Shaping the Beatles' iconic sound

www.tmnews.com
Shaping the Beatles' iconic sound
Sound engineer Geoff Emerick recalls memories of band
BY Melissa Goforth,
News and Tribune
May 31, 2018


Legendary sound engineer Geoff Emerick works with Paul McCartney of The Beatles in this photograph. Emerick penned the book, “Here, There, and Everywhere,” based on his experience in the music industry.
Courtesy photo / Geoff Emerick


Never has there been — nor will there ever be — another first week on the job quite like the one Geoff Emerick had nearly 56 years ago.

The year was 1962.

The location was EMI Records at Abbey Road in London.

Emerick was only 15.

An innovative young lad with a love of music since the age of 7, he had stepped out in faith and interviewed for a sound engineering job at the famous studio.

His Dad went along with him on that interview.

He wasn’t confident he had made an impression. But, to his delight, Emerick received a call back from the studio and was hired as an assistant engineer.

Hard to top that lucky break.

But, fate still had a little more in store for Emerick.

On his second day of work, the self-described “button pusher” had the opportunity to sit in on the first EMI recording session of a promising band from Liverpool.

They were called The Beatles.

The song was “Love Me Do.”

And life was never the same for Emerick — or the world.

Not only did he serve as assistant engineer on many of the Beatles’ other early hits, including “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” but he went on to serve as the band’s chief recording engineer — starting a few months shy of his 19th birthday.

Emerick is the man responsible for engineering many of the often whimsical, sometimes bizarre but always distinctive sounds of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on the “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road” albums, considered by many to be some of the greatest rock recordings of all time.

For two solid nostalgic-packed hours, Emerick regaled a spellbound sold-out Southern Indiana audience with his colorful account of time spent making now-fabled musical history with the Fab Four.

As a special feature of Abbey Road on the River this past weekend, Emerick’s talk had diehard Beatles fans of all ages hanging on to his every word in a full ballroom at the Radisson in Clarksville on Saturday morning.


Sound engineer Geoff Emerick speaks at the Radisson Hotel during Abbey Road on the River on Saturday.

A LYRIC AND AN IDEA

During his presentation, Emerick was interviewed by Beatles aficionado Joe Johnson, a highly engaging and popular national radio personality who hosts “The Brunch” — a widely distributed Beatles-centric radio program and popular website.

Throughout their playful, trivia-filled conversation, Emerick did more than answer questions about the band’s creative process in the studio and how he achieved the sounds on their most famous and beloved songs.

He painted a vivid picture rich with lush details of how the Beatles were mere fun-loving mortals with mop tops who loved to cut up in the studio and make music together.

Emerick transported the audience back to the dawning of the rock era, traveling back to London in the 1960s, providing a fascinating look through his eyes as to how he brought to life the unique sound and distinct vision the Beatles desired for their music.

While he sorted out the myth, the magic and the lore of his now-famous moments with the Beatles during countless innovative brainstorming and recording sessions of some of their most beloved songs — including the “A Day in the Life,” “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” — the overriding reality gleaned from the talk was that Emerick was obviously the right man at the right time for the albums he worked on with the Beatles and their legendary producer George Martin.

“They basically came in (to the studio) with a lyric and an idea,” Emerick recalled.

A SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT

Emerick was nervous because he was still so young, and the Beatles were already known around the globe at that time.

That’s when he began working with the Beatles on “Revolver,” which includes “Taxman,” “Eleanor Rigby,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Good Day Sunshine” and “Got to Get You Into My Life.”

“Revolver” was the Beatles' final recording project before their surprise retirement as live performers.

Emerick remembers when Lennon walked in and announced the news — a bombshell the world knew nothing about at the time.

He remembers Lennon saying that — instead of touring — they were going to focus on studio work, making sounds and records never heard before.

“And everyone looks at me,” he recalled as the crowd laughed.

Ultimately, what Emerick felt were weaknesses — his young age and relative inexperience in the music business — turned out to be some of his greatest strengths for the band.

Emerick’s willingness to push the norm, ignore protocols and develop previously unthinkable techniques to achieve the Beatles iconic sounds mirrored the band’s experimental ideas, revolutionary thinking and rebellious tendencies.

The audio that came from this epic meeting of the minds between Emerick and the Beatles on still inspires musicians nearly six decades later.

Fans enjoyed hearing Emerick describe his everyday moments with the Beatles – describing McCartney as a “romantic,” sharing about Harrison’s wicked sense of humor and touching on Ringo’s pure likability. He also garnered many knowing chuckles when delicately describing how Lennon was “not aggressive” but rather “aggressive-like.”

