John Lennon Portrait

John Lennon Portrait
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

Paul McCartney Portrait

Paul McCartney Portrait
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

close-up Harrison #2

close-up Harrison #2
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

Four Boys in Abbey Road (a huge one!)

Four Boys in Abbey Road (a huge one!)
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

Beatles making Revolver

Beatles making Revolver
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

Paul & George in Sgt. Pepper mode.

Paul & George in Sgt. Pepper mode.
Originally uploaded by Sir George Martinn

from Hello-Goodbye clip.

John and George Toppermost of the poppermost

The girl is theirs

This is a duet with Paul McCartney. Jackson and McCartney were good friends until 1995, when Jackson bought the publishing rights to most of The Beatles' songs. McCartney had given Jackson advice on acquiring publishing rights, which is where lots of money is made. Jackson felt it was "just business."

This was the first single released off the Thriller album. Although it was one of the weakest songs, it was released first because it was guaranteed airplay because of McCartney's contribution. At the time, many big albums contained a song with a prominent guest vocalist to attract attention. Released ahead of the album, this song gave no indication that Thriller would become the best-selling album of all time.

The lyrics are mostly friendly banter about who has dibs on the girl. The song was a very safe choice as first single, since it was very conventional and easy to understand. Jackson was afraid that if he released an edgy song like "Billie Jean" or "Beat It" first, people wouldn't give the album a chance.

This was released a month before the album came out. The next 6 singles all came after the album, and were all Top-10 hits.

Michael Jackson ( transcribed from audio files at HIStory Museum): "One of my favorite songs to record of all of my recordings as a solo artist is probably The Girl Is Mine because working with Paul McCartney was pretty exciting and we just literally had fun. It was like lots of kibitzing and playing and throwing stuff at each other and making jokes." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

According to a 1982 Interview with producer Quincy Jones, this song was fun. It seemed tailor-made for Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. (thanks, Annabelle - Eugene, OR)

Michael Jackson re-recorded Thriller in 2008 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the record. He enlisted a variety of musical stars, plus had tracks from it re-mixed. For "The Girl Is Mine 2008," he recruited Will.I.Am of Black Eyed Peas, to reprise the role initially performed by Sir Paul McCartney.

We tried to telephone, they said you were not home

click at picture for larger size.

...that's a lie... but this is the facts about the song 'No Reply'. The tracks that opened the album 'Beatles For Sale' in 1964.

1. This was one of John Lennon's first songs to tell a complete story. The boy knocks on his girl's door, knows she is home because he sees her in the window, but she does not answer. Lennon wrote the song when he was inspired by the song "Silhouettes." He said, "I had that image of walking down the street and seeing her silhouetted in the window and not answering the phone." Music publisher Dick James told Lennon that it was the first "complete" song that John had ever written: It had a beginning and an end. (Thanks to our Beatles expert Pattie Noah - check her out at luvmedeux.com.)


2. This starts with a vocal, which was rare for the time.


3. Lennon's original intent for this song was for it to be a waltz. The demo The Beatles recorded at the last session for A Hard Day's Night is performed in this style. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)

Beatles Haircut

By Bill Harry

read the full story here

Moptops? What do you mean!

I never noticed anything particular about John, George, Paul, Pete or Stuart's hairstyles in the early days -- apart from the fact that initially some of them sported the traditional Tony Curtis style that was popular in Liverpool in the late fifties. It was a style referred to as a d.a. (duck's arse, because of the way the hair curled at the rear).

I had mine done at Max the Mad Russian's, near the Majestic Cinema in town.
Nor did I notice anything specific about their hair when they returned back from Germany. Looking at the photos of the time, taken by Astrid and by Mersey Beat photographers, I couldn't see anything that was radically different from the style most Liverpool youngsters and group members sported.

Then, when Brian Epstein took them over, I noticed that not only did he spruce them up in mohair suits made by his tailor Beno Dorn in Birkenhead, but he took them to Horne Brothers at the corner of Lord Street and had lots of publicity photographs taken of them enjoying a new coiffeur by the unknown barber there. I say unknown, because no one these days could quote the name of the barber who gave them the style, on the instruction of Brian Epstein, when he took them to the fashionable barbers in April 1963. Dezo Hoffmann photographed them having their hair cut and was to comment, "The hairdresser was a friend of theirs who liked Astrid Kirchherr's idea of longer hair for the Beatles. He would groom and discipline their hair for them every week."

Despite Brian and his Horne Brothers publicity pictures to herald a new Beatles image (he took them to the Empire Theatre to watch the Shadows, in their mohair suits, and pointed out how they bowed to the audience at the end of their act. John and Pete didn't like to abandon their leather gear, but they were outvoted. Once suited in mohair, with tidy shirts and tie, John again tried to rebel by unfastened the top button of his shirt when they went on stage, but Paul always stepped forward to fasten it again. Brian gave them neatly typed sheets instructing them not to swear or smoke on stage - paving the way for the Rolling Stones to adopt the image of 'the savage young Beatles', that Brian had carefully smoothed away), their hair style began to change initially in Hamburg.

The Hug

Thank you, security guard. BTW from his face (and his strange acting lips) George didn't seem to mind at all. Oh how I miss the good old days.

The Beatles Anthology (sample)

Yes, I got this book. And this entry's going to show some pages of it. One by one. Here's the first two.:)

Fab Four Live

Nothing but a great fabs live in colors. Click to see in a larger size.

Pentax Ringo

> I saw today the Beatles anthology on video and when they went to America the> first time,> Paul says: We had a lot of fun taking photographs with our Pentax.> Later you see some photos of Ringo Starr and George Harrison with cameras.> > Are there any more famous Pentax users than the Beatles?>

You should get a hold of a copy of Hard Day's Night. In it, Ringowalks around with his beautiful black pre-Spotmatic around his neckquite a bit.

There are several other celebs who are captured sporting Spotties backin the '60's. One that I recall was an English Royal, one of theprincesses, maybe Anne? Anyway she had one, and she was photographedwearing it.

Don't forget, back in the 60's, Spotmatics outsold all other brands of35mm SLR - combined! Hard to believe, but true. There were lots of'em out there....

read more at.... here.

BREAKING NEWS: New found Quarry Men photo!

Experts still confuse about the date taken. Was it June22,1957 or July 6,1957 the day John met Paul? Mark Lewisohn believes in the second theory. See notes for each member's name.

This photo was recently found by Rod Davis, a Quarry Man.

John Lennon@RollingStone January 1981-cover

Click at photo for larger size.

December 8, 1980 .It was taken a few hours before he died...when he saw a test Polaroid photo of this John said to the photographer "You have captured our relationship exactly."

That day is really the Beatles last day.

Billboard history MEET THE BEATLES tops chart!

Click at photo for a full-size image!

It's February 29,1964. See which album you STILL have now!

Thanks GoogleBooks!

Beatles@RollingStone1968-cover

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John talks about his Macrobiotics. Yoko about her films. And the Beatles about their new records...turn out to be the White Album.

I want you to meet Yoko Ono

A new exhibit chronicling John Lennon's New York years will feature guitars, handwritten lyrics, personal items and also the bloody clothes he was wearing the night he was shot.

Lennon moved to New York City with his wife Yoko Ono in 1971, almost two years after he left the Beatles.

The exhibit is especially emotional for Ono, who said including his bloody clothes was a hard decision. But, she said she ultimately decided to do it in order to let people see the effects of gun violence.

Music buffs and Beatles fans won't be disappointed in the display. The music icon's legendary instruments, handwritten lyrics, other clothing and personal possessions will be on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex NYC in SoHo.

The Beatles' passion for music and art will be explored by the exhibit, but it will also try to capture Lennon's verve for politics and social activism.

read full story here

Woman I can hardly express.....

Click at photo for a full-size image!

One of my favorite Lennon love songs. Simple,honest and very sweet. His version is very unique, a few dare to cover.

Woman I can hardly express,
My mixed emotion at my thoughtlessness,
After all I'm forever in your debt,
And woman I will try express,
My inner feelings and thankfullness,
For showing me the meaning of succsess,
oooh well, well,
oooh well, well,

Woman I know you understand
The little child inside the man,
Please remember my life is in your hands,
And woman hold me close to your heart,
However, distant don't keep us apart,
After all it is written in the stars,
oooh well, well,
oooh well, well,

Woman please let me explain,
I never mean(t) to cause you sorrow or pain,
So let me tell you again and again and again,
I love you (yeah, yeah) now and forever,
I love you (yeah, yeah) now and forever,
I love you (yeah, yeah) now and forever,
I love you (yeah, yeah)...

"She was just beauty queen..."--- "No no no...you know what I mean...."

Click at photo for a full-size image!

John and Paul, writing the classic 'I Saw Her Standing There' at Paul's home Forthlin Road. Late 1962.

The Beatles' first day

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22 August 1962, Cavern early morning rehearsal. This is perhaps one of the first photos of Beatles with a new drummer who has rings in his fingers. When I look at this photo today, I see the history, classic!

(In fact, the FAB FOUR first day is 18 August 1962. But there's no photo that day until this one.)

JOHN LENNON THE ICON ( White Album photo session)

Click at photo for a full-size image!

Rare photo outtakes from 1968.I guess this is a Lennon image most fans remember. Round glasses, quite long hair and a serious look.Click to see the larger size.

THE Walk

A 10-minute photo shoot. Four guys crossing a street. What could be less eventful? But the photograph taken for the last record the Beatles made, Abbey Road, has become a classic of album art — one of the best-known and most copied images in popular music.

It was Paul McCartney who came up with the street-crossing idea and worked out the details with photographer Iain Macmillan. The other Beatles liked the idea — ''with varying degrees of enthusiasm,'' says Macmillan — and agreed to meet at 10 a.m. on Aug. 8, 1969, outside their Abbey Road studio. A bobby held up traffic while the band walked back and forth across the street three times. Perched on a ladder in the middle of the road, Macmillan snapped six pictures from which McCartney chose the cover shot.

''It was nerve-racking,'' remembers Macmillan. ''Getting them to walk in the right way was difficult.''

The result was ironically eloquent, a jarringly mundane image of the larger-than-life Beatles. Even 28 years later, fans still flock to the site of the crossing and re-create the picture themselves.

Of course, not only tourists have been imitating the famous photo over the years. Booker T. & the M.G.'s ambled across a Memphis street for their 1970 album, McLemore Avenue, and alterna-funk band the Red Hot Chili Peppers cheekily parodied it on their 1988 The Abbey Road E.P., while the cover of rapper Chubb Rock's recent album, The Mind, also pays tribute. Even McCartney has joined the fun, digitally spoofing the famous scene for his 1993 album Paul Is Live (whose very title plays off the old rumors of McCartney's death, supposedly proven by evidence in the original photograph). Why is the cover so imitated? ''You can replicate it wherever you're making a record,'' says James Henke, chief curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. And hey, an association with the Beatles' best-selling album can't hurt. What band wouldn't want to carry that kind of weight? -EW.COM

Jump!

The Beatles seem to always love to jump. That's why there's no one higher than them. It's the cutiest jump in rock, I guess.

John Lennon answers a fan's letter

From the Beatles book monthly No.2/1963.


Dear Beatles Book,

I'm a girl from Finland--you know, the country where polar bears walk the streets. I've heard and read very much about the Beatles and I've seen pictures too. But I've never heard the boys playing. Oh, I'm sad about that. The records haven't come to Finland yet but I'll keep waiting. Do they sing on their records? I've seen pictures where they're keeping their mouths open so I expect they do. I hope I didn't disturb you too much by sending a letter from so faaaar away. I with the Beatles could sometimes in the future come to Finland and then you can be sure they would get a big welcome. About those polar beats in the streets. That's a BIG lie. Here it is only Finnish girls who DRESS UP in polar bear furs! Wishing you good luck in the future.

Yours truly,
(signed) Gula Lindroos,
Helsingfors, Finland
-----------------------

John Lennon of the Beatles writes:

What a fab letter! I'm arranging for a copy of our new single "She Loves You" to be sent out to Gula...then she'll know we can't sing!

7 facts you should know about....the Beatles' "Rain"

1.Ringo has said this is his best drumming on a Beatles song.
2.This was the first song to use a tape played backwards, which created the strange audio effect. John Lennon discovered the technique when he put the tape for "Tomorrow Never Knows" on the wrong way. He was stoned at the time, and producer George Martin had to convince him that using a backward recording for the entire song was a bad idea. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
3.Lennon wrote most of this. It was his first song to get really deep, exploring themes of reality and illusion.
4.The backwards vocal at the end fade out is actually the songs first line: "When the rain comes they run and hide their heads". (thanks, chet - saratoga springs, NY)
5.This was one of the first Beatles records to feature loud, booming bass. McCartney's bassline is extremely recognizable, in contrast to The Beatles' older records. (thanks, Chris LaBenne - Niles, OH)
6.This was released as the B-side of "Paperback Writer." It was recorded during the Revolver sessions. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
7.The rhythm track was played fast and slowed down on tape.

"The Beatles" by Astrid

"The Beatles were the first English people I met, and you must remember, this was not long after the war. We all learned that these other people were not the enemies we believed they were. We listened to one another. Yes, I gave Stuart the haircut first--John made fun of it. But soon he wanted one, too, and so did the others. The same haircuts or not, each of them was strongly individual. I could tell right away."

