Much as I love the Beatles, I do not need to spend $185 on Medicom’s Beatles Anthology Be@rbrick… Yeah, I like Klaus Voormann’s artwork for the Anthologies. But, I really do not need that. Nice. Don’t need.
Category Archives: Beatles
A Silly Walk Across Abbey Road
My Facebook feed — and yours, too, I’m sure — is filled with ads for bootleg, unlicensed t-shirts and has been for at least three years. I was going to write “months” there instead of “years,” but I remember that, when I was in Chicago on business in 2017, I saw someone wearing an unlicensedContinue reading “A Silly Walk Across Abbey Road”
Revisiting a Beatle-Esque Christmas
About two years ago, thanks to the Things We Said Today podcast, I learned of an album of Beatle-esque Christmas music, the Abbey Road Xmas Ensemble’s A Christmas Tribute to the Beatles. (There’s also this one, The Liverpool Christmas Band’s Beatle-esque Christmas, which looks like it’s the same material, but with karaoke versions of theContinue reading “Revisiting a Beatle-Esque Christmas”
An Unsatisfying Star Wars Salute to the Beatles
We need to talk about Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about and haven’t read vearious articles about it (like NPR‘s or Slate‘s), PLSDSP is an album that retells the story of Star Wars using the music of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. TheContinue reading “An Unsatisfying Star Wars Salute to the Beatles”
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) — An Unappreciation
I was driving into the office yesterday morning, and I heard “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” on the radio. I’m going to level here. “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is garbage. Maybe that’s overstating it, but not by much! The lyrics are uninspired, if not outright trite, and they barely even fit the melody. (LennonContinue reading “Happy Xmas (War Is Over) — An Unappreciation”
Live at the Hollywood Bowl!
I was never optimistic about a CD release of the Beatles’ Live at the Hollywood Bowl album for a number of reasons — the Beatles themselves weren’t fans of it (they didn’t have any right to veto the release at the time), and George Martin wasn’t happy with the sound quality of the recordings. ThisContinue reading “Live at the Hollywood Bowl!”
The Beatles LOVE Podcast
The Beatles have released a six-issue podcast about the making of the LOVE album. It’s not essential listening, but for a fan who likes to go behind-the-scenes, it’s fascinating to hear Olivia Harrison, George Martin, and Giles Martin talk about the music.
The Making of LOVE’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Cirque de Soleil today released a new video for the performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from their The Beatles LOVE show. While I don’t care much about that music video — I never really “got” music videos, as I like to experience music as music — the Beatles released another video today, thisContinue reading “The Making of LOVE’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps””
The Beatles Anthology Podcast
Last week the Beatles released a new 3-part podcast that takes a look at Beatles Anthology project from twenty years ago — “British music journalists and Beatles experts Kevin Holwett and Mark Ellen discuss the classic Anthology releases, shining a light on the fascinating stories behind these albums which tell the story of the developmentContinue reading “The Beatles Anthology Podcast”
Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition
What if the Beatles didn’t get a record contract with Parlophone in 1962? That’s the subject of BBC Radio 4’s radio play, Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition, adapted by Ray Connolly from his novella of the same name. Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2013, it was rebroadcast again this week, and I streamedContinue reading “Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition”