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Hello all!
Thanks to everyone who’s come aboard the newsletter list – I hope you are all enjoying the ride so far. I am working as fast as I can to prepare the next show for release – this will be White Album Olympiad with Gary Wenstrup, as part of that ongoing series. But I am also taping a special show later today…
The day after Thanksgiving Day in the US (November 29) will be the debut of the new film, Beatles ’64, produced by Martin Scorsese, on Disney+ (sound familiar?). If you don’t already know, it’s built around the documentary footage shot by Albert and David Maysles in February, covering the New York City, Washington DC and Miami sojourn of The Beatles. It was originally presented on US TV in November 1964, hosted by Carol Burnett; most of us recall the later cut issued on home video in 1991 as The Beatles: The First US Visit.
But this is a different animal, put together by Martin Scorsese’s longtime team of David Tedeschi (director) and Margaret Bodde (producer), who also worked on 2011’s Living in the Material World as well as films on Bob Dylan (Rolling Thunder Revue, 2019 and No Direction Home, 2005) and the Rolling Stones’ Shine A Light (2008). I saw a screener of it, and don’t want to give too much away until all of you have seen it. (You will not be disappointed, I think!) But I bring it up because I will be talking with Ms Bodde and Mr Tedeschi for an upcoming show.
And speaking of upcoming shows, I promised a second conversation with May Pang. If anyone has any questions you’d like me to put to her beyond what I already plan to, shoot me a line here, subject line “May Pang” and I’ll try to work it in.
November is a month absolutely loaded with Beatles/solo anniversaries. Releases this month include With The Beatles (1963), The Beatles Story (US-1964), The Beatles – Wonderwall Music – Two Virgins (1968), All Things Must Pass (1970), Mind Games (1973), Ringo (1973), Goodnight Vienna (1974), Blast From Your Past (1975), The Best of George Harrison (1976), Magical Mystery Tour (UK-1976), Thirty-Three & 1/3rd (1976), Love Songs (UK-1977), Wings Greatest (1978), The Beatles Collection (box set 1978), Double Fantasy (1980), The Beatles Box (box set “From Liverpool” 1980), The John Lennon Collection (1982), Gone Troppo (1982), All The Best! (1987), Cloud Nine (1987), Tripping The Live Fantastic (1990), Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 (1990), Live At The BBC (1994), Anthology 1 (1995), Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1998), Beatles 1 (2000), Driving Rain (2001), Brainwashed (2002), Let It Be…Naked (2003), John Lennon Acoustic (2004), The Capitol Albums volume 1 (US box set 2004), Love (2006), On Air – Live at the BBC volume 2 (2013), and The Beatles 1962 – 1966 and 1967 – 1970 (revamped and augmented, including “Now and Then” 2023). That’s not including any singles releases or TV specials or anything else – quite the list!
But since the next episode centers on the release universally known as “The White Album,” we’ll commemorate it thusly: first, a pair of videos showing photos – one of them at work in the studio, the other all circulating photos of the “White Album” portraits. If you’re into pix, I recommend checking out Elena’s channel.
But here’s something kinda cool that the hardcores have known about for years and that may be new to a lot of you: The Peter Sellers’ Tapes. You can read the backstory here – the thing to know is it contains unissued mixes and longer takes of some songs from the album while it was a work in progress.
If you guys enjoy this sort of thing, there’s plenty more where it came from…
This will do for now, but know that I will be doing the drawing for the Beatles ’64 mono vinyl on Friday, November 29. For whoever gets an email from me that day, Christmas will come early.
To all in the US – have a festive and pleasant holiday weekend. To everyone else, hope you enjoy the show coming this week and we’ll talk soon!
PS: Just passing this along – Director/author and SATB guest Paul Saltzman (The Beatles in India) is running a holiday special, FYI:
Visit our site www.thebeatlesinindia.com and use discount code: HOLIDAY40
at checkout to receive your 40% discount and FREE North American shipping.