The Missing Scene From Help!

English actress Wendy Richard

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of both the album and film Help! we remember one deleted scene that was actually featured on the 2007 digitally remastered DVD of the said film.Added on the second disc as a 'bonus feature',English actress Wendy Richard remembers as she describes on how thrilled she was working with the world's greatest rock band.

Story goes that Wendy portrays a student at a drama school wittily christened Sam Ahab's School Of Transcendental Elocution. Sam Ahab,was actually an anagram of Bahamas spelled backwards.The said fictionized character was played by comedian Frank Howerd who director Richard Lester describes as being kind of nervous working with the band.Lady Macbeth which was the character Richard was portraying was practicing her drama skills which Beatle George find it very irritating that he took some earplugs so he wont be able to hear it.Happens that Clang,portrayed by Australian actor Leo McKern has plotted his army of thugs to play some kind of a hypnotic music that actually put everyone spellbound.Enter Clang and the thugs they eventually got a hold of Ringo and tried to pull out the ring from his finger.When that option failed they eventually switched to plan B which is to cut Ringo's hand using a hatchet.Unknown to everyone,George wasn't affected by the hypnotic chant for wearing those earplugs earlier that he actually confronted Clang and his minions.Took them a while and then the spell started to wear off that others soon woke up from such hypnosis.Clang soon saw the failure in his plan that he decided to abort and fled along with Ahme(portrayed by Eleanor Bron) and his two other thugs.

In an interview included in the bonus feature,Richard described on how heartbroken she was when she was told that the whole scene was removed but was glad anyway that she was given a copy of the photos that was taken from the scene.Lester later pointed out that the scene didn't actually turned out to suit the movie itself that they decided to remove it in the editing blade.Sadly,Wendy Richard passed away two years later in 2009 at age 65.Frank Howerd,however, passed away in 1992.

Frank Howerd(center) with the Beatles

Three of us:Howerd and Richard with Paul McCartney  

(c)Keith Vernon Adagio 

The Beatles' best selling "1" Compilation Album Reissued

Beatles "1" album cover

The Beatles' best selling compilation album,titled 1 is to be reissued on a 5.1 digital surround stereo most of which were the first for the said album.

Due November 6,Apple Corps remastered 27 songs that all went to number one on both Billboard and UK charts,it will be available on different configurations such as single disc CD,DVD,Blu ray versions as well as CD/DVD,CD/Blu ray combo packs and a two disc vinyl edition.There will also be a deluxe package that will include DVD and Blu ray bonuses which contains music videos,some of which were never before seen and released in such format.

The Beatles 1 reissue track listings:

"Love Me Do"
"From Me To You"
"She Loves You"
"I Want To Hold Your Hand"
"Can't Buy Me Love"
"A Hard Day's Night"
"I Feel Fine"
"Eight Days A Week"
"Ticket To Ride"
"Help!"
"Yesterday"
"Day Tripper"
"We Can Work It Out"
"Paperback Writer"
"Yellow Submarine"
" Eleanor Rigby"
"Penny Lane"
"All You Need Is Love"
"Hello Goodbye"
"Lady Madonna"
"Hey Jude"
"Get Back"
"The Ballad Of John And Yoko"
"Something"
"Come Together"
"Let It Be"
"The Long And Winding Road"

Bonus material DVD/Blu ray deluxe edition

Music videos:

"Twist And Shout"
"Baby Its You"
"Words Of Love"
"Please Please Me"
"I Feel Fine"
"Day Tripper"
"Day Tripper" (alternate version)
"We Can Work It Out" (alternate version)
"Paperback Writer" (alternate version)
"Rain"
"Rain" (alternate version)
"Strawberry Fields Forever" (with Paul McCartney audio commentary)
"Within You Without You"/"Tomorrow Never Knows"
"A Day In The Life"
"Hello Goodbye"
"Hello Goodbye" (alternate version)
"Hey Bulldog"
"Hey Jude" (alternate version)
"Revolution"
"Get Back" (alternate version)
"Free As A Bird"
"Real Love"

The compilation,originally released in November 13,2000 went to number one in 22 countries,it was also the number one album in the US in 2001 according to Billboard,breaking records and bringing new generations of Beatles fans.


