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| 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! |
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Affichage : 5475062
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 : 1965828
Durée : 389 s |
| The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby (1966) |
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"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 |
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Affichage : 2922275
Durée : 165 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 : 3353646
Durée : 117 s |
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