Jimmy Page 'fed up' with Robert Plant's refusal to reunite Led Zeppelin


Page has publicly voiced his frustration surrounding the band's re-formation, claiming the singer is 'playing games'

Sean Michaels   


theguardian.com, Tuesday 20 May 2014 17.54 AEST   

Jimmy Page has gone public with his frustration over Robert Plant's refusal to reunite Led Zeppelin, announcing that he is "fed up" with the singer's "games".

"I was told last year that Robert Plant said he is doing nothing in 2014, and what do the other two guys think?" Page recently told the New York Times. "Well, he knows what the other guys think. Everyone would love to play more concerts for the band. He’s just playing games, and I’m fed up with it, to be honest with you."


Plant did indeed suggest last year that he would be open to a 2014 tour with the surviving members of Led Zeppelin. At the time, he blamed the band's inactivity on "the Capricorns" – ie Page and John Paul Jones.


But Plant struck a very different pose during the promotional cycle for Led Zeppelin's new reissues. The chance of a reunion is "zero", he informed BBC news last month, with a roll of the eyes. Although he later told Rolling Stone that "all doors are open", he also insisted, "I'm not part of a jukebox!"


"Do you know why the Eagles said they’d reunite when 'hell freezes over,' but they did it anyway and keep touring?" Plant went on. "It’s not because they were paid a fortune. It’s not about the money. It’s because they’re bored. I’m not bored."


During an interview for the same Rolling Stone feature, Page also implied his ambivalence. "People ask me nearly every day about a possible reunion," he said. "The answer is 'no' … [though] there's always a possibility that they can exhume me and put me on stage in a coffin and play a tape."


If Plant is unwilling, there's still the chance that Page and Jones could get together with a different singer. "I’m not devoid of ideas," Page said, with regard to other ways of playing live. In 2008, Led Zeppelin's instrumental duo rehearsed with guest frontmen Steven Tyler and Myles Kennedy. Plant was prepared to be replaced: "I don't know what happened," he said. "It seemed like a great idea to me."


Meanwhile, a report by Business Week indicates that representatives for the late musician Randy California are preparing a copyright infringement lawsuit against Led Zeppelin. Page is accused of plagiarising parts of Stairway to Heaven from California's song Taurus, which was originally recorded by the band Spirit. Led Zeppelin have not responded to the claim.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/20/jimmy-page-robert-plants-reunite-led-zeppelin

Led Zeppelin Hit With Lawsuit For Allegedly Plagiarising 'Stairway To Heaven'

The band are accused of ripping off their former support act Spirit

Led Zeppelin are reportedly getting sued over their classic track 'Stairway To Heaven' which is said to have been ripped off from a band called Spirit whom they have worked with in the past.

The iconic rock band released 'Stairway To Heaven' in 1970 but a lawyer claims that Led Zeppelin actually copied the song from Spirit, whom they toured with in 1969 and released a similar song titled 'Taurus' in 1968.

Led Zeppelin are reportedly being sued over their hit track 'Stairway To Heaven' (WENN)

Attorney Francis Alexander Malofiy, who represents late Spirit guitarist Randy California, told Bloomberg Businessweek: “It’s been a long time coming. The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on ‘Stairway to Heaven.'”

Spirit star Mark Andes also chimed in on the argument, claiming that Led Zeppelin must have heard 'Taurus' when the two bands toured together in the late 1960s while touring together.

“...it would typically come after a big forceful number and always got a good response. They would have seen it in that context,” Andes said of the song.

“The clarity seems to be a present-day clarity, not at the time of infringement. I can't explain it. It is fairly blatant, and note for note. It would just be nice if the Led Zeppelin guys gave Randy a little nod. That would be lovely.”

According to the publication, California's family have waited so long to take legal action as they couldn't have previously afforded it.

Businessweek estimates that 'Stairway To Heaven' had earned a whopping $562 million by 2008.

Read more at http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/149628/Led-Zeppelin-Hit-With-Lawsuit-For-Allegedly-Plagiarising-Stairway-To-Heaven#AbHJ5ke4gA5zW3Ti.99

How the Rolling Stones became music's biggest business


The man who masterminded the Stones' finances, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, has died. Here's how they revolutionised rock finances

1 Don't be reliant on one man


For all the talk about how the late Prince Rupert Loewenstein masterminded the Stones' business affairs – and he did – he wasn't alone. The Rolling Stones are actually a number of businesses: touring, recording, publishing, sponsorship, synch and so on. As Fortune reported in 2002, these businesses are headed by a partnership of the four core members of the band. To feed into that, they created separate companies to handle each aspect of the business – Promopub, Promotone, Promotour and Musidor – which were based in the Netherlands for tax reasons.


2 Take control of your touring

The Stones had revolutionised touring once before, in 1969, using the latest amplification and speaker technology to create an arena-tailored show, with commensurately higher grosses. Twenty years later, they took a further step when they employed a Canadian promoter called Michael Cohl to sort out their tours. Where before they had employed a tour director to book shows through local promoters and then take the money for each show from the promoter, Cohl came up with a new strategy: central booking. He offered a set fee for the Steel Wheels tour to the band, then booked every show himself, cutting out local promoters. He also upped the merchandise operation, sought corporate sponsors and maximised every revenue stream a tour could offer.


3 Know the tax laws

It's not just the Stones' companies that are predicated on being tax efficient. "The whole business thing is predicated a lot on the tax laws," Keith Richards told Fortune. "It's why we rehearse in Canada and not in the US. A lot of our astute moves have been basically keeping up with tax laws, where to go, where not to put it. Whether to sit on it or not. We left England because we'd be paying 98 cents on the dollar. We left, and they lost out. No taxes at all. I don't want to screw anybody out of anything, least of all the governments that I work with. We put 30% in holding until we sort it out."


4 Be a brand

Think Rolling Stones, and you think the famous lips-and-tongue logo. It's appeared on countless pieces of merchandise, as familiar and timeless as the Coca-Cola script or McDonald's Golden Arches. Without that single piece of artwork, it's likely the Stones revenues would have been significantly lower. Even better – from the Stones' point of view, at least – they only had to pay £50 for the logo in 1970, to a 24-year-old design student called John Pasche. He later received a share of royalties rights when the Stones copyrighted the logo, which he duly sold to the band. But make no mistake about who's benefitted most from the brand. They've reinforced that through their public personae, too: a key part of the Stones' appeal, for example, remains the piratical image of Keith Richards. Would they retain the same power if he looked like, say, Mick Taylor did when he joined them as a guest on their round of 50th anniversary shows? Almost certainly not. They understood the need to position their brand early on. As Richards once said: "The Beatles got the white hat. What's left? The black hat." They've somehow managed to convince the world they still wear the black hat.


5 And know when to adapt the brand

You'd have thought that by the time the Stones turned 50, there was nothing left to do. Another tour? So what – how many times have the Stones toured before? And for all the speculation that this might be their last jaunt, the same speculation has accompanied every outing for the past 30 years. How do you generate public interest in a group of old men playing Jumping Jack Flash for the 43,279th time? Make the very fact of the gigs an event: get in special guests, including former members. Play Glastonbury for the first time, which arguably benefitted the Stones more than it did the festival, because they played in front of a different audience. Play Hyde Park, and it suddenly becomes an emotional return to the scene of a former triumph rather than another outdoor gig in a not-very-suitable venue. Play places you've never been before – this year they've visited the Middle East for the first time. Result? You keep getting talked about, and you keep selling tickets.


http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/may/22/how-the-rolling-stones-became-musics-biggest-business

How The Beatles came on tour to Australia nearly 50 years ago

JAMES WIGNEY
News Corp Australia
May 24, 2014 12:00AM

IT was 50 years ago next month that The Beatles arrived in Australia for their first and only tour.

But how did the biggest band there ever was end up in our then far-flung corner of the globe at the very moment the whole world was embracing them?

According to the man who booked them, it was “luck” and “instinct”.

In July 1963, The Beatles were a rising rock band with a handful of hits under their belts, but already showing glimpses of the generation-defining, genre-smashing phenomenon they would become.

Driven by a pair of gifted songwriters in Paul McCartney and John Lennon, complemented by drummer Ringo Starr and the baby of the group, guitarist George Harrison, the Liverpool quartet was already a musical force to be reckoned with thanks to years honing their skills playing in German and English clubs.

