VICTOR SPINETTI:The funny man who drove the Beatles' movies

Ever wonder who's that musical director in the film A Hard Day's Night,the mad scientist in Help! and the army drill sergeant in Magical Mystery Tour? That is none other than Victor Spinetti,a Welsh comic actor who drove us all nuts on those Beatles films that we all loved.

Victor was a favorite comedian of the Beatles particularly George Harrison's.George even stating "You've got to be in all our films..If you're not in them,me mum wont come and see them coz she fancies you.."

Spinetti was born in Wales of Welsh and Italian ancestry,he attended the Cardiff College of Music And Drama.Waiting tables and a factory worker were one of his first jobs before entering showbusiness.Perhaps the most memorable role Spinetti had was from the Beatles' second movie Help! where he played the role of Foot-the mad scientist who got obsessed over Ringo's ring and later on the orchid essense which has the power to shrink things from its normal size.He teamed up with the late Roy Kinnear,who played Algernon-Foot's not so clever assistant.

Actually,it was in Help! that I fancied Spinetti even more.Sir Paul McCartney used to describe him as the man who makes clouds disappear.

Spinetti made his last appearance on a Beatles movie in the film Magical Mystery Tour where he played the role of a wacky army drill sergeant.Post-Beatles,Spinetti appeared on Paul McCartney's London Town music video.

The last musical appearance of Spinetti was in 1985 when he teamed up again with Roy Kinnear and did a comic stint on Mike & The Mechanics music video "All I Need Is A Miracle".Kinnear died three years later in 1988 when he fell off while horseback riding.

Spinetti is now a fellow at his alma mater  the Cardiff College of Music and Drama.

My tribute to Victor Spinetti with all the love and admiration...Thank you Victor for making us all laugh

 updated June 19,2012: Victor Spinetti died of prostate cancer at age 82.

In memoriam...Victor Spinetti (1929-2012)

 

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

McCartney

It was April of 1970 when Paul McCartney announced the breakup of the Beatles and thus started a solo career for the band's bass player.Paul's announcement included the news about his first solo album,McCartney which was released two days ahead of Let It Be.

The Beatles' acrimonious split can be traced way back to the time when Brian Epstein,the band's manager,died of drug overdose.The band had always said that the death of Brian started the beginning of the end for the band for they felt like they lost guidance-though Paul kept on encouraging them to keep cool and concentrate on writing more songs and recording more new albums.After Sgt Pepper,the band embarked on a film project called Magical Mystery Tour in which the film was considered to bomb on the US market though the soundtrack album was highly praised by rock critics.More albums followed for the band,and it seems everything took its toll at the recording of the Beatles' self titled album THE BEATLES aka the White Album.People who witnessed on how the band argued and walked off each others songs during the recording sessions felt that the band is slowly moving towards disintegration.

They did,however,managed to create the last masterpiece Abbey Road in which was recorded with the discipline that they had during the band's earlier days.Bad business problems came along and Paul probably wanted to keep the Beatles together but he couldn't.The last album released by the Beatles called Let It Be reflected the signs of the times when the band had so many problems they believed they couldn't handle any longer.

It  is said that it was Paul who was badly hit by the split.He even recounted the time when he couldn't get out of bed and just did all these drinking.His wife Linda,sad seeing his husband depressed,encouraged him to write and record a solo album.Paul kept saying that he couldn't thank Linda enough for encouraging him that he was a very good musician during the time he felt that he was useless.

Paul got up from his stupor and recorded McCartney,his first solo album.He played all the instruments and was helped by Linda on the vocal harmonies.The album however,was held at the number two spot in the UK with Simon And Garfunkle's Bridge Over Troubled Water preventing it to reach the top spot.But it was quite different in the States where the album went to number one.

