The two Georges

Unknown, Paul, George Martin and George Harrison.

For St. George’s Day, Paul McCartney posted this previously unpublished Polaroid photo from his 1981 session with George Harrison at the latter’s studio, FPSHOT.
Paul was recording his new album, Tug of War at the time, so George Martin is present as producer to oversee George H adding a guitar solo to the track «Wanderlust». But before doing that, George wanted to record Paul’s contribution to the John Lennon tribute, «All those years ago».
After having finished that, George never did get around to record his guitar contribution to Paul’s track. The faceless person to the left may or may not be Geoff Emerick.

This is the third photo we have from this session, all presumably taken by Linda McCartney.

Denny Laine in fromt of the trio.

This was published last year in Linds's polaroids book.

Paul, Linda and Denny added backing vocals to "All those years ago", but George Harrison mixed them so low in the finished track that their contribution may be regarded mainly as symbolical.

John and Paul - Together at home

The global phenomenon "Our World - Together at home", where artists phoned in video performances has been and gone. The only ex-Beatle contribution came from Paul McCartney, who performed a sincere and daring version of "Lady Madonna" (see video). There were no contributions from the kids either, like Sean, Julian, Dhani, Zak or James. But then, a lot of other artists also had no-shows during the marathon event.

Thankfully, John Lennon was represented during the proceedings. From China, Eason Chan performed Lennon's "Love" from the Plastic Ono Band album.

About that album: Superdeluxeedition is certain that a fiftieth anniversary edition boxed set is in the works, which we have also suspected for a while. However, the album may be delayed as Paul McCartney recently disclosed in his interview with Howard Stern, releases are "up in the air".

Paul celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his own solo debut by yet again re-do the still photo music video for "Maybe I'm Amazed". Mike Carrera tells us that the video has been restored or re-made four times, the worst in terms of cropping the picture was of course the 2007 version made for the DVD release "McCartney Years", where making all videos "wide screen" by zooming in on the videos severely cropped most of what was on it. This time, the video has been upgraded to 4K, but still suffers from a few cropping issues. Carrera published a comparison on Facebook, but didn't bother about the 2007 version:

The title, "McCartney" has been replaced by a similar but slightly thicker font.

original font vs the new version

Anyway, the new version of the video is quite good, and not as yellow as the previous versions.

Of course, there was no need for McCartney to do a 50th anniversary boxed set of this album, as it was well covered in 2011 in his ongoing "archives" series, and got an audiophile vinyl release in 2017. Still, a half-speed-mastered version of the LP is expected for the rescheduled Record Store Day.

But back to the "Plastic Ono band" anniversary, Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck did actually release their version of the song "Isolation". Of course, this is a very appropriate title these days, as most of us are living in countries under lock-down. But this was not the case when the team performed the song together in concerts in September last year.

Announcing the collaboration with this song, Beck said: "Given all the hard days and true ‘isolation’ that people are going through in these challenging times, we decided now might be the right time to let you all hear it. You’ll be hearing more from Johnny and me in a little while, but until then we hope you find some comfort and solidarity in our take on this Lennon classic."

People and Places recordings leaked on YouTube

Adrian Killen

by Adrian Killen

I have decided to come on to this website to correct some mistruths that exist about the audio recordings made from the Granada People and Places T.V. programme in 1962.

I am the 16 year old Adrian Killen (now74) who made those audio recordings in 1962. On the day of the first recording I was actually at the Cavern lunchtime session when Bob Wooler announced that the boys were heading straight to Granada studios after the lunchtime session.

I was actually on daytime release from work as an apprentice printer and was attending the printing college in Hope Street next to the Liverpool institute college (now Lipa) and that is the reason why I was at the lunchtime session.

The first appearance
We finished college at 4.00pm and I immediately went home and "acquired " a 3 inch reel of audio tape from my brother's collection as he had a Phillips reel to reel tape recorder linked directly to the loudspeaker socket of the T.V.
And so, the first two recordings were made- a live performance of «Some other Guy» and «Love me Do» followed by some not too complimentary comments from my Mum and Dad who thought their haircuts were horrendous.

From memory they appeared in their black roll neck sweaters and at the end of the performance of «Some other Guy» put their hands up in front of their faces and slightly above their heads making weird waving and finger gesticulations and shouting gobble-de-gook and words to the effect "I ,or we, love you".

