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Jan 10 1 comments
Interviews by Happy Nat

Nick Churchill talks about his book “Yeah Yeah Yeah – The Beatles & Bournemouth”

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, The Beatles & Bournemouth" by Nick Churchill

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, The Beatles & Bournemouth" by Nick Churchill

I spent a little while chatting with Nick Churchill, formerly of the Daily Echo in Bournemouth, U.K., about his new book, about which I wrote a short article last month (viewable here). The book is titled Yeah Yeah Yeah – The Beatles & Bournemouth, and it came out last September (2011).

Bournemouth, as I’m sure many reading already know, is a resort town on the southern coast of England, and Nick’s book gives us a plethora of details about many historical events that link The Beatles to this beautiful British settlement.

In the previous article, I point out some of the interesting ties listed on the book’s back cover of Beatles happenings in Bournemouth. These include:

1) The Beatles played more theater shows at the Bournemouth Gaumont (16 in all) than any other concert venue in the U.K. outside of London, and a taping of one of their shows there is the earliest known recording of a theater performance by the group. Get the whole story »

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Jan 09 0 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – The “This Boy” mix up

Welcome back for another Beatles Rarity Of The Week. From 1963 through 1965, The Beatles had a new album ready to go in time for the end-of-year holiday season. When it became apparent that this was not in the cards for 1966, EMI personnel hastily assembled a greatest hits album for the U.K. market only. The album was titled A Collection Of Beatles Oldies (But Goodies), and it was a good way for the English album buyers to pick up several tracks that had only been issued on EPs and singles beforehand in the U.K. Furthermore, if you were one of the “earlybirds” that was into stereo sound, you could get the stereo issue of the album, since the singles and EPs in those days were only issued in mono. Many of the songs featured on this disc were making their stereo debut.

On November 10, 1966, while the album was being prepared, it was discovered that there was one Beatles track that had not appeared on any U.K. release to date. The song was the Larry Williams rocker “Bad Boy,” which The Beatles covered during the Help! sessions of the previous year. When Capitol Records in the U.S. needed two more songs to complete their Beatles VI album, The Beatles recorded “Bad Boy” along with another Larry Williams cover, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” specifically for the U.S. album. It was later decided to use the latter track on side 2 of the Help! album, but “Bad Boy” was yet to be used. It was a “no-brainer” to feature it on the new compilation, and it was called up from the vault so that balance engineer Peter Brown could remix it into stereo. This is where the mix up occurred. Get the whole story »

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Jan 06 2 comments
VOW

Follow Me (Live at the Glastonbury Fesival, 2004)

Chaos And Creation In The Backyard album art

For over forty years the Glastonbury Festival, held each year in the southwest of England, has been a great source of good rock and roll entertainment. In the 1970′s you may have seen T.Rex or David Bowie there. In the 1980′s, there was The Cure, Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne. In the 1990′s it got even louder with Radiohead, Primal Scream, Sinead O’Connor and R.E.M.

On June 26, 2004, Paul McCartney showed up and introduced a song that he stated was written specifically for “Glasto.” “Follow Me” had never appeared on a McCartney release or been performed in public before this night. Paul performs it on acoustic guitar accompanied with his touring band of Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (bass), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums, percussion), and Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (keyboards). A studio version was released 15 months later on his September 2005 album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, and he also included it in the setlist of his 2005 “US” tour.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 2005 CD release containing the studio version of “Follow Me”.

2) Paul McCartney – The Space Within US 2006 DVD featuring live performances from Paul McCartney’s 2005 “US” tour, including a nice live version of “Follow Me”.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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Jan 04 1 comments
Cartoons

Penny Lane

Beatles Cartoons

Most Beatles fans recognize the boundary between the “Early Beatles” period and the “Late Beatles” period as the end of 1966. In 1967, when The Beatles released their first single of the year, the double A-sided “Penny Lane” c/w “Strawberry Fields Forever”, the “later Beatles” were born. The only “later Beatles” songs featured in The Beatles cartoon series were both songs from this single. This episode is also the first of the third and final season of the series.

The Beatles overhear of a robbery to take place on Penny Lane and run into a surprise involving secret agent James Blond when they try to prevent it.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

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Jan 02 8 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Across The Universe (the ‘experimental’ take 7)

Happy New Year and welcome, once again, to the Beatles Rarity Of The Week! One of the songs The Beatles worked on during the first week of February 1968 was John Lennon’s “Across The Universe.” It would be nearly two years before the song would see a release, and then it would only be on a charity LP called No One’s Gonna Change Our World, compiled in 1969 to benefit the World Wildlife Fund. John originally wanted the song to be a single, but when “Lady Madonna” was chosen instead, John agreed to contribute it to the charity LP. Later in the year, bird sound effects were mixed into take eight in order to make it fit in thematically with the album.

During the sessions, The Beatles experimented heavily with the recording by adding in overdubs of guitar, harp, bass and drums, all played backwards. Paul McCartney recruited two teenage female fans (Lizzie Bravo and Gayleen Pease), who were standing outside the studio, to come in to the session and sing backing vocals on the song’s “nothing’s gonna change my world” phrases. Four tracks of humming were also piled onto the already complicated mix before take eight was considered complete. Get the whole story »

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Dec 30 2 comments
New Releases, News/Events

A preview & the latest on Paul McCartney’s upcoming “Valentine” release

Back on December 7th (2011), TheBeatlesRarity.com reported on Paul McCartney’s upcoming St. Valentine’s holiday release. At the time, the title of the CD was to be My Valentine after one of only two McCartney-penned tracks on the disc. The latest, however, is that the CD will be titled Kisses On The Bottom.

A few weeks back, Paul spoke with French radio station RTL, and described the new record as “old-fashioned.” He said: “This will sound like the years between 1920-1940, the time when my father was 20. These are songs I heard – my family, my uncles, everybody sang. And there will be pieces I wrote, but in this style.”

In addition to enlisting the help of producer Tommy LiPuma, Paul recruits backing vocals from Diana Krall and even welcomes a guest appearance by Stevie Wonder. The disc marks the first time Paul has recorded without playing bass, guitar or piano.
Get the whole story »

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