Beatles

December 6: The Beatles released The Beatles’ Christmas Record 1963

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

From 1963 to 1969, the Beatles recorded and released seven special Christmas singles through their fan club. These were closer to “Monty Pythonesque”-comedy than their normal releases. The first ones are whimsical, cheery and thankful for their success, but later records are more esoteric. They reflect their development as a unit, the 1969 recording is four separate pieces.

Each recording was pressed onto a 7″ flexi disc and mailed free to the British members of the Fan Club.

beatles yule copy

The results are interesting curiosities for all  Beatles fans. A compilation album (with all the 7 singles) was released in 1971 and available from the fan club between 1970 and 1972. It was never released commercially, and most  copies are bootlegs.

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September 26: The Beatles Released Abbey Road in 1969

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

beatles abbey road

Released 26 September 1969
Recorded 22 February – 20 August 1969,EMI, Olympic and Trident Studios,London
Genre Rock
Length 47:23
Label Apple
Producer George Martin


Abbey Road is the 11th studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It is their last recorded album, although Let It Be was the last album released before the band’s dissolution in 1970. Work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, and the album was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States.

Abbey Road is widely regarded as one of The Beatles’ most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time. Despite the tensions within the band, Abbey Road was released to near universal acclaim and is considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time. In 2012, Abbey Road was voted 14th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2009, readers of the magazine also named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album.

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1965: 20 Songs Released in 1965 You Must Hear

Posted on by Egil Mosbron





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The Year 1965 summary

  • The first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam. By the end of the year, 190,000 American soldiers are in Vietnam.
  • Rhodesia unilaterally declares its independence from Britain
  • Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and more than 2,600 others arrested in Selma, Ala., during demonstrations against voter-registration rules
  • Malcolm X, black-nationalist leader, shot to death at Harlem rally
  • Blacks riot for six days in Watts section of Los Angeles: 34 dead, over 1,000 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested
  • –
  • Movies: Dr. Zhivago, The Sound of Music
    Deaths: Winston Churchill, Nat King Cole & T.S. Eliot

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My rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed
  • Restricted to only 20 songs

20 songs you must hear from 1965

Continue reading “1965: 20 Songs Released in 1965 You Must Hear” →

1969: 20 Songs Released in 1969 You Must Hear

Posted on by Egil Mosbron





My rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed
  • Restricted to only 20 songs

–

1969 was another great year in music, here are my 20 chosen songs (and those who came close).

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  • Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]One of the greatest rock songs from any artist, “Gimme Shelter” is a glowering, snarling beast of a recording. It tiptoes in on one of music’s most recognizable chord-based riffs, ghostly “oooh’s,” and percussion ratcheting up the tension. When the full band enters—sinister low piano notes, fuzzy harmonica, organ chimes—it grabs you by the lapels and shakes you, begging you for shelter from an ominous storm.
    -Bill Janovitz (Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones)
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    It first appeared as the opening track on the band’s 1969 album Let It Bleed.  Greil Marcus, writing in Rolling Stone magazine at the time of its release, said of it, “The Stones have never done anything better.”

    The recording features Richards playing in his new open tuning on electric guitar. The recording also features vocals by Merry Clayton, recorded at a last-minute late-night recording session during the mixing phase, arranged by her friend and record producer Jack Nitzsche. Lisa Fischer was later recruited to perform the song during their concerts.
    –
    Oh, a storm is threat’ning
    My very life today
    If I don’t get some shelter
    Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away
    –

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    Continue reading “1969: 20 Songs Released in 1969 You Must Hear” →

July 29: Watch The Beatles Movie Help! (released in 1965)

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

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“The movie was out of our control. With A Hard Day’s Night, we had a lot of input, and it was semi-realistic. But with Help!, Dick Lester didn’t tell us what it was all about.”
– John Lennon on filming Help!
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“I realize, looking back, how advanced it was. It was a precursor to the Batman “Pow! Wow!” on TV—that kind of stuff. But [Lester] never explained it to us. Partly, maybe, because we hadn’t spent a lot of time together between A Hard Day’s Night and Help!, and partly because we were smoking marijuana for breakfast during that period. Nobody could communicate with us, it was all glazed eyes and giggling all the time. In our own world. It’s like doing nothing most of the time, but still having to rise at 7 am, so we became bored.”
-John Lennon to David Sheff[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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1966: 20 songs released in 1966 you must hear

Posted on by Egil Mosbron





The Year 1966 summary

  • France withdraws its forces from NATO. President De Gaulle visits the USSR (June 20).
  • Sukarno leaves office in Indonesia; Suharto assumes power.
  • Botswana, Lesotho, and Guyana become independent states within the British Commonwealth.
  • India suffers the worst famine in 20 years; Lyndon Johnson asks for $1 billion in aid to the country.
  • US: Medicare begins (July 1).
  • US: Supreme Court decides Miranda v. Arizona, protecting rights of the accused.
  • –
  • Movies: A Man for All Seasons, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Alfie

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My rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed
  • Restricted to only 20 songs

–

Again a LOT of wonderful music was released in 1966 (actually 1966 might be my fav year in music), hard to pick only 20.

 

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  • Visions of Johanna – Bob Dylan

    Written by Dylan & released on his album “Blonde On Blonde” ~May 16, 1966 (possibly as late as July 1966).
    –
    Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet?
    We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
    And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
    Lights flicker from the opposite loft
    In this room the heat pipes just cough
    The country music station plays soft
    But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
    Just Louise and her lover so entwined
    And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
    –

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    Continue reading “1966: 20 songs released in 1966 you must hear” →