The second appearance
As I was an avid reader of the Mersey Beat newspaper I was aware of their second appearance which was videotaped and shown while they were over in Hamburg. Although I recorded «Love Me Do» as well as «A Taste of Honey», I immediately scrubbed the recording of «Love Me Do».
It might seem sacrilege now, but at the time none of us in Liverpool could imagine just what a phenomenon that they would become. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately it appears that Granada scrubbed the tape and only the transcripts remain, but there are photographs of that second performance taken by Mike McCartney from the T.V.

The third appearance
The third appearance was yet again "live" but unfortunately I didn't record «Love Me Do» at all as I already had the first live recording and also by this time the record on 45 r.p.m.

The aftermath
I sat on these recordings for over 30 years until I decided to contact E.M.I.and I was invited down to Abbey Road studios where I met Mike Heatley and Mark Lewisohn. The reaction after playing the recordings was not really what I was expecting, and although an offer was made to purchase, I took the decision to decline the offer.

And so I sat on them for a further few years. It was only when Liverpool Football club opened their Museum that things started to progress, As a life long season ticket holder and collector of L.F.C.memoribila, I introduced myself to the new curator who himself was also an ardent Beatle fan. As time progressed I played these recordings to him and as he had an association with Mike McCartney, I allowed Mike to listen to parts of the recordings on cassette tape
These in turn were relayed to Paul and the request was that we should enter negotiations with Apple with a view to sell these recordings.

I never (as it is presently documented) auctioned these tapes. The curator of LFC and myself were invited to Apple's headquarters in London and sat around the large boardroom table where many a Beatle negotiation had taken place and a deal was made with Neil Aspinall and myself for the purchase of the four tracks plus expenses. These negotiations took place between late 1999 and early 2000.

I still have a copy of the cheque signed by Neil Aspinall for a 5 figure sum. I also signed a non disclosure agreement and have remained silent ever since, although Apple were aware that I had a digital copy of the tracks for my own pleasure.

YouTube
I was quite shocked in December when parts of these recordings appeared on YouTube, along with information about myself and I immediately contacted Mark Lewisohn to make him aware that after signing a non disclosure agreement with Apple that I had no part to play in the uncovering of these recordings, and also the information about my having «auctioned off» these recordings in the past and the sum that I was supposed to have acquired.

 I hope that this correct information will now be passed on to the numerous websites that exist about the Beatles as I hate incorrect information, especially concerning myself .

Why have Apple never released these recordings? I don't really know, but what I would like to know is WHO is behind releasing these recordings on YouTube and the incorrect information that accompanies them.

McCartney from Isolation

The Glastonbury Festival 2020 is not happening.

April 14, Paul McCartney was interviewed over the phone by U.S. radio personality Howard Stern. McCartney and his wife is separated by the Atlantic ocean, Nancy is with her family in New York, while Paul is in England with his daughter Mary and her family.

Rolling Stone brought some highlights from the conversation, which you may access here. The full conversation is also available to listen to on YouTube, it's nearly 50 minutes.

Saturday April 18 sees Paul McCartney performing online in a global event, curated by Lady Gaga on behalf of the organisation Global Citizenship and in collaboration with the World's Health Organisation, WHO. The concert will be televised in some countries, as well as streamed on a lot of digital platforms.

Paul still has not cancelled the full European tour, and tickets are for sale online.  The tour is scheduled for May and June, but we have a feeling all dates will eventuelly get cancelled. Ringo Starr postponed his summer tour of North America 2020 to next summer, with nearly all concerts rescheduled to the same date of the month as originally planned for, only a year later.

Lennon's banjo

There's a special lock-down showing of the highly acclaimed stage play "LENNON’S BANJO" - streaming online from 7.30pm GMT on Fri 17 April and running until Tues 21 April.

Produced by Pulse Records Limited in association with Bill Elms.
Written by Rob Fennah | Directed by Mark Heller.

Starring: Eric Potts, Mark Moraghan, Jake Abraham, Stephanie Dooley, Danny O’Brien, Lynn Francis, Roy Carruthers and Alan Stocks.

