Credit where it's due...
A few entries ago, I complained that all the 'classic rock' acts were as bad as each other when it came to exploiting their back catalogues for maximum profits.Well, I was wrong. My friend Stuart...
View ArticleMan On The Run
Two live appearances on Later With Jools Holland, and an ITV interview with Dermot O'Leary, have alerted the British public to the return of Paul McCartney's Band On The Run album.The Jools Holland...
View ArticleMcCartney "Scoop"? Ono
There was a mildly interesting interview with Paul McCartney in yesterday's issue of The Observer:http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/07/paul-mccartney-wings-beatles-lennonIf I'd never read...
View ArticleAlbum on the run
A new HMV store has opened in my local town centre, two years after the last DVD/CD shop closed. It's tiny, and is dominated by games and DVD box sets. The only CDs are in the two-for-£10 range, apart...
View ArticleThe Beatles on iTunes: Cock-up or Coup?
More than seven years after the launch of the iTunes service prompted Beatles/Apple executive Neil Aspinall to sue Apple Computers, the Beatles' music is finally available this afternoon for digital...
View ArticleRandom thoughts on the iTunes deal
The Wall Street Journal has posted an interesting account of the negotiations that led to the release of the Beatles' catalogue for digital...
View ArticleBeatles on iTunes: the Price is Wrong
Something for you to think about . . .The Beatles''red' and 'blue' compilations have recently been reissued as 2-CD remasters. They're selling for £9.99 in stores (if you can find a store) and £7.99 on...
View ArticleBeatles Reunion - The Inside Story
The Daily Star, perhaps the most prestigious of London's newspapers, has announced details of a Beatles reunion gig:http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/165537/Beatles-Get-Back-together/It says that...
View ArticleNo. 9 Nightmare
As a prelude to the sad but inevitable 30th anniversary of John Lennon's murder . . .. . . a reminder that, on the UK side of the Atlantic, John actually died in the early hours of December 9, 1980,...
View ArticleLiving With Lennon's Death
At five minutes to eight, I stumbled out of bed and across the cold room to the radiogram. I punched the button for the radio, and fell back gratefully beneath the covers. Through the weather forecast,...
View ArticleBeatlemania 1970 style
Forty years ago this afternoon, A Hard Day's Night was broadcast on British TV for the first time. It's not an exaggeration to say that this screening changed my life.If my memory serves me well, the...
View ArticleMiss O'Dell
A dose of Christmas flu confined me to barracks and gave me the time to indulge in the frothy pleasure of reading Chris O'Dell's memoir: Miss O'Dell: Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The...
View ArticleMiss O'Dell and the Final Beatles Meeting
When were the four Beatles together in the same room for the last time? Having reviewed all the evidence, I reckon that the answer is either 16 or 17 September 1969. As I wrote in You Never Give Me...
View ArticlePaul McCartney Archive Collection
"Coming soon to the Paul McCartney Archive Collection" is the headline on a small insert in the Band On The Run repackage, which I finally got around to buying (not the £75 version, naturally)....
View ArticleMcCartney and Ram
Returning to this blog after a couple of weeks when I've been lost in non-Beatles-related work, I see that I've received some fascinating information about potential bonus tracks on the McCartney and...
View ArticleWhat about the music?
From time to time, I check out what people have been saying about my book on Amazon (there are dozens of reviews on the US site, ranging from 1-star to 5-star) and on various Beatles blogs. If you...
View ArticleJohn, I'm Only Writing
What have I discovered over the last month? That it's impossible to maintain a blog about one artist (the Beatles) whilst spending seven days a week writing a book about another (David Bowie).So my...
View ArticleWhy are you so negative?
The full title should be: Why are you so negative about the Beatles' solo albums? Which is something I've read quite a lot in comments on US Amazon, and on random Beatles message boards and websites....
View ArticleHere, There & Everywhere
When I stopped writing this blog several months ago, I never imagined it would take this long to climb back into the saddle. But here I am . . .So where have I been? Well, as I announced back in the...
View ArticleMeet The Wife
The More4 TV channel in the UK (and Showtime in the USA) just showed a new Paul McCartney film: The Love You Make, documenting the run-up to the Concert For New York City ten years ago. (There's a...
View ArticleRun Of The Mill
George Harrison: Living in the Material World is the title of Martin Scorsese's epic documentary about the life, music and beliefs of the Beatle who was my original favourite of the group (at the age...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Beatles Albums We Lost
The other week, I decided to check the Elvis Presley archive on (UK) Spotify, to discover whether I had missed any major reissues or archive discoveries in the past twelve months. It was impossible to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Holy Nonsense, Batman!
If you ever have a spare week of your life to lose, you can track the fall-out from 1969's 'Paul is Dead!' conspiracy theory across the internet. There's a particularly entertaining (and apparently...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Come Together?
Somebody e-mailed me this week to ask about my new book on the Beatles: Come Together. "I haven't written a book called Come Together", I replied. "Yes, you have," they mailed me back, "and you can...
View ArticleDavid Bowie & the Plastic Ono Band
Influence is sometimes obvious, sometimes more subtle. For example: the Beatles openly demonstrated how much they respected their American rock'n'roll heroes by filling their early stage shows, BBC...
View Article