When John Lennon released his debut solo studio album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, on December 11, 1970, it was met with mixed reviews. Over time, it has come to be celebrated as his most powerful solo work—a raw, soul-baring album shaped by primal scream therapy and a reflection of Lennon’s turbulent life. But even the most devoted fans might not know these five fascinating facts about this iconic album.

The album’s emotionally charged lyrics were deeply influenced by John Lennon’s primal scream therapy sessions with Arthur Janov. This psychological process pushed Lennon to confront his childhood traumas, which led to songs like “Mother” and “God” that bristle with vulnerability and self-discovery.
 
While Lennon declared in the song “God” that he no longer believed in the Beatles, their legacy was palpable. Tracks like “Look at Me” reused fingerpicking techniques he learned during the band’s White Album sessions, and his former bandmate Ringo Starr played drums on the record.
 
When Lennon wanted Phil Spector to co-produce the album, he couldn’t reach him directly. Instead, his manager placed an details

Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band will embark on new tour dates this year. The All Starr Band lineup features Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette, and Buck Johnson on keyboards.

The new tour begins June 12th, 2025 in Bridgeport CT, with stops at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, The Mann in Philadelphia, and Wolf Trap in Vienna VA, and as one show in Alabama, three shows in Florida and two in North Carolina. Starr shares: “I am happy to announce these new All Starr shows in June. I absolutely love playing live and I love this band. It’s been so great playing with these guys, I just want to keep this lineup going and that’s why I haven’t changed the All Starrs in a while. So here we go again, and we look forward to seeing you on the road this Spring.”

Before the launch of The All-Starr tour, Starr will make two solo appearances at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Jan. 14 and 15. Prior to these shows, Starr will be releasing his second country album, Look Up, on January 10th, produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett. The LP features 11 original songs, recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles, and marks the former Beatle’s fir details

There were times when The Beatles did not see eye to eye. As their sound evolved in the second half of the 1960s and they began to experiment with new techniques and styles, creative differences came to the fore.

The ECHO has recently looked at how John Lennon disliked certain songs and albums that Paul McCartney took the lead on - whether that was the 'Abbey Road' medley, 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' or the single 'Let it Be'. He called the songs which brought 'Abbey Road' to an end "junk" and he slated "Sgt Pepper" after leaving the band.

About 'Let it Be', John said: "That's Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with The Beatles. It could've been Wings. I don't know what he's thinking when he writes 'Let It Be'." However, there were also aspects of John's work that Paul disagreed with.

1996's 'Revolver' saw The Beatles' sound move on from their early pop stylings, with many critics seeing it as the beginning of their psychedelic approach. The album was recorded at EMI's studio in London between April and June 1966, with it hitting shelves that August.

The psychedelic sound was partly a result of John and George Harrison's interest in LSD (or acid), which began in 1965 - Ringo Starr t details

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were an unrivalled song-writing partnership but their relationship soured in the late 1960s. Tensions within The Beatles simmered in the second half of the decade, affecting recording sessions for 'The White Album', 'Let it Be' and 'Abbey Road'.

Creative differences and the presence of Yoko Ono in the studio caused arguments, pushing John and Paul away from each other. The band's final recording sessions - for 'The End' which featured on 'Abbey Road' - took place in August 1969 and, a month later, John informed his fellow members that he was leaving the band, asking for a 'divorce' from The Beatles.

This led a saddened Paul to retreat to his home and record what would become his first solo album 'McCartney'. In April 1970, Paul issued a press release alongside that album, announcing he would no longer be working with The Beatles.

The final Beatles album 'Let it Be' then hit shelves in May 1970, nearly a month after the official break up. 'Let it Be' was made up of recordings dating between February 1968 and April 1970 and its release caused further disagreements between Paul, John, Ringo Starr and George Harrison.

An ongoing row about Allan Klein becoming the band's details

In chronological rock history, the Beatles and America are from two consecutive but different musical eras. While the former members of the Beatles were certainly making music in the years following their split, the Fab Four had called it quits by 1970, and America wouldn’t achieve their breakthrough success with “A Horse with No Name” until 1972.