TRACK LISTING :

1.The Lovely Linda
2.That Would Be Something
3.Valentine Day
4.Every Night
5.Hot As Sun/Glasses
6.Junk
7.Man We Was Lonely
8.Oo You
9.Momma Miss America
10.Teddy Boy
11.Singalong Junk
12.Maybe I'm Amazed
13.Kreen-Akrore

Paul played all the instruments in the album and has described his debut as kind of a throw away during one of his interviews with Rolling Stone.Among the instruments he played was bass,guitar,drums,piano, and toy gockenspiel.The album was hailed as a masterpiece not only by McCartney fans but the whole rock music industry as well.The album was made at home where Paul had set up an eight track recording unit which is considered at the time as state of the art.With the album's lo-fi recording,many people see it as a precursor to those of indie rock bands of today where most of them were known to record their albums at the convenient of their very own homes.Well contrary to popular belief,the album wasn't really made entirely at the family household,though most of the tracks were recorded at Paul and Linda's house,they were polished at Abbey Road Studios where McCartney was seen working alone.

One song from the album called Maybe I'm Amazed stands out as one of the most beautiful love songs ever written.Paul wrote it for Linda at the time the Beatles' scene was getting heavy.The song was later rearranged and re-recorded by Paul and his band Wings with the live version taken from the concert LP Wings Over America reaching the top 10 of the US charts in 1977.

 (photo left:McCartney back cover CD,with Paul and his baby daughter Mary)

McCartney the album topped the US charts which is pleasing and very therapeutic for Paul.He eventually went on and released more solo albums and formed a band called Wings which is regarded as one of the greatest bands of the seventies and made him the most successful Beatle on his own solo career.Perhaps he realized to himself,in everything you do and things get a little messy,theres always a bright future ahead.

I DREAM OF GEORGE: My Personal Tribute To George Harrison

If George would have been with us today,he would have been 68 years old. I was totally saddened when I heard the news of his passing a decade earlier.February 25 is his birthday so I'd like to share to you fellows this strange dream I had four years ago,writing it down here I believe will be my most beautiful tribute to the man,George Harrison-guitar god extraordinaire.

George invented the role of a lead guitarist in a band.Before the Beatles,it didn't exist.Sure there were guitarists decades before the Beatles  but none of them were as colourful like the riffs of the great George Harrison.

Four years ago,I had a very strange dream during my sleep.I was in a hall and there I met George who was happy to see me.I knew right then and there that he was already dead,but in that dream I met him like I wasn't  meeting a dead celebrity,as if he is alive and well.I was so star-strucked to see him that I couldn't describe the joy of meeting my idol.I tried to hug him but he told me not to coz he still has the cancer.We chatted about different things-music,about him not going back ever to the Philippines because of Marcos and some other stuff.Suddenly,I find myself giving to him all my Beatles CDs and he happily signed them all.Then I said goodbye to him and as I walk out of the building I saw Luther Vandross being mobbed by his fans on the corner of the sidewalk--then I woke up.

 What a strange dream indeed,I just saw two dead celebrities-George Harrison and Luther Vandross.It felt so real that I eventually looked at my CDs to see If George had an autograph on it--there was none,the album sleeves were clean.It was strange, it was really strange,I never had a dream like that before in my life.Then I realized it was November 29,2007--I dreamed of him on his 6th death anniversary--a sign? nobody knows.Perhaps as a Beatles fan,I might have had a hard time accepting that George is gone.Well,a psychologist may have had difficulty figuring it all out.

Or perhaps George's spirit really came to me in a dream and he took Luther Vandross with him,who knows?



George Harrison as I've said defined the role of a lead guitarist in a rock band,as the Beatles introduced modern rock music and saved us all from boredom.The uniqueness of his guitar playing really seperates him from the rest.Fellow guitar god Jimmy Page praised George on one of his interviews "His[George] solos were so immaculate and impeccably performed."

I can still remember what he wrote on my CDs as he signed them in my dream,he wrote: "To Keith my biggest fan,with love,George Harrison".Whether he came to me in a dream or it was just all in my mind,I dont know.But I feel so priviledged to meet him even only in a dream.

This is my personal tribute to the man,my most beautiful tribute ever....

