The Beatles – Walking back to Abbey Road Studios (photo from Beatles Brunch)
By Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo Music | It was 50 years ago today [Friday], the Beatles decided not to play. Specifically, on April 10, 1970, the band’s Paul McCartney issued a statement announcing, “I have no future plans to record or appear with the Beatles again, or to write any music with John [Lennon].” The Fab Four’s official breakup ushered in the end of an era — and, in some ways, the end of the ‘60s ideal.
Abbey Road wasn’t the last Beatles album to see a commercial release — that would be the problematic, Phil Spector-produced Let It Be, which came out about a month after the band’s split. But Abbey Road, which got the deluxe boxed-set reissue treatment last year for its 50th anniversary, was their final recorded studio LP — and, it could easily be argued, their grandest achievement. All four band members were at the peak of their powers, with George Harrison contributing two of the greatest Beatles songs of all time, and Ringo Starr penning his best Beatles track, “Octopus’s Garden.”
Read the whole interview here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/giles-martin-reflects-on-final-abbey-road-recording-sessions-you-actually-wonder-if-the-beatles-could-have-sustained-themselves-161415239.html
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They broke up 50 years ago. How the Beatles still bring joy in scary times
Opinion by Jere Hester, CNN | A t Mount Sinai South Nassau on New York’s Long Island, the hospital staff reportedly spins “Here Comes the Sun” on the public address system every time a coronavirus patient is discharged.
Paul McCartney is set to play the upcoming “One World: Together at Home” charity special, joining a bill that includes 18-year-old superfan Billie Eilish, nearly 60 years his junior.
“Yellow Submarine” has gained new resonance as an intergenerational singalong, crooned by neighbors through windows-turned-portholes, socially distant, but inextricably linked.
They may have broken up 50 years ago, on April 10, 1970. But the Beatles still help us come together, especially when we need it most.
So how to explain the enduring grip of a group that invaded the US in 1964 when more than two-thirds of Americans currently alive — myself included — had yet to be born?
There are some obvious answers, starting with the music — a fab force that evolved at revolution speed, going from the proto-boy band pop of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in late 1963 to the psychedelia of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” over a span of 3½ years.
Then there’s the message, embodied in “All You Need is Love.”
And, of course, there’s the humor, born in earthy Liverpool and channeled into family friendly movies from “A Hard Day’s Night” to “Yellow Submarine” that grew on mom and pop, long hair and all.
All true. But it adds up to something much bigger.
A musical legacy to share
The Beatles’ greatest gift was giving us something to share, a legacy to pass along just as stories and songs were in days of old. We’ve done it with everything from vinyl records to eight-track tapes to CDs to iTunes to Spotify and back to vinyl again.
And we do it as much for ourselves as for our children.
Read the rest of the story here:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/11/opinions/beatles-50-years-hester/index.html
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