Beatles News

Close to the end of the last century that quintessentially English band, Stackridge recorded a song called, ‘Something About The Beatles’.

‘Turning on, tuning in, everyone believing in love. Making the world go round’

Just like everyone else on the planet, for the past half century and more, Stackridge felt that John, Paul, George and Ringo, collectively, The Beatles, made the world go round. . .and not just the world of music. There really was something about the Beatles that seemed to reach out to everyone. From royalty, to those who simply wanted to touch them, share the same air as them or if all else failed simply to buy the records and bathe in their magical melodies and their wonderful words.

So here are some things about The Beatles…

1. For the week ending April 4th 1964, The Beatles held the top 5 slots of the Billboard Hot 100. They also had another seven positions lower down the chart. One week later they still had three discs in the top five and a further 11 slots within the Hot 100.

2. In the UK, the mono version of the Please Please Me album was rush-released by EMI on 22 March 22 1963. The stereo version was released in late April. All other a details

A video clip from one of The Beatles' gigs back in the 1960's has triggered widespread criticism, as John Lennon, acclaimed singer and songwriter, was shown clearly mocking disabled people while onstage.

The singer's offensive behavior was broadcasted on a Channel 4 TV show, "It Was Alright In The 1960s," on Saturday night, shocking the singers fan's and inciting outrage from other viewers, according to The Daily Mail.

The short clip features Paul McCartney in the background, as he encouraged the audience to clap their hands. Imitating him, John Lennon also asks the audience to do the same, though he delivered the lines with his tongue on the side, adopting a false speech impediment.

He then began an exaggerated clap while stamping his feet, mimicking the way people with disabilities move, reports The Daily Star. While he was doing this, the audience can be heard cheering him on, clapping and hooting.

The reaction to the video clip has mostly been negative, with many quick to point out that the joke, which clearly ridicules the difficulties encountered by disabled people, was done in bad taste. Others, however, state that the singer was simply trying to be a comedian who was putting on a show, ac details

If the Beatles are the soundtrack of your life, then you won’t want to miss a memorabilia collection that could leave you with a piece of the band.

“It’s really something to see; it’s like a Beatles museum. It really is great,” Doug Joswick said.

“You can’t pass anything Beatles, of course, right? so we had to come to check this out,” Matt Greene said.

“It captures the entirety of the Beatles’ career,” said Dean Harmeyer, consignment director at Heritage Auctions.

Harmeyer gave CBS2’s Dick Brennan a tour of the items that were ready to go on auction at the Ukrainian Institute on East 79th Street, on Saturday.

Among the items up for auction is the first contract the Beatles ever signed. John Lennon, Paul McCartneyand George Harrison’s names are all there, but original drummer Pete Best’s name appears on the fourth line rather than that of Ringo Starr.

A 45-RPM record of “P.S. I Love You” with the band’s autographs is also on display.

“(‘P.S. I Love You’ is) the B side for the first single ‘Love Me Do,’ which the song that really starts the stor details

Music-lovers at rateyourmuisc.com have judged nine of The Beatles' twelve studio albums to be among the best thousand ever made.

John, Paul, George and Ringo are well-represented in the list, however users of the popular site appear to favour the group's later studio years, with Please Please Me, With The Beatles and Beatles for Sale all missing out.

Abbey Road and Revolver both sit in the prestigious top 10 coming in at seventh and eighth, with six of the band's albums in total appearing in the top 100.

Three of the "fab four" also made the list with their solo records. McCartney's Ram and Band On The Run appear in the thousand as well as Lennon's debut record John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and chart-topper Imagine. George Harrison's All Things Must Pass comes in at 204.

A massive 300 of the 1000 were albums released in the 1970's while just 121 albums released since the turn of the century appear in the rankings - suggesting that according to the users of the website the best years of music are well and truly behind us.

Radiohead's critically-acclaimed 1997 album Ok Computer tops the list while other high-scoring artists include Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and The Smiths.

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Dhani Harrison and his band, thenewo2, may not be familiar to all the attendees at this weekend’s KAABOO Del Mar festival. But the son of former Beatle George Harrison is no stranger to San Diego or to big outdoor events, having made his festival debut with thenewwho2 at the 2009 edition of Coachella.

We spoke recently with the Los Angeles-based Harrison, whop performs with the latest edition of his band today, Saturday, at 2 p.m. at the Zuma Stage. 

Q: You first performed at Coachella in 2009, and played a warm-up show at the Casbah in San Diego. What do you remember about those two gigs? 

Harrison: Coachella was fun. I’ve done that festival a couple of times, with mixed results. Sometimes it’s too hot, sometimes it's perfect. I haven't been to the Casbah for awhile, but I love San Diego. I was just down there to watch the Rolling Stones at Petco Park (in May), and that was pretty crazy.

Q: KAABOO is being held at the Del Mar Racetrack and fairgrounds. Ever been there? 

