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Beatles News Archives

2001 Page 6

Ringo Still Amazed By Appetite For Beatles Music

As he crisscrosses North America with the latest version of his All-Starr Band, Ringo Starr tells LAUNCH he's still taken with the audience appetite that exists for Beatles music. The passion is not necessarily a surprise for him, particularly in the wake of the 1 collection's staggering sales success, but Starr says witnessing that interest in person always impresses him.

"You can't imagine that. You know, we're not sitting around in 1964 saying, 'Wow, in 2001, Todd Rundgren’s gonna be singing these songs.' It's not something you do. It just rolls on. I mean, it's incredible."

Rundgren toured earlier this summer as part of A Walk Down Abbey Road, a Beatles-tribute package that also featured Heart's Ann Wilson, the Who's John Entwistle, Alan Parsons, and Ambrosia's David Pack. The latest All-Starr Band, featuring Greg Lake (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople), Roger Hodgson (Supertramp), '80s pop star Howard Jones, and Sheila E., former drummer in Prince's band, plays the FleetBoston Pavilion.

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Paul McCartney Speaks of Marriage Joy

Paul McCartney has told fans of his joy after announcing his engagement to former model Heather Mills. Paul beamed outside his north London home on Friday as he made his first public appearance since the news broke.

"We are very happy and we will get married some time next year,'' he said. ``It is all very private stuff.'' Heather Mills added: "It is a lovely surprise.''

She held out her hand to show off the Indian engagement ring -- a gold band with a large sapphire nestling between two smaller diamonds. Scores of fans, passers-by and the world's media were denied a glimpse of the happy couple kissing when Heather reportedly said: "We don't kiss on demand.''

Crowds gathered outside the pair's St. John's Wood mansion early this morning. Press photographers jostled for the best position as they waited for Sir Paul and Heather to emerge.

Sir Paul proposed to Heather on Monday during a short break in the Lake District. The engagement comes more than three years after Sir Paul's first wife Linda died of cancer.

Former swimwear model Heather Mills, originally from Tyne and Wear, lost a leg below her knee after a police motorcycle in Kensington hit her in 1993. She went on to fundraise for amputees and land mine charities. The pair met at a charity event in 1999 and originally claimed they were just friends.

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GEORGE SPEAKS OUT

George Harrison and his wife Olivia are asking for more radical reforms to be made as Britain's government unveils significant changes to the country's mental health laws.

Last December, Harrison and his wife were brutally attacked in their home by a crazed fan, who was allowed to remain free on the streets since he had long been misdiagnosed by mental health facilities as a drug addict, rather than a as a paranoid schizophrenic who could possibly be dangerous. The assailant went to trial for the attempted murder of the former Beatle and his wife, but was found not guilty by reason of insanity last month and subsequently sentenced to an indefinite stay in a secure psychiatric hospital.

One of the main proposals being addressed is that the British government tells victims when their attackers are to be released from mental institutions. Harrison says he believes the government is failing to address the real issues and that Britain's Health Secretary Alan Milburn is "addressing the wrong end of the problem."

In a letter to the U.K.'s Independent newspaper, Harrison wrote, "Since the attack, we have had a number of letters -- both from people revealing horrendous attacks on them or their children by mentally ill people who have been released too early from mental hospitals, as well as parents of paranoid schizophrenics who have been treated with shameful inadequacy. There clearly need to be much stricter criteria applied and although it is impossible to generalize, clearly major mistakes are being made regularly with devastating results, as in our case."

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George Promises New Album

George has said that he is planning a new album for release in the new year. Harrison's son, Dhani, a 22-year-old university student, plays acoustic guitar on the updated version on All Things Must Pass, and is also helping his dad a little for an album of new material, Harrison's first since 1987's ``Cloud Nine."

Harrison said it would possibly come out next October or November. He plays most of the instruments, with session drummer Jim Keltner, and has produced it himself so far, though may bring in an outsider for some finishing touches. A free agent, he has talked to a number of labels about distribution.

Needless to say, the album will be computer-free. "My music doesn't seem to belong to any particular period," Harrison said. "I just make it the same way as we made it back in the sixties, which is analog tapes, microphones and guitars, bass, drums, pianos."

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BEATLES TOUR 2004???

It appears as though the three surviving members of The Beatles have agreed to reunite and perform together again, but not until four years from now.