-Astrid Kirchherr, photographer

Why the Beatles still rule the world?

THE BEATLES LOGO

by Russ Lease

The 60’s mental image of the Beatles playing live includes Ringo Starr sitting behind his oyster black pearl drums with the famous ‘drop-T’Beatle logo blazoned across the bass drumhead.

In most people’s minds, the drum set that appears in this image doesn’t change from photo-to-
photo or year-to-year, only Ringo’s clothing or length of hair seem to. But to us drum hardware/artifact junkies, the changes are obviously much more substantial.

Ringo owned four different oyster black pearl Ludwig drum kits during his Beatle days. Photographic evidence strongly suggests that Ringo used only four specific drum sets from May 12, 1963, through to mid-1968. How can you tell? The swirl design of the oyster black pearl creates an abstract, non-repeating pattern around the wooden shell of the drums. This unique pattern, in relation to the hardware mounted on the drums, makes each manufactured drum
completely identifiable to the exclusion of all others.

This obviously does not apply to Ringo’s peripheral hardware – cymbals, drum and hi-hat stands, etc. It is known that from time-to-time, Starr interchanged this hardware from his
inventory.The purpose of this article, though, is not to delve into the hardware changes and histories of these four sets. That would be a separate story unto itself for another time.

Rather, I’ll explore the ‘drop-T’logo drum heads themselves, as it is a topic that has rarely, if ever, been written about.

read the full article here

with a little help for my friend

The second song in Sgt. Pepper's 'With A Little Help From My Friends' is one of my favorite Beatles tunes. Sweety and trippy melody and a very good Ringo voice. Not to forget the marvelous bass playing from Macca. Here are the facts about this song....

Ringo sang lead on this as "Billy Shears," a name chosen because it sounded good. The album was recorded as if Sgt. Pepper was a real band.

This was one of the very last songs Lennon and McCartney sat and wrote together. They were at Paul's house messing around on the piano. (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, WA. U.S.A)

The original title was "Badfinger Boogie." The Beatles got some use out of the name when they signed a group to their label, Apple Records, and named them Badfinger.

The cheering at the beginning was taken from a Beatles concert at the Hollywood Bowl. The Beatles had stopped touring by the time this was recorded.

This hit #1 on the UK charts 3 times: first by Joe Cocker in 1968, again by Wet Wet Wet in 1988 and finally by Sam and Mark in 2004. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

John Lennon claimed this was not about drugs, but many people didn't believe him, including US vice president Spiro Agnew, who once told a crowd that this song was a "Tribute to the power of illegal drugs." He said the lines, "I get by with a little help from my friends, I get high with a little help from my friends," "Is a catchy tune, but until it was pointed out to me, I never realized that the 'friends' were assorted drugs!" (thanks, Mike - Mountlake Terrace, WA. U.S.A)

The first line was originally "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?" Ringo did not want to sing it, fearing that if they ever did it live he would be pelted with tomatoes.

The Beatles finished recording this the night they shot the cover for the Sgt. Pepper album. This continued the "Concept" of the album, but until the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" at the end, the theme of the fictional band ends with this.

Twelve years after "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "With a Little Help from My Friends" appeared on the Sgt. Pepper album, they were released together as a 2-song medley and reached US #71 and UK #63. (thanks, Jerro - New Alexandria, PA)

Beatles in San Francisco 1964

Press conference 8/18/64

Q: "How was your trip?"
JOHN: "Pardon?"
RINGO: "Very tiring."
JOHN: "It was sort of like a plane trip, you know... Boring."
RINGO: "We've been going seventeen hours now, you know."

Q: "How often do you get haircuts?"
JOHN: "Uhh, about once every three weeks."

Q: "Each of you?"
PAUL: "Yeah. Actually, it's cut."

Q: "This is your second trip to San Francisco, are you going to see more of it this time than you did last?"
RINGO: "Well, I only saw the airport last time, so I've seen more already."
JOHN: "Can you direct your questions so that everybody can hear them, please?"
PAUL: "Just a minute... Here's Derek. I'd like to introduce you..."
GEORGE: "A big hand for Mr. Taylor."
JOHN: "This is our press representative."

Q: "Who is your tailor?"
PAUL: "A fella called Millings of London."

Q: "In Savile Row?"
JOHN: "No."

Q: "Where?"
PAUL: "A little back street in London."
JOHN: "Old Compton Road. He keeps moving with all the profit he makes... Hmmmm hmmmm, he said."

Q: Are you working on another movie soon?"
PAUL: "Yes, in February."

