Friday, December 23, 2011

THE BEATLES CHRONOLOGY

The Beatles,being the most famous and most successful rock band in the world,has released an astonishing 13 albums during the height of their career as a recording unit from 1963  to 1970,well it may vary on what place or country you grew up with,but its the 13 albums that made a standard with EMI doing  a unification that the original British albums be recognized as official worldwide albums in 1987.Actually the original UK albums was already released in the UK and worldwide in the 1960s except in the United States where the British LPs were considered as imports back then.With two singles compilation called Past Masters,compiled in 1988 plus the 13 albums released during the band's heyday,you have all the Beatles recordings --well at least most of it--released by the band on their awesome fame that would last for generations to come.

Well I guess it wont be that complicated if Capitol Records didn't "butcher" the band's first seven albums in the sixties.But the nice thing to know is that most countries in the world apart from the UK has released the band's albums in their original British formats,well sadly,except for the United States where the only album that Capitol didn't touch was from Sgt Pepper to Let It Be but like I said,thanks to unification-the original British albums in 1987 was finally available in the US not as an import but a real album.

So the so-called "American" albums caused a lot of confusion and I think the first seven albums of the Beatles could have performed far better on Billboard if they weren't literally butchered by Capitol.Well a lot of people including new generations of Americans were asking a few questions why the first seven albums were altered by Capitol but there was not one or two satisfying answers.One answered on my forum at Paul McCartney's as the reason Capitol altered the first seven albums is to Americanized the sound--really? When does a British rock band sounded American?  Well,I dont get it,you chop an album into pieces and put songs here and there to make it sound American? I dont think so.Even Rolling Stone magazine itself praised the original British albums as the albums with the great number of songs and with the  most cleverly arranged ones.

Another reason others were saying was the copyright grounds on which Veejay Records could've released Please Please Me in the US but Capitol got the copyright and so and so..Others commented by laying down the line saying that money was the first reason the US distributor Capitol butchered the first seven albums-you chop an album in two and you get to create more albums and thus more sales,well at least,I guess that makes a lot more sense,but not as sensible as far as Beatles fans were concerned.

There are singles such as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" "She Loves You" "Day Tripper" "Hey Jude" that were neither on the 13 original albums,but in 1988 they were compiled as Past Masters with all the singles both A and B sides that weren't on any of the albums.If you have the 13 albums plus the Past Masters Singles compilation you have everything that the Beatles released on the seven year of their career from 1963 to 1970.

A lot of Beatles projects have surfaced and continues to come out even after the band broke up, and after the deaths of both Lennon and Harrison,one is the reunion project called Beatles Anthology where the then three surviving Beatles overdubbed on two of John Lennon's demo tapes and released three Anthology albums together with the outtakes and some early demos made by the band.Another is the 2003 rearrangement of the album Let It Be called Let It Be..Naked where the album was remixed and reformatted as close as possible to the band's artistic vision.

Well,here are the Beatles' albums presented on their original format,the 13  albums plus the Past Masters Singles compilation the Beatles' released from 1963 to 1970.Songs were arranged by the way,according to its CD format.

1.PLEASE PLEASE ME

Please Please Me is the debut album by the band.Released worldwide(except the US and with one album with a different configuration in Canada wherein Capitol is also the main distributor) on March 22,1963 wherein Parlophone was said to have the album rushed to capitalise the success of its singles which includes "Love Me Do","I Saw Her Standing There" and "Please Please Me".


The debut album was an instant smash hit particularly in the UK and has produced many of the Beatles' early signature songs.There are different variations of the album wherein one song sequences differ from each other-like the old cassette version I think from the seventies or eighties which was released in the Philippines* ++ wherein Misery was the opening song for the album instead of I Saw Her Standing There.Though the LP released in that country were of the same sequence as the UK album(the album's opening song was also "I Saw Her Standing There")

However,this album was released in a different title and different song sequence in the United States where Vee-Jay Records was having a copyright battle with Capitol.Vee-Jay claimed it could've released the whole Please Please Me album but had a legal battle with Capitol so they had to change the title and the song sequences(????)..The US incarnation of this album however was "Introducing The Beatles" distributed by Vee Jay Records released almost a year later after it was released in the UK and worldwide.Sadly,Capitol won the dispute over Vee-jay and thus the butchering started on the band's first seven albums which made the Beatles furious and released the Butcher album Yesterday And Today in 1966 as a protest.

The album is also noted for the songwriting credits wherein Paul McCartney's name appeared before that of John Lennon's.

TRACK LISTING:

1.I Saw Her Standing There (McCartney-Lennon)
2.Misery (McCartney-Lennon)
3.Anna(Go To Him) (Alexander)
4.Chains (Goffin-King)
5.Boys  (Dixon-Farrell)
6.Ask Me Why (McCartney-Lennon)
7.Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon)
8.Love Me Do (McCartney-Lennon)
9.P.S. I Love You (McCartney-Lennon)
10.Baby It's You (David-Williams-Bacharach)
11.Do You Want To Know A Secret (McCartney-Lennon)
12. A Taste Of Honey (Scott-Marlow)
13.There's A Place (McCartney-Lennon)
14.Twist And Shout (Medley-Russell)


2. WITH THE BEATLES

 With The Beatles is the second album released by the band in late 1963.The album consists of eight original compositions and it features the first ever song ever written by George Harrison called "Don't Bother Me".Together with six cover songs  mostly were Motown and R&B classics,the album remains one of the best early Beatles albums in the band's entire catalogue.

The album cover was adapted by Capitol to release a butchered album called Meet The Beatles considered by many as the band's debut album in the US[though Introducing the Beatles was released by Veejay in early 1964].Most of the tracks on the said butchered album were from With The Beatles and with singles the band never issued on either of their UK LPs.This famous photo by the way,was taken by Robert Freeman who will go on to be the band's official photographer until 1966.

With The Beatles,together with the early six albums released by the band was finally released domestically in the US in 1987[the album was considered as an import back in the sixties] through the unification made by EMI to avoid further confusion on behalf of the American fans.The so-called US albums were by then deleted and got available only in bootleggers and box sets.

TRACK LISTING

1.It Won't Be Long (Lennon-McCartney)
2.All I've Got To Do (Lennon-McCartney)
3.All My Loving (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Don't Bother Me (Harrison)
5.Little Child (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Till There Was You (Willson)
7.Please Mister Postman (Dobbins-Garrett-Gorman-Holland-Bateman)
8.Roll Over Beethoven (Berry)
9.Hold Me Tight (Lennon-McCartney)
10.You Really Got A Hold On Me (Robinson)
11.I Wanna Be Your Man (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Devil In Her Heart (Drapkin)
13.Not A Second Time (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Money(That's What I Want) (Bradford-Gordy)




3. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

This is the Beatles' third album and soundtrack to their first movie of the same title.The album released in the UK and worldwide(again,except North America in 1964) consists of 13 songs,with the first seven that were featured and sung on the film and the other six that weren't on the said movie.