According to published reports, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr have signed on to perform at the grand opening of a Cirque De Soleil art center in London, which is scheduled to open in 2004.

The French-Canadian circus troupe is in the process of building a state-of-the-art performance hall for its London cast to call home. According to New York's Daily News, the site will also house a Formula One race course, themed restaurants, and a Beatles museum. When and if this once-in-a-lifetime show takes place, Paul will be 62, Ringo will be 64, and George 61.

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All Things Must Pass

"My Sweet Lord (2000)" -- a newly-recorded version of George Harrison's first solo hit-- is just one highlight of a 30th anniversary edition of "All Things Must Pass," slated for release January 23, 2001.

The double-CD -- personally overseen by Harrison -- includes four previously unreleased tracks from the original 1970 recording sessions and the newly-recorded version of the classic song that
gave him the distinction of being the first solo Beatle to score a #1 single after the group's breakup.

Sure to pique the curiosity of long-time fans are the previously unreleased tracks, presented at the end of Disc One:
 "I Live For You," an out-take from the sessions that was not used.
"Beware of Darkness," an alternate version of the song.
"Let It Down," described as "the original guitar and vocal from the same tape as
"Beware of Darkness' with a little overdubbing circa 2000."
"What Is Life," a rough mixof the backing track whose existence George had forgotten.
"My Sweet Lord (2000)," an updated version which Harrison produced "to create something extra for the anniversary issue."

"All Things Must Pass" was produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector, engineered by Ken Scott and Phil McDonald, and featured orchestral arrangements by John Barham.

Originally released as a triple-LP boxed set in November, 1970 on Apple Records, it was a monumental work that attracted some legendary players to the sessions that officially began on May 26th. Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was George's only former band mate to attend, along with Apple artist Billy Preston on organ, long-time Beatles collaborator Klaus Voorman on bass, Apple group Badfinger, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and an uncredited appearance by a teenaged Phil Collins.

Although Clapton's work went uncredited on U.K. editions of the boxed set for contractual reasons, his name did appear on the U.S. version and is rightfully restored worldwide on this anniversary edition.

Collins, who would unofficially join the band Genesis in September 1970, "allegedly playing congas on 'The Art Of Dying,'" according to Harrison's recollections thirty years later.

Among the other musicians on-board were Dave Mason on guitar, Pete Drake, whose pedal steel guitar was the lynchpin of Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album of 1967, tenor saxophonist Bobby Keys, trumpeter Jim Price, drummer Alan White and keyboardists Gary Brooker and Gary Wright.

"All Things Must Pass" is also unique for the all-star
"Apple Jam" that occupied both sides of the third LP in the boxed set. Consisting of five tracks that were recorded during the course of the album sessions, they were sequenced to accommodate the time-lengths of the vinyl sides. Once again, aficionados will appreciate that Harrison has restored them to their true sequence, so that the 11-minute "Out Of the Blue" - featuring Harrison, Clapton, his "Dominos," plus Keys, Price, Wright, and visiting New York rock journalist Al Aronowitz - is now the fifth and closing track instead of the first.

"All Things Must Pass" debuted on the Billboard Top LPs chart on December 19th. It hit the #1 spot on January 2, 1971. To date, the album is certified RIAA double-platinum in the U.S. and has sold more than three million copies worldwide.

 TRACK LINE-UP:
 [Furnished by George Harrison ]

Disc One
01. I'd Have You Anytime (2.57)
02. My Sweet Lord (4.37)
03. Wah-Wah (5.35)
04. Isn't It a Pity? (7.08)
05. What Is Life (4.22)
06. If Not For You (3.29)
07. Behind That Locked Door (3.05)
08. Let It Down (4.57)
09. Run of The Mill (2.51)
10. I Live For You (3.36)
11. Beware of Darkness (3.20)
12. Let It Down (3.55)
13. What Is Life? (4.22)
14. My Sweet Lord (2000) (4.58)
Disc Two
01. Beware of Darkness (3.48)
02. Apple Scruffs (3:04)
03. Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) (3.46)
04. Awaiting On You All (2.45)
05. All Things Must Pass (3.44)
06. I Dig Love (4.54)
07. Art of Dying (3.37)
08. Isn't It A Pity? (version two) (4.45)
09. Hear Me Lord (5.48)
10. It's Johnny's Birthday (0.49)
11. Plug Me In (3.18)
12. I Remember Jeep (8.05)
13. Thanks For the Pepperoni (5.32)
14. Out Of the Blue (11.13)