Harrison: I’ve been past the racetrack, but I’ve never been there for a big event. San Diego and Encinitas have good spots for skateboarding, so I spent a lot of time down details

Charlie Schwartz says it was “the only time I ever cut school in my life.” He was with his best buddy Matt Blender in the student lounge at Fair Lawn High School in Bergen County, New Jersey, when a couple of other guys said, “The Beatles are coming in to JFK. Let’s go find them!”

It was February 1964, and the so-called “Fab Four” were in the United States for the first time as a group for what became an historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. A total of six kids spontaneously piled into a 1961 Chevy Impala convertible to go to the airport – four male seniors, and two female juniors – and were quite surprised when they managed to intersect a motorcade of limousines. They pulled up next to one of them on the Van Wyck Expressway, going about 60 miles an hour.

The window rolled down, and in the back seat of the limo was Ringo Starr. The kids waved and Ringo waved back, trying to carry on a conversation. Then Ringo picked up his ever-present camera and shot a couple pictures.

“A day after this whole thing happened,” Schwartz told the Index-Tribune recently, “it was history, I forgot about it.” He went about his life – mo details

Only the last few Beatles albums were originally mixed in stereo, leading some bedrock fans to fetishize the early mono sound. Certainly, it’s what they grew up with, and then became reacquainted with when mono mixes of the Beatles catalog were released on disc in 2009 and on vinyl in 2014. But, are they better?

There has been much made lately about the superiority of the mono mixes of Beatles albums over their stereo counterparts.

Stereo LPs are suddenly viewed as suspect, as if stereo sound was an inferior way to present this group’s music. Magazine ads urge buyers to purchase the mono mixes of Beatle albums, “the way the music was meant to be heard.”

But show me a published interview where John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, or their record producer George Martin indicate a preference for the Beatles’ recordings in monaural sound — other than in the case of false American stereo releases of the earliest Beatles recordings, which Martin disdained.

Show me a quote by any of the only five people on the planet who matter on this subject, where a member of the band complains about stereo being an artificial aural trick that was forced onto details

Sir Paul McCartney has said he's glad he didn't listen to critics of his music after The Beatles, because he "might have given up".

Sir Paul is re-mastering his albums Tug of War and Pipes of Peace, and spoke about being "proud of his music in retrospect" with BBC Radio 2's Dermot O'Leary.

"I do yeah, in fact one of the things was Wings were getting a bad rap at that time because it was post Beatles, and anything you did or I did that was solo was stood up against The Beatles," he said.

"So you tend to go along with that, and I went along with a bit of that thinking 'well it's never gonna be that good but I'll do it because I love doing it'."

"And then you listen to it back and think 'this is better than I thought it was'. So that's great to do, to really listen back and think 'I'm glad I did that, glad I kept going', because you know if I listened to the critics I might have given up."

He also spoke frankly about the day Beatles star John Lennon was killed. Lennon was shot in New York in December 1980 by Mark David Chapman.

By: Ian Marland

Source: Herald Scotland

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Researchers claim to have discovered the first World War grave of the grandfather of former Beatle George Harrison in northern France. Pte Henry Harrison, who had seven children, died on September 25th, 1915, the first day of the Battle of Loos.

The centenary of the battle occurs later this month.

Harrison had Irish roots on his mother’s side. His maternal grandfather John French was born in Co Wexford.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) archive manager Andrew Fetherston described the discovery as a “complete surprise”. Though the life stories of The Beatles have been very well documented, it is the first time that it has been confirmed where and when Harrison’s grandfather was killed in the war.

Mr Fetherston said the discovery was proof that even after 100 years “ there is always something new to learn”.

The first day of the Battle of Loos was the worst day of the war for the British army - aside from the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The CWGC, which is responsible for tending to all the British and Commonwealth War graves, records some 10,200 British war dead from that day, including 8,500 who fell in Loos itself.

By: R details

It might look like a typical Georgian townhouse, but the Abbey Road Studios have been a hive of creativity and source of world-class recording for more than 80 years.

Thousands of music fans from far and wide visit the street each year to walk across the iconic zebra crossing outside the recording studio and sign their name on the road sign, which is repainted every three months.

The Beatles, who made their first demo at the studio in June 1962, are possibly the most famous band to have used the building. 

And now scores of devotees from across the country will be able to have a fly-on-the-wall intimate experience of the magic that happened behind closed doors during the rock band's recording sessions.

A live re-staging of the moments songs such as Please Please Me, Help! and Yellow Submarine were created will make its way to the Capital FM Arena as part of a 12-date tour on May 4, 2016.

The access-all-areas musical documentary will be set in a state-of-the-art reproduction of the iconic building's Studio 2 and will feature live renditions of the timeless albums recorded there by The Beatles.