The Beatles were reportedly appalled when they heard that Capitol released the album in the US by completely deleting the side two and putting an orchestral score from the film instead.Though the butchered album went straight to number one on Billboard-Paul McCartney expressed his feelings of bitterness towards both Capitol and United Artists that distributed the said album in the US.

This album together with the other six was released domestically in the US in 1987--again,thanks to unification made by EMI.

TRACK LISTING

All songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

1.A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
2.I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER
3.IF I FELL
4.I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU
5.AND I LOVE HER
6.TELL ME WHY
7.CAN'T BUY ME LOVE
8.ANY TIME AT ALL
9.I'LL CRY INSTEAD
10.THINGS WE SAID TODAY
11.WHEN I GET HOME
12.YOU CAN'T DO THAT
13.I'LL BE BACK


4.BEATLES FOR SALE

Its quite astonishing to hear the band managed to release two official albums in 1964 and at the same time touring non-stop throughout the US and other parts of the world.It must've been exhausting for bands today to do such a thing.Newer bands today would release one album and would tour non-stop and it would take them years to follow up their latest effort.But the Beatles never ran dry and there was an average of two albums released by the band every year(not counting the singles that were neither on any albums) plus non-stop concert tours around the world.Though the band had quit touring in 1966,their album's astonishing release pattern was maintained until their breaking up phase in 1970,making them the best rock band ever.

This album like the other six were one of the albums butchered by Capitol with the label naming the US release as Beatles '65 with some songs from this album and together with songs from side two of A Hard Day's Night.

Beatles For Sale was first released in the UK and worldwide***(except  the US) on December 4,1964.This album was issued domestically in the US in 1987 through unification made by EMI.


TRACK LISTING

1.No Reply (Lennon-McCartney)
2.I'm A Loser (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Baby's In Black (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Rock And Roll Music (Berry)
5.I'll Follow The Sun (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Mr Moonlight (Johnson)
7.Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey (Llieber-Stoller-Penniman)
8.Eight Days A Week (Lennon-McCartney)
9.Words Of Love (Holly)
10.Honey Don't (Perkins)
11.Every Little Thing (Lennon-McCartney)
12. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party (Lennon-McCartney)
13.What You're Doing (Lennon-McCartney)
14. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (Perkins)



 5. HELP!

Help! is the fifth album released by the band.It also served as a soundtrack to the fab four's second film of the same title.


The album was first released in the UK and worldwide(except the US and Canada) on August 6,1965.The US version of the album however was released a week later on August 13 of the same year.The original album contains 14 songs with side one featuring all the songs sung on the film and side two featuring seven more songs.The original album also featured "Yesterday"--which was hailed by Guinness Book Of World Records as the most covered song ever written.

The album again,unfortunately was among the first seven albums butchered by Capitol Records with the North American release featuring only the seven songs performed on the film together with the background music similar to what they did on A hard Day's Night which made the band  a little sheepish towards their North American distributor.In the US version of the album,the song Yesterday and the whole of side two was ripped off being replaced by the original film score.Songs like "I've Just Seen A Face" and "Its Only Love" was included instead on the butchered US version of Rubber Soul which was originally the sixth Beatles album.And other songs like "Yesterday"  and "Act Naturally" was included on the US album Yesterday And Today in which the band made a controversial cover photo showing them on butcher suits with dolls having their heads ripped off and several chunks of meat and animal blood splattered on them.The cover is known to be a protest the band made as how they felt towards their North American distributor as Capitol continued to butcher two more albums.

In 1987,with the unification effort made by EMI,the original 14 track Help! album was finally issued as a real album in the US[Help! together with the other six albums was available only as an import in North America back in the 60s] with the original UK 14 track replacing the butchered US version and the latter being deleted and was available only in bootleggers and box sets.

And I will say it again--thank God for unification.

TRACK LISTING

1.Help! (Lennon-McCartney)
2.The Night Before (Lennon-McCartney)
3.You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Lennon-McCartney)
4.I Need You (Harrison)
5.Another Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
6.You're Going To Lose That Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Ticket To Ride (Lennon-McCartney)

8.Act Naturally (Morrison-Russell)
9.Its Only Love (Lennon-McCartney)
10.You Like Me Too Much (Harrison)
11.Tell Me What You See (Lennon-McCartney)

12.I've Just Seen A Face (Lennon-McCartney)
13.Yesterday (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Williams)




6.RUBBER SOUL

Rubber Soul is the sixth album by the Beatles.The album was known to have a folk rock feel and was considered to be the album where the band's sound was finally being established on their own.

The butchered US album consists of  two songs from the side two of Help! "Its Only Love" and "I've Just Seen A Face".

The album was first released in the UK and worldwide(except the US) on December 3,1965.The butchered US version of the album was released three days later.

Through the unification made by EMI the album with its original 14 song lineup was domestically released in the US in 1987 after having been considered as an import in the past.

TRACK LISTING

1.Drive My Car (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Lennon-McCartney)
3.You Won't See Me (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Nowhere Man (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Think For Yourself (Harrison)
6.The Word (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Michelle (Lennon-McCartney)
8.What Goes On (Lennon-McCartney-Starkey)
9.Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
10.I'm Looking Through You (Lennon-McCartney)
11.In My Life (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Wait (Lennon-McCartney)
13.If I Needed Someone (Harrison)
14.Run For Your Life (Lennon-McCartney)



7.REVOLVER

Revolver is the seventh studio album by the Beatles.This is the seventh and the last album that was butchered by Capitol Records in the sixties.

Revolver was known for its harder electric guitar sound compared to its predecessor Rubber Soul which has more of a folk rock feel.The Beatles' sound at this time was slowly moving towards psychedelic and hard rock.

The original 14 song lineup was first released in the UK and worldwide(again,except the US) on August 5,1966.

The butchered US version of the album consists only of 11 songs.Three of its tracks were removed "Im Only Sleeping","And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" were instead included on the butchered album Yesterday And Today(with the controversial 'butcher' cover) together with songs from Help! and Rubber Soul.

