Beatles News

James McCartney gave a car-crash interview on BBC Breakfast this morning as he tried to promote his new album.

Presenters Bill Turnbull and Susanna Reid were forced to do most of the talking during the short segment with Beatles legend Paul McCartney’s 35-year-old son. Twitter users dubbed the interview as “excruciating” and a “PR disaster”.

The presenters began by talking about his long US tour. “That sounds pretty tiring,” asked Reid, to which McCartney replied: “Yeah.”

Reid pressed, “Was it?” and McCartney offered: “No it was OK. It was good fun.” Following a clip of McCartney singing, Turnbull pondered whether as a McCartney, it was a prerequisite to play “all sorts of different instruments”.

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Source: The Independent

1962 – Stuart Sutcliffe dies of an aneurysm (brain haemorrhage) aged 21; whilst in studying in Hamburg, West Germany. He collapsed in the middle of an art class after complaining of head pains.

Not many are aware of Stuart Sutcliffe, who was one of the original Beatles (a.k.a. the 5th Beatle), ’cause this was before the Beatles became one of the greatest bands ever. Sutcliffe met John Lennon back in the 50′s, as students, at the Liverpool College of Art,  and they ended up being best friends.

Paul McCartney (Lennon’s other best friend and co-songwriter) later supposedly had stated that he was jealous of Sutcliffe’s friendship with Lennon back then. Sutcliffe being a great bass player, joined the group, back then known as The Quarrymen (a.k.a. Johnny & The Moondogs), with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, in January 1960. In May, the same year, they renamed the group as The Silver Beats, The Silver Beetles and finally The Silver Beatles.

Procter & Gamble Co.'s luxury brands unit has a new deal to develop fragrances in partnership with a high-profile London fashion designer.

P&G Prestige will work with Stella McCartney to make and sell the fragrances, which will be marketed under her name. The licensing deal takes effect Sept. 13, according to a press release.

"There is so much energy already and we haven't even started, I just feel like we can do really wonderful things and explore the world of beauty, together, as a team," said McCartney, who is the daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney.

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Source: Cincinnati Business Courier

ANYONE who knows anything about the history of The Beatles knows that their rise to worldwide fame didn’t come overnight. In fact, they had evolved froma skiffle group called The Quarrymen, formed in Liverpool during 1956.

Tonight, half a century after the Fab Four played their one and only Abergavenny gig, four members of the band that originated them will play the same town.

There were several permutations of The Quarrymen, the original line-up featuring John Lennon on guitar. The band also featured John’s school friend, Rod Davies, on banjo. “It started off with just five guys at Quarry Bank School,” remembers Rod. “Wewere all inspired by Lonnie Donegan’s recording of Rock Island Line.

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Source: South Wales Argus

In honor of his 71st birthday, let’s sample the best of his post-Beatles work. Paul McCartney turns 71 years old this week, with 47 albums to his credit. (You could also add his 12 albums with the Beatles to that list.)

So looking at his work with Wings, as a solo artist, and part of the electronic duo “The Fireman”, let’s narrow it down to his eleven most essential albums. (Why 11? Because Flowers in the Dirt is so underrated.) Consider number one the starting place for a casual fan just looking for the hits, and the remaining numbers as a guide to becoming a well-rounded, obsessed Macca fan.

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Source: Pop Matters

FIFTY years ago today The Beatles performed their only Welsh concert in Abergavenny. Three Newport friends who were lucky enough to see them play a 20-minute set at the Borough Theatre recall sharing a taxi with band member Paul McCartney.

School friends Les Hicks, Graham Palfrey and Teddy Fallon, all 66, had no idea they would meet one of the band on their way to the gig as sixteen year-olds. Mr Hicks, a retired musician, recalled: "We got on the train at Newport and saw Paul McCartney as we walked along the corridor looking for a seat."

Mr Hicks, of Bassaleg said: "I recognised him straight away. He was sitting alone in First Class so we asked if we could join him in his compartment.

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Source: South Wales Argus

With a little help from things such as instruments, clothing and even a pair of round glasses, memories can play back like favorite songs on an iPod.

TAMPA — From the elaborate costume hanging in a display, you can almost envision Elton John doing a handstand on the piano keyboard in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans. A dress from Amy Winehouse whispers silently of what could have, should have, been for the talented but troubled singer.

A Les Paul guitar that somehow survived Pete Townsend of the Who hangs peacefully now; but the vibrations, the music it made, are still almost palpable. John Lennon’s glasses…well, they are John Lennon’s glasses. All you can do is stand there and try to envision what the legendary Beatle saw through them: how he saw the world, and how those things may have affected him. Those glasses were the windows to his soul.

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“Magical Mystery Tour” is far more focused than "Crossfire Hurricane," zeroing in on a single year and a single project

Last year, the Emmys’ Outstanding Nonfiction Special category saw a head-to-head battle between George Harrison and Paul Simon, with Martin Scorsese’s “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” winning over a field that also included Joe Berlinger’s “Paul Simon’s Graceland Journey: Under African Skies.”

But wouldn’t the Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones be an even more delicious battle? After all, that’s a time-honored rivalry, as Keith Richards explains in the Stones doc “Crossfire Hurricane” when he talks about how manager Andrew Loog Oldham consciously positioned the group as a rival to the Fab Four.

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Source: The Wrap

A copy of the Beatles rejected audition tape for Decca resurfaced recentlyand aside from sending shivers down the collective spines of aged record company execs who once proclaimed guitar music as ‘on the way out’ – it got me thinking about rejection.

How could anyone turn away the band that went on to create some of the most beloved pieces of pop music ever recorded? How could anyone claim the Fab Four ‘had no future in show business’?

Easy, they were barely the same band.

What many people don’t mention when they discuss the Beatles Decca audition is that they played a set comprised mostly of covers with just 3 Lennon/McCartney originals thrown in. The band even sang in mock-American accents in order to sound like the Rock n’ Roll groups of the era. There were hints of greatness in their performance, but the tape hardly showcases the Beatles that people know and love today.

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FRIDAY (June 21) marks the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ one and only visit to Guildford. The Fab Four headlined two concerts at the Odeon in the upper High Street on June 21 1963.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison visited the town as the headline act on the Jimmy Crawford Package Show, with support acts including Lance Fortune, The Hayseeds and The Vikings with Michael London.

At the time, the Surrey Advertiser’s sister paper, the Guildford and Godalming Times, reported on the gig, focusing on the many screaming fans.

The reviewer said: “The Beatles did their best to sing above the deafening screams of the audience. “I recognised their hit numbers but most of the words were inaudible.”

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Source: Get Surrey

Photo Credit: details