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Self-proclaimed "opinionated" Brighton area author Ted Montgomery said he hopes he has written "a good bar stool book that gives you good things to argue over."

When it comes to music, everyone has their own likes and dislikes about what sounds good. 

Montgomery, who lives in Green Oak Township said he did not hold back his personal opinions when penning his new book. 

He poured over an enormous catalog of hundreds of songs by former member of The Beatles and prolific solo musician Paul McCartney.  

Montgomery's new book "The Paul McCartney Catalog: A Complete Annotated Discography of Solo Works, 1967-2019" covers 52 years of music, videos, radio shows and other materials the 77-year-old British rocker released, mostly after The Beatles officially split in 1970. 

The first of 18 occasions Montgomery saw Paul McCartney perform live was in 1976.

Source: Jennifer Timar, Livingston Daily

It was the news that had millions of fans not so much gently weeping as crying for help – the Beatles were no more.

While technically speaking the Fab Four were not officially dissolved until 1975, Paul McCartney’s bombshell press release on April 10, 1970 marks the end of the world’s favourite band.

He could see no future in his famed songwriting partnership with John Lennon, Paul said while promoting a solo album, and did not miss either George Harrison or Ringo Starr.

Five decades on and debate still rages over what – or who, in the case of Yoko Ono – broke up the Beatles.

Following the split, John, Paul, George and Ringo went their separate ways, pursuing successful solo careers while the band’s music swelled in popularity.

Here’s what they did next:

Source: breakingnews.ie

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Fifty years ago, when Paul McCartney announced he had left the Beatles, the news dashed the hopes of millions of fans, while fueling false reunion rumors that persisted well into the new decade.

In a press release, on April 10, 1970, for his first solo album, “McCartney,” he leaked his intention to leave. In doing so, he shocked his three bandmates.

The Beatles had symbolized the great communal spirit of the era. How could they possibly come apart?

Few at the time were aware of the underlying fissures. The power struggles in the group had been mounting at least since their manager, Brian Epstein, died in August of 1967

Source: Tim Riley, The Conversation/smithsonianmag.com

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A rare photograph of the trio who evolved into the Beatles has emerged.

The previously-unpublished photo of The Quarrymen shows Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison a year before becoming The Beatles.

The picture, captured in a Liverpool home in 1959, has surfaced on the 50th anniversary of McCartney announcing he was leaving the group.

"History shines in every dimly-lit detail," said Beatles' historian and author Mark Lewisohn.

"Within a year of this moment the Quarrymen had become The Beatles, professional musicians playing long hours in Hamburg," he added.

"Four years from here they'd have attained the inconceivable level of fame and popularity that joyously maintains to this day - out from this Liverpool room and across the universe."

Lennon formed the skiffle and rock 'n' roll group in early 1957 alongside Rod Davis, Pete Shotton, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Len Garry.

The group was later joined by McCartney and Harrison.

McCartney, Lennon and Harrison evolved into The Beatles, along with Pete Best, until he was replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962.

Source: BBC

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After eight years that shook the world, redefined music and rerouted popular culture, it took just one word to kill off the best band that ever lived. “Are you planning a new album or single with The Beatles?” Paul McCartney was asked in a press release for his first solo album McCartney, sent to journalists on 9 April 1970. Answer: “No”. And to drive the final nail home: “Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?” “No.”

With that, the dream was over. On 10 April, the Daily Mirror ran the front-page headline “Paul Quits The Beatles”, and the media across the world ignited. Fans and reporters gathered outside the offices of Apple Corps at 3 Savile Row, distraught or eulogising. “The event is so momentous that historians may, one day, view it as a landmark in the decline of the British Empire,” reported a CBS News crew from America. “The Beatles are breaking up.”

Source: independent.co.uk

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As soon as you drop the needle on side two of Abbey Road and immediately here that blissful opening chord of ‘Here Comes The Sun’ you know you’re in for a delightful treat. However, as we look to delve deeper into a Beatles classic, we’re exploring the isolated vocal version of the track which delivers the poignant uplifting lyrics to the forefront.

The back story of the song is a fascinating one. Despite the positivity that the song oozes, it was actually written during a dark period of George Harrison’s life. Following his arrest for possession of marijuana, which arrived shortly after having his tonsils removed and him quitting The Beatles briefly, the stress and negativity all got too much for the guitarist and he needed to escape.

Harrison, searching for a moment of calm. escaped to Eric Clapton’s peaceful Surrey retreat. Reflecting on the period of his life years later, he disclosed in detail in his autobiography I, Me, Mine: “‘Here Comes the Sun’ was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: ‘Sign this’ and ‘sign that.’ Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, details

The Beatles’ classic Abbey Road is one of the most famous albums of all time. It’s famous because it includes songs like “Something” and “Come Together.” In addition, it gave us one of the most iconic images ever: its cover.

The cover shows John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, walking across Abbey Road. Surprisingly, the album wasn’t supposed to be called Abbey Road. It wasn’t supposed to feature Abbey Road on its cover either.
Abbey Road was originally going to be called Mount Everest. The reason? Well, the Fab Four were known for their sense of humor. They were also known for littering their albums and songs with inside jokes. One reason they liked the title Mount Everest was because engineer Geoff Emerick would smoke a brand of cigarettes called Everest.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Paul McCartney confirmed yesterday that he had broken with the Beatles. But it seems certain that even if he wants to, circumstances will prevent him from straying too far.

The issue is complicated by McCartney’s refusal to speak to the world beyond filling in the answers to a questionnaire drawn up by the Beatles’ organisation, Apple. He did say then he did not know whether his break with the Beatles was temporary or permanent; that he did not have any relationship with Mr Alan Klein, the Beatles business manager (a figure of some importance in this matter); that Mr Klein did not represent him in any way; that he had no plans to record with other Beatle members in the future; that he could not imagine writing with John Lennon again; and that in making his first solo album he had not missed the talents of the other Beatles.

Source: Jackie Leishman/theguardian.com

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Easter is synonymous with many things, but one of the most recent is ‘Brian's life’, the great comedy of the Monty Python released in 1979. However, it was about not to be, since the mythical comic group was about to not be able to make the film and only the intervention of George Harrison allowed the film to go ahead.

The problems came a year earlier, with everything ready to start filming. It was then that Bernard Delfont, CEO of EMI at the time, read the script that the company had acquired and decided to withdraw the funding necessary to be able to make ‘Brian's Life’ just a couple of days before the recordings began. He thought he was blasphemous and didn't want to get into trouble, so He decided to wash his hands and leave the Monty Python to their fate.

Source: Maria Rivera/asapland.com

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ON April 10, 1970, the music world shifted on its axis with the news that the Beatles had split. The revelation came after Paul McCartney announced he was officially breaking the bonds of brotherhood he shared with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Millions of fans went into an emotional tailspin. The band’s Apple offices in London were under siege from thousands of weeping fans. And the man from CBS news adopted the sombre tone normally reserved for a death in the Royal Family by heralding it as “an event so momentous that historians may one day view it as a landmark in the decline of the British Empire". Yet, 50 years on from that tremulous day, the Beatles still retain a foothold in the public psyche. Last year, a rebooted version of their final album, Abbey Road, was Britain’s biggest selling vinyl record. Ken McNab, author of the best-selling And In The End, The Last Days Of The Beatles, asked seven well-known Scots why the Beatles remain shining stars in rock’s firmament.

Source: heraldscotland.com

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Billie Eilish, Paul McCartney, Elton John and more will participate in a COVID-19 charity special organized by Global Citizen and the World Health Organization: One World: Together at Home, set to air on TV and livestream online April 18th at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.

The event boasts a star-studded lineup curated by Lady Gaga and hosted by late-night titans Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, plus the cast of Sesame Street. It will serve as a celebration of healthcare workers, with several doctors, nurses and families affected by the coronavirus outbreak speaking throughout the special. Donations raised will benefit the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, as well as local and regional charities providing food, shelter and healthcare to those in need.

Source: Rolling Stone

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Acclaimed actor, director, screenwriter and producer Zach Braff has an unquenchable thirst for cinema. While he is arguably best known for his role as J.D. on the comedy television series Scrubs, Braff has long been a student of finer arts of arthouse cinema.

Braff, while scooping in the acclaim for his performance on the commercially successful comedy series, has always been a major champion of those filmmakers ploughing away within indie cinema. “They put all this money into these huge films and then no one goes to see them,” Braff once said. “That sort of shows they’re out of touch. Then everyone in town passes on my little movie and it does really well,” he added.

Keeping this ethos close to his heart, Braff famously made his directorial debut in 2004 with his film Garden State, collecting a high profile cast which included the likes of Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, Ian Holm and himself. With positive reviews, the film turned its modest $2.5million budget into a commercial success, earning a cult following in the process.

Source: Nathan Ellis/faroutmagazine.co.uk

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THE Fab Four, like all good things, had to come to an end eventually. Five decades on, Luke Rix-Standing looks back at how it went down.

It wasn't quite the day the music died, but for Beatles fans the world over, it must have felt pretty close.

On April 10, 1970, Paul McCartney issued a press release alongside advance copies of his solo album, which seemed to announce the Beatles' demise.

Framed as the transcript to a Q&A, he confirmed that he did not miss his band-mates, that he was not planning anything with them, and that he could not foresee writing any future songs with John Lennon. When asked if he enjoyed solo work, he said: "I only had me to ask for a decision, and I agreed with me."