TRACK LISTING:

1.Taxman (Harrison)
2.Eleanor Rigby (Lennon-McCartney)
3.I'm Only Sleeping (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Love You To (Harrison)
5.Here,There And Everywhere (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Yellow Submarine (Lennon-McCartney)
7.She Said She Said (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Good Day Sunshine (Lennon-McCartney)

9.And Your Bird Can Sing (Lennon-McCartney)
10.For No One (Lennon-McCartney)
11.Doctor Robert (Lennon-McCartney)
12.I Want To Tell You (Harrison)
13.Got To Get You Into My Life (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon-McCartney)




8.SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND


Released in June 1,1967,Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band or Sgt Pepper to call it short highlighted the summer of love in the late 1960s.The Beatles-having proved themselves as the greatest rock group on the planet released this concept album which was praised by many as a masterpiece.Though not really the first concept album[Frank Zappa's Freak Out in 1966 was considered to be the first concept album in rock music]--Sgt Pepper broke barriers and took rock music to a new level and thus having noticeable changes to the band's sound and image.

The album had seven grammy nominations and won four of each with Album Of The Year,Best Album Cover,Best Engineering and Contemporary Album.

For the first time ever,the Beatles created an album that is actually impossible to replicate in concert.And thus,being a rock concept album,this is the first time Capitol didn't butcher a Beatles record.From Sgt Pepper this year in 1967 onwards to their last album Let It Be. The album was released worldwide,this time with no alterations in the United States by Capitol Records on June 1,1967.The first time ever in the Beatles' then four year career.

It was only four years since the Beatles released their debut album Please Please Me and Sgt Pepper is the concrete proof on how rock music is rapidly evolving and mutating in the flower power sixties.

TRACK LISTING:

All songs by Lennon-McCartney,except noted:

1.Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
2.With A Little Help From My Friends
3.Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4.Getting Better
5.Fixing A Hole
6.She's Leaving Home
7.Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
8.Within You Without You words and music by George Harrison
9.When I'm Sixty Four
10.Lovely Rita
11.Good Morning Good Morning
12.Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band(Reprise)
13.A Day In The Life



9.MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

The film's soundtrack album is the Beatles' ninth album in the band's album catalogue.Though Capitol is taking credit for the album's conception,the film and album was said to have been masterminded by Paul McCartney shortly after the death of their manager Brian Epstein as an excuse to have fun and forget the sad moments concerning Epstein's death while making music and filming a movie at the same time.With six songs from the film and five more songs on side two,the album was released in November 27,1967 in the US and was re-issued later in 1973.With the UK and worldwide re-issue that same year,the double EP was deleted and the 11 song album replaced it on cassette and LP formats.

The album was added to the Beatles' catalogue in 1976 thus completing the album lineup for record collectors.Magical Mystery Tour went to number one in January 1968 trouncing off the Monkees' Pisces,Aquarius and Jones Ltd from the top spot.When EMI unified the Beatles' albums in 1987, the 11 song album Magical Mystery Tour was included with the original 12 British LPs.


TRACK LISTING:

1.Magical Mystery Tour (Lennon-McCartney)

2.The Fool On The Hill (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Flying (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
4.Blue Jay Way (Harrison)
5.Your Mother Should Know (Lennon-McCartney)
6.I Am The Walrus (Lennon-McCartney)

7.Hello Goodbye (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon-McCartney)

9.Penny Lane (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Baby You're A Rich Man (Lennon-McCartney)

11.All You Need Is Love (Lennon-McCartney)



10.THE BEATLES

"The Beatles",quickly dubbed as the White Album,is the band's tenth album.Its been a year since their manager Brian Epstein died and this is the album where noticeable changes with the band's relationship with each other was noticed.Having completed the Magical Mystery Tour film and album shortly after Epstein's death(which was said to be all masterminded by McCartney),the Beatles had claimed to have lost a father figure and direction behind the music they were making in the studio.Arguments and differences surfaced within the group,and the album's sessions were noted for the Beatles' walking off each other's songs.But in spite of all that,the Beatles still managed to create a rock driven album with all new sounds and slowly moving the band to a more hard rocking concept.Though the album is also filled with some acoustic songs,notably McCartney's "I Will" and "Blackbird",the album itself contains a contrasts of different personalities the Beatles were writing and recording on the studio."Helter Skelter" is the song which Mojo magazine is praising as the invention of heavy metal by Paul McCartney himself.Other hard rocking songs like "Birthday" "Yer Blues" and "Everybodys Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" shows the Beatles' cutting edge rock music written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The album was also noted by the guest appearance of guitar god Eric Clapton playing lead guitar on George Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

With 30 songs on a double LP, the White Album was released worldwide,again with no alterations in the US by Capitol on November 22,1968.It reached the top spot of the Billboard charts on December 28,1968 remaining there for six weeks until February 1969 and it eventually came back to the top spot again a week later on February 15,1969 where it remained for another 3 weeks.

TRACK LISTING

Disc One

All songs by Lennon and McCartney,except noted:

1.Back In The USSR
2.Dear Prudence
3.Glass Onion
4.Ob-La-di Ob-La-Da
5.Wild Honey Pie
6.The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
7.While My Guitar Gently Weeps words and music by George Harrison
8.Happiness Is  A Warm Gun
9.Martha My Dear
10.I'm So Tired
11.Blackbird
12.Piggies words and music by George Harrison
13.Rocky Raccoon
14.Don't Pass Me By words and music by Richard Starkey
15.Why Don't We Do It In The Road
16.I Will
17.Julia

Disc 2
All songs written by Lennon and McCartney,except noted:

1.Birthday
2.Yer Blues
3.Mother Nature's Son
4.Everybodys Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5.Sexy Sadie
6.Helter Skelter
7.Long Long Long words and music by George Harrison
8.Revolution 1
9.Honey Pie
10.Savoy Truffle words and music by George Harrison
11.Cry Baby Cry
12.Revolution 9
13.Good Night



 11.YELLOW SUBMARINE

The album Yellow Submarine was a soundtrack album to an animated film released seven months earlier.The animated film in which none of the Beatles participated(except a cameo appearance in the end part),was considered the Beatles' fourth movie-though the talking voices were provided by other actors,the songs of the band were widely used in the movie,including past songs from their recent albums Sgt Pepper,Rubber Soul,Magical Mystery Tour and Revolver.The film title by the way,was based on the song Yellow Submarine in 1966 from the Beatles' seventh album Revolver.


The album was released worldwide on January 17,1969,though the UK and US albums differed on cover,inner sleeve and back cover,the song sequences were exactly the same,except for the merging of the titles Sea Of Time and Sea Of Holes.The 1969 US release contains no subtitle of Nothing Is Real,no White Album review on the inner sleeve but instead a fictitious story of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.The 1987 unification issue which was released in the US contains the album covers and inner sleeve features to that of the UK.Though the album's release worldwide back in 1969 contains the physical features of the UK release(except the US alone).

In 1999,when the film was re-issued on both video and DVD,Paul and the then two surviving Beatles released a somewhat revised edition of the film's soundtrack called Yellow Submarine Songtrack which features all the songs on the film and omitting the side two of the original soundtrack album,thereby deleting the film score created by George Martin.Though the songtrack album fared well in the charts,the original album with George Martin's film score is still available for Beatles collectors.

