TM Concert Poster

Controversial poster designer Shepard Fairey of the "Hope" Obama poster fame has been given the task of designing the concert poster for Saurday's big event, the David Lynch Organization's Transcendental Meditation concert in New York's Radio City Music Hall, featuring the Fab Two and friends.
The DLF-TV website announces that first run signed limited editions of the concert poster will be available shortly. They are also clarifying that the concert itself will not, contrary to previous reports, be streamed on their site, they will only be webcasting reports from the backstage area.

Here's someones dream of a collaboration for the night:
Ringo enters the stage as Paul is finishing his set with the Abbey Road medley, and joins in on vocals for Carry That Weight, then he goes over to the drum kit for the drum solo and the finale. After that, they do Act Naturally as a duet, Yellow Submarine (Ringo sings, Paul bass+ backing vocals), Never Without You / Give Peace A Chance medley, Beautiful Night and I Saw Her Standing There (Paul bass, Ringo drums).

The Beatles Live Solo

PC Live series conclusion

As found on Pirate Bay.

This is possibly not the real Purple Chick but another fan's conclusion of the live series. Purple Chick ended Vol 11 with the words: It's not all that pretty, but this is it – the end of The Beatles live. (Unless you count the Rooftop Concert – and that's on A/B Road if you still need to find it!). Well, this IS the rooftop concert.

The songs are in flac and there's full artwork in the purple chick style, including disc art in the torrent.

The Beatles
Live 12 - The Launch Interruption
Purple Chick
PC-179/180

DISC ONE

Apple Rooftop, London - 30 January, 1969, Thursday.
1: Roll Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
2: Slate Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
3: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
4: Roll Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
5: Slate Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
6: Get Back - 30.01 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
7: Get Back - 30.02 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
8: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
9: I Want You (She's So Heavy) - 30.03 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
10: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
11: Take Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
12: Get Back - 30.04 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
13: Don't Let Me Down - 30.05 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
14: I've Got A Feeling - 30.06 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
15: One After 909 - 30.07 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
16: One After 909 - 30.08 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
17: Danny Boy - 30.09 (Traditional) (Nagra A and B rolls)
18: Dig A Pony - 30.10 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
19: Dig A Pony - 30.11 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
20: God Save The Queen - 30.12 (Nagra A and B rolls)
21: Warmup (Nagra A and B rolls)
22: I've Got A Feeling - 30.13 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
23: A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody 30.14 (Traditional) (Nagra A and B rolls)
24: Get Back - 30.15 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
25: Don't Let Me Down - 30.16 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
26: Get Back - 30.17 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
27: Roll Announcement (Nagra A and B rolls)
28: P God Save The Queen - 30.12P (Nagra A and B rolls)
29: P I've Got A Feeling - 30.13P (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
30: A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody - 30.14P (Nagra A and B rolls)
31: P Get Back - 30.15P (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
32: Don't Let Me Down - 30.16P (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
33: Get Back 30.17P (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)



DISC TWO

Apple Rooftop, London - 30 January, 1969, Thursday.
1: Roll (Nagra A and B rolls)
2: Slate (Nagra A and B rolls)
3: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
4: Roll (Nagra A and B rolls)
5: Slate (Nagra A and B rolls)
6: Get Back (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
7: Get Back (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
8: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
9: I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
10: Dialogue (Nagra A and B rolls)
11: Take (Nagra A and B rolls)
12: Get Back – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
13: Don't Let Me Down – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
14: I've Got A Feeling – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
15: One After 909 (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
16: One After 909 – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
17: Danny Boy – Stereo (Traditional) (Nagra A and B rolls)
18: Dig A Pony (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
19: Dig A Pony – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
20: God Save The Queen (Nagra A and B rolls)
21: Warmup (Nagra A and B rolls)
22: I've Got A Feeling - Parts Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
23: A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody (Traditional) (Nagra A and B rolls)
24: Get Back (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
25: Don't Let Me Down - Part Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)
26: Get Back – Stereo (Lennon-McCartney) (Nagra A and B rolls)


We've done our best to make everything sound as good as possible - speed correction, a little eq, and more (but never any compression or noise reduction!).

As always, Purple Chick discs are fan created and NEVER FOR SALE!!!

