Beatles News
Ringo Starr grew up in a poor section of Liverpool and became an international star because of his drumming talent. Artistic honors and musical halls of fame inductions followed for The Beatles’ timekeeper. Ringo made the most obvious statement when he said his life was like a fairy tale. Yet recording at Ringo’s house was hardly a dream come true for visiting musicians.
Barbara Bach (left), Ringo Starr, and their dogs pose on the lawn outside their house in 1981.
Ringo’s London apartment was like a playground for his friends. Paul McCartney recorded music there. Jimi Hendrix rented it. John Lennon and Yoko Ono shot the cover art for Two Virgins there.
The Beatles’ drummer eventually moved out and became neighbors with John. Later, Ringo bought John’s house — named Tittenhurst Park — (and burned all his leftover possessions) after the Fab Four finally fractured, but he rarely stayed there. The timekeeper lived in Monaco, crashed with John in Los Angeles, and jetted around the globe in the 1970s.
When Ringo and his wife, Barbara Bach, decided to settle down at Tittenhurst, it made using the estate’s home studio torture for visiting bands.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
On a warm day in September 2022, alongside 40 or so press colleagues, I was treated to an advance demonstration of the Dolby Atmos mix of The Beatles' Revolver, at Republic Studios on Broadway In New York City's midtown. Producer/mixer Giles Martin—son of original Beatles producer Sir George Martin—was our host. Giles Martin's demeanor was self-deprecating, and he seemed to know all there is to know about the Beatles and their productions. As Martin played songs from Revolver in surround sound, the assembled group seemed amazed by what they heard.
Played through a JBL-based 7.1.4 system in a conference room (footnote 1), "Tomorrow Never Knows," Revolver's final track (which, however, was the first to be recorded), was transformed. Based on texts from The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead and employing radical elements including musique concrète, avant-garde composition, and tape loops, the effect of this new, spacious soundfield—on an album known for its claustrophobic production—was shocking. At the front of the mix, Lennon's vocal was large; it came across with more texture and nuance than I'd ever heard.
Source: Ken Micallef/stereophile.com
The earliest known full recording of The Beatles playing a live show in the UK has been found almost exactly 60 years after it was made.
As BBC News reports, the hour-long quarter-inch tape recording was created by John Bloomfield at Stowe boarding school in Buckinghamshire on April 4, 1963 when the Fab Four performed there.
Bloomfield, who is now 75 years old, was only 15 at the time. He revealed the existence of the tape when journalist Samira Ahmed visited Stowe to make a special programme for Radio 4’s Front Row to mark the gig’s 60th anniversary.
“It was a unique Beatles gig, performed in front of an almost entirely male audience,” Ahmed wrote of the discovery. “And crucially, despite loud cheers and some screaming, the tape is not drowned out by the audience reaction.”
Source: Tom Skinner/nme.com
After The Beatles broke up, John Lennon wrote many songs that were not subtle with their politics. Some went too far in certain people’s eyes and were banned from playing on the radio. Not every political Lennon song received a ban, but here are three songs that were. “Cold Turkey” was released in 1969 and is one of the earliest songs from John Lennon’s solo career. Lennon wrote the track after he and his wife, Yoko Ono, went cold turkey after a brief heroin addiction. Many believed the song was promoting drugs, and it was subsequently banned on many American radios. In his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon said “Cold Turkey” never had the chance to become popular after it was banned.
“‘Cold Turkey’ is self-explanatory,” he said. “It was banned again all over the American radio, so it never got off the ground. They were thinking I was promoting heroin, but instead … They’re so stupid about drugs!”
Even with the ban, “Cold Turkey” was still a minor hit in the U.S., reaching No. 30 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also reached No. 14 on the U.K. Official Charts.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
In his prime, Phil Spector produced timeless tracks and numerous chart-topping pieces… so even if his later years wouldn’t be as bright, since he would spend his last days in prison convicted for murder, Spector was the ‘it guy’ if you were looking for a brilliant producer to help you dominate the charts in the late 60s.
So, it wasn’t long before none other than the Beatles contacted him for a collaboration, and Phil, we might guess, readily accepted the offer. Well, when it comes to British rockers’ history with producers, perhaps, there’s no need to say how lucky they had while working with producer George Martin, whose brilliance led people often call him ‘the fifth Beatle.’
