Happy 80th Paul McCartney

 Probably the world's most popular musician, Paul McCartney turns 80 today (June 18th, 2022),

The Beatles Get Back 4: Review

 I couldn't wait to watch this documentary about a documentary, as director and producer, Peter Jackson so aptly described it.  But as I began to watch, I felt a little buyer's (I rented Disney plus to watch) remorse.  This was after all, derived from the same clips that movie "Let It Be" was created.  That was probably the worst of the 5 movies that the group made, watching them argue while making a record, without the antics that helped make the band a complete package. 

There was, however, a certain kind of charm that this series excluded that was missing from the movie as it showed the Beatles were not all angry with each other during the shooting of what became their last movie.  The comradery was still there.  There were some fun scenes throughout the movie of John Lennon and Paul McCartney horsing around as one would have imagined they would have done in the beginning years.

One thing this documentary does well is to add context.  We find out when the shooting of the film starting, what the goal was, and the day-by-day trials and tribulations of putting the project together.  Every day is logged by showing a calendar and marking off each date with an X.  

What I think made this project work is the band itself.  The great music, the songwriting process shown, the horseplay amongst each other and a certain intangible, the sort of down to earth personalities of the group.  The show made me feel like I was in the studio with them, and I could join their banter.   

The show is in three long parts running about 8 hours.  The best way to watch is to break it up and watch little by little.

 

Late 1960s--Beatles Grow Moustaches

 As the Beatles were out of sight (literally) for a while in the latter half of the 1960s, I remember their reemergence and it was indeed, shocking! I saw the videos of Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever on American Bandstand.  The Beatles had moustaches!  John Lennon had glasses!

It's hard today the appreciate the gravity of this.  Along with the fab four the icons of the day included Frank Sinatra, Walter Cronkite, Elvis Presley, Andy Williams, and Bob Hope.  None of them altered their appearance.   Eventually, the Beatles would grow their hair longer and grow and shave beards, etc.  It set the stage for other famous faces to do more of the same.  The band members themselves went further into their own directions, splitting up, sadly, a few years later.

Yesterday--The Movie

We saw Yesterday last weekend at the Bella Bottega Theatre in Redmond.  I am a Beatles fan as I grew up in the heyday of Beatlemania.  While many subsequent generations have embraced the band, living during the evolution of the group was an experience in itself.  The band was always doing new thing and rewriting the industry.  It really was a phenomenon beyond words.

In this movie, a struggling street musician, Jack Malik, finds that the world has forgotten everything about the Beatles.  That is everyone but him,  he finds out that he can kindle the flames of Beatlemania by singing songs of the group, since no one knows of there existence.  This makes for a great career for Jack. 

Hamesh Patel is marvelous as Jack and Lily James is wonderful in her role as his manager/love interest Ellie.  Kate McKinnon is a scene stealer in the role of Jack's manager Debra Hammer. I think all three performances are Oscar Worthy. 

The Beatles Play Seattle

Seattle historian Felix Banel has this great recount of the Beatles first concert in Seattle in 1964.  Click hereI don't know if the band itself played any subsequent dates here, but I was fortunate enough to see Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney in separate area concerts.

Abbey Road Album Cover Picture Taken 50 Years Ago

Even though it's said to be the last album that the Beatles recorded, I believe it was the first one  that I bought.  The famous picture on the cover of  "Abbey Road" was taken on August 8th, 1969.

The first hit that I can remember from the album was "Come Together", but maybe the most enduring song was George Harrison's "Something". 

Both Abbey Road and the later released Beatle album, "Let It Be", contained song titles that in retrospect, suggested that the days of the Beatles as a music recording entity were coming to an end.  

Some facts about the shooting of this picture can be found by clicking here.

Beatles Final Studio Album Released 49 Years Ago

The group had already announced the ride was over when the album Let It Be was released on this day in 1970. The title song would soon become a classic by the group, along with another Paul McCartney song, The Long And Winding Road.

George Harrison: Living In The Material World

It can arguably be said that at the  time of the Beatles break up, George Harrison  experienced the most growth as an artist.  His songs, Something and While My Guitar Gently Weeps have become such classics, that they have been remembered as HIS songs as much as Beatle songs.   His solo career also yielded many classics including My Sweet Lord and What Is Life. 

The show lasts 3 and a half hours, but is never boring. It covers his rise with the Beatles, his emersion into Indian Culture, where he learned the to play the sitar (shown above),  his post Beatle projects and his spirituality.  

There are interviews with fellow artists both past and present, living and dead, fellow Beatles,  and his family including his son, and both his ex wife Pattie and his widow, Olivia. 

The documentary was directed by Martin Scorsese.  It was released in 2011 and won Emmys for Non Fiction Special and for Direction. 

Memories Of The '60s--The Beatle Cartoon

So most people my age may remember The Monkees TV show, but how many remember that The Beatles had a cartoon series.  It ran from 1965 to 1969 on ABC TV.   Reruns later ran on MTV in 1986.
The speaking voices of the 4 Beatles was provided by two voice actors.  The songs were real Beatles songs.  The band itself was not involved in the project, although their voices were used in the previously recorded music. 
The show consisted around two episodes, each framed from a Beatles song. There was a "follow the bouncing ball" singalong in the middle.  The intro to each show played their music while the group was depicted running from it's crazy fans.  A phenomenon we know as Beatlemania, which was rampant at the time. 
The Beatles were reportedly initially not fond of the TV show, but later came to like it.  The cartoon, I believe, went a long way toward cementing the band's place in American culture.  Most of the Beatles songs that I knew were the ones that I had heard on the cartoon.
The Beatles would eventually release the movie "Yellow Submarine" which was also animated.