The Fab Four, as they were to become, were all in their early 20s and just on the cusp of an extraordinary run of success that has never been topped.

By contrast, Kenn Brodziak was an established Melbourne promoter with decades of experience mainly in the theatre world. Having begun his career as an actor, playwright and producer in the 1930s, by the late ‘50s he had branched out to the world of touring musicians, enticing acts such as legendary drummer Gene Krupka, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Lonnie Donegan and the Dave Brubeck Quartet to make what was then a gruelling trip to distant Australia.

It was on a trip to London in mid-1963 that he first came across The Beatles, quite by chance after being given a list of five bands by an agent who wanted him to book them for an Australian tour. Brodziak didn’t want five but said he’d take one — and if that worked out well he’d book the others.

“The agent said, ‘which one would you like?’,” Brodziak said. “And I said ‘I’ll take The Beatles’. That was all there was to the story. I didn’t know anything about the group except that their name sounded familiar, I think because of their playing in Germany.”

On the strength of that, a verbal agreement was struck with Beatles manager Brian Epstein for a flat fee of 1500 pounds a week. It seemed like a reasonable deal all around, but the events that unfolded in the following months turned it into one of the shrewdest — and most lucrative — deals in Australian rock history.

By the end of the same year, The Beatles had notched up three UK No. 1 singles and their debut album, Please Please Me had been sitting atop the chart for 30 weeks. It was only knocked off by their second album, With The Beatles, which sold half a million copies a week after its release in November. Non-album single I Want To Hold Your Hand became the first British single to sell a million copies before its release and launched the band’s career in the US, becoming their first No. 1 there.

The nervous Beatles were greeted by 4000 screaming fans when they landed at the newly christened JFK airport in early 1964 and their now famous appearances on the top-rating Ed Sullivan show and gone a long way to making them household names.

Beatlemania had arrived as a global phenomenon and the world would never be the same.

Just prior to that, in December 1963, the contract for the Australian tour the following year was finally signed. Under the circumstances, Epstein’s insistence that the new fee would be 2500 pounds was entirely reasonable — he was being offered many times that by American promoters desperate to get the band back to capitalise on their new-found fame. There was a sweetener too — Adelaide had originally been left off the touring schedule but a petition signed by more than 80,000 fans meant four new shows were added, with the takings to go directly to the band’s management. The city would later show its gratitude when more than 300,000 people greeted the band, believed to be the biggest Beatles crowd ever assembled.

So it was that The Beatles (with Jimmy Nicol subbing for a tonsillitis-stricken Ringo) arrived in Sydney on the morning of June 11, 1964, as the biggest band in the world. They were greeted, as they would be the entire tour, by thousands of fans and a gaggle of fascinated journalists, who they invariably proceeded to charm. Brodziak could already see that his investment was paying off in spades — just as The Beatles were fully aware of their new-found cachet.

Brodziak recalled in an interview years later: “One of the first things that George (Harrison) said when the band arrived in Sydney was, ‘You got us at the old price, didn’t you?’ I said ‘Yes’, but he didn’t seem to mind.”

Scenes of mayhem greeted the band wherever they went, from the mass turnout in Adelaide, to a crowd around their Melbourne hotel that brought the CBD grinding to a halt. Promoter Michael Gudinski was too young to be allowed to go to their sold-out shows a Festival Hall, but remembers well the impact the visit had on his hometown. In all his years of bringing some of the biggest acts in the world to Australia, he says he has still never seen anything like it.

“The screaming, the hair, the plastic Beatle wigs you could buy — everywhere they went it was an absolute phenomenon that hasn’t been seen to that extent ever again,” he says.

“Whether it was Bon Jovi in their heyday, Justin Bieber, Kiss, ABBA — there has never been anything like that Beatles period.”

Similarly unheard of in this day and age was not only that the original verbal contract was honoured, but also the punishing schedule for the band. In Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane — with a lightning side trip to New Zealand — the Beatles were playing two shows a night, at 6pm and 8pm, often on consecutive days.

“There is certainly not as much loyalty in the business as there used to be,” Gudinski laments, recalling a similar stroke of good fortune in his own promoting career, albeit on a much smaller scale.

“We had The Knack at the Bombay Rock with a queue a mile down the road and a lot of it is good luck and timing. It was the week that they had the No. 1 album and single in America and we were paying them $1500.

“If there was a contract in place, back in those days it was not unusual for that contract to be honoured. That’s where the business over the years really started to change around. It’s swung very much to the point where it’s in the artist’s favour now, whereas it had been way in the promoter’s favour.”

Even as early as their Australian dates, and despite their outward affability, The Beatles were beginning to tire of life on the road. Their unprecedented levels of fame meant they were practically prisoners in their hotels and the technology of the era was such that they could barely hear themselves play above the constant screams of their ecstatic, and mainly female, fans.

The band was given a mayoral reception at the Melbourne Town Hall and while they smiled and waved from the balcony to the 20, 0000 or so gathered outside, chances are they wished they were elsewhere. Lennon later revealed his hatred of such functions and being wheeled out to meet the great and the good in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1971. “All that business was awful,” he said. “It was such a f---ing humiliation.”

Replacement drummer Nicol also revealed a dark side of the Fab Four, very different to their squeaky clean image, pointing out Paul’s “love of blonde women”, Lennon’s excessive drinking and claiming that contrary to his reputation as the quiet Beatle, George “was into sex and partying all night”.

“I thought I could drink and lay women with the best of them,” he said in a later interview, “until I caught up with those guys.”

It’s little wonder then, that The Beatles’ first Australian tour was also their last. The Beatlemania that had taken hold didn’t let up until the group disbanded six years later, meaning that picking them up for a song was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. Aside from their famous rooftop concert in London in January 1969, The Beatles said goodbye to touring for good at a show in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in August 1966.

By then they had just released their album Revolver, whose sonic innovation and psychedelic experimentation would open the doors to their finest achievements.

Without the rigours and distractions of life on the road, the band could devote more time to the studio resulting in the masterpiece trio of albums Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the White Album and Abbey Road.

Brodziak continued to have a successful career in Australia both with music tours — including John Farnham’s early career — and theatrical productions such as Godspell, A Chorus Line and Annie right up until his retirement in 1980. He was awarded an OBE in 1978 and died in 1999. Despite all his successes, The Beatles tour remained his towering achievement, something that initially irked him.

“It used to annoy me that people only knew me for bringing The Beatles here,” he said a year before his death. “Now I realise what a landmark moment that was. There will never be another group like them.”



“Hey, Jude! To help mark 50 years since the Beatles came to town, we’re looking for Adelaide’s biggest Beatles fan. Were you a child at the time? Did you get to meet or speak to the Fab Three? (Ringo wasn’t here, remember!?) Do you have any photos or movie footage from the visit? Did you collect any memorabilia or set up a Beatles shrine at your place? Well, You Know What To Do! Act Naturally. We Can Work It Out. And Please, please us with your Beatlmania memories. Send us a private message or go to NEWSFORCE

And one more thing, Don’t Ever Change.”

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/music/how-the-beatles-came-on-tour-to-australia-nearly-50-years-ago/story-fni0bvjn-1226929182904

Led Zeppelin to issue first unheard songs in over 30 years

Led Zeppelin to release a previously unknown song and unheard recordings alongside 'deluxe' reissues of their first three albums

Led Zeppelin have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide and fans remain hopeful of a reunion


By Anita Singh, Arts and Entertainment Editor

2:34PM GMT 13 Mar 2014

Led Zeppelin are to release previously unheard material including a song, La La, recorded in 1969.


The song, along with dozens of unheard studio and live recordings, will be released as companions to reissued editions of the albums Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III.


The albums have been remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page. They will be released on June 2 on CD, vinyl and via digital download. There will also be a "limited edition super deluxe boxed set" - price to be announced at a later date.


The vinyl edition will be packaged in a sleeve that replicates the LP’s first pressing in exact detail, down to the original wheel and die cut holes.


La La was recorded for Led Zeppelin II but was not included on the album. It is the band’s first ‘new’ release since Coda in 1982, and will be included in the “companion audio” for the reissue of their second album.

The reissue of Led Zeppelin will include a nine-song, previously unreleased performance recorded at the Olympia Theatre on October 10 1969, featuring a 15-minute version of Dazed and Confused.

