Category: Beatles

In Sunday’s Boston Globe, James Sullivan commemorates the 40th anniversary of the photo shoot that resulted in the cover to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, by identifying all of the faces in the background. The online version is here, but it doesn’t include a key. The key in the print edition of the paper is small and, in my copy, off-register and nearly illegible.

I’ve made a nice, big key to the list. Click the picture above to see it. It will open a new window or tab, so you can compare it more easily to the list below. The photo is exactly 1024×768 pixels, the most common screen resolution, making it suitable for your computer’s wallpaper, if you don’t mind being unable to find anything on your desktop! Continue reading The Key To Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart

My twinster Jean spotted this eBay auction for an original 1966 LP copy of George Martin Instrumentally Salutes the Beatle Girls. Sir George as Hugh Hefner!

I can’t find reference to this record in George Martin’s autobiography, “All You Need is Ears”, nor do I see mention of Martin’s better-known instrumental recording, “Off the Beatle Track”, from 1964. The book is poorly indexed, so I’ll keep looking.

The American soundtrack to A Hard Day’s Night included instrumentals arranged and conducted by George Martin. Here’s one of them, taken from an ancient US LP. Sounds so-so.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/AHDN_Instrumental.mp3]

The year 1964 was a very good one for George Martin. Undoubtedly his best-known non-Beatles production of that year, and perhaps any year, is this one, taken from an old UK LP. Sounds super.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/MAR07/Goldfinger.mp3]

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/MAR07/BigTrain.flv 400 300]

In the tradition of Monty Python and the other great British comedy troupes before them, Big Train have covered the kidnapping in Iraq and subsequent release of Beatles producer George Martin.

Bollywood Beatles says it all.

Here is actor Alan Rickman…

…and below is Beatles recording engineer Norman Smith, who was a recording artist himself under the pseudonym Hurricane Smith.

From Recording the Beatles © 2006 Curvebender Publishing

Norman Smith first joined the Abbey Road staff in 1959 as an assistant and quickly progressed to Balance Engineer. He served as the Beatles’ engineer from their Artist Test in 1962 until the completion of Rubber Soul in 1965. In addition to every album made during that time period, he also engineered all of the accompanying singles, including such standouts as “She Loves You”, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “I Feel Fine”, “Day Tripper”, and “We Can Work It Out.” Nicknamed “Normal” by the group, he left the engineer’s seat in 1966 when he was promoted to EMI’s A&R department (assuming George Martin’s former position as the head of Parlophone). From there, he went on to produce Pink Floyd’s first two albums — Piper at the Gates and A Saucerful of Secrets — as well as notable work with The Pretty Things. Smith also tried his hand as a recording artist, and in the early 1970s he scored a #3 US hit with “Oh Babe, What Would You Say?” using the alias “Hurricane Smith”.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/DEC06/OhBabe.mp3]