Move over, Ms L!

Hi all, wondering why you are looking at this jumbled up page? This is due to the fact that Facebook didn't like our url since it starts with wog, so we have been forced to move the blog. This was some time ago, and we have placed a script which would automatically send you to our new location. Obviously, this hasn't worked for all of you, since we have just finished moderating some of your comments which appeared on this site recently, and not on our new (and improved!) site. So what we're saying is head on over to our new site, and update your bookmarks!

Wednesday 25 September 2019

Giles Martin about remixing Abbey Road

A tribute from Volkswagen

New VW ad.
Seems it's not only the Beatles, Apple, Universal and radio stations who are celebrating 50 years since the Abbey Road album, now Volkswagen have joined in!

The Swedish branch of the Volkswagen company have produced an ad featuring the Abbey Road scene of 2019, with a correctly parked white VW Beetle. You may recall that in the original Abbey Road cover, the Beetle was parked partly on the pavement.

The original VW Beetle.
The ad is to promote Volkswagen's new park assist system, which detects vacant spaces large enough for your vehicle, and automatically manouvres your car into that space - parallell parking made easy.

Volkswagen Sweden have also produced a limited number of empty album covers with this new image, which they are selling for SEK 179 plus SEK 50 for worldwide postage. All the money go to Bris - a children's rights organisation.

Monday 23 September 2019

Abbey Road – What’s new?

Alternate "Get Back" photo recreates the "Please Please me" cover. Tue May 13, 1969. Photo by Angus McBean.
This is a look at the extra material added to the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, besides the obviously new stereo mix of the original album (which you can find Bruce Spizer discussing here).

In this article, regardless of differences in sound quality, we learn what’s new and unheard, even on bootlegs.

By Mike Carrera

Disc 2: Sessions

Abbey Road Super DeLuxe Edition - out September 27


1. I Want You (She's So Heavy) [Trident Recording Session & Reduction Mix] – 7:01

NEW
00:00 – 00:37: This track opens with the final part of an early unknown breakdown take, George Martin is heard, saying "Take 4 was very good" after the breakdown and John replies "Which was Take 4?".. the chat between them continues.
00:38 – 3:17: Glyn Johns is heard, saying: "Is it possible without affecting yourselves too much to turn down a little?"  A neighbour is complaining about the noise, and after so much talk between John, Paul and Glyn about the complaint, John says "Last chance to be loud!.. who says?". One minute and 30 seconds after the track starts, Take 32 begins, one of the three takes used to create the final master (The used takes being nos 9, 20 and 32 although none of them are mentioned in Kevin Howlett’s notes).
3:18 – 7:01: combines take 32 with a reduction mix where we can hear Billy Preston’s organ overdub and John’s moog (on right channel) upfront and with many differences plus we have the full ending.
Howlett reports that a newly discovered "faster version" was also recorded on February 23 at Trident Studios.

2. Goodbye (Home Demo) - 2:21

Clearly taken from the acetate but has been cleaned up as good as possible, yet still volume fluctuations several places, just like the circulating acetate source which we have had for ages.

3. Something (Studio Demo) - 3:34

PARTIALLY NEW
Two versions have been previously available: with and without piano overdub. The first can be heard on Anthology 3, the second on many bootleg releases taken from an acetate. This version is the one with the piano overdub, and besides the much better audio quality compared with this acetate found on bootlegs, the only really new stuff here is the engineer’s intro "Something, this is take one" and some guitar warm-up before the demo take starts and George’s question "are we going?", plus the final five seconds after the final piano chord.



