As compilations of Paul McCartney’s work go, Wings Greatest, released in November 1978, is pretty strange. Arguably, it doesn’t even include the totality of McCartney and Wings’ greatest hits at the time, omitting the number-one 1975 single “Listen to What the Man Said,” as well as a trio of top-10 hits in Band on the […]
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Everything Fab Four: Paul McCartney’s “Thrillington”
Last month saw the reissue of Thrillington, arguably one of the strangest episodes in Paul McCartney’s musical corpus. The Thrillington album, a collection of 11 instrumental cover versions of the original songs from McCartney’s RamLP, offers a whimsical, even ephemeral turn on the former Beatle’s gritty, homespun sophomore solo effort. At this relatively late date—nearly […]
Everything Fab Four: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Beatles!”
Rendered for splendid high-definition viewing, the digitally-enhanced re-release of The Four Complete Ed Sullivan Shows Starring the Beatles is a welcome sight indeed. Chockfull of extras, including Ed Sullivan’s 1964 London interview with the bandmates, the two-DVD set is worthy of purchase for the Beatles’ legend-making appearances on Sullivan’s weekly variety show. The backstory of the […]
Everything Fab Four: The Esher Demos and the Beatles’ “White Album”
At the tail end of May 1968, the Beatles assembled for one of the most extraordinary sessions in their storied career. Known as the “Esher demos,” the rough recordings they produced in George Harrison’s home studio would serve as a blueprint for the group’s landmark album The Beatles, later popularized as The White Album. Having only recently […]
Everything Fab Four: The Beatles Underground
In January 1957, Alan Sytner opened the Cavern Club at 10 Mathew St. in Liverpool. Dreaming of owning a jazz club in the tradition of the basement Le Caveau Français in Paris, Sytner founded the Cavern in the cellar of a former fruit warehouse. During World War II, the location had served as an air-raid […]