TRACK LISTING:

1.Yellow Submarine (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Only A Northern Song (Harrison)
3.All Together Now (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Hey Bulldog (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Its All Too Much (Harrison)
6.All You Need Is Love (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Pepperland*** (Martin)
8.Sea Of Time***(Martin)
9.Sea Of Holes***(Martin)
10.Sea Of Monsters***(Martin)
11.March Of The Meanies***(Martin)
12.Pepperland Laid Waste***(Martin)
13.Yellow Submarine In Pepperland*** (Lennon-McCartney,arr. by George Martin)

***-original film score



12.ABBEY ROAD

Abbey Road is the second to the last Beatles album,though many people saw Let It Be as the last album released by the band,the Beatles themselves consider this as their last album.Working on what would be their last LP Let It Be has begun as far back as January 1969 and has a record of one of the longest recording sessions in history with furthermore overdubs in early 1970.

Abbey Road,on the other hand,was released on September 26,1969.Like the other albums post-Revolver in the 1960s,the album wasn't altered by Capitol and was released with the same song sequences in the US.

The album reached number one on Billboard 200 on November 1,1969 remaining there for six weeks,until it was knocked over by Led Zeppelin II,Abbey Road went back to number one January 3,1970 remaining there for another 3 weeks and went back to number one again for the third time on January 24,1970 remaining there for another week.

TRACK LISTING

1.Come Together (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Something (Harrison)
3.Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Oh! Darling (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Octopus's Garden (Starkey)
6.I Want You(She's So Heavy) (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Here Comes The Sun (Harrison)
8.Because (Lennon-McCartney)
9.You Never Give Me Your Money (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Sun King (Lenon-McCartney)
11.Mean Mr Mustard (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Polythene Pam (Lennon-McCartney)
13.She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Golden Slumbers (Lennon-McCartney)
15.Carry That Weight (Lennon-McCartney)
16.The End (Lennon-McCartney)
17.Her Majesty (Lennon-McCartney)





13.LET IT BE

Let It Be is the 13th and last album the Beatles released during their heyday as a recording unit.Both the carrier song and the album had a very long recording history,dating as far back as January 1969,known as the Get Back sessions.The album was retitled to a more appropriate name about Paul's song of reflection and surrender,perhaps the song mirrors whats going on within the band as the Beatles were slowly disintegrating leading to its breakup.

The Beatles had hired engineer Glyn Johns(who also recorded with Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones) to supervise the sessions and after rejecting his final mixes for the supposed to be LP,the Beatles managed only to release two singles from Johns' mixes--Get Back and Don't Let Me Down.With the band's disagreement over different musical tastes,the group decided to shelf the project and did Abbey Road in August 1969.

Phil Spector was finally brought in to review the tapes and most of the songs in the album were mixed using his so-called Wall Of Sound technique in which Paul McCartney was reportedly unhappy with the results including Spector's orchestration of his song "The Long And Winding Road".Nevertheless,the other three Beatles approved of Spector's re-working of the tapes which alienated McCartney from the rest of his bandmates.

The album was released in the UK and worldwide on May 8,1970,however,the US release was delayed a month later to coincide with the US release and premiere of the film.Paul McCartney had announced the breakup of the Beatles a month earlier on April 10,1970 which made the album a closing curtain to the band's seven year career.

The album went to number one on Billboard on June 13,1970 where it stayed there for 3 weeks,trouncing off Paul McCartney's first solo album off the number one spot.

In 2003,the album was remixed according to Paul McCartney's real vision of the said supposed to be comeback album for the band,thus the de-Spectorised version of the album having the title Let It Be...Naked which sold a million copies worldwide and hitting number one in other countries.

TRACK LISTING

1.Two Of Us (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Dig A Pony (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Across The Universe (Lennon-McCartney)
4.I Me Mine (Harrison)
5.Dig It (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
6.Let It Be (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Maggie Mae (Trad. arr. Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
8.I've Got A Feeling (Lennon-McCartney)
9.One After 909 (Lennon-McCartney)
10.The Long And Winding Road (Lennon-McCartney)
11.For You Blue (Harrison)
12.Get Back (Lennon-McCartney)


PAST MASTERS

In 1988,the singles(the 45 rpms) which were neither on the original 13 albums were compiled by EMI for Beatles collectors.Sure there were American albums,compilations that included those singles but what they do is that they repeat other songs that were already released on the original albums.So the Past Masters album was conceived which included all the singles that were neither on the albums,B sides of major singles,including alternate versions of other songs that were already on the albums but sounded different nonetheless.


The Past Masters compilation album was first released in two volumes and then re-packaged later as a double album for a single purchase for Beatles fans to enjoy.




photos: above the re-packaged Past Masters singles compilation album,past masters volume one,right,past masters volume two














TRACK LISTING

Disc 1/volume one

1.Love Me Do--1962 single,different version from the Please Please Me album track,Ringo Starr on drums (Lennon-McCartney)
2.From Me To You--A side single April 11,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Thank You Girl--B side of From Me To You (Lennon-McCartney)
4.She Loves You--A side single Aug 23,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
5.I'll Get You--B side of She Loves You (Lennon-McCartney)
6.I Want To Hold Your Hand--A side single November 29,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
7.This Boy--B side of I Want To Hold Your Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand--German version of I Want To Hold Your Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
9.Sie Liebt Dich--German version of She Loves You,double A side single with Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Long Tall Sally--from Long Tall Sally EP (Johnson-Blackwell-Penniman)
11.I Call Your Name--from Long Tall Sally EP (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Slow Down--from Long Tall Sally EP (Lennon-McCartney)
13.Matchbox--from Long Tall Sally EP (Perkins)
14.I Feel Fine--A side single,November 27,1964 (Lennon-McCartney)
15.She's A Woman--B side of  I Feel Fine (Lennon-McCartney)
16.Bad Boy (Williams)
17.Yes It Is--April 9,1965 B-side of Ticket To Ride (Lennon-McCartney)
18.I'm Down--July 23,1965 B side of Help! (Lennon-McCartney)


Disc 2/volume two

All songs by Lennon-McCartney,except noted

1.Day Tripper--December 3,1965 double A side single with We Can Work It Out,the single was released simultaneously with Rubber Soul,remarkably,neither of the songs appeared on the said album.

2.We Can Work It Out--double A side single with Day Tripper

3.Paperback Writer--A side single June 10,1966

4.Rain--B side of Paperback Writer

5.Lady Madonna--A side single March 15,1968

6.The Inner Light--B side of Lady Madonna and the first George Harrison composition to come out as a single.