4. The Ballad of John and Yoko (Take 7) - 3:35

NEW One of the highlights of the Deluxe Box Set.
00:00 – 00:04 : It opens with dialogue, perhaps after Take 1 or 2 of John trying to speak some Spanish/English/French words to assistant Mal to tell him a string has broken: "Un string avec caput Mal".
00:05 – 00:14: Some dialogue before Take 4 can be heard: "It got a bit faster Ringo!" (according to Howlett but it sounds more like: "It’s gotta be faster, Ringo!" (John to Paul who quietly laughs). "Ok George!" he replies.
00:15 – end: After this we are treated to the full Take 7, with John on vocals and acoustic guitar and Paul on drums. At the end, an enthusiastic John screams "yeahhh we’ll have it, we’ll have it!" while Paul jams on the drums. John also says it’s not "the one" because he "came out before, that’s all right".

5. Old Brown Shoe (Take 2) - 3:13

NEW Very similar to the released take (without the organ and lead guitar overdubs)

6. Oh! Darling (Take 4) - 3:28

NEW and can be heard here, Billy Preston is included in the recording credits and can be heard playing the organ on this early take, contradicting previous information that he only overdubbed his organ part onto Take 26 but which was not used in the final mix.


7. Octopus's Garden (Take 9) - 1:43

PARTIALLY NEW
An unheard breakdown take, the track starts with Ringo saying "That was superb… right George?". "That was superb" can be heard at the end of Take 2 on Anthology 3 as an edit with Take 8, thus the new bit will only be "right George?" Ten seconds of talk between Ringo and John after the take breaks down that can be heard here have been available as part of the Rockband bits (or bootlegs), but there it lasts an extra 35 seconds longer than on this new release.

8. You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36) - 5:15

NEW
The Track starts with a small jam with Paul saying this phrase twice "Ok you win, I’m in love with you!" from Mayme Watts and Sidney Wyche’s 50’s classic “Alright, Okay, You Win” (recorded by Ella Johnson, Peggy Lee and Joe Williams among others). The chat continues and at some point Paul changes the title to "You never Give me Your Coffee". After a false start where both George and Paul almost at same time reminds Glynn Johns to turn off the Leslie speaker, take 36 starts at 0:58. Sadly this take fades out (at 5:15) so we are not allowed to hear the long jam at the end (if any), which is available on bootlegs sourced from an early mix and a few writers reported could be an edit of takes 30 and 36. Neither Kevin Howlett nor Mark Lewisohn mention any jam or edit between takes 30 and 36, both only comment that Take 30 was the one used for overdubs, so maybe there was never an edit of two takes. But the crucial fact here is that there is an early fade out so maybe we'll never know if Takes 30 and Takes 36 both had a long jam at the end.

9. Her Majesty (Takes 1-3) - 1:33

PARTIALLY NEW
A very quick session and all three are full takes, dialogue after take 1 "Oh, thank you, ladies and gentlemen" has already been available from the Rockband bits and take 3 with the final guitar chord has also been available on bootlegs for ages.

10. Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight (Takes 1-3 / Medley) - 3:20

PARTIALLY NEW
"Take 1" which can be heard (with voice over) on the mixing desk at Abbey Road with Paul, George Ringo and George Martin as part of DVD 5 of The Beatles‘ Anthology (and on many bootlegs since) is actually take 2 and it's the very same take 2 here, same bits, same breakdown. The actual take 1 is Paul starting "Golden Slumbers" with "The Fool on the Hill" and can be heard now, along with another breakdown, take 3. Not really a "medley" but the actual takes 1-3 (all incomplete).

11. Here Comes the Sun (Take 9) - 3:40

NEW
Interesting without the drum fills and with George’s guide vocal. This take has a thirty seconds longer middle eight than the released version.

12. Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Take 12) - 4:41

PARTIALLY NEW
A small fraction of chat heard over the intro and end can be heard as well on the Rockband bits (Paul and Ringo practicing the drum-intro and Ringo’s comment "George Harrison is resting his arm" among them). This alternate take is similar to the one on Anthology 3.