Companion audio for Led Zeppelin III also includes previously unheard compositions, which were forerunners of tracks that were later released: Jennings Farm Blues (an instrumental forerunner of Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp), Bathroom Sound (an instrumental version of Out On The Tiles) and the band’s take on the blues classics Keys To The Highway and Trouble In Mind.

Fans’ hopes for the elusive Led Zeppelin reunion were raised last year, when Robert Plant said he was waiting for Page and John Paul Jones to instigate it. “I’ve got nothing to do in 2014,” he said.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10695354/Led-Zeppelin-to-issue-first-unheard-songs-in-over-30-years.html

Queen confirm new album featuring unheard Freddie Mercury songs

By Amy Davidson
Tuesday, May 27 2014, 10:51 BST

Queen have confirmed plans to release a new album featuring previously unheard tracks sung by late frontman Freddie Mercury.

In an interview with BBC Radio Wales, Brian May - who had previously teased the possibility of a new LP - revealed that the record will be released by the end of the year and is likely to be called Queen Forever.

The unreleased songs date back to the 1980s and feature Mercury's vocals over recently recorded instrumental tracks, which will be merged together using ProTools.

May discussed what the album will sound like, explaining: "It is quite emotional. It is the big, big ballads and the big, big epic sound."

The Queen guitarist disclosed that he is restoring the songs himself along with bandmate Roger Taylor.

"We had to start from scratch because we only had scraps," he explained.

"But knowing how it would have happened if we had finished it, I can sit there and make it happen with modern technology."

Brian May on new Freddie Mercury track: 'Queen magic is happening'

May has previously revealed that Mercury's unreleased material includes a 1983 collaboration with Michael Jackson.

Jackson's recent posthumous album Xscape didn't feature the team-up between the two singers, but it is unclear if the song will appear on Queen Forever.

Queen are set to play with Adam Lambert on their first North American tour in nearly ten years beginning on June 19 in Chicago.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a573506/queen-confirm-new-album-featuring-unheard-freddie-mercury-songs.html#~oFsUA7KAZqbxRa

Queen should never have continued after Freddie Mercury died. Shadow of a shadow of their former selves.

Metallica's Black Album passes 16 million sales

Friday 30 May 2014 12:13p.m.

Metallica's self-titled 1991 album has become the best-selling release in US chart history after surpassing the 16 million sales mark.

The disc, widely referred to as The Black Album due to its plain cover art, continues to be a popular choice with fans and shifted an estimated 3000 copies last week to take its grand total to 16,002,000 units sold in the 23 years since first it hit retailers.

The Metallica album, released in the same year experts at Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales Stateside, is just one of two projects which have racked up over 15 million sales in the chart's history - Shania Twain's Come On Over boasts 15.57 million units.

On the most current Billboard 200 chart, Metallica also climbed from 155 to 144, marking its 307th week on the chart. That continues to be the longest chart run of any album since the tally began using SoundScan data.


Read more: http://www.3news.co.nz/Metallicas-Black-Album-passes-16-million-sales/tabid/418/articleID/346459/Default.aspx#ixzz33DFdE1EJ

Billy Joel – A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia [Deluxe Edition]

Posted by: Gordon S. Miller June 2, 2014

In 1987, while touring in support of his tenth studio album, which was appropriately titled The Bridge, Billy Joel and his band became the first rock ‘n’ roll act from the United States to perform in the Soviet Union as part of a culture exchange program. Portions of those concerts have been previously released on Kohuept, a live album, and Live in Leningrad, 1987, a concert film released on VHS. Both have been expanded with previously unreleased footage and share the new title, A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia. The audio and video are available separately and are also collected together in a Deluxe Edition, which exclusively includes a tour documentary that recently aired on SHOWTIME and a booklet with rare photos and liner notes.

Seeing American pianist Van Cliburn playing Moscow in 1958 influenced Joel’s decision to go, and he says “the trip to Russia was probably the biggest highlight for me as a performer.” Edited together from different nights, the concert DVD offers a 16-song performance by Joel and his talented band. Six of the songs were previously unreleased as was the bonus song “Pressure.” Why they couldn’t insert into the main feature is beyond me. What is most notable about the show is the relationship between the crowd and the band. They feed off each other’s energy and enthusiasm.

The first song is “Angry Young Man,” and it makes sense with the government oppression they live under that the Russians kids would connect with the sentiment, but when they are just as enthralled by the seemingly U.S.-centric songs “Allentown” and “Goodnight Saigon,” the latter about the Vietnam War where the U.S. and Soviets were on opposing sides, it reveals a truth about the shared humanity between peoples, contradicting the propaganda from both governments at the time.

“The Longest Time” not only finds most of the band at the front of the stage doing doo-wop but Joel goes crowd surfing, though he needs help from the band and crew to get back to the stage as many holding him up ignore his directions. With the presumed barrier between artist and audience broken, a young man jumps on stage, which understandably startles Joel but then he interacts once he realizes the kid poses no danger. During “You May be Right,” he asks a young girl to tie his shoe and during “Big Shot,” he ventures back out to surf the crowd with similar results.

Joel steps out from behind from the piano a few times during the show took sing at the front of the stage. He picks up a guitar for “A Matter Of Trust” and brings his daughter Alexa out from under the stage, the proud papa showing her off during “Uptown Girl.” When Joel asks the crowd if they like the Beatles, they roar in the affirmative so he closes with the apropos “Back in the U.S.S.R.” to their great delight.

Throughout the video, Joel proves to be quite the entertainer, a talent as a songwriter, bandleader, and performer. From the reception received, it seemed much more than just rock and roll for the vast majority in attendance.

The audio release adds 11 previously unreleased tracks to Kohuept and nine tracks that don’t appear on the video, including popular songs like “She’s Always A Woman” and “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” and a couple from rehearsals, “New York State Of Mind” and another Beatles cover “She Loves You”.

For Deluxe-Edition buyers, the 72-minute documentary provides great insight into the historical significance of Joel’s Russian concerts, both from a political perspective and also an individual one for many of those involved who are interviewed. Although the first show was supposed to be in Moscow, word leaked of their rehearsal in Georgia and they ended up playing to a full house. It’s here you get to see footage shot during the travels that reveals personal connections made. Everyone seems gracious and thankful at the opportunity, although Joel’s wife at the time, Christie Brinkley, comes off as a tad obnoxious with multiple shirts with “USA” across the front.

Considering the material unique to each format, I highly recommend the Deluxe Edition of Billy Joel’s A Matter of Trust – The Bridge to Russia because it’s all worth having.

http://blogcritics.org/music-review-billy-joel-a-matter-of-trust-the-bridge-to-russia-deluxe-edition/

[youtube]b7kYVjL2lps[/youtube]

Am I ever gonna see your face again?

:cool:


Edited by condemned666: 4/6/2014 01:01:32 PM

[youtube]_-XwB8exoTE[/youtube]

^ Still one of the saddest songs

I sang this at a karaoke bar the other night, it completely sucked the life out of an upbeat bouncing atmosphere

Edited by condemned666: 5/6/2014 01:43:57 PM

RIP Johnny Winter

When Dylan met the Beatles – history in a handshake?

Fifty years ago this week the Beatles and Bob Dylan got together to share a few joints – and the world of music was never the same again. Or so the story goes. But does pop culture really work like that?

Andrew Harrison   


The Guardian, Wednesday 27 August 2014   

Just as a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, the 50th anniversary of a major Beatle-related happening comes around every other week in 2014. Friday marks one of the bigger half-century landmarks, and the birth of a way of looking at rock music that just won't go away. On Friday 28 August 1964, in a room in the Delmonico hotel at Park Avenue and 59th in New York City – at a rendezvous brokered with a keen eye to a story by journalist, mutual friend and assiduous self-publicist Al Aronowitz – the Beatles encountered Bob Dylan for the first time.

Here the folk-singing scarecrow-prophet introduced the excitable Scousers to marijuana for (allegedly) the first time. Ringo Starr, the first to be offered a smoke and ignorant of dope etiquette, chugged through that first joint like a stevedore attacking his first Woodbine of the morning and collapsed in a giggling mess. Brian Epstein became so stoned he could only squeak,"I'm so high I'm up on the ceiling." Paul McCartney believed he'd attained true mental clarity for the first time in his life and instructed Beatles roadie and major-domo Mal Evans to write down everything he said henceforth. Dylan, meanwhile, lost his cool and began answering the hotel phone by shouting, "This is Beatlemania here!" Otherwise they drank wine and acted the goat, like bands do.