The Beatles mastered the jangly experimental sounds of the 1960s, while America established its sound in the sunny, balladeering soft rock of the 1970s. But without the former, the latter might not have existed.
Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley, and Dan Peek established America shortly after graduating high school in London in 1970. Their first two albums cemented their place in the decade’s soft rock canon with hits like “A Horse with No Name” and “Ventura Highway.” But by their third album, Hat Trick, the band had lost some of its steam. They struggled to find the same commercial success as their eponymous debut and sophomore Homecoming, leading them to search for a producer who could help build out their sound.

The trio wrote a list of dream producers, and the Beatles’ George Martin was at the top of the list. T details

It’s hard to believe, but the Beatles never brought home a Grammy for Record of the Year. That could change a month from now at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, slated to be held in Los Angeles on Feb. 3, where their song “Now and Then” is up for that category along with Best Rock Performance.

“Now and Then,” hyped as “the last Beatles song,” was released in November 2023. It took a home demo of John Lennon’s from the late-‘70s, paired it with some guitar work from George Harrison circa 1995, and was completed by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. It was initially considered for part of the “Anthology” project by the band in the mid-‘90s, which produced “new” Beatles material in the singles “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.”

The song is up against some stiff competition for Record of the Year, including hits from Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and more contemporary hitmakers. In terms of the Best Rock Performance, it’s contending with Green Day, Pearl Jam, and the Black Keys among others. However, even if the Fab Four are awarded the gold gramophone, only two of them will be recognized:

Everyone’s a critic, so they say, and that included long-time Beatles producer George Martin. The “fifth Beatle” helped the Fab Four create their extensive and iconic discography since the early 1960s days of “P.S. I Love You” and “Love Me Do.” This means that Martin saw many sides to the Beatles, both personally and sonically. Every time the band switched gears and started a new creative project, Martin was there to oversee the transition.

That process wasn’t without its pitfalls. The producer-artist relationship can grow tense if egos bruise or artistic visions go unmet. Martin and the Beatles shared a close relationship, but sometimes, one would make the other bristle. One such instance occurred between Martin and John Lennon in the initial stages of what would become one of the Beatles’ most iconic songs.
The Beatles Song George Martin “Flat Out Didn’t Like”

In a fitting testament to what is arguably the most psychedelic albums in their catalog, the recording sessions for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour were rife with tension as the band struggled to handle manager Brian Epstei details

On January 2, 1969, more than 30,000 copies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono‘s Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins were seized by police at Newark Airport in New Jersey. The album was confiscated since the cover photograph featured full frontal nudity violated pornography laws. Their debut release was the first of three experimental albums the two worked on during an all-night recording session on May 19, 1968, at Lennon’s Kenwood home, which ended in his then-wife Cynthia came home from a vacation in Greece to find them both sitting wearing matching white robes.

“After Yoko and I met, I didn’t realize I was in love with her,” said Lennon. “I was still thinking it was an artistic collaboration, as it were—producer and artist, right? My ex-wife was away, and Yoko came to visit me. Instead of making love, we went upstairs and made tapes. I had this room full of different tapes where I would write and make strange loops and things like that for the Beatles’ stuff. So we made a tape all night.”

Lennon continued, “She was doing her funny voices and I was pushing all different buttons on my tape recorder and getting sound effects. And then as the sun rose we made details

Trying to forge a solo career after being in one of (if not the) biggest band in the world is a tough task. It becomes even more so when you’ve accidentally built anticipation for it by not touring during the final years of that band. Paul McCartney can speak to both of those statements.

The Beatles stopped touring long before they broke the hearts of many around the world by breaking up. They didn’t feel their live sound was up to snuff. Rather than continue to disappoint (at least by their standards) they decided to take an early retirement from the live circuit.

