Category Archives: Beatles

Lennon Revealed – Book

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I was able to drop into a local second-hand book and record fair this week and picked up a couple of things. One of them was this book by Larry Kane about John Lennon:

“Lennon Revealed” came out in 2005.

Larry Kane is an award-winning journalist with a career that spans more than 45 years. From that 45 years in the business he says the thing that stands out most—and the thing people ask him about most often—is his adventure as the only American journalist to travel in the official Beatles entourage during the legendary 1964 and 1965 tours of North America. Kane told that story in his previous book: “Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles’ 1964 Tour that Changed the World“.  In “Lennon Revealed” he digs deeper to give his take on story of John Lennon.

The book has a website with a variety of features so you can delve more into what it’s about, including this extract which will give you an idea of the flavour and approach taken in “Lennon Revealed”.  I haven’t had time to read the book yet – but there’s a pretty good review here, and author Larry Kane promotes his book in a couple of online videos here.

Searching on the web I found the cover photograph for the audio book of this same title and it has a different image. Clearly taken during the same photo session as that of the book I include it below because its such a good one of a happy John Lennon:

Included with the book (and with the audio book edition) is a bonus DVD. It features Larry Kane being interviewed by Andre Gardner (host of the radio show “Breakfast with the Beatles”); the full footage of John and Paul’s last filmed interview together conducted by Larry Kane (part of which was seen in the “Beatles Anthology” and the “Imagine: John Lennon” film); and a clip of the legendary 1975 “Lennon weather report” from “Action News” in Philadelphia:

George Harrison Photo for Scorsese Film and Book

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The photograph of George Harrison chosen for the publicity posters (and for the front cover of the accompanying book) of “Living In The Material World“, the forthcoming Scorsese-directed film, CD and DVD is impressive:

It is simple and arresting. Quite peaceful really, and it got us wondering about where it was taken, and why. After a bit of online research we think we can confirm that it was taken during the filming for the Beatles movie “Help!”, released in 1965.

In the film there’s a very brief scene – shot at New Providence in the Bahamas – where the Beatles, after being chased by the bad guys, end up in the swimming pool of a resort hotel with all the guests looking on as they emerge wet, bedraggled and fully-clothed from the pool.

Here’s the page in the “Help!” script with the scene:

So, I think the Scorsese poster and book cover photo was from filming on this day, February 23, 1965 at the Nassau Beach Hotel. Here’s some photographic proof:

Interestingly, in 2007 Martin Scorsese wrote a short appreciation of the film “Help!” for the book that comes with both the standard and the deluxe DVD box set re-issue of the film. Perhaps that’s where he came across the striking image of George for his latest project?

The Beatles “1” – Remastered 2011

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It was released today (Friday, September 2) in Australia:

This is the re-issue, in newly remastered form, of “The Beatles 1” compilation which first came out in the year 2000. As the sticker on the front cover says: “27 Classic Number 1 Singles – Remastered”. Here’s the rear cover:

These are the remasters done at the same time as the big release of all the albums back in 2009. It comes in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that’s in the same format as all the 2009 re-issues.

Below is the front cover of the booklet, which despite some speculation that it would be different, has exactly the same 30 pages and layout as the 2000 issue:

Each page is dedicated to a particular song and gives the recording place and date, chart information and full colour photographs of various record sleeves of that single from around the world.  Even the CD printing is the same as the 2000 issue:

(click on images to see a large version)

A bit disappointing really….

It comes out on September 13 in the US, on September 5 in the UK, and is also expected on iTunes as a digital download on September 6th.

See also:  The Beatles Number 1 Vinyl  and  The Beatles Number 1 – Taiwan Variation  and  Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

The Beatles official site has this promotional video for “1” now on the front page:

The Beatles Ballads Cover – by ‘Patrick’

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We recently moved offices at work and I needed something to brighten up my new space. So I got onto Ebay and found this Beatles poster, which I’ve had framed. Here’s the Ebay image (its not my office!):

I got it because it’s the painting used on the front cover of “The Beatles Ballads” which, when it was released back in 1980, spent some seven weeks in the number one spot on the Australian charts:

The cover art is by an artist simply known as ‘Patrick’ (you can see his signature at the bottom left in the image above).