The post-game analysis was that, the doors of their perception not so much cleansed as kicked to matchwood and burnt, the Beatles then left behind childish things and set out on the road to enlightenment, serious artistry and self-expression at all costs. Exposed to the Beatles, Dylan would go on to create folk-rock and import the social conscience of traditional American music into the rock arena, thereby providing the counterculture with its national anthems.

Never ones to undersell their achievements, baby boomers subsequently promoted this fairly shambolic Beatles-Dylan hangout as a decisive summit, a defining event of rock culture. "Until the advent of rap, pop music remained largely derivative of that night at the Delmonico," Aronowitz would later proclaim. (Goodnight, soul, funk and disco; back in your box, James Brown and Kraftwerk.) "That meeting didn't just change pop music – it changed the times."

The truth, inevitably, is more prosaic. "The meeting was a game-changer," says Mark Ellen, co-founder of Mojo and Q magazines, "but it wasn't the instant dramatic meeting of superpowers that people imagine." The two parties had already regarded one another with envy long before they met. The Beatles were becoming tired of screaming teenage fans and life as a group, just as Dylan was becoming enamoured of exactly those things. "At the Delmonico," says Ellen, "they were passing one another at a time when each of them would quite liked to have been the other one."

Afterwards, the Beatles began to mine their own interior lives for personal, self-examining songs like Michelle and Yesterday. Dylan made 1965's Bringing It All Back Home album, half of which featured a rattling full electric-rock group, to the horror of the turtleneck crowd. "These changes were probably going to happen anyway," Ellen argues. "And the Beatles and Dylan were eventually going to meet because they had to meet, just as the Beatles had to meet Elvis eventually. They were the biggest things on the planet at the time."

Yet the idea of an ultimate turning point, a fork in the woods, a Zarathustra moment where everything changes, persists. It plays to the pop fan's weakness for a version of the "great man" theory of history – the notion that everything depends on this one decision or that single conjunction – and connects to the lure of the counterfactual. (What if Kurt Cobain had lived?) If the Beatles and Dylan stories are modern myths, then the Delmonico hotel meeting becomes that most modern and meta of all pop events, a crossover episode. It's Sherlock meets the X-Men, it's England meets America, it's Dylan's adopted dustbowl past meeting the Beatles' democratised hyper-pop future, one side nourishing the other. You can see where this sort of thinking leads a person.

In which case, maybe it's sad that pretty much every fateful encounter in music turns out not to be quite so singular after all. Take, for instance, the case of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. They first run into one another on the platform at Dartford station in October 1961. Mick is carrying a clutch of rare blues records, Keith a hollow-bodied Hofner cutaway guitar. They recognise kindred spirits, fall to talking about music and within a year have formed the Rolling Stones. A prime Sliding Doors moment, you'd think.

Except that they already knew each other from primary school. And the London blues scene that gave birth to the Stones was such a small one that, even separately, Richards and Jagger would surely have gravitated to Alexis Korner's Ealing jazz club and therefore Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart and finally Brian Jones. Maybe events would have corrected themselves, as they do in science fiction.

David Bowie meeting Iggy Pop at Max's Kansas City club in 1971, without which no Raw Power, no Ziggy Stardust and therefore, arguably, neither glam-rock nor punk? It was hardly a chance meeting. Bowie, besotted with the Stooges, had made a point of seeking out Jim Osterberg and Lou Reed, too.

You could say that Roger Daltrey spotting Who bass player John Entwistle in the street really was a lucky coincidence. ("I hear you play bass," the singer reputedly said, an astute observation given that Entwistle was actually carrying one at the time.) But even the most dedicated Who fanatic would find it hard to argue that this providential encounter determined the band's future. Whoever played bass, the Who would still be the Who.

Morrissey meeting Johnny Marr? The guitarist tramped over to Stretford specifically to knock on the future Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now hitmaker's door and demand that they write songs together (plus they'd already met once at a Patti Smith concert). Clash manager Bernard Rhodes spotting John Lydon on the King's Road in an "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt? The incestuous London pre-punk scene of 1975 would surely have brought Lydon and the Sex Pistols together eventually. Simon and Garfunkel? Met at elementary school. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât? Who cares?

Pretty much the only serendipitous meeting that stands up is that between Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who happened upon each other in a hi-fi shop on the King's Road in August 1981, got talking about music and were writing songs together within a week. Yet both were habitués of London clubland and would surely have got together sooner or later anyway.

Just as we no longer think that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand "caused" the first world war, perhaps we only imagined that unrepeatable meetings between supernatural talents shaped our music culture. Meanwhile, the very notion of a meat-space encounter between opposing talents is disappearing as collaborations take place virtually. The 50th anniversary of Kanye West dropboxing a file to Daft Punk is unlikely to be celebrated. And that's probably a good thing.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/aug/27/when-bob-dylan-met-the-beatles

Of course Ringo had the first toke :lol:

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[youtube]ASCkWnxlfUA[/youtube]

[youtube]R95f7VwXqIw[/youtube]

... guess I got, what I deserved...

^ Five Emmys, Bitch! \:d/

And, rocking it old school->

[youtube]fwC-GUHL2gU[/youtube]

Battle of the Beatles: who was the fabbest of the four?

Four leading figures make their cases for Paul, John, George or Ringo respectively.

by New Statesman Published 29 August, 2014 - 12:13

Alan Johnson on Paul McCartney

Terry Jones on John Lennon

Joan Bakewell on George Harrison

Geoff Lloyd on Ringo Starr



Alan Johnson on Paul McCartney

I can’t quite remember if it was Susan Kelly or Christine Roberts who liked John best. I’m sure it was Pauline Bright who swore allegiance to George. If Ringo had an advocate in the “Who’s the best-looking Beatle?” debate taking part in our corner of west London I’ve forgotten who she was, but all the other girls I knew (and I knew a lot in 1964) were devoted to Paul.

Bliss was it in that dawn for music fans to be alive, but to be young was very heaven. This was the year that the Beatles’ status shifted from “British sensation” to “international phenomenon”; the year when Cathy McGowan announced to the nation live on Ready Steady Go! that “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was number one in the US Billboard Chart (at the same time as other Beatles releases stood at numbers two, three and four).

It was unimaginable that such a thing could happen. Since rock’n’roll began it had been stamped “Made in America”. With the exception of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, everything worth listening to came from across the Atlantic. Our home-grown pop stars were Elvis Presley tribute acts that assumed a Memphis drawl to hide their Surbiton accents. Eventually they’d follow Tommy Steele into variety and sing the likes of “Little White Bull” for a family audience.

Now the hurricane of musicality from the Mersey had blown all that away.

The Beatles didn’t fit comfortably into the mods v rockers conflict of the time: we mods knew what music we didn’t like, which was basically anything associated with greasy-haired rockers. So, white artists such as Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent were reviled while Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Wilson Pickett were revered. The Beatles were certainly too successful for the ultra-mods, who prided themselves on liking artists who nobody had heard of.

We male devotees of the Fab Four adopted an air of condescending disdain when asked by our girlfriends to name a favourite. Our preference had to be bestowed with a more manly pretext than looks. For instance, we’d admire George’s guitar break on “All My Loving”, or John’s sense of humour.

But I liked Paul best predominantly because of his amazing looks. I so wanted to have those almond eyes, that perfect hair, the pouting lips. None of this could be admitted. Alone in the flat I shared with my sister, I’d use her old school hockey stick as a substitute bass guitar, holding it left-handed as I mimed in front of the mirror to the Beatles for Sale LP. When “Paperback Writer” was released I wondered at our secret affinity as much as any love-struck girl, because at the time I did want to be a paperback writer (as well as a rock star like Paul).

My love for the Beatles is such that I hate to promote my favourite by suggesting any imperfection in his colleagues but basically the only serious competition to Paul comes from John who, whisper it softly, was actually a bit of a rocker. I know, I know – I’ve seen those photos of Paul with his hair slicked back but that was in the Hamburg days. The thing is that John never seemed comfortable to leave that look behind him, whereas Paul fitted perfectly into the mop top and collarless jacket.

On stage, Lennon looked as if he was riding an imaginary motorbike, or perhaps a very thin horse: he stood, legs apart, doing little squats, with an unremarkable guitar hoisted too far up on his chest. (Those were the early days, before the Rickenbacker.) To his right he was gently upstaged by the cool and confident Paul, the Höfner bass a left-handed compliment to his individuality. And that McCartney voice, with its incredible range: one moment a gritty roar (“I’m Down”), the next a soft caress (“And I Love Her”).

