Beatles News
The musicians who would become the Beatles played some of their earliest shows at the Casbah Coffee Club, a music venue in the basement of a Liverpool home. The house was owned by Mona Best, the mother of the band’s one-time drummer, Pete Best, who lived upstairs as a teenager.
Now, Pete and his brother, Roag, are reopening the building as an Airbnb. Guests can stay in Beatles-themed rooms full of the band’s memorabilia.
“The Beatles played here, the Beatles partied here and the Beatles slept here,” Pete, now 82, tells PA Media’s Eleanor Barlow.
Mona bought the building, located in the West Derby area of the city, after winning an unlikely bet, according to the Guardian’s Hannah Al-Othman. At the 1954 Epsom Derby, she pawned all of the jewelry she owned and placed the money on an inexperienced jockey riding a horse named “Never Say Die.” She watched the race with her family, who didn’t know about the bet.
“As the horse was winning and coming past the finishing post, she suddenly jumped up and started screaming: ‘I’ve won the house, I’ve won the house, I’ve won the house!’” Pete tells the Guardian. “It was only then that she told us what she’d done.”
The bet was just one of many shrewd gambles in her life. Another was her decision to transform the house’s cellar into a music venue. When she opened the Casbah Coffee Club in 1959, she also acted as its promoter.
Source: Julia Binswanger/smithsonianmag.com
For almost 50 years, a recording of America at the Hollywood Bowl lay dormant as a lost treasure. But no more.
America – Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975 has been restored and released via Primary Wave Music; distributed by Sun Records. The record comes out almost exactly 49 years to the day of the performance, which was September 5th, 1975.
The never-before-heard tapes were recently restored and recently mixed and produced from the original master tapes. Previously issued in limited quantities on Record Store Day, the 20-track album is now being released on CD, on a new red vinyl variant, and digitally.
Produced by Jeff Larson, Live From The Hollywood Bowl 1975 captures America at the peak of its performance prowess: The band was tight and spirited, nailing breezy harmony vocals, teardrop slide guitar parts, plaintive piano passages, and intricate folk guitar filigree. Adding to excitement was that America was joined by its producer Sir George Martin, often known as the “fifth Beatle,” who conducted an orchestra behind the band.
The album features live versions of classic tracks such as “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair,” “I Need You,” “Lonely People,” and, of course, “A Horse With No Name.” Martin’s contributions are on full display during the orchestral fanfare intro to “A Horse With No Name.” Here, strings and woodwinds sketch one of the song’s signature melodies. Then that unmistakable chord sequence enters, and the Hollywood Bowl audience erupts with instant recognition of the smash single.
Source: usrockermusic.com
Recently I had a couple of items to be framed, so I visited Creative Framing Solutions on Chestnut Street. In my experience, owner Grace Burr has always done immaculate work. While chatting she mentioned that she was planning to have more shows on-site. Her next show coming up was by a photographer I was not familiar with. (Possibly showing my ’60s pop-culture ignorance.)
The exhibition, entitled “The Lost Weekend: The Photography of May Pang,” will provide fans a rare opportunity to see John Lennon in a new light, through the lens of someone who knew him intimately during one of the most creative periods of his life. May Pang’s candid photos will be on display and available to purchase. Pang will attend the exhibit, meeting customers and telling stories behind these amazing limited-edition photographs for sale of John Lennon.
The exhibit coincides with the recent digital release of the film documentary about John Lennon and May Pang called “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” available on many streaming platforms (Amazon Prime, AppleTV, YouTube, Vudu) and produced by Briarcliff Entertainment.
Photographer May Pang knew John Lennon intimately. Pang was Lennon’s lover during the infamous “Lost Weekend” which lasted 18 months during late 1973 through 1975. During this highly creative time for Lennon, Pang took candid photos of Lennon in a comfortable, relaxed environment. A collection of these private photographs will be on display and available for purchase at Creative Framing Solutions, 410 Chestnut Street, Manchester, NH., on Tue-Wed, October 1-2. Admission to the exhibit is free to the public. All works are available to purchase.
During the Lost Weekend, with May’s help, Lennon had his most artistically and commercially productive period post-Beatles—with the albums “Mind Games,”,”Walls and Bridges,” which included his only #1 Hit Single “Whatever Gets You Through the Night,” “Rock and Roll” and collaboration with Rock legends Elton John, David Bowie, Harry Nilsson, Mick Jagger, and Ringo among others. Also, on that album Pang can be heard on the song “#9 Dream” where she whispers John’s name in the song. Another song on the album, “Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird of Paradox),” was written about Pang.