‘Patrick’ is actually Scottish artist and playwright John Byrne. His art was popular with the Beatles and in 1968 they commissioned him to create a possible cover for what would become “The Beatles” (also known as “The White Album”). Byrne’s style and concept appears to support the original working title of that album which was “A Doll’s House”. Turns out it wasn’t used then, but the work re-surfaced as the cover for the compilation album “The Beatles Ballads” twelve years later.

John Byrne (b.1940) has had an interesting and varied life. He grew up on a notoriously tough housing estate in Paisley, not far from Glasgow in Scotland. He escaped work in a carpet factory to study at the Glasgow School of Art, and carved out a successful dual career as both an artist and a writer.

John ‘Patrick’ Byrne’s biography reflects his diverse talents. He’s designed theatre sets and record covers. His play “The Slab Boys” (1978) won him the Evening Standard’s most promising playwright award. The very successful, six-time BAFTA award-winning television series “Tutti Frutti” appeared in 1987. These writing achievements developed alongside his prolific artistic career, which took off in 1967 when Byrne assumed the identity of ‘Patrick’ for a solo show at the Portal Gallery in London. A prolific painter, illustrator and print-maker, Byrne today boasts a range of works held in many prestigious public collections.

His record cover credits include works for Donovan, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly:

Two weeks ago, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Beatles fans got to catch up with Byrne who was there to publicise his new illustrated childrens book called “Donald and Benoit: A Story of a Cat and a Boy“. He signed this copy of “The Beatles Ballads” as John ‘Patrick’ Byrne:

* Photo credit: John Byrne portrait by Trevor Yerbury

Beatles Engineer Geoff Emerick Interview

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ABC Radio in Australia has done a lengthy interview with the man often referred to as “the sixth Beatle” –  studio engineer extraordinaire Geoff Emerick. As a 21 year-old he was George Martin’s right-hand man in the control room on albums such as “Revolver”, “Sgt Pepper”, “The Beatles (White Album)” and “Abbey Road”.

702 ABC Sydney Evening Show presenter Robbie Buck spoke to Geoff for over twenty minutes about his career recording the greatest band in the world. Visit the 702 ABC Sydney site to read about the interview. You can play it from that site – or you can listen here:

Geoff Emerick will be in Australia this week to attend “Integrate 2011“, a sound, music and light industry convention where he’ll give a special presentation that is being billed as a “world first”.  Geoff will be interviewed live on stage with another legend from the industry, Australian Richard Lush, who also worked extensively with the Beatles in the 1960’s. And they’ll play examples of how they came up with some of the unique and ground-breaking sounds we hear on the Beatles recordings.

The Beatles with Records – Part Three

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The Beatles With Records posts (Part One and Part Two) have prompted quite a few people to send in additional photographs, and also to do some pretty amazing detective work on some of the records that the Beatles are holding in photos. More on that below, but first some additional photos. These first four come from Robert. He says: “In the first one Paul seems to be holding an acetate, from the “Sgt Pepper” sessions most likely”. Hmmm. Its pretty hard to tell. What do you think?:

There are a couple of John signing copies of “Sgt Pepper” for some lucky fans. The top one is clearly on the steps outside the Abbey Road Studios. :

This next one of John has him holding what looks very much like an album under his arm – but what is it? If anyone knows please contact me at beatlesblogger@gmail.com :

And finally from the “Sgt Pepper” era here’s another photograph from the official launch of  for the press at Brian Epstein’s house in London:

Next come a couple more of Paul. The first one is him signing what must have been his latest release at the time, “Wings At The Speed of Sound” from 1976. In the second photograph he’s emerging from a car clutching a copy of the same album, only this time we can see the rear cover image:

These next photographs come from a reader named Istobal. First is the Beatles in a nice publicity shot holding copies of “Please Please Me”, “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Beatles For Sale” (in the British gatefold sleeve) and “Help!”:

The second shot Istobal sent is Ringo holding a copy of his 1972 single, “Back off Boogaloo“. This looks like it could have been taken in the Apple offices. Ringo is with Mark Bolan from the band T-Rex:

“Back Off Boogaloo” was also famous for its unique blue Apple label:

Also in a photograph with a solo, post-Beatles project is John Lennon. Its a  photograph taken during a visit to radio station WNEW-FM in New York. The fellow in the lower right holding up the rear cover of Lennon’s “Rock’n’Roll” album is Scott Muni, a well known New York radio host:

John made guest appearances on Muni’s WNEW-FM afternoon show several times in the 1970s. They became quite good friends, and after Lennon’s murder Muni vowed to always open his show with either a Lennon or Beatles record, a pledge that he kept for the rest of his career.

Signing albums features fairly prominently – and this next photograph is no exception. Its quite an early one with John signing four or five copies of 1964’s US album “Meet the Beatles!”:

Now for some very smart detective work from readers of the two previous posts. In The Beatles With Records – Part Two  I featured this great photo of Ringo:

The three records I could identify in this photograph were “Little Stevie Wonder – The 12 Year Old Genius”, The Shirelles “Foolish Little Girl”, and possibly a 45 single of The Shirelles “Baby It’s You”. Then I get a comment on the blog from a reader named Lammert with more information saying the record immediately behind the Stevie Wonder LP is The Orlons “Not Me, Not Me, Not Me”:

Check it out. I reckon he’s right! And I reckon he’s also right about the LP just under The Shirelles one. Lammert says it is The Marvelettes – “Live on Stage”, and again, I believe he’s hit the nail on the head:

Pretty good detective work. But it doesn’t stop there. This picture appeared in the post The Beatles With Records – Part One:

I identified the LP’s “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”, and underneath that Ben E. King’s “Don’t Play that Song!”. But Lammert has gone one better. Right at the very bottom of the stack on Paul’s lap is this LP:

You can only see the start of the lettering at the very top left-hand corner and part of his yellow shirt in the middle of the cover, but I agree with Lammert that it is Chuck Jackson’s “I Don’t Want to Cry!”.

Don’t forget – if you have any further photographs of the Beatles with records you can send them to:  beatlesblogger@gmail.com

You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here:  Parts 1, 2, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Trailer for Scorsese’s George Harrison Documentary Released

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I received two emails about this last night. One from georgeharrison.com, and one from thebeatles.com. They both looked like this:

If you’d like to see the trailer – which makes the forthcoming Scorcese film look like a real “must see” – it’s here:

For more info see George Harrison Film Premiere, DVD, Book and CD Announced

The Beatles and Why Music Matters

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The Beatles are up for the fight against music pirates. The surviving members of the band, and the estates of the late members, have pledged support for the anti-piracy campaign Music Matters by sanctioning a special animated short film featuring a selection of original Beatles music.

You may have seen this already (it’s been out for about a week now), but its so cute and catchy I’m adding the Beatles film below.
 
An eclectic range of recording artists are featured in this new online campaign. The Music Matters group describe themselves as “a collective of artists and people from across the industry, which has formed to remind music fans of the significance and value of music.” The group works to promote legal digital music and have posted a series of great little animated videos featuring the music of some big hitters including: The Beatles, Elbow, Kate Bush, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and Sigur Ros – to name just a few on the international site. There’s also an Australia/New Zealand sitewith a much smaller selection of videos using the music of Nick Cave, Eskimo Joe, Dave Dobyn and others. The Beatles’ film was animated and directed by Lee Gingold. According to Paul McCartney’s website, “The film focuses on the message that music is a shared experience and as such brings us all together, and for him that’s why music matters.”
 

Ocean’s Kingdom – McCartney Ballet Music

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Paul McCartney’s first ballet score, “Ocean’s Kingdom“, with choreography by the New York City Ballet’s Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, will premiere at the Lincoln Center in New York on September 22.

“Ocean’s Kingdom” marks the first time that McCartney has composed for dance, and Martins’ choreography will follow the music’s libretto of a romance between lovers from conflicting kingdoms. The production’s costumes are designed by another McCartney, daughter and leading fashion designer Stella. Its also the first time she has done costume design for the theatre.