Q: "Is it coming out then?"
RINGO: "No, we start making it."
JOHN: "We start making it then."

Q: "How frightened were you getting in that cage today?"
JOHN: "What cage?"
PAUL: "At the airport."
JOHN: Uh, it wasn't bad, 'cuz somebody had been up there and tested it."
RINGO: "In fact, all the press went up and tested it."

read more here

The Master and the boys

Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926) is a British record producer, arranger and composer. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time.

In 1969 he established the Associated Independent Recording (AIR) Studios. Although officially retired, he is still the chairman of the AIR board.[1]

In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996. He is the father of producer Giles Martin, and actor Gregory Paul Martin.

John Lennon-Yoko Ono: Bedism

During the Vietnam War, in 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono held two week-long Bed-Ins for Peace in Amsterdam and Montreal, which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace

John and George, Abbey Road session

a review from Rolling Stone, 1969

Simply, side two does more for me than the whole of Sgt. Pepper, and I'll trade you The Beatles and Magical Mystery Tour and a Keith Moon drumstick for side one.

So much for the prelims. "Come Together" is John Lennon very nearly at the peak of his form; twisted, freely-associative, punful lyrically, pinched and somehow a little smug vocally. Breathtakingly recorded (as is the whole album), with a perfect little high-hat-tom-tom run by Ringo providing a clever semi-colon to those eerie shooo-ta's, Timothy Leary's campaign song opens up things in grand fashion indeed.

George's vocal, containing less adenoids and more grainy Paul tunefulness than ever before, is one of many highlights on his "Something," some of the others being more excellent drum work, a dead catchy guitar line, perfectly subdued strings, and an unusually nice melody. Both his and Joe Cocker's version will suffice nicely until Ray Charles gets around to it.

Paul McCartney and Ray Davies are the only two writers in rock and roll who could have written "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," a jaunty vaudevillian/music-hallish celebration wherein Paul, in a rare naughty mood, celebrates the joys of being able to bash in the heads of anyone threatening to bring you down. Paul puts it across perfectly with the coyest imaginable choir-boy innocence.
Someday, just for fun, Capitol/Apple's going to have to compile a Paul McCartney Sings Rock And Roll album, with "Long Tall Sally," "I'm Down," "Helter Skelter," and, most definitely, "Oh! Darling," in which, fronting a great "ouch!"-yelling guitar and wonderful background harmonies, he delivers an induplicably strong, throat-ripping vocal of sufficient power to knock out even those skeptics who would otherwise have complained about yet another Beatle tribute to the golden groovies' era.

That the Beatles can unify seemingly countless musical fragments and lyrical doodlings into a uniformly wonderful suite, as they've done on side two, seems potent testimony that no, they've far from lost it, and no, they haven't stopped trying.

No, on the contrary, they've achieved here the closest thing yet to Beatles freeform, fusing more diverse intriguing musical and lyrical ideas into a piece that amounts to far more than the sum of those ideas.

"Here Comes the Sun," for example, would come off as quite mediocre on its own, but just watch how John and especially Paul build on its mood of perky childlike wonder. Like here, in "Because," is this child, or someone with a child's innocence, having his mind blown by the most obvious natural phenomena, like the blueness of the sky. Amidst, mind you, beautiful and intricate harmonies, the like of which the Beatles have not attempted since "Dr. Robert."
Then, just for a moment, we're into Paul's "You Never Give Me Your Money," which seems more a daydream than an actual address to the girl he's thinking about. Allowed to remain pensive only for an instant, we're next transported, via Paul's "Lady Madonna" voice and boogie-woogie piano in the bridge, to this happy thought: "Oh, that magic feelin'/Nowhere to go." Crickets' chirping and a kid's nursery rhyme ("1-2-3-4-5-6-7/All good children go to heaven") lead us from there into a dreamy John number, "Sun King," in which we find him singing for the Italian market, words like amore and felice giving us some clue as to the feel of this reminiscent-of-"In My Room" ballad.

And then, before we know what's happened, we're out in John Lennon's England meeting these two human oddities, Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam. From there it's off to watch a surreal afternoon telly programme, Paul's "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window." Pensive and a touch melancholy again a moment later, we're into "Golden Slumbers," from which we wake to the resounding thousands of voices on "Carry That Weight," a rollicking little commentary of life's labours if ever there was one, and hence to a reprise of the "Money" theme (the most addicting melody and unforgettable words on the album). Finally, a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make ..." And, just for the record, Paul's gonna make Her Majesty his.

