Beatles News
The Beatles ended their historic run as a band on Jan. 30, 1969. On that date in history, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr gathered on the rooftop of the Apple Corps. headquarters for their last-ever live performance. Billy Preston, often dubbed the “Fifth Beatle,” played electric piano during the set.
Five stories atop central London, the band played their final show for a project originally titled Get Back. The Beatles hoped that the project, as the title suggested, would help them return to their roots.
However, the resulting film and album, which were later renamed Let It Be, became the band’s final project together when they were released in May 1970. Rolling Stone reported that the rooftop concert wasn’t always planned for that location. A cruise ship, the Sahara desert, the Giza pyramids, and a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater were first considered. Ultimately, the rooftop was chosen, though whether Lennon or Starr suggested it first is widely debated.
The Day of The Beatles’ Rooftop Concert
Knowing he was going to witness something special, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who previously worked with The Beatles on “Hey Jude” and “Revolution,” made it his mission to capture the show from every imaginable angle. One camera even caught the reactions of people who were passing by and happened to hear the commotion, Gold Radio reported.
The police shut down the show after 42-minutes due to noise complaints from surrounding business, the first outlet reported. The Beatles continued to play, finishing the performance with a third take of “Get Back,” per Gold Radio.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Paige Gawley
An extremely rare, eight-inch acetate record with Connecticut ties featuring several iconic songs from “The Beatles” has been rediscovered after six decades, according to Nate D. Sanders, who will auction off the item on Thursday.
Issued in the 1960s by Capital Records, the acetate includes songs such as “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “You Can’t Do That.”
The record’s journey traces back 61 years, when local teenager Cherie Pinsky won it through a drawing contest hosted by WPOP radio in Hartford. Pinsky secured the priceless piece of memorabilia after her drawing of “The Beatles” won the radio station’s contest.
According to Nate D. Sanders, an industry leader in documents and autographs, the acetate is in remarkably good condition. While it bears several surface scratches and still as Pinsky’s name on each side of the label, the item is still housed in its original sleeve.
The acetate was released in limited quantity at the height of Beatlemania in 1964 and is identified on its label as Master X44914 and X44913. Only a handful of these items are known to exist, making the acetate a remarkable relic of music history.
Nate D. Sanders says that Pinsky’s drawing of “The Beatles” launched her career as an artist.
More information regarding the acetate and the auction can be found here. The minimum bid is currently $2,500.
Source: Fox61.com
Out of all of The Beatles’ albums, the cover of Abbey Road from 1969 is by far the most memorable. In fact, the iconic cover photo has impacted pop culture in a number of surprising ways. So, what’s the story behind it?
The photo on the cover of Abbey Road shows John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison walking along a crosswalk outside of EMI studios in London, England, on Abbey Road. The band had recorded the majority of their career recording there, so it was only fitting to make the scene part of the album.
The photo is a fascinating piece compositionally. Paul McCartney is shoeless, everyone is wearing a designer suit except for a denim-clad George Harrison, and the vibe is just unreal.
Surprisingly, the photo wasn’t the result of a tireless photo shoot that was aiming for perfection. Rather, the shot was snapped during a few-minute break on August 8, 1969.
That very day, the band was recording the songs “Oh! Darling”, “The End”, and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” in the nearby studio. During a break in between sessions, the Fab Four walked outside to be photographed by Iain Macmillan. He only took six photos in the entire shoot, which only lasted a few minutes. The group only crossed the road three times before the shoot was over. McCartney looked at the contact sheet and decided that the fifth frame was the best. And the rest is history!
The Legacy of ‘Abbey Road’ by The Beatles
The Beatles are actually walking away from the studio in that photo, which is apt. Abbey Road wasn’t their last album, but it was the last album they had recorded together before calling it quits. It makes sense why the photo became such a focus of pop culture obsession.
Source: americansongwriter.com
Paul McCartney has announced a 50th anniversary vinyl edition of his 1975 Wings album Venus and Mars.
The album was Wings’ fourth and the follow-up to their classic Band on the Run. Venus and Mars would reach number one on the album charts on both side of the Atlantic, going on to sell over four million copies worldwide.
Mostly recorded in New Orleans, this period would saw a change in the Wings lineup as McCartney would recruit guitarist Jimmy McCullough and replace short-lived drummer Geoff Britton midway through recording, with the more Macca-friendly Joe English. The album features fan favourite ‘Letting Go’ and hit single ‘Listen To What The Man Said’, which reached number one in the US singles chart.
