Beatles News
The childhood home of George Harrison of The Beatles is now open to visitors for the first time ever through scheduled guided tours.
Located at 25 Upton Green in Speke, the family home of George Harrison played a formative role in the ‘quiet’ Beatle’s early life and musical development, serving not only as his family residence from 1950 to 1962 but also as an early rehearsal space for The Beatles in the years before Beatlemania.
The experience has been developed and will be delivered by Dale Roberts, tour guide and co-owner of the property, who has spent over a decade sharing Beatles history with visitors from around the world. He became co-owner of the Harrison family home a year ago, after Ken Lambert asked him to come on board as an owner. Ken won the house at auction in 2022 in a well-publicised purchase of the property, Ken would turn into an Air BnB for guests to stay in.
“George’s story is a Liverpool story”
“This house is a reference point to a local Liverpool musician who would just so happen to be part of a phenomenon that changed the world. There has been huge interest globally in where The Beatles came from, and 25 Upton Green has always felt like a missing piece of that wider cultural experience. Making this accessible to the public on a regular basis feels like the right next step for The Beatles Industry”
25 Upton Green was the Harrison family’s home for twelve years, during which George Harrison attended Dovedale Primary School, then the Liverpool Institute for Boys, the same school attended by Paul McCartney, another resident of Speke. George and Paul would meet each other while getting the bus together from the area towards Penny Lane.
Source: Rhys Fairhurst/theguideliverpool.com
The Beatles are back on the Billboard charts thanks to Anthology 4, the new addition to the band’s Anthology series, which was recently reissued.
Anthology 4 features 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and more. It debuted in the top 10 on five Billboard charts, including both the Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts, where it landed at #9.
The album is also at #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #3 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.
Anthology 4 was released as a standalone and was also part of the larger The Anthology Collection box set, with both debuting at #48 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The Collection includes the first three Anthology releases, which originally came out in the '90s, and hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.
The release of The Anthology Collection coincided with the Disney+ debut of the newly restored and remastered version of the Anthology documentary series, which aired on ABC in 1995. The new version was expanded from eight to nine episodes. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book was also released in October.
Source: Jill Lances/yahoo.com
The Beatles are famous for struggling to agree, but when it came to this one song Paul McCartney wrote for the Fab Four, three of them agreed unanimously about how much they hated the song. Nearly 60 years ago, the group released one of their most iconic albums, Abbey Road, and McCartney wrote one of their most forgotten hits, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. However, the song and the sessions frustrated the group, and it is considered their worst song. Why Were the Beatles Members Frustrated With Paul McCartney and "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer"?
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” almost did not make it onto the album, as John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr disliked the song due to the song’s complexity. McCartney first wrote the song in 1968 after the group’s trip to India, and it was intended for Let It Be. Even after the song was rejected, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” would soon find its way onto the Abbey Road album, but it almost destroyed the band.
As the songwriter, McCartney wanted the song to sound a certain way, but none of his bandmates were able to match his creative vision. This caused tension in the studio, as McCartney’s perfectionism resulted in many hours and sessions being poured into this one song. McCartney even added a blacksmith’s anvil as part of the recording process, but he still was not satisfied with how “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” sounded.
To add to the tension and the frustration of the bandmates, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” was Lennon’s first session with The Beatles since his car accident. When he began working on the song with the rest of the group, Lennon was quick to leave, as he felt that he did not have to sit through a tough session while still recovering from his injuries, especially as it was, according to engineer Geoff Emerick, in Lennon’s words, “Granny music.” Lennon returned to the studio after spending two weeks with Yoko Ono for “Come Together”.
Source: Teguan Harris/collider.com
Two Beatles songs — "Real Love" and "I'll Get You" — return to multiple charts as the band's Anthology 4 and the Anthology Collection both debut inside the top 10. LONDON - MAY 19: English singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon (1940-1980), English singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney, English musician, singer and drummer Ringo Starr and English musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Beatles attend a press party at the home of manager Brian Epstein supporting the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, May 19, 1967, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images)
The Beatles never have a completely quiet week on the charts, as people all around the world stream and buy the band’s music constantly. The group typically performs best in the United Kingdom, where all four musicians — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr — are originally from and where the outfit got its start.
As The Beatles score two new charting albums with both Anthology 4 and the larger, more all-encompassing The Anthology Collection, multiple tunes from the rockers find their way back to several different tallies, as there has been a lot of buying going on with all things connected to The Beatles. The Beatles Bring “Real Love” Back to Multiple Charts
Between the two Beatles cuts that return to the charts in the U.K., “Real Love” is the bigger winner, as it finds its way to a pair of rosters at the same time. “Real Love” reenters the Official Singles Downloads ranking at No. 82 and the Official Singles Sales tally at No. 89.