A PARTNERSHIP COMES TOGETHER

There has been much discussion in the world of Beatles fandom about Emerick being dismissive of Lennon’s talent in his 2006 memoir entitled, “Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles,” co-authored by veteran music journalist Howard Massey.

However, on Saturday, much of the jaw-dropping stories of on-the-fly innovation and shockingly successful experimentation in the recording studio actually showcased an unrivaled sound-development process that was greatly fueled by the partnership of Emerick and Lennon.

While each member of the Beatles played an essential part in the band’s musicmaking endeavors, Emerick was quick to give credit to Lennon for thinking up the grandiose visions that Emerick translated into audio.

Emerick said he rose to those challenges by recording purposely out-of-sync orchestras, microphones in trash cans, fingers on wine glasses to create seagull sounds, backwards guitar playing and using audio recording tapes snipped into pieces, tossed up in the air and reassembled in random order (except for the two unbelievable times that luck would have the pieces come back into their original order, he said with a laugh).

He shared how Lennon even asked Emerick to make him sound like the Dalai Lama singing on a mountaintop from 20 or so miles away on “Tomorrow Never Comes.”

So, Emerick did, using a spinning Leslie speaker. The sound is now classic.

I SAY GOODBYE

Emerick kept things on a high note for the most part, but it wouldn’t be complete account of his time with the Beatles if he didn’t discuss a dark period in their relationship.

While working with them on the “White Album,” Emerick walked away from the Beatles.

They had gone to India with the hope of finding peace, he said, but instead the band “came back as angry people.”

After reading about how there was much tension on the trip, then seeing them bicker firsthand in the studio, Emerick was deeply concerned.

It then turned into great disdain for the situation when he felt personally attacked by Lennon.

However, in retrospect, he knows it was all a much bigger issue than anything about him and his relationship with the Beatles.

He said the studio equipment had aged and the band wasn’t happy at Abbey Road studio anymore. More so, the band members were trading barbs and the entire mood of the Beatles had soured. This became a toxic mixture.

As a result, the equipment and environment both were preventing Emerick from creating the magical sounds he and the band — especially Lennon — once loved and still expected.

After a particularly tense moment, he said Lennon stressed, “It’s not you, Geoff. It’s not you, Geoff!”

But, Emerick had reached his limit. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” he recalled.

So, he left the project. To this day, he has never listened to the “White” album from start to finish.

Time did heal the situation between Emerick and the Beatles, though, and he returned for the recording of “Abbey Road.”

He was pleased that the band was once more “fun” again, and the experience was a positive one for Emerick.

As he reflected on his time with the band, Emerick himself marvels at what was accomplished in a time before the world knew what computers could do — or what the Beatles would accomplish with a little help from their friend/sound engineer.

“Nobody had ever heard anything like that before,” he said.

Thinking back on the sounds and music he helped create, Emerick half-jokingly said his pioneering work for the Beatles was made possible through “bits of string, tape and glue.”


Geoff Emerick, left, poses with Nancy Riley, Atlanta, after signing her copy of his book, "Here, There, and Everywhere." Emerick was the primary recording sound engineer, who was instrumental in achieving The Beatles' unique sound in their albums including Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Revolver, and Abbey Road. Staff Photos By Josh Hicks

Beatles music inspired by Transcendental Meditation

The Beatles studying transcendental meditation 


www.mprnews.org
Beatles music inspired by Transcendental Meditation
MPR News Staff
Minnesota Public Radio New
May 30, 2018

https://www.mprnews.org/listen?name=/minnesota/news/features/2018/05/30/beatles_revolution_20180530_64.mp3

Fifty years ago Wednesday, the Beatles began recording what would become known as "The White Album."

The first song they worked on was one that John Lennon wrote in response to the protests against the Vietnam War. Most of the songs for the album were written in March and April of 1968 while band members were attending a Transcendental Meditation course in India.

Lennon would later say that the phrase repeated in this song, "it's gonna be alright," was borrowed from something the Beatles learned during the course. They were taught that God would take care of the human race no matter what happened politically.

Paul McCartney, in Ibiza

Paul McCartney flexes his muscles while hanging out on a yacht with his bikini-clad wife Nancy Shevell on Monday (June 23 2014) in Ibiza, Spain.




www.diariodeibiza.es
Paul McCartney, en Ibiza
El Beatle se encuentra en la isla, a la que llegó ayer por la tarde
Redacción
Ibiza 
28.05.2018


El cantante, en una visita anterior a las Pitiusas

Fuentes cercanas a Diario de Ibiza han confirmado que el cantante Paul McCartney llegó ayer por la tarde a Ibiza.
No es la primera vez que el exBeatle visita la isla. En 2014, Sir Paul McCartney disfrutó de las aguas turquesas de las Pitiusas y se le pudo ver tanto en Ibiza como en Formentera.

