Beatles News 2006

This is the news section of Off the Beatle Track. It includes all the latest Beatles news edited by Richard Porter with the help our corespondents throughout the world. Our WWW version has the benefit of being updated regularly. If you would like to submit a news item to us, click here, as we want to keep this page as up to date as possible and can only do it with your help.

The webmaster of this site, Richard Porter, and his wife Irina have bought The Abbey Road Cafe in St John's Wood, London. They have re-named it The Beatles Coffee Shop.

The Shop is just a few hundred yards from Abbey Road Studios and the famous crossing.

For a report on the party click here

For photos of the party click here

Rumours are rife that Beatles songs will be available soon on iTunes - maybe as early as Valentines Day. It is believe an announcement will be made during the ad break for Superbowl.

The first set of songs to be released will be from the Love album (hence the Valentines Day timing) This will precede the release of every Beatles album remastered, with a sepcial edition of Sgt Pepper on June 1st - the 40th anniversary of its original release.

However it has to be said that no official announcement has been made from either Apple Computers or Apple Corps - as yet.

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It's also been reported that due to the change of rules on the UK singles charts counting downloads that the whole UK top 10 could be made out of Beatles songs if reports are true.

For the story click here

After years of refusing to make the move to MP3, the Beatles may give Steve Jobs' iTunes an exclusive.

Another report says there might even be a Beatles branded iPod

For a story on this click here

For a story from Apple clock here

The new Beatles album Love has entered the UK album charts at number three.

Above The Beatles are Oasis at number two and Westlife at number one.

In Australia Love has gone straight in at number two with U2 at number one.

To see the complete UK chart click here.

For a report on the signing click here

For Photos of the signing click here

For more photos click here

Paul McCartney Exclusive UK Signing Session London No.1 Piccadilly
Virgin Megastores - Wednesday 22nd November 2006 – 12:30pm

Following Paul McCartney’s in-store signing session yesterday at Virgin
Megastore, Times Square, New York City, Paul McCartney will make an
exclusive special appearance at Virgin Megastore’s flagship store in
London on 22nd November to sign copies of his classical album Ecce Cor
Meum and brand new live concert film DVD Paul McCartney: The Space
Within US.

This is a wristband only event. For the chance to meet music’s greatest
icon, pick up your copy of the DVD and/or CD on Wednesday 22nd November
at the No.1 Piccadilly Megastore and you will receive your wristband to
meet Paul McCartney. Paul will sign only these products, limit of two
autographs per person. Time and space are limited.

Ecce Cor Meum, Paul’s third classical album, was released on EMI
Classics in September and has remained in the classical top ten since.
It received its world premiere performance on 3rd November at the Royal
Albert Hall and will be performed in the US tonight at the
internationally renowned Carnegie Hall.

Apple Corps Ltd/EMI Music are to release the Beatles LOVE album in stereo and 5.1, November 20th. This will be the first Beatles album available in 5.1.

The stereo CD will contain 78 minutes of music. The DVD surround sound version on DVD disc album will be a slightly extended version with 81 minutes of music.

After being asked by the remaining Beatles, Ringo and Paul, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, to make experimental mixes from their master tapes for a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, Sir George Martin, The Beatles legendary producer, and his son Giles Martin have been working with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create LOVE. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road Studios, Sir George and Giles have created a unique soundscape. The release of this album, which is also featured in the Cirque du Soleil/Beatles collaborative production of the same name at The Mirage in Las Vegas, has been much anticipated.

"This album puts the Beatles back together again, because suddenly there's John and George with me and Ringo," said Paul McCartney. "It's kind of magical."

"George and Giles did such a great job combining these tracks. It's really powerful for me and I even heard things I'd forgotten we'd recorded." commented Ringo Starr.

"The album has the feeling of love and that's why the title is Beatles LOVE," added Yoko Ono Lennon, "They have let everything that is beautiful and daring come out."

"The music is stunning. I think the most amazing thing about it is that you can pull it apart and all the elements carry with it the essence of the entire song," said Olivia Harrison.

