New BBC book from Howlett

The Beatles:The BBC Archives is an upcoming book from Kevin Howlett. No novice to the game, Howlett is a producer for BBC radio and has written what is the standard book on the subject of the Beatles at the Beeb, "The Beatles At The Beeb" and also wrote the text in the official book that accompanied the Beatles vinyl remasters last year.

1st edition, 1982

2nd Revised edition edition, 1996

Published by BBC Books, here's the desciption of this new release:

The Beatles exploded into British popular culture in the 1960s and changed the face of music for ever. Central to this success were the BBC radio and television programmes that brought them from the clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool into the living rooms of an adoring public. The Beatles performed on countless BBC programmes, performing both their hit songs and rare cover versions of the music that inspired them.

In this landmark book, BBC producer and Beatles expert Kevin Howlett delves deep into the BBC archives to reveal hundreds of rare photographs and long-forgotten interviews that document the early rise, steady evolution and eventual split of the group. Uncovering additional archive documents such as early audition reports, audience feedback forms and internal memos from startled BBC executives, the files give a fascinating insight into the biggest band of all time.

Beautifully packaged and extensively researched, The Beatles: The BBC Archives is a definitive guide to a unique relationship between two cultural icons.

Reportedly, the main body of the book contains the surviving transcripts of the Beatles' appearances on BBC Radio and Television from 1962 to 1970. Each interview transcript will be insightfully and entertainingly set in its historical context, with accompanying commentary by Kevin Howlett. Howlett's commentary will be supplemented by rare photos of the Fab Four at the BBC's studios, both onstage and off. The book will also feature memorabilia-album art; concert posters, flyers, and tickets, all from the BBC.

The book is due out in October, and will happily coexist with the planned repackaging of the 1994 Beatles album, "The Beatles Live At The BBC", also due out in the autumn. Talking of which, I hope they plan on upgrading the album with better recordings of the same material that has been uncovered since the initial release of the album back in the pre-anthology era (just).

   

Help! Press release

STOP WORRYING... HELP! IS ON THE WAY ON BLU-RAY!

“Absurd, delightful and exuberantly messy, Help! is a pure pleasure to watch.”

– The New York Times

London – May 15, 2013 – The Beatles’ second feature film, 1965’s Help!, is on the way on Blu-ray.  On June 24 (June 25 in North America), Help! makes its eagerly awaited Blu-ray debut in a single-disc package pairing the digitally restored film and 5.1 soundtrack with an hour of extra features, including a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film, memories of the cast and crew, an in-depth look at the restoration process, an outtake scene, and original theatrical trailers and radio spots. An introduction by the film’s director, Richard Lester, and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese are included in the Blu-ray’s booklet.

Help!’s Blu-ray edition follows the 2012 release of The Beatles’ digitally restored Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour feature films on Blu-ray, DVD and iTunes with extensive extras.  Help!’s restoration for its 2007 DVD debut wowed viewers, earning five-times platinum sales in the U.S. and praise from a broad range of top media outlets around the world, including USA Today heralding the DVD as “a grand re-release,” The Guardian’s appreciation of the film’s director, Richard Lester, saying “Lester matches The Beatles’ ‘star’ power with smart, colourful visuals and casual surrealism,” The Los Angeles Times’ restoration rave:  “With dynamic compression that was standard in the 1960s lifted for the digital age, the full range of the group’s musicality comes through – it’s like several coats of dust have been cleaned off an old master’s painting,” and four-star reviews from Rolling Stone and MOJO with the latter saying, “They really don't make them like this anymore.”

Directed by Richard Lester, who also directed the band’s debut feature film, 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night, Help! follows The Beatles as they become passive recipients of an outside plot that revolves around Ringo's possession of a sacrificial ring, which he cannot remove from his finger. As a result, he and his bandmates John, Paul and George are chased from London to the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas by religious cult members, a mad scientist and the London police.

In addition to starring The Beatles, Help! boasts a witty script, a great cast of British character actors, and classic Beatles songs “Help!,” “You're Going To Lose That Girl,” “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “Ticket To Ride,” “I Need You,” “The Night Before,” and “Another Girl.”

Help!’s Blu-ray package pairs the digitally restored original film with these extra features:   

• “The Beatles in Help!” – a 30-minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew, including exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of The Beatles on-set.

• “A Missing Scene” – a film outtake, featuring Wendy Richard

• “The Restoration of Help!” – an in-depth look at the restoration process

• “Memories of Help!” – the cast and crew reminisce

• 1965 Theatrical Trailers – two original U.S. trailers and one original Spanish trailer

• 1965 U.S. Radio Spots (hidden in disc menus)

www.thebeatles.com

CAST
The Beatles:

John………..………………………………………………………...John Lennon
Paul………………………………………………………………Paul McCartney
George……….…………………………………………………George Harrison
Ringo……….…………………………………………………………...Ringo Starr

Clang………………………………………………………………….Leo McKern
Ahme…………………………………………………………………Eleanor Bron
Foot…………….........................................................................Victor Spinetti
Algernon…………........................................................................Roy Kinnear
Superintendent........................................................................Patrick Cargill
Bhuta………………......................................................................John Bluthal
Jeweller……………………………………………………………...Peter Copley
Doorman…………………………………………………………………Alfie Bass
Abdul…………………………………………………………..…Warren Mitchell
Lawnmower………………………………………………………...Bruce Lacey

Cross channel swimmer……………………………………………...Mal Evans
Women in street……………………Dandy Nichols and Gretchen Franklin

PRODUCTION
Director ……………………………………………………………Richard Lester
Producer ………………………………………………………...Walter Shenson
Screenplay…………………………………..Marc Behm and Charles Wood
Story by………………………………………………………………..Marc Behm
Director of Photography…………………………………………David Watkin
Production Manager……………………………………………….John Pellatt
Art Director………………………………………………………Raymond Simm
Colour Consultant and Titles………………………………...Robert Freeman
Costume Designer…………………………………………………….Julie Harris
Musical Director………………………………………………………Ken Thorne
Songs composed by…………………..John Lennon and Paul McCartney

                                                                                 and by George Harrison
Songs performed by………………………………………………...The Beatles
Songs produced by……………………………………………..George Martin

 

Ringo's press conference

Ringo Starr talks about his career. Classic Drummer Magazine gets the final question. The Classic Drummer Hall of Fame says thanks on behalf of our readers.