Source: manchester.inklink.news
With any artistic pursuit, the artist runs the risk of regretting their choices as time passes and their craft develops. Even the Beatles looked back on some of their earliest offerings and cringed. John Lennon was embarrassed by one song in particular. Find out why Lennon regretted writing “It’s Only Love,” below.
I get high when I see you go by
My oh, my
When you sigh, my, my inside just flies
Butterflies
Why am I so shy?
When I’m beside you
It’s safe to say that the lyrics to “It’s Only Love” are somewhat simplistic. That’s not always a bad thing. Some of the best songs–even the best Beatles songs–center around simple sentiments. Lennon, however, found them to be too juvenile. As he looked back on this track later in his career, he found it to be an embarrassing moment on his otherwise pretty stellar track record.
“It’s the most embarrassing song I ever wrote,” Lennon once said of this track. “Everything rhymed. Disgusting lyrics. Even then I was so ashamed of the lyrics, I could hardly sing them. That was one song I really wished I’d never written.”
It’s only love, and that is all
Why should I feel the way I do
It’s only love, and that is all
But it’s so hard
Loving you
Lennon’s hatred of this song didn’t stop there. Elsewhere he took ownership of the song and slighted it at the same time.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
Getting to meet and stand in line with your childhood musical idols must be one of the cooler parts of becoming a famous musician, but this perk comes with a price. Sometimes, those idols don’t feel the same about you, as was the case for a famed Britpop band and former Beatle, Paul McCartney.
The Beatles’ influence on rock ‘n’ roll is a globally undeniable phenomenon, but their legacy is perhaps most strongly felt in their native U.K., where bands like Black Sabbath, Queen, and Oasis followed in the Fab Four’s footsteps.
Unfortunately for that last band, though, they found themselves on Paul McCartney’s bad side sometime in the late 1990s.
Paul McCartney Called This British Band “Derivative”.
By the time Oasis became famous, the Beatles were a long-lost relic of decades past. The surviving three members, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, were all busy pursuing their professional and personal passions. But when the Britpop band from Manchester tried to claim they were “bigger than the Beatles” in a 1996 interview with MTV, the lads from Liverpool took note.
In a documentary detailing Oasis’ divisive rise to stardom, Harrison and McCartney offered their two cents. “The music lacks depth,” the Quiet Beatle argued, “and the singer, Liam [Gallagher], is a pain. The rest of the band don’t need him.” McCartney agreed, adding, “They’re derivative, and they think too much of themselves. They mean nothing to me” (via Express).
The ex-Beatles were certainly no strangers to controversial interviews—their own bandmate, John Lennon, had received tremendous criticism for claiming their band was “bigger than Jesus.” So, one could certainly argue that McCartney should’ve known Gallagher was stirring the pot because he could. However, that hindsight also gave McCartney a unique perspective on Gallagher’s comments that, in a way, turned out to be correct.
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
Though he might not have had quite as many cuts as Paul McCartney or John Lennon, George Harrison did deliver his fair share of hits for the Beatles. Among his cuts are “I, Me, Mine,” “Something,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Each of those songs are indelible in the Beatles catalog, proving Harrison’s songwriting prowess. However, there is one song in particular that stood out for McCartney. Find out what Macca’s favorite Harrison-penned Beatles song is, below.
Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s alright
It’s impossible to not like “Here Comes the Sun.” It’s the sonic equivalent to feeling the first warm rays after a long, cold, lonely winter. McCartney once credited this track as one of his favorite songs Harrison contributed to the band.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, McCartney was asked what song of Harrison’s he liked best. “‘Here Comes The Sun,’” he said at the time. “It is a brilliant song and the kind of song that’s really good in times like these.”
Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darlin’, it feels like years since it’s been here
Though this song seems to have pretty self explanatory origins, it was a sort of rebirth for Harrison. While the song’s themes seem to capture the changing of the seasons, it was written at a time when Harrison needed a bit of change himself.
Source: Alex Hopper/americansongwriter.com
I was there for the band's only appearance in this city, hired as an usher for the occasion. I can remember the scene — and the screams.
The Beatles performed two shows at the Forum on Sept. 8, 1964. Tickets were $4.50 and $5.50. Only the night performance was sold out.
The Beatles pose at the Forum for their one and only appearance in Montreal, on Sept. 8, 1964. They performed two shows, at 4 and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $4.50 and $5.50.
In early September 1964, I noticed an ad in The Gazette seeking ushers to work a rock concert I wanted to see at the Montreal Forum. The ticket price was outrageous ($5.50!), so the opportunity to work the afternoon and evening shows and get paid sounded great. Applicants were asked to go downtown to the Forum four days before the show. On the appointed day, I took the Sherbrooke 105 bus from Montreal West to the arena. I was 20 years old.