Sirius XM Launching Beatles Channel

Sirius XM subscribers can now have The Beatles 24 hours a day on it's channel 18,  Beatle music has been heard on the 60s and 70s channels, however, now fans of the Fab Four have a station dedicated to the iconic band's music.

Beatles Last Concert--50 Years Ago

The Beatles performed for the last time as a group on a concert tour 50 years ago today, it was in San Francisco. You can read the story here

Legendary Beatles Producer George Martin Dies At 90

Outside of the Fab Four, who is the best known name involved with the Beatles?  Would it be Linda McCartney?  Yoko Ono? Brian Epstein?  If the question was, who was the guiding force behind the music,  it would have to be George Martin the producer.  Many knew the name because it was on every album. He was credited with being the "5th Beatle". I liked to call him the "2nd George".
Martin had an ear for the times.  He sped up the tempo on "Please Please Me", one of the Beatle's earliest hits. Against Paul McCartney's wishes, he added a string quartet to "Yesterday". He kept the guitar feedback in "I Feel Fine" and made it sound like it belonged in the song.  Martin himself played a piano riff  in the Rubber Soul song "In My Life".  He produced the groundbreaking "Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
He is perhaps due a lot more of the credit for the Beatles success than he received, but he was fine with that. The Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil Beatles tribute "Love" was a collaboration of  Martin and his son Giles.
Sir George Martin died in his sleep on March 8th.  He was 90.

The Beatles - It's Only Love

In honor of the 50 anniversary of the release of Rubber Soul, the Beatles singing "It's Only Love"

Beatle Album Rubber Soul Turns 50

It's the second Beatle album that I've owned. Rubber Soul was a gift from my baby sitter, who knew my love of the group. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the album.
 What the album marks in music history, though, is indeed significant.  It really was the first Beatles album with a seemingly cohesive theme.  However, in this article in the Wall Street Journal, Marc Myers writes that the theme of the US version of the album was "engineered" by Dave Dexter.  The irony is that Dexter has been vilified by both the Beatles and rock music fans for editing the groups musical efforts, mostly favoring commerce over art.
The album marked a turn by the group from a teen age dance style music to a more adult acoustical sound and is credited to influencing artists such as Brian Wilson and Stevie Wonder.

My Favorite Birthday Present

I received many fantastic presents on my birthday last Sunday, my favorite is this yet to be hung picture of the Beatles appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show, an historic moment for both the show and the group.  My wife was able to put a bid in on it at a silent auction at a Maple Valley wine bar.  The proceeds went to charity.

Cynthia Lennon--John's First Wife

Cynthia Lennon, the only Beatle wife when the band broke out, has died of cancer at 75,  The mother of Julian Lennon, who had brief success as a recording artist in the 1980s,  Cynthia and John divorced when he fell in love with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. 
Born Cynthia Powell, she is the third Beatle spouse to lose a battle with  cancer.  Ringo's first wife Maureen and Paul's wife Linda have also died since the group's break up.

The Night That Changed America

The two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, return to the Ed Sullivan Theatre where they made history 50 years ago.   
Dave Letterman joins them on their return, part of a CBS special.

Fifty Years Ago--The Beatles Appear On Ed Sullivan

To celebrate The Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan, you should understand the times.  It was 1964 and the world was in kind of a funk.  President Kennedy had been shot and killed a couple of months before and the youthful president who represented the future was replaced by Lyndon B. Johnson, a somewhat unpopular former senator. 
The Beatles wore what looked like suits and had hair cuts that no one had seen before.  As I remember it (I was only 6), we would gather to watch Ed Sullivan every Sunday night.  I recall being confused by the haircuts and all, beat it didn't take long for me to be a full fledged Beatles fan.  The earliest songs I remember are "Can't Buy Me Love", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Can't Buy Me Love".  Soon there was a Beatles cartoon that ran on Saturdays.  It would feature 2 cartoons which featured a Beatles song and a singalong between them,   The Beatles did not provide the voices for the characters.  I also got to see "A Hard Days Night", the first Beatles movie at the Liberty Theatre.  I also bought Beatles bubblegum cards around that time at the grocery store at 3rd and Yakima in Walla Walla.

Paul McCartney Plays Safeco

It was the concert of a lifetime.  It was a dream come true and even better, it was on my birthday.  5 years ago, Ringo Starr at St Michelle Winery, it was the first time that I had seen a Beatle live in concert, that by coincidence was also on my birthday and while Ringo was wonderful, last night's McCartney concert was off the charts. 
Recently turned 71, McCartney played everything from new releases, Wings songs, Beatles song from during and after the mop top period, He did a touching version of "Blackbird" speaking of how he had written it after reading about and observing civil rights tension in the South during the 60s. He paid tribute to departed band mates John Lennon and George Harrison as well as his late wife, Linda.  His tribute to wife Nancy "My Valentine"  was beautiful and moving. He did one of my old favorite, "Live And Let Die" , a theme from the James Bond movie with the same name with special effects and fireworks.
It was the first rock concert in Safeco, which Paul recognized.  He stopped for a moment "to drink it in"  He also did a tribute to Seattle native Jimi Hendrix and keeping his Seattle theme, invited surviving Nirvana members to join him on stage to perform with him during his encore.
The top 2 pictures were taken from Seattle Times site as our cells ran out of batteries.  In addition, it was much clearer than what we would have been able to take. I scanned my ticket this morning. We were on the floor, 8 rows up to the left of the stage. 

40 Years Ago: Beatles Say So Long