The vinyl is half-speed mastered edition, cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road and there’s no bonus material just a “meticulous reproduction” of the original UK pressing, with an OBI-strip. Venus and Mars will also be available– digitally only – in Dolby Atmos for the first time, having been newly mixed by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard.
Venus and Mars will be reissued on 21 March 2025 via MPL and UMe. It’s only available via Universal/McCartney channels until Friday, when it will be listed in ‘normal’ retail outlets.
Source: superdeluxeedition.com
This is FRESH AIR. Ringo Starr has released a new album of country songs called "Look Up." It's a collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett, who wrote many of the songs. And it features appearances by Alison Krauss and a new young bluegrass star, Billy Strings. Ringo recently taped a country special that will air on CBS in the spring, and in February, he'll make his debut at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry. Not bad for an 84-year-old ex-Beatle. Rock critic Ken Tucker has a review of "Look Up."
RINGO STARR: (Singing) It's a long way down and there's no bottom. You had the blues, but you forgot them. Look up. In the midnight hour, look up. Love is the higher power. Keep your eyes on the skies. Don't look down on the shadows town. Look up.
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Beatle fans have known of Ringo Starr's love of country music ever since he had The Fab Four cover the Buck Owens hit "Act Naturally" in 1965, singing a rare lead vocal. "Look Up" isn't even Ringo's first country album. That was way back in 1970. It was called "Beaucoup Of Blues" and was more self-conscious and lugubrious than the new one, which radiates the confidence and ease that an aging professional can bring to his material.
STARR: (Singing) Every time I think about you, I never want to live without you. And every time you come around, I'm spellbound. I'm spellbound. Yeah. When I see you on the boulevard, my spirit flies and my heart beats hard with a love that's deathless and I'm breathless.
TUCKER: While producer T Bone Burnett has written most of the music here, he and Ringo have selected some clever new songs, including a couple by an old pro, Billy Swan. Swan will forever be known for one beautiful No. 1 hit, "I Can Help" from 1974. Swan's always charming songwriting yields this lovely interlude called "You Want Some."
STARR: (Singing) Well, I got love to give, baby, that's better than none. You want some? You want some? Deep down in my heart is where it all comes from. You want some? Oh, baby, you want some?
TUCKER: What makes Ringo such an effective country vocalist? Well, the rhythmic sense that made him a great rock drummer guides the way he phrases, giving a country lyric the air necessary to breathe life into the story it's telling. Freed from the demands of rock 'n' roll volume when singing with the Beatles, Ringo's crooning possesses the kind of relaxed authority that usually only a genius like Willie Nelson or Ray Charles can make sound so easy.
STARR: (Singing) I used to have a true love, everything was fine, but now she's found a new love. She's no longer mine. I thought it was forever, but she had other plans. Now these arms are empty, and I've got time on my hands. I turned my collar up, kept my eyes turned down. I walked the empty streets, the blue side of town. When she was my baby, I was a busy man. But she slipped through my fingers, and I've got time on my hands.
Source: bpr.org/Ken Tucker
Fans of George Harrison are calling his work on an unused How Do You Sleep take “the best playing he ever did”.
Post-The Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote retaliatory songs against one another. Lennon’s How Do You Sleep was a response to McCartney’s Ram track, Too Many People. Harrison joined Lennon on How Do You Sleep, a song which featured on Imagine and was dubbed a personal jab at McCartney after the fallout of the Fab Four. McCartney had joked he was planning a follow-up, titled Quite Well, Thank You, but it never came to pass.
Fans of How Do You Sleep and Harrison are now saying an earlier take of the song hides one of his best performances as a guitarist. A post to The Beatles’ subreddit saw people share their fondness for his guitar playing on How Do You Sleep. One user wrote: “George’s guitar on How Do You Sleep (Takes 5 and 6) is some of the best playing he ever did.”
Another user agreed, adding: “Even on the official album version I’d agree with that statement. He had a lot of career moments where he shined as a guitarist but this is my number one.” A third suggested “everyone” was in top form on this “insane take”. They wrote: “In those versions, everyone kinda pops off.
Source: cultfollowing.co.uk/Ewan Gleadow
The Beatles dominated charts all around the world throughout the years the four musicians were together, and even many times following the split that shocked the human race. The Fab Four became superstars and rulers of the weekly rankings in the United Kingdom shortly after its first album dropped, and the band remains one of the most successful names to ever grace the charts. Now, one of The Beatles’ most impressive records has finally been matched by another one of the most beloved musicians of all time in the country.
