Beatles News
"Well, if you’re so cosmic you’ll know why," John Lennon explained to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as the final two Beatles left his Ashram before fulfilling their Transcendental Meditation regimen. "And he gave me a look like ‘I’ll kill you, you bastard,'” Lennon told Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone in December 1970, which was later published as the book Lennon Remembers. Inner peace is as much a bitch as karma, which bites the asses of rock stars and gurus alike. The Maharishi was accused of sexual misconduct during the Beatles' sojourn to India for enlightenment, a journey which may have culminated in the band teaming with the Beach Boys in spreading the movement. But it darkened Lennon's vibes so bad he banged out the holy rocking roller "Sexy Sadie."
Source: denofgeek.com
Speaking to “Q on CBC” radio, Rush’s bassist Geddy Lee has shared his thoughts about playing bass guitar, and revealed the story of how he started to play bass guitar.
He also praised The Beatles’ legendary bassist Paul McCartney, and revealed why McCartney is so important for rock music. Here’s the statement:
“I think about McCartney on [The Beatles’ 1969 track] ‘Something,’ I think that was the first time I ever heard the bass as a lead instrument.
That’s not uncommon in the early days of pop. There were a lot of so-called lead lines, but they’re played down with the dulcet tones, the lower tones, and so people don’t really appreciate that a lot of content as a lead instrument, but it really is doing that job.”
On why he started with bass guitar, he said:
Source: Feyyaz Ustaer/metalheadzone.com
Two iconic albums came out on January 20: Meet The Beatles! in 1964 and Bob Dylan’s 1975 masterpiece Blood On The Tracks.
For The Beatles, Meet The Beatles! was their second album to land stateside but their first release under Capitol Records. It featured the classics “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “I Saw Her Standing There and “All My Loving.”
Meet The Beatles! has sold over five million copies to date. As for what happened next for those four lads from Liverpool, well…if you don’t know, then clearly you have been living under a rock for the past five decades.
Eleven years after America met The Beatles, they stared down Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks, which is now one of Dylan’s most celebrated albums, but upon its release, that wasn’t the case.
Source: Erica Banas/wror.com
HAVANA, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The music of legendary British band The Beatles was practically banned in Cuba in the 1960s. But today there's a haven on the island for fans of the timeless rock group.
At night people line up to get into the Yellow Submarine, a busy nightclub in Havana that for almost eight years has celebrated the rock and roll spirit of the Liverpool quartet.
Named in honor of the band's popular song, the club has been built to resemble a submarine, with hatches and tubular features. The walls are adorned with images of "The Fab Four" and the lyrics of their most famous songs.
Here, Cuban bands play covers of Beatles hits and tunes by other well-known rock bands.
"Traces of the Beatles are scattered throughout the panorama of music in our country," journalist and cultural promoter Guillermo Vilar told Xinhua.
Source: Raul Menchaca/xinhuanet.com
The Beatles arrive in New Zealand ahead of their 1964 tour.
Rose was in her Wellington flat one Sunday afternoon when the phone rang.
It was her journalist friend Sue Masters, who had just finished interviewing a visiting rock band.
The band members wanted to meet some local women. Would Rose and her two flatmates like to come down and hang out with them for the evening?
It was June 1964. The band was called The Beatles.
John, Paul, George and Ringo had landed in Wellington that afternoon. They were greeted by a Māori kapa haka group who presented them with very unusual hei tiki.
A hei tiki is a small carved pendant made of pounamu (greenstone) that is highly prized in Māori culture. Hei means worn around the neck in te reo Māori and tiki means human form. They are commonly referred to as tiki.
Source: Charlie Gate/stuff.co.nz
George Harrison was the George Harrison of the Beatles. This, presumably, was not an easy thing to be. Harrison was a bona fide star, a fascinating and omnivorous musical mind and a tremendous talent who happened to be in a band with two world-historical game-changing titans. In a lot of ways, Harrison was my favorite Beatle: the funniest, the most musically curious, by far the best-looking. He’s responsible for many of the twangy, snaky guitar lines and solos that add so much to so many of the great songs that he didn’t get any credit for helping to write. His influence subtly nudged the Beatles toward Motown, toward folk-rock, and toward Eastern mysticism. He was absolutely crucial to the Beatles’ success, and yet he was still the third horse in a two-horse race.
Harrison was the youngest Beatle, the Quiet One. He was almost never the focus of the band. He’d joined the Quarrymen, the pre-Beatles skiffle group, when he was just 15, and he’d gotten the Beatles’ first Hamburg residency shut down when he was deported for being too young to be in the clubs.
Source: Tom Breihan/stereogum.com
Rachel Fuller, musician wife of The Who's Pete Townshend, has composed a requiem for lost pets, with help from Sir Paul McCartney
Sir Paul McCartney has approved a unique reworking of a Beatles classic which will be performed during the first Animal Requiem, a memorial concert celebrating the lives of deceased pets.
Audience members are invited to bring a photograph, portraying a happy memory of their beloved pet to the concert, held at the St James’ Church, in Piccadilly, London.
They can pin their photo to a large board that will be placed in view,
then light a candle in remembrance of their pet.
Animal Requiem premiere
This will be followed by a full orchestral and choir performance of the Animal Requiem, a work composed by Rachel Fuller, the singer-songwriter who is married to Pete Townshend of The Who.
Source: Adam Sherwin/inews.co.uk
The so-called White Album has often been thought of as symbolic of the end of The Beatles, but the newly released 50th anniversary edition shows a band still operating with audible joy and camaraderie.
With the demos of some songs reaching more than a hundred takes, there certainly also weren't any signs of contentment or artistic indolence. This was still a band that was eager to push the envelope of what popular music and the recording studio could be and could provide.
That the making of The Beatles (that's the actual album title; its popular nickname taken from the minimalist album artwork) was fraught with tension and infighting has been so widely reported that it has become a crucial part of the Beatles' lore – the beginning of the third act, when things start to fall apart and just before the redemptive arc (that would, perhaps, be the various solo albums?).
Source: The Jakarta Post
A 1965 Mercedes-Benz 230SL roadster once owned by Beatles legend John Lennon will be offered for sale during the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Scottsdale, Arizona this weekend.
The car’s listing said it was delivered new to England, where it was bought and registered by Lennon with registration plate GCP 196C. Lennon is thought to have sold the car before his untimely death and it passed through various owners before the consignor acquired it 20 years ago. The car has been in the owner’s museum in Florida.
“Carrying wonderful early provenance, remaining faithful to its original specifications, and offered from a well-cared-for museum collection, the John Lennon 1965 Mercedes-Benz 230SL is a thrilling find and a wonderful piece of automotive and cultural history,” the Barrett-Jackson listing read.
Source: Carter Nacke/journal.classiccars.com
Fixing A Hole has never been more apt...
A pothole has become an unlikely sensation online after its questionable resemblance to Paul McCartney was first noticed.
The hazardous crack in the road surface was first spotted by the Lancashire Evening Post, who were keen to point out the similarities in appearance to the Beatles icon.
Upon first inspection, the gravel surrounding the hole looks extremely similar to Macca’s famous mop-top hairstyle, and there’s even individual stones that are making up his eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth.
Responding to the unusual photo, one user joked: “Why is no-one Fixing A Hole?”
Another quipped: “Is this one of the 4000 holes in Blackburn Lancashire?”
Source: Nick Reilly/nme.com