 All Things Must Pass (30th Anniversary Edition)
 Apple 72435-3047528

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Paul McCartney's New Single due Next Month

Paul McCartney’s long-awaited new album, Driving Rain, is set for release on November 13, and the first single, "From A Lover To A Friend," is due to arrive October 29. The album is Paul’s first since 1997's Flaming Pie. It was recorded in Los Angeles this summer with his new band and will feature Paul's son James on guitar on two of the album's tracks.

The song "From A Lover To A Friend" is a ballad Paul penned in tribute to his late wife Linda. The song will also be featured in the upcoming film Vanilla Sky, slated to hit theaters in November. The album also reportedly includes a song titled "Heather," an homage to Heather Mills, McCartney's fiancee.

Although the tracklisting for Driving Rain is not yet set, other songs slated for the album include: "Spinning On An Axis," "Rinse The Raindrops," "Driving Rain," "Tiny Bubble," "Loving Flame," "Without You," "About You," "Back In The Sunshine Again," "The Lonely Road," and "Riding Into Jaipur."

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'Fifth Beatle' Memorabilia to Go on Sale

The letters and art of the "Fifth Beatle'' Stuart Sutcliffe are to be sold, says auctioneer Fleetwood Owen.

Some 400 items, including correspondence between Sutcliffe and the Beatles, drawings, photographs and his first guitar will be auctioned as one lot in a sealed bid sale, the auctioneer said on Friday.

"The collection is full of wonderful things, wonderful artwork, fabulously interesting letters, poetry, sketch books, all delightful and beautiful things to look at,'' said Sutcliffe's sister Pauline, who is selling the material.

Stuart Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage just sixmonths before the Beatles reached the hit parade in 1962. Sutcliffe, whose short life was the subject of the 1994 film "Backbeat,'' had become best friends with John Lennon after meeting him at Liverpool Art School in 1959.

Lennon persuaded him to sell one of his paintings and buy a guitar, which survived to be included in the auction. It was a Hofner electric bass, which George Harrison later recalled Sutcliffe "had no idea how to play.''

In the summer of 1960, the Silver Beatles -- Sutcliffe, Lennon, Paul, George and soon-to-be-demoted drummer Pete Best -- went to play in seedy nightclubs in Hamburg's red light district. In Hamburg, Sutcliffe met and fell in love with German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, whose photographs of the early Beatles also form part of the collection.

Sutcliffe left the band in 1961 and resumed his studies at Hamburg School of Art. He died in the German City in April 1962. The pop memorabilia, which includes Sutcliffe's designs for the Beatles famous buttoned-up suits and "moptop'' haircuts, is expected to fetch up to $4.375 million.

Before the sale the mementos will go on display in New York in October and in London in November. Specialist music auctioneer Fleetwood Owen will conduct the sale, which includes full copyright over all the items, between November 27 and December 7.

A book by Pauline Sutcliffe about her brother, "The Beatles’ Shadow Stuart Sutcliffe and his Lonely Hearts ‘Club,'' is published next month.

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Letter from Bill Harry

Magazine columnist, Beatle author and Mersey journalist, Bill Harry, sent the following message for The LennonTask NYC Memorial vigil on October 8th. His gesture is touching the true spirit of the event, so I therefore decided to ask if anyone else would like to send their comments / thoughts?  I promise to read each and every one for those gathered on that special night of peaceful memorial.

Dear Lynn,
Since I can't be there, here is a message from me to your friends: John stands shoulder to shoulder with the great compassionate humans such as Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luthor King. Their message and John's message was one that with love comes peace and with peace comes love.

We remember the images of the 1960s 'summer of love' when flowers were placed in the barrels of rifles. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Great men are they who see that the spiritual is stronger than any material force." The first great steps in peace are to feel compassion for others. It's not only your love for your family and your friends, it's the love that you must give even to people who do you wrong. This is part of the teaching of all great religions, but most people have forgotten it. It is part of the teachings of Christ and John Lennon was very influenced by Jesus Christ.