El exBeatle Paul McCartney lidera junto a su esposa Nancy Shevell la lista de los músicos más ricos de las islas Británicas, con una fortuna combinada de 820 millones de libras (935 millones de  euros), indicó hoy "The Sunday Times".

Según "La lista de ricos de The Sunday Times 2018", parte de la cual se ha adelantado hoy, el segundo lugar de la sección dedicada a la música lo ocupa el compositor de musicales Andrew Lloyd Webber, con un patrimonio de unos 740 millones de libras (844 millones de euros).


Paul McCartney, in Ibiza

The Beatle is on the island, which arrived yesterday afternoon

Sources close to Diario de Ibiza have confirmed that the singer Paul McCartney arrived yesterday afternoon in Ibiza.
It is not the first time that exBeatle visits the island. In 2014, Sir Paul McCartney enjoyed the turquoise waters of the Pitiusas and could be seen both in Ibiza and in Formentera.

ExBeatle Paul McCartney leads along with his wife Nancy Shevell the list of the richest musicians of the British Isles, with a combined fortune of 820 million pounds (935 million euros), said today "The Sunday Times."

According to "The list of rich of The Sunday Times 2018", part of which has been advanced today, the second place in the section dedicated to music is occupied by musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, with a heritage of about 740 million pounds (844 million euros).







McCartney encabeza "La lista de ricos de The Sunday Times 2018". EFE

Tom Murray’s Mad Day Out Photographing the Beatles

www.newyorker.com
Tom Murray’s Mad Day Out Photographing the Beatles
Rare photographs of the Fab Four, taken on a freewheeling day in London in 1968, are on display at Soho Contemporary Art.
By David Owen
Monday 28 05 2018
(The New Yorker 
Deep Cuts
June 4 & 11, 2018 Issue)


The BeatlesIllustration by Tom Bachtell

The British photographer Tom Murray isn’t crazy about Alexi Lubomirski’s official engagement and wedding portraits of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In one shot, the couple are sitting on stone steps at Frogmore House and leaning in to each other. “Harry is too round-shouldered,” Murray said the other day, during a visit to New York. “He’s squishing her, and he’s so hunched over that she can’t get close enough. And she should have both hands on top of his right hand, instead of one hand down here, where you can’t see it.” There is, in fact, something disturbing about Markle’s right arm, which seems to end at her elbow. “And, when you put your hand on the bloke’s hand, you don’t press,” he continued. “It’s the same with leg models. A lot of them lie on the ground and do the shots upside down, so that the blood runs the other way and you don’t see any veins.”

Murray is seventy-four. In 1969, when he looked more like Peter Noone, of Herman’s Hermits, than he does today, he had his own brief experience photographing royals. He’d got the job he had then, at the Sunday Times Colour Magazine, with help from the photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, also known as Lord Snowden, Princess Margaret’s husband, and the two of them often worked together. One day, Snowdon asked him to bring a camera to Kensington Palace. “I took some photos of him and Princess Margaret and their children, in their Aston Martin, looking back over the boot,” he said. “While I was shooting, a little old lady pulled at my shirt and asked what I was doing. It was Auntie Alice, who would be Queen Victoria’s last surviving grandchild.” Murray and Princess Margaret, whom he called M., became good friends. They went to movies together, and he took the children fishing. “One time, at Buckingham Palace, a corgi dog started biting at my ankles,” he said. “I gently pushed it off, and a voice said, ‘Who are you?’ ” The voice turned out to be Queen Elizabeth’s. “I told her what had happened, and she said, ‘Oh, don’t worry—that one is always doing that.’ ”


Photograph by Tom Murray / Courtesy Soho Contemporary Art

His other big break came on a summer day in 1968. As Murray tells it, Don McCullin—a distinguished war photographer and a Sunday Times colleague—asked Murray if he’d drive him around while he photographed a musical group. “I knew more about music than he did,” Murray recalled. “I thought I might get a few snaps, so I grabbed a Nikon and two rolls of Ektachrome.” When they arrived at the Times, Murray said, he heard someone playing ‘Lady Madonna’ on a piano. “We went in, and there were the Beatles, and I said, ‘Oh, shit.’ Don said, ‘Didn’t I tell you?’ ”


Photograph by Tom Murray / Courtesy Soho Contemporary Art

McCullin took a picture that appeared on the cover of Life two months later, and then they all went looking for interesting locations—an adventure known to Beatles scholars as the Mad Day Out. “They were recording ‘The White Album,’ and they hated their publicity photos,” Murray said. “John wanted to be photographed next to Karl Marx’s tomb, but when we got to Highgate Cemetery the gate was locked, so they stood in front of a little house nearby, and we shot them there.” Murray learned later that two young girls inside the house had shouted, “Dad! Dad! It’s the Beatles outside!” But their father hadn’t believed them, and by the time he got to the window they were leaving.