I'd hesitate to say anything's impossible for him after listening to Abbey Road the first thousand times, and the others aren't far behind. To my mind, they're equatable, but still unsurpassed.

THE BEATLES AS MUSICIANS BY GEORGE MARTIN

Melody Maker Magazine: When you first met them, did you consider them seriously as musicians at all? As guitarists or composers?

George Martin : As composers, they didn't rate. They hadn't shown me that they could write anything at all. "Love Me Do" I thought was pretty poor, but it was the best we could do - they hadn't got anything else, and I hadn't got anything else to offer them either. As players they were quite adequate - they could play guitar pretty well and they had an uninhibited sound. The question of them being deep minds or great new images didn't occur to me - or to anybody, or to them, I should think. It was after we made "Love Me Do" that I was determined to find a hit song for them. I was scouring the publisher's office looking for material on our group, which nobody wanted to know about. EMI heard the Beatles, which they thought was a silly name anyway, and they didn't attach too much importance to it. "Comedy man tries to get into pop field," you know. We hit number 17 in the chart, which raised eyebrows but only just, so I found them this song by Mitch Murray which I thought was just ideal for them to learn for the next session. When they turned up on the session they said they didn't like it.

BEATLES: Sgt. Pepper's MONO/Stereo

It's only months left before the first released of mono Sgt. Pepper's in CD format. These are the differences between the mono and stereo version of this great album. The mono also has more punchy sound and most important, it's the Pepper as the fabs intended.

1. The funky backwards guitar part at the end of the opening song just before "Billy Shears."


2. The flangey/ADT effect on Ringo's voice during some chorus of "With A Little Help From My Friends."


3. The tripped out flangey vocals from the second verse out on "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."


4. The slightly longer end of "Fixing A Hole" where McCartney is wailing up high.


5. The change in tone in "She's leaving home" in the mono version - due to being sped up, not so dreary and long as in the stereo version.


6. The timing on the effects of "Mr. Kite."


7. The extended louder laughter on "Within You Without You."


8. The louder backing "oo-oo's" on "When I'm 64".


9. The "bleed edit" found at the beginning of the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise"; you can hear the machine flutter as it comes out of pause.


10. The low volume mumbo jumbo during the extended bass drum raps at the beginning of the "Sgt. Pepper Reprise".


11. The timing of the audiences are different on the "Reprise" section.


12. Paul McCartney ad libbing at the end. Paul sound like he is saying "Thank you very much good night now..." or "bye bye now".

The Quite One

George Harrison. 6th April 1965.

On the Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty says “I think George [Harrison]’s move — I’m sure of it, really — had to do with the fact that he just didn’t want to be the guy up front, no matter that he had a Number One album at the time. He never wanted that. And the Wilburys gave him a way around it.”

Beatles: Class of '62

One of the first publicity photographs of the Beatles' taken in 1962.

John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the band, a day after Toronto concert

Live Peace in Toronto 1969 is a live album recorded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 in Toronto, Ontario, at a rock and roll revival show as The Plastic Ono Band. Featuring Eric Clapton on guitar (fresh from the breakup of Blind Faith), Klaus Voormann on bass and future Yes drummer Alan White (who a few months later would provide the drums on the percussion-driven Plastic Ono Band single, "Instant Karma!") on drums, the line-up is filled out by Lennon on lead vocals and rhythm guitar and Ono on vocals. The album was credited to The Plastic Ono Band, a conceptual grouping that included Lennon and Ono and whoever happened to be backing them up at that particular moment. Both Lennon and Ono would use the nomenclature for several of their future solo albums.

The album is technically a soundtrack recording, being part of the audio portion of D.A. Pennebaker's documentary movie Sweet Toronto. Lennon and Ono made a deal with Pennebaker to license their portion of the show for record, in exchange for rights to include their appearance. Unfortunately the deal fell through, with Lennon and Ono changing their minds about the inclusion (Lennon had been ill the day of the concert, and it showed on camera), and the movie was never originally released. (Showtime ultimately presented the performance during the 1980s, and the full movie appeared later on home video and DVD.)

As initially released on LP and later cassette tape, 8-track and on video cassette, side one of Live Peace in Toronto 1969 comprised John's set, which included his two Plastic Ono Band singles for the year, "Give Peace A Chance" and a preview of the yet-to-be released at the time of the show "Cold Turkey;" "Yer Blues" from the White Album; and some favoured covers of 1950s rock and roll. Side two comprised Yoko's set, including the b-side to "Cold Turkey," "Don't Worry Kyoko," and featuring her trademark caterwauling stage act, which was not quite as well received as Lennon's performance. The album ends with Lennon, Clapton, and Voorman leaning their guitars against the amplifiers to create a sustained roar of solid feedback, while Yoko continues screaming as the rest of the band leaves the stage.

