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Just like with most things these days, there's a good quality video of it on YouTube. Pretty cool showcase for his bass playing, I think.

He's also been known to do a lengthy version of Give Peace a Chance, complete with singalong. Any chance to see him is a privilege, to my mind.

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He also did a few George songs as well, when I saw him

Yeah, the version of Something with the ukulele was, oddly enough, a real concert highlight for me.

Paul is freaking awesome. One of my favorite quotes from him was when he was being interviewed and, of course, asked some huge question about the staggering influence of The Beatles, etc., etc, and his answer was something like, "Well, you know, the thing is, we really were a great little band. Whenever we got together to play, we could almost always find a groove." That is just so Paul.

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My favorite of the early records is Beatles for Sale, an odd choice to some, but a record I stand by after spending a lot of time with it.

 

I've come to seriously love Beatles For Sale. Easily my favorite of the early period (and my current overall favorite). It almost seems as if they were just discovering certain aspects of harmony, particularly vocal harmony. So much parallel motion (and parallel perfect motion at that) that is such a departure from their usual vocal harmonies up to that point. I love it

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I mostly despise that guy - but you would not have the Beatles without him.

 

Curious - if you had to choose, who do you despise more - Keith or Paul? (I kid.)

 

I never put much thought into McCartney -- must admit, though, after reading Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year, he seemed like he was an interesting person in 66, at least.

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I've come to seriously love Beatles For Sale. Easily my favorite of the early period (and my current overall favorite). It almost seems as if they were just discovering certain aspects of harmony, particularly vocal harmony. So much parallel motion (and parallel perfect motion at that) that is such a departure from their usual vocal harmonies up to that point. I love it

 

Seriously, it's so great. Lost among the wealth of incredible material. I think fans of  early alt-country Wilco would really dig this album; it mines that same interesting cross-section of country, rockabilly, folk and power pop. 

 

 

Curious - if you had to choose, who do you despise more - Keith or Paul? (I kid.)

 

I never put much thought into McCartney -- must admit, though, after reading Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year, he seemed like he was an interesting person in 66, at least.

 

He was doing the most interesting things during their time off in 1966. Ringo was at home with wife and child; George went to India to study sitar with Ravi Shankar; John was at home eating LSD; and Paul was going to galleries, art shows, avant garde music performances, mixing it up with the community of underground artists and musicians, absorbing new influences to bring back to The Beatles' sound. While "Tomorrow Never Knows" is all John's lyric and one-chord vision, it was Paul who came up with all the tape loops and wild effects.

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He was doing the most interesting things during their time off in 1966. Ringo was at home with wife and child; George went to India to study sitar with Ravi Shankar; John was at home eating LSD; and Paul was going to galleries, art shows, avant garde music performances, mixing it up with the community of underground artists and musicians, absorbing new influences to bring back to The Beatles' sound. While "Tomorrow Never Knows" is all John's lyric and one-chord vision, it was Paul who came up with all the tape loops and wild effects.

 

Yep - all of that I never knew prior to reading the book. I also think he helped to fund a underground newspaper/journal.

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Curious - if you had to choose, who do you despise more - Keith or Paul? (I kid.)

 

I never put much thought into McCartney -- must admit, though, after reading Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year, he seemed like he was an interesting person in 66, at least.

 

If you have the time - read his official book (Many Years From Now) and then read Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of Paul McCartney.

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Officially coming out (Christmas records):

 

Recorded: 1963: “The Beatles’ Christmas Record” (one-sided, 5:00 TRT)
Recorded: 17 October 1963 – Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London

 

Recorded: 26 October 1964 – Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London

1965: “The Beatles’ Third Christmas Record” (one-sided, 6:20 TRT)

 

Recorded: 8 November 1965 – Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London

1966: “Pantomime – Everywhere It’s Christmas: The Beatles’ Fourth Christmas Record” (one-sided, 6:36 TRT)

 

Recorded: 25 November 1966 – Dick James Music, New Oxford Street, London

1967: “Christmas Time (Is Here Again): The Beatles’ Fifth Christmas Record” (one-sided, 6:06 TRT)

 

Recorded: 28 November 1967 – Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London

1968: “The Beatles’ Sixth Christmas Record” (two-sided, 7:48 TRT)

 

Recorded: 1968, various locations

1969: “The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record” (two-sided, 7:39 TRT)

 

Recorded: 1969, various locations

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Here's what I have:

 

 

Band/Artist: The Beatles                                                                                                     

Date: 1963-1970

Venue:

Location:

Source:

Notes: Fan Club Christmas Records 

Set/Track list: Disc 1

 

Just before getting into the Beatles Fan Club Christmas Messages, a BBC broadcast was made on this subject (from which some of the information below is drawn) narrated by Brian Matthew with interviews from Tony Barrow, Kenny Everett and the fabs themselves. A lot of the research was done by Mark Lewisohn for the December 26, 1983 BBC 2 broadcast which reveal many details not always known about the how the Beatles Christmas Albums were produced and how it all originated. I must say for a kickoff for the broadcast, the BBC used comedian Dora Bryan singing "All I Want for Xmas Is Beatle!" which sounds very schmaltzy and as about a priceless as one of those Rutle tunes!!

 

Ever wondered who thought up of the idea for the Beatles Xmas Fan Club messages? Well, it wasn't the Beatles themselves, that's for sure. Nor was it Brian Epstein. In fact the person who came up with the idea was Tony Barrow. The great moment of inspiration came about in a number of ways: first off, the Beatles Fan Club had a deluge of fan mail where on average they were three weeks behind in answering back to the fans. This created problems in terms of "efficiently responding back" to those fans as well their own 80,000 "Official Fan Club Members." Tony Barrow became acutely aware of the problem, so what to do? Well, Tony recalled how the Queen Mother always delivered her Christmas Message to her subjects every year on the December 25th. Presto! Why not have the Beatles do the same for their fans but send it out on a record just before Christmas?

 

Tony Barrow decided to approach Brian Epstein on the idea. Brian more or less shunned it down because he felt it was going to "cost the Beatles" more in the long run to finance the singles as a gift to their fan club members. However, Tony was not disheartened by Epstein's opinion on the matter. Tony then decided to talk to the Beatles about the proposal to which all four musicians thought it a great idea! The Beatles then talked to Brian Epstein about the merits concerning Tony's idea. Needless to say, Brian had no choice but to now agree since it was being sanctioned by John, Paul, George and Ringo.

 

And so the Beatle Fan Club Members got their first Beatle Xmas message in 1963. Bet you all thought (for those who have heard it) that the Beatles wrote the the message themselves for their fans? Wrong! In fact the first three Xmas messages were more or less scripted by Tony Barrow with the idea that the Beatles "ad-lib humor" might prevail along the way as they're reading it (ie: one of the boys goosing another one or whistling the queens anthem are a couple of examples Tony refers to).

 

Interestingly enough, the first three Beatle Xmas records -- that is, 1963, 1964 and 1965 were all recorded at EMI studios at the end of their recording sessions. By 1966, the Beatles took a totally different approach to their next Xmas message. Mainly Paul McCartney's idea, the recording of this message had quite a few firsts for itself: First of all, it was to be "Pantomime" - an idea Paul came up with as opposed to the usual "happy greetings and Xmas goodwill" found on the previous three Xmas messages. Secondly, the record became the first Xmas record to be double-sided. Thirdly, the sleeve cover was done in color for the first time! Fourthly (and a bit of surprise here for this fan), the Beatles recorded this message at their publishers studios...that's right, in Dick James' studios in 1966! A departure here for the Beatles since they previously recorded their Fan Club messages after a recording session. The Xmas recording was approached from a "production" point of view - the first time the Beatles decided to record their Xmas message that way.

 

The Beatles Xmas message for 1967 brought in a satirical humor based on radio and television. No information is given here from the BBC broadcast as to where it was recorded (although I suspect it was back in EMI studios for this one). And if I may digress for one moment here on the subject of Xmas albums from the fabs, it is on this same BBC broadcast where Tony talked briefly about the death of Brian Epstein and the profound impact it was having on Paul McCartney. Paul called an emergency meeting (within one week after Brian's death) at his Canvendish home and Tony Barrow was there a hour before the other three Beatles were to arrive. Paul told Tony that he felt that the band may not be together again as a band after the next trip to India. For this reason, Paul decided to hold an emergency meeting to discuss future Beatle plans which now included his movie idea: "Magical Mystery Tour". From Tony Barrow's viewpoint, this gave Paul a chance to develop his management skills and give the Beatles some direction for their music.

 

In 1968, the Beatles were not working together (due to problems within the band) on their Xmas messages but instead they recorded "separate messages" to be "edited together." The lucky person who got to do this envious task of producing and editing was none other than Kenny Everett. Basically, Ken took the recordings back to the BBC radio and did some special mixing which still gave the impression of Beatles doing another great fan club message. But in the1969 Xmas message, Kenny Everett's efforts were more constrained by the lack of input from George Harrison - who only spoke a mere 6 seconds on the record and Ringo, only a mere16 seconds - made the Beatles last Xmas message appear far less of a group effort at all. Once again, this record was mixed by Kenny Everett using some musical files from the BBC library to help pad out what was to be the Beatles last Official Christmas Fan Club Record.

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