with Kanye West and Rihanna. The set-list also included a rare outing for some of his pre-Beatles material, with the inclusion of The Quarrymen’s In Spit details

Ringo Starr has followed Bruce Springsteen in canceling a forthcoming concert in North Carolina in protest over the state’s newly minted anti-LGBT law.

The former Beatles drummer said in a statement: “I’m sorry to disappoint my fans in the area, but we need to take a stand against this hatred. Spread peace and love.”

The law, known as HB2, prevents transgender people from using the public restrooms that correspond with their gender identity, decreeing that all public institutions must post signs saying that bathrooms and locker rooms are to be used only based on biological sex. It also prevents municipal governments from passing anti-discrimination laws.

Describing the law as bigotry, Starr said of the legislators: “How sad that they feel this group of people cannot be defended.” He concluded his statement quoting the titles of two songs: Canned Heat’s Let’s Work Together and the Beatles’ All You Need is Love.

Starr and Springsteen are not the only performers to have canceled gigs in response to anti-LGBT legislation in the south. On Sunday, Bryan Adams pulled a show in Biloxi, Mississippi, over a new law that allows religious groups and some details

The oldest and arguably most famous purpose-built recording studio in the world, London’s Abbey Road has been at the forefront of the music business for close to 85 years. Synonymous with The Beatles, the Grade II listed complex has also played home to everyone from Pink Floyd to Kanye West to Adele, with a host of famous film scores and classical works recorded within the building’s iconic white walls.

Owned by Universal Music Group since 2012 following its acquisition of EMI, the facility has recently begun a program of significant expansion, building three new and more competitively priced recording spaces and launching a number of tech and brand partnerships, including a VR tour courtesy of Google. Billboard spoke to managing director Isabel Garvey. who formerly held senior executive posts at Warner Music International and EMI, to discuss the changing role of recording studios, appealing to new artists and breaking into the tech sector. “We’re not just a museum to The Beatles,” says Garvey. “We’re a living, breathing studio making future music history.”

Billboard: You became MD of Abbey Road in 2014. What's your remit on developing and growing the business?

A movie chronicling the story of a man is every feminist’s dream come true. Ironic? Maybe. But the filmmakers behind the upcoming The Lennon Report had me falling in love with something I haven’t even seen yet, purely because of their conscience efforts to give women equal opportunity and allow them to shine with this project. Bustle caught wind of the film at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards and spoke with producers/brothers Rafael and Gabriel Francisco and star Stef Dawson about how they turn the story of an iconic man’s death into one which shares the spotlight with women — on and off screen — who are incredibly deserving of it.

First off, know that about 70% of the movie’s department heads was made up of women. “Having women work on a film, we’re never very conscience about it, it should just always be a regular thing,” says Rafael Francisco. “Women are just as qualified as men and that should never be a question. If everybody hired based on qualifications, it would be even everyday.” He explains how beneficial it is having women as such a strong part of a team’s backbone: “We have always hired women and men, we’ve never sort of [said], &ls details

Music fans have been known to do some pretty strange things over the years. For some people, the traditional acts of appreciation—buying records, going to gigs, sending the occasional item of underwear in the mail—simply aren’t enough. For some, devotion means more.

Consider the California woman who had a tattoo of Drake’s name branded onto her forehead; or the German dude who spent $60,000 on plastic surgery to look like Justin Bieber; or the man who regrettably covered his body in 29 Miley Cyrus tattoos. These are the fans whose rock ‘n’ roll reverence knows no sensible bounds.

Bryan Eccleshall might not quite be at the top of this list. But, undoubtedly, he’s somewhere on it. Over eight years, this Beatles-lover has travelled the length and breadth of his home country of England in an attempt to visit and take a photo of every single Abbey Road—the title of the Fab Four’s 11th album. He did it, too. Some 132 of them in total. Thousands of miles travelled, and many more dollars spent. “It wasn’t purely a fan-boy thing, though,” the 50-year-old tells Noisey when we meet for a pint in his home city of Sheffield, UK. “It was a conceptua details

Stuart died this day in 1962.

This article is from 2011....

What Stuart Sutcliffe fan hasn’t wished to learn as much as possible about the fascinating young artist and Beatle? His time with us was short yet incredibly creative; every surfacing artwork, picture, letter or anecdote is pored over with relish by admirers. But some things Sutcliffe-lovers were sadly certain they would never get to know: for instance—his voice.

That’s why the digital release of “Love Me Tender“, sung by Stuart himself, is an astonishing event generating stunned excitement and questions about the song’s origin and authenticity.

“Love Me Tender” was Stuart’s signature song; a ballad he performed so well in Hamburg it received the best applause during the Beatles’ sets at the Kaiserkeller and Star Club. Sutcliffe also performed Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox” and Elvis Presley’s “Wooden Heart”. But “Love Me Tender” is the song most associated with his name.

His newly-released song, now available to the public for the first time in 50 years, is compelling listening: Stu’s voice strains just slightly ending the details