| The Beatles -- Help! |
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Here's a promo for The Beatles' hit "Help!"
I love how Paul and George keep looking over
John's shoulder trying to be seen! So cute!
=)
Tags : the beatles help! |
|
Affichage : 5629845
Durée : 132 s |
| Beatles |
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The Beatles
Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison,
and John Lennon
Beatles Soundtrack (partials)
0:00 - 0:13 Twist & Shout
0:14 - 0:29 I Feel Fine
0:29 - 0:41 We Can Work It Out
0:41 - 0:54 I Wanna Hold Your Hand
0:54 - 1:10 Love Me Do
1:10 - 1:21 She Loves You
1:21 - 1:39 Yes It Is
1:40 - 1:55 I Will
1:56 - 2:20 All My Loving
2:20 - 2:44 Birthday
2:45 - 3:10 Lucy in the Sky
3:10 - 3:26 Sgt. Pepper
3:26 - 3:42 I Am the Walrus
3:42 - 3:57 Magical Mystery Tour
3:57 - 4:13 Yes it Is (again)
4:13 - 4:24 She Loves You (again)
4:24 - 4:44 Ticket to Ride
4:44 - 5:05 Paperback Writer
5:05 - 5:30 Hey Jude
5:30 - 5:52 Get Back
5:53 - 6:02 I need help here, no idea what
this one is
6:02 - 6:29 Ob La Di Ob La Da
[ above is courtesy of HappyDaze01. Thx
HaDz01"!]
Origin Liverpool, England
Rock/Pop - Years active 1960--1970
Parlophone, Capitol, Apple, Vee-Jay, Polydor,
Swan, Tollie
Related to Tony Sheridan, The Quarrymen, The
Plastic Ono Band, The Dirty Mac, Wings,
Traveling Wilburys, Rory Storm and the
Hurricanes, Ringo Starr All-Starr Band, Billy
Preston
Members - Ever to Date
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Former members
Stuart Sutcliffe
Pete Best
The Beatles were an English rock band from
Liverpool whose members were John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo
Starr. They are the most commercially
successful and critically acclaimed band in
the history of popular music.
The Beatles are the best-selling musical act
of all time in the United States of America,
according to the Recording Industry
Association of America, which certified them
as the highest selling band of all time based
on American sales of singles and albums. In
the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more
than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs
that reached number one. This commercial
success was repeated in many other countries:
their record company, EMI, estimated that by
1985 they had sold over one billion discs and
tapes worldwide. In 2004, Rolling Stone
Magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on their list
of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
According to that same magazine, their
innovative music and cultural impact helped
define the 1960s,[2] and their influence on
pop culture can still be felt today.
The Beatles led the mid-1960s musical
"British Invasion" into the United States.
Although their initial musical style was
rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown
skiffle, the group explored genres ranging
from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their
clothes, styles, and statements made them
trend-setters, while their growing social
awareness saw their influence extend into the
social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
1957--1960: Formation
The Quarrymen
In March 1957, John Lennon formed a skiffle
group called The Quarrymen whilst attending
Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool.[6]
Lennon and the Quarrymen met guitarist Paul
McCartney at the Woolton Garden Fête held at
St. Peter's Church on 6 July 1957.[7] On 6
February 1958, the young guitarist George
Harrison was invited to watch the group (who
played under a variety of names) at Wilson
Hall, Garston, Liverpool.[8] McCartney had
become acquainted with Harrison on the
morning school bus ride to the Liverpool
Institute, as they both lived in Speke. At
McCartney's insistence, Harrison joined the
Quarrymen as lead guitarist[9] after a
rehearsal in March 1958, overcoming Lennon's
initial reluctance because of Harrison's
young age.[10] Members continually joined and
left the lineup during that period, and in
January 1960 Lennon's art school friend
Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass.[11] Lennon
and McCartney both played rhythm guitar and
the group had a high turnover of drummers.
The Quarrymen went through a progression of
names — "Johnny and the Moondogs", "Long
John and the Beatles", "the Silver Beetles"
(derived from Larry Parnes' suggestion of
"Long John and the Silver Beetles") —
before settling on "The Beatles". There are
many theories as to the origin of the name
and its unusual spelling. It is usually
credited to Lennon, who said that the name
was a combination word-play on the insects
"beetles" (as a reference to Buddy Holly's
band, the Crickets) and the word "beat".
Cynthia Lennon suggests that Lennon came up
with the name Beatles at a "brainstorming
session over a beer-soaked table in the
Renshaw Hall bar."[12] Lennon, who was well
known for giving multiple versions of the
same story joked in a 1961 Mersey Beat
magazine article that "It came in a vision
— a man appeared on a flaming pie and said
unto them, 'From this day on you are Beatles
with an A'".[13] During an interview in 2001,
Paul McCartney took credit for the peculiar
spelling of the name, saying that "John had
the idea of calling us the Beetles, I said,
'how about the Beatles; you know, like the
beat of the drum?' At the time, everyone was
stoned enough to find it hilarious. It's
funny how history is made." [14]
In May 1960 The Beatles toured northeast
Scotland as a back-up band with singer Johnny
Gentle.[15] They met Gentle an hour before
their first gig, and McCartney referred to
the tour as a great experience for the
band.[16] For the tour the often drummerless
group secured the services of Tommy Moore,
who was considerably older than the
others.[17] Soon after the tour, however,
feeling the age gap was too great Moore left
the band and went back to work in a bottling
factory as a fork-lift truck driver.[18]
Norman Chapman was the band's next drummer,
but was called up for National Service in a
few weeks. His departure posed a significant
problem as the group's unofficial manager,
Allan Williams, had arranged for them to
perform in clubs on the Reeperbahn in
Hamburg, Germany.[19]
1960--1970: The Beatles
Hamburg
On 15 August 1960, McCartney invited Pete
Best to become the group's permanent drummer.