“It was a Sunday afternoon, and on Sundays in those days London was shut, literally shut,” Murray said. “If there had been mobile phones, we’d have been surrounded in thirty seconds, but that never happened. George would suggest something, and then Paul would suggest something, and we just drove around. We did cause two slight rear-end accidents, but nobody else noticed.” Murray shot the same things that McCullin shot, but from different angles—including an unforgettable scene of the Beatles sitting next to and leaning over an oldish man seated on a park bench, sound asleep.


Photograph by Tom Murray / Courtesy Soho Contemporary Art

Prints of twenty-three of Murray’s Mad Day photographs are currently on display, in two different sizes, at Soho Contemporary Art, near the corner of Bowery and Houston. (The larger ones sell for six thousand dollars; the smaller ones start at three thousand.) “That day was a gift from God,” Murray said, as he signed and numbered a print. “If I’d known who we were going to shoot, I’d have thrown up twice and taken four cameras and a hundred rolls of film.” A gallery employee carefully lifted the picture he had just signed. “I don’t want to be rude about it, but most of Don’s pictures from that day are crap,” Murray continued. “Mine are bloody marvellous, though. Gone are the days when I used to say they were O.K. They are the best.”

This article appears in the print edition of the June 4 & 11, 2018, issue, with the headline “Mad Day Out.”

Thursday, May 31–June 16

Tom Murray, The Beatles, Mad Day Out (1968). Photo courtesy of Soho Contemporary.

“Tom Murray’s the Beatles Collection, the Mad Day: Summer of ’68” at Soho Contemporary

MY LOST TREASURE: PAUL MCCARTNEY

wpdh.com
MY LOST TREASURE: PAUL MCCARTNEY
ROBYN TAYLOR
101.5 WPDH
May 23, 2018



We are working on a an alphabet/letter theme here on My Lost Treasure. We're doing a week of songs that begin with the letter A, then a week of Bs, and so on and so on. Kind of like the Letter Game that we play every day on The Boris and Robyn Show. Today it's another U song. And I'm going back to one of my favorite albums for this one.

By now I have probably played every track from Paul McCartney's Ram album on My Lost Treasure. And I'm pretty sure this one made it to the relatives theme. Or maybe the ranks theme. And it's back again for the alphabet theme. I'm sorry but it really is a stellar album. I wore out my vinyl copy years ago. But I have it on cd, so I still listen to it.



Got a song that starts with the letter U that you would like to hear? Or maybe a V song? Any song for that matter. Let me know at robyn@wpdh.com or find me on facebook. Thanks!

Paul McCartney lends Beatles track to NHS charity single

www.theprogressnews.com
Sir Paul McCartney lends Beatles track to NHS charity single
By Celebretainment
May 25, 2018


TownNews.com Content Exchange

Sir Paul McCartney has given his blessing to allow Beatles hit 'With A Little Help From My Friends' to be used for an NHS charity single.

The 75-year-old singer-songwriter released the smash hit with his band mates 51 years ago, but it is set to climb the charts once again as it will now be used as a charity single in commemoration of 70 years of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.

According to The Sun's Bizarre column Paul was approached by UK broadcaster ITV for permission to use the track, which will be re-recorded using the voices of a host of A-list talent.

American producer Timbaland is said to be on board to pull the project together, which is believed to be featuring The Script, Alesha Dixon, Eblow's Guy Garvey, Rita Ora, Jessie J, and UB40.

Chris Martin and Coldplay, Little Mix, Robbie Williams, and Olly Murs have also reportedly been approached for roles in the charity single.

An industry insider told The Sun's Bizarre column: "This is going to be huge.

"Think Band Aid but for a cause much closer to home. Obviously everyone involved has a ­personal link to the NHS.

"At some stage it has had an impact on everybody's lives, which is why so many of the stars have been quick to say yes.

"It's early days but the hope is that by the time the final line-up is confirmed, it will be all of the biggest names in the business."