I could never claim that Paul wrote better songs as some have tried to do. Leonard Bernstein once said “She’s Leaving Home” was equal to anything Schubert ever wrote. “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “In My Life” would be enough to settle any argument that John’s output wasn’t at least as good as Paul’s.

It’s in the post-Beatles period that I believe Paul nudged ahead. For some inexplicable reason, this is the period where John was portrayed as cool and Paul as twee. It is true that “Imagine” received a better critical reception than “Mull of Kintyre” yet while both records sold millions, few Beatles fans would consider them the equal of the Lennon/McCartney canon. It’s also true that “The Frog Song” suggested Paul had morphed into Tommy Steele.

But I’ve been relistening to Wings (trying to forget that Alan Partridge called them the band the Beatles could have been). The Plastic Ono Band didn’t produce anything comparable to “Band on the Run”, or even “Venus and Mars”. Pre- and post-Wings, the music has flowed from Paul like a blackbird singing in the dead of night. I offer “Maybe I’m Amazed” – and Flowers in the Dirt, his amazing collaboration with the only artist worthy of a mention in the same breath as Lennon and McCartney, Elvis Costello.

Paul was my favourite Beatle and, having just reached the age of 64, I’m pushing Vera, Chuck and Dave off my knee to listen again to the single biggest influence on popular music that the world has ever known.

Alan Johnson’s memoir “This Boy” is published by Corgi (£7.99)



Terry Jones on John Lennon

I never really liked John. I thought he was too acerbic and critical. He always seemed to be the nasty one in the group – argumentative and awkward.

And then I caught myself listening to “Imagine”, time after time.


Imagine there’s no countries

It isn’t hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too . . .

And I saw the light! The words speak for themselves: so pure and straightforward – so daring in their simplicity.

I was becoming fixated by the song. I started playing it on the piano, picking it out note by note. That week, on Monday 8 December, John Lennon was assassinated.

I’d first become aware of the Beatles when I was at Oxford – they were playing somewhere or other and I remember mocking the pun in the name. When I first heard them I was entranced, though still snooty about pop music. I bought Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when it came out in 1967, the first Beatles LP to be recorded in stereo, I believe. I was won over.

When Lennon was killed, I really didn’t know how I felt about it. With “Imagine”, I had begun to see him in a different light – no longer as the argumentative one but as a sublime lyricist. I don’t know how I had overlooked that before. I was an easygoing type and didn’t like troublesome people. But when he died, in such a senseless way, I guess it drew me closer to John.

I looked at his other lyrics. I particularly liked his masterpiece “Grow Old With Me”, freely adapted from Robert Browning’s “Rabbi Ben Ezra”. I’d always thought the wonderful lines – “Two branches of one tree/Face the setting sun/When the day is done” – were from the original poem, but they aren’t. Lennon wasn’t frightened of saying “God bless our love” and for a thoroughgoing atheist he can be forgiven.

I began to love him for being a peace activist – moving to Manhattan in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam war resulted in a lengthy attempt by the Nixon administration to have him deported.

“Give Peace a Chance” was written during Lennon’s “bed-in” honeymoon at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal. A reporter asked him what he was trying to achieve by staying in bed and he returned: “Just give peace a chance.”

He recorded the song on 1 June 1969 at the same hotel. It was originally credited to Lennon-McCartney: he later said he regretted having been “guilty enough to give McCartney credit as co-writer on my first independent single instead of giving it to Yoko, who had actually written it with me”. I know the feeling.

I loved “Woman”, from the Double Fantasy album released in November 1980.


Woman, I can hardly express

My mixed emotion at my

thoughtlessness

And after all I’m for ever in your debt . . .

His marriage to Yoko Ono marked his transition from acerbic critic to warm and thoughtful man. Good for you, John. I love you now and for ever.



Joan Bakewell on George Harrison

I was working for Granada TV in Manchester in the Sixties when the word got round about this amazing new group – Beetles, but spelt wrong, people said. As I weighed them up, George seemed the odd one out. John had the wit, Paul had the glamour, but George . . . well, he seemed more thoughtful.

I like that, and have done ever since. I was over in Liverpool at the time, too, charting its amazing cultural flowering: Liverpool poets and playwrights as well as Liverpool bands. When I came to research my 2011 novel, She’s Leaving Home (yes, I stayed loyal!), I was in Liverpool again, meeting up with ageing DJs and archivists who’d kept records and memories of the Liverpool scene. I discovered that in the musical maelstrom that was the Sixties every kid on the block had a guitar, begged, borrowed or bought. It was as though a fever had seized the city.

And just like all his mates George was seized by it, too. In the ferment of music-making, dozens of groups were coming together, splitting, re-forming, trying out different players, searching for the right sound and the right people. That John and Paul found George was their great good fortune – and his.

It was Paul who found him, when he was only 14, and recruited him to come and hear the Quarrymen. They’d met on the bus to school: Paul was in the class above him. They were all from modest homes, state-educated at grammar schools. George’s dad was a bus conductor and George helped out with a butcher’s delivery round every Saturday morning. This was a time when lads borrowed each other’s records, got together in the bedrooms of council houses to rehearse and ventured to try out bookings at working men’s clubs. Paul and John had other guitarists for a while but somehow settled on George.

I can only guess that his sweet nature, his eagerness to work hard and his emergent musicality appealed to them. They knew he wouldn’t challenge the powerful talent of their double act but would meet their own standards of music and lifestyle. It was an ideal match. Even if the group didn’t have the serendipity of the best string quartets there was something about the balance of their talent and personalities that welded them in a unique way. George was to get angry, jealous, hurt at their estimate of his talents, and he hailed their break-up as a great escape. But, for those central Beatle years through the Sixties – through the tours, the singles, the albums and the films, George was exactly what was needed.

And the songs! How can a song with as mundane a title as “Something” lay claim to being one of the greatest love songs ever? At least that’s how Sinatra rated it, and, for what it’s worth, I agree. Its lyrics have the innocence and simplicity of the best poetry: “Something in the way she moves/Attracts me like no other lover . . .” How fine is that, harbouring an erotic charge that still gives me a thrill. And “Here Comes the Sun” – one of the gentlest, most beguiling tunes of the decade. On their early LPs it’s Lennon and McCartney who dominate. George hardly gets a look-in: but doesn’t seem to mind. He laughs and jokes through the film Help as much as they do. But towards the end of the Sixties his talent really emerged. He grew in confidence, started to think for himself and to take an interest in sitar music. Ideas were moving fast: the Beats and Zen had drifted over from America. . . Everything fed their appetites for the new.

Then they’re off to India and caught up in the Maharishi scam, but the whole exploit makes George more thoughtful. He worries about big things: the point of it all, what life is about, where we’re all going. Nothing too Nietzschean – but the big questions nonetheless. He wrote “All Things Must Pass” and “Living in the Material World”, and worried about doing good, being a good person. It was George who organised the great Concert for Bangladesh – the first great charity rock concert. It was there that “My Sweet Lord” proclaimed itself the anthem of swooned youth. It’s there, too, that “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” took to the big stage and became a classic.

George’s role in the Beatles was merely a prelude to a lifetime’s music-making. His partnership with Ravi Shankar, his creation – along with Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne – of the Traveling Wilburys, testify to a lifetime’s obsession with collaborating and being in groups.

But the Beatles were the first, and an extraordinary bond: for almost ten years the four shared an intimacy as close and as stressful as marriage; as the world lionised them, they grew together, sharing jokes, hairstyles, attitudes, perhaps women, certainly music. It shaped the outlook and expectations of the boy George, gave him a safe place to develop his identity and talent. And the strength to live his own life when the split came.



Geoff Lloyd on Ringo Starr

The prevailing wisdom on Ringo Starr owes much to a quotation from John Lennon. Asked if Starr was the best drummer in the world, Lennon quipped: “He’s not even the best drummer in the Beatles.” It’s a great joke, but Lennon never said it. Mark Lewisohn, the forensic Beatles historian, attributes it to a TV appearance by the comedian Jasper Carrott in 1983, three years after Lennon’s murder. In fact, Starr was held in high regard by his bandmates.