Torrent link

Yoko on Bangladesh

Yoko Ono has just posted her account of the events around the Concert for Bangladesh and the non-appearance by John Lennon at this event.
The reasons why John didn't want to participate has been debated a lot over the years, and here's one version:
A rumour concerning John's non-appearance at the Bangla Desh concert suggests that George didn't want Yoko to sing, so John replied by saying, "If Yoko can't play neither can I" and that when John tells Yoko of George's decision, the couple had a row. John then flew to Paris while Yoko returned to England.
However, only a few weeks after the show, John told a different story: "Allen Klein was putting it around that I had run off to England so I couldn't be there for the concert. But I told George a week before the show that I wouldn't be doing it. I just didn't feel like it. We were in the Virgin Islands and I certainly wasn't going to be rehearsing in New York, then going back to the Virgin Islands, then coming back up to New York and singing.
Yoko Ono's new account tells about the row between the Lennons:
... a phone call came and John picked it up. He was saying "Yeah....yeah.....yeah," I saw that he was getting very upset. He hung up the phone without saying a word. “What was that?" "Oh, that was George." A long pause.” He’s saying. 'Join the Bangladesh concert,' and all that. Dylan is coming. too. I'm not going." "Why? I think we should go. It's a charity. It's for a good cause." I said. “We’re not doing it." "Why?" "Because it's George's little thing. We’ll do our own. you and me." "I think we should go", I said. "Does it matter that it's George's?" John was getting angrier and angrier. I was getting angry. too. I thought John was being big-headed about it. “Okay. if you don't want to go I'll go. I'll go alone." I said. John flipped out. "You want to be a performing flea, go ahead! You'd perform with a drop of a hat with any excuse, anywhere...!"
You can read Yoko's full story on Flickr, including the composing of Happy X-mas (War is Over).

Goodnight Tonight promo

Who knew there were so many Goodnight Tonight promos around?

Free tickets!

CHANGE BEGINS WITHIN
A CONCERT TO BENEFIT THE DAVID LYNCH FOUNDATION
Forty years ago the Beatles, Donovan, the Beach Boys and Paul Horn traveled to India to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They brought back meditation and music that changed the world. Now for the first time in over 40 years, they are reuniting at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 4th for the concert "Change Begins Within" hosted by David Lynch, Laura Dern and Russell Simmons. Legendary musicians, Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Donovan, and Paul Horn will be joined by Sheryl Crow, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Moby, and Jim James to re-enliven these songs for a new generation.
Go to this page to enter the ticket giveaway

Just Four Guys

Ray Whitaker has found a new outlet for his non-breakfast or brunch Beatles radio show "Just Four Guys" here on blogspot. Ray creates a weekly themed show with Beatles music and philiosophical thoughts. You can check out his shows as podcasts. New episodes every Tuesday!

Just Four Guys Blogspot

The Beatles Live in the USA

To be released on March 30th in the UK on an independent label, Quantum Leap. Synopsis from Amazon UK:
When the Beatles toured America, they took the country by storm. Now, here is your chance to see why they were so incredibly popular as you share with their fans the excitement of two great concerts. At New York's Shea Stadium and in Washington where the hits keep coming. Includes 'Love Me Do', 'A Hard Day's Night', 'Twist And Shout', 'Help' and many more. Run Time: 58 minutes.
So...sounds like just the concert portion of Shea, plus the Washington DC concert. I wonder if this is legal? As far as I know, "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" is jointly owned by Apple and Ed Sullivan Productions.

Rockestra

So Glad To See You Here

Rockestra Theme

Musicians who performed on these two songs include: Denny Laine, Laurence Juber, David Gilmour, Hank Marvin, Pete Townshend (guitars), Steve Holly, John Bonham, Kenney Jones (drums), Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones (pianos), Ronnie Lane, Bruce Thomas (bass), Gary Brooker, Linda McCartney, Tony Ashton (keyboards), Speedy Acquaye, Tony Carr, Ray Cooper, Morris Pert (percussion), Howie Casey, Tony Dorsey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard (horns).
The recordings took place at Abbey Road studios on October 3, 1978 between 10:30 and 18:30. The sessions were filmed using several Panavision cameras. However, this footage didn't see the light of day until the DVD release of Wingspan. In 2007 more outtakes were used for the menu screen on The McCartney Years DVD.