Tony Wadsworth, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music UK and Ireland said, "George and Giles' highly original work in creating the LOVE album gives us a genuinely new Beatles album. It makes us respect even more, if that were possible, the creativity and brilliance of the band behind the greatest catalogue in the history of recorded music."

The 5.1 disc is a DVD-Audio/DVD-Video hybrid. The audio is presented in high-resolution 96/24 5.1 surround on the DVD-Audio part of the disc. The DVD-Video part carries 5.1 surround in DTS and Dolby Digital as well as a PCM stereo mix. This DVD album is designed to be played on DVD video equipment but will carry no video component.

The LOVE CD and DVD track listing is:

1. Because
2. Get Back
3. Glass Onion
4. Eleanor Rigby
Julia (Transition)
5. I Am The Walrus
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. Drive My Car/The Word/What You're Doing
8. Gnik Nus
9. Something
Blue Jay Way (Transition)
10. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!/I Want You
(She's So Heavy)/Helter Skelter
11. Help!
12. Blackbird/Yesterday
13. Strawberry Fields Forever
14. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
15. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
16. Octopus's Garden
17. Lady Madonna
18. Here Comes The Sun
The Inner Light (Transition)
19. Come Together/Dear Prudence
Cry Baby Cry (Transition)
20. Revolution
21. Back In The U.S.S.R.
22. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
23. A Day In The Life
24. Hey Jude
25. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
26. All You Need Is Love

A spectacular Beatles tribute is set to be the highlight of next week's U.K. Music Hall Of Fame, it has been announced.

Razorlight's Johnny Borrell, queen's Roger Taylor, Corinne Bailey Rae, and Jose Gonzalez will apparently form a supergroup at the event, which takes place at London's Alexander Palace.

George Martin, who is to be inducted at the ceremony, will conduct a 31-piece orchestra, as the group play "Golden Slumbers," "Carry That Weight," and "The End" from Abbey Road.

For the full story click here

Paul McCartney has given an interview to the BBC about Ecce Cor Meum.

He talks about how he wrote it - and how he had to stop writing when Linda died. He also talks about his current situation with Heather.

Paul McCartney attended the World Premiere of his new classical piece Ecce Cor Meum at The Royal Albert Hall in London. Paul sat in the middle of the arena flanked by his daughters, Stella and Mary. Also present were Sir George Martin, Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Jeff Lynne and Neil Aspinall. Paul was seen making comments to his friends and family during the performance and looking like he had a good time.

At the end of the show Paul went on stage to thank the performers. He then made a special thanks to his friends and family in the audience.

For a review of the night please click here.

For some photos from the Albert Hall Click here

The Fest for Beatles Fans is going to Las Vegas for the first time.

For a report on the sale click here.

The house is one of the many places visited on London Beatles Walks. For more info please click here.

In the last few days the British tabloid newspapers have been full of allegations of Paul McCartney's treatment of his wife Heather. The claims were made in legal papers leaked to the press.

We have decided not to repeat these allegations here - but instead print the following official statement issued by Paul's solicitors.

"Since the breakdown of his marriage Sir Paul McCartney has maintained his silence in not commenting on the media stories believing that it was best for all concerned, particularly his children, for there to be some dignity in what is a private matter.

Our client is saddened by the breakdown of his marriage and requests that his family is allowed to conduct their personal affairs out of the media spotlight for the sake of everybody involved".

Both bands took time out of the recording session to pose on the Abbey Road crossing.

A fan was on hand with a camcorer to imortalise the event and has posted his video on You Tube. To see the video click here

YOKO ONO is staging two events in Iceland to promote world peace today, on what would have been her late husband JOHN LENNON's 66th birthday.

Saturday 7 October, 3:45pm Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue

The Raindance Film Festival is delighted to reveal that the film currently billed in Saturday's schedule as a 'surprise screening' will be Friendly Fire, a conceptual feature by Sean Lennon.