7.Hey Jude--A side single,August 30,1968

8.Revolution--B side of Hey Jude

9.Get Back--A side single,April 11,1969, with an extended track,this version was a different one compared to the closing song on the Let It Be album

10.Don't Let Me Down--B side of Get Back

11.The Ballad Of John And Yoko--A side single,May 30,1969

12.Old Brown Shoe--B side of The Ballad Of John And Yoko,written by George Harrison

13.Across The Universe--wildlife version with flapping wings heard on the beginning and this version of the song was a bit faster and more folk-influenced compared to the slow and well orchestrated version on the Let It Be album

14.Let It Be--A side single,March 6,1970,shorter version compared to the song on the album of the same title,has less orchestration and different guitar solo compared to the album version.

15.You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)--B side of Let It Be


CREDITS AND FOOTNOTES

Philippines*--special thanks to my friend Mrs Helen Dela Cruz,who used to work in Dyna Records in Manila in the Philippines in the sixties and seventies for providing me that information about the Please Please Me cassette.Dyna Records was the sole distributor of Beatles albums in the Philippines from the 1960s to the 1980s.All Beatles albums issued in the country were in their original British formats.

Worldwide***--Countries in the sixties apart from the UK--Hong Kong,Malaysia,Japan and Philippine editions and other countries in the rest of Europe were issued on their original UK formats.Though Japanese distributors Toshiba and Odeon,have issued two US albums Meet The Beatles and The Beatles Second Album between A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale releases in 1964,the rest of the albums issued in Japan were in their original British formats.Australia and New Zealand editions in the sixties were also patterned to that of the UK.The only version that was different that time in pattern and song sequences was that of the United States(the first seven Beatles albums pre-Sgt Pepper).


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

THE WOMEN OF THE BEATLES

Behind every man's success is a woman as they say.


The world of rock music is known for the bohemian lifestyle of its stars and the Beatles were no exception.Money,drugs and sex come in droves which the rock stars happily indulged on.



The women featured here by the way,were not just groupies.They were the ladies who inspired our beloved fab four...some of the famous Beatles songs were written and inspired by them.





These are the women behind the men who wrote those beautiful harmonies and eventually saved us all from boredom.The women I featured here were the serious girlfriends and wives that helped shape the Beatles' lives.Some were even labeled as destroyers of a wondergroup,some were just plain sweethearts.Not counting the groupies or other women which were heavily dubbed as one night stands wherein the Beatles as one mighty rock stars have met along the way.

1.DOT RHONE

Dot Rhone was said to have been Paul McCartney's first serious girlfriend. At the height of the Beatles' career which started in their hometown Liverpool,England and the band's overseas gigs in Hamburg,Germany.

Only a few can be heard about Rhone,she nearly married Paul as she was pregnant by Paul's supposed to be first child but she had a miscarriage and Paul stated later on that he fell out with her.

There has been reports that Dot now lives in Canada and is a grandmother of several children.It was said that Paul had recently met her when he performed in Canada on the North American leg of his 2005 World Tour.(photo:Dot Rhone with Paul McCartney)


2. JANE ASHER

I guess everybody knows Jane Asher,the British actress in the 1960s who used to be Paul McCartney's girlfriend.Several Beatles songs were said to have been written about her,one beautiful love song called "And I Love Her" from the soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night is one of the best known Beatles songs were reportedly inspired by her.Other songs Paul wrote that were inspired by Jane were "All My Loving","Im Looking Through You","You Won't See Me","For No One" and "Here,There And Everywhere".

Paul eventually wrote another song called "A World Without Love" and was given to Jane's brother Peter Asher of the pop/rock duo Peter And Gordon.

Paul and Jane's relationship lasted for five years.They got engaged in early 1967 and then broke up a year later.




3.FRANCIE SCHWARTZ

Its quite odd that Paul never mentioned her in any of his interviews nor on his autobiographies.But it was also rumoured that Francie was the reason behind Paul and Jane's breakup.

This attractive woman first crossed the Beatles' paths when she worked part-time at Apple Records in 1968,and then there she met Paul and became his live-in girlfriend for several months.It was said that when Francie came to live in Paul's house,Paul was very sad and lonely about his break up with his ex Jane Asher.Jane's clothes were still on Paul's house when Francie came to live with him.Francie  eventually wrote a book about his relationship with Paul called "Body Count" and had memories of Yoko that were even kinder than others would have later stated.

Francie stated on her book that Paul broke her heart when he asked her to leave[in which Paul had reportedly been dating Linda Eastman at the time and eventually later on became his wife].She never saw Paul again after that.


4.LINDA EASTMAN

Linda Eastman,who would later be known as Linda McCartney first met Paul McCartney when she flew to London to attend the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's photoshoot.The Beatles just released their new album at the time Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band and had a press conference.

Linda was already an established rock photographer even before she met the Beatles,taking photos of rock bands like The Rascals,The Doors,The Grateful Dead,The Rolling Stones,Jimi Hendrix,Cream and so many others.

Danny Fields revealed on his book that the Paul and Linda meeting was  indeed "love at first sight".But it took a year before they met again and had a formal dating and she eventually moved to Paul's house in London.They married on March 12,1969 and Paul adopted Linda's daughter Heather from her previous marriage.Their union produced three other children Mary(born 1969),Stella(born 1971) and their only son James(born 1977).Rumour finders sadly,also linked Linda with Yoko Ono as one of the reasons why the Beatles broke up and was the subject in the book(along with Ono) The Women Who Broke Up The Beatles.

Songs inspired by Linda were the Beatles' song "I Will" which was included on the White Album and was released in 1968.Perhaps the most beautiful love song ever written by Paul about Linda was "Maybe I'm Amazed" which was included on Paul McCartney's first solo album McCartney.His most enduring ever,"Maybe I'm Amazed" remains a regular on his concert setlist up to this day.

When Linda married Paul,the Beatles were in the brink of dissolution,bad business problems began emerging and Paul couldn't help it but watch his band die slowly from the inside.Paul couldn't keep the Beatles together and he later stated that it was Linda who literally saved him as he got too depressed and was spiraling downwards with all the Beatles issues and she tried to encourage him that he was a good songwriter and thus he got up on his stupor and wrote materials that were later recorded for his first solo album.

Another beautiful love song which was written about Linda was "My Love"  which was included on the Paul McCartney And Wings album Red Rose Speedway.Linda played keyboards and even sang back up and lead vocals with Wings.

Paul and Linda's marriage was known to be a rock n'roll fairy tale and would last 29 years until Linda's death in 1998 due to breast cancer.Their union has inspired  other people including the hopelessly romantics as their dream marriage.Even though Paul remarried years after Linda's death,it was always said that Linda was the love of his life.And I guess Paul knew that deep inside.