Because of that, McCartney’s stint with Wings saw the former Beatle step back on the stage for the first time in a while. According to Macca, he found that moment daunting. Find out why, below.

McCartney has proven himself to be an enduring live performer. He’s a must-see act, decades after his debut with the Beatles. But, as he faced the daunting task of stepping back on the stage for the first time post-Beatles, he had specific stipulations to ensure success.

“The main thing I didn’t want to face was the torment of five rows of press people with little pads all looking and saying, ‘Oh, well, details

On This Day, Jan. 2, 1969 …

The Beatles began rehearsals for what would wind up being their final studio album together, Let It Be.

Rehearsals took place at Twickenham Film Studios and were marred by tension within the band, which was captured on film as cameras were recording the sessions for a documentary.

Let It Be was released in May 1970 along with the documentary of the same name, which featured The Beatles’ unannounced rooftop concert, their last public performance together. The album, which featured such classic Beatles songs as the title track, “Get Back” and “Across the Universe,” went to #1 in the U.S., the U.K. and several other countries.

The footage from the Let It Be documentary was later used by director Peter Jackson for the Emmy Award-winning docuseries The Beatles: Get Back, which was released in 2021.

The original documentary was restored from the original 16mm negative by Jackson’s Park Road Post Production and debuted on Disney+ in 2024.

Source: kshe95.com/ABC News

As the driving creative force behind The Beatles, Paul McCartney and John Lennon's contrasting styles often met in the middle to create magic. About their partnership, Music and Musicians magazine's Wilfred Mellors wrote in 1972: "Opposite poles generate electricity: between John and Paul the sparks flew. John's fiery iconoclasm was tempered by Paul's lyrical grace, while Paul's wide-eyed charm was toughened by John's resilience."

All of their work with The Beatles received the joint credit of Lennon-McCartney but the writing was more one-sided at times. Sometimes they would sit together and write and at others, one of John or Paul would go away and write a song, before presenting it to the other for tweaks.

The seminal 1967 album 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was primarily Paul's brainchild and John spoke about his dislike for it after he left the band. However one track on it is widely seen as one of the best examples of the pair's collaboration and one that John was very proud of.

John wrote much of 'A Day in the Life' in January 1967, inspired by a number of articles he had read in newspapers. He then played Paul the song and Paul added the middle-eight section about his Liverpool upbringing details

George Harrison is sitting in a vast soundstage at Twickenham Film Studios, explaining to Ringo Starr and film director Michael Lindsay-Hogg how a BBC2 sci-fi series called Out Of The Unknown, that he watched the previous evening, has inspired a new song. Harrison is sporting the same black fur coat he wears on the iconic rooftop concert and perched on his knee is John Lennon’s 1965 Epiphone Casino.

It’s mid-morning on Tuesday 7 January, 1969 and the next Beatle to arrive is Paul McCartney. “Good morning,” says the bearded bassman chirpily as he strides across the floor. “Do you wanna hear a song I wrote last night?” Harrison asks him. “It’s just a very short one, called I Me Mine”.

What follows is a beautifully plaintive and sparse rendition with Harrison’s voice sounding particularly pure. “Lovely” exclaims Lyndsey Hogg. McCartney, with hands in pockets, stands beside Harrison and stares down at his fingers on the fretboard, but says nothing. Then John Lennon arrives. Harrison, now standing, runs through the song again but speeds it up. “Run along son, see you later,” jokes Lennon. “We’re a rock and roll band you kn details

Because John Lennon and George Harrison have each been dead for more than five years, they cannot meet the Grammy test for "new recordings."

The Recording Academy made Beatlemaniacs happy on Nov. 8, when The Fab Four’s “Now and Then” was nominated for two awards – record of the year and best rock performance. But only the two living Beatles — Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr — are nominated for those awards. John Lennon, who died in 1980, and George Harrison, who died in 2001, are not.

