Beatles News

A GUITAR played by George Harrison while The Beatles were in Hamburg before they were famous is set to fetch £300,000 at auction.

The Czech-made Futurama Resonet has been unseen since 1964 when it was first prize in a magazine competition. The winner, AJ Thompson, of Saltdean, Sussex, chose cash because he didn’t play and the magazine kept it.

Harrison, who died in 2001, recalled going, aged 16, with Paul McCartney to buy the guitar in Liverpool in 1959. His mother had to sign the purchase agreement which was later paid off by Beatles manager Brian Epstein.

‘Huge interest’ is expected by auctioneers Bonhams at the sale in London on June 12.

Source: Metro

There was a time when practically everyone in the world knew about The Beatles. In fact, the band affectionately called ‘the fab four’ is still considered to be the most influential musical collaboration in modern history. Today, two of The Beatles are gone, but their children are making sure the names John, Paul, George, and Ringo are never forgotten. What are the Beatles’ kids up to these days? Here’s what we found out:

The children of John Lennon

Julian Lennon

The only child of John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Powell Lennon, John Charles Julian ‘Jules’ Lennon is an accomplished musician and author in his own right.

Born April 8, 1963, in Liverpool, England, Julian is the eldest of the Beatles’ children. Named in honor of his paternal grandmother, Julian was the inspiration for the songs, “Hey Jude” and “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” After his parents divorced in 1968, young Lennon saw very little of his dad who remarried and started a new family with conceptual artist Yoko Ono in 1969.

In 1998, Lennon told a reporter at The Telegraph UK that his relationship with his dad remained ‘distant’ and uneasy details

Jimi Hendrix was never shy to hide his admiration for The Beatles and, back in 1967, the iconic guitarist took things to the next level.

The night was June 4, 1967, Hendrix was stepping out on stage for his headline show at the Saville Theatre in London and, knowing that both Paul McCartney and George Harrison were in the audience, Hendrix decided to open the show with his rendition of Sgt. Pepper‘s title song.

While opening your own show with a cover song was a ballsy move, it was the sheer fact that The Beatles had only released the song three days prior to that moment which caused the greatest shock. With the record being made available on the Thursday, Hendrix had learnt the song and performed it live at his headline show by the Sunday.

“Jimi was a sweetie, a very nice guy. I remember him opening at the Saville on a Sunday night, 4th June 1967,” McCartney once recalled. “Brian Epstein used to rent it when it was usually dark on the Sunday. Jimi opened, the curtains flew back and he came walking forward, playing ‘Sgt. Pepper’, and it had only been released on the Thursday so that was like the ultimate compliment.”

Source: faroutmagazine.co.uk

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You may not recognize Ron Campbell’s name, but it’s very likely that you’ve seen his work.

The Emmy and Peabody award-winning animator has worked on some of the most iconic cartoons ever made, including “Scooby-Doo,” “The Jetsons,” “Rugrats” and The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” feature film. Residents of east Idaho can get a closer look at Campbell’s art when he brings Beatles Cartoon Art Show to the Willowtree Gallery in Idaho Falls on May 28 and 29.

The show features original paintings based on the characters Campbell animated while working on “The Beatles” animated series and “Yellow Submarine.” Animation fans can also see paintings based on other beloved characters Campbell helped bring to life throughout his five-decade long career, as well as chat with the animator himself about all things cartoons. They can even purchase pieces they like and take Campell’s work home with them.

Campbell’s interest in cartoons was sparked watching “Tom & Jerry” animated shorts in his local movie theater as a boy growing up in Australia.

Source: Adam Forsgren, EastIdahoNews.com

It wasn’t easy being the youngest member of a band that happened to include John Lennon and Paul McCartney. If you wanted respect, you had to play a mean lead guitar and deliver high-quality work when you got the chance to include a song on an album.

That’s exactly what George Harrison did for most of his time with The Beatles. As his songwriting powers grew in the late ’60s, George had to withhold some material and save it for his excellent debut solo album.

That eventually worked out fine for him. And, before everyone went their separate ways, he dropped “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and “Here Comes the Sun,” songs which most consider his best Beatles work.