5.CYNTHIA POWELL

Cynthia was John Lennon's first wife and the mother of Julian Lennon.John had been dating her and they got married even before the Beatles came to fame.Though they had been famous locally in their town of Liverpool,John married Cynthia even before Beatlemania started to take the world over.

It was always said that Cynthia was often a casualty on the Beatles' career wherein they had to keep their marriage a secret as to not hurt John's boy next door image as the band was still trying to make it big in the States.She often rode in escort cars that followed the Beatles' but never rode with the band which was kinda sad.

One song that was said to have been inspired by Cynthia was "Norwegian Wood" from the Beatles' album Rubber Soul.The lines "I once had a girl or should I say she once had me" was said to have been John Lennon's direct reference to Cynthia as John believed that she trapped him into marriage by getting pregnant.John and Cynthia were former classmates in art school where they eventually met and thus they started dating afterwards.They were married in August 23,1962 and their union would last six years until Lennon left her for Yoko Ono and they divorced on November 8,1968.





6.MARY COX


It was weird to think that all the Beatles' wives and girlfriends who attended the Maharishi's in Rishikesh never lasted with their respective partners.Mary Cox aka Maureen Starkey is definitely one of them.

Mary was Ringo Starr's first wife,having met Ringo in the Beatles' early days in the Cavern Club in Liverpool,she was a regular at the Cavern at age 15 and wasn't noticed immediately by Ringo.

She and Ringo got married in February 1965 after finding out that she was pregnant with Ringo's first child-and that is future rocker Zak Starkey who would later join Oasis as an unofficial drummer.She and Ringo had two other children.

When the Beatles broke up in 1970,the couple's marriage started spiraling downwards as well with ill reports of Ringo's infidelity igniting the breakup.Their divorce was finalized in 1975 on the grounds of Ringo's affair with American model Nancy Lee Andrews.Their divorce said to have crushed her completely with an unsuccessful suicide attempt she made after riding her motorbike into a brick wall.Ringo later on married Bond girl Barbara Bach.

Maureen(Mary) lived with Isaac Tigrett-the founder of Hard Rock Cafe in 1976 but didn't marry him until 1989.She died of leukemia in 1994 with all of her children,husband Isaac and ex-husband Ringo Starr on his bedside."Little Willow" from Paul McCartney's 1997 album Flaming Pie was said to have been written by Paul in her memory.





7.PATTIE BOYD

Pattie was George Harrison's first wife and I guess was the subject of much controversy when she married two famous rock stars-and that is George Harrison and Eric Clapton.


Harrison first met Pattie on the set of the Beatles' first movie A Hard Day's Night.Pattie had a cameo appearance on the film with a one-liner dialogue "prisoners?" on a train scene with the fab four.

George and Pattie dated briefly in the height of Beatlemania and was married in 1966.It was noted that it was Pattie who got George interested into Eastern Mysticism when the couple first went to Bombay earlier that year.

 Several Beatles classics were said to have been inspired by Boyd with these beautiful George Harrison compositions such as "I Need You"  "For You Blue" and "Something".The latter being the biggest George Harrison penned Beatles single which eventually went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic.

The couple never had a child as to may have the reason why George Harrison got into so much infidelity as the years went by.Their marriage went on the rocks and finally ended when Pattie was snatched by George's best friend and fellow guitar god Eric Clapton.The couple divorced in 1974 and Pattie became Mrs Clapton.

Pattie was believed to be barren that she didn't had a child with Eric Clapton either.Eric and Pattie later divorced in 1988 on grounds of Clapton's alcoholism and affairs with several women.




8.YOKO ONO

Yoko Ono オノ・ヨーコ(小野 洋子) was born in Tokyo but was raised in Scarsdale,New York.She's seven years older than John Lennon and was known by many Beatles fans as the main person who said to have been broken up the Beatles.Many fans of the fab four still couldn't stop talking about her,or perhaps hated her for drifting the band apart.Perhaps Yoko wanted to keep John away from the Beatles,or  was it a coincidence that John was already tired of all these rock star madness when she came to his life?

John first met Yoko on the latter's art exhibit in London in 1966 wherein Ono was said to have been impressed by Lennon's humour.But it wasn't until 1968 when they started living together wherein John left his first wife Cynthia for her.

The Beatles by then,were slowly drifting apart from each other and everybody believed that Ono made it worse by hanging out with the band all the time,even in the studio where they work which made the other Beatles uncomfortable.

When the Beatles disbanded in 1970,she collaborated with her husband John Lennon(whom she married in 1969) on his solo albums and even sang with him onstage at the charity concert in Madison Square Garden in 1972.The couple moved to New York City in 1973 and lived there until Lennon's untimely death in 1980.




9.HEATHER MILLS

Heather Anne Mills was born in 1968 and was 26 years Paul McCartney's junior when she married him at a lavish ceremony at Castle Leslie in Ireland in 2002.

Mills was Paul McCartney's second wife,having met Sir Paul at one charity event a year after Linda McCartney's passing in 1999.Paul later claimed that he was surprised to himself looking at other women in which he said he never did during his 29 years of marriage with Linda.

Paul wrote two songs about her on his 2002 album Driving Rain,one called "Your Loving Flame" which is a song about an elder man who found love for the second time on the twilight of  his life.The second song was called "Heather" in which shouldn't be confused over the 1969 song of the same title written by Paul for his eldest daughter which is unreleased up to this day and was only available in bootlegs.

Heather had an accident in 1993 when she was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the street in London,she was so badly injured that her left leg was amputated  6 inches below the knee.She is currently wearing prosthetic limbs to help her compensate for the loss leg.

Their union produced a daughter,Beatrice Milly McCartney who was born in 2003.Their marriage however was marred with problems with rumours coming in and out in which Mills was reportedly angry on how the music press would treat her.In 2003,she first described her marriage to Paul on Larry King's show as a great one and even praising Paul's tidiness.But later on,she was said to have been complaining to her friends that Sir Paul was a boring old fart prompting the media to be suspicious on her,even calling her a gold digger.Their marriage had several problems with the press even digging her past wherein she modeled in full frontal nudity when she was in her 20s and there has been wild rumours circulating that she used to be a porn queen which made the couple's problems worst.

The couple separated in 2006 with Mills doing interviews pointing her feud with Sir Paul's daughter Stella as the cause  of  the breakdown of their marriage.There has been many speculations on why McCartney and Mills separated but nobody could point a right reason why they parted ways.Perhaps the couple had more personal problems unknown to most of us.Their divorce was granted on May 12 2008 with Heather unsuccessfully applied for the decision to be kept a secret fearing that she would be vulnerable to crazed Beatles fans.