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

‘The Beatles 1′ Reissue Track Listing
Disc 1:
“Love Me Do”
“From Me to You”
“She Loves You”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand”
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“A Hard Day’s Night”
“I Feel Fine”
“Eight Days a Week”
“Ticket to Ride”
“Help!”
“Yesterday”
“Day Tripper”
“We Can Work It Out”
“Paperback Writer”
“Yellow Submarine”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Penny Lane”
“All You Need Is Love”
“Hello, Goodbye”
“Lady Madonna”
“Hey Jude”
“Get Back”
“The Ballad of John and Yoko”
“Something”
“Come Together”
“Let It Be”
“The Long and Winding Road”

Read More: 'The Beatles 1' to Receive Deluxe Reissue | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-1-reissue/?trackback=tsmclip

‘The Beatles 1′ Reissue Track Listing
Disc 1:
“Love Me Do”
“From Me to You”
“She Loves You”
“I Want to Hold Your Hand”
“Can’t Buy Me Love”
“A Hard Day’s Night”
“I Feel Fine”
“Eight Days a Week”
“Ticket to Ride”
“Help!”
“Yesterday”
“Day Tripper”
“We Can Work It Out”
“Paperback Writer”
“Yellow Submarine”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Penny Lane”
“All You Need Is Love”
“Hello, Goodbye”
“Lady Madonna”
“Hey Jude”
“Get Back”
“The Ballad of John and Yoko”
“Something”
“Come Together”
“Let It Be”
“The Long and Winding Road”

Read More: 'The Beatles 1' to Receive Deluxe Reissue | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-1-reissue/?trackback=tsmclip

A Word From The Author

I would like to say to everyone that I will be back on releasing posts in a while as my hectic schedule and busy day job is keeping me from posting newer articles.

As to the lady who had been attacking my other article about the Stones can you provide proof that you are a producer of one program or another for the cyber world is full of scams as well.And who do you think you are to tell me what to do on my webpage? You attacked my post and want it to be taken down is it because Im still a nobody compared to Bob Spitz who had a lot of inaccuracies in his book about the Beatles? And he definitely got away with it coz his book went into circulation despite of all the inaccuracies, Anyway,in the meantime Im disabling the comments on my other articles to avoid destructive people like you and I hope you are reading this.You can message me if you like but I do want proof that you are really a producer and not some cyber asshole.

Turns out that you are just the latter.Putting this site down? Ain't gonna happen.

More blogs to come.

"Another Girl" PLAYED LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Sir Paul in action(photo credit:Getty Images)

Its been almost fifty years since the Beatles played at the Budokan in Tokyo and Sir Paul McCartney is somewhat sentimental for playing there again.And one fact that Sir Paul made another first in the past 49 years by playing "Another Girl" onstage.The track which was on the band's fifth album Help! was never sung live until today.

Here are some other fun facts regarding the song:

1.On the album version it was Paul McCartney and not George Harrison who played lead guitar throughout the song.

2.The song was recorded in one take,and George Harrison's supposed to be guitar solo and lead guitar was said to have been mysteriously removed when McCartney remixed the song in the studio.

3.The song's music video which was actually a scene/song number on the Beatles' second feature film Help! was shot in Balmoral Island,Bahamas where McCartney was standing on a coral reef with a female model standing in as his "human guitar".Each of the Beatles had traded each others instruments on the video,with John Lennon playing drums,Ringo playing acoustic guitar and George Harrison playing bass.

4.Paul McCartney wrote the song himself while on a 10 day holiday in Tunisia though the track has been credited as "Lennon-McCartney" as their contract had stated.

While on his sentimental and historical performance in the Budokan,McCartney was said to have quipped
"It was sensational and quite emotional remembering the first time and then experiencing this fantastic audience tonight"

This serves as an awesome treat from Sir Paul to his Japanese fans considering that his tour of the country was cancelled last year due to illness.

Ticket to Paul's Japan concert 2015(photo credit:Karin Tokyo)

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

Cynthia:The First Beatle Wife

Cynthia Lennon circa 1967 (photo credit:unknown)

The world of rock music was once again stunned over the news that Cynthia Lennon,first wife of Beatle John Lennon has passed away.Cynthia,known as the first Beatle wife married John Lennon just as the Beatles were starting world domination.

Cynthia Powell was born in Blackpool,Lancashire on September 10,1939,the youngest among three children  of Charles and Lilian Powell.It was in art college where she met and later married John,and they both had a son,whom she named John Charles Julian Lennon,who would later follow his dad's footsteps into rock stardom.

With the Beatles trying to make it to extreme popularity,Cynthia was often the casualty on that scenery,she would often follow the band by riding in entourage cars and would often kept silent by the management as to not hurt John's budding music career.As a result,her relationship with Lennon later soured and John would later leave her when he met Yoko Ono in 1966.

Cynthia was best known not only as the mom of Julian Lennon but as the first Beatle wife who went through a lot of things,things that Linda McCartney had called Beatle "madness": having to get pass through the pressures of rock stardom,groupies,insane paparazzis and crazy publishing deals.

Cynthia wrote two books about her relationship with John Lennon and later married Noel Charles who died in 2013.Her son Julian, was said to be by her bedside during her passing.Tributes from Beatles fans around the world and from friends like Paul McCartney and May Pang poured in as the news of her death graced the headlines.

