John Lennon/Beatles Mega Thread

[msLinds]

Blogcritics Music
November 12, 2011
Music Review: The Beatles - The Beatles with Tony Sheridan: First Recordings 50th Anniversary Edition

I admit, I’m very surprised to be so surprised by once again hearing the first tracks the Beatles laid down in Hamburg back in 1961 and '62. I can’t say how many times I’ve heard the eight songs produced by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert over the years, but I'd assumed I knew as much about them as any Beatles fan needed to know.I was dead wrong.

It’s rather strange to report that while other countries have enjoyed full collections of variant versions of these records for decades, it took 50 years for U.S. listeners to get an “official” package of songs which were intended to launch the career of British singer and guitarist Tony Sheridan. True, a two-CD set with the same eight tracks repeated over and over in often very similar mixes is likely to interest only collectors, completists, and musicologists. But when it comes to the Fabs, there are plenty of us around even if we’re likely to give this collection serious attention just once before filing it away for archival purposes.

http://blogcritics.org/music/article...s-the-beatles/

Radiotimes.com
November 12, 2011
How George Harrison split the Beatles
Biographer Hunter Davies remembers the Quiet Beatle - whose ambition was the real reason for the band’s breakup

George had been sitting for a long time cross-legged on the floor. He was putting new strings on his sitar while telling me about his spiritual life, about transcendental meditation, about reincarnation and stuff. I might well have been ever so slightly dozing off. This was 1968 and we were in his ranch-style bungalow in Esher, Surrey. George was in one of his more spiritual periods.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2011-...it-the-beatles

The Telegraph
November 12, 2011
Abbey Road Studios celebrates 80 years of recording

Abbey Road Studios, the recording studio made famous by bands such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd, has celebrated its 80th birthday just a day after it was sold to a French-owned rival.

On November 12 1931, Abbey Road Studios officially opened its doors with Sir Edward Elgar conducting the London Symphony Orchestra playing Land of Hope and Glory.
Despite hosting a number of landmark recordings from artists such as Fred Astaire and Glenn Miller, it was not until The Beatles named their 11th studio album after the recording studio that it began to find worldwide fame.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/m...recording.html

The Guardian
November 11,2011
Universal Music's £1.2bn acquisition marks end of the road for EMI

The deal trumped an offer by rival company Warner Music and is the first part of the breakup of the British music major.Universal Music has triumphed in the auction of EMI's recorded music division, home to the Beatles, Coldplay and Tinie Tempah, tabling a knockout offer of £1.2bn ($1.9bn).The deal is about $500m more than that offered to owner Citigroup by rival Warner Music, which pulled out of the running a week ago, and marks the end of the road for the British company as a music major.Friday's sale is the first part of the break up of EMI, with the music publishing division tipped to go to a consortium led by Sony for about $2.2bn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...?newsfeed=true