Beatles News
Each of The Beatles has enjoyed a successful solo career. I wouldn’t say that the band’s beloved late guitarist, George Harrison, is anywhere close to underrated. However, when compared to the likes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, I don’t think he gets as much love as he deserves for the big things he did as a solo artist post-Beatles. Let’s look at just a few moments that prove George Harrison was capable of outshining his past with the Fab Four.
He Formed One of the Best Supergroups
The Travelling Wilburys were a killer supergroup. There’s no denying that. Formed in 1988 and lasting just a few short years, this group was made up of some of the greatest artists in rock and folk. Members included George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison. And songs like “Handle With Care” and “She’s My Baby” would have never hit the airwaves if Harrison and Lynne hadn’t come up with the idea together while working on the former’s 1987 record, Cloud Nine.
All Things Must Pass was technically George Harrison’s third album as a solo artist. However, it was his first after The Beatles broke up in 1970, and also the first of any former Beatles’ records to hit No. 1. It certainly makes sense why. This folk rock venture is absolutely gorgeous. All Things Must Pass was a carefully put-together work. It’s full of songs that Harrison had been working on while still part of the Fab Four. His songwriting talents really came out on this record, and it proved that he was on the same musical level as The Beatles’ two principal songwriters.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Em Casalena
The “rose-tinted glasses” worn by The Beatles in several of their music videos were picked up by Paul McCartney from an optician.
Iconic glasses featured in music videos for The Beatles were, according to McCartney, picked up out of a necessity to make the drab recording studio that much better. Ordering “half a dozen” different colours, the Let It Be songwriter brought them to the sessions as a way of livening things up. George Martin, The Beatles’ long-serving producer, added that fluorescent poles were also added into the studio to kindle the band’s creativity. McCartney shared: “If you remember, we all came in with rose-coloured or funny-coloured specs, and where I was living.
“There was a little optician round the corner, and I sort of popped in and said, ‘Do you do different coloured lenses and everything?’ and they said, ‘Yeah, I do anything.’ So I ordered up like, half a dozen different colours, you know, rose, green, blue, and took them to the sessions.
Producer Martin confirmed he remembers the glasses, but also remembers the Fab Four’s strong dislike for the drab studio. White walls and the lack of atmosphere proved stifling for the band, who were offered some fluorescent pipes to liven the place up.
Martin replied: “That was to give you a bit of atmosphere in the studio. I remember all of you saying, ‘This is a sterile place, it’s just white walls and bloody awful.’ I had to do something to liven it up. So they put in three fluorescent stands with red, blue, and white.”
But McCartney says it was “red and green”, not “red, blue, and white”. The Wings frontman says he knows this “because I’ve got them in my studio.” Martin would add they were installed to give the Fab Four some “inspiration”, with McCartney jokingly adding: “And boy, did it ever. We grooved after that.”
McCartney has spent decades in the studio, and one of his major projects with The Beatles after the band disbanded was in remastering Let It Be. His dislike for the work Phil Spector provided the album prompted McCartney to create Let It Be… Naked.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
Brian Epstein, the Fab Four's manager, guided them from Liverpool's Cavern Club to global fame. When he died 58 years ago this week, the band was left suddenly adrift. Three years earlier, Epstein had told the BBC how he knew they would be "the biggest attraction in the world".
When The Beatles were told that their manager, Brian Epstein, had been found dead in his London home on 27 August 1967, they were sent into a tailspin. "It was shattering, sad, and a little frightening," Paul McCartney told Barry Miles in his 1997 biography Many Years from Now. "We loved him."
Epstein had been instrumental in the Fab Four's rise from playing local Liverpool clubs to being the biggest band in the world. He had shaped their early image, helped them get a recording contract, managed all their business affairs, and championed them relentlessly. And he had always believed in them. When the BBC's Panorama profiled him in 1964, the pop impresario said that when he signed the band in 1961, he already knew they would be "one of the biggest, if not the biggest attraction, theatrical attraction, in the world".