To accompany the release of the new Sean Lennon album, Friendly Fire, out this week on Parlophone, Sean has made 35mm film pieces for each individual track, produced by Michele Civetta. These fantastical shorts, which together comprise a conceptual film about betrayal and the failure of love, feature appearances from Lennon and friends including Lindsay Lohan, Bijou Phillips, Asia Argento, Carrie Fisher, Devon Aoki, Jordana Brewster and others.

Friendly Fire will show at The Raindance Film Festival this Saturday, October 7, at 3:45pm, the only UK screening of the film in theatres. The screening will be introduced by Sean Lennon, he'll then take part in a Q&A afterwards.

The Raindance Film Festival, widely known as a platform for independent films and aspiring filmmakers, will run from September 27 to October 8 and will feature 90 films screening over 12 days.

The full programme can be found on www.raindancefilmfestival.org/festival/

After being asked by the remaining Beatles, Ringo and Paul along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, to make experimental mixes from the original master tapes for a collaboration with Cirque du Soleil, Sir George Martin, The Beatles legendary producer, and his son Giles Martin have been working with the entire archive of Beatles recordings to create LOVE.

The result is an unprecedented approach to the music. Using the master tapes at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, Sir George and Giles have created a unique soundscape. The release of this album, which is also featured in the Cirque Du Soleil/Beatles collaborative production of the same name at the Mirage in Las Vegas, has been much anticipated.

"This music was designed for the LOVE show in Las Vegas but in doing so we've created a new Beatles album" said Sir George. "The Beatles always looked for other ways of expressing themselves and this is another step forward for them."

Giles continues, "We took all the Beatles' catalogue from tape, the original four tracks, eight tracks and two tracks and used this palette of sounds and music to create a sound bed. What people will be hearing on the album is a new experience, a way of re-living the whole Beatles musical lifespan in a very condensed period".

The album will be released worldwide in November 2006. Additional information, including a track listing will be available shortly.

http://www.thebeatles.com

The documentary The US Vs John Lennon has been released in the US and has received much press coverage.

To read some of the reports please click the links opposite

http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/09/28/451bb8f81cd36

http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=film&article=236

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/4212786.html

http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid23774.aspx

For the full story click here

Paul has given an extensive interview to the Times Newspaper - mainly about his new classical album.

However one other interesting thing to come out of the interview was that Paul is putting the 'finishing touches' to a new rock album.

Ecce Cor Meum will be performed by Kate Royal (soprano); Academy of St Martins In The Fields Orchestra; London Voices; Boys Of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and Boys of King’s College Choir, Cambridge. They will be conducted by Gavin Greenaway. This is the same cast that appears on the studio recording, which is released by EMI Classics on September 25th.

Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) is Paul’s fourth classical album since his first was released in 1991, The Liverpool Oratorio. The album has been more than eight years in the making and its origins follow in the historic tradition of composers that have been commissioned to write music for the world-renowned Magdalen College Oxford. Paul was specially invited by Anthony Smith (President of Magdalen College 1998 – 2005) to compose something to set the seal on a new concert hall for the college. His hope was for ‘a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over, in the same way that Handel’s Messiah is’.

In November 2001, the first version of Ecce Cor Meum was given its preview performance by the Magdalen College Choir,

The Royal Albert Hall performance will be a very special evening.

Friday 3rd November
Royal Albert Hall
Doors 6.30pm Performance 7.30pm
Tickets available from 020 7589 8212, 0871 230 2603
Or online at www.royalalberthall.com ticketmaster.co.uk
Ticket prices for this performance will be £60.00, £55.00, £45.00, £30.00 and £20.00.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison played in the converted coal cellar of the house in West Derby, in August 1959 as The Quarrymen.

Pity they didn't do the same thing for the original Cavern Club!

For the complete story click here

For more info about the stamps click here.

To see full illustrations of the stamps click here

The Beatles legend is apparently offering to pay it in instalments over the next 20 years, while she has to stay quiet about the demise of their relationship.

