Beatles News
You can’t sustain a career like Paul McCartney‘s without versatility. If he had only one trick in his bag, that would have worn thin quickly. With The Beatles, with Wings, or on his own, he has mastered both screaming rock and roll and tender balladry.
Beyond that, there are the occasions when McCartney delves into more antiquated forms of music, some very distinct to his native Great Britain. The 2005 track “English Tea” revels in some details those in his home country could appreciate best.
Modern “English”
When it comes to his post-millennial output, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, released in 2005, just might be the best album McCartney has delivered. And that’s no faint praise, because the quality of his output has remained remarkably consistent in that time, maybe even more so than in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
The album paired him with Nigel Godrich, who came into the experience as one of the hotter producers of that era. Godrich dared to push McCartney, forcing him to rewrite songs even when the former Beatle believed they were already up to snuff.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Jim Beviglia
John Lennon is being honored in a specially minted British coin collection to mark the year the Beatles great and peace advocate would have turned 85, the Royal Mint said Friday.
The coin, which will go on sale on Monday, features a portrait of Lennon that is based on a famous image taken by music industry photographer Bob Gruen in 1974.
It depicts a side profile of Lennon, taken on the roof of his penthouse in New York. Lennon was shot dead by Mark David Chapman in the city on Dec. 8, 1980 at the age of 40.
Lennon’s name appears to the left of the portrait, while the word “Imagine” features on the right side of the design in a reference to his single and album, released in 1971, the year after the Fab Four — Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — effectively went their own way, having left their indelible mark at the heart of the 1960s.
“Arguably one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time, Lennon’s achievements as an artist, activist and advocate for peace continue to live on and will now be forever remembered on a coin,” said Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coin at the Royal Mint.
Source: apnews.com/By PAN PYLAS
The Beatles' 1967-1970 compilation reenters the U.K. charts, celebrating its one-hundredth week on ... [+] the Official Albums chart and joining an elite group of their albums.
The Beatles’ catalog is filled with some of the bestselling albums and most popular songs of all time. While a number of the group’s traditional studio full-lengths rank among the most beloved ever, in the decades since the Fab Four broke up, millions of people have focused on buying and streaming compilations from the group. This is an easy way to continually consume the singles that made the outfit globally famous, and these days, when The Beatles land on albums charts around the world, it's usually with one gathering of singles or another.
This frame, in The Beatles’ home country, two compilations appear on the main albums chart as one returns and joins another popular release. The comeback project reaches a special milestone and joins a number of other classics from the band as it hits a special milestone.
The Beatles’ 1967-1970 Returns
1967-1970, a compilation usually just referred to as the Blue Album, bounces back onto a pair of U.K. charts this week. It reenters the Official Albums Streaming list at No. 52, and more importantly, it settles at No. 59 on the Official Albums chart, the 100-space ranking of the most-consumed projects in the nation.
Source: forbes.com/Hugh McIntyre
Though the Beatles are a far cry from Black Sabbath, that doesn’t mean Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t influenced greatly by the Fab Four. In fact, Osbourne has talked about his affinity for the rock greats on a number of occasions. So, when he got the opportunity to step in studio with Paul McCartney, Osbourne was aptly excited. Despite his fervor for a potential collaboration, Macca declined. Find out why below.
The Collaboration with a Legendary Artist Paul McCartney Refused to Accept: “He Said He Couldn’t Improve on the Bassline”
The light in the window is a crack in the sky
A stairway to darkness in the blink of an eye
A levee of tears to learn she’ll never be coming back
The man in the dark will bring another attack
Your momma told you that you’re not supposed to talk to strangers
Look in the mirror, tell me, do you think you life’s in danger, yeah?
The Beatles changed Osbourne’s life. They were a guiding force for him growing up–as they were for many kids in his generation. He used their music as an escape from his immediate surroundings.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Alex Hopper
John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s iconic love story will be explored in an intimate new documentary title One to One. The film will be screening exclusively in IMAX on April 11th.
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, One to One centers around Lennon’s only full-length show after leaving the Beatles. He and Ono put on the One to One benefit show at Madison Square Garden on August 30th, 1972. The film explores the 18 months leading up to the show, when the couple shared an apartment in Greenwich Village and found themselves heavily immersed in American television.
As seen in the film’s trailer, Macdonald pulls heavily from archival footage of the couple during this time. Alongside never-before-seen footage, One to One features newly remixed and produced music by the couple’s only son together Sean Ono Lennon.
One to One was first announced last May and premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August. It was also an official selection at Sundance earlier this year.
One to One is not the only new documentary to chronicle the couple’s relationship and politics in the early Seventies. Daytime Revolution was released in October and took a close look at their residency on The Mike Douglas Show in 1972 where the invited guests like Ralph Nader, George Carlin, Yippie founder Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Bobby Seale to join them on-air.
Source: rollingstone.com/Brittany Spanos
It was the first hit for a band containing a number of Liverpool-born musicians.
Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote the vast majority of The Beatles' songs and were the driving creative force behind the band's success. Their contrasting styles, moods and approaches often met in the middle to create magic.
About their song writing partnership Wilfred Mellors wrote in 1972: "Opposite poles generate electricity: between John and Paul the sparks flew. John's fiery iconoclasm was tempered by Paul's lyrical grace, while Paul's wide-eyed charm was toughened by John's resilience." But John and Paul didn't only write songs for The Beatles during their time in the band.
They famously wrote The Rolling Stones' first hit - 'I Wanna be Your Man' - for them, having first considered it as a song for Ringo Starr to sing, which he later did.
It wasn't the only time they wrote a song which became a band's first hit. Paul had written 'Come And Get It' in 1969 and recorded a solo demo for it during the sessions for the band's penultimate album 'Abbey Road', but it became the breakout hit for Badfinger, who had signed for The Beatles' label Apple in 1968 under the name 'The Iveys'.
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Dan Haygarth
Ringo Starr’s Ringo & Friends at The Ryman special, which features highlights from two star-studded concerts the legendary Beatles drummer played in January at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, premiered Monday, March 10, on CBS. The program focuses on Starr’s love of country music, while celebrating the release of his new solo album, the country-inspired Look Up.
Besides the concert performances, the special included some guest appearances via video of stars discussing Ringo and his music. Starr’s Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney and country icon Dolly Parton both revealed that their favorite song Ringo sings is a country classic covered by The Beatles in 1965.
In one pre-recorded segment, McCartney began by explaining that Starr “was the first guy in The Beatles to really turn us on to country music.”
Sir Paul elaborated, “We were kind of very much into rock ‘n’ roll, but he was heavy into country. So, he had a lot of records we didn’t have, and he was a big admirer of some of the country stars at the time, some of whom we’d never heard of, I must admit.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Matt Friedlander
Paul McCartney explained how a classic Beatles song came about as he lifted the lid on how Ringo Starr introduced the band to new music. Ringo hosted a concert special on American channel CBS on Monday (March 10) to celebrate his country album 'Look Up', which was released in January.
The show saw Ringo play a number of Beatles classics, including 'With a Little Help From My Friends' and 'Yellow Submarine' as well as new songs from the album. He was joined on stage by a number of stars, such as Sheryl Crow and Jack White.
It also featured a video message from Paul, who spoke about Ringo's long-standing love of country music and the song 'Act Naturally' by Buck Owens, which Ringo sang when The Beatles covered in 1965. 'Act Naturally' follows a narrator who wants to make it big in Hollywood as an actor, which Paul likened to Ringo in the film 'A Hard Day's Night'.
The Walton-born 82-year-old said: "Ringo was the first guy in The Beatles to turn us onto country music. We were very much into rock and roll but he was heavy into country.
"So, he had a lot of records we didn’t have and he was a big admirer of some of the country stars of the time. So of whom we’d never heard of, I must admit. He goes way back into country music, so it was natural for him when we first recorded for his track to be a cover of the Buck Owens song ‘Act Naturally’."
Source: uk.news.yahoo.com/Dan Haygarth
In the later years of his career, John Lennon stopped wearing rose-tinted glasses when it came to the Beatles' songs — in particular, his own.
He continued to hold a warm spot for some of the group's' earliest tunes, like "All My Loving," and for a number of those from their later era, including "Strawberry Fields Forever," "In My Life" and "Hey Jude."
But he viewed many others with a critic's unsparing eye. His most withering condemnations were saved for songs that were stamped out in cookie-cutter form or peeled off as nonsensical filler. "It's Only Love" is an example of the former, a Help! track he called “abysmal”, while the latter includes Abbey Road's "Mean Mr. Mustard," a bit of light-hearted fluff he denounced as “a piece of garbage.”
And then there's the song Lennon called his “least favorite.” It appeared on the group's 1965 album Rubber Soul, which may seem odd, given that record's status as the group's first conceptual work, in which every song received its own well-considered musical arrangement.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Phil Weller
A set of Beatles autographs from a 1963 concert in Hull could earn up to £1,500 at auction.
The Fab Four's signatures were collected by Scunthorpe teenager Jeff Scarr, who attended their gig at the old ABC Cinema on 24 November 1963. The then 16-year-old went to the stage door and spotted the band taking a break between performances.
After handing his autograph book to a roadie, it was given back to him signed by John, Paul, George and Ringo. More than 60 years later, Mr Scarr described the concert as "absolutely crazy".
"As soon as The Beatles came on stage everybody stood up and then what seemed like thousands of girls started screaming," he said.
"They never stopped. I did not hear a single song The Beatles sang. It was complete madness." The autograph book lay forgotten in a drawer until Mr Scarr's wife read an article on Beatles memorabilia.
The Beatles performed in Hull as part of their November 1963 tour. Auctioneer Paul Potter said the page with the band's signatures had been removed from the book and would be sold as a separate lot in the auction in Scunthorpe on Thursday.
Source: bbc.com