Despite giving his blessing, the single - which will also feature vocals from the NHS Choir - won't feature Paul himself, as he has "prior commitments" that mean he won't make it to the recording studio.

The source added: "The first stage was to get Sir Paul to agree to the song being used and he gave it his blessing - although the rights are actually owned by a publishing company, which had the final say.

"Sadly he has prior commitments when the actual studio recording is taking place but they were delighted to have his approval. It will make huge amounts for charity."

The project will be filmed as part of a major ITV documentary set to air in the coming months, with proceeds from the single going to a range of good causes connected to the NHS.

This article originally ran on celebretainment.com.

Showing my support for the magnificent, underfunded NHS...Mum & mate with 2 babies in Liverpool. She was a nurse, midwife & health visitor. My dorter followed her as a proud nurse in Sheffield. Long Live the NHS! pic.twitter.com/xtNVVbT3U1

— Mike McCartney (@_MikeMcCartney_) 25 de mayo de 2018

Former Paul McCartney Guitarist Robbie McIntosh To Release Solo Album, ‘Thanks Chet’

 www.playbuzz.com




www.udiscovermusic.com
Former Paul McCartney Guitarist Robbie McIntosh To Release Solo Album, ‘Thanks Chet’
The album’s title is a tribute to Chet Atkins, “the first guitar hero of modern music.”
By Tim Peacock
Published on May 24, 2018




Robbie McIntosh, best known as lead guitarist with iconic artists including Sir Paul McCartney, The Pretenders and Sir Tom Jones, has signed a deal with Universal Music to release his new solo album Thanks Chet in June 2018.

McIntosh’s new record is inspired by his tours with former Beatles legend McCartney, where he performed a self-composed tribute to the late legend Chet Atkins, whom his album is named in memory of.


GET BACK, Robbie McIntosh, Paul McCartney, 1991

In a statement, Robbie McIntosh explained: “It is such a thrill to be signing a deal with Universal and releasing my own record and to know you can achieve anything in your life. More frequently we see older people with talent on TV shows and even more regularly those that dare to finally try to step out from behind the star, and I’m here to say you can still do it. Don’t give up on your dreams.”

The much-acclaimed guitarist – who has also played on tracks for Tears For Fears, Cher and Talk Talk – celebrates the genius of fellow guitar hero Chet Atkins on his album, which is a tribute to the sound that revolutionised rock ‘n’ roll.

Speaking about Chet Atkins, McIntosh added: “He was the first guitar hero of modern music. Chet played finger picking style but with incredible precision and because he was also a great drummer and bassist his guitar was like a band on its own – a real six string orchestra.”

The all-instrumental ‘Thanks Chet’ features covers of classics including The Kinks’ ‘You Really Got Me’, The Bee Gees’ ‘Stayin’ Alive’, and Kylie Minogue’s ‘I Can’t Get You Out of My Head’.


Wikipedia

It also includes an original piece by Robbie McIntosh entitled ‘Thanks Chet’, which is the instrumental interlude that he brought to Paul McCartney’s 1993 world tour.

He said: “There was one moment in the tour when the set had to change and Paul suggested I go out and play a little instrumental piece for a couple of minutes and I had this tune. It’s really a little nod to Chet who was the first guitarist I heard that made me go: ‘That’s what I want to do!'”

Thanks Chet is out on 8 June. The album’s tracklist is as follows:

‘Country Gent’
‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’
‘Quick Step’
‘Blue Eyes’
‘Stayin’ Alive’
‘I’ll Cry Instead’
‘The Ugly Duckling’
‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’
‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’
‘Whoops!’
‘You Really Got Me’
‘Thanks Chet’

Watch Trailer for Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' Graphic Novel

www.billboard.com
Watch Trailer for Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' Graphic Novel
by Gil Kaufman
5/23/2018


The Beatles Yellow Submarine Graphic Novel Trailer
Courtesy Photo

Fifty years after The Beatles' psychedelic animated movie classic, Yellow Submarine, hit theaters, Titan Comics is prepping a graphic novel take on the trippy adventure. In this Apple-approved version, Simpsons comics artist Bill Morrison re-tells the story of the cheerful, music-loving underwater world Pepperland's invasion by the marauding, music-hating Blue Meanies, who turn the citizens into statues by shooting arrows that drop green apples on their heads while imprisoning Pepperland's guardians, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in a soundproof globe.