He had watched Best play with the
Blackjacks[20] in the Casbah Club, owned by
Pete's mother, Mona Best. This was a cellar
club in West Derby, Liverpool, where The
Beatles had played and often visited.[21] In
the documentary The Compleat Beatles,
Williams said that Best "played not too
cleverly, but passable."
The Beatles started playing in Hamburg at the
Indra and Kaiserkeller bars. They were
required to play six or seven hours a night,
seven nights a week. Shortly after they began
performing at a new venue, the "Top Ten
Club",[22] Harrison was deported for having
lied to the German authorities about his
age.[23] A week later, having started a small
fire at their living quarters while vacating
it for more luxurious rooms, McCartney and
Best were arrested, charged with arson, and
deported.[24] Lennon followed the others to
Liverpool in mid-December.
The reunited Beatles played their first
engagement on 17 December 1960 at the Casbah
Club and returned to Hamburg in April 1961.
Whilst playing at the Top Ten Club they were
recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as
his backing band on a series of recordings
for the German Polydor Records label,[25]
produced by famed bandleader Bert
Kaempfert.[19] Kaempfert signed the group to
its own Polydor contract at the first session
on 22 June 1961. On 31 October Polydor
released the recording "My Bonnie (Mein Herz
ist bei dir nur)", which appeared on the
German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan
and the Beat Brothers", a generic name used
for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's
backup band.[26] In addition to the legend
that this record led to the group's eventual
meeting with Brian Epstein, it also resulted
in their first mention in the American press.
Around the beginning of 1962, Cashbox
mentioned "My Bonnie" as the debut of a "new
rock and roll team, Tony Sheridan and the
Beat Brothers". A few copies were also
pressed under the Decca label for U.S. disc
jockeys, as American Decca had a distribution
deal with Polydor parent Deutsche
Grammophon.[27] (This was ironic, considering
that by this time the then-unaffiliated
British Decca had turned down the group's
attempt to gain a recording contract.) When
the group returned to Liverpool, Sutcliffe
stayed on in Hamburg with his new German
fiancee Astrid Kirchherr, [28] and McCartney
took over bass duties.[29]
Their third stay in Hamburg was from 13 April
to 31 May 1962, when they opened The Star
Club.[19] Upon their arrival they were
informed of Sutcliffe's death from a brain
haemorrhage.[30]
Epstein took over as the group's manager in
January 1962 and led The Beatles' quest for a
British recording contract. Epstein had been
manager of the record department at North End
Music Store (NEMS), an offshoot of his
family's furniture store. He played on the
status of NEMS as a major record dealer to
gain access to producers and recording
company executives. In a now-famous exchange,
Decca Records A&R executive Dick Rowe turned
Epstein down flat, informing him that "Guitar
groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein."[31]
While Epstein was negotiating with Decca, he
also approached EMI marketing executive Ron
White.[32] White (who was not himself a
record producer) in turn contacted EMI
producers Norrie Paramor, Walter Ridley, and
Norman Newell, all of whom declined to record
The Beatles.[33] White did not approach EMI's
fourth staff producer — George Martin —
who was on holiday at the time.[34]
Record contract
After failing to impress Decca Records,
Epstein went to the HMV store on Oxford
Street in London to transfer the Decca tapes
to discs. There, recording engineer Jim Foy
referred him to Sid Coleman, who ran EMI's
publishing arm. When Coleman heard the demo
tapes he suggested taking the tapes to George
Martin, who, Coleman explained, "does comedy
records" and headed the Parlophone label at
EMI. Epstein eventually met with Martin, who
signed the group to EMI on a one-year
renewable contract and scheduled their first
recording session on 6 June at EMI's Abbey
Road studios in north London.[35] Martin had
not been particularly impressed by the band's
demo recordings,[36] but he instantly liked
them as people when he met them. He concluded
that they had raw musical talent, but said
(in later interviews) that what made the
difference for him was their wit and
humour.[37]
Martin did have a problem with Pete Best,
[36] whom he criticised for not being able to
keep time. He privately suggested to Epstein
that the band use another drummer in the
studio. Best was good-looking and popular
with the group's fans, but the three founding
members had become increasingly unhappy with
his drumming and his personality.[citation
needed] There was speculation by some that
Best's popularity[38] with fans was another
source of friction. In addition, Epstein had
become exasperated with his refusal to adopt
the distinctive hairstyle as part of their
unified look. Best also had missed a number
of engagements because of illness. The three
founding members enlisted Epstein to dismiss
Best - which he did on 16 August 1962.[39]
They asked Ringo Starr (born Richard
Starkey), the drummer for one of the top
Merseybeat groups, Rory Storm and the
Hurricanes, to join the band, as Starr had
performed occasionally with The Beatles in
Hamburg.[40] The first recordings of Lennon,
McCartney, Harrison, and Starr together were
made as early as 15 October 1960, in a series
of demonstration records privately recorded
in Hamburg while acting as the backing group
for singer Lu Walters.[41] Starr played on
The Beatles' second EMI recording session on
4 September 1962, but Martin hired session
drummer Andy White for their next session on
11 September.[42]
Their recording contract paid them one penny
for each single sold, which was split amongst
the four Beatles — one farthing per group
member.[43] This royalty rate was further
reduced for singles sold outside the UK, on
which they received half of one penny (again
split between the whole band) per single.
