Ringo puts up a Beatles reunion

Unless somebody gets the permission from the members and their families to produce a show with hologram versions of The Beatles, then I believe that this instance will be the closest we will ever get to a reunion of the Fabulous Four all of our lives.

The man responsible is no other but the Beatles’ drummer himself, Ringo Starr. Like the other surviving member of the group, Paul McCartney, Ringo remains active in concerts and recordings. Now he has a new album coming up next month titled What’s My Name and in one of the cuts is the very first time that the Liverpool lads have reunited in a song recording after they separated 50 years ago.

Here is how it happened. One of the cuts included in Ringo’s latest is a composition by the late John Lennon titled Grow Old With Me. The song was written shortly before Lennon was tragically killed on Dec. 8, 1980. It was later released in the posthumous album Milk and Honey that also features Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono. Ringo remembered those Lennon songs and decided to include one of them in What’s My Name.

He narrates how the accidental reunion happened in a statement sent to the Rolling Stone magazine. “I sang it the best that I could. I do well up when I think of John this deeply. And I’ve done my best. We’ve done our best. The other good thing is that I really wanted Paul to play on it, and he said yes. Paul came over and he played bass and sings a little bit on this with me. So John’s on it in a way. I’m on it and Paul’s on it. It’s not a publicity stunt. This is just what I wanted. And the strings that Jack arranged for this track, if you really listen, they do one line from Here Comes The Sun. So in a way, it’s the four of us.” Here Comes The Sun is a George Harrison song.

So there you have it. A Lennon song, McCartney on bass, Ringo on vocals and a bit of Harrison in the music. I can already imagine die-hard Beatles fans downloading Grow Old With Me the moment it drops come Oct. 25 and then listening closely to hear McCartney’s guitar and that little bit of Harrison. And then the thought returns, couldn’t these boys have stayed together longer? Then things might have turned out different.


What’s My Name is Ringo’s follow-up to his Give More Love album from two years ago. It also features collabs with Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter, Dave Stewart, Sam Hollander, Gary Nicholson, Steve Lukather and others. Ringo, who was recently on tour with his All-Star Band, is set to launch a new book, Another Day in the Life soon.

More Beatles news. Tourists can now visit the Strawberry Fields Orphanage in Liverpool. This was formerly a Salvation Army Children’s Home located beside the house of Lennon’s aunt. As a kid, he would often go over the fence to play with the children and those memories inspired him to write Strawberry Fields. The place is now a quiet sanctuary where young people with learning disabilities are taught skills to help them find employment.

Speaking of Here Comes The Sun, Harrison’s beautiful composition, has a new stereo mix that was released along with a new video last week. The video sees the sun rising behind the Abbey Road Studios where the song was recorded 50 years ago. It includes previously unseen photos and footage shot by the late Linda McCartney. The release is part of the 50th anniversary commemoration of the landmark album, Abbey Road.


Also part of the celebration is a new, truly grand mix of Something, another timeless and most affecting Harrison song, that is now available on Spotify.

As for McCartney, he is at present on the North American leg of his Freshen Up Tour for the album Egypt Station that has already taken him around the world. Did you know that he performed for free for over 400,000 people in Mexico? Well, only the likes of McCartney, one of the greatest entertainers of today can do that. He is also working on his first musical.

Happily for their fans, there is no end in sight for the Beatles.

source: philstar.com

McCartney, Morrissey show different paths of activism

DOVER | Paul McCartney dedicated a Beatles ballad to the victims of the Charleston church massacre as he voiced hope for peace among races.

The former Beatle enjoyed a rapturous welcome by thousands Friday night as he played the Firefly Music Festival in the eastern U.S. state of Delaware, where another British music legend, Morrissey, offered his own, more provocative brand of on-stage activism.

Early in a two-and-a-half-hour set on a steamy night, McCartney played “The Long and Winding Road” — the melancholy 1970 song that spoke of The Beatles’ breakup — in tribute to the nine African Americans gunned down at a historic Charleston, South Carolina church by a suspected white supremacist.

McCartney called on the momentarily hushed audience to “take a moment to pray for peace and harmony among the people of different colors.”

He returned to the theme with The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” with its call to “take these broken wings and learn to fly.”

McCartney recalled that he recorded “Blackbird” in 1968 as he looked at racial tensions engulfing the United States and added: “It has echoes today.”

But the rock icon was not exclusively somber, as he delighted the crowd with Beatles classics such as “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “Helter Skelter” and “Live and Let Die,” electrified by pyrotechnics on stage and fireworks overhead.

McCartney also dedicated songs to his late bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison and played a cover of “Foxy Lady” by Jimi Hendrix, as he spoke fondly of his time with the late guitar visionary.

McCartney, sweaty but with unmistakable stamina, turned 73 on Thursday. He was starting the latest U.S. leg of his “Out There” global tour that opened more than two years ago.

MORRISSEY THE PROVOCATEUR

Choosing a different path than the crowd-pleasing McCartney, Morrissey was characteristically unflinching in confronting the audience with his views.

