The Beatles

June 2nd, 2009 |

the-beatles

The Beatles were – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

The Beatle’s have very probably, provided the soundtrack to my life. I remember the first time I heard them play one night when they guested on ‘Sunday Night at the London Palladium’, a popular TV show in the UK back in the 60′s.This was about 1963 ish, and I have been hooked ever since.

John, Paul, George and Ringo, grew up in the busy port of Liverpool, I am not about to go into their life stories, suffice to say, they cut there teeth playing the bars and sex clubs of Hamburg, Germany, in the early 60′s.

The Beatles – Twist and Shout

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On returning to their home city of Liverpool, by now a tight combo, they landed a job playing in the ‘Cavern’, one of Liverpool’s more popular clubs. It was there that they met ‘Brian Epstein‘, a local entrepreneur and owner of a number of music stores in and around Liverpool. I guess the rest is history.

The Beatles – Penny Lane

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Penny Lane was filmed in and around the area in Liverpool of the same name.

You’re Going To Lose That Girl

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From the movie ‘Help!’

The Beatles UK album releases!

beatlesalbums

Subsequent years have seen the arrival of all sorts of compilations, some full retail and some bootlegs. My favourite is the ‘Love‘ album released in November 2006. It is a remix of the music used in the Cirque du Soleil production of the Beatle’s musical.

beatles-collage

The Beatles – Love (excerpt)

The Beatles Movies

The Beatle’s appeared in five major films, the majority of which received great reviews, with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour. This was a made for TV christmas special that at the time was, in my opinion, ‘greatly misunderstood’, however its reedeming feature is an excellent mix of music. You can watch all five movies from the links below, plus I have added the famous ‘Rooftop Concert‘ that bought chaos to the streets in and around Apple’s headquarters in London.

Click on the pic’s to view the film!

A Hard Days Night

A Hard Day’s Night is a 1964 British comedy film written by Alun Owen starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of their popularity. It was directed by Richard Lester and originally released by United Artists. The film was made in the style of a mock documentary, describing a couple of days in the lives of the group.

It was successful both financially and critically; it was rated by Time magazine as one of the all-time great 100 films. British critic Leslie Halliwell described it as a “comic fantasia with music; an enormous commercial success with the director trying every cinematic gag in the book” and awarded it a full four stars. The film is credited with having influenced 1960s spy films, The Monkees’ television show and pop music videos.

Help!

Help! is a 1965 film starring The Beatles and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. The soundtrack was released as an album, also called Help!.

An eastern cult (a parody of the Thuggee cult) is about to sacrifice a woman to the goddess Kaili. Just as she is about to be killed they notice that she is not wearing the sacrificial ring. It’s revealed that Ringo Starr, drummer of The Beatles, has it; sent to him by the victim and her sister, who is also the high priestess of the cult (both of whom are fans of The Beatles), and it’s on his finger. Determined toretrieve the ring and sacrifice the woman, the great Swami Clang (McKern), the high priestess Ahme (Bron)
and several cult members including Bhuta (Bluthal) leave for London.

Magical Mystery Tour

Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long television film starring The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) that initially aired on BBC1 on December 26, 1967.

The film was unscripted and shooting proceeded on the basis of a mostly handwritten collection of ideas, sketches, and situations, which Paul McCartney called the “Scrupt.” The situation is that of a group of people on a British charabanc bus (in a Bedford VAL Panorama) tour, focusing mostly on Mr. Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) and his recently widowed Auntie Jessie (Jessie Robins).

Other group members on the bus include the tour director Jolly Jimmy Johnson (Derek Royle), the tour hostess Miss Wendy Winters
(Mandy Weet), conductor Buster Bloodvessel (Ivor Cutler), and the other Beatles.

Yellow Submarine

Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated feature film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the soundtrack album to the feature film, released as part of The Beatles’ music catalogue.

The film was directed by Canadian-born animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate. The Beatles themselves appear only in the closing scene of the film, with the Beatles characters in the film voiced by other actors.

Pepperland is a cheerful music-loving paradise under the sea, protected by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which falls under a surprise attack by the music-hating Blue Meanies; the attackers seal the band inside a music-proof bubble, then turn the Pepperlander’s into statues and drain the countryside itself of colour.

Let It Be

Let It Be is a 1970 film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. Released 12 days after the album, it was the last original Beatles release.
The original premise of the film was to show the Beatles rehearsing and eventually performing a live concert. However, the band members had begun to drift apart for some time, and the project inadvertently documents some of the aspects leading to the band’s eventual break-up.

The Rooftop Concert

The Beatles, accompanied by Preston, performed on January 30, 1969

The Beatles played five songs during the rooftop performance: “Get Back” (three times), “Don’t Let Me Down” (twice), “I’ve Got a Feeling” (twice), “One After 909″, and “Dig a Pony”. The Beatles also played a brief version of the British national anthem, “God Save the Queen” and a brief rehearsal of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” while second engineer Alan Parsons was changing tapes. Those performances were omitted from the film.

After the final song, McCartney says, “Thanks, Mo!” acknowledging the enthusiastic applause and cheering from Maureen Starkey. Then Lennon closes with his well-known remark, “I’d like to say ‘thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition!” This exchange was spliced on to the end of the Let It Be album.