Martin said later that it was a "pretty
awful" contract.[43] Their publishing
contract with Dick James Music (DJM) was also
standard for the time: songwriters received
the statutory minimum of 50% of the gross
monies received, with the publisher retaining
the other 50%.[citation needed]
The Beatles' first EMI session on 6 June did
not yield any releasable recordings but the
September sessions produced a minor UK hit,
"Love Me Do", which peaked on the charts at
number 17.[44] ("Love Me Do" reached the top
of the U.S. singles chart over 18 months
later in May 1964.) On 26 November they
recorded their second single "Please Please
Me", which reached no. 2 in the official UK
charts and no. 1 in the NME chart. Three
months later they recorded their first album
(also titled Please Please Me). The band's
first televised performance was on the People
and Places programme transmitted live from
Manchester by Granada Television on 17
October 1962.[45] As The Beatles' fame
spread, the frenzied adulation of the group,
predominantly from teenage female fans, was
dubbed 'Beatlemania'. In November 1963 The
Beatles appeared on the Royal Variety
Performance and were photographed with
Marlene Dietrich, who also appeared on the
show.[citation needed]
America
Although the band experienced huge popularity
in the UK record charts from early 1963,
EMI's American operation, Capitol Records,
declined to issue the singles "Please Please
Me" and "From Me to You (their first official
no. 1 hit in the UK)".[46] Vee-Jay Records, a
small Chicago label, issued the singles as
part of a deal for the rights to another
performer's masters. Art Roberts, music
director of Chicago powerhouse radio station
WLS, placed "Please Please Me" into radio
rotation in late February 1963 making it the
first time a Beatles record was heard on
American radio. Vee-Jay's rights to The
Beatles were later cancelled for non-payment
of royalties.[47]
In August 1963, Philadelphia-based Swan
Records released "She Loves You", which also
failed to receive airplay. A testing of the
song on Dick Clark's TV show American
Bandstand produced laughter from American
teenagers when they saw the group's
distinctive hairstyles. New York disc jockey
Murray the K featured "She Loves You" on his
'1010 WINS record revue' show in January.[48]
In early November 1963, Brian Epstein
persuaded Ed Sullivan to present The Beatles
on three editions of his show in February,
and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a
record deal with Capitol Records. Capitol
committed to a mid-January release for "I
Want to Hold Your Hand",[49] On 7 December
1963 a clip of The Beatles was shown on the
CBS Evening News (the story originally had
been scheduled to air on 22 November and was
aired on the CBS Morning News but was
pre-empted by the assassination of John F.
Kennedy). The clip inspired a teenage girl in
Washington, D.C. to request a Beatles song on
a local radio station. The station secured an
imported copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
— forcing Capitol Records to release the
song ahead of schedule on 26 December.
Several New York radio stations — first
WMCA, then WINS (AM) and WABC — began
playing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on its
release day. The Beatlemania that had started
in Washington was duplicated in New York and
quickly spread to other markets. The record
sold one million copies in just ten days, and
by 16 January, Cashbox magazine had certified
the record number one (in the edition marked
23 January). On 3 January 1964 a film of The
Beatles performing "She Loves You" was aired
on the late-night Jack Paar Show.
Beatlemania crosses the Atlantic
On 7 February 1964, a crowd of four thousand
fans at Heathrow Airport waved to The Beatles
as they took off for their first trip to
America as a group.[51] They were accompanied
by photographers, journalists (including
Maureen Cleave) and Phil Spector, who had
booked himself on the same flight.[52] The
pilot had radioed ahead, and as they prepared
to land said, "Tell the boys there's a big
crowd waiting for them." Kennedy
International Airport had never experienced
such a crowd, estimated at about 3,000
screaming fans.[53] After a press conference
(where they first met Murray the K) they were
put into limousines and driven to New York.
On the way McCartney turned on a radio and
listened to a running commentary: "They [The
Beatles] have just left the airport and are
coming to New York City..."[54] After
reaching the Plaza Hotel, they were besieged
by fans and reporters. Harrison had a
temperature of 102 the next day and was
ordered to stay in bed, so Neil Aspinall
replaced him for the first television
rehearsal.[55]
Their first live American television
appearance was on the The Ed Sullivan Show on
9 February 1964. The next morning practically
every newspaper wrote that The Beatles were
nothing more than a "fad", and "could not
carry a tune across the Atlantic".[56] Their
first American concert appearance was at
Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C. on 11
February.[57]
After The Beatles' huge success in 1964,
Vee-Jay Records and Swan Records took
advantage of their previously secured rights
to The Beatles' early recordings and reissued
the songs, all of which reached the top ten
the second time around. (MGM and Atco also
secured rights to The Beatles' early Tony
Sheridan-era recordings and had minor hits
with "My Bonnie" and "Ain't She Sweet", the
latter featuring John Lennon on lead vocal.)