More than 100 of us were crammed into a huge room. An official-looking man announced enough ushers had already been hired and thanked everyone for showing up. My heart sank. But as the crowd shuffled toward the door, the guy suddenly yelled: “Wait! We need the six tallest. If you are over six-foot-two, stick around!” I stood six- foot-three. I was hired on the spot and told to show up at noon the day of the concerts wearing grey flannels, black shoes and a white shirt. This is how I came to be an usher at the only shows the Beatles ever performed in Montreal, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 1964.
On the day of the concerts, I had to wear a ridiculous usher’s cap. Of course, this cap was available only in sizes too small for me, so I picked the largest and balanced it on the back of my head. We six were taken to our workstations in front of a curtain that blocked a corridor, where we were to stand, arms folded, to deny passage to anyone trying to enter. Behind the curtain was a door to a dressing room. The Beatles would be in this dressing room just before going on stage.
A poster announcing the Beatles' only Montreal show, at the Forum, Sept. 8, 1964. Among the opening acts were the Righteous Brothers and the Exciters.
Source: montrealgazette.com
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were political activists who used their celebrity to spread the message of peace and love, even if the FBI considered them to have limited efficacy as revolutionaries, as they were “constantly under the influence of narcotics.” In March 1969, Lennon and Ono honeymooned in Amsterdam. They turned it into an event, inviting the press to their “bed-in for peace.” Several months later, they repeated the event in Montreal. This time, they recorded “Give Peace a Chance,” which was quickly adopted by protesters of the Vietnam War. In December, they financed billboards in 10 cities worldwide, declaring (in the native language) “War Is Over! If You Want It.”
In August 1971, Lennon and Ono moved to New York City and embraced radical left ideologies. Richard Nixon’s administration began a four-year attempt to deport Lennon, causing a sticky legal battle with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that wouldn’t be resolved until 1976. Let’s take a look at the story behind “Gimme Some Truth” by John Lennon.
I’m sick and tired of hearing things from
Uptight, short-sided, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth
I’ve had enough of reading things
By neurotic, psychotic, pigheaded politicians
All I want is the truth
Just give me some truth
Source: Jay McDowell/americansongwriter.com
The new documentary One to One: John & Yoko reportedly features an eerie declaration from John Lennon regarding whether he felt his political activism put his safety at risk.
The film covers Lennon’s planned Free The People Tour in the early ’70s, which aimed to raise money for people who were jailed but unable to afford bail. It wound up being called off.
But People reports that one scene in the film includes archival footage of the Beatles legend talking on the phone with drummer Jim Keltner about the risks of the tour. Keltner asks whether Lennon has “any paranoia” about people ahead of the tour launch.
“What people? … You mean people trying to kill us or something like that? I’m not about to get myself shot,” Lennon replies. “It’ll cause excitement in its own way. But, er, you know, I’m still an artist, but a revolutionary artist, right?”
In another clip Lennon talks to a journalist about concerns he and wife Yoko Ono have for their safety, noting, “We started noticing people hanging outside the apartment. And I have a driver, he’s an ex-cop. But we’re getting followed by this car, all the time. So we’re all very nervous.”
Both of those comments from Lennon were made almost eight years before his death. Lennon was shot and killed in 1980 outside his New York apartment, The Dakota. He was only 40.
One to One: John & Yoko focuses on the couple’s move to New York City in the ’70s and culminates with their 1972 One to One concerts, which were Lennon’s only post-Beatles full-length performances.
The film recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival and so far does not have an official release date.
Source: kslx.com
After suffering through a devastating personal tragedy, Paul McCartney hunkered down and got back to his music in 1999. Specifically, he turned to the music of his youth for comfort and inspiration. The resulting album, Run Devil Run, was a triumph.
While many cover songs of rock standards can lack the zest of the originals and come off as routine retreads, McCartney and the backing band he used for the album absolutely sizzled. Let’s look back at how Run Devil Run, Paul’s off-the-cuff project, delivered such lasting impact.
On April 17, 1998, Linda McCartney passed away after battling cancer. The McCartney’s marriage had been idyllic, especially by the standards of rock and roll unions where volatility is a given. The pair rarely spent any time apart, even with all the demands of the former Beatle’s career.
Thus, it was understandable when McCartney stepped out of the limelight and spent time to grieve, in the end taking about a year off. Many wondered if his next release would address the feelings of loss he likely was experiencing in the wake of Linda’s passing. But McCartney instead chose something invigorating and mostly joyful.
Long a fan of the early days of rock and roll and R&B, McCartney decided to put out an album that would consist mostly of cover versions of those songs. With a few exceptions, he also tended toward more obscure choices. Because of that, the album sounded a bit fresher for not treading over well-worn paths.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
