Beatles News

Grow Old With Me is latest collaboration between the surviving Beatles members

Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr have reunited to record a cover version of a song written by John Lennon in the final year of his life.

The track marks the latest collaboration between the two surviving members of the Beatles and goes some way to reuniting the musical talents of the Fab Four, since part of a George Harrison song is also reprised on the recording.

Lennon wrote Grow Old With Me during the recording sessions for Double Fantasy, the final album he made before he was shot dead outside his apartment in Manhattan in December 1980.

Starr, 79, said he had not been aware that Lennon recorded a demo version of the song until he was played it by the record producer Jack Douglas, who produced Double Fantasy, which was co-written by Yoko Ono, Lennon’s widow.

Source: Mattha Busby/theguardian.com

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While The Beatles stayed together long enough to make The White Album, Let It Be, and Abbey Road, it doesn’t mean they enjoyed it. In fact, by the beginning of that run in 1968, the Fab Four had just about had it with each other.

That became easy to see during the sessions for The White Album, which Paul McCartney had dubbed (without exaggeration) “the tension album.” After all, he and John Lennon nearly fought in the studio while running through endless takes of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.”

In early ’69, things hadn’t improved much. If you can’t tell from Paul and George Harrison arguing in the Let It Be film, the hushed-up tale of John and George’s fistfight should fill in the blanks.

By the summer ’69 sessions for Abbey Road, John wasn’t pretending to care and sat out on Paul’s goofy “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” As for George and Ringo, they braved through it but savaged Paul’s song later.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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One of the most entertaining hypotheticals for Beatles’ fans to discuss is what the Beatles would have sounded like or recorded if they had stayed together after the release of Let It Be.* In a sense, this is an even more fruitless counterfactual than another popular one: What songs would have been on The White Album if it hadn’t been a double album (which I have already covered). Unlike the case of that what-if, the songs the Beatles would have done together were never released as Beatles songs. And to imagine the Beatles staying together after 1970 is to wish away the centrifugal forces that had by that point already largely torn the four musical titans at the band’s center apart.**

But Beatles’ fans such as myself speculate nonetheless, aided by morsels such as collaborations between members after the break-up (most notably in the almost-Beatles song “I’m the Greatest!”), and demos of songs that later became solo work but were conceived or sometimes even recorded while the Beatles were still together (e.g., much of George Harrison’s first post-Beatle solo album, All Things Must Pass).

Source: JackButler/ricochet.com

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“Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields” urged John Lennon in 1967. Now, for the first time, everyone will be able to walk in his footsteps, when the gardens immortalised in the classic Beatles song are opened to the public on 14 September, alongside a new visitors’ centre, cafe and shop.

Housed in a sleek, modern, light-filled building, it is a stark contrast to the original Gothic mansion that stood there when Lennon was a young boy and would bunk over the wall to climb trees and play hide-and-seek in its garden. Built in 1878 for a shipping magnate in the wealthy Liverpool suburb of Woolton (the family of prime minister William Gladstone lived nearby, in another long-gone pile) it was bought by the Salvation Army in 1934 and turned into a children’s home.

Lennon lived round the corner with his Uncle George and Aunt Mimi, and as well as sneaking into the garden with friends, he loved the summer fete held at Strawberry Field (in the singular, Lennon added the “s”). His aunt once recalled: “As soon as we could hear the Salvation Army band starting, John would jump up and down shouting, ‘Mimi, come on. We’re going to be late!&r details

Starr announced his 20th studio record, What's My Name, to be released on UMe October 25, 2019. What's My Name is the latest in a series of heartfelt and homespun records that Starr has produced in his home studio and a distinguished, ever-changing yet often repeating cast of musical characters and friends playing along with Ringo. Those friends include Paul McCartney, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Dave Stewart, Benmont Tench, Steve Lukather, Nathan East, Colin Hay, Richard Page, Warren Ham, Windy Wagner, Kari Kimmel and more (full track and credit list below).For Ringo, recording at home, known as Roccabella West, has become a welcome and productive way of life. "I don't want to be in an old-fashioned recording studio anymore, really," Starr explains. "I've had enough of the big glass wall and the separation. We are all together in here, whoever I invite over. This is the smallest club in town. And I love it, being at home, being able to say hi to Barb, it's just been good for me and the music."