Chicago 1966

A preview sample of the full video.

From Chaos to Evolution

Coming shortly, a compilation of all versions of "Revolution". The cover is modeled after this official 1979 swedish LP release:

Lennon - Songwriter

Wonsaponatime shows us the progression of two of John Lennon's songs, Real Love and Stepping Out in these interesting films.

Here is his description:
I tried to make sense of the many demos that we have for these two songs. So I selected representative versions and arranged them in this video, which in two parts tells the story of how they were written.
I hope this helps to reduce some confusion about this fascinating process!
All the demo versions I used are available on "Between The Lines", which I shamelessly plug here. But don't ask me where to get it, please... and remember: never pay for the set if you see it anywhere. It's supposed to be spread for free.

No McCartney in Hyde Park

The headlining artist for day one of the Hard Rock Calling Festival in Hyde Park, London, June 27th has now been announced. Contrary to the rumours, the artist was revealed to be Neil Young and not as speculated earlier, Paul McCartney. Meanwhile, the tickets for the two-Beatle concert in Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 4th have now gone. There could be some returned tickets available, either from Ticketmaster or from the ticket office over at Radio City Music Hall in the days before the concert. Stubhub is another, more expensive option.

Keeping The Spirit Of John Lennon Alive

A new Lennon film is on the way, featuring an interview with the notorious music producer Phil Spector. Release Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009. The film promotes an official John Lennon Day every year at October 9th, John's birthday.
More info at StrawberryFields.net and at JohnLennonDay.com.

Unseen Lennon photos

Long-lost photographs of John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their Make Love Not War protest in Amsterdam's Hilton Hotel have turned up again, mixed up with pictures of the photographer's baby daughter.

Nico Koster took a series of photographs of the couple during their 'bed in' of March 1969 but hid the negatives. 'I've blamed everyone else for taking them,' he told the dutch newspaper Telegraaf.

An exhibition of 24 of the photos opened Friday in Amsterdam's Galerie Moderne, Nieuwe Spiegelstraat 44.

See some more photos here

Norwegian Wood 116

The new edition of our fan club magazine "Norwegian Wood" is out now.
Page 2: Photo: A bird's eye view of The Beatles playing on the rooftop 1969
Page 3: Contents page
Page 4: Dear Sir or Madam. By editor Ole-Andreas Refsnes.
Page 5: From Me To You. President Linda wonders why Germany was so popular for english groups so soon after WW2.
Page 6-7: Book review: Titanic by Tom Hermann Kristensen
Page 8-26: Sigbjørn Stabursvik continues his presentation of norwegian Beatles single-releases
Page 27-34: On Tour with The Beatles: The Chris Montez/Tommy Roe tour 1963 by Roger Stormo
Page 35-40: The Yellow Submarine comic book. Helge Halkjelsvik reminiscs.
Page 41-44: We still live in a Yellow Submarine by Roger Stormo
Page 45-47: The Yellow Submarine EP by Roger Stormo
Page 48-50: No Beatles reunion, fortunately! - Martin Aasen Wright opinions
Page 51-55: The Beatles Festival Liverpool 2008, Tanja Dale Scheibenbogen reports
Page 56-60: Rooftop concert anniversary: President Linda visited the scene
Page 61-63: I read the news today, oh boy by Martin Aasen Wright
Page 64: Yellow Submarine Quiz.
Page 65: Advert
Page 66: Adresses
Page 67: (inner cover back) This Boy promo film photo
Back cover photo: Yellow Submarine poster

Beatles Game has a date and a site

APPLE CORPS LTD., MTV AND HARMONIX ANNOUNCE "THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND", WORLDWIDE RELEASE SET FOR 9/9/09

5th March 2009

New York, NY - March 5, 2009 - Apple Corps, Ltd., Harmonix and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today announced the 9/9/09 worldwide release of The Beatles: Rock Band (http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com). The music-based video game, an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles, will be available simultaneously worldwide in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other territories for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Wii home videogame console from Nintendo.

The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band's legendary career. In addition, The Beatles: Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr throughout their career.

The Beatles: Rock Band will be offered as standalone software and hardware as well as a limited edition bundle. The game will be compatible with all Rock Band instrument controllers and other current music-based video game peripherals.