Because Lennon and Harrison have each been dead for more than five years, they cannot meet the Grammy test for “new recordings” – “material that has been recorded within five years of the release date.” There is precedent for this. Nat “King” Cole was not nominated when daughter Natalie Cole won record of the year and best traditional pop performance in 1992 for their studio-created duet “Unforgettable.” He had died in 1965.

Lennon’s last Grammy nomination was at the 1985 ceremony – best spoken word or non-musical recording for Heart Play (Unfinished Dialogue), a collab with Yoko Ono. The album, which reached No. 94 on the details

In the second half of the 1960s, tensions within The Beatles began to rise. Having enjoyed unparalleled success throughout the decade, the band's recording sessions for their later albums became marked by creative differences and disagreements.

The sessions for 'The White Album', which was released in 1968, saw the fractures emerge as each member of the band wanted to put their stamp on their work. About that period of recording, Paul McCartney said: "There was a lot of friction during that album. We were just about to break up, and that was tense in itself" and John Lennon later added: "The break-up of The Beatles can be heard on that album."

Creative differences and Yoko Ono's presence in the studio have been cited as the primary reasons for the tension. 1969's recording sessions for the 'Let it Be' were also famously tempestuous, but the seeds for the disharmony were sewn the year before.

One song recorded during that period seemed to capture the mood within the band, though its origins were about something different. 'Hey Jude' was recorded in July and August 1968 before its release on August 26 as a non-album single. It was the band's first release on their new Apple label, hitting shelves three mon details

I was pleasantly surprised to see John Lennon in Lincroft on Sunday.

The Beatle's portrait adorns a mural on the side of the Exxon Mobil garage at the intersection of Newman Springs Road and Swimming River Road. The words "Imagine Peace" frame Lennon and the art features the guitar and dove icon from the historic Woodstock posters.

Don't get me wrong -- I love the message of peace as much as I love John Lennon. (And I spent countless hours in middle and high school biking down Swimming River Road while listening to Beatles CDs.) The location of the mural and the choice of subject left me scratching my head, though.

READ MORE: History of the Evil Clown of Middletown

What do John Lennon and gas stations and New Jersey have in common?
Why Is There a John Lennon Mural at the Lincroft Exxon?

I'm pretty late to the party when it comes to the John Lennon mural. I grew up in Middletown but moved to the Hudson Valley 10 years ago, so I tend to only come back home for holidays and family events. In the midst of that, I managed to never see cross paths with the mural, which has been on the site for over four years.

When I broached the topic on Threads, I got a big response and informati details

While Paul McCartney has a busy schedule, he said he still has some time to watch his favorite TV shows. McCartney watches television while he works out and to rid himself of any pre-show jitters. He said that one show in particular ranks highly on his list of guilty pleasures.

Paul McCartney said one of his guilty pleasures is a game show. McCartney said that he typically watches television while he works out in the morning. His taste is wide-ranging.

“Well, I like David Attenborough’s shows, and in-depth historical documentary stuff,” he said in a Q&a on his website. “But I also like Strictly.”

“I have lots of guilty pleasures,” he said. “Maybe TV shows more than music. I love Bargain Hunt.”

Bargain Hunt is a British show in which contestants...

Source: Emma McKee/Showbiz Cheat Sheet

 Read More<<<

Many classic rock stars contributed to the canon of Christmas music. On the other hand, George Harrison decided to give us a New Year's song.

Many classic rock stars contributed to the canon of Christmas music. On the other hand, George Harrison decided to give us a New Year’s song. His decision to buck a trend worked out artistically. However, the tune isn’t as popular now as it could be for an undeniable reason.
Why George Harrison’s New Year’s song is great and underrated

Christmas music is such a big deal that The Beatles got in on it. They released an original song called “Christmas Time (Is Here Again).”After the band broke up, John Lennon put out “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” Paul McCartney put out “Wonderful Christmastime,” and Ringo Starr released the album I Wanna Be Santa Claus. George never released a solo Christmas song, instead giving us the New Year’s anthem “Ding Dong, Ding Dong.”