Source: prnewswire.com

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Struggling singer-songwriter Jack Malikwaus (Himesh Patel) suffers a blackout and, when he awakens, he quickly discovers that he is somehow the only person in the world who actually remember The Beatles. Desperate to keep the songs written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison alive, he starts writing down the lyrics and performing them — which transforms him into a superstar and changes his life in ways he never could have imagined. On top of that, there’s a potential love story with his best friend, and the woman who believed in him before he went Fab, Ellie (Lily James). Such is the premise of the 2019 film Yesterday, which begs one question: What kind of sick mind imagines a world without The Beatles?

“Only someone who can’t imagine the world without The Beatles,” replies screenwriter Richard Curtis in an exclusive interview. “And, if The Beatles were to disappear, would do everything he could to bring them back again.” He pauses briefly before emphasizing, “You know, it’s an argument for The Beatles rather than against.”

Source: closerweekly.com

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When music writers and critics decide to round up the best Beatles album, you find a familiar record at the top: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Rolling Stone not only named it the best Fab Four album; the magazine ranked it No. 1 on its list of “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” in 2012.

There’s more where that came from. You’ll hear the oft-repeated line Ringo Starr delivered for the Anthology project. (He called it “our grandest endeavor.”) To Paul McCartney, whose work dominated the album, it was an album “in the spirit of the age,” “a huge advance” for the group, something the band did as “spokesmen” for their generation.

Another quote from Paul could hint at one reasons behind his personal regard for the album. “If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed ‘Pepper,’” he said in 1990. (At other points, Ringo has cited the much heavier 1966’s “Rain” and 1968’s “Yer Blues” as his favorite tracks.)

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The Beatles discussed radically shifting their approach on a potential follow-up to Abbey Road.

John Lennon suggested the proposed recording more fairly showcase each from the group's principal composers, giving George Harrison equal footing for the first time. He would have the opportunity to contribute four songs, the same as Lennon and Paul McCartney. (Ringo Starr, Lennon added, could have two – "If he wants them.")

The news comes courtesy of Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn, who unearthed a tape from a meeting the Beatles held on Sept. 8, 1969, at Apple headquarters on London's Savile Row. The recording was made while Starr was hospitalized with stomach problems. "Ringo – you can't be here, but this is so you can hear what we're discussing," Lennon says at the beginning of the tape.

Source: ultimateclassicrock.com

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The Beatles weren’t a group much given to squabbling, says Mark Lewisohn, who probably knows more about them than they knew about themselves. But then he plays me the tape of a meeting held 50 years ago this month – on 8 September 1969 – containing a disagreement that sheds new light on their breakup.

They’ve wrapped up the recording of Abbey Road, which would turn out to be their last studio album, and are awaiting its release in two weeks’ time. Ringo Starr is in hospital, undergoing tests for an intestinal complaint. In his absence, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison convene at Apple’s HQ in Savile Row. John has brought a portable tape recorder. He puts it on the table, switches it on and says: “Ringo – you can’t be here, but this is so you can hear what we’re discussing.”

What they talk about is the plan to make another album – and perhaps a single for release in time for Christmas, a commercial strategy going back to the earliest days of Beatlemania. “It’s a revelation,” Lewisohn says. “The books have always told us that they knew Abbey Road was their last album and they wanted to go out on an artist details

In the penultimate song on the Beatles’ album Abbey Road, the Fab Four sing “And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.” The song was called “The End” and although Let It Be was released later, the fact is that Abbey Road was the last album the band recorded and, as Beatles lore has told us for the past five decades, it was consciously designed to be the last Beatles album ever.Except, maybe it wasn’t? A historian has unearthed a lost interview tape featuring a conversation that seems to indicate that the Beatles were at one point considering recording an album to be released after both Let It Be and Abbey Road. It’s a kooky, alternate 1970s fever dream, that might have almost happened. On Wednesday, the Guardian published a story in which music historian Mark Lewisohn says a long-forgotten recording of Beatles chatter proves John Lennon and Paul McCartney were kicking around the idea of another album beyond Abbey Road.