As the poet John Donne said, "No man is an island, entire of it self.....any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind." As potent a message as '"Give Peace A Chance" is the message "All You Need Is Love." Begin your path to peace this moment by looking at all those around you and feel love for them all.

Bill Harry.

Thank you, Bill.

Lynn

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Who Turned McCartney Into a Veggie? Linda or Jane?

A new biography about the Beatles will say it was not Linda McCartney who converted her husband Paul to vegetarianism but his previous girlfriend, Jane Asher, a newspaper said on Sunday.

Alistair Taylor, author of "The Secret History,'' due to be published next week, said vegetarian crusader Linda's claim she turned Paul into a vegetarian was a myth. "It's absolute rubbish that Linda was the one who introduced Paul to vegetarianism,'' Taylor was quoted as saying in Britain's Observer newspaper.

Taylor, who was assistant to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, said Asher and McCartney discovered a meat-free diet during a trip to India in 1967. According to the official story Linda, who died of cancer in 1998 and Paul became vegetarians in the early Seventies after seeing lambs gamboling outside their southern English farmhouse as their Sunday roast sizzled in the oven.

Linda went on to publish vegetarian cookery books and set up a multi-million pound meatfree oven-ready meal business. Linda might have used it as a ploy to rehabilitate her public reputation, Taylor told the Observer.

"Linda was never accepted by the group's fans,'' he said. ''The hatred she inspired was intense and would certainly have made it difficult for her to start any business under her own name.

"It's amazing how Linda has been beatified since then and her campaigns for animal rights have certainly something to do with it.''

But Geoff Baker, longtime friend and spokesman of Paul, was quoted in the newspaper as saying there was "no way'' Linda's conversion of Paul was just spin.

"It's true that Paul and Jane discovered vegetarianism together during their trip to an ashram (retreat) in India in 1967,'' Baker said. "But it wasn't until he was together with Linda that he developed the powerful anti-meat convictions he still holds today.''

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Televised John Lennon tribute honors WTC tragedy

The TNT cable channel's tribute to John Lennon was mourning for both the murdered musician and for the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

When the TNT cable channel planned "Come Together," its tribute to John Lennon, the show was going to be a benefit for gun-control groups, a concert "in support of a nonviolent world." After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, it inevitably changed. The rescheduled concert, which was broadcast live on Tuesday night from Radio City Music Hall on the WB network and on TNT, became a benefit for relief efforts through the Web site www.helping.org.

Lennon's yearning to give peace a chance, and his conviction that "love is the answer," made an uncomfortable fit with the prospect of imminent war. Instead, the tribute found a new focus: mourning both a murdered musician and the thousands of victims in New York and Washington.

Its avowed purpose became, in the words of the show's host, Kevin Spacey, "to not only keep John's songs alive but to help rebuild New York." The most touching moment was broadcast from Central Park, where Cyndi Lauper sang "Strawberry Fields" next to the memorial to Lennon, with circles of candles flickering on the mosaic that reads, "Imagine."

The set for the show was based on the white room where Lennon made the video for "Imagine" and included a white grand piano like the one he used. At the music hall, concertgoers saw Lennon's home movies and heard his music during the broadcast's commercials.

"Imagine" itself, belted by the gospel singer Yolanda Adams with the onetime Beatles sideman Billy Preston on organ, sounded newly prescient and poignant in its longing for an end to countries, religions and possessions, with its utopia as distant as ever. It was just one moment in which an old song adapted to a new historical moment a testament both to the wise generality of Lennon's writing and to fans' willingness to place themselves within a song.

Actors including Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Leelee Sobieski, Steve Buscemi and Benjamin Bratt condemned the attacks and praised heroic rescue workers and the city itself. Punctuated by videotaped interviews with Lennon, they cast his songs as dreams of a one-world community and transmutations of pain into beauty. Behind the performers, video screens showed New York scenes, hard-working firefighters and American flags.

Many of Lennon's songs are filled with a sense of private loss that has now taken on a public resonance. When Dave Matthews gently sang "In My Life," its "places I'll remember . . . Some have gone" seemed utterly specific. The hallucinatory itinerary of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," sung by Marc Anthony, became a New York travelogue, with all its whimsicality vanished. When Nelly Furtado and David Stewart performed "Instant Karma," its peak came with Ms. Furtado trumpeting "surely not to live in pain and fear." And Natalie Merchant sang "Nowhere Man" without a hint of its original disdain, turning it into a folk-rock lullaby for someone bewildered and displaced.