In addition to Introducing... The Beatles,
which was essentially The Beatles' debut
British album with some minor alterations,
Vee-Jay also issued an unusual LP called The
Beatles Vs The Four Seasons. This 2-LP set
paired Introducing... The Beatles and The
Golden Hits Of The Four Seasons, another
successful act that Vee-Jay had under
contract, in a 'contest' (the back cover
featured a 'score card'). Another unusual
release was the Hear The Beatles Tell All
album, which consisted of two lengthy
interviews with Los Angeles radio disc
jockeys (side one was titled "Dave Hull
interviews John Lennon," while side two was
titled "Jim Steck interviews John, Paul,
George, Ringo"). No Beatles music was
included on this interview album, which
turned out to be the only Vee Jay Beatles
album Capitol Records could not reclaim.
The Vee-Jay/Swan-issued recordings eventually
ended up with Capitol, who issued most of the
Vee-Jay material on the American-only Capitol
release The Early Beatles, with three songs
left off this final US version of the album.
("I Saw Her Standing There" was issued as the
American B-side of "I Want to Hold Your
Hand," and also appeared on the Capitol
Records album Meet The Beatles. "Misery" and
"There's a Place" were issued as a Capitol
"Starline" reissue single in 1964, and
reappeared on the 1980 Rarities compilation
album.) The early Vee-Jay and Swan Beatles
records command a high price on the record
collectors' market, and all have been
copiously bootlegged.[58] The Swan tracks
("She Loves You" and "I'll Get You") were
issued on the Capitol LP The Beatles' Second
Album. (Swan also issued the German-language
version of "She Loves You," called "Sie Liebt
Dich." This song later appeared (in stereo)
on Capitol's US version of the Rarities
compilation album.)
In mid-1964 the band undertook their first
appearances outside of Europe and North
America. They toured Australia and New
Zealand without Ringo Starr, who was ill and
temporarily replaced by session drummer Jimmy
Nicol. In Adelaide they were greeted by over
300,000 people who turned out at Adelaide
Town Hall.[59]
In June 1965, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
appointed the four Beatles Members of the
Order of the British Empire, MBE. The band
members were nominated by Prime Minister
Harold Wilson (who also was the M.P. for
Huyton, Liverpool).[60] The appointment —
at that time primarily bestowed upon military
veterans and civic leaders — sparked some
conservative MBE recipients to return their
insignia in protest.[61] The first two were
returned on 14 June, before The Beatles
received theirs on 26 October 1965.[62] On 15
August that year, The Beatles performed the
first stadium concert in the history of rock,
playing at Shea Stadium in New York to a
crowd of 55,600.[63] Their sixth album,
Rubber Soul, was released in early December
1965. It was hailed as a major leap forward
in the maturity and complexity of the band's
music.[64]
Backlash and controversy
In July 1966, when The Beatles toured the
Philippines, they unintentionally snubbed the
nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos, who had
expected the group to attend a breakfast
reception at the Presidential Palace.[65]
When presented with the invitation, Brian
Epstein politely declined on behalf of the
group, as it had never been the group's
policy to accept such "official"
invitations.[66] The group soon found that
the Marcos regime was unaccustomed to
accepting "no" for an answer. After the
'snub' was broadcast on Philippine television
and radio, all of The Beatles' police
protection disappeared. The group and their
entourage had to make their way to Manila
airport on their own. At the airport, roadie
Mal Evans was beaten and kicked, and the band
members were pushed and jostled about by a
hostile crowd.[67] Once the group boarded the
plane, Epstein and Evans were ordered off,
and Evans said, "Tell my wife that I love
her."[68] Epstein was forced to give back all
the money that the band had earned while they
were there before being allowed back on the
plane.[69]
Almost as soon as they returned from the
Philippines, an earlier comment by Lennon
made in March that year launched a backlash
against The Beatles from religious and social
conservatives in the United States. In an
interview with British reporter Maureen
Cleave,[70] Lennon had offered his opinion
that Christianity was dying and that The
Beatles were "more popular than Jesus
now."[71] Afterwards, a radio station in
Birmingham, Alabama, ran a story on burning
Beatles records, in what was considered to be
a joke. However, many people affiliated with
rural churches in the American South started
taking the suggestion seriously. Towns across
the United States and South Africa started to
burn Beatles records in protest. Attempting
to make light of the incident, McCartney
said, "They've got to buy them before they
can burn them." Under tremendous pressure
from the American media, Lennon apologised
for his remarks at a press conference in
Chicago on August 11, the eve of the first
performance of what turned out to be their
final tour.[72]
The group's two-year series of Capitol
compilations also took a strange twist in the
United States when one of their publicity
shots, used for a Yesterday and Today album
and a poster promoting the UK release of
"Paperback Writer", created an uproar, as it
featured the band draped in meat and plastic
dolls. Thousands of these copies had to be
withdrawn. Years later, the cover shot was
linked with the group's interest in German
expressionism.[72]
Elvis Presley disapproved of The Beatles's
anti-war activism and open use of drugs,
later asking President Nixon to ban all four
members of the group from entering the United
States. Peter Guralnick writes, "The Beatles,
Elvis said, [...] had been a focal point for
anti-Americanism. They had come to this
country, made their money, then gone back to
England where they fomented anti-American
feeling."[73] Guralnick adds, "Presley
indicated that he is of the opinion that The
Beatles laid the groundwork for many of the
problems we are having with young people by
their filthy unkempt appearances and
suggestive music while entertaining in this
country during the early and middle
1960s."[74] Despite Elvis' remarks, Lennon
still had some positive feeling towards him:
"Before Elvis, there was nothing."[75]
The studio years
The Beatles at their last concert,
Candlestick Park.In April 1966, the group
began recording what would be their most
ambitious album to date, Revolver. During the
recording sessions for the album, tape
looping and early sampling were introduced in
a complex mix of ballad, R&B, soul and world
music.
The Beatles performed their last concert
before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San
Francisco on 29 August 1966.[72] McCartney
asked Tony Barrow to tape the event, but the
30-minute tape he used ran out halfway
through the last song. The concert lasted a
little under 35 minutes.[76]
From then on, The Beatles concentrated on
recording. Less than seven months after
recording Revolver, The Beatles returned to
Abbey Road Studios on 24 November 1966 to
begin the 129-day recording sessions for
their eighth album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, released on 1 June 1967.
On 25 June 1967, The Beatles became the first
band globally transmitted on
television—before an estimated 400 million
people worldwide. The band appeared in a
segment within the first-ever worldwide TV
satellite hook-up, a show titled Our World.
The Beatles were transmitted live from Abbey
Road Studios, and their new song "All You
Need Is Love" was recorded live during the
show.
The band's business affairs began to unravel
after manager Brian Epstein died of an
accidental prescription drug overdose on 27
August 1967 at the age of 32. At the end of
1967, they received their first major
negative press in the UK with disparaging
reviews of their surrealistic TV film Magical
Mystery Tour.[77] Part of the criticism arose
because colour was an integral part of the
film, but in 1967 few viewers in the UK had
colour televisions. The film's soundtrack,
which features one of The Beatles' few
instrumental tracks ("Flying"), was released
in the United Kingdom as a double EP, and in
the United States as a full LP (the LP is now
the official version).
The group spent the early part of 1968 in
Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, India, studying
transcendental meditation with the Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi.[78] Upon their return, Lennon
and McCartney went to New York to announce
the formation of Apple Corps. The middle of
1968 saw the band busy recording the double
album The Beatles, popularly known as The
White Album because of its plain white cover.
These sessions saw deep divisions opening
within the band, with Starr temporarily
walking out. The band carried on, with
McCartney recording the drums on the songs
"Martha My Dear", "Wild Honey Pie", "Dear
Prudence" and "Back in the USSR". Among the
other causes of dissension were that Lennon's
new girlfriend, Yoko Ono, was at his side
through almost all of the sessions, and that
the others felt that McCartney was becoming
too dominating.[79] Internal divisions within
the band had been a small but growing problem
during their early years; most notably, this
was reflected in the difficulty that George
Harrison experienced in getting his own songs
onto Beatles albums.
On the business side, McCartney wanted Lee
Eastman, the father of his then-girlfriend
Linda Eastman, to manage The Beatles, but the
other members wanted New York manager Allen
Klein. All past Beatles' decisions had been
unanimous, but this time the four could not
agree. Lennon, Harrison and Starr felt the
Eastmans would put McCartney's interests
before those of the group. In 1971 it was
discovered that Klein, who had been appointed
manager, had stolen £5 million from The
Beatles' holdings. Years later, during the
Anthology interviews, McCartney said of this
time, "Looking back, I can understand why
they would feel that he [Lee Eastman] was
biased against them."
Their final live performance was on the
rooftop of the Apple building in Savile Row,
London, on 30 January 1969, the next-to-last
day of the difficult Get Back sessions. Most
of the performance was filmed and later
included in the film Let It Be. While the
band was playing, the local police were
called because of complaints about the noise.
Although the group was simply asked to end
their performance, the band members later
remarked in the Anthology video that they
were disappointed they were not arrested —
pointing out that the police hauling the band
members off in handcuffs would have been "an
appropriate ending" for the film.
The Beatles recorded their final album, Abbey
Road, in the summer of 1969. The completion
of the song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" for
the album on 20 August was the last time all
four Beatles were together in the same
studio.
Their final new song was Harrison's "I Me
Mine", recorded 3 January 1970 and released
on the Let It Be album. It was recorded
without Lennon, who was in Denmark when the
song was recorded.[80]
Breakup
John Lennon announced his departure to the
rest of the group on 20 September 1969 but
agreed that no announcement was to be
publicly made until a number of legal matters
were resolved.
In March 1970 the Get Back session tapes were
given to American producer Phil Spector, who
had produced Lennon's solo single "Instant
Karma!". Spector's "Wall of Sound" production
values went against the original intent of
the record, which had been to record a
stripped-down live performance. McCartney was
deeply dissatisfied with Spector's treatment
of "The Long and Winding Road", and
unsuccessfully attempted to halt release of
Spector's version of the song. McCartney
publicly announced the break-up on 10 April
1970, a week before releasing his first solo
album, McCartney. Pre-release copies included
a press release with a self-written interview
explaining the end of The Beatles and his
hopes for the future.[81] On 8 May 1970, the
Spector-produced version of Get Back was
released as Let It Be, followed by the
documentary film of the same name. The
Beatles' partnership was finally dissolved in
1975.[82]
1970--present: After The Beatles
Ringo Starr, 1968 Shortly before and after
the official dissolution of the group, all
four Beatles released solo albums, including
Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,
McCartney's McCartney, Starr's Sentimental
Journey, and Harrison's All Things Must Pass.
Some of their albums featured contributions
by other former Beatles; Starr's Ringo (1973)
was the only one to include compositions and
performances by all four, albeit on separate
songs.
Other than an unreleased jam session in 1974
(later bootlegged as A Toot and a Snore in
'74), Lennon and McCartney never recorded
together again.
In the wake of the expiration in 1975 of The
Beatles' contract with EMI-Capitol, the
American Capitol label, rushing to cash in on
its vast Beatles holdings and freed from the
group's creative control, released five LPs:
Rock 'n' Roll Music (a compilation of their
more uptempo numbers), The Beatles at the
Hollywood Bowl (containing portions of two
unreleased shows at the Hollywood Bowl), Love
Songs (a compilation of their slower
numbers), Rarities (a compilation of tracks
that either had never been released in the
U.S. or had gone out of print), and Reel
Music (a compilation of songs from their
films). There was also a non-Capitol-EMI
release of a show from the group's early days
at the Star Club in Hamburg captured on a
poor-quality tape. Of all these post-breakup
LPs, only the Hollywood Bowl LP had the
approval of the group members. Upon the
American release of the original British CDs
in 1986, these post-breakup Capitol American
compilation LPs were deleted from the Capitol
catalogue.
John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David
Chapman on 8 December 1980 in New York City.
Shortly afterward, in 1981, the three
surviving Beatles reunited to record "All
Those Years Ago", released as a George
Harrison solo single. Its original lyrics had
been rewritten as a tribute to Lennon.
The BBC has a large collection of Beatles
recordings, mostly comprising original studio
sessions from 1963 to 1968. Much of this
material formed the basis for a 1988 radio
documentary series The Beeb's Lost Beatles
Tapes. In 1989, many outtakes from The
Beatles sessions appeared on the radio series
The Lost Lennon Tapes. Later, in 1994, the
best of the BBC sessions were given an
official EMI release on Live at the BBC.
In 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a group (not as
individual performers) during their first
year of eligibility.[83] On the night of
their induction, Harrison and Starr appeared
to accept their award along with Lennon's
widow Yoko Ono and his two sons. McCartney
stayed away, issuing a press release citing
"unresolved difficulties" with Harrison,
Starr, and Lennon's estate. Solo Beatles
later inducted were Lennon in 1994, McCartney
in 1999 and Harrison in 2004.
Collage of the various covers of the
Anthology seriesIn February 1994, the three
surviving Beatles reunited to produce and
record additional music for a few of Lennon's
home recordings. "Free as a Bird" premiered
as part of The Beatles Anthology series of
television documentaries and was released as
a single in December 1995, with "Real Love"
following in March 1996. These songs were
also included in the three Anthology
collections of CDs released in 1995 and 1996,
each of which consisted of two CDs of
never-before-released Beatles material. Klaus
Voormann, who had known The Beatles since
their Hamburg days and had previously
illustrated the Revolver album cover,
directed the Anthology cover concept. 450,000
copies of Anthology 1 were sold on its first
day of release. In 2000, a compilation album
named 1 was released, containing almost every
number-one single released by the band from
1962 to 1970. The collection sold 3.6 million
copies in its first week (selling 3 copies a
second) and more than 12 million in three
weeks worldwide. The collection also reached
number one in the United States and 33 other
countries and had sold 25 million copies by
2005 (about the ninth best selling album of
all time).
George Harrison during this time showed his
socio-political consciousness and earned
respect for his contribution for arranging
the Concert For Bangladesh in New York in
August 1971 along with sitar maestro Ravi
Shankar. Harrison died of lung cancer on 29
November 2001.
More recently, in 2006, George Martin and his
son Giles Martin remixed original Beatles
recordings to create a soundtrack to
accompany Cirque du Soleil's theatrical
production Love.
Musical evolution
The Beatles' constant demands to create new
sounds on every new recording, combined with
George Martin's arranging abilities and the
studio expertise of EMI staff engineers such
as Norman Smith, Ken Townshend and Geoff
Emerick, all played significant parts in the
innovative sounds of the albums Rubber Soul
(1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's
Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).