The News of the World claims that the pair got together three days ago in a log cabin at Macca’s sprawling East Sussex estate to discuss things.

To read the full story click here

Sir Paul McCartney has been named GQ Man of the Year at a glittering awards ceremony.

But the former Beatle, who has endured a torrid year because of his split with wife Heather Mills, was not set to attend the awards.

Liverpool’s long mooted Beatles hotel has taken another step towards completion with the release of images of how the £17m development will look.

The alarm was raised shortly before midday and the premises were evacuated.

Despite smoke and water damage - caused by the sprinkler system - a spokeswoman for the venue said the exhibition would be open to the public on Sunday.

"No-one has been injured and there has been no damage to any of the exhibits as the fire was contained in the stock room," she said.

"However, as well as ruining some stock, the fire also caused smoke damage and triggered the sprinkler system to go off in the reception which flooded the carpet.

"We've had salvage teams in and are getting everything back to normal so that we will be ready to open again on Sunday morning."

An investigation is being carried out into the cause of the fire at the exhibition, which charts the success of the Beatles from their early days in Hamburg right through to the break-up of the band and their subsequent solo careers.

Following Into the Sun, Lennon's acclaimed 1998 solo debut, Friendly Fire is a cinematic suite of songs which share the same dizzying wealth of musical styles as its predecessor, but eschews some of its freeform tendencies for more traditional song structure and some unifying themes.

The years between albums found Lennon collaborating with everyone from his mother, Yoko Ono, to Money Mark, Deltron 3030, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Vincent Gallo, Thurston Moore, John Zorn, Ryan Adams, The Boredoms, and Ben Lee, to name a few. But they also provided him with the opportunity to let Friendly Fire evolve naturally, at its own pace, and to limit participation to talented friends, of which he's blessed with many.

"There was a long period after the first album where I felt disillusioned with the machinery of the industry," says Lennon. "It's not that I stopped recording, playing and performing, I did all of those things, just more discreetly. Friendly Fire is an experiment to see what it might be like to do music more publicly again."

Produced by Lennon, the Friendly Fire sessions really got underway when he asked producer/engineer Tom Biller (among other things Jon Brion's trusted mixer for his recordings with Fiona Apple and Kanye West, as well as the scores for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I (Heart) Huckabees) and drummer Matt Chamberlain (Pearl Jam, Tori Amos) into the studio for two weeks of collaboration.

Where Lennon played most all instruments on his debut, the Friendly Fire sessions found him still writing most of the parts, but conjuring a shape-shifting "band" to record live to tape, mostly in single takes. Other participants included Jon Brion (organ, guitar, additional drums), Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda (piano, keyboards, bass), Harper Simon (guitar) and Bijou Phillips (background vocals), among others.

A childlike piano prelude introduces sweeping album opener "Dead Meat," the sweetest, most lush-sounding song to ever warn "In the end you're gonna learn/All you get is what you deserve." Similarly, the dark romanticism of the gentle, melodic "Parachute" intones "If I have to die tonight/I'd rather be with you."

The smoky, endearingly spooky "Tomorrow" is a cursed lovers' ballad picked up via deep-space transistor radio. Driven by handclaps and acoustic strumming, "Headlights" is most propelled by its gracefully-unfolding vocal harmonies. And a near-unrecognizable psychedelic reworking of Marc Bolan obscurity "Would I Be the One" floats and disperses before the album's final track, and perhaps its most literal, the forlorn and orchestral "Falling Out of Love." Lennon has also produced a short film for each of the album's tracks, directed by Michele Civetta. The fantastical shorts, which together comprise a conceptual film about betrayal and the failure of love, feature appearances from Lennon and friends including Lindsay Lohan, Bijou Phillips, Asia Argento, Carrie Fisher, Devon Aoki, Jordana Brewster and others.

As for the experience of creating Friendly Fire the album versus Friendly Fire the film Lennon says, "Music is invisible. I spend a lot of time in the studio with my eyes closed. This, thankfully, was not the case with the film."