The link on the image can be clicked now to access the film which goes live at 7.30pm (GMT) on Friday 17th April and will be available to watch anytime until 7.30am (GMT) Tuesday 21st April.

Link: https://youtu.be/e9_j2udixT0

Rare 8mm film of Beatles in cartoon studio

The animated Beatles

An uploader on YouTube has made available a rare 8mm film shot by Norman Kauffman from TVC animation studios on 38 Dean Street, in Soho, London on July 29, 1965. This was the very same day The Beatles attended the Help! premiere not far away from there.

TVC was the main Beatles cartoon series animation studio, having produced over half of the episodes. This is the very first time The Beatles were shown a finished product. A bunch of the TVC crew were there as well as both voice actors, Paul Frees and Lance Percival. The film also shows the TVC crew at work on the series.

Production Assistant Norman Kauffman shot the film, and is the person giving the thumbs up at 1:06. This uploads also adds live music, which quickly becomes annoying. The film was originally silent.

Those who have read Mitchell Axelrod's book on the subject, "Beatletoons," (Amazon link here) will know this was the last place the Fabs wanted to be at this point. They were tired, and George was not happy about being filmed on what was originally their half day off. They were also going to rehearse for their August 1 appearance on Blackpool Night Out. John went under a buffet table with a bottle of wine, says Axelrod.

The animated series made it's debut on ABC in USA on September 25, 1965 and became an instant ratings hit, it was also the first animated series featuring characters based on real people. It ran for a couple of years. The Beatles have never made the series available in any home cinema format, but continue to licence images from the series to manufacturers of memorabilia.

1959 photo of John, Paul and George unearthed

Paul, John and George in Mona Best's living room, late 1959.

Causing quite a commotion among Beatles fans when it was published by the BBC as well as in the Daily Mail on April 9, a hitherto unknown photo of the pre-fame Beatles has come to light.

The photo came in the hands of Beatles memorabilia expert Paul Wane of the Tracks company. He was keen to find out what the location might be, and sent it secretly to Mark Ashworth, keeper of the "There are places I remember: Liverpool Beatles Locations" blog. Ashworth guessed that it was taken in one of the living rooms of Mona Best, one floor up from the Casbah Club.

Likely from the latter part of 1959, the pre-fame Beatles used to perform at the Casbah Club at the time, Paul, George, John and fourth member, Ken Brown. For a short while, the drummerless trio had called themselves Japage3, but when Brown joined they took back their Quarry Men name for lack of a better one. This was before Pete Best got his first drum kit.

Roag Best, who runs the Magical History Museum in Mathew Street, Liverpool says that he has the heads on the wall behind John in the photo in a box somewhere. It now seems likely that he will get them out of the box and on display in his museum, because of this photo.
Roag's brother Pete noticed his granddad's golf clubs leaning against the wall between George and John in the photo.

Not long after the publication of the photo, people on the internet had it colourised.

Colourised version of the photo.

Read more about the photo in Mark's blog.

50 years since the Beatles break-up became public

The headline that announced the Beatles' break-up to readers of The Daily Mirror.

April 10, 1970 is usually reckoned as the day the Beatles broke up. The reason for this date is that this is the day after Paul McCartney sent out the press copies of his first solo LP, and a journalist in the Daily Mirror wrote a front page story. The LP, "McCartney" was accompanied by a write-up in the form of an interview with Paul in which he stated quite clearly that he did not think he was going to collaborate with the others in the Beatles again.
Many assumed that it was McCartney himself who had both asked the questions and answered, but Paul has explained that he had talked to Peter Brown from Apple about what he would send out as press material.

Brown answered that he could send Paul a few questions which Paul could then answer in writing and return to Brown. This was when something Brown put together and sent along with the LP to UK record reviewers a week before the record was released on the market on April 17.

Lennon was outraged by Paul revealing that the Beatles were over while releasing his own solo LP.

"The Beatle thing is over" said Paul to Life in November 1969.