Thank you George

IS ERIC CLAPTON THE SIXTH BEATLE?

The term "fifth Beatle" is an informal title given to an associate or perhaps more often written by a rock journalist to describe a person closely related to the fab four.George Martin who was the producer of many of the Beatles albums was often given that title,so as Brian Epstein-the fabs manager.

Now we all know that the term  fifth Beatle do exist and some people not even directly related to the Beatles proclaim themselves as the fifth Beatle--like New York DJ Murray The K for instance.But is it possible for a sixth Beatle to exist? Well I did refer to the word "sixth" coz the term fifth Beatle has already been occupied by both George Martin and Brian Epstein respectively.George Martin on the other hand,was the band's producer and arranger and was responsible for the sound of different Beatles albums so I guess he deserves credit and Brian was the band's manager as well.

If the term sixth Beatle will ever be in existence I think the title deserves to be crowned to none other than ERIC CLAPTON--one of rock's guitar gods.

Eric Clapton has been closely related to the Beatles since the fabs and his first band the Yardbirds met at a local gig in England.Well,for you fact finders out there,Eric Clapton played on several Beatles records in the studio as a session musician particularly in the making of the Beatles 1968 self-titled album The Beatles which was widely dubbed by many as The White Album.Clapton played a beautiful guitar solo on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", a song written by George Harrison.As a return favor,George Harrison played on the recording of Cream's last album Goodbye wearing the pseudonym L'Angelo Mysterioso.

Eric Clapton and George Harrison became the best of friends until the early seventies and everything went sour when Eric snatched George's wife,model Pattie Boyd.The two eventually made up and George even attended Pattie and Eric's wedding after their split in 1974.

Eric Clapton also played alongside John Lennon,Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell on a supergroup called The Dirty Mac,on the Rolling Stones Rock N' Roll Circus.He also played guitar on Lennon's post-Beatle outfit Plastic Ono Band and on several of John's solo albums.

I've been thinking quite a lot,did Eric closely associated with the Beatles because he has plans of taking George Harrison's wife away or did it just happened in coincidence? A 2005 statement made by Eric himself said that he felt so sorry for breaking George and Pattie's marriage and that he even became an alcoholic out of guilt of what happened.George just shrugged his shoulders and eventually married an American called Olivia Arias.

George Harrison was an awesome guitar player and a guitar god himself-the story circulated at the time that George invited his good friend Eric Clapton on the White Album sessions to lay down some beautiful guitar licks on his song on the purpose of keeping "the peace" between the Beatles.Back in 1968,the band was in total mess a year after the death of their manager Brian Epstein and most of them claim that without Brian they seemed to have lost direction, like a child without a father to guide him.The Beatles eventually broke up two years later in 1970.

Eric Clapton on the other hand,started off with the legendary Yardbirds and went on with his own rock group Cream with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker.Cream invented the power trio format and has laid down the pattern for other heavy metal acts to come.Now every musician and every kid on earth who started to learn how to play guitar wanted to be Eric Clapton.A graffiti on a London wall during Cream's heyday spelled "CLAPTON IS GOD".

Rock music will never be the same without the great Eric Clapton.

Clapton for me is--the sixth Beatle,Im sure other Beatles fans feel the same way about him.


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

ALL THINGS MUST PASS 40TH ANNIVERSARY

Its been forty years since George Harrison released his what would be his magnum opus-the triple disc set All Things Must Pass.George actually released two solo albums while still with the Beatles in the late sixties namely Wonderwall and Electronic Sound.Like John Lennon,he started making solo albums at the height of the Beatles' wailing relationship as band members.

They said that the breakup of the Beatles was triggered by so many problems the band members couldn't handle any longer.One mainly,was George Harrison's rise as a fine songwriter which caused a friction between him and the Lennon-McCartney partnership.Lennon and McCartney were the prime songwriters though all of them has written their own songs,what would happen is that John and Paul would write the songs and would include one or two songs written by George and one song would be sung by Ringo.George Harrison's songs were enigmatic and his guitar solos were so immaculate that a friction with Lennon and McCartney would be inevitable.The strongest Beatles album for George however was Revolver where three songs written by him were included and Abbey Road where two of his biggest hits became number one on both sides of the Atlantic.

