Latest Beatles News
The actual loudspeakers and amplifiers used by The Beatles in the recording of such iconic LP's as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "The White Album," and Abbey Road as well as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon are up for auction with an opening bid of $250,000. The pair of speakers and amps were used in the recording of practically every Beatles album, and housed in E.M.I.'s legendary Abbey Road Studios. The are currently up for sale at the GottaHaveRockandRoll.com website through Sept. 22. Meanwhile, rare archive of material relating John Lennon and Yoko Ono's famous 1969 "Bed In For Peace" in Holland is also up for sale at the gottahaverockandroll site. The archive consists of various signed photographs and other ephemera, with the highlight being two questionnaires filled out by Lennon during the "Bed-In" at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel in Holland between Mar. 25-31, 1969. In the questionnaire Lennon asks simple questions, with one answer being, "I feel tired. I want peace. And Food." - Music-News.com...... A global search appeal for Paul McCartney's original Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass guitar which the Beatles legend played on such hits as "Love Me Do," "She Loves You" and "Twist and Shout" has been organized by husband and wife team Scott and Naomi Jones, who are journalists and TV producers, and the Höfner guitar company. Since launching on Sept. 2, "The Lost Bass" project has received hundreds of strong leads to track down "the most important bass in history" after the Höfner company's Nick Wass told the BBC that Sir Paul asked him about the guitar during a recent conversation, which kickstarted the search to find it. "It's not clear where it was stored, who might have been there," Wass said. "For most people, they will remember it it's the bass that made the Beatles." The bass, which disappeared in Jan. 1969 when the Beatles were in London recording the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions, was the first bass McCartney ever bought -- he purchased it in 1961 for the equivalent of $38 in Hamburg, Germany. Jones first became interested in the guitar's whereabouts after watching McCartney headline Glastonbury last year. He approached Höfner only to discover they were already having conversations about tracking it down: "Paul said to Höfner 'surely if anyone can find this guitar, it's you guys', and that's how it all came about," Jones said. "Now we're working together on this. Nick has more technical knowledge about this guitar than anyone on the planet, and me and my Naomi are bringing some investigative skills." 
Since the project launched, the team has already received hundreds of emails, with Jones saying that two in particular were picked out because the information "instantly marries up with something that was known before." "We didn't expect to get necessarily thousands of super-hot leads instantly what I'm anticipating is that people who know something will probably just sort of reflect on what they know and then come forward at some point," he added. Jones concedes that it was possible someone could "innocently" own the bass "without realizing what they've got." He added that it's "worth looking at [finding] the John Lennon acoustic guitar" that he used to write "I Want To Hold Your Hand." "That guitar was stolen from a Beatles Christmas show in Finsbury Park in 1963 but it turned up 51 years later in America and somebody bought that guitar for innocently for 175 dollars." A photo of McCartney playing "The Lost Bass" in 1969 has been posted on TheLostBass.com's Twitter/X page. - Billboard...... Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have added another first to their legendary Beatles Billboard pop chart history by having the first song that shared credited billing between the two, or any of the four Beatles including John Lennon and George Harrison, enter the charts outside the group. Dolly Parton's version of the Fab Four classic "Let It Be," featuring Paul and Ringo, arrived on the Rock Digital Song Sales chart at No. 2, the Country Digital Song Sales at No. 15, and No. 22 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales chart for the week dated Sept. 2. The new version of "Let It Be" is set to be included on Parton's 30-song album Rockstar, which will drop Nov. 17. The Beatles' original topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in 1970. The closest such occurrence previously happened with McCartney and Starr both received credit on Give My Regards to Broad Street, which hit No. 17 on the now defunct Top Videocassettes Sales and No. 30 on Top Videocassettes Rentals charts in 1985. Other collaborations between former Beatles include Harrison's All Things Must Pass LP on which Starr played drums on several tracks, and all three living Beatles at the time contributed to Harrison's 1981 No. 2 single "All Those Years Ago." Meanwhile, both McCartney, 81, and Starr, 83, have busy schedules in the coming weeks. Starr resumes touring with his All Starr Band Sept. 15 in Lake Tahoe, Nev., and will release the four-song EP Rewind Forward on Oct. 13, and McCartney's Got Back Tour hits Australia on Oct. 18. - Billboard......Paul McCartney announced on his Instagram account on Aug. 23 he'll be performing his first concert in Mexico City in six years on Nov. 14 at the Mexican capital's Foro Sol as part of his international Got Back Tour. "I'm very excited to say that I'm going to Mexico to give some concerts with my Got Back Tour in November," Sir Paul said in a press release. "I have very good memories of Mexico. Every time we're there we have a great time. So let's create more wonderful memories let's rock let's roll. And let's have a party! Party!," he added. Macca's Got Back Tour kicked off on Apr. 28, 2022, in Spokane, Wash., and toured 13 U.S. cities. In June 2022, the former Beatle headlined the Glastonbury Festival in England. After his visit to Mexico, McCartney will continue his tour in Brazil, where he has five concerts scheduled between November and December. - Billboard...... 
