Beatles News
In chronological rock history, the Beatles and America are from two consecutive but different musical eras. While the former members of the Beatles were certainly making music in the years following their split, the Fab Four had called it quits by 1970, and America wouldn’t achieve their breakthrough success with “A Horse with No Name” until 1972.
The Beatles mastered the jangly experimental sounds of the 1960s, while America established its sound in the sunny, balladeering soft rock of the 1970s. But without the former, the latter might not have existed.
Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley, and Dan Peek established America shortly after graduating high school in London in 1970. Their first two albums cemented their place in the decade’s soft rock canon with hits like “A Horse with No Name” and “Ventura Highway.” But by their third album, Hat Trick, the band had lost some of its steam. They struggled to find the same commercial success as their eponymous debut and sophomore Homecoming, leading them to search for a producer who could help build out their sound.
The trio wrote a list of dream producers, and the Beatles’ George Martin was at the top of the list. They decided to take their biggest swing first, and it paid off. Martin agreed, and the British-American rock band traveled from Los Angeles to London to record with Martin for two months. America would ultimately only need 13 days to record, overdub, and mix their fourth full-length album, Holiday, which they released in June 1974.
America’s decision to employ Martin as their producer was not a thoughtless one. Martin was known as the “fifth Beatle” for his extensive work with the Fab Four from their earliest singles. He helped arrange and establish the Beatles’ distinct sound, and that’s precisely the kind of creative energy he brought to America, too. In an interview with Dan Rather, Beckley recalled Martin’s ability to “bring [a song] into focus,” and the results speak for themselves. Recording an album meant to take two months in under two weeks is an impressive feat in its own right.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
It’s hard to believe, but the Beatles never brought home a Grammy for Record of the Year. That could change a month from now at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, slated to be held in Los Angeles on Feb. 3, where their song “Now and Then” is up for that category along with Best Rock Performance.
“Now and Then,” hyped as “the last Beatles song,” was released in November 2023. It took a home demo of John Lennon’s from the late-‘70s, paired it with some guitar work from George Harrison circa 1995, and was completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. It was initially considered for part of the “Anthology” project by the band in the mid-‘90s, which produced “new” Beatles material in the singles “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.”
The song is up against some stiff competition for Record of the Year, including hits from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and more contemporary hitmakers. In terms of the Best Rock Performance, it’s contending with Green Day, Pearl Jam, and the Black Keys among others. However, even if the Fab Four are awarded the gold gramophone, only two of them will be recognized:
Source: Michael Christopher/delcotimes.com
Everyone’s a critic, so they say, and that included long-time Beatles producer George Martin. The “fifth Beatle” helped the Fab Four create their extensive and iconic discography since the early 1960s days of “P.S. I Love You” and “Love Me Do.” This means that Martin saw many sides to the Beatles, both personally and sonically. Every time the band switched gears and started a new creative project, Martin was there to oversee the transition.
That process wasn’t without its pitfalls. The producer-artist relationship can grow tense if egos bruise or artistic visions go unmet. Martin and the Beatles shared a close relationship, but sometimes, one would make the other bristle. One such instance occurred between Martin and John Lennon in the initial stages of what would become one of the Beatles’ most iconic songs.
The Beatles Song George Martin “Flat Out Didn’t Like”
In a fitting testament to what is arguably the most psychedelic albums in their catalog, the recording sessions for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour were rife with tension as the band struggled to handle manager Brian Epstein’s worsening substance abuse. Epstein was absent for most of the recording process, leaving the Beatles to work with producer Brian Martin. As always, Martin refused to sugarcoat his opinion on the band’s work.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
On January 2, 1969, more than 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins were seized by police at Newark Airport in New Jersey. The album was confiscated since the cover photograph featured full frontal nudity violated pornography laws. Their debut release was the first of three experimental albums the two worked on during an all-night recording session on May 19, 1968, at Lennon’s Kenwood home, which ended in his then-wife Cynthia came home from a vacation in Greece to find them both sitting wearing matching white robes.