Harrison was frustrated on the way his songs were treated by the other Beatles that he compiled them and waited for his freedom after the band's breakup and voila!--a triple disc album was formed.All Things Must Pass went straight to number one on the Billboard 200 charts on January 1971 and stayed there for at least three weeks.

It would have been a Beatles song,actually,a full band Beatles version was released in 1997 as part of Anthology 3.It would have been a perfect inclusion or perhaps an album after Let It Be--but sadly,the band broke up.

John Lennon,30 Years After...

December 8,1980 is the most gruesome and shocking event that ever happened in the history of rock music.John Lennon was shot dead in front of his Dakota Apartment in New York City.Fast forward 2010,30 years later,the Beatles were still up there on the rock mountain of fame and John Lennon was given a special birthday tribute on youtube on what supposed to be his 70th birthday.

Im more of a Paul fan when it comes to the Beatles,but Im very fascinated with the kind of charisma John has.Though we all know that John himself founded the greatest rock band in the world,the shocking news about his death sent shivers to every rock star known on earth.Peace advocator/protester,he spent the mid seventies in a lazy haze,sick of being famous and he busied himself raising his son Sean while his wife Yoko did the music publishing business.Unlike his former songwriting partner Paul McCartney, who was recording and touring with his band Wings during that time,John didn’t even care about fame and just spent his time in New York,a quiet private life.When he decided to re-enter the music business again,it was granted with a quite successful album called Double Fantasy,John’s happy thoughts about the album’s success was cut short by a man called Mark David Chapman.The music industry has never been the same.

Five years ago,I got a copy of LIFE’s tribute book about the 25th Anniversary of John Lennon’s murder,my dad gave it to me as a birthday gift.I still have the book,it was full of photos,mostly of unseen ones of John during his lifetime with several short stories told by friends and people who had worked with him.Everytime I opened that book,I was in total awe about the kind of life he had.

At the same time,I had a copy of Guitar Legends’ special edition tribute to Lennon where the most shocking story was published.It was about Dr Frank Veteran’s account on how he tried to save Lennon’s life during that dark day of December 8.It was really disturbing and Dr Veteran admitted later on that he had a depression after the incident-watching John Lennon bleed to death while trying to resuscitate him is the most unforgettable experience any doctor could have,I mean,they were used to those things but John Lennon? -whose music changed the course of rock n’ roll…..oh man.Dr Veteran confessed being a fan and any fan whether you’re a doctor or whatever you are,watching your idol die in your hands would really really send you shivers.That article sure scared the shit out of me,it was really disturbing especially If you’re a Beatles fan.
We only had two surviving Beatles left and a band reunion is obviously impossible.Unless Paul and Ringo would make a new album with a backing band and call themselves the Beatles,but it would be silly to do that.George Harrison’s passing in 2001 wasn’t a shock to the heart like Lennon’s but it was sad that another Beatle went up there with John in rock n’roll heaven.

John is a hero,a saint and will never be forgotten.I had rock music flowing in my veins by the time I was born and I will never get tired of paying tribute to these people who changed my life and influenced me a lot with the most beautiful music ever written.John Lennon and the Beatles’ legacy has appealed to every generation of fans.My daughter Heather has started listening to the Beatles as well,it was funny at age 2 she wanted Rubber Soul to be played over and over again while she played with her toys.Besides the Beatles,she also liked Collective Soul and Led Zeppelin and she always put their CDs on the stereo,it was funny.I guess she’ll be the next Lita Ford or Stevie Nicks–haha!
My favorite John Lennon albums? Umm..John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine.

John,I hope you’re reading this…we had three generations of fans here in my family.Your music,whether be with the Beatles or on your own lives on forever…