Well, it's night here in Santa Monica at least, erstwhile nest of Harry (and John and Paul, at least for a day or two in the Seventies), so I thought I'd share a few Pussycats-era demos from “The Beatles' favorite American artist.” (Thanks to the indefatigable Stephen Kroninger.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjKEu4UDXbo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTUL9LPy2Sw
Posted at the excellent aggregator and original writing site Longreads is David Gambacorta's exploration of the 1974 California jam session John Lennon and Paul McCartney engaged in -- the last time they would play together. Most Beatles fans will be familiar with the history Gambacorta recounts, but it's nice to see it laid out succinctly. Gambacorta does turn up a few facts that were, at least, new to me: for example, it's not clear what happened to the master tapes made that night. And the piece is well worth reading for the recent comments Gambacorta got from several people, including Elliot Mintz, [...]
Some people get Mania, others get Pandemonium Brother/good influence Jack Gerber just sent me this great cover of John Lennon's "Isolation" by JL's close friend/bad influence Harry Nilsson. It was unreleased until 2008, when it appeared as a bonus track on Aerial Pandemonium Ballet. Lennon covers almost never come close to the original; Lennon's paramount gift was to make his material feel so personal, indubitably his. It bothered him, especially post-Beatles, that fewer people covered his songs than covered Paul's, but you can understand why -- who could possibly equal his originals. Still, this version of Isolation holds its own, [...]