By the time of the Panorama interview, Epstein was managing a whole roster of artists, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black and Tommy Quickly. He had "unique judgement of what will be a hit and who will make it", said BBC reporter Michael Charlton. "When only one in 50 of the multitude of pop records catches on, Epstein's young stars have captured hit parades all over the world."
Source: bbc.com/Myles Burke
Ever since The Beatles broke up, everyone and their mother has seemingly been blaming their demise on Yoko Ono. The conspiracies that she broke the band apart and that John chose her over the band are incredibly far-fetched and, frankly, unfair. Thanks to these loose and unfounded claims, Paul McCartney has often stated that Yoko was not the sole reason for The Beatles’ disbandment. However, McCartney has definitively declared that he was not a fan of her joining in on The Beatles recording sessions.
If anyone has watched The Beatles: Get Back, they know that Yoko was present for nearly the entire recording process of the band’s final album. Consequently, fans and critics were always curious as to what her presence made The Beatles feel like. Well, eight years before the release of the film, McCartney divulged exactly why he wasn’t a fan of it. Paul McCartney Reveals His Reason on the Matter
In a 2013 interview on The Howard Stern Show, McCartney went fairly in-depth on the matter in a candid fashion. Being McCartney, he was, of course, polite, cordial, and kind, but he put the rumours to rest with his answer. So, if you’re still crafting your rumors about Yoko and The Beatles, then give this a listen so you can tame your imagination.
McCartney started his story by stating, “Let’s face it, we didn’t welcome Yoko in the studio.” “Even the guy’s wives and the girlfriends and stuff weren’t really welcome in the studio,” continued Paul McCartney. Given that rule, when Lennon invited Yoko into the studio, the band was perplexed and taken aback. McCartney attested to that fact, saying, “It was like ‘uh no excuse me, we’re working.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
The night Elvis Presley played with The Beatles is fondly remembered as the most epic jam in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. That is, if it actually happened.
What is certain is that Elvis politely hosted the Fab Four at his Bel Air home on Aug. 27, 1965, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were in Los Angeles to perform two shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Elvis, looking every inch a rock god, greeted the quartet with his future wife Priscilla Beaulieu and his “Memphis Mafia” inner circle at his side.
“The Beatles were in awe, and I can say that because they told me that the next day,” Jerry Schilling, Elvis’ longtime friend, tells USA TODAY, while discussing the new Elvis collection “Sunset Boulevard,” which spans Presley’s LA studio sessions from 1970 to 1975. “But it got kind of quiet” after they were ushered into the den.
Elvis sat on the couch, holding his Fender bass guitar, as the four shaggy-haired Beatles stood and sat uneasily. Then Elvis announced, “If you guys are going to look at me all night, I’m going to bed,” Schilling, 83, recalls. “Everyone burst out laughing and that broke the ice. Not that there was any cold ice at all. I don’t care what anyone says, I was there, it was a great night.”
Elvis fiddles with an electric bass inside Graceland on March 7, 1965, months before hosting The Beatles at his California home in Bel Air.
By all accounts, Charlie Rich’s “Mohair Sam,” one of Elvis’ favorite songs of the moment, was playing on repeat. George went off with Larry Geller, Elvis’ hairstylist, and “there was probably some grass going on,” Schilling says, pausing for a beat. “Let me be honest, there was.”
Starr and Schilling took on Beatles roadie Mal Evans and Elvis’ cousin Billy Smith in a game of pool. But what happened next is hotly debated. Did The Beatles jam with Elvis?
Source: usatoday.com/Kim Willis
Everyone has their favorite Beatles album, including the iconic musicians themselves, but one album in particular seemed to drive a wedge between two of the bandmates.
While many fans would name Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as their favorite, featuring hugely popular hits, the 1967 record divided Paul McCartney and George Harrison. While McCartney touted the album as his favorite, Harrison said it felt like taking a step "backwards" from their revolutionary craftsmanship.
