World Party: What The Beatles Might Have Sounded Like Had They Been Just One Guy (Who Grew Up Listening to The Beatles)
Karl Wallinger c. 1991, Lennoning. DEVIN McKINNEY • Last week, my wife and I had the pleasure of seeing World Party perform at City Winery in Manhattan. World Party is Karl Wallinger, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has been making music on and off since the late ‘70s, first with The Waterboys and then on his own. For the last few [...]
The Beatles (at the BBC) Again
The Beatles, with Pete Best on drums, rehearse for their first BBC appearance, Playhouse Theatre, Manchester, June 11, 1962. Photo by Mike McCartney. DEVIN McKINNEY • What a bounty this autumn brings us. In addition to the long (as in loooong) awaited first volume of the Lewisohn biography (the multiple iterations of which will blanket like sweet snow our Fall [...]
Three Ways: Beatles write about landscapes
NANCY CARR * In the late 60s the Beatles had three strong songwriters (and really, was that fair to other bands?), and thus three distinctive ways of treating the subjects they wrote about—landscapes, love, drugs, etc. (That's without getting into the significant variations within each songwriter's work). This time, I want to consider what Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison saw when they looked at landscapes. [...]
Pop Chart Lab Beatles Charts
Graphic swiped from Visual News. MIKE GERBER • "To render all of human experience into chart form”—is this a good idea? Unclear. Must we prepare for the ascension of our new, chart-toting overlords? Beyond the purview of this blog. All we can say for sure: Brooklyn-based graphic designers Pop Chart Lab have produced another in their series of incredibly beautiful, [...]
The Fifth Beatle graphic novel
MIKE GERBER • In keeping with our recent spate of blather on Brian Epstein, I wanted to alert Greater Dullblogania about something that I am certainly getting for Christmas (with the Lewisohn book, it's looking mighty Beatle-y this Noel). It's a new graphic novel about Brian called "The Fifth Beatle." They've got a snazzy website, and a book trailer, which I'm pasting [...]
Tune In by Mark Lewisohn…
This cover is what happens when a club flyer has sex with the phone book. ...is coming and I cannot wait! MIKE GERBER • According to this article, it's off the press in the UK. According to the author, if you think you've seen an advance copy, you haven't. There are lots of editions—US and UK, mass market (960pp) and Extended [...]
The Beatles and David Frost
This Was The Guy That Was David Frost has died, suddenly it seems while on a cruise ship, at age 74. The most prominent overlap between The Beatles and David Frost was, of course, his involvement in their 1968 promo film for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution," which I've embedded at the end of this post. But there's much more to [...]
John’s Vocals on Don’t Let Me Down
Commenter Barb L. sent along this video of John's vocals on Don't Let Me Down, embedded below. (h/t openculture) http://youtu.be/X_1b0nZONes
Introducing…The Beach Pals!
From the wonderful site LiarTownUSA (h/t Jonathan Schwarz). Don't go there unless you want to lose two hours, minimum. I wonder if anyone's done a whole Pet Sounds parody album? Mr. Innes, your agent is on line one. I think they cover "Fiper in the Body."