The Beatles continued to absorb influences
long after their initial success, often
finding new musical and lyrical avenues by
listening to their contemporaries. Among
those influences were Bob Dylan, who
influenced songs such as "You've Got to Hide
Your Love Away" and "Norwegian Wood (This
Bird Has Flown)".[84] Other contemporary
influences included the Byrds and the Beach
Boys, whose album Pet Sounds was a favourite
of McCartney's.[85]
Along with studio tricks such as sound
effects, unconventional microphone
placements, tape loops, double tracking and
vari-speed recording, The Beatles began to
augment their recordings with instruments
that were unconventional for rock music at
the time. These included string and brass
ensembles as well as Indian instruments such
as the sitar as in Norwegian Wood (This Bird
Has Flown) and the swarmandel as in
Strawberry Fields Forever. They also used
early electronic instruments such as the
Mellotron, with which McCartney supplied the
flute voices on the intro to "Strawberry
Fields Forever", and the ondioline, an
electronic keyboard that created the unusual
oboe-like sound on "Baby You're a Rich Man".
Beginning with the use of a string quartet
(arranged by George Martin with input from
McCartney) on "Yesterday" in 1965, The
Beatles pioneered a modern form of art song,
exemplified by the double-quartet string
arrangement on "Eleanor Rigby" (1966), "Here,
There and Everywhere" (1966) and "She's
Leaving Home" (1967). A televised performance
of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 directly
inspired McCartney's use of a piccolo trumpet
on the arrangement of "Penny Lane". The
Beatles moved towards psychedelia with "Rain"
and "Tomorrow Never Knows" from 1966, and
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", "Strawberry
Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus" from
1967.
Influence on popular culture
Lifestyle
The Beatles' lifestyles were greatly altered
by their success and the income they earned.
The availability of the first oral
contraceptive and illegal drugs changed many
people's opinions — including The Beatles'
— about life, marriage, and sexual
relationships.[86]
Recreational drug use
In Hamburg, The Beatles used "prellies"
(Preludin) both recreationally and to
maintain their energy through all-night
performances.[87] McCartney would usually
take one, but Lennon would often take four or
five.[87] Bob Dylan introduced them to
cannabis during a 1964 visit to New York.[88]
McCartney remembered them all getting "very
high" and giggling.[89] The Beatles
occasionally smoked a spliff in the car on
the way to the studio during the filming of
Help!, which often made them forget their
lines.[90]
In April 1965, Lennon and Harrison were
introduced to LSD by an acquaintance, dentist
John Riley.[91] Lennon in particular became
an avid "tripper", claiming in a 1970
interview in Rolling Stone to have taken LSD
hundreds of times. McCartney was more
reluctant to try the drug, but finally did so
in 1966 and was the first Beatle to talk
about it in the press.
The Beatles added their names to an
advertisement in The Times, on 24 July 1967,
which asked for the legalisation of cannabis,
the release of all prisoners imprisoned
because of possession, and research into
marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement
was sponsored by a group called Soma, and was
signed by 65 people, including Brian Epstein,
Graham Greene, R.D. Laing, 15 doctors, and
two MPs.[92] On a sailing trip to Greece, in
1967, the whole band sat around on the boat
and took acid.[93]
Meditation
On 24 August 1967, The Beatles met the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton,
and a few days later went to Bangor, in North
Wales, to attend a weekend 'initiation'
conference.[94] There, the Maharishi gave
each of them a mantra.[95] Their time in
early 1968 at the Maharishi's ashram in India
was highly productive from a musical
standpoint, as practically all of the songs
that would later be recorded for The White
Album and Abbey Road were composed there by
Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.[78]
Discography
Further information: List of Beatles songs by
singer, The Beatles record sales, worldwide
charts, The Beatles bootlegs, and List of
Beatles hit singles
Official CD catalogue
In 1987, EMI released all 12 of The Beatles'
studio albums — as originally released in
the UK — on CD worldwide. (North American
releases were on EMI's American subsidiary
Capitol Records). It was a considered
decision by Apple Corps to standardise The
Beatles catalogue throughout the world.
Because there were tracks that had been
released in the UK on singles and EPs that
had not been released on the original UK
albums, in order for all their recordings to
be available on CD it was necessary to create
three further CDs that would contain the
missing tracks.
One CD was of a 1967 US compilation album
that featured the 6-track 1967 UK EP Magical
Mystery Tour and the various singles released
in that year. The other two CDs were new
compilations that gathered together all the
other singles, EP tracks and recordings from
1962--1970 that had not been issued on the
original British studio albums.
Magical Mystery Tour - 8 August 1987[96]
Past Masters, Volume One - 7 March 1988
Past Masters, Volume Two - 7 March 1988
According to EMI and the Guinness Book of
Records, The Beatles have sold in excess of
one billion units (1,010,000,000, including
cassettes, records, CDs and bootlegs).
Beginning in 2004, the US album
configurations were released as a series of
box sets from Capitol Records (The Capitol
Albums, Volume 1 & Volume 2); these included
both stereo and mono versions based on the
mixes that were prepared for vinyl at the
time of their original 1960s releases.
Song catalogue
In 1963 Lennon and McCartney agreed to assign
their song publishing rights to Northern
Songs, a company created by music publisher
Dick James. The company was administered by
James' own company Dick James Music. Northern
Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon and
McCartney each holding 15% of the company's
shares whilst Dick James and the company's
chairman, Charles Silver, held a controlling
37.5%. In 1969, following a failed attempt by
Lennon and McCartney to buy the company,
James and Silver sold Northern Songs to
British TV company Associated TeleVision
(ATV), from which Lennon and McCartney
received stock.
In 1985, after a short period in which the
parent company was owned by Australian
business magnate Robert Holmes à Court, ATV
Music was sold to Michael Jackson for a
reported $47 million (trumping a joint bid by
McCartney and Yoko Ono), including the
publishing rights to over 200 songs composed
by Lennon and McCartney.
A decade later Jackson and Sony merged its
music publishing businesses. Since 1995,
Jackson and Sony/ATV Music Publishing have
jointly owned most of the Lennon-McCartney
songs recorded by The Beatles. Sony later
reported that Jackson had used his share of
their co-owned Beatles' catalogue as
collateral for a loan from the music company.
Meanwhile, Lennon's estate and McCartney
still receive their respective songwriter
shares of the royalties. (Despite his
ownership of most of the Lennon-McCartney
publishing, Jackson has only recorded one
Lennon-McCartney composition himself, "Come
Together" which was featured in his film
Moonwalker.)
Although the Jackson-Sony catalogue includes
most of The Beatles' greatest hits, four of
their earliest songs had been published by
one of EMI's publishing companies prior to
Lennon and McCartney signing with Dick James
— and McCartney later succeeded in
personally acquiring the publishing rights to
"Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "P.S. I
Love You" and "Ask Me Why" from EMI.
Harrison and Starr did not renew their
songwriting contracts with Northern Songs in
1968, signing with Apple Publishing instead.
Harrison later created Harrisongs, his own
company which still owns the rights to his
post-1967 songs such as "While My Guitar
Gently Weeps" and "Something". Starr also
created his own company, called Startling
Music. It holds the rights to his two
post-1967 songs recorded by The Beatles,
"Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
The future of The Beatles catalogue
The Beatles are but a few of the major
artists (aside from Led Zeppelin and Garth
Brooks) who have not to date allowed their
entire recorded catalogue to be available
through major online music services (iTunes,
Napster, etc.). This may be due to the
massive royalty fees demanded by the group.
As a result, The Beatles' music (both
officially and unofficially released) has
been made available through illegal music
search engines such as eMule and BearShare,
and have apparently raised the ire of the
entire music industry.
However, sure signs that official online
distributions may be coming is the fact that
the video for Tomorrow Never Knows/Within You
Without You (the remix from their album Love)
is currently being distributed (as of June,
2007) via Napster, and many Internet radio
networks (such as Pandora Internet Radio and
Live365.com) are allowing Beatles songs to be
broadcasted over the world wide web. There
has been talk of negotiations to make such an
official online distribution schedule
possible. Officials at Apple Corps have
hinted at this, as they have confirmed that
the entire Beatles catalog has been digitally
remastered for online distribution.
On film
Main article: The Beatles on film
The Beatles appeared in several films, all of
which featured associated soundtrack albums.
The band played themselves in two films
directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's
Night (1964) and Help! (1965). The group
produced and starred in the hour-long
television movie Magical Mystery Tour (1967),
while the documentary Let It Be (released
1970) followed the recording sessions for the
Get Back project in early 1969. In addition,
the psychedelic animated film Yellow
Submarine (1968) followed the adventures of a
cartoon version of the band; the members did
not provide their own voices, appearing only
in a brief live-action epilogue.
Other projects
Anthology
Main article: The Beatles Anthology
Love
Main article: Love (Cirque du Soleil)
Instrumentation
Rickenbacker, Gretsch, Epiphone, Gibson,
Fender, and C.F. Martin & Company guitars
Höfner, Fender and Rickenbacker basses
Vox, Fender, and Selmer amplifiers
Premier and Ludwig drums
Zildjian cymbals
Steinway, and Blüthner pianos
Hammond, Vox and Lowrey electric organs
Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Hohner Pianet
electric pianos
Moog Modular synthesiser
Mellotron Polyphonic Keyboard
Neumann, AKG, and STC microphones
Bill Stoll
Stollco video
tampa fl
Tags : John Paul George and Ringo |
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Affichage : 1986114
Durée : 389 s |
| The Beatles - Please Mr. Postman |
 |
The Beatles video for their version of the
song Please Mr. Postman.
The Beatles began playing the song in their
live shows during 1962. It was recorded
in-studio on July 30, 1963.
The song was included as the 7th track on the
band's second album, With the Beatles, which
was released in November of 1963.
The song was originally written by The
Marvelettes, and became a #1 single for the
group in late 1961. In addition to The
Beatles, the song has also been covered by
The Carpenters and Lil' Wayne.
Tags : The Beatles John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Ringo Starr Please Mr. Postman |
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Affichage : 3421508
Durée : 117 s |
| The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby (1966) |
 |
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles,
originally released on the album Revolver by
EMI/Parlophone Records. The song was
primarily written by Paul McCartney, although
in an interview conducted with Playboy
magazine in 1980 shortly before he died, John
Lennon claimed that, at McCartney's request,
he completed the lyrics to the second and
third verse.
Tags : Beatles Eleanor Rigby 1966 |
|
Affichage : 2967189
Durée : 165 s |
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