On the video cassette, Eric Clapton can clearly be seen looking at John Lennon with a look of horror on his face as Yoko starts her caterwauling. Additionally, as the band are leaning their guitars against the amplifiers to create the feedback, Clapton breaks the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera and rolling his eyes in frustration at Yoko's performance.

Unlike many Lennon and Beatles albums, the individual guitars are clearly distinguishable in the stereo mix, with Lennon's toward the left channel and Clapton's toward the right. Also, the movie mix of the soundtrack offers stronger vocals by Ono during "Yer Blues", and Clapton during "Give Peace A Chance".

the art of cards

Here,There and Everywhere

To lead a better life I need my love to be here...

Here, making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there's something there

There, running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking but she doesn't know he's there

I want her everywhere and if she's beside meI know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there

I want her everywhere and if she's beside meI know I need never care
But to love her is to need her everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I'm always there
To be there and everywhere
Here, there and everywhere

Two Of Us?

John and Paul from the first Apple press conference.

Q: "Why are you here today"
JOHN: "To do THIS."
(laughter)
Q: "What is this?"
JOHN: "What's it look like?"
(laughter)
Q: "Looks like a circus."
JOHN: "Well, you know, what are YOU doing here?"
(laughter)
Q: "What is Apple, John?"
JOHN: "It's a business concerning records, films, and electronics. And as a sideline, whatever it's called... manufacturing, or whatever. But we want to set up a system whereby people who just want to make a film about (pause) anything, don't have to go on their knees in somebody's office. Probably yours."

PAUL: "We really want to help people, but without doing it like a charity or seeming like ordinary patrons of the arts. We're in the happy position of not really needing any more money. So for the first time, the bosses aren't in it for profit. If you come and see me and say 'I've had such and such a dream,' I'll say 'Here's so much money. Go away and do it.' We've already bought all our dreams. So now we want to share that possibility with others."
JOHN: "The aim of this company isn't really a stack of gold teeth in the bank. We've DONE that bit. It's more of a trick to see if we can actually get artistic freedom within a business structure."
Q: "If a youngster has a group, or their group thinks that they've got something going, what's the best way you'd recommend for them to get in touch with you to let you hear their stuff?"
PAUL: "Just get the address and send it, you know. That's it. Just send the stuff to Apple at Baker Street in London."
Q: "Will they get a hearing?"
PAUL: "Yeah."
Q: "That's great."
PAUL: "They get a reply too."
Q: "John, it said in the (press) release that you are planning to make a film of 'Spaniard In The Works.'"
JOHN: "Yeah."
Q: "I enjoy it, but I'm curious... Have you any ideas on how you plan to film it?"
JOHN: "Well yes, but not that I can explain, really. I've just gotta... make a film of the two books. (giggles) And how I do it, I don't know. But I'll do it. I can't really say how I'm gonna do it. I haven't got it on paper, you know."
Q: "Are the Beatles making another movie?"
JOHN: "Well it's in... We don't know when we're gonna make it, but it'll be, sort of, early next year."

Q: "Would you say that 'Magical Mystery Tour' is a better or worse album than 'Sgt. Peppers'?"
JOHN: "It's not an album, you see. It turned into an album over here, but it was just the music from the film."
Q: "Has anybody bought the film here?"
JOHN: "I haven't a clue, you know. We don't care."
Q: "What do you think of the critical reception of the film 'Magical Mystery Tour'?"
JOHN: "Well I mean, it doesn't matter. It does, but it doesn't really matter, you know. It's why it's not on now is what matters. That's why people aren't seeing it."
PAUL: "They were just disappointed, you know."
Q: "Did they have any valid points? Were they valid?"
JOHN: "I didn't see any valid points. They thought we were stepping out of our roles, you know. They like us to keep in the cardboard suits they designed for us."
(laughter)
Q: "What roles do they want you to stay in?"
JOHN: "Whatever they have. Whatever image they have for themselves, they're disappointed if we don't fulfill that. And we never do, so there's always a lot of disappointment."
Q: "Are there any plans for showing 'Magical Mystery Tour' in America?"
JOHN: "Yeah. We'll put it on in the streets with a screen and a projector."
(laughter)
DEREK TAYLOR: "Will they be doing a television special soon?"
JOHN: "I don't know."
PAUL: "Maybe. Quite possibly, Derek."
(laughter)
JOHN: "But we're gonna do an LP, so we don't know what happens until we've done that."
Q: "Do you ever think you might tour, or do a movie or special here in the United States?"
JOHN: "It's quite possible. Why not, except for we live there, you know."
Q: "Well, you could visit."
JOHN: "Yeah, sure. (giggles) But is it worth the journey, you know."
Q: "Do you plan on opening an Apple clothing store in the United States as a chain?"
JOHN: "No plans that I know of."
Q: "Do you consider yourselves as trendsetters for the younger generation in the things that you do, or do they just sort of happen?"
PAUL: "We follow trends ourselves. I think everyone does. I can never find out who STARTS the trends. It's someone else altogether."
Q: "You certainly have reinforced some trends that you have picked up, whether you've started them or not."
PAUL: "Yeah. That's what we do. That's what happens. They get reinforced, but they're there already."
Q: "What was your basic meaning of 'I Am The Walrus'?"
JOHN: "It just means I am the walrus... or I WAS when I said that, you know."
(laughter)
Q: "You mentioned that you are working on a new album. Do you feel that albums in general should be complete presentations all the time, or could they be groups of songs?"
PAUL: "They're always just what happens at the time, you know, but they could be anything. It could just be one long song, a million little ones... you know, it's just how it turns out. It's normally about fourteen medium songs."
Q: "Have you heard any of Jimi Hendrix' albums?
PAUL: "He's great."
JOHN: "Yeah."
Q: "Have you seen him work live?"
PAUL: "Yeah. He's too much, you know."
Q: "Why do the Beatles meditate?"
JOHN: "Because it seems to be nice, like cleaning your teeth, you know. It does have some sort of end product. I think Maharishi was a mistake, but the teachings have got some truth in them."
Q: "What do you mean he was a mistake?"
JOHN: "We made a mistake."
Q: "Do you think other people are making a mistake to go see him now?"
JOHN: "That's up to them."
Q: (asks question away from microphone)
JOHN: "We're human."
(laughter)
JOHN: "And that's all, you know."
PAUL: "We thought there's more to him than there was, you know, but he's human. And for a while we thought he wasn't. We thought he was, uhh..."
Q: "Do you have any other new philosophical leaders?"
JOHN: "No."
PAUL: "Nope."
JOHN: (jokingly) "Me."
Q: "Do George and Ringo feel the same way about the Maharishi as both of you?"
JOHN: "Yes, yeah. We tend to go in and out together. I mean, with a few spaces. So, yeah."
Q: "Are the Beatles still meditating?"
PAUL & JOHN: "Yeah."
JOHN: "Now and then."
PAUL: (giggles) "At this moment."
(laughter)

John Lennon:Leave my kitchen alone

One of my fav from the Beatles Anthology book.

BREAKING NEWS:The Beatles Remasters FINALLY!

THE BEATLES' ENTIRE ORIGINAL RECORDED CATALOGUE REMASTERED FOR RELEASE 09-09-09

from beatles.com

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (9-9-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game. Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and 'Magical Mystery Tour,' which became part of The Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections 'Past Masters Vol. I and II' are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.

Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the 'Past Masters' set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.

A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. 'The Beatles in Mono' gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on 'Past Masters'). As an added bonus, the mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained.

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.

RINGO:A view from behind

Ringo quotes from the 2007 Rolling Stone interview

about Kurt Cobain:

“Kurt Cobain was really powerful. He had great songs that were about the time he lived in. And that attitude…. Though he was this kid, this angry motherfucker, I never felt that. I always felt that inside he was a really loving guy.”

about rather new music (2007):

“Last year, the Magic Numbers were my band. I love them. Amy Winehouse has a really cool sound. There’s a lot of people out there, but most of them only get a chance to make one CD….”

jokes about last time he saw The Rolling Stones:

“Mick got us the tickets, and we had great seats, but we were watching the screens the whole time. I thought, ‘Well, I can watch this on TV.’ So I haven’t been to a stadium show since….”

Lat time he saw Bob Dylan live:

“Some days, he gives you very clear Bob, and some days he gives a Bob that doesn’t want you to understand what he’s saying."

discusses the seemingly endless impact of The Beatles’ music:

“The kids are listening. That’s the incredible part…. You could play it now for people in blindfolds, and they’d think it was from today….”

speaks solemnly about the passing of John and George:

“With John, it was such a shock that you dealt with it later. With George, you dealt with it as it was going on, which was harder in its way. But you have to say, ‘Life is life. It happens…’ ”