Available on 9/9/09:


• The Beatles: Rock Band Software - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $59.99 MSRP
  
• The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $99.99 MSRP
  
• The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle*: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $249.99 MSRP

* includes the game, an all-new drum set, guitar, and microphone modeled after the Beatles' own instruments.

Please note: Pricing outside of the US to be announced at a later date.

The Beatles: Rock Band marks the first time that Apple Corps, along with EMI Music, Harrisongs Ltd, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, has agreed to present The Beatles music in an interactive video game format. The Beatles: Rock Band will be published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix, the world's premier music video game company and creators of the best-selling Rock Band. Electronic Arts will serve as distribution partner for the game. In addition, Giles Martin, co-producer of The Beatles innovative LOVE album project, is providing his expertise and serving as Music Producer for this groundbreaking Beatles project.

Exclusive content created by Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix will be made available to fans over the next few months who participate in a pre-order campaign through major retailers. More details on The Beatles: Rock Band game and pre-order will be revealed in the coming months.

Please visit thebeatlesrockband.com.

Paul McCartney has been observed at Abbey Road studios this week, together with Giles Martin. Could well be that they are preparing the tracks for The Beatles: Rock Band?

The Bob Bonis collection

Bob Bonis, american tour manager, reportedly took over 3500 candid pictures of the Beatles and the Stones during their american tours from 1964.1966, and 48 of those photos will go on display from tomorrow at Not Fade Away Gallery in New York. Here are some samples of The Beatles photos.

All photos by Bob Bonis © 2009, 2269 Productions, Inc

The exhibit runs March 4 through April 4.
Bob Bonis was a private man who never seeked any publicity. He died in 1991 at 59.
Bonis’ son Alex recently discovered the pictures and took them, along with a collection of his father’s memorabilia, to Larry Marion, founder/director of the Not Fade Away Gallery. From accounts it appears the photos were an afterthought and were stuffed at the bottom of a bag filled with other mementos of both bands.
Some of Bob's photos were printed in music magazines in the late sixties, but the bulk of them have never been published before.
Now some of the photos make up the gallery’s first exhibit, and Alex Bonis is one of the establishment’s partners.

In addition to pictures of the Beatles and the Stones, the elder Bonis also shot photos of Simon & Garfunkel, The Hollies, Cream, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Buddy Rich and Frank Sinatra, plus several jazz greats. Many of these photographs will be featured in future exhibits at the gallery.
A photo book is expected in late 2009 or 2010.

Not Fade Away Gallery
Bob Bonis Website (more photos)
An interview with Bob Bonis

McCartney screamers

Scott Thill speculates in his blog that Paul McCartney may have enjoyed the Colbert bump to get top billing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April. He's wondering if any screaming from McCartney is going to win him a whole new youth contingent, or if he's going to put the Coachella crowd to sleep with yawning love songs. Now let's see if we can put together a list of screamers for the Coachella crowd. Let's face it, Paul McCartney doesn't have the voice he once had. He has had to drop the vocal exercise that is "Maybe I'm Amazed", a song that has been on his live repertoir since the first Wings tour in 1971. When I've seen him in the later years, he has also had big problems with his more tender songs, like "Jenny Wren" on the 2005 tour, but he keeps on struggling through songs like "Here Today". The screamers is a different matter, he seems to still have the ability to belt them out, almost like the old days.