The program's original character, as an all-star musical tribute, emerged now and then. Mr. Spacey had a moment of celebrity karaoke, singing "Mind Games" as a finely detailed Lennon impression. Stone Temple Pilots did their own Lennon imitation as they replicated the Beatles' fuzz-toned "Revolution." Sean Lennon, Lennon's son with Yoko Ono (the show's executive producer), harmonized with Rufus Wainwright on Lennon's "Across the Universe" and "This Boy," and sang "Julia" alone, his voice a lighter echo of his father's.

Lou Reed made "Jealous Guy" completely his own, a volatile rocker that turned each verse into a cycle of tongue-tied bewilderment, fury and partial apology, warning, "I'm a jealous guy watch out!" Alanis Morrissette gave "Dear Prudence" a touch of Eastern drone and mysticism. Shelby Lynne, who lost her own parents to violence, sang Lennon's primal "Mother," though the large band led by Dave Stewart made it sound strangely triumphant rather than lonely.

Craig David, an English pop-soul singer, dared to add some words to Lennon's own in "Come Together," with a quick-tongued rap that acknowledged, "It's real hard to try and say goodbye when it feels like yesterday" and "the heroes are the real superstars." The reggae singer Shaggy introduced "Give Peace a Chance" with another rap calling for "no more terror, no more wars," and added, "It's peace we need." But "Give Peace a Chance" soon segued to another, more pugnacious Lennon song: "Power to the People" a sentiment from the 1960's that awaits its 21st-century meanings.

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John Lennon Concert Tribute

There's nothing like some comforting John Lennon songs during a time of healing. Alanis Morissette. Dave Matthews and Nelly Furtado will revive some of the former Beatle's classic songs during a live Radio City Music Hall event co-produced by Yoko Ono.

When Yoko Ono decide to put together an evening celebrating John Lennon's life and career, she had no idea his peaceful lyrics and pleas for compassion would be so timely.

An all-star list of performers, including Dave Matthews, Alanis Morissette and Stone Temple Pilots singing "Revolution" are set for the Radio City Music Hall event Tuesday night in what's bound to be an emotionally charged celebration of the late Beatles life. None of the remaining Beatles are scheduled to attend.

The event was initially set to air on Lennon's birthday, Oct. 9, with producers changing the schedule after the Sept. 11 attacks. It's now airing live on TNT Tuesday night and will raise funds for the Red Cross and various charities.

"It's an enormous situation," Ono told The Associated Press. "I hope that singing John's songs, songs that were written by someone who was also a victim of violence, will somehow help people."

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Lennon Still Comfort to New Yorkers

Ever since the attack, Lennon's words have been showing up around New York City. "Give peace a chance" and other famous quotes were scrawled on papers at vigils, like the massive one at Union Square, just days after the stunning events.

"The appropriateness of John Lennon's words, message and music is even more timely now," said Ken Ehrlich, co-executive producer of the event billed as "Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words & Music."

"New York City identified and shared a mutual love affair with John and Yoko," said Ehrlich. "Now more than ever, that unbreakable bond grows even stronger in this time of healing."
Kevin Spacey hosts the evening dedicated to the city of New York. Stars from all generations will revive Lennon's words amidst heightened security.

Matthews is expected to perform "In My Life," Cyndi Lauper offers "Strawberry Fields," and Marc Anthony will perform "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." Lou Reed, Nelly Furtado, Shelby Lynne, Moby, Sean Lennon and Ben Stiller as well as The Sopranos stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco are also expected to participate.

Ono hopes those performing will do more than help people heal. She wants them to have a good time. "This is a time when we need a sense of humor as well," said Ono. "Not just mourning."

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Merseycats Show

Merseycats (the rock 'n' roll children's charity to which belong for those of you who don't know) are presenting "THE BEATLES STORY" at the Southport Arts Centre on Tuesday 2 October. This is a two hour show by a band called The Bootles. This is not another "tribute" band but the story of the Beatles from their early days right up to their split, with narrative, slides and, of course, their music.

Tickets are now on sale. Please try to come along - bring your friends with you, it promises to be a superb show. If you would like to know more about the show, or Merseycats, please contact us at:
Derek.Peel@tesco.net

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