BBC4 at 9.50 tonight for all us Brits - 9 minutes of Later with Jools Holland featuring Paul. Before that, a true Hollywood classic The Band Wagon at 8pm, which I'm sure Paul himself would love. Highly recommended.
Posts made by dirkmcquickly
-
PAUL ON BBC TV
-
RE: McCartney 3?
Yesterday in a charity shop I picked up the "Put it there" DVD which I'd not seen before - it was wonderful, really good studio rehearsals with a great band. One hour of fine music including several Beatles numbers. If McCartney 3 is only half as good as that, it'll be worth it. For me, the last two albums went in one ear and out the other, a bit ordinary, which doesn't matter - there's been so much great music. He doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.
-
Ivor Cutler and the Beatles
Wonderful documentary on the Scottish humourist and singer by fellow singer-songwriter KT Tunstall on Sky Arts tonight.
Ivor featured in Magical Mystery Tour after John and Paul became big fans. Paul is shown in the documentary talking about Ivor in a 2005 interview - there are photos of Paul and Ivor sat in the street chatting. Ivor made eleven albums and died in 2006 at the age of 83. George Martin produced one of his albums. Ivor also recorded with the progressive rock band Soft Machine and wrote children's books.
-
RE: 80th Anniversary of John’s Birth
The wonderful thing is that, with all the passage of time, so much of John's music sounds so fresh, almost like it was made yesterday. It's no wonder that new generations keep discovering the Beatles - people are always looking for inspiration through music, and they don't find it in most pop and rock music today. They will always find it in the Beatles because they had something special, and the genius of George Martin helped them present it to the world. Equally, the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin and the writers of the Great American Songbook are still celebrated today because they too have something special.
-
RE: BEATLES ALBUMS ON ROLLING STONE'S NEW TOP 500 ALBUMS OF ALL TIME LIST
These lists are very subjective, probably only of interest to a few people. I would guess Rolling Stone is read mainly by white American male rock fans. A British magazine may come up with a completely different list. People of a certain age, like me, would know that Sergeant Pepper was a landmark album which has influenced everything that's come since. My impression is however that many rock/pop fans like only the music of their particular era, so Sergeant Pepper will keep plunging down the list until one day the list will be dominated by rap albums (or even worse, if that's possible).
-
RE: The most covered songs of all time
Without looking at the list, here's my guesses -:
Yesterday
Summertime
Something
Unchained Melody
The Christmas song (chestnuts roasting...)
and the number one must be Happy Birthday to you !!
-
RE: Sean Lennon to Interview Paul McCartney, Elton John for ‘John Lennon at 80’ Special
Just enjoyed the first part of Sean's programme. He and Julian sound so close, it was really heartwarming. Great interview with Elton too, really interesting perspectives on a complex and hugely talented man. Looking forward to tomorrow night's part 2, plus an earlier 2-hour programme, also on BBC Radio 2, looking at John's entire career.
-
RE: Reading & Writing Music
I'm entirely self-taught as a piano player - I started at the age of 60 with a portable keyboard and a list of basic chords, and six years later I have chord sheets for hundreds of songs, I've mastered plenty of jazz chords and had a lot of fun. I don't rely so much on Google for chord sequences now, I can work them out in many cases. So if I can do it with a modicum of ability, not reading or writing musical notation, then it's not so surprising that Sir Paul with all his musical talent and experience has achieved so much !
-
RE: Reading & Writing Music
All in all, Paul's not done too badly without the ability to read or write musical notation ! He's not alone either - Irving Berlin couldn't do it either, but came up with some of the greatest songs of the 20th century.
-
RE: For anyone who likes 'Flowers In The Dirt'.
I'm about half way through these interviews which are very revealing. Flowers in the dirt is a superb album, in my opinion one of the five or six really great albums he's done since the Beatles. He's in the fortunate position of being able to do pretty much what he likes, and to work with whoever he wants. It's interesting to see if someone can stand up to him, like Steve Lipson did over a middle eight. Elvis Costello brought the best out of Paul on that record - it had a freshness and energy that had been lacking for a few years. Rough Ride never sounded like a single to me - My brave face was a cracker, and deserved much more success than it had.