£16.5 million was said to have been McCartney's alimony to Mills together with assets of  £7.8 million which included the properties she owned at the time.Plus £35,000 per annum,a nanny and school costs for their daughter in which both of them would share custody.




10. MAY PANG

May Pang is John Lennon's girlfriend,they lived together for two years while Lennon was separated from Yoko Ono.

Pang was the daughter of Chinese immigrants and grew up in New York's Spanish Harlem.She first got into the music business by working as a receptionist at ABKCO Records managed by Allen Klein who,at the time represented Apple Records and as the Beatles' newly elected manager(which Paul McCartney strongly opposes).And then there she had crossed the Beatles' paths and later on became Yoko Ono's personal assistant.

In 1973,after the recording of Mind Games,Lennon's fourth post-Beatles solo album,John and Yoko were having marital problems and decided to separate for a while.John left New York and headed to Los Angeles with Pang(whom Yoko had suggested to be Lennon's companion),the two became lovers as John Lennon indulged into what he called "The Lost Weekend".

In later interviews,John was heard to be saying that he was attracted to Pang when he first saw her even when he was still with Yoko.The couple moved back to New York and lived together until 1975 in which Lennon moved back to Yoko Ono,and broke May's heart.

May Pang later wrote a book about her relationship with John Lennon called Loving John.She married record producer Tony Visconti and would later divorce in 2000.




11.BARBARA BACH

Barbara Bach is the second and current wife of Ringo Starr,they met at the set of their 1980 film  Caveman in which both of them had a starring role.They were married in 1981 shortly after the film's release.

Bach became an international sex symbol for her role as Bond girl opposite Roger Moore on 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me and has appeared on several issues of Playboy magazine.



12.OLIVIA ARIAS

Olivia Arias,later to be known as Olivia Harrison is George Harrison's second wife.She and George met at Harrison's 1974 North American tour shortly after his divorce with first wife Pattie Boyd.Arias was then working as a secretary at A&M Records.

Their union produced a son Dhani,who was born in 1978 and would later become a famous musician just like his father.

George and Olivia's marriage[they exchanged vows on September 2,1978] would last until George's untimely death due to lung cancer.

She produced the Concert For George a tribute concert in her husband's memory which featured artists such as Eric Clapton,former Beatle bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr,Gary Brooker.Jeff Lynne,Joe Brown,Billy Preston and other musician friends of George.The tribute concert is said to be a solemn one with profits from the events went to a charitable institution organized by Harrison.It remains one of the most beautiful and enduring concert tributes ever.


 13.SABRINA GUINNESS

She is the heiress to the Guinness family and was rumoured to be dating Paul McCartney shortly after his separation from second wife Heather Mills. The two has been spotted several times together by the British papparazzi and was the subject of what her role might be to the future of Sir Paul McCartney,who was knighted in 1997.


Guinness,who had dated Mick Jagger and Prince Charles was denied by Paul himself as anything but an old friend.But despite the cute Beatle's denials of the said relationship,the press still followed their "rumoured relationship",with the papparazzi even taking stolen shots of the two going out having dinner and even their most intimate time together.

Perhaps Sir Paul's relationship with her fell too short for him to admit it?





14.NANCY SHEVELL

Nancy Shevell became Paul McCartney's third wife at a wedding ceremony held at Marylebone Town Hall on October 9,2011 which ironically is also John Lennon's birthday.

The couple married at the same venue where Paul married his first wife Linda in 1969.Nancy is a member of the board of New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and is  the vice president of the family owned New England Motor Freight.

At first,fans were so eager and excited to see the new couple wed as the news of their wedding registry made on early September where everybody's wondering when the exact date the couple would exchange vows.The world was finally surprised when they did on what would be John Lennon's 71st birthday.

There were rumours spreading and with other journalists having mixed comments and some would say that Sir Paul never learned from his past marriage with second wife Heather Mills and with a rumour that has spread over the rock press that Paul and Nancy signed a pre-nup agreement.

Well whatever lies ahead,we wish them all the best and it may not be right to compare Nancy to Linda,but we all wish Sir Paul to have a happy and lasting marriage.

Lord knows what lies ahead,but we wish them all the best.


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

Thursday, September 8, 2011

PETE BEST: "I WAS A BEATLE"






To the die-hard Beatles fans,we all know that Ringo Starr wasn't the original drummer in the band we all loved.But to others who were neither a fan of the Beatles or rock music,Pete Best is somewhat unheard to most of them,unless you were a Liverpool native,I guess,where our beloved fab four were known as "saints" and "local heroes" or perhaps to many,"god-like status".

The life and times of Pete Best with the group was shrouded with mystery.He joined the Beatles before they got into fame,at the time they were still playing in clubs and doing local gigs at their hometown of Liverpool,England.He did made a recording with the band in which they first auditioned with Decca Records  wherein they were flatly refused and rejected by the company.I guess Decca regretted it later on when they turned them down not knowing that a phenomenon would come in the not so distant future,sealing the band's now legendary status.Best's recordings with the Beatles[ mostly demos which were made around 1961] later surfaced on the Anthology 1 album which was released in 1995 and debuted straight to number one on the Billboard 200 charts,where they say Pete got a share of the royalties the other Beatles had from the album sales.

(photo:the Beatles John Paul and George with Pete Best on the extreme left)


Actually when Pete was in the group,the Beatles were already famous locally on their hometown of Liverpool.According to Bob Spitz's 2005 book the Beatles,Pete Best was so popular among the crowd that their road manager Neil Aspinall had to steer him away from the lovely ladies while the other three had to wait on their touring bus as Neil,anxiously trying to pull him out of the crowd's adoring grip.

So was  Pete Best outgrowing the band that the other three decided to get rid of him?  Spitz's book accurately describes that during the band's immense popularity in Liverpool-it was Pete Best who got the crowd's adoration and had the girls dropping dead on his feet and not Paul McCartney who later on became the cute Beatle we all know today.So was it jealousy among the band? Spitz's book however,was marred with criticisms regarding the inaccuracies of the dates and years especially when he labeled the classic photos of the fab four.

I was a bit lucky to have a friend from Liverpool and had some first hand info about the Beatles' early days.Im not mentioning his name here as a respect to his privacy but I always call him grandpa not only as a means of  respect but I do feel like he's my real grandfather.He used to be neighbors with Paul McCartney before the fab four came to fame.I think its really nice to have infos from other people outside the Beatles' books.One story I heard from him on why Pete was sacked is because Pete had a fight with John Lennon's girlfriend at the time- well Im not  sure if this was Cynthia--the mother of Julian who we know as the eldest Beatle kid and in contradiction to what Bob had stated on his book,Pete Best was an excellent drummer with my 'grandpa' in Liverpool even telling me that he used to watch him play with the fabs at the Cavern.Well at least Bob was right when he mentioned the constant booing Ringo had when he first played with the band on guess where? The story circulated at the time that when Ringo was introduced by the Beatles as their new drummer the audience was angry and shouted curses asking where the hell Pete was,"Where's Pete? You traitors! We want Pete!".The crowd was chanting "Pete forever Ringo never!" which made Ringo uncomfortable at the start.Others support the change and there was a huge debate on who was the better drummer with the fabs,was it Pete or Ringo?