Just before he's captured, Pepperland's Lord Mayor sends Old Fred off in the Yellow Submarine to get help in Liverpool, where he corrals Ringo and his pals, John, George and Paul, to travel back and battle the Meanies using love and music. The trailer for the novel presents the story in all of its brightly colored glory, with the Fab Four appearing as impish dandies and the frames filled to overflowing with Easter eggs that will delight the band's fans. The Beatles Yellow Submarine will be released Aug. 28 and can be pre-ordered  here  .

The trailer was first posted by EW. Check it out below.

The Beatles' Esher Demos: The Lost Basement Tapes That Became the White Album

www.rollingstone.com
The Beatles' Esher Demos: The Lost Basement Tapes That Became the White Album
The group's jovial May 1968 home recordings mark the last time they sounded like true friends
By Rob Sheffield
Tuesday, May 22 2018


Rob Sheffield looks back on the Beatles' intimate White Album demos in an excerpt from his book 'Dreaming the Beatles.' REX Shutterstock

Rob Sheffield's book Dreaming the Beatles: The Love Story of One Band and the Whole World is a celebration of the band, from the longtime Rolling Stone columnist. It tells the weird saga of how four lads from Liverpool became the world's biggest pop group, then broke up – yet somehow just kept getting bigger. Dreaming the Beatles, out in paperback on June 19th, follows the ballad of John, Paul, George and Ringo, from their Sixties peaks to their afterlife as a cultural obsession. In this section, Sheffield explores one of the Beatles' unheard treasures – the May 1968 Esher demos they recorded at George Harrison's pad, preparing for the White Album, not suspecting their friendship was about to turn upside down.



The end of May, 1968: the Beatles meet up at Kinfauns, George Harrison's bungalow in Esher. Just back from India, gearing up to go hit Abbey Road and start their next album, the lads bang out some rough acoustic tunes into George's newfangled Ampex reel-to-reel tape deck. The result is one of their weirdest and loveliest unreleased recordings: the Esher demos. There's nothing else in their music quite like this. Most of the 27 songs ended up on the White Album, yet there's none of that record's tension and dread. At Esher, they're having fun; they don't realize all the tortures they'll inflict on each other making the White Album. Instead, it's a moment of jovial, intimate warmth – for almost the last time, you can hear they're still in love with being Beatles together.

Fifty years later, the Esher demos remain one of the Beatles' strangest artifacts. When the boys gathered at George's pad in the last days of May – nobody's sure of the exact date – they had excellent reason to feel cocky about their new material. They wrote these songs on retreat with the Maharishi in Rishikesh, India, a place where they had no electric instruments. They also had no drug connections, which might help explain why they came up with their sturdiest tunes in years. As John Lennon said years later, "We sat in the mountains eating lousy vegetarian food and writing all these songs. We wrote tons of songs in India." John, the most distractible Beatle, had the hot streak of his life during his three months in Rishikesh, which is why the White Album is their most John-intensive record. (The previous album with the mostest and bestest John songs was A Hard Day's Night, four years earlier.)

When the Beatles regrouped in England, they decided to get together and tape home demos on their own turf before stepping into Abbey Road – an innovation they'd never tried before and would never revisit. So they met at George's hippie bungalow in the Surrey countryside, decorated in the grooviest Indian style. John showed up with 15 tunes, more than Paul (7) or George (5). On the tape, you can hear them relax in an informal setting – they sit around the living room, banging guitars or tambourines or shakers, breathing in the joss stick. They recline on leather cushions – George and Patti don't have anything so square as chairs.

The Esher demos are a real treasure trove; they mined it for years. Songs that got worried to death on the album are played with a fresh one-take campfire feel, just acoustic guitars and handclaps. A couple of half-finished sketches got saved for Abbey Road ("Polythene Pam," "Mean Mr. Mustard"), others for their solo records (Paul's "Junk," George's "Not Guilty" and "Circles," John's "Child of Nature," which he later rewrote as "Jealous Guy"). They whoop through each another's songs – even "Honey Pie" rocks. They sound excited to hit the studio and knock something out in a few days, like they used to, back when they had to. Nobody knows the sessions will be an endless nightmare straining to duplicate the loose feel of the demos. "Ob-Li-Di, Ob-La-Da" will go through 47 takes. "Not Guilty" will require 102 takes and not even make the album.