“After Yoko and I met, I didn’t realize I was in love with her,” said Lennon. “I was still thinking it was an artistic collaboration, as it were—producer and artist, right? My ex-wife was away, and Yoko came to visit me. Instead of making love, we went upstairs and made tapes. I had this room full of different tapes where I would write and make strange loops and things like that for the Beatles’ stuff. So we made a tape all night.”
Lennon continued, “She was doing her funny voices and I was pushing all different buttons on my tape recorder and getting sound effects. And then as the sun rose we made love and that was ‘Two Virgins.’”
Released in November 1968, the album became known more for its cover than Lennon and Ono’s music.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Tina Benitez-Eves
Trying to forge a solo career after being in one of (if not the) biggest band in the world is a tough task. It becomes even more so when you’ve accidentally built anticipation for it by not touring during the final years of that band. Paul McCartney can speak to both of those statements.
The Beatles stopped touring long before they broke the hearts of many around the world by breaking up. They didn’t feel their live sound was up to snuff. Rather than continue to disappoint (at least by their standards) they decided to take an early retirement from the live circuit.
Because of that, McCartney’s stint with Wings saw the former Beatle step back on the stage for the first time in a while. According to Macca, he found that moment daunting. Find out why, below.
McCartney has proven himself to be an enduring live performer. He’s a must-see act, decades after his debut with the Beatles. But, as he faced the daunting task of stepping back on the stage for the first time post-Beatles, he had specific stipulations to ensure success.
“The main thing I didn’t want to face was the torment of five rows of press people with little pads all looking and saying, ‘Oh, well, he’s not as good as he was,’” McCartney once said.
The hits he made with Wings were enough to earn McCartney a second leg of his career. But, before time proved that to be true, he felt like he didn’t have enough material to fill out a set. Nevertheless, he opted not to round out the show with Beatles songs.
“We decided not to do any Beatle material, which was a killer, of course, because it meant we had to do an hour of other material, and we didn’t have it, then,” he added. “I didn’t have something like ‘My Love’ that was sort of mine. I felt like everyone wanted Beatles stuff, so I was pretty nervous on that.”
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
On This Day, Jan. 2, 1969 …
The Beatles began rehearsals for what would wind up being their final studio album together, Let It Be.
Rehearsals took place at Twickenham Film Studios and were marred by tension within the band, which was captured on film as cameras were recording the sessions for a documentary.
Let It Be was released in May 1970 along with the documentary of the same name, which featured The Beatles’ unannounced rooftop concert, their last public performance together. The album, which featured such classic Beatles songs as the title track, “Get Back” and “Across the Universe,” went to #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and several other countries.
The footage from the Let It Be documentary was later used by director Peter Jackson for the Emmy Award-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released in 2021.
The original documentary was restored from the original 16mm negative by Jackson’s Park Road Post Production and debuted on Disney+ in 2024.
Source: kshe95.com/ABC News
As the driving creative force behind The Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon's contrasting styles often met in the middle to create magic. About their partnership, Music and Musicians magazine's 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."
All of their work with The Beatles received the joint credit of Lennon-McCartney but the writing was more one-sided at times. Sometimes they would sit together and write and at others, one of John or Paul would go away and write a song, before presenting it to the other for tweaks.
The seminal 1967 album 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was primarily Paul's brainchild and John spoke about his dislike for it after he left the band. However one track on it is widely seen as one of the best examples of the pair's collaboration and one that John was very proud of.
John wrote much of 'A Day in the Life' in January 1967, inspired by a number of articles he had read in newspapers. He then played Paul the song and Paul added the middle-eight section about his Liverpool upbringing.
About writing the track, John said in 1968 "It was a good piece of work between Paul and me. I had the 'I read the news today' bit, and it turned Paul on, because now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of song, and he just said 'yeah' – bang bang, like that."
Source: Dan Haygarth/liverpoolecho.co.uk
George Harrison is sitting in a vast soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios, explaining to Ringo Starr and film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg how a BBC2 sci-fi series called Out Of The Unknown, that he watched the previous evening, has inspired a new song. Harrison is sporting the same black fur coat he wears on the iconic rooftop concert and perched on his knee is John Lennon’s 1965 Epiphone Casino.