Disc 3: Sessions

1. Come Together (Take 5) - 3:27

PARTIALLY NEW
A segment from this take 5 (from 2:50 – 2:59) was booted as "take 4" coming from the Rockband bits where it was linked with the "take 5" slate after the breakdown, but everything is actually Take 5.
The actual take 4 - a breakdown take - is heard here from 00:00 – 00:05
The dialogue before Take 5 starts at 00:07 – 00:12 and was also available from Rockband but goes on longer here; also available before is the dialogue at the end from 3:08 – 3:12
Different breakdowns from other takes are on the Rockband bits (a mashup of chats and incomplete takes in no particular order, it seems, which is why all bootlegs have incorrect track names or take numbers).


2. The End (Take 3) - 2:08

NEW
Another highlight from this new release. An initial warm up jam from another take is heard from 00:00 – 00:27
From 00:28 – 2:11, we can hear Take 3. At this point the instrumental lasted 1:19 with the extended (and very different) drum solo for 17 seconds (that was edited down to 15 seconds on the final master Take 7 by Geoff Emerick. Howlett doesn’t even mention this, so maybe it wasn’t true?) at some point during this drum solo (1:00) we can hear with headphones Paul talking "..you coming?" and at 1:01 someone is shouting something like "heeeyyyy, Ringo!". The piano part at the end has yet to be recorded. At the end of this Take 3 George Martin tells Ringo "hard work, isn’t it?"

3. Come and Get It (Studio Demo) - 2:39

PARTIALLY NEW
"Red Light!" says Paul, "Demo, take one" calls the engineer and there's also five seconds of chat after the song is over. That’s the only new stuff here, but this is also a very different mix (the original mix was made right after the demo was recorded) from the one released on Anthology 3, plus many bootlegs with the unreleased Sessions LP mixes.

4. Sun King (Take 20) - 3:14

NEW
00:00 – 00:31: Session chat after take 10
00:32 – 3:14 is Take 20, with a (barely audible) guide vocal from John.

5. Mean Mr. Mustard (Take 20) - 1:34

NEW
This time with a loud guide vocal from John, playing with the lyrics, replying his own words with things like "Yes, she does", "Yes, she is", "Yes, he does", "Yes, he is", also adding "God Save The Queen" twice during some verses. Sister "Shirley" is still present here, before the name was changed to "Pam".

6. Polythene Pam (Take 27) - 1:39

NEW
The take starts with John comparing Ringo’s drumming to The Dave Clark Five and also adds "It’s like being Tommy in here!" (The Who’s "Tommy"). A guide vocal track is also present as well as an embryonic guitar solo.

7. She Came In Through the Bathroom Window (Take 27) - 2:06

NEW
With Paul’s guide vocal track. When the lyrics go "And so I quit the police…", George or John briefly joins in.

8. Because (Take 1 / Instrumental) - 3:04

PARTIALLY NEW
A very beautiful instrumental take with Ringo’s clapping carrying the rhythm and it even goes longer after the take has ended.
Ringo’s count-in was already available from the Rockband mix as well the dialogue at the end of the take, mixed completely different here but is longer at Rockband:  John: "How was it?". George Martin suggests the harpsichord level should be lower and Ringo states "Less harpsichord, Geoff (Emerick)" and John adds "is my hair alright, Geoff?".

9. The Long One
(‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, ’Sun King’/’Mean Mr Mustard’, ‘Her Majesty’, ‘Polythene Pam’/’She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’, ’Golden Slumbers’/ ’Carry That Weight’, ’The End’) - 16:06

PARTIALLY NEW
In beautiful stereo to highlight all the differences between this early mix (created July 30, 1969) and the final versions, like the extra harmonies in "You Never Give Me Your Money" erased on the official version during the "Out of college" verse to give an example; missing extra overdubs on several songs recorded days later, the alternate vocal during "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight", missing orchestrations, missing vocals ("The End", for example) etc. But the main difference is that we now have the REAL "Long One" medley, with "Her Majesty" in the middle. This is Stereo Remix 2 (RS2) in full for the first time.
Note: Stereo Remix 1 for each song separately was done also on this day, before assembling the medley.