There were even times when the band left Martin to his own devices, giving him their blessings to produce some of their beloved tracks the way he thought would be the best. So, it might be only fair to say that the Fab Four never had any significant problems or trust issues while working with their producers.
The productions of ‘Let It Be,’ however, differed from the rest of their celebrated discography since it had been quite challenging for the band to focus on their music with all the inner conflicts and complex personal relationships. The band was on the edge of falling apart, though they tried their best to keep things together and carry on.
Source: Melisa Karakas/rockcelebrities.net
Some might say the Beatles. Some might say Chuck Berry, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, or Prince. The question of who is the most influential artist of all time is definitely no easy call, as there are many greats, and influence is admittedly an abstract word. However, all of them had their own qualities to contribute to their specific genres and influenced those that came after them. All served to overlap and feed into the music scene and one another.
For me, there’s truth in saying that a band of boys from Liverpool directly influenced most musical and artistic styles. The Beatles’ songwriting, composition, and sound influenced many after them. So it’s settled! The Beatles are the best, and we can move on… Only I must confess. Generally, yes, they seem to have the most significant influence, but they are hardly flawless. The Beatles were very influential in their bubble of time, and their sound still holds up thanks to the handy production work of George Martin and his son, as well as Phil Spector. But this is also a testament to their musical acumen. They are influential while being heavily influenced themselves.
Source: Taylor Green/theboar.org
George Harrison became known as the “dark horse” of The Beatles after surprising many listeners with his solo career. However, this was no surprise to long-time Beatles producer George Martin who had a theory on why Harrison had an easier time transitioning into a solo career than Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
George Harrison contributed plenty to The Beatles with his stellar guitar skills, but he had limited opportunities to write songs that proved his knack for songwriting. Mainly because Paul McCartney and John Lennon took on most of the songwriting duties for the band. They also didn’t collaborate with Harrison, who wrote most of his songs by himself.
In a 1971 interview with Melody Maker, Martin said he had an easier time transitioning to being solo because he learned so much about music production while working alone.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
John Lennon reconnected with one of his closest childhood friends while he was in The Beatles. Though they hadn’t seen each other in years, he made his friend a promise. Not long after, Lennon followed through on his promise, completely changing the course of his friend’s life. Here’s what he did to support his friend, who admitted he was going down the wrong path.
In 1983, Pete Shotton wrote a book about his friendship with Lennon in which he admitted that he couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t know the musician. They met as children and quickly grew close.
“My memories of the two of us go back so far that I barely remember a time when there was no John Lennon in my life,” he wrote, per Billboard.
They went to school together, and Shotton admitted that he likely would have been a much better-behaved student without Lennon’s influence.
“With two of you, it’s a lot easier to stick to what you believe in,” he said in The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies. “When you’ve had a bad time, there’s someone to laugh with. It was laughs all the time. We never stopped, all the way through school. It was great.”
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney said his song “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five” is a love song about the future. Everyone wants a loving relationship to last forever, even to a time we can’t even comprehend.
In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he was just a kid when he read George Orwell’s 1984. The future described in the book seemed too far that Paul thought he mightn’t live to see it. He felt the same about 2001: A Space Odyssey. “Now they’re well behind us,” Paul wrote.
In the 1950s, a small Paul more than likely balked at the future Orwell or anyone else described. Barely anyone had enough money to buy a television. Rock ‘n’ roll hadn’t even been invented yet. Futuristic literature and film blew everyone’s mind, not just the curious Paul McCartney.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr and his friends used to frequent the Playboy Club, but their long nights at the club came to an end in 1974. Starr and Keith Moon had thrown a party there that caused damage. The club ultimately rescinded their memberships for their behavior. In 1974, Starr and his friend Harry Nilsson decided to make a documentary called Harry and Ringo’s Night Out about their nights in Los Angeles clubs. The two friends spent a good deal of time out with musicians like Moon and John Lennon, and they wanted to capture it on film.Starr turned to Pride Records president Michael Viner to co-finance the film, which they budgeted at $1.5 million. They wanted to intersperse footage from nights out with animated scenes. Ultimately, though, they never completed the project or the accompanying album. Viner screened the early footage with hopes of raising enough money to finish the project, but they never were able to do this
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