In other Beatles-related news, Ringo Starr released "Rewind Forward" on Aug. 23, the first single and title track from his forthcoming four-track EP which will drop on Oct. 13. Rewind Forward also will feature "Feeling the Sunlight," which he recorded with his old bandmate Paul McCartney. Commenting on the EP's title, Ringo said, "Rewind Forward was something I said out of the blue -- it's just one of those lines like a 'Hard Day's Night'. It just came to me. But it doesn't really make sense. I was trying to explain it to myself and the best I can tell you about what it means is: sometimes when you want to go forward you have to go back first." The EP also features the tracks "Shadows on the Wall" and "Miss Jean," which saw Ringo collaborating with other "old and new friends," including long-time collaborators Steve Lukather and Joe Williams who wrote the opening song "Shadows on the Wall." The EP also features contributions from Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, Ian Hunter, Joe Walsh and Steve Dudas, among others. All songs were recorded at Ringo's home studio in Los Angeles except "Feeling the Sunlight," which was largely recorded in Britain. The new EP is the first fresh material Ringo has put out since his previous EPs Zoom in, Change the World and EP3 which dropped in Sept. 2022. Ringo will kick off a 14-city North American autumn tour with his All Starr Band on 17 Sept. 17 at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Canada. - Music-News.com, 8/23/23...... Twenty-five letters sent to George Harrison's mother Louise Harrison during the height of '60s Beatlemania from a young fan named Janet Gray are due to go under the hammer at the Liverpool Beatles Memorabilia Auction on Aug. 26. The pair are said to have had regular written correspondence between 1963 and 1966, and in one of the letters, Louise reavealed that she was "disgusted" at how audiences would scream throughout the Beatles' live shows. "I was disgusted at the way the so-called fans just screamed" at one of the Beatles' gigs in Manchester, Louise wrote. "Nobody with any sense would pay and queue for a ticket just to stand on a seat and scream and not hear one sound from the stage," she added. "I was really ashamed I was a female." The letter in question is expected to fetch £100-£150. Offering Gray some advice regarding her home life, Louise wrote: "I hope you will try and remember that your mum is your best friend, even if you don't see eye-to-eye on some issues. Thank God I get on fine with all my four children and they with each other." Per BeatlesStory.com, Louise and George's father Harold would "invite fans into their home and loved chatting to fans about their son's success." The late musician's mother -- who died in 1970, aged 59 -- is said to have replied to thousands of letters from Beatles fans around the world. In another letter dated Aug. 14, 1966, Louise expressed her concern for her famous son's health, mentioned a minor car crash he'd been involved in, and admitted to feeling overwhelmed by all the fan mail she had received. "I am hoping the boys will have a successful tour of America despite all the rumours we have heard," she wrote. More info on the upcoming auction can be found at BeatlesAuction.co.uk. - The BBC/New Musical Express, 8/15/23...... In other Beatles-related news, Dolly Parton shared her cover of "Let It Be" featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton on YouTube on Aug. 18. The country superstar's take on the Beatles classic is taken from her forthcoming 49th solo studio album, Rockstar, which will drop Nov. 17. Parton previously shared a cover of Queen's "We Are the Champions" from the new album. - NME, 8/15/23...... 
Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Alice Cooper has told the Ohio radio station QFM96 that he believes the Beatles would "absolutely" have reunited if John Lennon hadn't been murdered in 1980, a decade after the rock legends split acrimoniously. "Absolutely," Cooper said. "Here's the thing about them. When they were after each other's throats, when it came to the breakup and all that stuff, if anybody in the Vampires back in those days -- that was our drinking club -- if anybody said anything bad about Paul, John would take a swing at you, because that was his best friend. If anybody said anything about John to Paul, Paul would walk out of the room. He'd just walk out. Because you are not allowed to talk about their best friends. They were best friends no matter what was going on in the whole thing." Alice, 75, suggested Lennon wanted to make their music "more political" and that McCartney wasn't keen. He added: "One went one way, and one went the other. I think John wanted to be more political. Paul was not into that that much." The Coop's '70s L.A. drinking club, which also included the likes of Lennon, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Harry Nilsson, shares a name with his current supergroup the Hollywood Vampires with Johnny Depp, Joe Perry, and more. Meanwhile, Cooper has released the third single from his new LP Road, which is set to drop on Aug. 25. Alice said of the song: "'Welcome to the Show' is just that: telling the audience here it is. The show is ready to go, and we are fully loaded. Here it comes!" Road is Alice's first new music since his 2021 LP Detroit Stories, for which he has reunited with longtime rock producer Bob Ezrin. He recently wrapped a summer tour with the Hollywood Vampires. Music-News.com3...... Paul McCartney, who composed his 1991 "Liverpool Oratorio" work with composer Carl Davis, has paid tribute to the composer after Mr. Davis' family announced on Aug. 3 that he had died following a brain haemorrhage. "I was very sad to hear that my friend Carl Davis had passed away. Carl and I wrote the 'Liverpool Oratorio' together. It was my first full-length classical venture and I really enjoyed working with him to make it happen. I would show up at his house and we would start writing," McCartney posted on Twitter on Aug. 7. He added: "I would suggest an idea and he would write it down on the manuscript paper which made it easy for him to play the idea back to me and we progressed like that. He was a very skilful and fun man to be with." McCartney also shared a photo of the two sitting together at the piano, and closed his message with: "When we came to perform the piece at Liverpool Cathedral it was very exciting for me who had once failed an audition for the choir at the cathedral to be back there with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. I enjoyed my time with Carl very much and send my love and sympathies." Mr. Davis won a BAFTA and Ivor Novello award for his work on 1981's The French Lieutenant's Woman, and also worked on the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Pride And Prejudice. In other McCartney news, the Beatles legend has just added a second Sydney show to his forthcoming Australia tour, slated for this October and November. "Sydney, we've got great news!," reads an Aug. 6 message on McCartney's Twitter account. "Paul has added a second and final show at Allianz Stadium on October 28th, to his #PaulMcCartneyGotBack tour! More Information at https://t.co/KhK4WK9uaZ." McCartney announced on Aug. 1 that he'll launch a 6-city, 7-date tour down under on Oct. 18 in Adelaide, wrapping on Nov. 4 in Gold Coast. The announcement came just a day after he teased an international tour, and it is currently unclear if the musician will announce more global tour dates for the "Got Back" tour. - New Musical Express...... 
On Aug. 1, Paul McCartney announced his first tour of Australia in six years will commence on Oct. 18 in Adelaide. The day before, Sir Paul had teased on his social media outlets that he had "news coming soon" of some type of world tour on his social media outlets, and delivered the following day with his announcement of an "intimate" date at Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Oct. 18, the only arena show on the itinerary which also includes stops in Melbourne (10/21), Newcastle (10/24), Sydney (10/27) and Brisbane (11/1) before wrapping at Gold Coast's Heritage Bank Stadium on Nov. 4. When McCartney and the Beatles played Adelaide in 1964, at the very peak of their powers, an estimated 350,000 people lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the Fab Four. That's roughly one-third the city's current population. "I've got so many amazing memories of my time in Australia over the years," McCartney said in a statement. "Our last trip was so much fun. We had such an incredible time. Each show was a party so we know this is going to be incredibly special. Australia we are going to rock! I can't wait to see you." Joining Macca down under will be his longtime band, Paul "Wix" Wickens (keyboards), Brian Ray (bass/guitar), Rusty Anderson (guitar) and Abe Laboriel Jr (drums). - Billboard...... Paul McCartney and Steven Spielberg were spotted attending a screening of Christopher Nolan's new movie Oppenheimer at a cinema in New York's summer vacation hotspot the Hamptons on July 24. Sir Paul and the famous Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark director have known each other since 1986, when the former Beatle told Rolling Stone at the time that he sought out Spielberg's advice on the possibility of making a movie about the Fab Four's career. More recently, Spielberg noted that The Beatles song "Michelle" from 1965's Rubber Soul brought back memories of his first kiss in college. A pic of the two famous entertainment personalities attending Oppenheimer was shared on Christopher Nolan's Twitter account. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy recently said his wardrobe for the movie was partly inspired by David Bowie during his Thin White Duke era. "Chris sent me a couple of shots of David Bowie, certain periods in David Bowie's career, like Thin White Duke and around 'Young Americans' time," Murphy said. "He had these massive trousers and he was so emaciated but so fucking cool. So we used that, weirdly, for some of Oppenheimer's trousers." - New Musical Express...... In a new interview in the UK paper The Guardian where fans asked Brian May questions, the Queen guitarist was asked which artist he regretted not having the chance to work with. May responded: "I very seldom turn down a collaboration. A regret is that I didn't get the chance to work with John Lennon." He added: "The Beatles didn't always agree, they were always pulling and pushing -- a bit like us and Queen -- and I think John would be such a stronger pusher and puller. You'd have to work really hard to keep up, to believe in your instincts. I could imagine us hitting it off." - New Musical Express...... The likes of Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, Ian Anderson, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Gabriel, Carly Simon and Paul Rodgers were among the many music stars wishing Yusuf/Cat Stevensa happy 75th birthday on July 21. Yusuf first found fame with his debut album Matthew And Son when he was just 18 in 1967, before releasing such hits as "The First Cut Is The Deepest," "Father And Son," "Morning Has Broken," "Peace Train" and "Wild World" during a career that has spanned over 50 years. Yusuf, whose latest effort is 2023's King of a Land, told fans on his birthday that "Thanks to the One who gave us life after our lifeless non-existence -- to You is the Journeying." Posting to social media, Paul McCartney said: "It was wonderful to hang out with Cat in the '60s. We had some fun experiences together and I have always admired his music. It was a great pleasure to meet his wife and children in latter years and see how happy they all are as a family. From Cat to Yusuf he is a great singer and song writer and easy to admire." - NME...... 
On July 18 Paul McCartney announced a new podcast on the iheart.com site, McCartney: A Life in Lyrics, will be released on Sept. 20, 2023. Each episode will see Sir Paul focusing on a single song from his work in the Beatles and Wings as well as his solo career. Tracks included in the first season of the podcast series include "Eleanor Rigby," "Let It Be" and "Live and Let Die," among others. The series, which superfans can binge the entire first season of immediately through a subscription at Pushkin+, will also provide listeners an unrivaled opportunity to sit in on conversations between Macca and poet Paul Muldoon, who wrote the foreword to McCartney's bestselling book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. "When we listened back to the tapes, we realized there was something very special happening in these conversations," explained Muldoon in the prologue episode which is out now. "It was McCartney unfiltered. It was like going back to an old snapshot album, looking back on work I haven't thought much about for quite a few years," McCartney added. Regular fans can start listening to the first episode via iHeartRadio, Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms on Sept. 20, with a new episode coming out every week. Season one will feature 12 episodes and Season 2 will follow with an additional 12 episodes set for release in Feb. 2024. - New Musical Express....... In a new interview with Variety, Ringo Starr insisted the upcoming Beatles single will be the iconic band's "last track." Ringo, 83, and Paul McCartney have collaborated on a previously unreleased John Lennon demo from 1978 titled "Now and Then" that they, along with George Harrison considered making into a Beatles track in the '90s, and Starr says he's sure that this will be the final ever Beatles song released. When asked why they decided to release it now, Ringo joked: "I don't know. Paul must've had a slow day. Paul says, 'You know that track we did? Do you want to work on that?' I drummed on it and I sang on it. It is moving, because the four of us are there, and there won't be ever again." Now well into his eighth decade, Ringo says he has no plans to slow down. He said: "I can't hide it. You know what I mean? So I have to say: 83 today. Well, I'm here. It's not like a proud thing. It's just, this is where I'm at. I think I've got another hundred years in me." - Music-News.com...... Graham Nash will become the ninth recipient of the "John Lennon Real Love Award" at the 43rd annual John Lennon Tribute set for Dec. 2 at Town Hall in New York City. The event, staged by the nonprofit organization Theatre Within, will be held days before the 43rd anniversary of John Lennon's assassination on Dec. 8, 1980. The award draws its name from The Beatles' 1996 hit "Real Love," which Lennon wrote and recorded in the 1970s. Nash will play some of his favorite Lennon/Beatles classics and will be joined by such artists as Rosanne Cash, Judy Collins and Rita Coolidge. "This is a very special award," Nash said in a statement. "I thank Yoko [Ono] and the Theatre Within for thinking of me. Over many years, I watched John and Yoko 'fight the good fight' for many whose voices were not being heard, a fight that Yoko continues to this day. I'm proud to be associated with the many fine artists who were previously honored with the John Lennon Real Love Award." In her own statement, Ono said, "With its joyful annual John Lennon Tribute and John Lennon Real Love Project, Theatre Within is furthering the vision that John and I shared for a better world." Previous recipients include Cash, Natalie Merchant, Patti Smith, Ani DiFranco and Donovan. More info can be found at www.LennonTribute.org/join-friend. Billboard,......