The version on bootlegs (in mono and poor sound quality) is a legit edit of this very same alternate rough mix but without "Her Majesty", made by second engineer John Kurlander, also on July 30, 1969 after Paul decided he didn’t like "Her Majesty", so it was cut out from the medley. Some bootleg makers inserted "Her Majesty" back in to recreate “The Long One” but the sound levels on the bootlegs containing this fake medley betrays that the inserted song doesn’t belong there, as "Her Majesty" sounds much better, and the medley then returns to the poorer sound once "Polythene Pam" enters.
Both this new 2019 official release and the version on bootlegs, starts with the engineer calling "RS2".

10. Something (Take 39 / Instrumental / Strings Only) - 2:38

NEW
Although the orchestral track can be heard on some 5.1 mixes or multi tracks, the strings are combined with the organ at some points, here they are isolated for the very first time.


11. Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight (Take 17 / Instrumental / Strings & Brass Only) - 3:17

NEW
Even though the orchestral track is already available, coming from the Rockband files, this comes directly from the multitrack tape, George Martin can be heard in the distance at the very beginning, saying "Do it again" and the end is not truncated like it is on the bootlegs (because the original file is linked there with "The End", so the orchestral levels end earlier)

Friday 20 September 2019

New preview: Come Together


The Beatles have made available another foretaste of the new edition "Abbey Road" album. This time it's two versions of "Come Together". It's the new stereo mix and also take 5 from the session tapes.

This is the third official leak from the upcoming release, the previous ones having been "Something" and "Oh! Darling". So will they also tease us with "Octopus's Garden" before the release date, which is September 27?

Let us know what you think about the tracks in the comment section!

Thursday 19 September 2019

Paul and Ringo at book launch

Embed from Getty Images

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 18: (L to R) Mary McCartney, Sir Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach attend as the McCartney & Taschen families celebrate the launch of "Linda McCartney. The Polaroid Diaries" at The Victoria and Albert Museum on September 18, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for TASCHEN) "Linda McCartney. The Polaroid Diaries" is priced at 40 Euro and will be available one of these days. Also there is going to be a "Collector's Edition" and two "Art editions", with a print signed by Paul.

Regular edition.

"Lost weekend" Polaroids, Wings tour bus etc for sale

This is the first glimpse we got to see of John and Paul together after the Beatles break-up. It appeared in Peter "Dougal" Butler's book about Keith Moon in 1981. It took decades before we got to see a second one from the same occasion.
A bunch of Polaroid photos from John Lennon's so called "lost weekend" are up for sale again. The snapshots were taken by Keith Moon's then assistant, Peter "Dougal" Butler.  The photos were originally sold at Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia sale of 29th June 2011, now they are up for grabs again through Omega Auctions.

A number of the photos are of Lennon, Starr and McCartney, among other musician friends.
The collection of photographs are eighteen Polaroids, three colour prints (3.5" x 3.5") and two black and white prints which are later copies. The images were taken in a house which John Lennon and May Pang rented from Peter Lawford in Santa Monica in April 1974. They are sold with full copyright, and many of them are previously unpublished.

This is only one of 354 lots in Omega Auctions The Beatles Collection: Memorabilia & vinyl records auction, lot no 354 is the famous Wings tour bus of 1972! Go check it out!

Link to auction

Thursday 12 September 2019

Ringo - What's My Name

Front of the new Ringo album
The pin Ringo is wearing on the front cover is an official John Lennon pin from the U.S. stamp release from 2018.
Lennon pin
There are a couple of Lennon connections on the album, Ringo-versions of Lennon's "Grow Old With Me" and a song John used to sing in the Beatles, "Money (That's what I want)".

The album will be released on CD, on LP and on a limited edition blue LP.