It is important to remember the circumstances in which he joined the Beatles in 1962. Lennon, Harrison and McCartney had long been unhappy with their drummer Pete Best, a rudimentary musician whose sullen personality spilled into stage performances. The band had signed to Parlophone and the label boss, George Martin, made it clear that Best’s drumming wouldn’t pass muster in the studio. The ambitious John, George and Paul took this as their cue to commit whatever the drummer-equivalent of regicide is (timpanicide?), and upgrade. These were cocksure young rock’n’rollers, at the top of the thriving Merseyside music scene, on the brink of a career as national recording artists. The decision to hire Ringo wasn’t made out of desperation to fill the position: it was a calculated gambit to headhunt the best drummer they knew.

Ringo’s musicianship is often subjected to a different standard of scrutiny from that of the other Beatles. He is accused of lacking technical ability, even though the same can be said of all the band members, none of whom had any formal music schooling. Lennon’s idiosyncratic guitar playing is lauded, but has its origins in transposing banjo chords that he learned from his mother, and McCartney’s reinvention of the bass guitar as a conduit for melody was born out of being lumbered with the instrument when Stuart Sutcliffe left the band. Ringo’s drumming style is just as unusual, and similarly rooted in accident: he was born left-handed but was forced to use his right by his superstitious grandmother. When he plays the drums, it’s a right-handed set-up but with the emphasis of a left-hander.

Unfavourable comparisons are drawn between Ringo and contemporaries such as Ginger Baker and Keith Moon, though Ringo’s difference is precisely what made him the perfect drummer for the Beatles. A rhythmic minimalist – he learned his craft before he could afford a car, and was able to carry only the bare bones of a drum kit on the bus – Starr has nothing of the showboat about him. He never overstates his case. The Beatles canon is rich with his intuition for marrying rhythm with song: the syncopated groove of “Anna (Go to Him)” on their debut album, the proto-big beats of “Rain” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, the distant thunder rumblings on “A Day in the Life”, the oddball hi-hats that introduce “Come Together” . . . Of the 212 songs the Beatles released between 1962 and 1970, only one features a drum solo (“The End”, on their last recorded album, Abbey Road ). And Ringo agreed to this only under duress.

He was the first Beatle to leave the band, albeit briefly. Feeling isolated, he walked out in 1968 during sessions for The White Album. He came back a fortnight later, after some ego-massaging from his fellow band members, who filled the studio with flowers for his return.

In the Beatles’ latter years, Ringo formed his own publishing company, Startling Music, and made attempts at songwriting, most notably with “Octopus’s Garden”. Out of affection for him, the other members of the band lavished attention on the recording, bolstering an unremarkable tune with sound effects and vocal harmonies. When the Beatles began to disintegrate acrimoniously, Ringo was the least divisive figure, his late arrival into the group leaving him untainted by the residual schoolboy hierarchy of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison.

Post-Beatles, Ringo’s initial flush of solo hit singles and albums soon went into terminal decline due to his dearth of songwriting chops and vocal prowess. He took some film acting roles, buoyed by the success of his former band’s forays into cinema (some critics – erroneously – had described his screen presence as “Chaplinesque”). He also launched a short-lived furniture company, marketing doughnut-shaped fireplaces of his own design. He continues to tour, and to release albums with hideous titles (Vertical Man, Y Not, Ringo 2012). And a whole hour on Google Images suggests that his eyes haven’t been seen without the cover of sunglasses since the late 1980s.

Validation of Ringo’s primary talent, as a drummer, comes from his former bandmates, all of whom called on his services for solo albums. Not only was he the best drummer in the Beatles, he was the most popular Beatle within the Beatles.

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2014/08/battle-beatles-who-was-fabbest-four

The Beatles top American music poll

added: 28 Aug 2014 // by: VVN Music

Harris Interactive have released their annual poll of American's favourite musical artists and it has majorly changed from 2013.

The Beatles continue to lead the poll with Elvis Presley in second, showing the lasting popularity and influence of these two iconic artists. Beyonce debuts in third place while Led Zeppelin hit the list for the first time in fourth.

Overall, six of the top ten were not on the 2013 list showing the changing musical taste of Americans along with the effects of new releases/tours, social media and publicity, in general.

The top ten, including a four-way tie at number 7:

01. Beatles
02. Elvis Presley
03. Beyonce
04. Led Zeppelin
05. George Strait
06. Bruno Mars
07. Neil Diamond
07. Eagles
07. Garth Brooks
07. Celine Dion

Dropping off the list are Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Alan Jackson, U2, Lady Gaga and Frank Sinatra.

Men chose the Beatles as their favorite while women chose Beyonce. Regionally, the majority of the country selected the Beatles while the midwest went with Bruno Mars.

Over generations, there is also a major difference in favorites. The oldest group (Matures) chose Willie Nelson while Baby Boomers said the Beatles, Gen Xers went with Metallica and Millennials like Beyonce.

http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=&nItemID=82913

Anyone else get annoyed with song sampling of classic 60/70/80's songs.

just one example.

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[youtube]/0EjLWh2150I[/youtube]

George Harrison to be honoured at star-studded tribute concert

Posted: Friday 5 September 2014

GEORGE HARRISON is set to be honoured by musicians including BRIAN WILSON and NORAH JONES at a star-studded tribute concert, dubbed George Fest.

The Beatles guitarist's tunes will be performed by some of music's most notable rockers during the celebration at Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre on 28 September (14).

Taking the stage alongside Wilson and Jones will be Heart star Ann Wilson, 'Weird Al' Yankovic, the Killers' Brandon Flowers and Mark Stoermer, the Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd, Spoon's Britt Daniel, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and members of The Strokes and Weezer, among others.

Harrison's son, Dhani, is also set to take the stage, as well as some surprise guests.

Profits from the gig will benefit the Sweet Relief organisation, which aids career musicians who are in financial need.

George Fest will take place three days after a new six-disc Harrison box set, The Apple Years 1968-75, is released.

http://star-magazine.co.uk//breakingnews/view/60934/George-Harrison-to-be-honoured-at-star-studded-tribute-concert/

what about this bloke?



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^ He defined the guy in the suit singing in front of fine looking ladies dressed uniformly, he didnt define it, he was it!

Here's a couple more of his power hits->
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[youtube]rgYqIvnPvqQ[/youtube]

Apparently by all reports, he had a rough life, and didnt really get to live it up as long as he hoped, he slipped away quietly without anyone really noticing that he had a significant and powerful pop rock voice

As a repost for his passing away, DJ Todd Terje exhumed this track of his,

[youtube]7_SAMrDnXOE[/youtube]

its not even his best track, and but Todd Terje turned it into his epitaph, to remind us of the death of a carnal soul

[youtube]ibuSxgL83dE[/youtube]

New u2 album out there on itunes today

Feel free to fap about

but this band is as old as the hills, there will be nothing original in terms of stretching their comfort zone, ie you'll get music that can comfortably get played on ... Coles Radio ;) radio than anything on achtung baby, war or zooropa

New Publishing Deal Aims to Spread Grateful Dead Music Through Song Placements

The Grateful Dead's catalog is now part of a new publishing deal that is expected to result in song-placement opportunities, but not all of the material from the band's long, strange trip will be made available.

The agreement, struck between Universal Music Publishing Group North America and the Dead's publishing company, Ice Nine, includes using the band's songs in film and television. However, placement of Dead tunes in commercials is restricted to material not involving Robert Hunter, a longtime lyricist for the Dead. Hunter had a hand in composing some of the group's best-known songs, including "Truckin'," "Uncle John's Band" and "Casey Jones." Surviving Dead members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann are among those with rights to the group's song catalog.

"We will bring them everything for them to review," UMPG president Evan Lamberg tells Billboard, "and we will learn more about what they want."

Lamberg is confident this new deal will expand the legendary San Francisco jam band's reach to a different demographic.

"Young people may know the name Grateful Dead, but not be as familiar with their music," he said. "If you're not putting yourself into relevant areas where your music can be discovered, your music could be lost to the younger [generation]."


Read On ABC News Radio: http://abcnewsradioonline.com/music-news/2014/9/20/new-publishing-deal-aims-to-spread-grateful-dead-music-throu.html#ixzz3DwkkyM7V

The Beatles' Abbey Road Turns 45: Classic Track-By-Track Review

By Joe Lynch | September 26, 2014 2:45 PM EDT

Abbey Road, 1969.