Lennon responded furiously, but his words seemed to confirm those of his band-mate. "He can't have his own way, so he's causing chaos. I put out four albums last year, and I didn't say a f***ing word about quitting." In reality, he had privately departed months before.

Source: newsandstar.co.uk

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“When we talk about The Beatles,” writes Craig Brown, “we talk about ourselves.” For an international phenomenon, The Beatles were peculiarly, cussedly English. The most significant band in the history of pop, they are key figures in the past half-century of our nation’s public life, as well as in the dream lives of its citizens. The Beatles entered our bloodstreams, collective and individual, and they pulsate in them still. They were modernists, agents of change, forging the future, and they were preservationists, forever harking back to the past, real and imagined, England’s and their own.

Their most forward-and-at-the-same-time-backward-looking album was Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967. It was, writes Brown, “an exercise in playing about with the past.” Readers of Brown’s might understand why this would appeal particularly to him, as a writer determined to make sense of British popular history, or at least to explore it, by reinventing the method of its delivery.

Source: esquire.com

In 1971, the state of East Pakistan was in turmoil as it sought independence to become the nation of Bangladesh during the Liberation War. It was a conflict that the world was largely unaware of until George Harrison made it a global talking point.

The former Beatles man learned about the issue over dinner from his close friend, Ravi Shankar, who initially was planning to raise $25,000 dollars to help the Bangladeshi cause. But after getting Harrison on side, his modest plans quickly grew into something rather extraordinary.

Their two very specially curated Concert For Bangladesh shows on August 1st, 1971, would go on and set a precedent for benefit gigs forever. The star-studded day would see the likes of Bob Dylan, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, Badfinger and Ringo Starr all take to the stage to unite for a cause bigger than themselves.

Source: Joe Taysom/faroutmagazine.co.uk

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John Lennon was a singer-songwriter who had a tremendous influence. Certain genres like psychedelic and avant-garde music wouldn’t be the same without him. Surprisingly, his influence also extended to horror novelist Stephen King‘s masterpiece The Shining.

The Shining remains one of King’s most acclaimed books. The book’s title refers to psychic abilities shared by some of its characters. The term was, shockingly, inspired by John’s hit “Instant Karma!”

As a solo artist, John often made unconventional music. “Instant Karma!” is one of his accessible solo songs, which is probably why it became such a big hit. Part of its appeal lies in its catchy refrain of “We all shine on!”

When John wrote that song, there’s a good chance he wasn’t thinking about horror novels. On the other hand, King used to listen to music when he wrote his books. “Instant Karma!” managed to exert a considerable influence on The Shining. The song’s refrain inspired the concept of “shining” which figures so prominently in the novel. In a way, the idea that “Instant Karma!” inspired a horror novel makes sense, as it&rs details

When I was a kid, I toted my Lloyds transistor radio everywhere, including when I went to bed. It would sit quietly playing on my pillow until I fell asleep and my mom would take it away.

The family’s station of choice was 680 CJOB in Winnipeg. They didn’t play much in the way of music that I liked, but I was hooked on their newscasts, which in those days could stretch 10 minutes or longer. My parents didn’t like me listening to the news before bed — “You have bad dreams!” — but that only made me want to listen more.

I do remember the night CJOB delivered the news that The Beatles had broken up. It was April 10, 1970, and even though I was extremely young, I knew this was important. When mom came into my room at the usual time to put my radio up on the bureau, I asked her, “The Beatles have broken up. Is that a bad thing?”

Source: Alan Cross/rock101.com

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In the 1960s, many fans saw the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as rivals. Paul McCartney accused the Stones of copying his band. Likewise, Mick Jagger felt the Beatles copied his band. In the end, though, there didn’t seem to be any bad blood between the two groups.

The Stones showed off the goodwill they had towards the Fab Four in 1967. That was the year the Stones released their psychedelic album, Their Satanic Majesties Request. The album’s memorable cover art features a message for the Beatles hidden in plain sight.
Satanic Majesties is often understood as the Stones’ attempt to equal the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. As such, Satanic Majesties has a psychedelic cover a la Sgt. Pepper’s. Though not as famous as its predecessor, the Satanic Majesties cover has secrets of its own.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Orthodox views of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles career usually single out Band on the Run from 1973 as the uncontested highpoint. But, as good as that album is, this one might have the edge. It is as dizzyingly varied as its author’s late-period work with his first group, and it’s smattered with experimental, bucolic touches. And, like the two albums that sit either side of it – McCartney (1970), and Wings’s debut Wild Life (1971) – it sometimes suggests a try-out for the home-baked music later pioneered by such talents as the Beta Band and Beck on the occasions he reached for an acoustic guitar.