Abbey Road Film

A lyrical portrait of one of London’s most peculiar tourist attractions - a humble pedestrian crossing in 
St John’s Wood. But this isn’t any ordinary piece of street furniture, a 10 minute photo session back in the 
summer of 1969 saw to that. A couple of weeks after Neil Armstrong took his giant leap, the Beatles took 
a few short steps across Abbey Road and the rest is history.
Roughly timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first recording session at Abbey Road Studios, this quirky short film explores a tiny part of London that is, in the words of narrator Roger McGough, suffused with a sort of magic.
Wogblog had a small part in the making of this film, I'm proud to say.

See the film on Vimeo.

Beatles album named by fan

In 1963, Margaret Gordon won a competition to name the next Beatles LP. Her winning suggestion of "Beatles For Sale" earned her a meeting with the group in Carlisle in November 1963. She brought with her some Beatles albums from a couple of friends who wanted them signed. Her best friend, Christine Gatenby gave Mrs Gordon her "Please Please Me" Beatles LP to be signed by the foursome, and Christine's sister Jackie Marsden sent along the "With The Beatles" album. Mrs Marsden, of South Bents, Sunderland was then aged 12. She said: “Christine was supposed to accompany Margaret to Carlisle, but my mother thought she was too young to go. We gave Margaret our LPs and she had them signed. It was a big thrill and I have kept it for 50 years. We had all their records.” Mrs Marsden's fully autographed "With The Beatles" LP was sold at a South Tyneside auction house for £11,500.
In 1963, "With the Beatles" had advance orders of 500,000 and sold another half million by September 1965, making it the second album to sell a million copies in the UK, after the soundtrack to the 1958 film "South Pacific".
It remained at the top of the charts for 21 weeks, displacing "Please Please Me", meaning the group occupied the top spot for 51 consecutive weeks. The follow up to "With The Beatles" was the "A Hard Day's Night" album, with one LP side containing the songs from the film and the other side held other new Lennon and McCartney titles. So it wasn't until December 1964 that "Beatles for Sale", the album Margaret Gordon named, was released for the Christmas market. The album went to No1 and stayed there for 11 of the 46 weeks that it spent in the Top 20.

Source: The Shields Gazette

Paul's soundcheck, Brooklyn

Almost 23 minutes of Paul McCartney's soundcheck on the 8th of June, 2013.

Another new book from Ringo

Based on the lyrics of the world famous Beatles song "Octopus's Garden", this glorious picture book follows five children on a magical journey through the Octopus's garden. The playful Octopus takes them on a wondrous underwater adventure - riding on the backs of turtles, playing pirates in a sunken city and sheltering from a storm in the octopus's cave. The book comes with an accompanying CD which includes an exclusive reading by Ringo Starr and a never-before-heard version of the song. The book will be out in October in the UK and January 2014 in USA.

 

Meanwhile, here's a vid from last night's opening of the Ringo exhibition at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.

Flash Harry on CD

What became Harry Nilsson's last album had all the stuff we know and love: sleeve notes by Derek Taylor, a Ringo collaboration ("How Long Can Diso On?"), guest musicians like Ringo Starr, Van Dyke Parks, Klaus Voorman, Dr. John, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Jim Keltner, Jim Gordon and Lowell George, Fred Tackett and Bill Payne of Little Feat.
I bought it here in Norway at the time (1980), where the UK pressing was sold in our music stores. Turns out it was only ever pressed in the UK and Japan, but never even released in the USA!
This will finally be rectified this August, when "Flash Harry" gets a limited edition vinyl release in the USA, along with a regular CD version. The CD will also include a few bonus tracks: "Old Dirt Road" (alternative version), "Feet", "Leave The Rest To Molly" and "She Drifted Away". This release ties in nicely with the the remastered boxed set of Nilsson's RCA albums coming out this summer.

Harry Nilsson made his last concert appearance September 1, 1992, when he joined Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band on stage at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada to sing "Without You" with Todd Rundgren handling the high notes. He passed away in January 1994 after a heart failure which followed a 1993 massive heart attack.

Five Beatles autographs

front

Finding a promotional post card signed by the Beatles is rare, finding one signed by five of the group's members is exceptional. But in this year's annual Beatles auction, there are no less than two sets of autographs like this:

rear

This set features five Beatles signatures. The promotional card they are on is from the Fan Club Night in the Cavern in April 1962. The reverse of the card is signed by John, Paul, George, Pete and, presumably at a slightly later date, Ringo. So if you have 5-6 grand (£'s) to spare...
The 2013 Liverpool Beatles Auction will take place on Saturday 24th August at The Paul McCartney Auditorium in LIPA, Liverpool.
Source: Liverpool Beatles Auction

Ringo's new e-book of photos

Ringo Starr is due ot with a book of his own photographs, in the ebook format on June 12th. An expanded edition will also be released as a real book by Genesis Publications before Christmas. .

Sample from the new book

Website
iTunes