Greatest hits albums are rarely considered art. Typically, they are money grabs in the latter half of an artist’s career. Not to downplay the inherent merits of a greatest hits compilation, as they are a good way for newcomers get a foothold in an artist’s sound. The Beatles had many greatest hits compilations, but the two that encompass the breadth of their time together are 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, a.k.a the “red and blue” albums. Allen Klein, the Beatles’ late-stage manager, compiled both of these albums. One grievance (of many) that fans have with Klein was his decision to remix the songs on both of these compilations in stereo. John Lennon also joined in on that grievance. Learn more about Lennon’s qualms with these compilations below.

There was much contention towards the end of the Beatles’ career. Klein was meant to sort out the band, but only ended up sending them into further turmoil. There was really no fixing the band’s numerous issues. If you stopped one leak, another would only let in water faster.

Creative differences ran rampant towards the end of the Beatles’ tenure. This certainly drove a wedge between the foursome. Nevertheless, their efforts as a band on their studio albums always resulted in strong pieces of work. The same, according to Lennon, can’t be said for the compilation albums made on their behalf.  “It Was Embarrassing”

Both the “red and blue” albums were made in response to a bootleg “greatest hits” pair that was circulating at the same time. Klein and Apple decided to label this project with a stamp of “authenticity” so as not to miss out on any potential income opportunities.

According to Lennon, he only heard the compilations after they were released. Much to his dismay, the project had been remixed to stereo, leaving it a muddled recording that didn’t reflect the band’s original intent.

“I didn’t realize it until they put it out,” Lennon once said. “I presumed they would just copy them from the masters. I didn’t even listen to it until after it was out. I took it back and played it, and it was embarrassing.”

Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com

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The former Beatles member, 85, shared this information with USA TODAY in May 2023. Ringo named one of his longtime collaborators, Jim Keltner, for the honor. He and Jim first met in 1971 in London, where they were introduced by George Harrison, Ringo's former and late Beatles bandmate. In 1989, Ringo & His All-Starr Band launched and Jim was included as a member. The 83-year-old musician has participated as an occasional guest from 2006 to 2023 for the live rock supergroup created by producer David Fishof.

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Ringo told the outlet, "Jim is my all-time hero drummer, no one is as good as him − I love Jim, and that’s about it."

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He also took a moment to highlight Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana and the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in the interview. Ringo said, "I've seen Dave Grohl play straight. He was doing backup at some party, and he was doing it straight. And I was like, OK, wow."

Jim, born James Lee Keltner, is known for his session work. He was dubbed "the leading session drummer in America" by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes.

‌Jim has played drums for a plethora of legendary artists (whether for their albums and/or live performances) that include Carly Simon, the Bee Gees, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, and Elton John.

Along with working with Ringo and George, Jim also worked with other Beatles member, John Lennon. He did session work for John's solo albums and albums released by late singer's wife, Yoko Ono, and their band, Plastic Ono Band.

George also gushed about Jim in an interview with Anthony DeCurtis in 1987, that was in Ashley Kahn's George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters.‌

The Beatles lead guitarist also considered Jim to be a "great session drummer."

While speaking about the making of his album Cloud Nine, George shared how his "core band emerged" in response to Anthony's question. Both Ringo and Jim featured on Cloud Nine.

Source: Demetria Osei-Tutu/themirror.com

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Sting is thankful to The Beatles for opening the "floodgates for songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs".

The Every Breath You Take singer's touring guitarist Dominic Miller has released a songbook of 14 of the Fab Four's tracks for classical guitar titled The Beatles arranged by Dominic Miller: Guitar Solo Songbook.

Miller has revealed that he and Sting, 74, have often discussed the music and career of The Beatles, and the former Police frontman believes that the compositions of Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr paved the way for British musicians who followed, like himself.

In an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel, Miller said: "As Sting has often said, actually – and we talk about this sometimes – is that the Beatles, by doing those songs and coming up with those compositions, they kind of gave a license for everyone else to have a go.

“These guys from Liverpool, if they can do it, everyone should try, and so it opened the floodgates for a lot of songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs, which had never really happened before in England, like pop songs – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge.”

From creating his songbook, Miller is convinced that The Beatles are one of the few acts whose music still sounds good when played badly.

He said: "So there's a neighbour of ours about three or four doors down who's probably a piano teacher, and they're teaching this kid to play Bach, but it's the most beautiful thing I could ever hear. So I look forward to that moment when they have their lesson, and I hear Bach played badly with no real tempo, but that's the most beautiful thing that you can hear.

“And I think it's the same for The Beatles. If someone were to play Michelle or Yesterday badly, the magic would still come through. So that was the biggest discovery for me – how indestructible this harmony is.

“Like Bach, I think the Beatles are one of the only composers that you can play badly, and it still sounds good.”

Source: yardbarker.com

The beauty—and arguably the secret ingredient—of The Beatles was the band’s ability to bring four distinct personalities and abilities together to create something cohesive, catchy, and fun to watch. Fans swooned over Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as individual musicians. The Fab Four inherently implied all four musicians were notable and distinct. But as far as the behind-the-scenes operations were concerned, two people ran the show.

