Beatles News
Another week, another essential new mag from the Uncut stable. Following the success of our David Bowie: A Life In Pictures (which you can still buy here), our next special is The Beatles: A Life In Pictures, an extravaganza of rare and in some cases totally unseen photographs, stylishly presented in a mirrored cover. It goes on sale this Friday in the UK, but you can already order The Beatles: A Life In Pictures from our online shop.
John Robinson, who edited this one, can explain more…
“The Beatles: A Life In Pictures is a lavish tribute to the four lads who shook the world. Fashions come and go, but The Beatles still amaze us with their music.
Fifty years on from their classic album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, their stature is completely undiminished, and this fresh new selection of pictures – many seldom-seen; some previously unpublished – tells their story, and helps to explain some of that enduring appeal.
Source: uncut.co.uk
A certain Beatle once sang that it don’t come easy. That was Ringo, but in this case, he could be referring to the steady career climb of Dhani Harrison. As the son of George, Harrison could have easily been saddled by the weight of his famous last name. Instead, he’s quietly cobbled together a career that children of Beatles would be envious of.
In late July, Harrison did something that many would have suspected he’d done a long time before. Though fairly mundane in terms of being a major shock, Harrison performed under his own name for the first time. His show at the Echo in Los Angeles was an intimate affair, but it was also sold out instantly with little fanfare ahead of it.
“I don’t get too nervous, but I’m a perfectionist,” Harrison says as he’s cruising across Los Angeles on a late afternoon following a haircut. “The first shows are always a little bit frustrating but everyone had a great time.”
For years, he was just a face in the crowd as a member of rock outfit thenewno2. There, Harrison learned how to work within a rock band on his own that put together some stellar albums. They toured and performed at festivals like PJ20 (where Harrison sang “State of Love and Trust” with Pearl Jam) Lollapalooza and everything else of that sort. He also jammed with Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur in Fistful of Mercy, a band that rocks as heavy as its name would indicate.
Source: Daniel Kohn
For decades, he was a figure of fun — respectful fun, of course, but still. He was the most lovable of the lovable mop-tops, the most good-natured member of that most good-natured of bands, The Beatles. But of all the things you might think of Ringo Starr for — wry comic relief, cute off-key singing on “Yellow Submarine,” the ability to get along with everyone in a group that eventually, contentiously disintegrated — you might not think of him as a drummer, the same way you’d think of Keith Moon or Charlie Watts or Max Roach as a drummer.
“Ringo’s personality used to out-charm his musicianship,” says Rob Sheffield, an acclaimed music journalist whose recent book, Dreaming The Beatles, finds fresh things to say about the world’s most chronicled band. “In a way we had to get more sophisticated as listeners to catch up with what Ringo was doing musically, as a drummer," Sheffield writes via email. "Like the rest of The Beatles, except much more so, he came on as a comic charmer in ways that tempted casual listeners to think he was doing something easy.”
Source: Scott Timberg
The Beatles were on a roll in 1967.
They not only had released what many fans consider their best-ever album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, they also were writing and recording new songs at such a pace that those fans – not to mention radio and retailers – could hardly be expected to keep up with them.
In fact, six weeks after Sgt. Pepper's came out in late May 1967, the Beatles released a new single, "All You Need Is Love," backed with "Baby, You're a Rich Man." Those two songs, along with a pair of tracks recorded at the start of the Sgt. Pepper's sessions and other more recent tracks, ended up on the U.S. edition of Magical Mystery Tour, which was released on Nov. 27, 1967.
In the U.K., the 11-song LP was pared down to a six-track double EP that came out almost two weeks later, on Dec. 8, and included only the songs recorded specifically for the Magical Mystery Tour film project the group aired on British television that Christmas. The remaining five cuts, pushed to Side Two of the U.S. release, were released as singles between February 1967 and all the way up to just a few days before the album came out.
It's a tricky release history that suits the scattershot nature of Magical Mystery Tour in general.
Source: Ultimate Classic Rock
It's safe to say George Harrison wasn't big on touring. After the Beatles' last tour in 1966, he didn't hit the road again—as a headliner—until 1974. And, due to his nagging laryngitis and some strange song choices, that tour hasn't exactly gone down in history as a career highlight.
Harrison dodged the road until December 1991, when he and Eric Clapton toured Japan. They played only 12 shows, which was still more than enough for Harrison, who preferred being home, working on his garden, recording tunes. Stuff like that.
In April 1992, Harrison got some of the 1991 crew back together for a one-off show at London's Royal Albert Hall. While Clapton wasn't available this time around, Harrison recruited guitarist Mike Campbell—Tom Petty's right-hand man—plus Ringo Starr, Gary Moore, Joe Walsh and Harrison's 13-year-old son, Dhani.
Source: Guitar World
German police on Monday arrested a 58-year-old man in Berlin on suspicion of handling stolen items from John Lennon’s estate, including the late Beatle’s diaries.
The items were stolen from Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono in New York in 2006 and have been seized as evidence, Martin Steltner, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor’s office, said.
Polish company agrees to change its name to On Lemon after legal letters saying drink infringed trademark
The unidentified man was taken into custody suspected of fraud and handling stolen goods.
A second suspect, who lives in Turkey, “is unattainable for us at the present time,” Steltner said in a recorded statement posted on Twitter.
The stolen goods consisted of “various items from the estate of John Lennon, including several diaries that were written by him,” Steltner added.
Source: The Guardian
For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to attend a Beatles concert in the 1960s, Ron Howard’s Eight Days a Week just might be the next best thing. The 2016 documentary traces the band’s rise from a cramped and dank cellar in Liverpool to record-breaking television appearances, jam-packed stadiums, and—ultimately—rock immortality. Lovingly assembled through rare and often unseen fan home movie footage, Howard’s film also draws on more familiar material—restored to the highest echelons of HD— and new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. All told, it’s a joyous and stunningly visual representation of their unbelievable journey, and an unparalleled look at a time when the four Fabs roamed the Earth and made themselves available to see, live and in person, for just a few dollars.
In honor of Eight Day’s a Week‘s television debut this Saturday, Nov. 25, at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. central) on PBS, here’s a detailed look at the Beatles’ touring career, told through eight of their concerts.
Source: People.com
Charles Manson's devoted followers, the so-called Manson Family, was influenced by aspects of 1960s counterculture and lived a hedonistic, drug-filled lifestyle. At the center of what became a murderous cult was the music of the time—including some of the Beatles best-loved tracks.
According to a series of interviews Manson gave over the course of his life, and in the testimony he gave at his 1970 trial and conviction for nine murders, the serial killer said hidden lyrics in songs on the album The Beatles, more commonly known as the “White Album,” inspired his family's murderous acts.
Related: Charles Manson Quotes: The Madness and Cruelty of America's Most Infamous Mass Murderer
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Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1970, Manson said it was the Beatles who inspired the Tate-LaBianca murders in August 1969. "This music is bringing on the revolution, the unorganized overthrow of the establishment," he said. "The Beatles know [what's happening] in the sense that the subconscious knows."
At the scene of the LaBianca killings, one of the murderers used a victim's blood to paint the words "Healter Skelter" on the refrigerator. It was a misspelling of Helter Skelter, one of the seminal tracks from the Beatles' White Album, released in November 1968.
Source:Newsweek
Looking svelte and stylish and decades younger than his 77 years, Ringo Starr brought his All Starr Band to NJPAC on Nov. 16 for the final concert of their 2017 tour, and did what’s he’s always done best.
He made people happy.
No one ever mistook the former Richard Starkey for a great singer, just one whose deadpan nasal glumness could add character to a song. Almost all of his biggest hits bear co-writing credits from his famous friends. U.K. comic Jasper Carrott once joked that he wasn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles, a quote that rang so true it wound up being attributed to both John and Paul. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never has a man done so much with so little for so many.
Because, let’s face it, everybody loves Ringo. And he knows it.
Source: Jim Testa
Almost two years after it was opened for the visitors, fans of English band The Beatles will get a chance to go through rare photos and documents at Rishikesh’s Chaurasi Kutia where the Fab Four stayed in the ’60s.
The members of the band -- Ringo Star, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon -- visited Chaurasi Kutia ashram in February 1968 (now part of Rajaji Tiger Reserve) to learn transcendental meditation from spiritual guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. During their stay here for nearly two months, the Beatles penned 48 popular numbers. A few of them figured in two albums -- The White Album and Yellow Submarines.
The Beatles’ India visit will complete 50 years in coming February. The Uttarakhand government intends to showcase the event in a big way, but it lacks access to material of archival value related to the Beatles’ visit. Presently, visitors to the ashram get a chance to see a couple of wall paintings, done by some others.
Due to technicalities of procurement rules and lack of funds, the state government found it difficult to participate in international auctions to buy photos or other stuff associated with the band.
Source: hindustantimes.com