On the tape, they sometimes speak to Mal Evans and Derek Taylor, presumably there to make tea or roll the smokes. Ringo's a quiet presence, though you can hear him bray away on "Bungalow Bill." Yet the vibe is friendly – it's like the White Album minus the hostility, which might mean it's nothing like the White Album. Some songs are still works in progress – in "Yer Blues," John is "insecure" rather than "suicidal," while George's "Piggies" eat pork chops instead of bacon. George sings the excellent "Sour Milk Sea," which he turned into a 1968 hit for his Liverpool mate Jackie Lomax, featuring Paul on bass and Ringo on drums. The lads keep trying to crack each other up, like when John does his mock doo-wop monologue in "I'm So Tired": "When I hold you in your arms, when you show each one of your charms, I wonder should I get up and go to the funny farm? No, no, no!"

At the end of "Dear Prudence," John tells the story of Prudence Farrow, though the madness he's singing about is really his own. "Rishikesh, India," he says over the final guitar lick, as the others chuckle. "No one was to know that sooner or later, she was to go completely berserk under the care of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. All the people around were very worried about the girl, because she was going insane." He takes a deep breath. "So we sang to her."

It was a berserk time for the Beatles – all their lives changed within a few days. In the middle of May, John and Paul flew to New York to announce their new Apple Corps venture. They made a disastrous May 14 visit to The Tonight Show with Hollywood diva Tallulah Bankhead, who was no fan of "I Am the Walrus." It was a major get for NBC – the first time John or Paul gave an interview on any U.S. talk show. Unfortunately, Johnny Carson was on vacation. Instead, they had to make small talk with guest host Joe Garagiola, the Cardinals catcher turned sportscaster, who knew nothing about them and blew the TV opportunity of the year. (Garagiola: "What are you gonna do when the bubble bursts?" Lennon: "I haven't a clue, you know. I'm still looking for the bubble.") The 66-year-old Bankhead did her best to spice up the banter in her famous chain-smoking rasp: "I was eight years in England and never saw a cricket game, didn't understand one word of it. So how do you expect them to understand baseball?" Their comments about the Maharishi were wasted on Garagiola – the only Yogi he ever believed in went 10 for 24 in the '55 World Series.

But the really massive change happened within hours of John's return to England. He recorded Two Virgins with Yoko Ono in an all-night session where they wound up in bed for the first time, surprising poor Cynthia Lennon at breakfast and ending the marriage instantly. On May 30, the first day of the White Album sessions, the other three were stunned to see Yoko in the Abbey Road control room at John's side, where she remained permanently – even joining him on the microphone in the first day's version of "Revolution 1." From now on, they only had access to John through her. Paul, of all people, was the only one she felt gave her a proper welcome. "Paul has been very nice to me," she mused in her June 4 tape diary. "He's treating me with respect. I feel like he's my younger brother or something like that. I'm sure that if he had been a woman or something, he would have been a great friend, because there's something definitely very strong between John and Paul."

The Beatles spent five agonizing months making the White Album, often splitting up to work in separate studios. The fighting got so ugly Ringo quit for a week. In many ways, the Esher demos are the last recorded moment of the Beatles as a band. For the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, they tried to re-create this basement-tapes spirit, but instead documented their sad demise. Seven of the Esher songs appeared on Anthology 3 – "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," "Glass Onion," "Junk," "Honey Pie," "Piggies," "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam." The rest remain unreleased.

One of the most poignant moments is John's "Child of Nature," about India. ("On the road to Rishikesh / I was dreaming more or less.") Three years later, he recycled the melody for "Jealous Guy" – a love song to Yoko. But here John sings "I'm just a child of nature," in the same spirit as Paul singing "Mother Nature's Son." For these two city boys, nature was just a fantasy they shared, a family they could join to be brothers again. "Child of Nature" and "Mother Nature's Son" have virtually nothing do with nature – but much to do with each other, and the dream that everything they've broken can be healed. On the Esher demos, that bond of friendship is still holding the Beatles together. They would never sound as close again. 

Paul McCartney Blasted For Saying 'Meat Free Is The New Rock n Roll'

www.plantbasednews.org
Sir Paul McCartney Blasted For Saying 'Meat Free Is The New Rock n Roll'
A pro-dairy writer took offence to the comments published by 'The Daily Telegraph'
Maria Chiorando
PBN Contributor
May 21, 2018


McCartney is a vocal veggie (Photo: Facebook)

A pro-dairy and meat journalist has blasted ex-Beatle Sir Paul McCartney for saying that 'meat-free is the new rock and roll'.

Writing for Dairy Herd website, veteran writer Dan Murphy accused McCartney of 'waxing ridiculous on vegan food'.

He was responding to an interview published by The Daily Telegraph, in which the musician talked about his late wife Linda's impact on the veggie food scene.

Pioneer

During the interview, vegetarian campaigner McCartney talked about eponymous food line launched by his wife Linda.