On Sept. 26, 1969, 45 years ago today, the Beatles' Abbey Road entered the world and closed the recording career of rock's most celebrated band.

The existence of Abbey Road is practically a miracle -- when the Beatles emerged from the Let It Be sessions, the group was fraught with tensions and on the verge of breaking up.

They were arguing not only over music -- their unhappiness with the mixing of Let It Be held up its release until eight months after Abbey Road came out -- but business as well. Their Apple Records label was proving to be a professional time suck, and the group was bitterly torn over who to hire as their new business manager.

But by most accounts, the recording of Abbey Road was relatively painless and drama-free -- perhaps because the Fab Four knew it would be their last album together. "Nobody then was sure it was going to be the last one, but it felt like it was," producer George Martin recalled in The Beatles Anthology. George Harrison agreed: "Once we finished Abbey Road, the game was up, and I think we all accepted that."

As far as rock music swan songs go, this might be the best there's ever been. From the iconic opening bass line of "Come Together" to the ambitious Side 2 medley to the solemnity-subverting "Her Majesty," the entire album is an unqualified triumph.

But it wasn't seen that way at the time. The album received mixed reviews, with the New York Times calling it an "unmitigated disaster" and Rolling Stone saying it was "complicated instead of complex."

Regardless, it was a massive hit -- it topped the Billboard 200 album charts for 12 weeks -- and its stature has exploded over the years. Fans often cite it as the Beatles' best, and critics frequently rank it as one of the greatest albums ever made.

Heck, even the cover art is a pop culture touchstone. Everyone from Kanye West to Sesame Street has paid homage to the iconic image.

To celebrate its 45th anniversary, here's our classic track-by-track review of the Beatles' Abbey Road. [In addition to various interviews, The Beatles Anthology documentary series, Steve Turner's A Hard Day's Write book and Barry Miles' Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now biography were invaluable resources for this piece.]

"Come Together"

Side 1 of Abbey Road opens with one of the most iconic bass lines in rock, surreal lyrics and swampy R&B-influenced rock. John Lennon began composing "Come Together" as a campaign song for LSD guru Timothy Leary, who was running against Ronald Reagan for governor of California in 1969. The lyrical inspirations for "Come Together" perfectly sum up Lennon's headspace at this point: The title comes from a line in the I Ching that Leary fed him, while "ol' flattop" was inspired by a line in Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me."

"Something"

George Harrison's lush, elegant ballad was released as a double A-side single with "Come Together" and topped the Hot 100 chart -- helped by a promotional video showing each Beatle nuzzling with their respective significant other. Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd maintains the song was written about her, although the title is almost undoubtedly taken from a song on James Taylor's debut album called "Something In the Way She Moves" -- especially considering that album came out on the Beatles' own Apple Records.



"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

Paul McCartney's tale of a young man's remorseless violence is delivered in a jaunty vaudevillian style. While it's one of the lighter songs on Abbey Road, the recording sessions were reportedly tense, with McCartney demanding endless retakes. "It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for fucking weeks. I thought it was mad," Ringo Starr told Rolling Stone in 2008. (They actually spent three days on it.) The hammer noise on the song was a blacksmith's anvil.

"Oh! Darling"

A rocker that finds McCartney's heart on his sleeve, his voice in the rafters and his head banging against the wall. He recorded it multiple times on different days in the early hours of the morning, hoping to capture the sound of a man who had been up all night. Musically, "Oh! Darling" harkens back to rock n' roll piano pioneers Fats Domino and Little Richard. In the New York Times' damning review of Abbey Road, the writer slammed this song while incorrectly reporting that Lennon sang lead vocal on it.

"Octopus's Garden"

Given the whimsical tone and the nautical theme, this is almost a sequel to "Yellow Submarine." But unlike that Revolver track, this one is written by Ringo himself, with an uncredited assist from Harrison. Starr explained he was inspired to write the song after the captain of Peter Sellers' yacht described octopus life to him while on vacation. "He told me all about octopuses, how they go 'round the sea bed and pick up stones and shiny objects and build gardens. I thought, 'How fabulous!' because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea, too. I wanted to get out of it for a while."

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"

Written about Yoko Ono, this is one of the bluesiest and heaviest songs in the Beatles' catalog. It's also the rare Beatles songs that finds the group jamming for an extended period of time, and the result is transcendent. While the Beatles work a sludgy riff, Billy Preston plays a Hammond organ and Lennon overdubs a Moog synthesizer to add in some white noise. While the studio mix went to 8:04, Lennon decided to cut the song at 7:44 in order for the cataclysmic jam session -- and Side 1 of the album -- to come to an unexpected close.

"Here Comes the Sun"

The start of Side 2 on vinyl. While Harrison's first song for the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me" in 1963, was a gloomy rocker, his final contribution gave the band one of their most uplifting songs. Harrison's lyrics about the joy of emerging from a "long, cold lonely winter" had a double meaning. After days of arguing over business matters at Apple Records, Harrison played hooky and hid out in Eric Clapton's house for one day in the spring of 1969. "The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes the Sun,'" he later recalled in his autobiography.

"Because"

After hearing Yoko play Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on piano, Lennon was inspired to rework the melody for the riff to a song that became "Because." John, Paul and George's vocal harmonies are double tracked twice -- which means you're actually hearing nine separate vocal tracks on "Because," giving it an eerie, otherworldly quality. Lacking a traditional ending, the song closes with an extended "ahhhhh" that leaves you waiting for more and serves as a perfect segue into Side 2's legendary medley.

"You Never Give Me Your Money"

The first song in the greatest medley in rock history is practically a medley in itself. Opening with several pensive piano verses, the song kicks into Chuck Berry mode with the "out of college, money spent" segment before the "oh, that magic feeling" bridge. A more contemporary guitar riff heralds the "one sweet dream" segment, which is given a fascinating melodic counterpart by the "all good children go to heaven" nursery rhyme. "You Never Give Me Your Money" is a microcosm of the complementary counter melodies and sudden stylistic shifts that will characterize the rest of the album.



Lyrically, "You never give me your money" is often seen as a commentary on the intergroup tensions over choosing a business manager. Similarly, McCartney later said the "pack up the bags, get in the limousine" line was a reference to trips he and Linda McCartney would take to the countryside to escape Beatles-related tensions.

"Sun King"

"Sun King" is a breather of sorts before the medley kicks off in earnest. While fans opine the Sun King might be a reference to France's Louis XIV, it's possible the song is just nonsense -- Lennon says the group randomly tossed around words in Romance languages for the song's lyrics, with no thought given to deeper meaning. Musically, the song is as oneiric as Lennon's laconic delivery, with the reverb-laden guitar moving between left and right stereo channels. This makes the entrance of Ringo's drum fill at the start of "Mean Mr. Mustard" all the more arresting and startling.

"Mean Mr. Mustard"

With Lennon taking lead vocals and McCartney singing backup, the Beatles introduce the character of a cheap old miser who keeps a "ten-bob note up his nose," inspired by a newspaper article Lennon read about an old man who hid money around his house. "Mean Mr. Mustard" starts a three-song story arc that marks a lyrical shift on Abbey Road. While most of the album's lyrics speak to personal experience or thoughts on universal themes, "Mean Mr. Mustard" marks a lyrical shift toward the narrative, kicking off a three-song story arc starring a bizarre cast of characters.

While many of the Side 2 medley tracks were half-finished songs the Beatles stitched together, "Mean Mr. Mustard" was written as a standalone song running four minutes. For the medley, it was shortened to 1:06 and the name "Shirley" was changed to "Pam" to provide continuity for the next rack.

50 Years Ago, The Beatles Boast Nos. 1-5 on Billboard Hot 100

"Polythene Pam"

With Lennon singing in an exaggerated Liverpool accent, the band tears through another minute-long rocker. "Polythene Pam" was inspired by two real-life people: "Polythene Pat," a girl who ate plastic that the Beatles knew from their Cavern Club days in Germany, and a woman who wore polythene clothes that Lennon met through British beat poet Royston Ellis.

"She Came In Through the Bathroom Window"

The end of "Polythene Pam" bleeds into the this track, which is characterized by angular, clean guitar lines, a thumping bass, snappy percussion and cooing background vocals. Here we meet another character inspired by real events. In this case, "she" refers to multiple Beatles fanatics who broke into McCartney's house (via a ladder to the window) and stole some of his pictures and pants.