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In a recent interview with the BBC Radio 4's Today talk show, Paul McCartney said that artificial intelligence has allowed him to create a "final" song by The Beatles -- which is set for release later this year. While Sir Paul did not explicitly mention which specific track he is now in the process of completing, it seems likely that the track will be one developed by Lennon back in 1978, titled "Now And Then." Macca reportedly received the demo from Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in 1994. It was featured on a cassette that John had made shortly before his death in 1980, and was titled "For Paul." Surviving members McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr contemplated releasing the song on their career-spanning Anthology series in 1995, although this idea was later scrapped. The Anthology series -- cleaned up by producer Jeff Lynne -- instead featured two other tracks from the cassette, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love." Completed in 1995 and 1996, both songs were labelled as the band's first "new" material in a quarter of a century. The reason why "Now And Then" failed to make it into the project was due to the extensive work it would need. "The song had a chorus but is almost totally lacking in verses," Lynne once told the BBC. "We did the backing track, a rough go that we really didn't finish." In an interview with Q magazine, Paul also said that the song was withheld from the compilation albums because George disliked it and there were a variety of technical issues in the original recording. "It didn't have a very good title, it needed a bit of reworking, but it had a beautiful verse and it had John singing it," he told the publication. "[But] George didn't like it. The Beatles being a democracy, we didn't do it." In recent years, Paul continued to discuss his desire to work on the track again -- particularly after the release of Peter Jackson's Get Back documentary, where dialogue editor Emile de la Rey used new technology to distinguish each member's voice and separate it from background noise. "So when we came to make what will be the last Beatles' record, it was a demo that John had [and] we were able to take John's voice and get it pure through this AI. Then we can mix the record, as you would normally do. So it gives you some sort of leeway." He added: "We just finished it up and it'll be released this year.... It's kind of scary but exciting, because it's the future. We'll just have to see where that leads." - New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, the upcoming biopic based on the band's early '60s manager Brian Epstein, Midas Man, has hired a new director to helm the film. The producers have reportedly hired Joe Stephenson (Doctor Jekyll to take over directorial duties from filmmaker Sara Sugarman (Vinyl) earlier in 2023. Sugarman is said to have left the project over creative differences and scheduling issues, according to sources close to the film. "When I was approached to take the helm of Midas Man, I didn't have to think twice," Stephenson told Deadline.com. "The last twelve weeks have been an epic journey and I can't thank my cast and crew enough. The Brian Epstein story has needed to be told for years and I'm honoured to finally bring it to the big screen." Epstein, the Beatles' manager from 1962 until his untimely death in 1967 at age 32, will be portrayed by UK actor Jacob Fortune-Lloyd. Midas Man has yet to receive a release date. - NME...... 
Paul McCartney's new book of unseen Beatles photos, 1964: Eyes of the Storm has become a chart-topper even before its June 13 official release. The book, which features unseen photos from The Fab Four's first transatlantic tour, has reached No. 1 on the Amazon.com tally for new releases. According to the description, it contains "largely unseen photographs [taken by McCartney using a 35mm camera] capturing the explosive period, from the end of 1963 through early 1964, in which The Beatles became an international sensation and changed the course of music history." The book, which is also available in a Kindle edition, features 275 photos captured around six cities -- Liverpool, London, Paris, New York, Washington, D.C., and Miami. There is also an introduction by historian Jill Lepore, along with a personal foreword by Sir Paul as he recalls the emotions and events that took place as the band played for British concert halls, and the excitement from fans following their first visit to the U.S. In conjuction with the release of the book, actor Stanley Tucci is set to interview McCartney to open the new Beatles exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London on June 29. The "Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes Of The Storm" exhibit will run from June 28-Oct. 1, and on June 29 the former Beatle will be in conversation with Tucci for an in-person and live-streamed event on 2:00 pm BST. "Looking at these photos now, decades after they were taken, I find there's a sort of innocence about them," Macca said of the exhibition. "Everything was new to us at this point. But I like to think I wouldn't take them any differently today. They now bring back so many stories, a flood of special memories, which is one of the many reasons I love them all, and know that they will always fire my imagination. "The fact that these photographs have been taken by the National Portrait Gallery for their reopening after a lengthy renovation is humbling yet also astonishing - I'm looking forward to seeing them on the walls, 60 years on, and reminiscing about those times with the wonderful Stanley Tucci." Tucci added: "I am honoured and thrilled to interview Paul McCartney about these photos and that time in his extraordinary life. A life that has changed all of ours for the better." Tickets for the livestream are priced at £10 and available at the npg.or.uk site, with concession prices at £5. - Billboard/New Musical Express...... Giles Martin, the music producer son of the late Beatles studio wizard George Martin, insists The Beatles "wouldn't have made" Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band without The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Giles, 53, has just worked his magic on a new mix of the seminal 1966 Pet Sounds album -- which featured the hit singles "God Only Knows" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" -- in Dolby Atmos, which is available to stream now. Martin heaped praise on BB principal Brian Wilson, 80, and insisted the Fab Four's 1967 masterpiece wouldn't sound like it does without taking influence from Pet Sounds. Recalling a conversation with his dad, Giles shared with MusicRadar.com: "I was with my dad on a plane once, and I just suddenly realised how awesome he was. I said to him 'Dad, what you did with The Beatles was kind of amazing, wasn't it' and he looked at me and said: 'not as amazing as Brian Wilson'. He explained to me that The Beatles always had him, and he had The Beatles. But Brian Wilson didn't have anyone, and he went and made this record. Without this record, The Beatles wouldn't have made Sgt Pepper." Giles adds thanks to Dolby Atmos technology, fans can hear instruments they never heard before on the original mix. Giles previously created Dolby Atmos mixes for a series of special Beatles releases, including 2022's acclaimed Revolver reissue. - Music-News.com...... 
Charles "Chas" Newby, a bassist for the Beatles in their early days who filled in for then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe for a number of live shows in 1960, has died of as yet undisclosed causes. He was 81. The news was first announced via The Cavern Club Liverpool's Facebook page -- where the Beatles rose to prominence -- on May 23, followed by Roag Best, the brother of former Beatles drummer Pete Best. The Cavern Club Liverpool wrote on Facebook: "It's with great sadness to hear about the passing of Chas Newby. Chas stepped in for The Beatles for a few dates when Stuart Sutcliffe stayed in Hamburg and latterly he played for The Quarrymen. Interestingly, he was also the first left-handed bass guitarist in The Beatles. RIP Chas Newby thoughts and well wishes from everybody at The Cavern Club." Roag Best wrote: "Both Pete and I and the whole Best family absolutely devasted to hear the very sad news with regards to one of the families closest friends Chas Newby passing last night. Many of you will know him for playing bass guitar for both The Beatles and The Quarrymen, but to us he was laid back Chas with the big smile. We'll truly miss him. Forever in our thoughts. God bless you Chas." Newby performed bass with the Beatles for a short span of live shows in late 1960, when then-bassist Stuart Sutcliffe was unable to perform with the band. Sutcliffe later resumed operations with the Beatles until his exit in July the following year. Newby was also the band's first left-handed bassist, followed by guitarist-turned-bassist Paul McCartney. Newby also played in the reformed The Quarrymen between 2016 and 2022. Since the news of his passing, Newby has received a handful of tributes including Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who wrote on Twitter: "RIP Chas Newby, fill-in Beatle and fair chap. He deputised for Stuart on a few dates when the Beatles returned from Hamburg the first time, end-1960, including the momentous Litherland date. Latterly he's been one of the Quarry Men too. A charming man, always a pleasure to meet." - New Musical Express...... 
Holding a press conference on May 17 ahead of his upcoming North American tour with his All Starr Band, Ringo Starr says he's "ready to rock." Sir Ringo, 82, is finally set to embark on his delayed 22-date jaunt, which he cancelled due to coming down with Covid-19 for a second time in 2022. The legendary former Beatles drummer has insisted he has never found touring or performing live to be "gruelling." "It's not gruelling playing. It's never been gruelling. I love to play. I love to play with these guys," he said. On his stamina, he continued: "I didn't think of it. I was just doing it. Yeah, it's been a long time ... I mean, 34 years with a couple of years' break because of the pandemic, but it's what I do. I love to play and I love to play with great musicians and I love to play great songs, and I get all of that from these guys." Starr kicked off the tour on May 19 in Temecula, Calif., and says he also has a country EP in the works with T-Bone Burnett, one of three new EP's he's working on. "[I said] if he's got any time and wants to do it... Well, he did want to do it, and he sent me, I promise you, one of the most beautiful country songs, tracks, I've heard in a long time. It's very old school country. It's beautiful. So I thought, 'Hey, I'm gonna make a country EP!'" One of the other EPs is a collaboration with legendary singer-songwriter Linda Perry, who has penned hits for Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani. "I just felt EPs, you could sort of look at it in a serious way and you can do it in a month. An album does take longer, so (EPs are) what I've been doing," Starr added. His 20-date tour is set to wrap on Sept. 23 in Kansas City. - Music-News.com...... In other Beatles-related news, a rare first pressing of the Fab Four's classic 1968 The Beatles album (aka "the White Album") has been donated to charity. The British Heart Foundation said on May 17 that the 1968 album, which included the original inserts and a fold-out poster, was given to its Sutton Coldfield branch. It is thought to be particularly rare as it contains a misprint unique to the first version of the record, of which there are only 10,000 copies. The charity has listed it on eBay, with bids starting at £999.99. Fans will be able to bid until the auction closes on May 22. "Our music and vinyl experts were thrilled when this valuable piece of music history was donated to the BHF," Richard Pallier, from the charity, told BBC. He also confirmed that the album was in "good condition" despite being over 50 years old. - New Musical Express...... Beatles legend Paul McCartney famously once said that the Beach Boys' 1966 track "God Only Knows" was his favorite song of all time. Now a new AI-generated mashup of the Beatles covering the iconic Pet Sounds album track has appeared online, and shared on YouTube. While the creator of the video doesn't offer much explanation into what inspired the project or what tools he used to develop the track, McCartney has previously described the song as "one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it." "It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian [Wilson]," he said. While AI-generated mashups can often be conceived as controversial by fans, the Beatles/Beach Boys collaboration has received mostly positive reactions online. The video has over 1,100 likes on YouTube, versus just 10 "thumbs-down" reactions. "Paul and John [Lennon] are finally reconciled in the chorus, it's the most beautiful thing I've heard. Thank you," wrote one fan in the comments, while another added: "This is incredible. I have dreamed of hearing Paul sing this for my whole life. Amazing." Over recent months, music lovers have been using AI methods to create "new music" and collaborations featuring several of their favorite artists, including The Weeknd, Drake and Kanye West. In April, an AI-generated "lost" album by alternative faves Oasis also emerged online and also received a wave of praise from fans online. - New Musical Express...... 
