Beatles News

IT was 50 years ago today that Nigel saw the band play. Leamington businessman Nigel Robinson recalls attending arguably the most famous single pop concert in history.

FIFTY years ago on Saturday (August 15) history was made when the Beatles played the most famous concert of its era – and Beatlemania was at its height.

August 15 1965 at Shea Stadium, home of the New York Mets, saw a new level of mass hysteria, and gave birth to the modern day music concert.

And among the crowd of 60,000 plus – were two Warwick schoolboys there to witness it.

Nigel Robinson and David Treadaway were Warwick School sixth formers enjoying their summer holiday in the States when they managed to get tickets for the concert that set new records in attendance and the greatest gross in the history of entertainment.

“It was incredibly exciting,” said Nigel, now a director of Newsline Public Relations in Leamington. “Beatlemania was at its peak in the States, where only the year before in March 1964 the Beatles had an incredible 12 singles in the US top 100 – including all of the top 5!”

The Fab Four had arrived in New York and on the night on the concert they were t details

The internet just cannot stop eulogizing, analyzing, and generally fetishizing album covers. Arguably one of the great art forms of the previous century, LP sleeves are the subject of a thoughtful, well-edited video essay entitled “How The Beatles Changed Album Covers” by YouTuber Nerdwriter1, whose screen name seems rather like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In addition to videos about everything from Louis CK to Game Of Thrones, Nerdwriter1 has an entire series of educational clips about art and art history. “How The Beatles Changed Album Covers,” appropriately, is as much about art—specifically, consumer art—as it is about music. One of the main themes of the video is that the album cover’s true importance is as a tangible object, something which fans can collect and hold onto, even though music itself is both invisible and intangible.

The essayist gives viewers a thumbnail history of LP covers, including a nod to graphic designer Alex Steinweiss, who was a pioneer in the use of album covers as a means of artistic expression, beginning in the late 1930s.

Nerdwriter1 cleverly and succinctly demonstrates how The Beatles’ innovative album covers document the b details

Smack in the middle of all of the other craziness of 1968 was the transition of The Beatles from pop superstars to socially progressive musicians.

With The Rolling Stones nipping at their heels — and a global explosion in political protest — the four lads from Liverpool pushed themselves past the psychedelia of 1967’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Magical Mystery Tour” and into the much more abrasive and experimental “White Album” that came out in the early fall of 1968.

“Revolution” may now be thought of as the music that accompanied a sneaker commercial a few years ago, but 47 years ago the potent single tied in with the protests that brought France to a halt in the spring of 1968 and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy in this country (and the resulting riots in cities all over the U.S.)

The “White Album” was already in the can when a horrified nation watched the police riot at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, but cuts from the album were just beginning to be heard at the end of that crazy summer.

The first single from the album — “Hey, Jude” — details

“So You Want To Be A Rock ’n’ Roll Star, then listen now to what I say, just get an electric guitar and take some time and learn how to play …”

So sang a chart-topping Los Angeles-based band called The Byrds in January 1967, at the height of the British Invasion. And thanks to an apparently endless parade of gifted singer-songwriters from beyond the sea, rock stardom didn’t seem all that remote at the time – even if those lyrics were mildly laced with acid.

Flash forward to 2015. I awaken to find yet another bumper crop of ads in my inbox, exhorting me to claim my rightful place as a rock ’n’ roll star. But when I behold the staggering array of software, guitars, pedals, amps, recording equipment, tutoring and degree programs that stand between me and fame, it fills me with wonder: How did the most creative period in pop music history ever get off the ground without the benefit of any of these toys?

Well, why not rev up the Wayback machine and see what a world without Facebook might have to teach us?

Seat belts fastened? First stop, Liverpool, 1961, the eve of the British Invasion.

It’s February, and the Beatles, fresh from a 14 details

I’m in a hotel room with a Beatle. And admittedly overjoyed to be there. For me there are stars, and then there are great songwriters and legends. And then, above all else, are The Beatles.

“Inspired?” he says with a laugh, when I use that word to describe the songs he wrote for his latest album, Postcards From Paradise. “We need to have you around more often!”

Seems like a great idea. His band The Beatles, as the universe knows, was the greatest ever, and the love they brought the world through their short but miraculous reign continues to radiate every day. He came together with John, Paul and George to churn out miracle songs from 1963 to 1969 almost non-stop, forever changing the art of songwriting as we know it.

It was Ringo who often came up with their titles and phrases (“A Hard Day’s Night,” he confirms, was his, though “Eight Days A Week,” often attributed to him, he says, was not) and also conceived distinctive drum parts. A songwriter’s dream drummer, he always crafted soulful parts that served the very essence of each song. Even his fills are legend: soulful grace and visceral power without ever overwhelming the song.

