Beatles News

What’s being described as the master tapes of the Beatles performing live in Hamburg, Germany, in 1962 not long before Beatlemania exploded worldwide is going to auction April 1 and is being offered for about $300,000.

The tape, recorded at the Star Club in Hamburg’s red light district and said to be missing for nearly 40 years, will be offered by London’s Ted Owen & Co. auction house. According to the London Guardian, the original tapes, which include nearly five hours of live performances of 33 songs, were made by the Star Club’s stage manager, Adrian Barber, who had been asked to document the Fab Four’s live show by another Liverpool musician, Ted “King Size” Taylor.

"These are your photos but just be careful how you use them," photographer Allan Tannenbaum recalls that Yoko Ono advised on a series of intimate portraits he took of her and her husband John Lennon in November 1980. At the time of the conversation, neither had any idea that 10 days later the former Beatle would be dead.

Despite many opportunities in the months that followed to publish the images, Tannenbaum opted to guard most of the pictures until now — 27 year years later. They appear in his new book, Yoko and John: A New York Love Story, a sort of peephole into the couple's final days together.

Students around the world can learn music production and sound engineering in the footsteps of the Fab Four

Beatles fans are being offered the chance to follow in the footsteps of the Fab Four after Abbey Road Studios announced that it is launching its own educational institute.

Students aged 18 and over from around the world will be able to study for a 12-month advanced diploma in music production and sound engineering at the institute, which will be housed in the legendary north London studio complex where the Beatles recorded nearly all their albums and singles.

Houston’s Off The Wall Gallery presents an exhibition of the extraordinary artworks of John Lennon.
All artwork is on exhibition and available for acquisition March 26-29. All events are complimentary and open to the public.
Gallery exhibition hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The exhibition opens on March 26 and continues through March 29.
Scheduled events will feature programming led by Collection Curator, Lynne Clifford, a noted authority on the works of John Lennon. On Saturday, March 26, from noon until 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 29, from noon until 5 p.m., Ms. Clifford will be in the gallery and available to the public; speaking on the exhibited works and providing insight into the history and stories behind the artwork.

Edward Greenfield looks at George Martin’s influence on the band’s creativity

How much does Beatle music - as heard on record - owe to the quartet of performers, how much to George Martin, their recording manager, their arranger, their technical expert, their musical mentor? Are they mere puppets for a “pop” Svengali? Are they really as imaginative musically as they often seem, or is this another instance of the medium being the message?

The Beatles' legacy is a monster of perfection and curiosity. Their records have become the go-to blueprint for commercial pop music—but there was also a slyly subversive, at times blatant, rejection of the mainstream in favor of something far more heady and difficult. Nevertheless, they became the saviors of pop music in the '60s, a band who could put out singles and stay in the upper reaches of the charts but who also weren't limited by any set musical guidelines. They could cover classic pop tunes from the '50s and then turn around and plaster their songs with gallons of psychedelic ephemera. They were The Beatles, and that was all people cared about.

The Beatles are considered by many to be the greatest band of all time. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of their songs are well known by the general public, even though some people around and in this day and age do not know who Paul McCartney is. As it happens with the great groups who produce music of the highest quality, some true gems slip through the cracks. Here are five of those.

5. "I Will"

In 1968, all four members of The Beatles traveled to India for a spiritual retreat. While there, the inspiration bug, leading them to write most of the White Album, hit them. "I Will" was one of the songs written there, and given the vastness and the wide popularity of many of the tunes on the album, it is not surprising that this one is often forgotten.

A week and a half ago, I published a blog post titled "5 Underrated Beatles Songs That You Should Get to Know". Originally, it was going to contain 10 songs in total, but it got too wordy towards the end. Therefore, in this second part, I would like to share five other songs that the casual fan may not know or remember, from the Beatles' vast and popular catalogue.

5. I've Just Seen a Face

Out of all the songs on this list, this is quite likely the one most likely to be recognized, as Paul McCartney, its main songwriter, has taken to performing it live throughout his career, bringing more recognition to the tune. It was also mentioned in the 2012 film Stuck in Love, starring Jennifer Connelly and Greg Kinnear.

Andrew Grant Jackson wasn’t even born in 1965, but in his new book, he does a credible impression of a baby-boomer author with firsthand experience of that year’s revolutionary music. Jackson, whose two previous books focused on the Beatles, considers 1965 to be “the most groundbreaking twelve months in music history”. “It was”, he writes, “the year rock and roll evolved into the premier art form of its time and accelerated the drive for personal liberty throughout the Western world.”

A new study is being carried out between Liverpool John Moores University and the University of Liverpool to find out definitively what the legacy of the Beatles is worth to Liverpool. There will be in-depth research into the current Beatles offer, its value in monetary terms to the city, any gaps in the tourism offer and what the potential value of the Beatles could be if these gaps were filled.

The report will also study the other benefits of being linked to the Beatles ‘brand’, and what impact this has on the global reputation of the city. The research will involve stakeholders including tourist attraction operators, music industry experts and members of the public.