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Beatle interviews, 1969-70
With Mark Lewisohn lately touting the recording of a business meeting where an album after Abbey Road was being discussed, I was particularly interested in this YouTube edit of interviews with all four Beatles during the same period. (BTW, I’ve heard tell of Lennon’s carve-up plan for decades—four songs for him, four songs for Paul, […]
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Getting Better (Take 1)
A quick check-in with two goodies from the Pepper Super Deluxe Edition. Ooh, Take 1! I love how HEAVY the heavy part is, and how bright and optimistic the pianet is. Nobody did dynamic range like the Beatles. You can see how easily they could’ve done “heavy” rock, if the mood had struck. I’ve always […]
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Sgt Pepper Versus Revolver
Friend Stephen Kroninger sent me this list of the Beatles best albums today; not surprisingly, Revolver edged out Sgt. Pepper (with Abbey Road at #2!). This led to some interesting thoughts regarding Sgt Pepper versus Revolver, which I wanted to share. I’ve written about my love for Pepper many times before (probably most lucidly here), […]
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A Few Words on Conspiracy Theory
Who is this man? Several Beatles-related conspiracy theories—the idea that John and Paul were lovers, and the granddaddy of them all, the Paul McCartney death hoax—have emerged in the comments of late, and so I wanted to take a moment to share some strategies on how to deal with this kind of thinking. The goal […]
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A Secret History of The Beatles?
Is there, do you think, a secret history of The Beatles? In a private email, commenter Justin and I began talking about this Dullblog post—which, nearly ten years later, remains the best summary of my feelings on the breakup. (For those short on time: I think Lennon pulled away from Paul and the group impulsively, […]
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Who’s buying the Abbey Road Anniversary Edition?
I genuinely love Abbey Road—for what it is, and for the role it plays in the Beatles’ story, too. I agree with Michael Bleicher’s recent post: of all The Beatles’ work it is the least sonically dated. More than that, it’s always somewhat refreshing to listen to. To my ear, it mapped out a solid […]
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But Paul Is My Favorite Beatle
As I’ve written, John Lennon was my favorite Beatle growing up—for all the reasons we love John: his intelligence and wit, his directness, his unique gifts with words and music, his sense of larger purpose in the world and ability to inspire. Plus, I felt that as a young creative person in the middle of […]
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Peter Fonda 1939-2019
Actor and acclaimed Beatle tangent (“At a party at the Playboy Mansion in 1965, Lennon overheard…”) Peter Fonda died this week at age 79. As I said in this earlier post, I met him at a party in 2009, and we talked Fabs. He was tall and gracious and looked just like, well, Peter Fonda. […]
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John Was My Favorite Beatle
Everybody’s a baby. Commenter @Justin wrote this morning about John Lennon’s lousy reputation among younger Beatle fans, and the concomitant rise in esteem that Paul McCartney has enjoyed. This has joggled some thoughts about my own fandom that perhaps are worth sharing. I haven’t given this post the obsessive working over that I sometimes mete […]
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A John and Yoko movie?
Commenter @Hologram Sam found this item on Deadline from last October, and we’ve been talking about it a little on the Jann Wenner thread, so I thought it was worthy of its own post. Apparently the project teams the director of Dallas Buyers Club, Jean-Marc Vallée, with the screenwriter behind Bohemian Rhapsody. I don’t envy […]