What had gone unnoticed by both Lennon, the press and most people was that Paul had actually dropped the bomb during an interview with the American magazine "Life" when they sought him out on the farm in Scotland to deny the rumours of his death. The magazine was on the street as early as November 7, 1969. There he said: "I would rather do what I started by doing, which is making music. We make good music and we want to go on making good music. But the Beatle thing is over. ”

This did not result in big headlines about "Beatles breaking up", they were more interested in the silly "Paul is dead" theory. And so, it was not until April 10, after the music reviewer in the Daily Mirror had been sent the press copy of "McCartney" that the British newspaper was first out with the news: ‘Paul Is Quitting The Beatles’ and then in later editions: ‘Paul Quits The Beatles.’. The story was written by Don Short, who was the journalist in charge of Beatles news in the Daily Mirror, and who had befriended the group early in their showbiz career.

Don Short himself remembers it differently. According to him, he was told the news on the phone by one of his Beatles' contacts.

–It was the night I was never going to forget. That momentous night April 9, 1970. My world exclusive was splashed on the Daily Mirror’s front page: Paul Quits The Beatles. Unimaginable drama was to unfold, and a world was left asking: "Where will we be without the Beatles?" At the time I was the Mirror's ­showbusiness columnist and as evening approached, I had just put on my coat and locked down my attache case when my office phone rang. Instantly, I recognised the voice of one of my Beatles' contacts. From the quiver in his tone, I knew he had something serious to impart. Finally he stuttered: "Paul is quitting, Don. It's definite. It's all over. The Beatles are breaking up". "Can you believe that?"
–I slammed down the phone and called the home of a Beatles aide who was an executive of their Apple company. There was some reluctance on his part to elaborate but, vitally, he confirmed the story.
In a bold typeface normally reserved for earthquakes, plane crashes and other disasters, the Mirror's front page first edition broke the news.

Don Short's book "The Beatles And Beyond". Wymer Publishing (20 March 2020)

Short has a book out with his showbiz recollections, get "The Beatles And Beyond" from Amazon.

---

Here is the interview that came with the McCartney press copies:

Q: "Why did you decide to make a solo album?"
PAUL: "Because I got a Studer four-track recording machine at home - practiced on it (playing all instruments) - liked the results, and decided to make it into an album."

Q: "Were you influenced by John's adventures with the Plastic Ono Band, and Ringo's solo LP?"

PAUL: "Sort of, but not really."

Q: "Are all the songs by Paul McCartney alone?"

PAUL: "Yes sir."

Q: "Will they be so credited: McCartney?"

PAUL: "It's a bit daft for them to be credited to Lennon / McCartney, so 'McCartney' it is."

Q: "Did you enjoy working as a solo?"

PAUL: "Very much. I only had to ask me for a decision, and I agreed with me. Remember Linda's on it too, so it's really a double act. ”

Q: "What is Linda's contribution?"

PAUL: «Strictly speaking she harmonizes, but of course it's more than that because she's a shoulder to lean on, a second opinion, and a photographer of renown. More than all this, she believes in me - constantly. ”

Q: "Where was the album recorded?"

PAUL: "At home, at EMI (no. 2 studio) and Morgan Studios (WILLESDEN!)"

Q: "What is your home equipment (in some detail)?"

PAUL: «Study four-track machine. I only had, however, one mike, and as Mr. Pender, Mr. Sweatenham and others only managed to take 6 months or so (slight delay) I worked without VU meters or a mixer, which meant everything had to be listed to first (for distortion etc…) then recorded. So the answer - Studder, one mike, and nerve. »

Q: "Why did you choose to work in the studios you chose?"

PAUL: "They were available. EMI is technically very good and Morgan is cozy. ”

Q: «The album was not known until it was almost completed. Was this deliberate? "

PAUL: «Yes, because normally an album is old before it even comes out. (A side) Witness 'Get Back.' »

Q: "Why?"

PAUL: «I've always wanted to buy a Beatles album like people do and be as surprised as they must be. So this was the next best thing. Linda and I are the only two who will be sick of it by the release date. We really love it. ”

Q: "Are you able to describe the texture or feel of the album in a few words?"

PAUL: "Home, family, love."

Q: "How long did it take to complete?"

PAUL: "From just before (I think) Xmas, until now. 'The Lovely Linda' was the first thing I recorded at home, and was originally to test the equipment. That was around Xmas. »

Q: "Assuming all the songs are new to the public, how new are they to you? Are they recent »

PAUL: «One was from 1959 (Hot As Sun). Two are from India - 'Junk' and 'Teddy Boy,' and the rest are pretty recent. "Valentine Day," "Momma Miss America" ​​and "Oo You" were ad-libbed on the spot. "

Q: "What instruments have you played on the album?"