He said: "I remember going out to a dinner with my then father-in-law [Lee Eastman, Linda McCartney’s father] at Claridge's. I said 'I'm vegetarian', and they looked puzzled.

"They brought me a plate of vegetables – just steamed veg. They couldn't think beyond that. We thought, hmm, we've got to try to do something to remedy this."

A cookery book and  Linda McCartney Foods followed - one of the factors that led McCartney to predict that meat-free food will be 'the norm' in 25 years.

McCartney has campaigned for people to ditch meat

'Fantasy'

Murphy took offense to this statement, describing it as 'outrageous'.

He wrote: "Connecting 'meat-free' with rock 'n roll isn’t the most outrageous statement the newspaper quoted McCartney pronouncing...

"Sir Paul ended the interview by proclaiming that, 'in 25 years, vegetarian food will be the norm'.

"I only hope I'm still alive in 2043 to take issue with him on that flight of fantasy."





www.agweb.com
Paul McCartney “Waxes Ridiculous” on Vegan Food
By Dan Murphy
MAY 21, 2018


Paul McCartney
© Eddie Janssens, Wikiportrait

I can’t help myself.

Every time I encounter yet another gushing media tribute to the latest commentary from Paul McCartney, I’m visualizing former SNL cast member Dana Carvey doing his spot-on impression of the iconic musician-composer turned vegetarian huckster.


(Check out the video  here   and tell me I’m not wrong).

Now, Sir Paul has outdone even his own overblown pronouncements about how the rest of us are supposed to arrange our lifestyles. He announced in a lengthy interview in the UK newspaper The Telegraph that “Meat-free is the new rock ’n roll.”

The comment appeared in conjunction with National Vegetarian Week, as McCartney waxed ridiculous on the 25th anniversary of the launch of the veggie entrée line marketed by his late wife Linda McCartney.

We seriously need to qualify that statement.

Paul McCartney, for all his formidable talents as a composer, arranger, musician and entertainer — he was one-half of the all-time most creative songwriting team in pop music history — cannot claim any connection to the legacy of rock ’n roll, nor can the rest of the Beatles, nor can any of the other bands that were part of the so-called “British Invasion” of the mid-1960s.

While the Beatles certainly recorded their share of early rockabilly and Motown classics (“Rock and Roll Music,” “Please Mr. Postman” and “Twist and Shout,” the latter a No. 1 single penned by Phil Medley in 1961 and subsequently covered by everyone from The Who to the Isley Brothers to Ferris Bueller), McCartney, et al., were neither contributors to nor pioneers in the rock genre.

But speaking of pioneers, here’s who McCartney is now claiming to be the originator of the vegetarian movement into which he continually inserts himself as guru and champion: Linda McCartney.

“[Linda] very much started the vegetarian movement,” he explained in a video accompanying the interview, noting that it wasn’t easy going veggie back in the 1970s.

“You wouldn’t have believed it,” he said. “We’ve forgotten how alien a meat-free diet seemed to most people in the last millennium. These days, vegetarians have never had it so good.”

Truckers Were the Target?
That wasn’t always the case, as he recalled about his early days as head of a family of confirmed veggies.

“Driving up the motorway, we wanted a snack, and we’d pull in the Fortes filling station,” he said, “and it was ham sandwiches all round.”

Doesn’t sound so bad, but apparently it was hell on earth for the McCartneys as they traveled England’s backcountry.

Thus, it makes sense, as Paul and Linda’s daughter Stella explained in the video, that the first vegetarian products introduced under the Linda McCartney Foods brand connected with that formative experience.

“She launched her foods with the truckers on the M-40 motorway (see the publicity photo below from that PR event),” Stella said, “and they loved them!”



Really? Take a look at the guy on the far right. His reaction doesn’t convince me he’s ready to embrace the vegetarian lifestyle; he looks like a lot of people do when they first bite into a veggie patty masquerading as a hamburger.

But connecting “meat-free” with rock ’n roll isn’t the most outrageous statement the newspaper quoted McCartney pronouncing.

Along with his fond hope that Linda McCartney Foods will “spread everywhere in the world” (cha-ching!), he offered a bold prediction that rivaled his former bandmate John Lennon’s hubris in claiming that “[The Beatles] are more popular than Jesus Christ.”

Sir Paul ended the interview by proclaiming that, “In 25 years, vegetarian food will be the norm.”

I only hope I’m still alive in 2043 to take issue with him on that flight of fantasy.

Editor’s Note: The opinions in this commentary are those of Dan Murphy, a veteran journalist and commentator.