B details

Fifty years ago next week in the new Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the British sensation known as The Beatles ran out to the stage at second base, tuned up a bit and immediately launched into the Isley Brothers’ hit Twist and Shout: “Shake it up, baby, now, twist and shout. Come on, come on, come on, come on, baby now, come on and work it on out!”

It was The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr – who were shaking up huge baseball stadiums on their second tour of America. An estimated 34,000 screaming fans that Wednes­day night of Aug. 18, 1965, saw what would be The Beatles’ only appearance in Georgia.

The tour had started three days earlier with The Beatles performing to 55,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City. Besides Atlanta, stops that August would include Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto; Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston; Comiskey Park in Chicago; Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.; Memorial Stadium in Portland, Ore.; Balboa Stadium in San Diego, Calif.; Hollywood Bowl in Hollywood, Calif., and Cow Palace in Daly City, Calif., near San Francisco.

During those stops, The Beatles would meet privately with The Supremes, details

The Beatles weren’t that good when they first formed.

Don’t take my word for it, Paul McCartney said in a recent radio interview: “We obviously weren’t that good. We were formulating it all.”

Record producer George Martin agreed. “When I first met them, they really couldn’t write a decent song. ‘Love Me Do’ was the best they could give me, yet they blossomed as songwriters in a way that was breathtaking.”

They became great because they worked at it. I’m not talking about that 10,000 hours Malcolm Gladwell has written about, though there’s no question that all the time in Hamburg helped. But if it was just down to putting the hours in, then Gerry and the Pacemakers would have become global icons. They were from Liverpool, managed by Brian Epstein and they too toured the Hamburg club scene; in fact, they stayed longer than the Beatles. Gerry and the Pacemakers focused on what worked, they wrote some huge hits and had three number ones in a row. But to shake up the world, the Beatles knew they were going to need a little something extra. Originality.

When Paul, John, George and Ringo were told how something was supposed to be do details

Do you have a treasure in your attic? Could you make your fortune with it?

It’s almost time for Liverpool`s Beatles Memorabilia Auction.

A treasure trove of all things fab four, he Beatles Shop, Mathew Street, Liverpool are hosting the auction at LIPA on August 29.

This year will be the 24th year, and already up for sale is Ringo Starr’s radiogram, John Lennon’s detention card and Cilla Black’s hankie.

Here we look back at some of the more interesting lots which have sold over the years

Fully autographed Beatles Love Me Do single from Dawsons Record Shop, Warrington 2007, £13,600

Original section of the stage from the Cavern Club, Liverpool 2009, £2.860

John Lennon`s Toilet from Tittenhurst Park 2010, £10,500

Membership card for the Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool, 1961 2010, £2,860

By: Jade Wright

Source: Liverpool Echo

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An international hotel group is set to buy Liverpool's 110-room Hard Days Night Hotel after agreeing to pay almost £3m more than the asking price.

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels has agreed to purchase a long leasehold interest in the Hard Days Night Hotel for £13.8m in cash subject to standard purchase price adjustments. More than 113 years remain on the lease with Liverpool City Council.

The landmark property is located inside the grade II-listed Central Buildings on the corner of Mathew Street and North John Street. Named after the Beatles' film, album and song of the same name, the Hard Days Night Hotel opened its doors in 2008 during Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture.

In addition to 110 luxury rooms, including the famed McCartney and Lennon suites, the hotel has numerous bars and restaurants. The four-star hotel features exclusive Beatles artwork throughout including along the grand central staircase from the basement to the roof.

The hotel was put on the market in March with CBRE indicating that it was seeking bids of more than £11m on behalf of its private owner Concord Estates.

By: Richard Frost

Source: Insider Media

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In the late summer of 1966, the Beatles’ popularity in America – previously unshakeably strong - had been threatened after a comment made by John Lennon to a British journalist that the band were now “more popular than Jesus” was reprinted in a US magazine.

When the interview, by Lennon’s friend Maureen Cleave and originally published in the Evening Standard in March 1966, appeared in the American publication Datebook in the July, reaction among some Christians, particularly in the south of the country, was immediate - and angry.

Several radio stations banned the playing of Beatles music; some organised public bonfires in which fans were encouraged to bring their Beatles records and memorabilia and toss them into the flames in order to register their disgust.

The Beatles arrived in Chicago for the first leg of a US tour on August 11, and met the American press for the first time since the controversy had broken. A visibly nervous Lennon was asked to explain – and apologise for – his comments.