CD
LP


Tracks:
1. Gotta Get Up To Get Down (R. Starkey – J. Walsh) 4:20
2. It’s Not Love That You Want (R. Starkey – D. Stewart) 3:34
3. Grow Old With Me (J. Lennon) 3:18
4. Magic (R. Starkey – S. Lukather) 4:09
5. Money (That’s What I Want) (B. Gordy – J. Bradford) 2:56
6. Better Days (S. Hollander) 2:49
7. Life Is Good (R. Starkey – G. Burr) 3:11
8. Thank God for Music (R. Starkey – S. Hollander) 3:38
9. Send Love, Spread Peace (R. Starkey – G. Nicholson) 2:58
10. What’s My Name (C. Hay) 3:45

Release date is October 25 and it will become available for pre-ordering very soon. The title track, "What's My Name" has been released as a (non-physical) single today. It is an uptempo rocker written by Men At Work frontman and All Starr Band member, Colin Hay. It features Steve Lukather and Colin Hay on guitar, Nathan East on bass and Warren Ham on harmonica with Ringo on drums and percussion. The track, and album, were recorded, mixed and edited by Bruce Sugar.


Thanks to Mike Carrera for illustrations and the Lennon pin story.

Previous excerpts from the boardroom tape

Anthony Fawcett: One Day At A Time (1976)
In conjunction with our last post about Mark Lewisohn playing a tape containing a business meeting on September 8, 1969 with Paul, George and John, we mentioned that said tape has been quoted from in books back in the seventies. Thanks to forum poster tdgrnwld over at bootlegzone, we are able to bring you those quotes. Here is tdgrnwld's post:

The following appeared in Anthony Fawcett's 1976 book, One Day At A Time (p. 95-97):

John, Paul and George discussed this problem at Apple in the autumn of 1969, on one of the rare occasions when they got together. John glared at Paul and said, sarcastically: "It seemed mad for us to put a song on an album that nobody really dug, including the guy who wrote it, just because it was going to be popular, 'cause the LP doesn't have to be that. Wouldn't it be better, because we didn't really dig them, yer know, for you to do the songs you dug, and “Ob-La-Di, Ob- La-Da" and "Maxwell" to be given to people who like music like that, yer know, like Mary [Hopkins] or whoever it is needs a song. Why don't you give them to them? The only time we need anything vaguely near that quality is for a single. For an album we could just do only stuff that we really dug."

“We always carved the singles up between us,” he told Paul. “We have the singles market, [George and Ringo] don’t get anything! I mean, we’ve never offered George ‘B’ sides; we could have given him a lot of ‘B’ sides, but because we were two people you had the ‘A’ side and I had the ‘B’ side.”

“Well the thing is,” Paul answered, without even looking at George who sat a few feet away, “I think that until now, until this year [1969], our songs have been better than George’s. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours.”

George was quick to correct Paul: “Now that’s a myth, ‘cause most of the songs this year I wrote about last year or the year before, anyway. Maybe now I just don’t care whether you are going to like them or not, I just do ‘em… If I didn’t get a break I wouldn’t push it. I’d just forget about it. Now for the last two years, at any rate, I’ve pushed it a bit more.”

“I know what he’s saying,” John said, “‘cause people have said to me you’re coming through a lot stronger now than you had.”

“I don’t particularly seek acclaim,” George said. “That’s not the thing. It’s just to get out whatever is there to make way for whatever else is there. You know, ‘cause it’s only to get ‘em out, and also I might as well make a bit of money, seeing as I’m spending as much as the rest of you, and I don’t earn as much as the rest of you!”

Like the others, George was now out on his own musically. "Most of my tunes," he said, "I never had the Beatles backing me."

"Oh! C'mon, George!" John shouted. "We put a lot of work in your songs, even down to 'Don't Bother Me'; we spent a lot of time doing all that and we grooved. I can remember the riff you were playing, and in the last two years there was a period where you went Indian and we weren't needed!"

"That was only one tune," George said. "On the last album [White Album] I don't think you appeared on any of my songs--I don't mind."

"Well, you had Eric [Clapton], or somebody like that," John replied, in a hurt tone of voice.

There was a long pause as each Beatle seemed lost in contemplation, wondering. Not wanting to admit that they were becoming individual musicians, Paul grasped at the remnants of truth and spoke slowly, almost whispering. “When we get in a studio, even on the worst day, I’m still playing bass, Ringo’s still drumming, and we’re still there, you know.”
————————————————-

There is more dialogue on pages 92-95 which is possibly from the same meeting (this one Fawcett ascribes to September 1969), wherein John complains about having to fight to get his share of songs on an LP, or single A-sides, and basically admits to having given up.

I’m pretty sure this was Schaffner’s source in Beatles Forever (1977), although he may have gotten to hear the tape as well. There are a few people out there who claim to have heard portions of it (I certainly haven’t).

Nicholas Schaffner: The Beatles Forever (1977)

Here's what Nicholas Schaffner said in "Beatles Forever", from pages 130 & 131 of the Third edition 1978:

————————————————-

"In any case, shortly after Year One's [peace and music festival] organizers passed word that the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and a convoy of U.F.O.'s were all likely to appear, in Toronto the coming July [1970], Lennon called the whole thing quits. The reasons given involved business differences, but after Altamont [Dec 6, 1969], the rock festival was on its way out anyway. The counterculture had lost one of its most potent symbols; and it was about to lose another.

The Beatles' few remaining meetings seldom produced anything but further disagreement. Once, when Paul tried to corral the others into going back on the road, John stunned him with the words: "I want a divorce." Both McCartney and Klein persuaded him to reconsider, or at least not to sound off to the press.

On another occasion, preserved on tape (the Beatles having caught Andy Warhol's habit of letting tape recorders eavesdrop on intimate conversations), John and George presented Paul with an ultimatum. Lennon said he was tired of playing a bit part in "pre-packaged productions," conceived by and tailored to the genius of Paul McCartney. Henceforth the three Beatles must each be awarded precisely four songs per album, with Ringo getting to add one or two if he so desired. Paul complained that that kind of arbitrary regimentation was more suited to the military than to the Beatles, but the others insisted it was the only way to insure a fair shake for all.

That proved to be a moot point, however, as the fabulous foursome never made it back into the recording studio. In the absence of fresh Beatles product (the Get Back/Let It Be tapes continued to languish on the shelf) Klein patched ten old songs together to create an LP for the American market; his title, The Beatles Again, was revised by public demand to Hey Jude."​

Wednesday 11 September 2019

The boardroom tape


A tape recording of a business meeting in 3 Savile Row between three of the Beatles on September 8, 1969 has been the big news today. Speaking with Richard Williams of the Guardian about his upcoming touring multimedia show, "Hornsey Road", Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn played an excerpt of the tape which prompted the headline: "This tape rewrites everything we knew about the Beatles".

Although quoted from in Anthony Fawcett's book "One Day At A Time" as early as in 1976, and again in Nicholas Schaffner's book from the same era, "The Beatles Forever," the tape has been largely neglected by later Beatles authors (see this post).

Earlier this year, Erik Taros and Richard Buskin revealed that they had indeed heard the tape, and used it as a starting point for one of their "Swinging Through The Sixties" podcasts. So it looks like it has began to circulate among high-end collectors of Beatles material. Lewisohn has now been able to pinpoint the date of the business meeting, something which has not been public knowledge before.

In the tape, John Lennon is positive about The Beatles making a new album after having completed "Abbey Road", and also brings up the subject of recording a single for the Christmas market. He also suggests that George should get equal treatment as a songwriter within the group, and should get four songs on the next album, with John and Paul also contributing four songs each, and two from Ringo, should he want to. Ringo was in hospital for a check up at the time of the meeting, so it was recorded for his sake, in order for him to be able to later listen in to their discussion.


