Fire up your XBOX 360’s and get ready to rock the wiimote Rickenbakcers and Casios my friends. The Beatles are coming soon to a video game console near you. It looks like I may need to finally upgrade my video game system because of this. I am still running an Nintendo 64 and an XBOX.
The time has come to upgrade and this may be the thing that pushes me to do it. 9.9.09 catchy. John’s lucky numbers just seem to pop up everywhere even after he’s gone.
Here’s what we’ve read.
The music of the Beatles will arrive as a playable video game for the first time on September 9, 2009 when The Beatles: Rock Band hits stores in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The game, which will be available for Xbox, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii on the same day, “takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career,” according to a press release issued by the title’s makers, Apple Corps, Harmonix and MTV Games. While there’s no playlist or word about venues and avatars, there will be a limited number of instruments issued that are modeled after guitars, basses and drums John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr used (regular Rock Band peripherals will be compatible, too).
Three offerings will be released on September 9th: The Beatles: Rock Band software; standalone guitars; and a limited edition premium bundle that will presumably include the game and some configuration of instruments. And there’s an incentive to pre-order now: the game’s makers say exclusive content will be accessible to those who reserve the game in advance through major retailers over the next few months. The game’s official Website is active and promises updates.
In case you missed it, Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl ROCKED the Grammy Awards last night. This wasn’t Paul and Dave’s first time together performing in recent memory.
“I Saw Her Standing There” (Feb 2009)
Here’s Paul and Dave Grohl live together at Anfield from last year in case you missed it.
“Band on the Run” (June 2008)
No Paul did not win a grammy award for His Amoeba EP, but it was an outstanding star-studded night. Checkout the complete list of winners here. As the article indicates, it was a mini-British invasion of sorts with several Brits snapping up many many awards.
Could you imagine spending your entire adult life being one of the most famous people on the planet? Truthfully, as much as I would wish and dream for it, it must be total hell. I imagine you have to be a pretty guarded individual. You have to constantly worry about the things you say, and the things you do in the court of public opinion.
I really don’t find what Paul says as too revealing. It’s his way of coping. I just find it interesting that he twists it around to focus on The Fireman. Yes, we know that Paul’s creative muses have many faces, but it’s a bit of it as a stretch to say it’s another personna. Yes, The Fireman-leanings of Paul McCartney are different, but it’s still a McCartney record afterall. Just a thought.
Paul on The View (Part I)
Paul on The View (Part II)
Here’s what we’ve read.
Paul McCartney keeps fame from driving him crazy by maintaining two versions of himself.
McCartney tells ABC’s “The View” he separates the real Paul from the famous Paul. He says Famous Paul does the shows and Real Paul goes home and watches TV.
No this may not have been John Lennon’s finest hour, but it certainly is a fun listen. If you haven’t heard any of the bootleg or outtakes from John’s fabled “lost weekend” then you me dear friends are in for a fun inebriated ride. I personally find the drunken ramblings of an ex-Beatle playing the moldy oldies quite hillarious. You have to give John credit for trying to get through these. Ahh to have been a fly on the wall. The “lost weekend” outtakes are some of my favorites out there.
Plus, it’s really funny to hear John sing about nipples. Enjoy! The tape has been leaked onto youtube in both stereo and mono. To those of you who are fans of the Lost Lennon radio tapes show this tape should sound a little familiar.
John Lennon – Just Because (mono)
Here’s what we’ve read.
Maybe it wasn’t John Lennon’s best musical effort, but a tape of an apparently inebriated Lennon warbling a cover of Lloyd Price’s “Just Because” brought a sobering $30,000 at auction Sunday in Los Angeles.
John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, seen here in 1969 at a Paris Flea Market.
I imagine that Paste Magazine will be adding to this list, but everyone ahs their favorite non-radio friendly Beatle songs. The first ones that come to my mind are: Hey Bulldog, Girl, and Bluejay Way.
The Paste list is a nice little start to kick things off though.
What are your favorite overlooked Beatle songs? We’d love to know yours. Please let us know in the comments below.