While their eighth album was Paul's "baby," Harrison had grown tired of that particular sound. Comparing it to Rubber Soul and Revolver, Harrison said Sgt Pepper was "not as enjoyable" as the other two and said it "felt like going backwards."
He said, "Everybody else thought that Sgt Pepper was a revolutionary record – but for me it was not as enjoyable as Rubber Soul or Revolver, purely because I had gone through so many trips of my own and I was growing out of that kind of thing."
Revolver was created after Harrison's time in India with Ravi Shankar, where he honed his own voice as a musician. The track Love You To in particular was inspired by that time in Harrison's life and how it shaped his personal musical style.
McCartney, however, said in 1991 that Sgt Pepper was his favorite of their repertoire, though he loves all of the albums the band created. He said, “I’d pick Sgt. Pepper’s, myself, because I had a lot to do with it.” He continued, “It wasn’t entirely my idea but to get us away from being ‘The Beatles’ I had this idea that we should pretend we’re this other group."
He remembered George being distant from the record. “George wasn’t very involved in that album,” McCartney said later. “He just had one song. It’s really the only time during the whole album, the main time, I remember him turning up.”
Sgt. Pepper's is a blend of pop and rock music featuring some heavy hitters, such as With a Little Help from My Friends and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which the band insisted was not code for LSD.
Beatles fans were in a frenzy this week after the band's official Instagram account posted a cryptic hint at some big announcement. The page posted four slides, each displaying the numbers one, two, three and four alongside imagery connected to the band, including several of their most iconic album artwork.
Source: irishstar.com/Shannon Brown
Comedy legend Eric Idle has opened up on his strong friendship with the late George Harrison. The Monty Python star struck up a close bond with The Beatles icon when they met at a party in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
However, Eric lived in Merseyside as a child and he told the ECHO in an exclusive interview how he's convinced he met the iconic musician when they were both children. He said: "I hung out with someone called George on the Red Noses in New Brighton when I was about five and I often wondered if it was him because we got on so well when we met.
"It was like I already knew him and we were talking all night. He was wonderful and he had such a great effect on my life." The 82-year-old will pay tribute to his friendship with the All Things Must Pass writer in his new show, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, LIVE!, which is coming to the Liverpool Empire on September 14.
The one man musical is described as "an evening of comedy, music, philosophy and one fart joke", and Eric told the ECHO how one song is dedicated to George. He said: "There's a couple of singalongs. there's some touching songs. I've written a song for George because I miss him so much. That's really quite emotional because you see us on screen."
Eric became one of George's closest friends after their meeting in California. The comedy icon said the similar status they both held in their respective groups was why they had such an understanding of one another.
He said: "We were both the individual in between two strong powerful forces. He had Lennon and McCartney, I had Chapman and Cleese; Palin and Jones.
"I think we were both in a similar role. The younger one, a little bit overpowered and you had to find and fight for your own space in it." George was a huge fan of Monty Python's work and Eric lifted the lid on the While My Guitar Gently Weeps writer's incredible gesture that ensured The Life Of Brian, could get made.
Eric explained George remortgaged his house and his assets to raise the £4.5m budget for the classic 1979 film, which is regarded as one of the most influential comedies of all time. He added: "He raised the entire money. That was everything he had and he put it all in on a Monty Python film. Imagine telling the wife. 'What did you do today?' Well, I've remortgaged our house, I've remortgaged our company and I've put it all into a Monty Python film about religion.
"It's an unbelievable story. I don't think people quite appreciate how extraordinary that is. Putting all your money on a Python project. I asked him why he did it and he said, 'It was because I wanted to see the movie.'"
Source: liverpoolecho.co.uk/Ryan Paton
While the title of the greatest band of all time is completely subjective, we can all probably agree that The Beatles receive it the most often. They broke up in 1970, and 54 years later, The Beatles continue to stay relevant and attract the attention of fans across the globe. The Beatles’ resounding success comes, of course, from a plethora of different factors. However, at the root of it is ultimately their timeless music.
