Monday, March 30, 2020
Sunday, March 29, 2020
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Beatles social media gallery, March 28, 2020
Posts from the Beatles family, friends and fans this week.
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| Paul, Mary and Stella at Rude Studio during Wings 'At The Speed Of Sound' recording sessions. Scotland, 1975 Via Paul's Twitter feed |
Friday, March 27, 2020
New book: The Solo Beatles 1969-1980: Every Album, Every Song
Details:
The Beatles, as a band, released over 200 songs in the eight years between 1962 and 1970. After they split, each commenced a solo career to varying degrees of commercial and critical success. All four of the Beatles achieved number one solo singles in the US between 1970 and 1974. These included great, half-forgotten songs such as 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)', 'My Love', 'Photograph' and 'Whatever Gets You Thru the Night'. Three of the four had UK number one solo singles between 1970 and 1980 in the UK, too, with only Ringo missing out. Between them, Lennon (and Ono), McCartney (and Wings), Harrison and Starr had twenty-two top ten albums in the US and twenty-five in the UK between 1969 and 1980. They were nothing if not productive. But who but the most committed fans listen today to Ringo's Rotogravure (Starr), Thirty-three and a Third (Harrison), Some Time in New York City (Lennon) or Wild Life (McCartney)? It is surely time to re-evaluate the Beatles solo work in the period to 1980. This book examines every solo Beatles album from 1969 to 1980, track by track. It includes the classics, the lost gems, the turkeys, the collaborations, the back-biting, the hits and the misses.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
John Lennon's "Imagine" returns to Billboard charts after Gal Gadot cover
Billboard reports that "Imagine," released by John Lennon nearly 50 years ago, is now Number 16 on its "Hot Rock Song" thanks a cover of the tune by Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and other stars who are self-isolating due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Imagine” re-enters the tally at No. 15, surging by 7% to 1.3 million U.S. streams and 138% to 1,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending March 19, according to
Nielsen Music/MRC Data. (As with the Billboard Hot 100, older songs are allowed to enter the 50-position Hot Rock Songs chart if ranking in the top half and have a meaningful reason for their returns.)“Imagine” concurrently returns to the Rock Digital Song Sales chart for the first time since December 2015, at No. 13.
The song’s latest bump in sales and streams was spurred by a video, posted March 19, that was helmed by Gal Gadot and features a variety of other celebrities singing the song, including Jimmy Fallon, John Mayer, Natalie Portman, Sarah Silverman and Sia (who shows her face), with its intention to boost morale during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Watch: Dhani Harrison sing "The Inner Light" Challenge for COVID-19 relief fund
George Harrison's son Dhani sings the Beatles' "The Inner Light" to kick-off a fundraiser for COVID-19 relief.
Fans are invited to post their own videos of themselves singing the song and using the hashtag #innerlight2020.
More info via the Harrison Family's Material World Foundation:
The Material World Foundation, created by George Harrison in 1973, is today donating $500,000 to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, Save the Children, and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) charities, which are providing much needed aid and care during this COVID-19 pandemic.
“Without going out of my door, I can know all things on earth.Without looking out of my window, I can know the ways of heaven."
Olivia Harrison said, "These lyrics sung by George are a positive reminder to all of us who are isolating, in quarantine or respecting the request to shelter in place. Let’s get and stay connected at this difficult time. There are things we can do to help and we invite you to share your Inner Light.”
THE INNER LIGHT CHALLENGEMaterial World Foundation will donate another $1 (up to $100,000) for every one of you who shares their own "Inner Light" moment on social media using the hashtag #innerlight2020
This can be a verse, a chorus or a line from the song. Sing it, play it, hum it, strum it, paint it, knit it, chant it, plant it, pray or meditate and post it to social media.
New book: Jennifer Juniper - A Journey Beyond the Muse
Details:
Jenny Boyd’s extraordinary life is the stuff of movies and novels, a story of incredible people and places experienced at a pivotal time in the 20th century. As an up-and-coming young model, Jenny found herself at the heart of Carnaby Street in London, immersed in the fashion and pop culture of the Swinging 60s. With boyfriend Mick Fleetwood, sister Pattie, George Harrison and the rest of the Beatles, she lived the London scene. But as a natural Flower Child, Jenny soon became part of the counter-culture in San Francisco during the Flower Power era, witnessing the Summer of Love; she was the inspiration for Donovan’s famous song, Jennifer Juniper, and her photograph was featured inside the box set of his eponymous album A Gift from a Flower to a Garden. After working in The Beatles shop, Apple, the first of its kind, Jenny attended Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in India to study meditation with her sister and the Beatles, witnessing their creativity and the genesis of songs that would later appear on the White Album. Despite being attuned to the spiritual bloom and innocence of the 60s, Jenny also experienced first-hand the turmoil and decadence of the 70s and 80s. Her two marriages to Mick Fleetwood, founder member of Fleetwood Mac, brought her to the forefront of the world of rock and roll – and its fame, money, drugs and heartache. Struggling in the darkness to find and develop her own voice and identity, Jenny went to college, achieving a Masters in Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Humanities - her dissertation on musicians and creativity became the critically-acclaimed book Musicians in Tune. Jenny has spent her life in the company of some of the greatest musical and cultural influencers of the last 50 years – and the journey she takes to finding her own sense of self and creative ability makes Jennifer Juniper a truly captivating and inspiring story.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Tuesday, March 24, 2020
Upcoming George Harrison photo book: "Be Here Now"
This is listed at Amazon. Perhaps a tie-in to an as-yet-unannounced 50th anniversary of the All Things Must Pass album?
The 209-page hardcover is published by Rizolli and due out Sept. 29. You can pre-order it here.
Details:
Never-before-seen candids and ephemera of "the quiet Beatle" during his meteoric solo career, as captured by his friend and famed photographer Barry Feinstein.
On hand from 1970 to 1972 for Harrison's blockbuster "Triple Crown"--the release of All Things Must Pass; The Concert for Bangladesh; and Living in the Material World, which helped make Harrison the best-selling post-breakup Beatle, Barry became good friends with George during the three-plus years they worked together. Feinstein captured George Harrison at home, in his garden, onstage, and in the studio. Nearly all the images are previously unpublished.
The book contains never-before-seen ephemera related to these seminal releases during George's most richly creative time post-Beatles, including handwritten letters talking about album ideas, album-cover
thoughts, and putting together the Concert for Bangladesh. This collection also features beloved performers that George convened for that Concert for Bangladesh--where Barry was the only sanctioned photographer onstage--including George's friends Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston.
The book coincides with the fiftieth anniversary of All Things Must Pass. George Harrison: Be Here Now is a deeper visual dive that the significantly large and passionate Beatles/George Harrison fandom will want to add to their collection.
Monday, March 23, 2020
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