The album’s lyrics and mood capture the strange, uncertain aftermath of the Beatles and the 60s, and that of a man suddenly adjusting to a new life.

Source: John Harris/theguardian.com

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If you ever listen to the outtakes and studio chatter from the Beatles’ Let It Be sessions (January 1969), you might catch an interesting exchange between George Harrison and someone else in the studio. In the conversation, Harrison is asked if he wants to hear the new Jimmy Page album.

“Jimmy Page,” Harrison replies. “Is he the one that was in The Yardbirds?” After he learns that, yes, it’s that Jimmy Page, Harrison asks if lunch is ready yet. Clearly, this album by Page, who’d recently played on a chart-topping Beatles cover, sparked little interest in Harrison.

But Harrison and other members of the Fab Four would soon take notice of Page’s group, which he’d named Led Zeppelin (with an assist from Keith Moon). In fact, by the end of ’69, The Beatles would watch as the Zeppelin knocked their band out of the top spot on the Billboard album charts.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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I blame the media for the breakup of The Beatles.

Not Yoko. Not Linda. Not Allen Klein. Not heroin. Not money. Not Ringo's desire to write songs. The media.

Anyone with third-grade reading comprehension could scan the chilly “self-interview” press release included with advance copies of Paul McCartney's first solo album, McCartney (released April 20, 1970). It is as plain as day that he never actually says he was quitting the Beatles:

Q: "Is this album a rest away from the Beatles or the start of a solo career?"

McCartney: "Time will tell. Being a solo album means it's 'the start of a solo career' and not being done with the Beatles means it's just a rest. So it's both."

The following day, newspapers all over the world blasted, “Paul Is Quitting The Beatles!”

It’s akin to two schoolboys reluctant to fight until one onlooker, tired of seeing the pair dancing around each other, shoving them to the ground so the fists can start flying. Nice going, fake news. But other significant real news events took place in April 1970:

Source: Serene Dominic/phoenixnewtimes.com

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Imagine being in a band as close-knit as The Beatles were between 1962-68. Over that hectic period in the band’s life, the Fab Four went from constant recording and touring to worldwide fame of a kind few musicians ever knew. So they had to stick together whether they wanted to or not.

When John Lennon brought Yoko Ono into the picture, the dynamic changed completely. Looking back years later, the others understood that John was in love and was following his heart. But when Yoko arrived for the first time during the White Album sessions, she upset a delicate balance.

For starters, The Beatles had a rule that wives and girlfriends didn’t hang around during recording sessions. “Their ranks had always been so closed,” engineer Geoff Emerick wrote in Here, There and Everywhere. “It was unthinkable that an outsider could penetrate their inner circle so quickly and so thoroughly.”

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Bob Dylan is one of the most acclaimed artists of the 1960s. The Beatles are among his peers. That doesn’t mean he’s always had kind words for the Fab Four.

“Yesterday” and “Michelle” are two of the Beatles’ most popular songs. To this day, they are regularly covered by other artists. Dylan, however, wasn’t a fan.

Bob Dylan in a still used as a promotional image for a film about his life called Eat the Document | BettmannBob Dylan said the Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Michelle’ are for teeny-boppers

“Yesterday” and “Michelle” are fairly simple songs on a compositional level. They aren’t nearly as experimental as other Beatles songs like “Revolution 9” or “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Most Beatles fans would tell you the simplicity and directness of the songs is part of what gives them their emotional power.

Source: entertainment--news.com

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Elvis Presley met The Beatles during their 1965 US tour. As Beatlemania kicked up a gear, the Fab Four took time out of their wild schedule to sit down with their idol, the great King of Rock ’n’ Roll at his home, Graceland. In an article titled Ze King and I, John Lennon revealed an incredible fact about Paul McCartney: that he had actually offered the Blue Suede Shoes hitmaker bass guitar tips during their meeting.

Lennon noted how many of the greats wanted to come and meet them when they toured the US in 1965.

He said, however, that they weren’t too bothered about seeing the likes of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra because they didn’t think they “really like[d] us or our music”.

It was different with Presley, though, of whom Lennon was a lifelong fan.

Source: Minnie Wright/express.co.uk

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The Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon, sparking Beatlemania when they first started off as a band in Liverpool in 1960. As a result, it is likely Paul ‘Macca’ McCartney had offers from women all over the place. He has been married a few times, but did the rockstar have any children?

McCartney had a number of relationships, many of which were pretty high profile.

He has also been married three times, with his third marriage to Nancy Shevell lasting a long while.

McCartney has not had children with Shevell, and instead his five children have come from previous marriages.

Before his first marriage, McCartney had a well-known relationship with Dot Rhone, who is believed to have been his first serious girlfriend while he still lived in Liverpool.

Source: Jenny Desborough/express.co.uk

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