PAUL: "Bass, drums, acoustic guitar, lead guitar, piano and organ mellotron, toy xylophone, bow and arrow."

Q: "Have you played all these instruments on previous recordings?"

PAUL: "Yes, drums being the one I normally wouldn't do."

Q: "Why did you do all the instruments yourself?"

PAUL: "I think I'm pretty good."

Q: "Will Linda be heard on any future records?"

PAUL: "Could be. We love singing together and have plenty of opportunity for practice. ”

Q: "Will Paul and Linda become a John and Yoko?"

PAUL: "No, they will become Paul and Linda."

Q: "What has recording alone taught you?"

PAUL: "Making your own decisions about what you do is easy, and playing with yourself is very difficult, but satisfying."

Q: "Who did the artwork?"

PAUL: "Linda has taken all the photos, and she and I designed the package."

Q: "Is it true that neither Allen Klein nor ABKCO have been involved in any way with the production, production, distribution or promotion of this new album?"

PAUL: "Not if I can help it."

Q: "Did you miss the other Beatles and George Martin? Was there a moment when you thought, 'I wish Ringo were here for this break?' »

PAUL: "No."

Q: "Assuming this is a very big hit album, will you do another?"

PAUL: "Even if it isn't, I will continue to do what I want, when I want to."

Q: "Are you planning a new album or single with the Beatles?"

PAUL: "No."

Q: "Is this album a rest away from the Beatles or the start of a solo career?"

PAUL: "Time will tell. Being a solo album means it's 'the start of a solo career ...' and not being done with the Beatles means it's just a rest. So it's both. ”

Q: "Is your break with the Beatles temporary or permanent, due to personal differences or musical ones?"

PAUL: «Personal differences, business differences, musical differences, but most of all because I have a better time with my family. Temporary or permanent? I don't really know. ”

(So ​​here we see that Paul is still keeping the door open for a continuation of the Beatles. This was to continue during the seventies, where all four were positive to a reunion; unfortunately, all four never agreed on this at the same time. Ed.)

Q: "Do you foresee a time when Lennon-McCartney becomes an active songwriting partnership again?"

PAUL: "No."

Q: "What do you feel about John's peace effort? The Plastic Ono Band? Giving back the MBE? Yoko's influence? Yoko? "

PAUL: "I love John, and respect what he does - it doesn't really give me any pleasure."

Q: "Were any of the songs on the album originally written with the Beatles in mind?"

PAUL: "The older ones were. 'Junk' was intended for 'Abbey Road,' but something happened. "Teddy Boy" was for "Get Back," but something happened. "

Q: "Were you pleased with 'Abbey Road'? Was it musically restrictive? ”

PAUL: "It was a good album. (number one for a long time.) »

Q: "What is your relationship with Klein?"

PAUL: "It's not. I am not in contact with him, and he does not represent me in ANY way. ”

Q: "What is your relationship with Apple?"

PAUL: "It's the office of a company I share with the other three Beatles. I don't go there because I don't like offices or business, especially when I'm on holiday. ”

Q: "Do you have any plans to set up an independent production company?"

PAUL: "McCartney Productions."

Q: "What kind of music has influenced you on this album?"

PAUL: "Light and loose."

Q: "Are you writing more prolifically now? Or less so? »

PAUL: "About the same. I have a queue waiting to be recorded. »

Q: "What are your plans now? A holiday? A musical? A movie? Retirement? "

PAUL: "My only plan is to grow up!"

New Rock and roll HOF videos

The official Rock and Roll Hall of Fame channel has made a few more videos available on YouTube recently, for your pleasure and mine. Four videos from the induction of Ringo Starr into the hall in 2015: Paul McCartney's induction speech, Ringo's acceptance speech and two songs from the concert performance, I Wanna Be Your Man and With A Little Help From My Friends. I made a playlist of all four of those videos. These all come in addition to the video they published on Ringo's birthday in July 2016, of a longer video from I Wanna Be Your Man.

Paul McCartney also appears in two new clips from 1999, "What'd I Say" -  a tribute to Ray Charles and "Blue Suede Shoes" - a tribute to Carl Perkins.