It’s mid-morning on Tuesday 7 January, 1969 and the next Beatle to arrive is Paul McCartney. “Good morning,” says the bearded bassman chirpily as he strides across the floor. “Do you wanna hear a song I wrote last night?” Harrison asks him. “It’s just a very short one, called I Me Mine”.
What follows is a beautifully plaintive and sparse rendition with Harrison’s voice sounding particularly pure. “Lovely” exclaims Lyndsey Hogg. McCartney, with hands in pockets, stands beside Harrison and stares down at his fingers on the fretboard, but says nothing. Then John Lennon arrives. Harrison, now standing, runs through the song again but speeds it up. “Run along son, see you later,” jokes Lennon. “We’re a rock and roll band you know”.
If one incident highlights the tortuous position that George Harrison found himself in as part of The Beatles then this is it. It’s just one of a number of incidents captured in Peter Jackson’s three-part 2021 documentary Get Back, in which Harrison employs impressive levels of tenacity and tact to push his own songs forward to Lennon and McCartney. Their songwriting partnership was a source of both inspiration and frustration for George. They are ostensibly the gatekeepers, two strong personalities locked into an even stronger autonomous partnership.
Only in the months leading up to The Beatles’ break-up was Harrison’s contribution and his songwriting abilities finally acknowledged by its two principal songwriters. “Until this year our songs have been better than George’s,” said McCartney bluntly in the Get Back film. “Now, this year, his songs are at least as good as ours."
Source: Neil Crossley/yahoo.com
Because John Lennon and George Harrison have each been dead for more than five years, they cannot meet the Grammy test for "new recordings."
The Recording Academy made Beatlemaniacs happy on Nov. 8, when The Fab Four’s “Now and Then” was nominated for two awards – record of the year and best rock performance. But only the two living Beatles — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr — are nominated for those awards. John Lennon, who died in 1980, and George Harrison, who died in 2001, are not.
Because Lennon and Harrison have each been dead for more than five years, they cannot meet the Grammy test for “new recordings” – “material that has been recorded within five years of the release date.” There is precedent for this. Nat “King” Cole was not nominated when daughter Natalie Cole won record of the year and best traditional pop performance in 1992 for their studio-created duet “Unforgettable.” He had died in 1965.
Lennon’s last Grammy nomination was at the 1985 ceremony – best spoken word or non-musical recording for Heart Play (Unfinished Dialogue), a collab with Yoko Ono. The album, which reached No. 94 on the Billboard 200, consisted of excerpts from a Playboy magazine interview done shortly before Lennon’s death.
Thus, Lennon was not included the last time the Beatles were nominated, 28 years ago, when the band won three awards – best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal and best music video, short-form, both for “Free as a Bird,” and best music video, long-form for The Beatles Anthology. (The other three Beatles were included because they were all alive to contribute to the work.)
Source: Paul Grein/billboard.com
In the second half of the 1960s, tensions within The Beatles began to rise. Having enjoyed unparalleled success throughout the decade, the band's recording sessions for their later albums became marked by creative differences and disagreements.
The sessions for 'The White Album', which was released in 1968, saw the fractures emerge as each member of the band wanted to put their stamp on their work. About that period of recording, Paul McCartney said: "There was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself" and John Lennon later added: "The break-up of The Beatles can be heard on that album."
Creative differences and Yoko Ono's presence in the studio have been cited as the primary reasons for the tension. 1969's recording sessions for the 'Let it Be' were also famously tempestuous, but the seeds for the disharmony were sewn the year before.
One song recorded during that period seemed to capture the mood within the band, though its origins were about something different. 'Hey Jude' was recorded in July and August 1968 before its release on August 26 as a non-album single. It was the band's first release on their new Apple label, hitting shelves three months before 'The White Album'.
Credited to Lennon-McCartney, 'Hey Jude' was written by Paul during a time of turbulence in The Beatles' professional and personal lives. It was originally called 'Hey Jules', addressed to John's son Julian to comfort him after the separation of his dad and mum Cynthia Lennon.
Source: Dan Haygarth/liverpoolecho.co.uk