1. Venus and Mars/Rockshow (from the 1976 tour)
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Only Mama Knows (performed last year in Kiev, Quebec and Israel)
4. Jet (a McCartney concert favourite)
5. Back In The USSR (he's been playing it for a while)
6. Nothing Too Much Just Outta Sight (the recent Fireman opener)
7. All My Loving (no screamer, but a crowd pleaser anywhere)
8. Flaming Pie (a short song with his screaming voice)
9. Angry (how about resurrecting this 1986 pearl)
10. Stranglehold (ditto)
11. Got To Get You Into My Life (also performed last year)
12. Lucille (last heard from in 1979)
13. Band On The Run (it needs to be included)
14. Get Back (a teaser for the new DeLuxe Let It Be DVD? I think not)
15. Lonely Road (from the Back in the US tour 2002-3)
16. Run Devil Run (from the short 1999 tour)
17. Get Out Of My Way (from the 1993 tour)
18. Twenty Flight Rock (historically important)
19. That Was Me (from the 2007 secret gigs, the last verse is the screamer)
20. Figure of Eight (the opener from the 1989 comeback tour)
21. Party Party (OK, maybe not) I've Got A Feeling
22. Not Such A Bad Boy (Broad Street, never performed live before)
23. Ballroom Dancing (Tug of War, ditto, I can hear him scream the title)
24. Old Siam, Sir (from the 1979 UK tour)
25. Helter Skelter (part of the set list from 2004-)
26. Hippy Hippy Shake (a pleasant surprise in Liverpool last year)
27. Live And Let Die (pyrotechnics time)
of course, then he has to wind down a bit for the encore, starting with:
27. I Saw Her Standing There (goes without saying)
28. Yesterday (he has to)
29. Lady Madonna (also performed in recent years)
30. Hey Jude (audience participation time)
and another fake "goodbye" before the last encore:
31. I'm Down (he sang it in NYC in 2001, too bad he didn't at Shea last year)
32. Sgt Pepper's (reprise)/The End


Paul McCartney plays the Coachella Festival on Friday the 17th of April. Tickets
Artist page

Let It Be - The Big picture

Produced by British underground DVD compilers "British Lions" and sold by American bootleg DVD brand "FAB Productions" is a new version of the Let It Be movie, which boasts to have a near complete, uncropped version of the film.
The movie makers seem to be under the impression that the official laser disc and video cassette versions (USA) were somehow cropped in comparison to the theatrical release of this film. Could well be, I've never seen this film in a movie theatre. However, my understanding is that the theatrical release was a 35mm film blown up (and zoomed in) from the original 16mm footage. The US laser disc and video cassette editions are simply transfers from that one. Whereas the original 16mm cut of the movie was shown on TV in Germany in the early nineties (and later became an official looking bootleg VHS cassette, complete with german subtitles).
Be that as it may, British Lions and FAB Productions have now made an effort to bring us a version of the film with as little cropping as possible. 95% of the movie is presented with a bigger picture frame than the one we are familiar with from the earlier DVD's made from the laser disc. There are two songs from the rooftop sequence where no uncropped footage has been found, and they are presented here as we remember them. The uncropped footage has been collected from various sources, we are told. In general, the picture is a little bit brighter than the laser disc edition. Sometimes it's also a little fuzzier, has more jagged edges and there are occasional video cassette tape artifacts. All in all though, it's an enjoyable edition - but one that I feel can still be improved on. There's a feature which compares the laser disc edition to the uncropped edition, which shows you just how much of a bigger picture this version gives us.

There are two other underground releases going around in trade circles these days, both made by a mysterious "Sir Stephane". We've obtained the second of these, which is a longer "Let It Be" movie than before. The usual length of "Let It Be" is 81 minutes, while this edit clocks in at 105 minutes! How is this possible? This has been achieved by incorporating footage from other sources. Apple Corps have been steadily releasing "Let It Be" outtake footage over the years, starting with the "Don't Let Me Down" promo clip, through the Yoko Ono documentary "Now and Then" from 1985, the "Anthology" TV-series, laser disc and DVD editions, the EPK for "Let It Be...Naked" and if you didn't blink you'd also see some previously unseen "Let It Be" footage in their "All Together Now" DVD from last year. "Sir Stephane" has taken this footage and intersected it into "Let It Be" in chronological order. There's also some leaked footage which has been around in collector circles for a while. The "Sir Stephane" release brings us:

• a longer I've Got A Feeling


• a longer I Me Mine sequence


• more studio versions of Get Back


• off the cuff adlibs of Help!/Please Please Me


• more Octopus Garden


• a longer rooftop concert sequence

The rooftop concert brings us the full performance (except for when the tape ran out) in audio, including the brief "God Save The Queen" riff, and the movie has been heavily edited here to accompany the audio. Unfortunately, several scenes are shown twice or more, in lack of having more video footage. The picture quality is varying from "Anthology" quality to black and white (only a few sequences), but it's highly watchable, even for a broader audience, for whom the "Get Back Chronicles" 3DVD set will be an overkill.
Still, we're hoping Apple Corps will come to their senses some time in the future and bring us the "Let It Be" movie we're all dreaming about.