Showing solidarity with the burgeoning U.S. protest movement against alleged police brutality, Morrissey sang underneath a video montage of officers roughing up citizens — including the notorious 1991 beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

“They say, ‘To protect and to serve’ / But what they really mean is / Get back to the ghetto,” Morrissey sang as he brought out his relatively obscure song “Gangland.”

But Morrissey faced the most emotive response as he showed grotesque images of the slaughter of animals, most writhing in pain, for “Meat is Murder,” the title track of his former band The Smiths’ cult classic 1985 album.

The video was presumably kept from a previous concert in Tel Aviv as it was subtitled in Hebrew and highlighted Israeli slaughterhouses.

Such videos are a mainstay of concerts by Morrissey, a staunch vegan. But the footage was clearly not anticipated by much of the Firefly audience, which was strikingly small for a Morrissey show and dominated by half-attentive revelers.

Several young men held up their middle fingers and chanted “KFC!”, in response to Morrissey’s denunciation of the fast food chain, although the jeerers were drowned out by applause.

Morrissey generally insists that his venues go vegetarian, with New York’s Madison Square Garden complying for his June 27 concert, but Firefly was meat-heavy with the closest food stands to his stage including “Cheesy Pig” and “Sausage Haus.”

Morrissey ended with the hard-charging Smiths track “What She Said,” delivering an intense version reminiscent of the performance on the former band’s live album “Rank,” with drummer Matt Walker concluding at Firefly by trashing his kit.

GROWING FESTIVAL

Set in the woods near the Dover International Speedway, Firefly started in 2012 in hopes of giving the US East Coast a major music festival in the league of California’s trend-setting Coachella.

Some 90,000 people are attending this year’s four-day event, the first time Firefly has sold out.

While many festival promoters face local tensions, Firefly has enjoyed support as officials take notice of the rapid rise of festivals in the United States, said Greg Bostrom, its director.

“Instead of saying, ‘Hey, 90,000 crazy, screaming kids, get them out of our backyard,’ they say, ‘Bring more,’” he said.

As if to reinforce the point, Delaware Governor Jack Markell showed up and voiced enthusiasm — not only for the economic impact to his small, tourism-friendly state, but for the music.

Citing recommendations from his son, the 54-year-old governor said he was most excited to see indie rockers Spoon.

source: interaksyon.com

Pearl Jam beats Paul McCartney to the top of Billboard 200 album chart

LOS ANGELES | In a battle of veteran rockers, Pearl Jam beat former Beatle Paul McCartney to the top of the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday.

“Lightning Bolt,” the 10th studio album by Seattle band Pearl Jam, who rose to prominence in the early 1990s grunge-rock movement, sold 166,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

British musician McCartney, 71, came in at No. 3 on the album chart with his latest record “New,” which sold 67,000 copies. That was behind Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz,” which dropped one spot to No. 2 this week.


The Billboard 200 chart measures both physical and digital album sales in the United States on a weekly basis.

Other new entries in the chart’s top 10 this week include folk-rock group Avett Brothers at No. 5 with “Magpie & The Dandelion,” while “American Idol” winner and country singer Scotty McCreery landed at No. 6 with his latest set, “See You Tonight.”

Country music singer Willie Nelson came in at No. 9 with his latest record “To All the Girls,” featuring duets with some of country music’s longtime female stars including Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn.

Indie folk rockers The Head and the Heart rounded out the top 10 with its sophomore effort, “Let’s Be Still.”

On the digital songs chart, which measures single track downloads, rapper Eminem shot to the top with his new single “Rap God,” knocking New Zealand singer Lorde’s “Royals” to No. 2 and Katy Perry’s “Roar” to No. 3.

Overall album sales for the week ending October 20 totaled 4.7 million, down 11 percent from the comparable week in 2012, Billboard said.

source: interaksyon.com

Paul McCartney admits soft spot for One Direction

LONDON - They've been dubbed the new Beatles and now British boy band One Direction have the seal of approval from one of the original Fab Four -- Paul McCartney.

"I like One Direction. They're young, beautiful boys and that's the big attraction," the 71-year-old said in an interview with Sky News television on Monday.

"But they can sing, they make good records, so I think that's what I would see in common (with The Beatles) -- girls love them."



He cautioned against taking the comparison too far, however.

"I always think it's a little bit unfortunate when you call (a band) the new Beatles. It can be the kiss of death because people expect you to live up to what we did," he said.

"We did what we did in a particular period in time, which was very different to now. I don't know whether it was easier to be a wild success, but it was different."

McCartney said he also liked Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and Bruno Mars -- but admitted many of his listening habits these days were formed by his 10-year-old daughter Beatrice.

"For what it is, I think they're really good records. Mind you, I've got a 10-year-old girl so we listen to that kind of stuff," he said.

McCartney was speaking as "New" hit the shelves in Britain, his first album of new solo material in six years.

He has worked with several different producers on the 12-track album, including Paul Epworth, Mark Ronson, Ethan Johns, and Giles Martin.

"It's not difficult to come up with something new. To come up with something new which is good is difficult, because you're stacking them against the stuff you've done -- but you've got to just forget that," he said.

"I love writing songs so I just have to say 'don't even try and better the old ones, just get on with it'. So I do. But I love doing it so much that I can't stop."

source: interaksyon.com