The album containing the music from the work is to be released on October 4.
It is performed by the London Classical Orchestra, directed by John Wilson. According to Amazon there will be a CD and vinyl versions available, and it is released on the Hear Music/MPL/Telarc label:

There are four movements to the work:
1.  Movement 1 Ocean’s Kingdom
2. Movement 2 Hall of Dance
3. Movement 3 Imprisonment
4. Movement 4 Moonrise

Sir Paul will be attending the premiere in New York on September 22.

The Beatles With Records – Part Two

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Since my earlier post about the Beatles being photographed actually holding the things they sold so many of – LP and single records – a few more photos have come to light. This first one is a very early publicity shot of the band with a copy of their very first album for Parlophone Records – from 1963 “Please Please Me“:

Trawling the web I came across a great photo of an obviously happy Ringo Starr with a pile of LPs and singles:

Here you can clearly see Ringo holding the Motown Record “Little Stevie Wonder – The 12 Year Old Genius” (from 1963):

He’s also got a copy of The Shirelles “Foolish Little Girl“, which again dates from 1963 leading to the conclusion that this photograph was taken in that year. The record is lying down, just near Ringo’s left hand:

And on top of that LP are a couple of 45 rpm singles. Its impossible to make out the title of the one we can see, but you can clearly make out the distinctive red and white label of Top Rank records. I wonder if it’s also The Shirelles? In Britain they were released on Top Rank – so it could very possibly be a copy of  “Baby Its You“, a song the Shirelles recorded in 1961 and which the Beatles themselves covered on “Please Please Me“:

I’ve also found  a photograph of Ringo with wife Maureen. They’re sitting at home in a flat they rented for some time in London’s Montague Square. Behind Ringo you can see on the shelf quite a large collection of LP’s, and if I’m nor mistaken Maureen is sitting on what, for the times, would have been quite a sophisticated “radiogram” or record player:

Here’s another of Ringo, once again with Maureen, clutching a copy of the Beatles “Yellow Submarine” LP:

I had a  a photo sent to me after the earlier blog post. It’s Paul with a copy of 1965’s “Rubber Soul“:

George Harrison features on the web photographed with records, some with easily identifiable discs and some not. This one is pretty easy to see. Its a lucky fan getting an autographed copy of “Help“:

Here’s George again, this time a shot taken in what looks to be the Apple offices. It’s him holding a copy of his second solo outing “Electronic Sound“, released on the Zapple label:

You can clearly see the rear artwork for the LP in the photo above. Below is a shot of the back cover of the LP:

And here’s another one of George again signing albums, but this time its very difficult to see just what they are:

In 1970 John and Yoko posed for some photographs to publicise their new records. John had “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band”, and Yoko had “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band”. Both titles, on Apple Records, were released simultaneously. The front covers were almost identical, but the rear artwork of Yoko’s album showed her as a young girl, while John’s showed him as a young boy:

In the photo is also “The Wedding Album” box set, which came out in 1969. The photo below is taken at the same session:

As I said, the front cover artwork of these two LP’s is difficult to tell apart. “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” has John leaning against Yoko:

While “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band” has Yoko leaning against John:

Very subtle.

Finally, a photograph of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. He’s holding a copy of the controversial 1966 US Capitol Records release “Yesterday and Today“. This is the famous “Butcher Cover” LP. Maybe he’s contemplating the new photograph that Capitol was forced to paste over all the original issues of the album:

This is the more acceptable “trunk” cover shot that Capitol put on over the top of the original artwork:

And this is what it replaced:

The interesting thing about the Epstein photograph is that what he is holding appears to be an early mock-up of the replacement artwork. If you look closely there is no song list at the top and the font for the words “Yesterday and Today” is different to that used on the final version. Interesting.

Don’t forget, if you have any other photographs of the Beatles actually listening to or holding singles or LP’s you can send them to me at:  beatlesblogger@gmail.com

You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here:  Parts 1, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.