The Nagra Reels
Friend Levi points me to his friend's blog, "They May Be Parted." I like how particular it is—it's devoted to the Get Back sessions.
Mikal Gilmore: “They had thrown away something special”
DEVIN McKINNEY • "I've never come across a story that fascinated or moved me more than this particular one. The end of the Beatles was convoluted and acrimonious, but it was also transcendent." Read this if you haven't. It resonates nicely with discussions that have gone on here, mainly between Michael and various of our correspondents, about why the Beatles broke up. It's by Mikal Gilmore, journalist, critic, and author of Shot in the Heart, one of the best books I've ever read. It is an excerption from Gilmore's 2009 Rolling Stone article, as well as prologema to his planned 2013 release, [...]
Kate Powers on McBroom Photo
[This morning, as we were listening to Breakfast with the Beatles, my wife Kate launched into a long analysis of the Beatles photo that Apple has been using for its campaign, the McBroom session of April, 1969. I thought what she said was really funny and interesting, so I asked her to share it.--MG] Thanks to the combination of the Apple/iTunes Beatle campaign and the fact that I was reloading the Apple site every five minutes on Thanksgiving night (looking for the Black Friday discount that made it possible to buy the spiffy new laptop on which I am writing this email), [...]
A Momentary Lapse of Reason
The happy newlywed? Shirley Tilloch over at Beatles Til I Die has written a very interesting post originally inspired by one over here at Dullblog. This post of mine began as a lengthy comment to her post...until I got to the point where it was too long and went off in too many directions. So apologies in advance if what I'm about to say is a bit (or a lot) scattered. I think it's sufficiently original to be worth saying anyway. Briefly—and Shirley, please correct me in the comments if I mischaracterize you—Shirley writes that the presence of a 1969 [...]
It happened in Toronto
John Lennon onstage in Toronto 1969. "When is a shaky, under-rehearsed performance even better than a polished, high-octane explosion by an artist who is beyond iconic? When it's September 13, 1969, and John Lennon finds himself in the unenviable position of having to follow Little Richard at the Toronto Peace Festival. "Big-time rock & roll fan John Lennon had been invited simply to host the show, but then at almost literally the last minute he decided to play it, and rounded up a few heavy friends — Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, future Yes drummer Alan White and Yoko Ono — [...]
Flashback—1969!
http://youtu.be/6yIrMKLFFZg Did John go too far with the Two Virgins cover? Sissy Spacek thought so. Under the nom de disque Rainbo, she recorded this finger-pointing ditty.
More on the Rooftop Concert
DEVIN McKINNEY • This is an anniversary worth remembering—partly because it reminds us that next year's is the 40th. As Nature Intended is the essential Get Back boot from the great "second wave" of Beatle illicits that hit the market in the early '90s. But then came the third wave—and that crested, and conceivably was capped for all time, by The Complete 2 CD Rooftop Concert, issued on the Yellow Dog label in 2000. It is beyond comprehensive, surrounding the event from all angles and allowing us to hear-"see" it in something like documentary totality. Disc 1 has the complete concert itself, [...]
Get Back on the rooftop
Today's the 39th anniversary of the rooftop concert, perhaps the most splendid public nuisance in human history. I have it on Vigotone's As Nature Intended--anybody know a better source? While you're thinking, here's an outdoor version of "Get Back," audio only but we can all imagine it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txk0j8JVKbI
"Let It Be" dissected
Let It Be, Naked or not, makes me itchy; I chalk it up to all the crap vinyl boots I listened to as a kid. But not everybody shares my allergy; an academic from Chicago is poring through the sessions, tape roll by tape roll, on this site. What I've heard so far of Let It Be Dissected, I've found quite interesting, in spite of myself.