“Real Love” appears on both sales charts in the U.K. for only the second time. The track debuted on those rosters back in November 2023, decades after its original release. At the time, “Real Love” launched at No. 25 on the ranking of the most downloaded cuts throughout the nation and No. 29 on the general list of the bestselling songs, and then it quickly disappeared.
When Did The Beatles Release “Real Love”?
The Beatles released “Real Love” in 1996 as a single from Anthology 2. The track, which was originally a demo written by Lennon, was finished by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr and shared along with “Free As a Bird.” Both tracks became hits, and “Real Love” and “Free As a Bird” served as the final Beatles songs until “Now and Then” was finished with the help of artificial intelligence technology and shared with the world in 2023.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Sam Mendes has added eight to the cast of The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, Sony announced on Thursday. They are David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Leanne Best (Walk-In), James Norton (Happy Valley), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything), Bobby Schofield (The Covenant), Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Sherwood), Arthur Darvill (Broadchurch), and Adam Pally (Happy Endings).
Morrissey will play Paul McCartney’s father Jim McCartney, with Best as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, Norton as manager Brian Epstein, Lloyd as long-time music producer George Martin, Schofield as road manager and trusted confidant Neil Aspinall, Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Darvill as press officer and friend Derek Taylor, and Pally as controversial music manager Allen Klein.
As previously announced, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, with each telling the story of a different member of the band. Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood also star in the respective roles of Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd.
We were first to report on the Beatles films from Mendes, all of which will be released with full theatrical windows in April 2028. Sony Pictures is financing and distribute them worldwide.
Mendes is directing from scripts written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne. A collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions, the films will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.
This marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorized the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films.
Source: Matt Grobar/deadline.com
As if four upcoming Beatles biopics aren’t enough, the BBC is ready to give fans more.
The network has picked up a new drama series, Hamburg Days, which will focus on The Beatles’ early days as a band. The six-part series, based on the autobiography by German artist and musician Klaus Voormann, is set in the ’60s when Voormann and photographer Astrid Kirchherr meet a young Liverpool rock band, who are playing in the clubs of Hamburg’s St. Pauli’s red-light district.
“Together, they help spark a transformation that turns a scrappy group of teenagers into the greatest music phenomenon the world has ever known: The Beatles,” reads the series description.
“Hamburg Days is the fascinating story of how, in the space of two short years, a raw young band from Liverpool honed their music skills in Hamburg, before returning home to become an overnight worldwide success,” says Sue Deeks, head of scripted pre-buy acquisitions at the BBC. “It is an incredible story, accompanied (of course) by an amazing soundtrack!”
Voormann will serve as a consultant on the series. Casting on the project has not yet been announced.
Source: ABC News/everettpost.com
Paul McCartney had reached the pinnacle of global fame with the Beatles by the end of the 1960s. What he did for the next decade, after the end of the band themselves a few months later, is captured in this hefty oral history.
Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run pairs McCartney with historian Ted Widmer, who has dug into archives and been given access to material from Man On The Run, a McCartney documentary due out early next year. There are comments from McCartney himself, ex-Beatles, other Wings personnel, family members and further figures in the Wings orbit – these including Sean Ono Lennon, Chrissie Hynde and graphic designer Aubrey Powell.
We get the inside track on Wings’ entry into the Bond theme annals – 1973’s Live And Let Die, perhaps the greatest example of the form to this day – and their ascent to American stadium rock status. There are also plentiful off-the-wall moments, from an attempted mugging in Lagos to the time some gnarly punk rockers approached McCartney in London, only to lavish unlikely praise on Wings’ exceedingly non-punk Mull Of Kintyre, 1977’s Christmas number one. Albums like Band On The Run itself are thoroughly dissected, alongside a cultural and band-related timeline, a discography and gigography, and a wealth of previously unseen photographs.
McCartney’s 1980 began with a drug bust in Tokyo and ended with the death of his former bandmate, John Lennon. Tired of the madness associated with band life, Wings fizzled out not long after this, but left behind a strong musical legacy, with album sales running into the millions. Their story is revived here with an insightful, revealing and often astonishing book.
Source: buzzmag.co.uk
Exactly 60 years ago today, the Beatles released Rubber Soul, their sixth UK LP album.
Rubber Soul represented a sharp departure from the sound which had brought the group unprecedented worldwide success over the past three years. Even the atmospheric, autumnal cover portrait of the group hinted that what was on the record was going to be something new – more mature and introspective than what had come before. Rubber Soul ushered in the most intensely creative and experimental period of the Beatles’ career, which would continue to play out over the following two years.
Interestingly, this was only the second Beatles LP to completely eschew covers in favour of all-original material, following 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night. Although said by some – including producer George Martin – to be a pioneering example of a pop album being constructed as a cohesive whole rather than simply as a collection of songs, it did feature a few missteps, showing that the group were still in the early stages of honing this particular craft, which they would go on to perfect over their next two LPs, 1966’s Revolver and 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sonically, the group continued to explore new territories, including Hindustani music, folk rock and Baroque forms. Recorded over an intense four-week period in the autumn of 1965 to meet a Christmas release deadline, Rubber Soul proved that even though they were already unquestionably the world’s leading pop group, the Beatles had no intention whatsoever of resting on their laurels.
Track by track
‘Drive My Car’
Right off the bat, the Beatles play a cheeky musical trick with the instrumental intro to this catchy opening track, an auditory illusion which leaves listeners disoriented as to where the beat starts. The musical sleight-of-hand extends to half-spoken, half-sung (sprechgesang) vocals which also leaves listeners unsure of the song’s key – qualities shared with the contemporaneous single ‘Day Tripper’, recorded at the same sessions.
‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird has Flown)’
Vaguely Bob Dylan-esque, this John Lennon-penned track is believed to be a thinly-veiled account of an extramarital affair. More notably, this is when George Harrison first revealed to the world – with the pioneering use of a sitar – his budding yet intense interest in Hindustani music, which began when he took an interest in a sitar displayed on a set for the film Help!, shot a few months earlier.
‘You Won’t See Me’
An underrated Paul McCartney gem, this vivid account of romantic turmoil was inspired by his turbulent relationship with the actress Jane Asher, as was ‘I’m Looking Through You’ on side B. Its elegant chord progression and long running length (the longest Beatles song recorded to date) showed McCartney’s determination to continue pushing boundaries as a songwriter.
‘Nowhere Man’
An enduring Lennon classic, this arresting account of a lost soul (probably a reference to the author himself) ‘making all his nowhere plans for nobody’ is in keeping with the philosophical theme established in his song ‘Help!’ from the previous album, although it strikes a more hopeful tone with its assurance to the ‘Nowhere Man’ that ‘the world is at your command’. Achingly beautiful backing harmonies and a jangly guitar solo evidence the group’s ongoing exchange of ideas with the rapidly-rising US folk-rock act The Byrds.
Source: Chaitanya Ramachandran/thewire.in
Producer George Martin revealed the "traumatic" aspect of making The Beatles' Anthology in the new ninth episode of the project's docuseries.
Thirty years after the original eight-part docuseries aired, the newly restored and expanded Beatles Anthology, which now includes the ninth episode, premiered over three nights on Disney+, starting on November 26. The larger project, The Beatles Anthology 2025, also features a reissued and expanded version of the project's original three double-album Anthology records. Meanwhile, a book, originally released in 2000, has also been reissued.
Anthology Nine offers fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the reunion of the remaining Fab Four — George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr — and Martin, often referred to as the Fifth Beatle, who came together in the mid-1990s to create the project. While some have called the episode "devastated" and "heartbreaking" to watch, it was just as hard for the "Threetles" and their beloved producer to make.
In one scene of the episode, Martin is seen at Abbey Road, where he plays the "Threetles" some Anthology mixes. Later, he explains how they have all found it "traumatic" listening back to their past work.
That kind of emotional candor is exactly what director Oliver Murray concentrated on showing. He wanted to give fans a glimpse into how The Beatles felt about reuniting for the mammoth project and their legacy. As usual, Harrison has a candid response to it all, too. "The Beatles will go on in people's minds. It exists without us," he says.
He also expresses his wish that John Lennon, who was murdered at age 40 in 1980, had also been given 25 years to come to terms with being in The Beatles. "We've had the opportunity to get together again in a new light."
When The Beatles Anthology docuseries first aired in November 1995, it was a massive event as it reunited the remaining Beatles 25 years after the group's split and 15 years after Lennon's death. At the time, it featured new interviews with McCartney, Starr, and Harrison, as well as archival interviews with Lennon.
Source: Irish Star
Paul McCartney‘s career endured into the music video era, but in the early years of the Beatles and his solo career, visual elements weren’t commonplace. Because of this, many McCartney songs are video-less. Below, find three McCartney songs, from the Beatles’ tenure or otherwise, that would’ve made killer music videos. McCartney should go back and give these songs their moment on screen.
Starting with a Beatles cut, “Yesterday” would be a strong contender for a music video. Though simple, this Beatles hit is narrative enough to lend itself well to visual storytelling. Moreover, the song’s emotionality has the perfect amount of melodrama for McCartney to flex his acting chops, if he had wanted to.
Because this song was released well before the ’80s music video craze, it never got its time to shine in this way. If we could move McCartney to make any visual retroactively, it would be this one.
“Jet”
“Jet” is one of McCartney’s most anthemic songs to date. The punchy, bright musicality of this song begs for a visual just as striking. There are aviation angles, ’70s glam angles, classic rock angles, and many more lenses through which to view this song. It’s a wonder McCartney hasn’t gone back and given this song its visual moment. Even a high-quality performance video would’ve sufficed.
McCartney’s music videos have always been fun-loving, engaging, and impossible to forget. This song seems like the perfect playing ground for all three of those goals.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