Robbie Williams returns to No. 1 on the U.K. albums chart this week. The singer leads the charge on the list of the most-consumed full-lengths with Better Man, the soundtrack that accompanies the film of the same name.
The Better Man soundtrack earns Williams his milestone fifteenth leader on the U.K. albums ranking. As he snags one more champion, he matches The Beatles’ all-time record for the most No. 1s on the roster.
Before Better Man arrived, Williams was matched with another one of the most beloved rock bands, the Rolling Stones. That act is steady with its 14 No. 1s on the U.K. albums chart, though now that lands the stars in third place on the ranking of the most successful names in this regard, instead of second, as was the case just days ago.
Williams’ roundup of winners is even more impressive than some casual onlookers may realize. He’s scored 15 No. 1s as a soloist, but he’s reached the summit with five additional albums as a part of Take That. The singer started his career as a member of the boy band, but he struck out on his own and found great success in doing so.
Better Man is one of Williams’ 17 top 10 titles on the main albums chart across the pond, as only two of his releases failed to top the ranking. Both Live at Knebworth and Reality Killed the Video Star peaked at No. 2, narrowly breaking up his winning streak.
Source: forbes.com/Hugh McIntyre
—Donald Trump compared himself on Monday to The Beatles and Elvis Presley while bragging about his fundraising prowess.
Speaking at his golf resort, the commander-in-chief told a cheering crowd of congressional and other supporters that he’s right on par with the British pop legends and the king of rock and roll.
And just as the Beatles drew throngs of screaming and crying fans, Trump’s telethon-style town halls were just as significant, he said.
“We get on, we have 25-30,000 people on, just in a congressional area, and they win easy,” Trump said. “It works for Elvis the Beatles, and it doesn’t work for anyone else—but it works for Trump.”
“Now we raised a lot of money, a tremendous amount, and our tele-town halls are something that’s very special that nobody else is able to even contemplate using,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot of people elected with those tele-town halls.
The president has repeatedly compared himself to the King, including at a campaign stop in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 2018, when he said, “Other than the blond hair, when I was growing up they said I looked like Elvis. Can you believe it? I always considered that a great compliment.”
Trump, who’s sitting on a $500 million post-election war chest, asked Speaker Mike Johnson if he can seek another term.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure, because I don’t know. I think I’m not allowed to run again, I’m not sure. Am I allowed to run again, Mike? I better not get you involved in that.”
While Trump may have been joking, some conservative lawmakers have said they are open to the idea.
Source: The Daily Beast
All you need is luck — and maybe a stroke of fate.
That was the case in 1961 when one of Brian Epstein’s customers in the record department he managed at NEMS — his family store in Liverpool, England — asked for the single “My Bonnie” by The Beatles. It was, despite all his retail intel, the first instance that the Fab Four’s future manager had heard of the band.
Curious about the group that had recorded “My Bonnie” in Germany but turned out to be locals, Epstein saw The Beatles for the first time at Liverpool’s Cavern Club — where they played lunchtime concerts — on Nov. 9, 1961. The mind-blowing moment that would change his life — and pop music — is depicted in the new biopic “Midas Man,” which is streaming on Olyn.
“That day is the big bang,” Beatles historian Martin Lewis told The Post about Epstein’s culture-shifting discovery. “He had some kind of X-ray vision and X-ray hearing. He’s hearing it, and he’s looking at it, and he sees magic. These guys had something. It wasn’t just the music … it was the charisma, the presence, the energy. The Beatles had that life force.”
And Epstein gave The Beatles new life, proposing to manage them on the spot backstage despite having no previous experience.
“He just instinctively, intuitively senses there’s something here, and there may be a mission for him,” said Lewis, who wrote the companion narrative for the 1998 re-publication of Epstein’s 1964 autobiography “A Cellarful of Noise.”
Source: nypost.com/Chuck Arnold
Sam Mendes is reportedly under a lot of pressure to do justice to The Beatles movie.
According to the latest findings of Life & Style, “The cast is coming together and the world is watching.”
The musical band of 1960 comprised Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, and George Harrison. The band released more than 200 songs between 1960 to 1970.
It is pertinent to mention here that Paul Mescal plays the role of Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson plays John Lennon, Barry Keoghan plays Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn plays George Harrison in the movie, which is slated to be released in 2027.
More importantly, the source mentioned, “But more importantly, the surviving controllers of the Beatles’ legacy are watching – Paul [McCartney], Yoko [Ono], Ringo [Starr] and Olivia Harrison.”
The insider also addressed, “Sony and Sam Mendes have one chance to get this right.”
Source: geo.tv