To some Beatles fans, the Fab Four didn’t create a bad song. Now, you might agree or strongly disagree with that statement, and if you are part of the latter, you might cite these three songs as “bad” Beatles songs. Despite these “bad” Beatles songs, they are still, in fact, one of the greatest rock bands of all time.
“Revolution 9”
One could make the argument that The Beatles’ “Revolution 9” isn’t even a song. Rather, it’s just a bunch of arbitrary noises meshed together, seemingly created as an experimental way to throw off listeners and bolster The Beatles’ psychedelic mystique. However, that is what makes it a “bad” song, as it isn’t traditional in any sense of the word.
“Revolution 9” was seemingly a deliberate decision by The Beatles. After all, did the most talented musicians in the world at the time not realize that this song would face major criticism? I think not, but regardless, in their extensive catalog of hits, this is certainly not a crowd favorite.
“Wild Honey Pie”
Also residing on The Beatles’ 1968 White Album is the ever-so weird “Wild Honey Pie”. Like “Revolution 9”, this Beatles track was seemingly created to confuse and baffle listeners. Needless to say, it did just that, as the song hosts one lyric and features harshly grotesque instrumentals.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
George Harrison’s exotic soundtrack to Joe Massot’s swinging sixties cinematic head trip film Wonderwall was the first solo Beatle project – that is, of course, if you don’t count Paul McCartney’s 1966 soundtrack to The Family Way, which was actually credited to The George Martin Orchestra.
1968’s Wonderwall Music is all over the musical map—delightfully so—with songs ranging from classical Indian ragas to jaunty nostalgic-sounding numbers to proto-metal guitar freakouts. It’s a minor classic, and I wish more people knew about it. I’ve long been an enthusiastic evangelist for this album, sticking tracks on mixed CDs and tapes for quite some time. Even avowed Beatlemaniacs tend to have missed out on Wonderwall Music. It’s a real overlooked gem.
Harrison’s principle collaborator for the Wonderwall soundtrack was orchestral arranger John Barham who transcribed Harrison’s “western” melodies into a musical annotation that the Indian musicians in Bombay could work with. Barham was a student and collaborator of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, who had introduced him to the quiet Beatle.
Barham, who would soon go on to compose the soundtrack to Alejandro Jodorowsky’s psychedelic western El Topo and contribute to Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, played piano, harmonium and flugelhorn, and acted the role of orchestral arranger on certain tracks.
Harrison later said Wonderwall Music was “partly an excuse for a musical anthology to help spread the word”, before going on to explain: “I used all these instruments that weren’t as familiar to western people as they are now, like shehnais, santoor, sarod, surbahars, tabla tarangs.”
Source: dangerousminds.net/Richard Metzger
Music can be a spellbinding thing. With closed eyes and the right song on, the listener can be transported to a very specific place and time – to one’s first kiss, a time of euphoria or tragedy. Answering a fan-submitted question on his website, Paul McCartney has listed his three favorite albums, citing their ability to recall particular moments in his life as his reasons for choosing them.
“My partner and I have recently been discussing the albums and songs that have soundtracked our lives,” McCartney fan, Alex, writes. “Are there any albums that take you back to certain periods in your life? And does performing your own music evoke similar memories?”
The Beatle, who has recently reunited with his iconic Hofner bass after it went missing for half a century, was forthcoming with his answer, listing his three favorite records, but falling short of sharing the times, places, and emotions they bring flooding back.
“My favourite albums by other people,” he says, “tend to be: Music from Big Pink by the Band, Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, and Harvest by Neil Young. They are the three classics that I love to listen to, and they all remind me of certain times in my life.”
Brian Wilson wrote 1966 album Pet Sounds after his crippling stage fright saw him retire from the road and seek solace in the studio. Rich with timeless classics including “God Only Knows,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” it established the guitarist and vocalist as one of his generation's finest pop arrangers.
Source: guitarplayer.com/Phil Weller