"If I had said television is more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it...” he began. “I used the word 'Beatles' as a remote thing… as details

In a recent interview with our friend Scott Raab of Esquire, the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told Raab that The Beatles’ legendary Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band platter is “a mishmash of rubbish”. Thus our question of the day, of course, is why did Keith Richards badmouth the classic album? There are actually a couple of simple reasons:

One: Richards is known for “talking sh*t” about other musicians. This is especially true when he has something to promote. 

Raab himself confirms that Richards spoke to him because he wanted to talk “about his new solo album, Crosseyed Heart” and the simultaneous Netflix premiere of “the documentary Keith Richards: Under the Influence.” Controversy garners page hits and gets you trending on Facebook.

Two: Richards was drawn into it by Raab himself who told Richards: “I’ve been thinking about Rubber Soul, Revolver, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘The White Album’ and listening to Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. Over the past 20 years, I’ve ?listened to that Stones stuff far more often.” 

Richards actually t details

Revolver, released in America on August 8, 1966, is seen by many today as the Beatles’ big-bang moment. Over the course of 14 tracks, they consolidated everything they’d mastered even while hinting at most of the experiments still to come from principal songwriters John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

Not that they necessarily sensed this breakthrough moment, as the Beatles gathered at Abbey Road Studios with George Martin earlier that spring.

“That’s kind of difficult to say,” McCartney tells KGVO. “I mean, we knew we were having great success with the Beatles. Me and John were starting to really cook on our writing. So, we knew we were getting better and better from the first single, like ‘Love Me Do.’ You know, we knew we were now writing better songs. We knew we were playing better.”

Powered along by a double-sided No. 1 in “Eleanor Rigby / Yellow Submarine,” Revolver would top both the UK and American album charts, staying at Billboard’s No. 1 for six weeks.

If the project had little in common with the Beatles’ most recent release, 1965’s more folk-leaning Rubber Soul, that was also in keeping wit details

The rare snapshots of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison while taken on summer vacation in Los Angeles, California were taken by Bob Bonis, their tour manager from 1964-1966 The band was in town for their August 23 historic show at Hollywood Bowl The Ambassador Hotel cancelled their room reservation for fear they would be swarmed with crazy fans so they stayed at the Bel Air mansion of British Actor Reginald Owen.

They were renowned for their playfulness. And these photographs, revealed for the first time, show The Beatles at their cheeky best, giggling and playing with a beach ball by the pool in Los Angeles, California. It is 1964, and John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison are in town for their historic show at the Hollywood Bowl, which was recorded and later released as a hit live album. 

Had everything gone to plan, they would be confined to their suite in The Ambassador Hotel preparing for the gig. But at the last minute their reservation was cancelled because management could not cope with the scale of swarming fans. 

Luckily for The Beatles, Reginald Owen offered up his Bel Air mansion for just $1,000. It meant for a rare break from the fa details

According to Keith Richards’s tell-all autobiography, on the night of the 1967 Redlands drug bust, the guitarist had taken so much LSD that as the police arrived at his Sussex country mansion, he genuinely thought they were uniformed dwarves and welcomed them in with open arms. You’d assume that a man known for his acid-inducted exploits would be partial to the trippy sensibilities of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album so littered with drug references that tracks like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and A Day in the Life were banned by the BBC.

As it turns out, however, Keef has little patience for the record once described by Time magazine as “a historic departure in the progress of music – any music”.

As it turns out, however, Keef has little patience for the record once described by Time magazine as “a historic departure in the progress of music – any music”. “Some people think it’s a genius album,” Richards recently told Esquire, “but I think it’s a mishmash of rubbish”.

He’s not the first artist to assassinate the Beatles record. In 2007, Billy Childish told the Guardian of his hatred for the al details

East Hampton Historical Society's newest exhibition will send guests on a walk down memory lane as they admire photographs taken by Susan Wood during the 70s. Some of the more iconic images in the exhibit feature The Beatles' John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono.

The exhibit, titled "Right On! The Lennon Years, Photographs by Susan Wood 1968 - 1978," will debut during an opening reception on Saturday, August 8th from 4 to 7 p.m.

"I came of age in Ireland looking at images of New York in the 1970s: the mood, the clothes, the films, and TV series," Deirdre Brennan, the curator of the exhibit, said. "In curating Susan's work, I wanted to show the breadth of the subject matter Susan has covered, and of course to include the years that she photographed John and Yoko — the Lennon years." She noted that Wood's work is synonymous with the 1970s.

The photographer's work captures different art icons of the time, as well as fashions and cultures that we still appreciate today. Through the photographs, exhibit visitors will take away a taste of the times and a feel for this decade in history. "Right On! The Lennon Years, Photographs by Susan Wood 1968 - 1978" marks the first time that this collection of photograp details