Here’s what we’ve read.
Today’s list begins a series that will recur every Friday for the next few weeks, in which I’ll highlight my favorite lesser-known Beatles tracks. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr wrote and recorded such consistently amazing songs that, even if you ignore all their #1 hits and everything on their famous Red and Blue best-of compilations (which I’ll be doing for these more obscure Beatles lists), there are still dozens and dozens of amazing songs, some of which you might’ve missed along the way-even if The Beatles are the biggest, most influential band in rock history.
As you get familiar with these songs, I think some of them might even surpass your old, more-overplayed favorites.
“Cry For A Shadow”
Never mind that it has no words, this jinglin’ and janglin’ Lennon/McCartney surf instrumental-originally released on 1963 EP My Bonnie-is one of the catchiest songs I’ve ever heard. I first discovered it when I bought a cassette copy of The Beatles Anthology while I was in high school, and proceeded to play it non-stop for about a week.
“Act Naturally”
This fun cover of Bakersfield country legend Buck Owens-sung pretty darn solidly by Ringo Starr-first appeared on the soundtrack to The Beatles 1965 film Help! I’ll go out on a limb here and say that Help! is even better than more lauded Beatles flick A Hard Day’s Night. I love the stoned shenanigans, muted colors and wide-open cinematography of Help!, and the music is way better, too. (After seeing a few of these lists, you’ll notice that I have a soft-spot for the more folk-rocky trinity of “middle period” Beatles albums: Beatles For Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul.)
“I’ve Just Seen a Face”
This gorgeous, unadorned acoustic number-also from the Help! soundtrack-is my all-time favorite Beatles song. It genuinely captures the kind of happiness you can know only after experiencing deep longing and sadness. Every time I listen to it, the purity of Paul McCartney’s vocal and the simple poetry of his lyrics wash over me, transporting me to a romanticized time nearly two decades before I was born; a more innocent time, when life was as wholesome, uncluttered and satisfying as the 12-string-guitar plucks George Harrison scatters atop all those Beatles-pretty chords. Of course, I know this time never really existed (watching a few episodes of Mad Men will cure you pretty damn quickly of any naivete about the early ’60s). Still, that place of innocence does exist, if only inside of McCartney’s song. I remember being baffled when I learned that he’d written the tune when he was just 16. How could a 16-year-old write something so affecting, so perfect, so… optimistic? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.
“I’m Only Sleeping”
From the chime of the opening strum, this song perfectly embodies its subject matter; I don’t think there’s a better example of a piece of music sounding and feeling exactly like what it’s about. It’s as if you could take the lyrics away and just have John Lennon lazily mumble indecipherable phrases in the same cadence and pitch, and everyone would still get the transmission, straight through their third eye.
“Rain”
This song was originally released as the B-side to 1966 single “Paperback Writer.” Both were recorded during the Revolver sessions but left off the album. The two tracks, taken together, are all the proof you’ll ever need of Paul McCartney’s mind-boggling bass chops and distinct, if erratic, style. “Rain” also features some of Ringo Starr’s most inventive drumming, a purposefully draggy feel, ringing guitars, classic three-part Beatles harmonies and a chorus so monumental it seems to sharply bend the space-time continuum (an interesting contrast, considering Lennon’s admission that the song was merely about how people are always bitching about the weather). You can almost feel the lysergic acid dripping off of this one, especially with the trippy backward vocals during the last verse. “Rain” is one of the first tracks to ever use this now-common technique. And many consider the short film below-which The Beatles debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show-to be the very first music video, planting the seeds for the MTV generation.
Paul has released a new video from his upcoming album, Electric Arguments. This is the first official video from any track off this album. Sing the Changes could be one of McCartney’s best songs in nearly 20 years.
Check out – Sing the Changes
Gigwise has a transcript of Paul’s London press conference to promote the Fireman album as well.
We couldn’t be more excited about this album. It is Paul at his most experimental and adventurous. It’s amazing how far out this album is at times, yet it remains totally accessible as well.