"Golden Slumbers"

After the one-two-three-punch of "Mustard"/"Pam"/"Window," "Golden Slumbers" takes a break from rock for a contemplative piano-and-strings ballad. This song also drops the narrative arc pretense. Instead, McCartney seems to be self-consciously addressing the end of the Beatles -- "Once there was a way to get back home" is the lyric of someone who knows they're bidding goodbye to something special that they can never return to.

Additionally, the lyrics are based on the 1603 poem "Cradle Song" from Thomas Dekker, which begins with the following stanza: "Golden slumbers kiss your eyes / Smiles awake you when you rise / Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry / And I will sing a lullaby."

"Carry That Weight"

Recorded in one piece with "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight" features a reprise of "You Never Give Me Your Money" and a booming chorus with Ringo's voice at the forefront. As with "Golden Slumbers," McCartney seems to be speaking to the end of the Beatles and acknowledging the burdens of fame and business that will plague them for "a long time."

"The End"

An appropriate title for the final proper song on the Beatles' farewell album, "The End" is also a minor musical journey from the Beatles' first album to their last. "Girl you're gonna be in my dreams tonight" is a cry of joyous, youthful lust that wouldn't have felt out of place in "I Saw Her Standing There."

But by the end of the song, the Beatles have matured to the pithy "cosmic" wisdom (Lennon's word) of their later years: "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." After singing that line, John, Paul and George sing a collective sigh of relief, as if they're finally free.



"Her Majesty"

After 14 seconds of silence, a brief guitar clank (reminiscent of the "A Day in the Life" finale) introduces a goofy sketch of a song about a boy needing to get drunk enough in order to tell the queen he loves her.

Although the song ends with a chord that almost sounds like a flubbed note, the strange beginning and ending to "Her Majesty" both make sense when you listen to it sandwiched between "Mustard" and "Pam." It was originally sequenced between those two songs, but McCartney thought it disrupted the medley flow and dropped it. An engineer tagged the excised song onto the end of a tape, and McCartney liked the effect so much after hearing it played back that he decided to end the album on it. It was not listed on the original album track list, making it the first high-profile hidden track in rock.

While the inclusion of "Her Majesty" irked some fans and critics who felt the album would have been better off wrapping with the self-conscious, pristine finale of "The End," that's part of its genius. This half-song subverts the seriousness and formality of a proper finale, and ends the Beatles' career with a reminder that despite everything, the Beatles always walked around with a knowing smirk.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/6266484/beatles-abbey-road-review-track-by-track

"George Harrison - The Apple Years '68-'75"

“George Harrison: The Apple Years '68-'75,” which is out Sept. 23 in the U.S. and North America (but out today in the UK and elsewhere), is a long overdue compilation of Harrison's work for Apple Records. The beautifully designed box contains six albums, “Electronic Sound,” “Wonderwall Music,” “All Things Must Pass,” “Living in the Material World,” “Dark Horse” and “Extra Texture (Read All About It).” A new video promo for "Living in the Material World" was released Monday and you can see it on this page. PopMarket also announced this morning it has the set on sale for just under $100 (shipping included), but just for 24 hours.
What's inside "George Harrison: The Apple Years."Apple Corps Ltd. - used by permission.
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Portrait of George by Astrid Kirchherr as used in the artwork for "Wonderwall Music," 1968.Photograph by Astrid Kirchherr. © George Harrison Estate. Used by permission.
Also included is a hardbound book with an introduction by Dhani Harrison, notes by Kevin Howlett and a DVD with rare music videos and a special “The Apple Years” short feature made especially for the set. “The Apple Years” film is a seven-minute promo of Harrison's work for Apple, beginning with images from “Wonderwall Music,” and proceeding through each of the albums with photos, audio (including sound of Harrison in the studio with Indian musicians in the HMV Bombay studio recording “Wonderwall Music”) and video. (You can see a couple of alternate views of the box in the slide show.)

The rest of the videos on the DVD include the previously released “All Things Must Pass” EPK (electronic press kit), “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” live in Japan, “Miss O'Dell,” “Sue You, Sue Me Blues,” which is how it's titled on the video because it's an alternate of “Sue Me, Sue You Blues,” the “Making of Living in the Material World” featurette on YouTube showing the record being manufactured, a restored version of the original “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” video (which in stereo sounds tremendous, though still looks a little grainy), a “Dark Horse” TV promo and “The Concert for Bangladesh” EPK.

Especially interesting is “Miss O'Dell,” with all the musicians cavorting on the lawn. Just who is that naked woman in the window? And the audio on “Sue You, Sue Me Blues” is a wonderful version with just George accompanying himself on slide guitar.

Reading that track list and the including of the Bangladesh EPK brings the question where is “The Concert for Bangladesh” CD? Also the beautiful quality of the lone Live in Japan video “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace) On Earth” makes one want the whole show.

The albums, though, sound great. Each one is reproduced in a miniature version of the original vinyl releases and include inner sleeves and, in the case of “All Things Must Pass,” the poster. Each of the albums has a booklet with very detailed liner notes by Howlett. How detailed? He even recounts the complaint of Bernie Krauss that “No Time Or Space” included a Moog synthesizer demonstration used without his permission. (Howlett says there's no evidence of George's side of the story.)

As for the sound, it's a definite improvement. “All Things Must Pass” sounds marvelous. (When didn't it?). “Dark Horse” is our second favorite. It sounds bright and bouncy. “Extra Texture (Read All About It)” sounds improved, as well. “Living in the Material World” sounds the weakest. We're not a big fan of either “Electronic Sound” or “Wonderwall Music,” though we think “Wonderwall” sounds better in the context of the movie.

Harrison fans will want the set for the improved sound and the extras, especially things like "Sue You, Sue Me Blues." There's so much good music that's worth hearing here, though, that anyone might seriously want to consider it, too. It's definitely a keeper. Hopefully, we'll get a remastered “Bangladesh” (and maybe a Blu-ray of the film) someday, and maybe a full “Live in Japan” show. And as Ringo himself hinted in an exclusive radio interview done with "Breakfast With the Beatles" host Chris Carter Sept. 21, a box set of his Apple Records releases could be somewhere in the future, as well.

http://www.examiner.com/review/george-harrison-apple-years-a-beautiful-tribute-but-could-have-been-more

Did you watch Scorcese's George Harrison doco/biography Joff?

Sure did it was amazing

Ok Joffa and others who can remember when albums needed swapping sides at half time like a football match
When is their best era?
1. Please please me - hard says night when they appeared young and innocent
2. Beatles for sale - Rubbersoul: dope and Dylan influences
3. Revolver - magical mystery: psychedelic
4. The Beatles/hey Jude/lady Madonna
5. Let it be/ abbey road/ instant karma/ McCartney : the first solo and the end
6. All things must pass/another day / plastic Ono / ram / imagine/ it don't come easy

I find questions like this really hard, no doubt their song writing at the end was getting better and better...I tend to overlook or underrate the first couple of albums and tend to listen more to Let it be, Abbey Road, White album, Sgt Peppers, Rubber Soul and Revolver, but every album is a work of art deserving of comparison with Van Gogh, Da Vinci and the like.

The strength of George Harrison's 'All Things must pass' really highlights not only the strength of George's song writing but how incredibly hard it was to compete with 'Lennon/McCartney'

Does anyone seriously think 'Let it Be' was a better album without 'All Things Must Pass' being the closing song?

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Two of Us" McCartney and Lennon 3:37
2. "Dig a Pony" Lennon 3:55
3. "Across the Universe" Lennon 3:48
4. "I Me Mine" (George Harrison) Harrison 2:26
5. "Dig It" (Lennon–McCartney–Harrison–Richard Starkey) Lennon 0:50
6. "Let It Be" McCartney 4:03
7. "Maggie Mae" (trad. arr. Lennon–McCartney–Harrison–Starkey) Lennon and McCartney 0:40

Side Two

1. "I've Got a Feeling" McCartney and Lennon 3:38
2. "One After 909" Lennon and McCartney 2:54
3. "The Long and Winding Road" McCartney 3:38
4. "For You Blue" (Harrison) Harrison 2:32
5. "Get Back" McCartney 3:09
6. "All Things Must Pass" (Harrison) Harrison

Interestingly it was McCartney who was most affected by the break up, but boy did he bounce back with McCartney, Ram and then of course Wings....