Ringo on the other hand,was Liverpool's most sought after drummer,and he would play on all the Beatles albums(unless otherwise noted) from their debut album Please Please Me in 1963 up to their last album Let It Be in 1970,the year the band eventually broke up.

There is still no clear answer up to this day on why Pete Best was sacked,others claim that Pete's hair was wavy and couldn't be turned into a mop top thats why he no longer fit with the band when the Beatles changed their hairstyle.Other books claim he was not a good drummer and would tangle on Paul's bass thats why he was dismissed.Whatever it is,nobody knows.

Brian Epstein-the band's manager was asked by the other three to do the 'dirty work' and tell him that his bandmates doesn't want him with the group anymore.Pete later on stated that when he got home after hearing the bad news from Epstein he broke down and wept.With his dismissal however,the Beatles would then be forever known as John,Paul,George and Ringo.

(photo:the cover of the Beatles' 1995 album Anthology 1 where the photo of Pete Best was ripped off and with Ringo's head inserted in its place)

His life after the Beatles was quite a sad one though he managed to form various groups:Pete Best And The All Stars,Pete Best Four, and the Pete Best Combo but none of them were successful.It was said that he attempted suicide at the height of Beatlemania after seeing his former bandmates dominate the entire globe but was talked out of it by his mother Mona.He was reportedly so depressed that he never wanted to talk about his association with the Beatles when he was approached by Beatle biographers.

He later on appeared on David Letterman's show in 1982,and talked about his life with the Beatles.It seems he got over it all by joking and doing the mock crying in which everybody had laughed on. But I guess he's still crying on the inside coz his eyes can tell how bitter he was for being sacked by the greatest rock band in the world.Is it his fate coz the Beatles were destined to have Ringo as their drummer? Nobody knows.Dave did console him on the show by saying "Im sorry it didn't work out for you" while shaking his hand.


(photo:Pete Best in 2005)

In the latter days,Pete Best did show up on Beatle festivals and I guess his wounds were slowly healing itself.

Few people who knew the Beatles may not know Pete Best but to die hard Beatles fans he seem to be what they christened as "the forgotten Beatle" along with Stuart Sutcliffe.A 1994 film about the Beatles' early days in Hamburg,Germany called BACKBEAT featured Pete Best and original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe,but the film was more focused on the latter person.


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Jimmy McCulloch:The Unsung Guitar Hero


There's Jimmy Page,Eric Clapton,Jimi Hendrix,Mick Taylor,Keith Richards,George Harrison to name a few.These guitarists were known to be masters of their own craft,If not certified virtuosos,each has garnered fame on their own right with the bands they were known for as members.

But I do think that another guitarist from the seventies has somehow been forgotten and really deserves credit,and that is none other than Jimmy McCulloch-the baby face guitarist on Paul McCartney's rock band in the 1970s -Wings.

Wings was formed in 1971 after Paul McCartney released two solo albums when the Beatles disbanded in 1970.Paul later revealed that he got the name "Wings" for his new band after praying extensively for Linda's difficult birth with their daughter Stella on that same year.

Some people say that with Paul forming a rock group on the reason of being in a band and being on the road again was oddly ridiculous to the point that Paul was in total control and domination of the band,well a lot of groups were into that kind of scenario like the Jimi Hendrix Experience for instance.Paul at that point had nothing more to prove considering his tremendous work with the Beatles plus two successful solo albums to his credit but he slagged it off anyway and formed Wings in 1971,c'mon guys,the man wanted to have fun and he really did enjoyed the seventies with Wings as one of the biggest stadium rock juggernaut of that decade,selling concert tickets and albums by millions.

Wings had eight configurations from 1971 to its demise in 1980,with original members apart from Paul and Linda and Denny Laine,the original 1971 lineup was with Denny Seiwell on drums and Henry McCullough on lead guitar,the latter two would last until 1973,after a brief argument over money,and Paul Linda and Denny went on to record the colossal Band On The Run without the two of them.

Jimmy McCulloch got into the band in 1974,after playing extensively with other bands in the late sixties namely Thunderclap Newman which was produced by his mentor Pete Townshend of the Who.Jimmy was also an excellent session musician,having played on John Entwistle's solo album Whistle Rhymes.Jimmy was also a friend  of the Who and his former band in 1967 called One In A Million supported the band when the Who toured Scotland in 1967.A Scottish native,Jimmy was born in Glasgow and his early works as a guitarist in his native Scotland and as a session musician proved to be a perfect resume for his place as a lead guitarist for Wings.

Jimmy was also known to have feuded with a fellow Wing,drummer Geoff Britton resulting the latter's departure from the band.Britton was replaced by American drummer Joe English,and Wings went ahead.

The Wings world tour of 1975 and 1976 was said to have been McCulloch's finest hour,playing non stop tours with the band.A guitar solo with "Maybe Im Amazed" which was re-released and amazingly went to the top 10 of the Billboard singles chart gave McCulloch the respect other guitarists have when he performed a beautiful guitar lick on the song which was taken from a live performance on one of Wings' gigs on the American leg of their tour,thus,the live album Wings over America was conceived.The album went to number one in America and with Paul's re-working of the song "Maybe I'm Amazed" by slowing it down and adding an ending to the song in which the original version was to have a fading instrumental break,one would say,it was one of the most beautiful love songs ever written.And not bad for a song which by then was seven years old to make it to the top 10.

Another excellent guitar solo by McCulloch was with 1974's "Junior's Farm" which was said to have been his first hit with Wings.The albums he made with Wings were Wings At The Speed Of Sound which went to number one on the US charts in 1976 and the latter half of what would be Wings' 1977 album London Town.

McCulloch left the band in September 1977 to join the newly reformed Small Faces.Playing with his new band's tour of England and releasing one album '78 In The Shade.

Tragedy struck two years later,when Jimmy McCulloch had  a heroin overdose and died on Sept 27,1979.He was only 26 years old.

A lot of great guitarists had come and gone and became legends in their own right,becoming"saints" of the rock industry.Jimmy McCulloch was one of the martyrs of rock n'roll.In the same vein as Kurt Cobain,Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones-his excellence in guitar playing deserves a place in rock music history.

Jimmy McCulloch-guitar virtuoso,gone but not forgotten....




(c) Keith Vernon Adagio