While the track celebrates the New Year rather than Christmas, it takes some cues from Christmas music. Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound became a popular Christmas music trope since the producer put out his masterpiece A Christmas details

The Beatles’ catalog is packed to the brim with songs that have stood the test of time and are still beloved to this day. Many of their most popular tracks became hits when they were new, especially in the United Kingdom, the band’s home base. A few of their famous compositions never reached the weekly rankings, for one reason or another, but that doesn’t make them unsuccessful.

One of The Beatles’ most familiar and most-covered songs somehow escaped the U.K. charts for decades. That losing streak—if it can even be called that—is over, as the track debuts on one list across the pond.

“Blackbird” finally becomes a chart hit in the U.K., as of this week. The tune debuts at No. 96 on the Official Singles Downloads ranking, which tracks the bestselling legal downloads in the nation.

The Official Singles Downloads chart is the first list that “Blackbird” has appeared on in the U.K. That may be difficult to believe for many fans of the Fab Four—and the song itself—but it’s true. Despite its legacy and popularity, the title has never sold or streamed well enough in one tracking period to land on any list until now.

The Beatles details

Despite being an American-dominated genre, there has been a fair share of foreign musicians to toil in country music. Ringo Starr, The Rolling Stones, Tommy Emmanuel, and numerous others hail from other countries yet still play the American-founded genre. However, there is one more monstrous name and figure to add to that list, the one and only, John Lennon.

For a vast amount of reasons, this might come as an enormous surprise. But, at the end of the day, Lennon’s fleeting stint in country music proves that above all, he was a pure musician. When one listens to Lennon’s 1974 country single, they might believe there is nothing country about. Though, given its use of steel guitar, American roots lyrics, and the story behind it, it is, without a doubt, John Lennon’s most country-inspired solo song.

The song came as a result of a wild weekend John Lennon and Harry Nilsson spent together in Los Angeles in 1974. In the book All We Are Saying, John Lennon told author David Sheff, “[It was done] just to write a song.” “You know, ‘Seein’ as we’re stuck in this bottle of vodka together, we might as well try and do something,” Lennon added.

Nil details

Paul McCartney‘s long, storied recording career has included forays into just about every style of music you could possibly imagine. On the 1972 single “C Moon,” recorded with the earliest incarnation of his band Wings, he lovingly tackled reggae.

McCartney played it light in a lyrical sense with the song, even creating his own lingo with the title phrase. “C Moon” hit the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic, despite having to overcome obstacles caused by “Hi Hi Hi,” the track with which it was paired as a double A-sided single.  In the Key of “C”

When Paul McCartney emerged to make music again following the breakup of The Beatles in 1970, he seemed determined to do so in a relaxed, off-the-cuff fashion, perhaps to temper the expectations of fans and critics. Both his first solo album (McCartney) and his first album with Wings (Wild Life) were somewhat ramshackle affairs, free of excessive fussing when it came to the writing and recording.

McCartney also seemed determined to broaden his horizons in the types of music he was going to make. While he had dabbled lightly in reggae with The Beatles (“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” features hints of details

Richard Starkey, born in Liverpool and known throughout the world as Ringo Starr, is the constant reminder that The Beatles loved each other, respected each other, and worked like dogs to make good music. “Every generation listens to the Beatles. It’s fantastic. The remastering, for me, was great because you can hear the drums, really hear what was played, not so boom, boom, boom… I still love the tracks. There was a lot of energy. We realized ‘we’re working here,’ you know, we’re not partying down while doing the tracks. We did that occasionally, and the track was always shit. But we went in and we did our best,” says Starr, 84, in the room of a luxury London hotel, where he has locked himself away to launch the promotion of his new album, Look Up, which will go on sale on January 10.

Starr’s latest record consists of 11 country songs written mostly by T. Bone Burnett, Bob Dylan’s guitarist during the 1970s, and a composer and producer with several Grammys under his belt. This is not the first album of the genre released by the former Beatles drummer: over 50 years ago he composed and produced the album Beaucoups of Blues.