As Paul McCartney and Wings' classic 1973 set Band on the Run turns 50 years old this year, former Wings guitarist Denny Laine has reflected on the tumultous "gamble" taken by McCartney and the band that would become was has been hailed by many as McCartney's top post-Beatles triumph. To record his fifth post-Beatles album and third LP with new band Wings, McCartney decided to relocate to Lagos, Nigeria for a change of scenery and musical inspiration. It was exactly the sort of bold gambit that his three former Beatle bandmates, just before the split, probably would have shot down without blinking. "In order to move forward, you have to try new things," Laine tells Billboard in a phone interview from his home in Florida while describing how he thinks about the landmark album now. "It's like being a gambler. You gamble with things because it's more exciting. It's more appealing. It's not the normal, everyday 9-to-5 job, it's more of a "Let's try something new." Following two defections from Wings just before they were all due to fly out to Nigeria, shrinking McCartney's existing quintet down to a trio, Laine was now the only remaining member of the group with a surname other than McCartney. He remembers the finished album that emerged from the Lagos sessions as largely a grand adventure. "I know why it was appreciated so much," Laine says. "Because it had a certain feel. It was basically just me and Paul doing the backing tracks. And it was more of a relaxed approach to doing an album than if you're going in with a band and there are all these parts. We were thrown into that as a last resort because two of the guys didn't come to Lagos." The critical and commercial acclaim that followed Band on the Run (it was nominated for the prestigious Album of the Year Grammy) prefaced the success of Venus and Mars two years later, which was the Wings album McCartney used to reestablish himself as a major touring artist. And there were still other benefits of his African sojourn, including a bit of unstinting praise from the most improbable voice of all: John Lennon. In 1975, Lennon told Rolling Stone that Band on the Run was "a great album," adding, "It's good Paul music." - Billboard...... After it was announced that the earliest known full recording of the Beatles performing live in the United Kingdom had been discovered was announced on Apr. 4, there are plans to restore the old tape, which contains a full length gig performance in Buckinghamshire on Apr. 4, 1963 and includes spoken word segments from the band as they interacted with the audience. "Talks are under way to get [the tape] cleaned up and for a permanent home in a national cultural institution," British journalist Samira Ahmed told the UK paper The Observer. "John [Bloomfield] feels strongly that it should not end up, as so many Beatles relics have, in the vault of a private individual." 
Bloomfield, who is now 75 years old, was only 15 at the time. He revealed the existence of the tape to journalist Samira Ahmed visited Stowe when they visited to make a special programme for BBC Radio 4's Front Row to mark the gig's 60th anniversary. Ahmed and Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn are the only people to have heard the full recording after Bloomfield agreed to play it for the first time since it was made six decades ago. "The opportunity that this tape presents, which is completely out of the blue, is fantastic because we hear [The Beatles] just on the cusp of the breakthrough into complete world fame," Lewisohn told the BBC. "And at that point, all audience recordings become blanketed in screams. "So here is an opportunity to hear them in the UK, in an environment where they could be heard and where the tape actually does capture them properly, at a time when they can have banter with the audience as well." He went on to say that the tape contained "an incredibly important recording", adding: "I hope something good and constructive and creative eventually happens to it." Lewisohn added he was unaware the tape even existed, "and I think I had to pick myself up off the floor." - New Musical Express,...... The earliest known full recording of the Beatles playing a live show in the UK, at Stowe boarding school in Buckinghamshire on Apr. 4, 1963, has been discovered almost exactly 60 years after it was made. According to the BBC, the our-long quarter-inch tape recording was created by 15-year-old student John Bloomfield, who is now 75 and he revealed the tape's existence when journalist Samira Ahmed visited Stowe to make a special programme for Radio 4's Front Row to mark the gig's 60th anniversary. "It was a unique Beatles gig, performed in front of an almost entirely male audience," Ahmed wrote of the discovery. "And crucially, despite loud cheers and some screaming, the tape is not drowned out by the audience reaction." The setlist was made up of songs from the Beatles' debut album Please Please Me, which had been released on Mar. 22, 1963, as well as some of the legendary group's R&B cover versions. A live rendition of "I Saw Her Standing There" kicked off the performance before the Fabs transitioned into their take on Chuck Berry's 1956 single "Too Much Monkey Business." They're also heard taking requests from students, and joking amongst themselves in between tracks. Part of the historic recording was played on the Apr. 3 edition of the BBC's Front Row program, and it can be streamed at the BBC Sounds site. In related news, the KG D25 microphone used by the Beatles in Jan. 1969 during their storied "Get Back Sessions" (later known as the Let It Be album recording sessions) is being auctioned on the Gotta Have Rock & Roll website. According to many of their fans, this coveted microphone delivered some of the best Beatles recording sessions ever. The microphone, used by the band at the Twickenham Studios and Apple Corps Headquarters, London, has an estimated value of $75,000. - New Musical Express/Music-News.com
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