No fewer than 45 people will take to the stage, which is set in the round, to ensure details

Rockaway Records announces the acquisition of the “Peace To Monterey” Drawing, a one-of-a-kind, Beatles memorabilia, and its availability for sale at the Rockaway Records’ store and online.

When The Beatles declined to perform at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, they sent their regards in the form of a hand-drawn page of psychedelic artwork rendered by none other than John Lennon and Paul McCartney themselves. The original drawing, which appeared in the festival’s program, was done as a favor for their friend and former publicist Derek Taylor and is now in Rockaway Records' possession.

World-renowned Beatles handwriting expert, Frank Caiazzo, has authenticated this rare Beatles collectible and it is now on sale for $200,000. Serious buyers can view the drawing in person at the Rockaway Records store located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The drawing, along with a detailed description, can also be viewed online at rockaway.com/beatles/hand-drawn-monterey-pop-festival-poster.

Using colored pencils, felt tip markers and ballpoint pen, both Paul and John created this unique piece that was then reproduced and placed in the full-color festival program. In addition to all details

Six years earlier, he had appeared on stage in Cambridge in the trademark Fab Four smart dark suit and zipped black boots.

Now it is 1969, and John Lennon, bearded, bespectacled, and be-denimed, is back in the city.

These remarkable pictures from the News archive show him not at The Regal, where the band wowed screaming fans in 1963, but in the academic surroundings of Cambridge University's Lady Mitchell Hall.

Also there is Yoko Ono, performing alongside him in what was the first live show by any individual Beatle away from the group. 

The event, called Natural Music, took place in March of that year, and it was witnessed by an audience of 500. It was promoted by poet and percussionist Anthony Barnett, who had invited Yoko Ono to attend, and was no doubt delighted when she brought Lennon along too.

The Beatles were at the height of their pop fame. Only a couple of weeks earlier, the Yellow Submarine album had been released, and they were working on their next, Abbey Road, due for release in September. But inspired by Ono, Lennon had branched off in a project called Unfinished Music, which was all about experimentation.

Lennon remained towards the back of the stage, coaxing a details

This week in 1969—September 13, 1969, to be exact—John Lennon performed at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada, with a hastily assembled backing band.

The band, which performed under the "Plastic Ono Band" moniker, included Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Klaus Voorman on bass and future Yes member Alan White on drums. Oh, right; Yoko Ono was there too ...

The band rehearsed twice—once during the flight from London to Toronto and once shortly before their performance.

Their eight-song set consisted of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" followed by two vintage tunes the Beatles had covered in 1964 and '65, respectively—"Money (That's What I Want)" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy." Then they launched into a true screamer from the Beatles' White Album, "Yer Blues," which Clapton had performed with Lennon in 1968 at the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus; followed by Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey" (the latter of which features Clapton on the studio recording).

Oh, right; they also performed two Yoko Ono songs.

Below, you can check out "Yer Blues," which is arguably the highlight of the short-lived band's short-lived set. That said, you'll probably notice two irritat details

THE BEATLES’ 1 collection is set to be reissued in a new package that brings the band’s hit songs together with their short films for the first time, as 1+.

The deluxe edition will be released on November 6 and will include 50 promotional films and videos, alongside the Fab Four’s 27 chart-topping singles. You can watch a trailer for the collection below…

The new set follows extensive research and restoration of the band’s original promo films by Apple Corp., and features classic television appearances and other carefully selected videos that span the group’s history. Various packages of 1+ are available on both DVD and Blu-Ray formats, featuring new stereo and surround sound mixes of the films, alongside a CD featuring featuring those all-important hit singles.

“These videos and films are spectacular reminders of the era we lived in,” says Paul McCartney of the films. “They also rock!” Fellow Beatle Ringo Starr also welcomed the new edition, explaining that thanks to his band’s proto-music videos he gained some unlikely skills, explaining: “I think it’s really interesting to see the videos we made, some of them incredible and details

It’s time for George Harrison to be immortalized in the world of comic books, as StormFront Comics has announced a new biography about the famed Beatle.

Orbit: George Harrison will debut this week as part of the company’s popular Orbit series, with writer Carols Pagola Morales at the helm. Morales will explore Harrison’s life from his teens until his death in 2001, touching on the musician’s religious beliefs (his conversions to Hinduism) as well as the ups and downs of his career prior to and after his fame with the Beatles.

“No one could begin to estimate the contribution Harrison and the Beatles have given us,” Darren G. Davis, president of StormFront Comics, said in a press statement. “George Harrison is the perfect choice for our Orbit series. He was so much more than just a rock star. He is a respected musician, film producer, and humanitarian, I consider him a standard-bearer of peace and spirituality.” Prior subjects in StormFront’s Orbit series have included Stephen King, Howard Stern, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia, Metallica, Alice Cooper, Bono, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osborne.

The 32-page book will be available in both print and across digital pla details