Otherwise, George found himself writing tunes for albums like Sgt. Pepper’s only to see them bumped and/or rejected. In retrospect, that treatment didn’t do the Beatles lead-guitar player justice. Here are five songs Harrison wrote and recorded with the band that never got their due.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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For better and – mostly – for worse, John Lennon essentially invented the phenomena of the ‘Rock Star’ as social-political activist. Having broken free of the perceived restraints put upon him whilst in The Beatles, Lennon’s early solo works are marked by an earnest, and in many cases naïve, search for integrity and meaning. Or as he put it in 1970: “I remember what it’s all about now you f**kers! F**k you all!” It was a pursuit which took Lennon to musical, political and personal extremes: from musique concrete back to blues-infused rock ‘n’ roll; from the bed-ins for peace to flirtations with Maoism; from heroin to primal scream therapy.

Yet in spite of the drama and energy of his private and public life, Lennon’s solo-music spectacularly failed to recapture the emotional weight and expression of his work with The Beatles. Neither ‘Mother’ nor ‘My Mummy’s Dead’ from Plastic Ono Band come close to channeling Lennon’s pain and feelings of parental abandonment in the same way that ‘Julia’ from the White Album does. Similarly, the two and a half minutes of ‘Happiness is a Warm Gun’ contains mo details

None of the Beatles' solo catalogs is flawless. But John Lennon's may be the most frustrating of the four, as you'll see in our list of the Best Song From Every John Lennon Album.

Like his bandmates, the earliest records under Lennon's name were conscious attempts to break from his past. But we've excluded the three experimental albums he made with Yoko Ono before he launched his solo career in earnest with 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, because, seriously, how does one choose between "Two Virgins Side One" and "Two Virgins Side Two"?

Still, things don't get any less complicated after those bumpy starts. Plastic Ono Band, for all of its critical acclaim and significance, is a cathartic soul-cleansing for the former Beatle, who pretty much worked through every issue that burdened his mind during the first three decades of his life. Not exactly what his old fans wanted to hear.

Source: ultimateclassicrock.com

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Following the kick-off of this year's North American leg of his record-breaking FRESHEN UP Tour, PAUL McCARTNEY adds to his Summer of LIVE: Paul has confirmed updated releases of four albums capturing performances spanning from his 1975-1976 return to U.S. arenas with Wings to his intimate 2007 set at Amoeba records in Los Angeles. The albums — Amoeba Gig, Paul Is Live, Choba B CCCP, Wings Over America — will be released July 12, 2019 via MPL/Capitol/UMe digitally, on CD and on both black and limited-edition color vinyl.PAUL McCARTNEY DECADES-SPANNING “LIVE” ALBUM MILESTONE REISSUES - Paul has confirmed updated releases of four albums capturing performances spanning from his 1975-1976 return to U.S. arenas with Wings to his intimate 2007 set at Amoeba records in Los Angeles. The albums — Amoeba Gig, Paul Is Live, Choba B CCCP, Wings Over America — will be released July 12, 2019 via MPL/Capitol/UMe digitally, on CD and on both black and limited-edition color vinyl.

Source: prnewswire.com

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Paul McCartney picked New Orleans, one of his favorite cities, to open the US leg of his Freshen Up tour.

On Thursday, May 23, seven songs into a 38-song show, McCartney told his adoring audience at the sold-out Smoothie King Center that he couldn’t think of “a better place to start it off than right here.”

Following his 2002 and 2014 concerts at the Smoothie King Center, McCartney launched his third appearance in the former New Orleans Arena with a pair of Beatles’ classics, 1964’s “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and the 1974 Wings hit, “Junior’s Farm.”

Vintage film footage of McCartney with his fellow Beatles accompanied “Can’t Buy Me Love” on a giant video screen. After the aptly raucous “Can’t Buy Me Love,” the former Beatle paused to gaze at his fans. “This is so cool,” he said.

McCartney, who’ll be 77 on June 18, obviously doesn’t need the money his tours generate. Hugely successful for 56 years, he still loves performing. After Thursday’s two-and-a-half-hour plus concert in New Orleans, he said, “We’ll see you next t details

If I reach the age of 76, I hope I still have the stamina to attend a three-hour rock concert, never mind performing a demanding three-hour show like Paul McCartney did at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday night (May 23). McCartney is a superstar’s superstar. He would be one of the great singer-songwriters of the last half century, even if he had not been half of one of the greatest songwriting duos in the history of popular music.