As founding members and the two musicians who had been playing together the longest, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the natural choice for any two songwriters of the four. Starr, for his part, seemed content to be the band’s backbone and throw in a novelty song every now and then. But for the band’s youngest member, George Harrison, this was a wall he would throw himself against time and time again before The Beatles’ final split in 1970.

According to an interview in Anthology, McCartney and Lennon discussed Harrison’s role in the group privately. “It was an option, you know, to include George in the songwriting team,” he said. Optional, sure. Wanted? Maybe not.  Paul McCartney and John Lennon Discuss George Harrison at Woolton

Paul McCartney continued, “Without wanting to be too sort of mean to him, we had decided. I remember walking up through Woolton past Woolton Church with John one morning and, you know, going over these questions. ‘Should we? Should three of us write, or would it be better just to keep it simple? And we decided, ‘No, we’ll just keep the two of us. So, George [Harrison] used to write his own songs.”

For Harrison, songwriting was more of a novel pursuit than with McCartney and John Lennon. Just by age alone, Harrison hadn’t been playing guitar, let alone writing songs, for as long as his older bandmates. And as Harrison would later explain in Anthology, Lennon and McCartney had the advantage of already getting through their “bad song” phase. Harrison felt like he was coming in completely fresh, and considering he wasn’t a part of Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting team, he also lacked the advantage of ready assistance from his colleagues.

Interestingly, McCartney and Lennon’s meeting place of Woolton was also where the two musicians first met at the St. Peter’s Church Fete in July 1957.

Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com

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Sir Paul McCartney needs no introduction as a former member of the Beatles, one of the most revered bands in music history, and as a successful solo artist in his own right. After nearly seven decades in the music industry, McCartney is still admired for his vocals, songwriting, and proficiency on multiple musical instruments by fans worldwide. It would therefore seem unlikely that the nineteen-time Grammy Award winner and veteran artist would have any issues performing, but according to McCartney, there is one song he struggles to play live because of a particular tragedy and his deep emotional connection to it. Why Paul McCartney Can't Perform "Here Today" Without Getting Emotional.

Eventually, McCartney's grief inspired him to pen the song "Here Today," which was written in 1981 but released the following year. During the same interview, McCartney recalled what the writing session was like or "Here Today", "I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar and just started to play the opening chords to 'Here Today.'" One particular song lyric, McCartney explained, was the most profound for him: "'The night we cried,' that was to do with a time when we were in Key West, down in Florida...We got drunk and started to get kind of emotional...On the way to that, there was a lot of soul-searching. We told each other a few truths, you know, 'Well, I love you,' 'I love you man,' 'I love that you said that,' and we opened up." Due to the emotional nature of the song, McCartney has since revealed that it's difficult for him to play live without getting worked up, so he seldom plays it during live performances. 

McCartney also once revealed that The Beach Boys' song, "God Only Knows", greatly impacted him. He told BBC Radio 1 in 2007, “‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him, and I’m afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down.” McCartney continued, referencing his 2002 performance of "God Only Knows" with Wilson, “I got to sing it with Brian once when we did a benefit [show] together. I was okay at the actual performance; I held it together. But at the rehearsal, at the soundcheck, I lost it, because it’s very emotional, this song, I find it… ‘Oh my god, I’m singing with Brian,’ it just got me, I couldn’t. So all it is, it’s little vibrations reaching your music, it’s only little vibrations, little words, and little things. There is this powerful effect, you know.”

Source: Karly B./collider.com

The recent Beatles Anthology updated series means there are no more secret recordings. Producer Giles Martin says no more secret Beatles tracks will ever be released.

The producer has spent a number of years going through the Fab Four’s archives for the Disney Plus revived Beatles’ Anthology series and remixed albums and tracks but he doesn’t believe there is anything new left to uncover.

According to The Sun newspaper, he said: “I don’t think there’s anything. I always say that then something turns up. “But I don’t think there’s anything. It’s incredible how much interest there still is over Beatles stuff.

“You do hear new things on this Anthology box set. There’s that first round of Helter Skelter, which for me is great because it’s really raw. It’s proper in your face music. “And then people go, ‘Well, how come we haven’t released the 20-minute long version of Helter Skelter?’ I think we’re done.”

Giles’ father, Sir George Martin – who died in 2016 – was known as “the fifth Beatle” for his work with the band and Giles has enjoyed going through his father’s work.

He said: “The Beatles are so powerful that it’s what people want to know about. “It’s really nice. I love my dad. We were incredibly close.

“Their music and what they did really makes people feel better about themselves. So to work on this material and to be close to my dad is a great thing.”

Giles curated the new Anthology 4 album and remastered the entire collection for the 2025 re-release of The Beatles’ Anthology series.

He is also working with director Sam Mendes on the four upcoming Beatles movies, which will each focus on a different member of the band; John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr.

Source: startsat60.com