It’s so amazing to me that all of this is taking so long. I mean, it would be one thing if The Beatles were holding out on releasing the back catalog in a digital format due to remastering issues. Or, they were working out a scheme to really knock our socks off with a new lead-off single (ala Carnival of Light, or Now and Then) to kick-off the campaign which would usher in the Fab Four onto the digital marketplace.
That, folks, does not seem to be the case. Perhaps, the Apple record people, and our beloved Fab Four are singing that old tune… “Now give me money….that’s what I want…”
It would all really be a shame if that’s what all the foot dragging is all about. How much money is too much at this point? When is it all really enough? Just put the songs out please. I don’t care if it’s iTunes, or CD’s, or even freakin’ eight-tracks. I just want to hear the back catalog in a remastered format that does it some justice. It’s way too long overdue.
For now…it’s all about the money.
Here’s what we’ve read.
Last we checked, the full catalog of Beatles songs was supposed to be available for sale on the iTunes Store before the end of 2008.
Well, it’s not happening this year, according to one of the band’s two surviving members, and for all we know it may never happen.
“The last word I got back was it’s stalled at the whole moment, the whole process,” Paul McCartney told reporters gathered Monday for the media launch of his latest album, Electric Arguments. (link)
Paul’s PR machine is whirling ahead with the release of his new album. It is not a proper McCartney album, and instead under the Fireman moniker. This is Paul’s most pop friendly Fireman album, and the most accessible at points, but in many ways it’s also the most ambitious and experimental of all of Paul’s side-projects. So far it’s by far the most interesting and inventive piece of work that Paul has done in years.
It’s part heavy White album, meets Enya, meets ambient house music, meets Paul McCartney and all of his pop sensibilities. Pour all of those descriptions in a blender and mix it into a layer cake and you get Electric Arguments. Too many stunning moments to list on the album. A full review is forthcoming once I get a chance to sit with the album for a day or two. With each listen, though, it keeps getting better and better, and I find myself noticing bits that I didn’t before. Not that this album is a slow grower by any means, it hits you upon first listen, but there are little things that jump out with each listen.
Check out Paul and Youth’s interview on Pitchfork.tv
Here’s what we’ve read.
The Fireman — a two-man recording project consisting of Paul McCartney (the Beatles, Wings) and Youth (Killing Joke, Orb) — dishes on its upcoming third album, Electric Arguments in the below video interview with Pitchfork.tv.
Highlights:
Their music creation technique is collaborative. Youth might make a suggestion about a groove, then they talk back and forth,Paul runs in and out control room and studio, as Youth suggests stuff and they record ideas. Youth arranges them into a form, then they go back to work improvising over that. They also used the beat poet style cut-and-paste technique.
For the song “Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight” – they came up with the song’s “heavy, dirty groove” first, so any anger is apparently coming from there (some have speculated that it’s a song about his ex-wife Heather Mills). The title of the song comes from McCartney’s ’60s friend Jimmy Scott, the same guy who came up with “Obladi, oblada, life goes on, brah.” When someone would say “too much” he’d say “nothing too much, just out of sight.”
Checkout more details below, and see a VIDEO for “Sing the Changes” Continue reading →
Paul is adding a new movie to his own personal filmography. We all know that Mike Meyers is a HUGE Beatles fan, and it must be a great kick for him to be working with the Beatle legend.
Sir Paul will be getting into the frey on the next Shrek movie. I wonder what type of character our beloved Paulie will be tackling in the latest animated adventure. Whoever Paul lends his voice to, I’m sure it’ll be a fun ride. Maybe he’ll post a new track on the next Shrek soundtrack too.
Here’s what we’ve read.
Paul McCartney isn’t shy of getting involved in animated adventures – who could forget The Frog Chorus?
The Beatles great has signed up for a voiceover role in Shrek 4.
His old Frog Chorus co-star RUPERT THE BEAR will be jealous when he finds out.
Macca joins the list of huge stars involved in the ogre franchise – including CAMERON DIAZ and ANTONIO BANDERAS.
I read the news today: All Beatle news. 