Beatles News
Like most of John Lennon‘s solo albums, his fifth, ‘Walls and Bridges,’ came with its fair share of bumps along the way. And like much of Lennon’s work starting around the time the Beatles were working on the “White Album,” many of those bumps were spurred by Yoko Ono. While recording his fourth solo record, ‘Mind Games,’ in 1973, Lennon and Ono split up. His year-and-a-half separation from her became known as Lennon’s Lost Weekend, a fabled period that lasted way longer than a weekend, and included such figures as Ono’s personal assistant (with whom Lennon shacked up), Harry Nilsson and Phil Spector. Lennon was about a year into his break from Ono — and about a month removed from wrapping work on Nilsson’s ‘Pussy Cats’ album — when he began recording ‘Walls and Bridges’ in New York in July 1974. About nine months earlier, Lennon had holed up with legendary producer Spector (who had also assembled the Beatles’ final album, ‘Let It Be,’ from hours of unedited tapes, much to the disappointment of the group’s fans) in hopes of making a record of rock ‘n’ roll oldies.
DIVING enthusiast Arthur Johnson beat The Beatles to the idea of a "Yellow Submarine". The sub, made in Arthur's garden in Lister Street, Grimsby, for £50, appeared at the world premier of The Beatles movie at The London Pavilion, London, in July, 1968. Today Arthur, his wife Paula and family have been invited to Penny Lane in Liverpool to unveil a plaque to honour his iconic submarine. It was called "Resurgam" which was the motto for Arthur's old school in Harold Street,Grimsby. It means "I will rise again". Arthur was an avid sub aqua enthusiast and worked as a welder on rigs in the North Sea. After reading Patrick Coustau's novel "Silent World" as a youngster he always dreamed of making his own submarine. He also built a one-man sub for Colonel Gaddafi. The yellow submarine took two years to make in the garden of the family's home in Lister Street.
Spain's film academy has selected the movie Vivir es Facil con los Ojos Cerrados [Living Is Easy (With Eyes Closed)] about a Spanish man's quest to meet John Lennon as its entry for best foreign language film at next year's Oscars. Director David Trueba's film, chosen Thursday, tells the true story of an English-language teacher from Spain who traveled to the southern province of Almeria in 1966 to try to meet the late Beatles star, who was staying there. Watch the trailer: The movie takes its name from the lyrics of the Beatles song "Strawberry Fields Forever," which Lennon began writing in Almeria.
George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison has revealed their son Dhani felt a "tremendous responsibility" to release the career retrospective his father was working on at the time of his death. George Harrison's son felt a "tremendous responsibility" to release his late father's work. The Beatles legend was working on a career retrospective when he passed away in 2001, so 36-year-old Dhani Harrison took over the project and felt the pressure to get as much of his dad's music heard as possible. George's widow, Olivia Harrison, said: "He wanted his music out. George was just embarking on that retrospective of his musical life - he never called it a career, he said that was the wrong word for him - but time ran out and he died.
Rolling Stone reports that the backdrop – also signed by the Fab Four – will be on sale at The Fest for Beatles Fans, which takes place in Los Angeles from October 10 to 12. It is expected to go for $550,000 (approximately £337,000). The seller is Wayne Johnson, owner of Rockaway Records. Among the other items up for purchase includes a copy of the band's 11th US release 'Yesterday and Today' featuring the rare 'Butcher' cover, which is priced at $4,500 (approximately £2,750), and the band's first US contract with Vee Jay Records, on sale for $100,000 (approximately £62,000). The Fest for Beatles Fans was started in 1974 to mark the 10th anniversary of the band's first visit to the US. In its history, the event has accepted donated musical instruments from all four Beatles, which have been auctioned for charity.
It’s pretty bizarre. Every time I come across someone who worked at Abbey Road in the 1960s or in the film industry in the 1980s, or journalists who’ve trod this beat longer than I, I often ask for the name of the person who’s impressed them the most. These are people from all walks of life, but one person always gets mentioned. It’s uncanny. It’s George Harrison. Olivia Harrison, George’s widow who has been working with their son Dhani to release the former Beatle’s first six solo albums, all lovingly remastered and presented as 'The Apple Years' boxset, chuckles when I tell her this, and tries to shed some light on the phenomenon. “He had this way of looking at you that made you feel you were without limitations,” she tries to explain. “It just went straight to your heart.
Monday marked the start of George Harrison week on Conan. Popular music artists will be stopping in to perform their versions of songs from the former Beatle. Today, we have Beck covering the Harrison song “Wah-Wah,” a track from the 1970 album All Things Must Pass. Watch the video above. George’s original version is full of multi-layered sound effects and horns that travel over a clever bassline and rolling drums. Beck chooses to perform a shortened version without the heavy atmospheric sounds, but nevertheless manages to keep the song’s dynamic punch. “Wah-Wah” isn’t the easiest song for a musician to cover, but Beck does a brilliant job.
One of music's monumental figures, the legendary "fifth Beatle," Billy Preston, died eight years ago at the age of 59, but not without controversy.
After a legacy of solo hits and recording credits with the Fab Four, few could have guessed that one of the mega-afro-sporting, gap-toothed artist's biggest songs "Will It Go Round in Circles?" would be symbolic of bitter legal battles for his lucrative, multi-million dollar estate.
On Monday, a federal judge in California ruled that Preston, despite a long history of health problems stemming from cocaine addiction, was not incapacitated at the time he filed for bankruptcy in 2005.
The court dispute stems back to 2011, when plaintiff Todd Neilson (the Chapter 7 trustee for the bankruptcy estate) filed a complaint against Preston's family and Joyce Moore, his long time manager, seeking a judgment that Preston was not incapacitated when he filed a bankruptcy petition in 2005 in the Central District of California.
Preston's trust remained revocable, and the assets currently held by Neilson and any other assets of Preston are assets of the bankruptcy estate.
The Jacaranda, reputedly the first venue to host the Beatles, is re-opening next month after a two-year closure.
Appearing as Long John & the Silver Beatles before changing their name, the Beatles helped to establish the club in Slater Street as the musical hub of Liverpool.
Now its owners are hoping to replicate the success with a new generation of local musicians, even relaunching their famous open mic nights.
Graham Stanley, managing director of the Jacaranda said he hopes to strike a balance between keeping the history alive and bringing it into the 21st century.
He added: “The venue has evolved and changed over the years since its opening as a coffee shop in ’58, each new generation experiencing the Jacaranda in a different way to the last.”
Mr Stanley and his team are even offering local musicians the opportunity to rehearse there for free, in exchange for a gig- just like original owner Allan Williams did for the Beatles.
Mention “Twist And Shout” to a Boomer and you’ll get a shake of the thinning hair or shaved scalp along with recollections of the Fab Four on The Ed Sullivan Show. The more knowing response may even be the Isley Brothers, who recorded it first, in 1962. Ask who wrote the iconic rock number, however, and you’re more than likely to draw a blank look. Answer: Bert Berns. Ask who pulled Van Morrison out of the Belfast band Them and produced “Brown-Eyed Girl,” or who wrote “Piece Of My Heart” — first recorded by Erma Franklin and then made timeless by Janis Joplin — and the answer is the same: Bert Berns. A hit-churning songwriter-turned-producer in the Phil Spector vein, Berns died of a heart attack in 1967. He was just 38 and unlike his contemporaries Spector or Gerry Goffin and Carole King, or Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Berns was all but unknown beyond the Brill Building cognoscenti.