A memorial on Julian's facebook page was created to her memory.

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

RELATED LINKS:

The Women Of The Beatles

BEATLES FOR SALE IS 50 YEARS OLD

Less than six months after the release of their third album and first soundtrack from their first movie,the Beatles were yet working again on their follow up album.Not really wanting to top the previous one but rather getting the job done with their creative instincts piling up like hard bounds on a local library.The Beatles never wanted to stop. They maintained their average of two albums per year release dates,a feat that was never equalled by any other band or artist in the past fifty years. Not at least in the sixties where rock music evolved at a fast and speedy rate.

Just like their sixth album,Rubber Soul which was released in late 1965,Beatles For Sale was released simultaneously with singles that was neither on the album."I Feel Fine" and its B side "She's A Woman" didn't appear on the album but did reached the christmas number one on the UK charts.

Back cover of the vinyl album,1964

The album is comprised of six cover versions and eight original compositions,most of which were penned by the band's main songwriting team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Most of the cover versions done by the fab four here were songs from fifties rock legends whom the band had referred to as their prime influences.These songs were from Chuck Berry(Rock And Roll Music),Buddy Holly(Words Of Love),Carl Perkins(Honey Don't and Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby),and the Lieber and Stoller classic "Kansas City" merged with the Little Richard original "Hey Hey Hey Hey".

Unfortunately,the album was among the first seven that Capitol-the band's US distributor,failed to recognize its significance thus, failed to release the album and failed to follow with its original worldwide release in 1964.Instead,a butchered album with songs from this release combined with the side two of their previous album A Hard Day's Night was released under the name Beatles '65(though ironically released in 1964!).Some other leftovers from this album was compiled with other singles the band never issued and was released the following year as Beatles VI.Capitol has long been lambasted for butchering the band's first seven albums in the sixties without any clear explanation on the label's part.The Beatles were known for their disapproval of such album butchering and later released the butchered LP Yesterday And Today with its first cover photo highlighting the band on butcher suits,decapitated dolls and chunks of meat hence having the nickname "Butcher Cover".The said album itself is butchered as well,with songs coming from Help!,Rubber Soul and Revolver.

Beatles For Sale was officially released in the US as a real album in 1987 through the unification effort made by EMI,to avoid further confusions especially with the American fans.Having released worldwide in the sixties(except in the United States where it was considered as an import),the time has come that the albums were arranged by EMI by unifying the albums and hereby deleting the US versions as to avoid dubiety on which were the real albums made by the band themselves.The US versions,however were later released on box sets and individually as bootlegs.

Fifty years have passed and the Beatles remains a strong force in rock music,continues to influence younger musicians alike and made them form their own bands.The band's timeless appeal continues to soar with every classic album discovered by  aspiring young musicians or simply a young individual who loves real music.

Beatles For Sale 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)

*front and back cover photo by Robert Freeman

Beatles For Sale inner sleeve

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio


RELATED LINKS:

The Beatles Chronology

Abbey Road Marks 45th Anniversary

The Beatles' album Abbey Road released in 1969

  It was August 8,1969,four men who stood to be the biggest rock band the world has ever known for posed for several photos of what would be one of the greatest and most imitated album cover in the history of rock music.

The photo session took place at 11:30 in the morning,Scottish photographer Iain McMillan was invited by John Lennon to be the band's photographer at the time as the band decided to name their new album after the road where EMI studios is located.Lennon got to know McMillan through Yoko Ono whom he met in 1966.

McMillan took six photographs of the band crossing the road each with different phases,it was the fifth shot that was chosen to be the album cover.With its famous sleeve and awesome content,the album spawned classic rock hits that stood the test of time and would hit the number one spot on  the charts for several weeks.

Fast forward forty five years later,the Beatles,as we all know it became legendary for changing the course of both pop and rock music as they continue to inspire new generations of fans.A celebration to commemorate the event was organized by Richard Porter where a tribute band did the famous road crossing exactly the same time the photo sessions took place.

Let It Be Abbey Road commemorating the album's 45th(photo credit: Keith Moore)

Musician and friend Keith Moore was at the festivities and even took pictures of the said event describing it as the one with great atmosphere as fans from all over the world watched with awesome thrill that includes a sing-along with the West End tribute band Let It Be who managed to throw in a few songs.

That zebra crossing on Abbey Road,London became somewhat a shrine to Beatle followers and disciples alike where fans cross every hour and every day, but what makes August 8th 2014 so special is that four men dressed as the Beatles did a reenactment of the event at the exact same time the photo sessions took place forty five years ago.

The cast of Let It Be August 8,2014(photo credit:Keith Moore)

(c) Keith Vernon Adagio