Source: Ryan Britt/yahoo.com

As British Prime Minister Boris Johnson struggles to remove Britain from the European Union -- which Brits voted for in June 2016 -- it's interesting to note that the famous Brit and Beatles drummer Ringo Starr strongly supports Brexit because the people voted for it, he says, and "it's a great move" to be "in control of your own country."

In a BBC Newsnight interview from 2017, which resurfaced on social media this week, Starr is asked why he supports Brexit.

“The people voted and, you know, they have to get on with it," said Starr. "Suddenly it’s like, ‘oh well, we don’t like that vote.'"

"What do you mean you don’t like that vote?" he said. "You had the vote, this is what won, let’s get on with it."

The BBC then asked Starr, who now lives in the United States, whether he would have voted for Brext it in 2016.

Starr answered, "I would have voted for Brexit. Yeah, I would have voted to get out. But don’t tell Bob Geldof!”

Bob Geldof, born in Ireland, is a left-wing activist and musician, most famous for starring in the 1982 film "Pink Floyd -- The Wall." Geldof thinks the arts will suffer if Britain leaves the European Union.

While The Beatles were laid-back about a lot of things, they kept their recording sessions off-limits to outsiders for most of the ’60s. That’s why the arrival of Yoko Ono came as such a shock to any band member not named John Lennon.

However, by 1968, the Fab Four had bigger problems than the occasional comment from Yoko. During the White Album sessions, Paul McCartney worked by himself so frequently that the others wondered if they were in a band together.

Meanwhile, Ringo got so fed up that summer he walked out on the group while recording “Back in the U.S.S.R.” And, during all the turbulence, just about everyone was ignoring a brilliant song George Harrison had written for the record.

That track, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” eventually got recorded with a guitar solo by Eric Clapton. But it was so small feat for George to convince a nervous Clapton to join him and the Beatles at Abbey Road studios.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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If ever there was a moment for someone to wish to be the proverbial fly on the wall, it would no doubt have been at about 10 p.m. in Los Angeles on August 27, 1965 — when, in the midst of their North America tour, The Beatles paid a visit on Elvis Presley.

Elvis, of course, had been one of the principal rock ‘n’ rollers to have inspired The Beatles in the first place so, for them, it was quite the honor. It’s unknown what the King felt in regards to the Fab Four, although rumors were that he admired their talent. At the same time, there was no doubt that their impact on music had truly shaken things up for him, and what had been considered hip had somehow become a little less so in comparison. Things weren’t helped by the fact that Elvis’ career had fallen into a rut of sorts as epitomized by a string of less-than-impressive films with just as lackluster soundtracks — though things would decidedly turn around in 1968 when Elvis, never looking or sounding better, launched his much-heralded comeback tour).

Source: closerweekly.com

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Acclaimed Beatles historian, Kenneth Womack, is on the verge of releasing what has been described as his “most definitive account yet” in the exploration of the writing, recording, mixing, and reception of Abbey Road.

In his new book, ‘Solid State’ which details ‘The Story of “Abbey Road” and the End of the Beatles’, Womack steps back in time to February 1969 when the Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road, the group’s 11th studio album, introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to develop the band’s style but also marked the final time in which all four members worked together in the studio.

In his book, Womack focuses on the relationships between John, Paul, George, Ringo, and producer George Martin and his team of engineers as clear fractions begin to develop. Here, in this exclusive extract handed over exclusively to Far Out Magazine, Womack details a significant moment in which guitarist George Harrison made his biggest songwriting breakthrough and, in the process, shaking up the established band dynamics.

Source: Lee Thomas-Mason/faroutmagazine.co.uk

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If you asked someone who played lead guitar in The Beatles, the simple answer would be George Harrison. However, that didn’t mean John Lennon (the rhythm guitarist) wouldn’t take a solo now and then. John had done so in the early days on tracks like “Long Tall Sally” and “You Can’t Do That.”

By the time the Fab Four got to the White Album sessions (1968), the every-man-for-himself situation meant more solos for John. On that double album, you’ll find him taking the lead on “Yer Blues,” “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” and even Paul McCartney’s “Honey Pie.”

Over the years, only a handful of tracks with guitar solos by John went out on Beatles singles, and they were usually B sides. That happened in the White Album era as well, when Paul’s “Hey Jude” had the heavy version of “Revolution” (with a solo by John) on the B side.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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