And anyone who has heard the details

The Beatles’ Abbey Road is one of the bestselling albums that is still present on the Billboard charts. The classic has already sold more than 6.2 million copies in the U.S. alone since its release decades ago, but that doesn’t mean Americans are done with the set.

Abbey Road is on the rise on every ranking it appears on in the U.S. at the moment. The blockbuster climbs on five different tallies, thanks largely to a sizable uptick in purchases—one that is especially notable given not just how long the title has been available, but also how well it’s already sold.

In the past tracking period, Abbey Road was purchased by 7,750 Americans. That sum is up by more than 42% from last frame, according to Luminate. That’s a huge surge for a half-century-old release, regardless of the title or the band behind it.

Total consumption of the album also increased, but not by nearly as much. Including streams and sales of individual tunes featured on its tracklist, Abbey Road moved nearly 11,900 equivalent units last week. That’s a growth of almost 22% from the frame before, when it didn’t quite manage 10,000 units.

Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com

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Dark Horse and its subsequent tour arrived 50 years ago amid a period of conflict and uncertainty for George Harrison.

His first marriage and Apple Records were crumbling. Meanwhile, Harrison had been led away from his spiritual center by the pressures of starting his own label, also called Dark Horse, and mounting the first U.S. tour by any member of the Beatles since their final 1966 jaunt.

A bout of laryngitis and Harrison’s determination to expose American audiences to Ravi Shankar as a co-headliner only made matters worse for some critics. Harrison and a touring band featuring talents like late-period Beatles collaborator Billy Preston, ace sessions drummer Jim Keltner, Tom Scott and Robben Ford bore the brunt of their disappointment.

“George liked people who could play different styles of music,” Robben Ford tells us, in an exclusive Something Else! Sitdown. “He said I did a good job of working with them. I was surprised by that, because I felt out of my depth, honestly, in some ways. It was very intense.”

Released in December 1974, Dark Horse barely cracked the U.S. Top 5, and didn’t even chart in the U.K. – a huge let down after two chart-topping details

The Beatles released “Ticket to Ride” as the first single from their 1965 movie/album Help!, and the song continued their unstoppable run of success. It topped the charts in the U.S., the UK, and several other ports of call.

You might not realize, however, the song could easily have been called “Ticket to Ryde” had John Lennon and Paul McCartney revealed the initial inspiration that got the ball rolling. The song’s lyrics then deviated from that source to depict a tale of heartbreak and woe.
That’s the “Ticket”

For many years, it was assumed John Lennon wrote the bulk of “Ticket to Ride.” Lennon gave thorough interviews both right after The Beatles broke up in 1970 and right before his death in 1980, in which he dissected the provenance of many of the band’s songs. He claimed in both to have penned the song.

But it’s important to remember that Lennon was rifling through those questions rapid-fire, which didn’t leave him a lot of room for nuance. In later years, Paul McCartney stepped forward and suggested that while Lennon might have had the original idea for songs like “Ticket to Ride,” Macca was very much in details

In 2027, a wildly ambitious cinematic project is slated to come to life: four biopics about The Beatles, each focusing on one member of the Fab Four. The casting is already tantalizing, with Paul Mescal apparently set to play Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan confirmed to be taking the role of Ringo Starr.

While details are scarce, it seems likely that these films will offer something Rashomon-like—four perspectives on the same iconic story.

The idea of a Beatles Cinematic Universe is exciting. But what if it didn’t stop there? What if these films laid the groundwork for something even bigger: a Rock Cinematic Universe?

Allow me to propose Hollywood’s next blockbuster phenomenon: an interconnected web of movies chronicling the history of rock music, with a shared cast and storylines crossing over from one film to the next. Modeled after the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Rock Cinematic Universe (RCU) would capture the genre’s sprawling history.

Fans of the MCU love a good crossover event, and rock music has plenty of those to offer. The Beatles' history alone is full of thrilling intersections. It’s conceivable that Roy Orbison will appear in the story, in scenes devo details