SEAN LENNON, FRIENDLY FIRE

1. Dead Meat
2. Wait for Me
3. Parachute
4. Friendly Fire
5. Spectacle
6. Tomorrow
7. On Again, Off Again
8. Headlights
9. Would I Be the One
10. Falling Out of Love

For a theatical trailer for the album please click here

Paul McCartney releases his new full-length work of classical music through EMI Classics on September 25th, 2006. Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) is Paul's fourth classical album since his first released in 1991, The Liverpool Oratorio.

Ecce Cor Meum has been more than eight years in the making and its origins follow in the historic tradition of composers that have been commissioned to write music for the world-renowned Magdalen College Oxford. Paul was specially invited by Anthony Smith (President of Magdalen College 1998 ­ 2005) to compose something to set the seal on a new concert hall for the college. His hope was for 'a choral piece which could be sung by young people the world over in the same way that Handel's Messiah is'.

Ecce Cor Meum, an Oratorio in four movements, is scored for choir and orchestra. The text combines both English and to a lesser degree, Latin. Paul's knowledge of Latin comes from his classical education at The Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, where he had learnt three languages by the time he was 12. Paul says: "Not all of this has been retained over the years as my path went in other directions, but my love of language remains, and as Latin is known and sung by choirs all over the world, I felt it would be appropriate to use at times during the piece."

Like many great composers Paul, started with the music and then looked for a subject that fits. Several ideas for lyrics occurred to him, but they only gelled when he took part in a concert of John Tavener's music in the Church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York. "While I was waiting to do my bit, I was looking around the church and I saw a statue, and underneath it was written 'Ecce Cor Meum'. I had done some Latin at school and I always had a fondness for it. So I worked it out. I believe it means Behold My Heart".

In November 2001, the first version of Ecce Cor Meum was given its first preview performance by the Magdalen College Choir, which was conducted by Bill Ives at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. This was a great learning experience for Paul. "Eventually I made it all come together through correcting a lot of misapprehensions ­ a lot was learned before the Sheldonian performance, but a lot of it was learned afterwards. An experienced choral composer knows that children can't be given huge sustained passages; they don't have the energy and the stamina. At the Sheldonian there was some quite hard stuff that I didn't realise because I'd done it on the synthesiser (which has endless stamina!), but during that first performance, the solo treble couldn't come on for the second half ­ I think I'd used him up in the first half! These are things that people either learn because they are taught them immediately at the first lesson or you learn through the years, so it was good to go through the piece a lot of times, and we took out huge choral sections and gave them to the orchestra. If it had been a Beatles song I would have known how to do it. But this was a completely different ball game."

Produced by John Fraser, Ecce Cor Meum was recorded this year at the legendary Abbey Road Studios between March 13th and 17th. It was performed by EMI artist Kate Royal (soprano); The Boys of King's College Choir, Cambridge; The Boys Of Magdalen College Choir, Oxford and The Academy Of St Martin In The Fields conducted by Gavin Greenway.

The concert alerted the world to the plight of the Bangladeshi people. "UNICEF is honoured to have been a part of this Concert and proud that 35 years later we are celebrating the humanitarian work of George Harrison," said Chip Lyons, President of UNICEF. "Children's' lives, in Bangladesh and beyond, have been saved and improved thanks to the funds raised by The Concert for Bangladesh."
The film of the concert, released on DVD and CD last autumn, was recently certified 3 times platinum by the RIAA. All artists' royalties from the sales of the DVD and the CD continue to go to UNICEF. In commemoration, Ringo Starr and Ravi Shankar were presented with plaques, in New York and Los Angeles respectively.

www.georgeharrison.com

We are now offering for sale rare Beatles Photos from the Hulton Getty Photo Library. Hulton Getty is perhaps the biggest photo library in the world. They have many hundreds, if not thousands of Beatles photos and I will be offering special artprints for sale through a special Website. Each photo will be hand-printed to your specification. We will also be offering photos of other 1960s groups such as the Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and many others.

For more information please go to http://www.beatles-photos.co.uk