Perhaps the most shocking revelation in today's excerpt from the meeting was Paul McCartney being quoted as to say that he hadn't thought much of George as a songwriter until "Abbey Road".

Head on over to the Guardian and read the article.

Tuesday 10 September 2019

Grow old with me - with Paul and Ringo

Friday, Ringo tweeted this picture of himself with Jim Keltner, Joe Walsh, Steve Lukather and Benmon Tench.
It starting to look like there is going to be a version of John Lennon's composition "Grow Old With Me" on Ringo's new album, and that Ringo will be sharing vocals with Paul McCartney on the song.

The new album is going to be called "What's My Name?" and there is also a title track. According to several sources, the album has a release date of October 25, and there is also a leaked track list: "Gotta Get Up," "It’s Not Love That You Want," "Grow Old With Me," "Magic," "Money," "Better Days," "Life Is Good," "Thank God for Music," "Send Love, Spread Peace" and "What’s My Name."

While appearing at Liverpool's Beatle Week at the end of August, producer Jack Douglas mentioned that he had produced a duet with Ringo and Paul for Ringo's new album. Rumours now identify "Grow Old With Me" as that song.

"Grow Old With Me" was one of the tracks that John Lennon left behind, unrecorded - apart from a few cassette demo recordings. Originally intended for "Double Fantasy", it was decided to leave it for the successor to that album. Yoko Ono did release a follow up to "Double Fantasy" in 1984, "Milk and Honey", where she included a demo of "Grow Old With Me" with John singing and playing the piano, accompanied by a rhythm box.

Unfinished music from John, finished music from Yoko: the Milk and Honey album.
The song was one of four songs given to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono for consideration for the Beatles treatment featuring Paul, George and Ringo in the mid-nineties. The three other songs were "Free As A Bird", "Real Love" and "Now And Then". That last one was quickly abandoned, but "Grow Old With Me" was never even attempted.

In 1998, Sir George Martin made a string arrangement which was then added to Lennon's demo and released on the "John Lennon Anthology" and later on the "Gimme Some Truth" CD compilation in 2010. There are several cover versions of the song which has been recorded and released over the years, perhaps the best known of these is the late Glen Campbell's version from 2008.

Friday, Ringo tweeted a picture of himself with Benmont Tench, Steve Lukather, Joe Walsh and Jim Keltner, together for an interview for the Beatles channel on Sirius XM, and Ringo also mentioned getting ready to promote his new CD. Saturday, Lukather followed this with a tweet saying that he thought Ringo's upcoming album was "a killer". Beatlefan's "Something New" blog has more on that album.

Friday 6 September 2019

Oh! Darling


Two new teasers for the upcoming anniversary editions of "Abbey Road" are "Oh! Darling", new stereo mix and take 4 of the same song from the sessions. Above is the Spotify link, below are YouTube links:
New mix
Take 4
From before: "Something" playlist

Thursday 5 September 2019

The Cavern Club – The Beat Goes On …

Also available on DVD from the Cavern Club shop.
Presented by Paul McGann, The Cavern Club and LA Factual have come together to produce 'The Cavern Club: The Beat Goes On', a unique documentary feature, telling the untold, complete and colourful story of the 'greatest club in the world'.

Founded in 1957 by young jazz aficionado - Alan Sytner, who sought to recreate the headiness of his beloved jazz clubs in Paris. Famous for being the place where The Beatles played 292 times, the club survived two closures and was tragically demolished, only to be rebuilt brick-by-brick. After many highs and lows, the club is back to its former glory, hosting artists like Jessie J, The Arctic Monkeys and Adele.

Written by Bill Heckle, Directed and Produced by Christian Francis-Davies & Co-directed by Jon Keats, this documentary will be televised in Great Britain on 10.00pm this Saturday night on Sky Arts.


For the geographically challenged, the film is also available to purchase on DVD from the Cavern Club store.