-
RE: Mystery of the Quarrymen and Buddy
Thank you for these fascinating posts - this thread I started may never produce an answer but it's interesting to speculate ! Rather like trying to establish beyond doubt that Shakespeare wrote all those 37 plays. Probably too much water has flowed under the bridge (and booze down the throat) for anyone to remember.
-
Mystery of the Quarrymen and Buddy
In Mark Lewisohn's brilliant, exhaustive (and exhausting) Beatles biography, he tells the story of how John, Paul and George inexplicably passed up the opportunity to see one of their heroes, Buddy Holly, play with the Crickets at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. The tickets were reasonably priced, and neither performance was anywhere near sold out. Instead they went to an illegal skiffle club. This was despite the fact that they'd seen Buddy on TV from the London Palladium a few months earlier, and drooled over his Fender Stratocaster. This seems incredible - does anyone know the real reason for this ?
-
RE: How George Martin made The Beatles possible
The marvellous book Revolution in the head, by the late Ian McDonald, is different from all the other thousands of Beatles books because it is purely about the songs and who played what. It brought home to me just how much Sir George Martin contributed as a musician and arranger, as well as a producer. Sir George's colleague Norrie Paramor was similarly essential in the career of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, and Quincy Jones in the same way brought the best out of Michael Jackson.
-
RE: Sir Paul McCartney admits that secret sweary message is hidden in Beatles hit
The Beatles may have started a trend for putting gobbledygook in lyrics - Lionel Richie admitted that a line in the middle of his song "All night long" was pure gibberish.
-
RE: Rockestra
I remember at the time seeing film of this 'supergroup' and getting the impression, rightly or wrongly, that some of them were thinking "here we go, another of Paul's vanity projects !" Certainly Hank Marvin, probably the most talented of the guitarists on show, should have been given a chance to shine. He is a superb jazz player in addition to the classic hit records he's known for with Cliff and with the Shadows. Instead he was submerged with the rest. Not Paul's finest moment, I have to say.
-
RE: The 50 Greatest Beatles Songs
It would be interesting to see a list ranked by a musician, from their point of view. I play the piano, but just for enjoyment, so I don't consider myself a musician per se, just a music obsessive ! The Beatles songs I find most challenging to play are Something and Here, there and everywhere. The chord structures are very interesting, and I've had to work harder on those than most. I play music of all types but mostly the Great American Songbook, Beatles, Bacharach, Brian Wilson and basically any popular song that has a good melody. In my life is one of those songs that has become a standard in the last few decades after being pretty much overlooked for a long time. That would probably be in my top 5, it's interesting to play.
-
RE: GIMME SOME TRUTH. THE ULTIMATE MIXES. OUT OCT 9TH.
They say that truth is the first casualty of war, and that's certainly true in this war against an unseen enemy. Over here in the U.K. it's a bit difficult getting at the truth, with confusion and incompetence in the corridors of power. John's song was never more apt.
-
The Beatles and the gorilla paw !
The great violinist Erich Gruenberg died earlier this month at the age of 95. Erich played on A day in the life, and on She's leaving home. An obituary says that he wore a 'prop gorilla paw' on his bow hand, at the Beatles' request ! If anyone has any further info on this story, I would be interested. Erich had a long and distinguished career based in Britain after escaping the Nazi menace in his native Austria, finally retiring last year.
-
RE: The Beatles and the Sxxxal Revolution
The Beatles music has had overwhelmingly positive effect on the world, which is more than can be said for the so-called sexual revolution, which has led to a rise in one-parent families, and a rise in numbers of people living on their own. Women have less freedom than ever, hence the need for the MeToo movement. The Beatles loved music of all types - they loved the Miracles and the Everlys as much as the girl groups. As writers, they wanted to be the next Goffin and King. Their success coincided with societal changes, and for me personally they were two different things. I love the music but their lyrics have never influenced my attitudes. They just made great records which will live forever. This is just a personal view.