Watch this:
And more recently BBC broadcast a documentary titled “12 Hours to Please Please Me” where they try to recreate The Beatles first album (which was mostly recorded in just one day – February 11, 1963):
Last week I put up this Pet Sounds documentary. Here’s another cool one; it’s from the BBC and it’s on the Beatles 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour:
This site has been down for the last few days due to a hacking (dirty hacking bastard!) but I’ve finally got it back up and running.
Now that the site is up again I can share the big news (that most Beatles freaks have probably already heard): The 2009 digital remasters are finally making their way to vinyl when the Beatles Vinyl Box Set is released on November 13th.
Like the The Beatles USB was essentially the Beatles Stereo CD Box Set on a USB, this is that same set of stereo remasters on vinyl. Yes I’m sure they’d love to sell us Beatles freaks these same remasters in dozens more audio formats if they could.
But unlike the USB I can actually see a point to these vinyl release and not just because there’s just something neat about the physicality of an LP spinning (and of course the nostalgia factor for those of us whose first album was a vinyl LP and not an iTunes download) but because this is actually a remaster of the remaster made especially for vinyl.
There’s no limiting (which was done for the stereo CDs) and there has been additional EQing done to optimize the playback on vinyl.
Along with the 16 stereo LPs themselves (all of The Beatles original British albums along with the Past Masters set of singles and b-sides) there is a 252 page hardbound book.
They are claiming there are going to be only 50,000 of these box sets released around the world. I don’t really believe them, but there’s still a good shot that they will be selling out in the short term anyway. CLICK HERE to order on Amazon.
1992 documentary on the making of The Beatles 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Continue reading “The Making of Sgt. Pepper Documentary” »
To celebrate Paul McCartney’s 70th birthday I’ve selected 10 of my favorite McCartney songs. 5 with The Beatles and 5 post Beatles. I wouldn’t call these my favorite songs by Paul (I’m too indecisive these days to even try to pick out favorites) they’re just some great songs that are worth a listen (er… buy The Beatles in Stereo Box Set if you don’t have it.)
Five Great McCartney Songs with The Beatles
“For No One” – Revolver.
I’ve always loved this sometimes overlooked gem from Revolver and my appreciation for it has only grown with time. Really you can’t go wrong with any of Paul’s tracks for Revolver, he was at the top of his game in 1966. He also wrote “Eleanor Rigby,” “Got to Get You Into My Life,” “Good Day Sunshine,” “Yellow Submarine” (for Ringo to sing), and “Here, There, and Everywhere” for this brilliant album.
“I’ll Follow the Sun” – Beatles For Sale.
Beatles For Sale isn’t as good as A Hard Day’s Night or Help! (which came out before & after it) and I think because of that it gets a bit more of a shaft than it deserves. No it’s not one of their greatest albums but it does have some really nice songs on it including this one. I actually quite like most of the originals on this album, what brings it down for me are the not so great covers.
“Helter Skelter” – The White Album.
The most obvious example that Paul was more than just the balladeer of The Beatles (a misconception that is still common.) There’s a lot of things that kick my ass about this recording but I think my favorite thing might just be the backing vocals; I love the mix of the “ahhhhs” with the heavy guitars.
Continue reading “Ten Great Paul McCartney Songs for Paul’s 70th Birthday” »
Well! After their regular schedule of Cavern and other club appearances, The Beatles, still waiting for that elusive record contract and subsequent fame, headed of for their third trip to Hamburg and their first of three residencies at the Star Club. The big desirable place to play. The building is now torn down. Another landmark obliterated from History, although the spot is marked where it was.
The Archway Through To The Club Location
The Very Same Archway Today
I think now they got to fly over and stay in an actual hotel with beds and sheets!
The Beatles concentrating hard on their nice hotel beds, April '62
Beatles go to Manchester and play for BBC for the first time.
Since Brian Epstein had signed on to manage The Beatles, they were actually in a position to “get somewhere”. They got that audition/recording session with DECCA on Jan 1 and by Feb. sometime, they finally found out they were refused by the label for the famous given reason of guitar groups being on their way out etc, etc…(Incidentally, Pete Best was the last to find out about that a week after the others on the flimsy excuse that they didn’t want to ‘bum him out‘) Whatever.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that Ringo made his first appearance with The Beatles in Feb as well. Also in Feb, Brian sent off a letter to Polydor in Germany to be released from their contract with them and Tony Sheridan, and that on June 30, The Beatles would cease to be Polydor artists. But more on that in April. Continue reading “It Was 50 Years Ago Today…pt.2” »
I’m finally continuing with my Beatles songs series with “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” from 1965′s Rubber Soul.
“Norwegian Wood” has been among my favorite Beatles songs since the first time I heard it over 15 years ago. The exotic sound, the evocatively cryptic lyrics, the mesmerizing melody. It’s just a brilliant song. In 2004 Rolling Stone placed it at #83 on their list of the greatest 500 songs of all time.
The most notable thing about this John Lennon composition as far as its place in popular music history is that it was the first western pop song to feature a sitar.
George Harrison would go on to include sitar in some of his own Beatles songs (“Within You Without You,” “Love You To,” & “Inner Light”) and The Rolling Stones used one in their 1966 hit “Paint It Black.” Continue reading “The Beatles – “Norwegian Wood”” »
Time flies. 1962 was the ‘official’ start to The Beatles history as far as we knew it. Their first single was issued in October. But before we get there, let’s start at the beginning.
January 1, 1962 was the big day of the Decca audition session. Brian Epstein had become manager in November of ’61 and immediately set about getting the boys a recording contract. The Beatles had two heavy duty years of perfecting their sound and their act and developed a great following in Merseyside and were now getting desperate to legitimise their existence and efforts by getting a recording contract.
By this time, Brian had got them into suits and they no longer ate, drank or swore on stage so they might be easier to accept by a potential record company.
I’ve talked a lot about The Beatles on this blog. I’m not going to go back and count them all but there’s probably over 100 posts about The Beatles on MusicByDay.com (many of them by me) and besides Amadeus’s “Beatles Suck” post I think they are almost all entirely positive.
So it seems like time to tackle something a bit controversial regarding my favorite band of all time; my least favorite Beatles songs. I’m using the term “worst” instead of “least favorite” in the title because that’s more provacative. People love to argue about such things after all. My worst five might be a different list from every other Beatles fan in the world. That’s the great thing about lists; people always disagree which can lead to some interesting discussion.
When making this list I am only considering original material (no covers) and I’m only considering songs included on The Beatles original LPs, EPs, and singles released from 1962 to 1970 (ie: all of the original songs included in The Beatles in Stereo Box Set.) My list is alphabetical.
“Dig A Pony” – I’ve been waiting about 15 years for this song to grow on me. Still hasn’t happened. I don’t mind the lyrics. I like the attitude of it. And I kind of like the “all I want is you” bit. But overall it just sort of drags. When I hear this song when listening to Let It Be I usually find myself a bit bored and waiting for it to be over. Continue reading “The Five Worst Beatles Songs” »