The former British invader -- who co-composed much of The Beatles songbook with John Lennon -- is reputed to be a billionaire. His artistic legacy is assured. He could easily be sleeping like a log on some picturesque estate somewhere. Instead, he was working like a dog on the Smoothie King stage until 11 p.m., energetically recreating almost 40 classics from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Maybe I’m Amazed” to “Hey Jude,” plus a few newer tunes just to prove he hasn’t lost his composer chops.

Source: nola.com

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Hundreds of incredible never-before-seen images snapped by fans offer a tantalising glimpse of The Beatles' life away from concerts during their heyday.

Pictures dusted off from lofts and home drawers following a worldwide search show John Lennon standing with an admirer outside his Surrey home after she decided to knock on his door in 1968, and Paul McCartney putting his tie before a 1963 concert.

The Fab Four were also captured cycling on bicycles during filming for their single 'Help!' in 1965, which soared to number one in the US and UK charts, and crowning a carnival queen in Northwich near Liverpool.

They have been published in a book, along with further unseen images, titled The People's Beatles, following a call for pictures of band members by European photo company Photobox.

Source: Luke Andrews For Mailonline/dailymail.co.uk

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“The Freshen Up” tour is McCartney’s first outing following the release of his brand new studio album, “Egypt Station,” released September 7 on Capitol Records and generating rave reviews.

The Paul McCartney live experience is everything any music lover could ever want from a show: Nearly three hours nightly of the greatest moments from the last 50 years of music, dozens of songs from McCartney’s solo, Wings and of course Beatles catalogues that have formed the soundtracks of our lives.

McCartney and his band have played an unparalleled range of venues and locations throughout the Americas, the UK, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and all points between: outside the Coliseum in Rome, Moscow’s Red Square, Buckingham Palace, The White House, a free show in Mexico for over 400,000 people, the last ever show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park where The Beatles played their final concert in 1966, a 2016 week in the California desert that included two headline sets at the historic Desert Trip festival and a jam-packed club gig for a few hundred lucky fans at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, and even one performance broadcast live into Space!

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By July 1968, one of the biggest and best bands in the world had more problems than you could count. Recording what eventually became The Beatles’ White Album, tensions between John Lennon and Paul McCartney nearly exploded into violence in the studio.

The following month, feeling unwanted, Ringo walked out on the band and hopped a plane to Italy, unsure if he’d ever return. By January of ’69, it was clear from the Let It Be documentary that George Harrison had his share of problems with band members as well.

George staged his own revolt that month, and by September the group heard John say he was leaving the band permanently. However, that didn’t end things. Let It Be still needed work in the studio. Meanwhile, the band’s contracts bound them together regardless of their wishes.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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After dominating the Billboard charts together for most of the 1960s, the former members of The Beatles would have to see how they fared on their own, starting in 1970.

The early returns suggested they be fine as solo artists. Paul McCartney’s debut might not have been a major artistic success, but it did hit No. 1 in America. Later that year, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass also grabbed the top spot on the Billboard 200.

George’s solo debut also included the first No. 1 single by a former Beatle (“My Sweet Lord”). When John Lennon released his debut in late ’70, he didn’t have the same type of commercial success. (It still sold well, just not on the same Fab-Four level.)

As of 1974, every former Beatle besides John (Ringo included) had landed a No. 1 single in the U.S. But that changed after Elton John stopped by a recording session for Lennon’s Walls and Bridges, his fifth solo effort.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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The Beatles’ official Instagram page shared a rare photo from the 1960s and added the statement of George Harrison from an earlier interview.

Here is George’s statement:

“At that period, it was a perfect song because it was so simple – the message was so simple and it was a great excuse just to go right in the middle of that whole culture that was happening and give them a theme tune.

The Beatles fans commented on the photo with beautiful messages.

A fan named daisy.jamess commented:

“All these looks are so iconic.”

Another fan named a_rif2 said:

“The Beatles > 90% of today’s artists.”