"I don't want to cheat those people"

In a new wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone, Macca explained at length why he takes such a crowd-pleasing approach to his live shows. Turns out, Paul is the anti-Dylan because (in part, anyway*) he himself has been on the losing end of a concert that didn't deliver the goods as expected. To this I say: Paul, never change. There may not be a more exasperating breach of faith between musician and fan than a set list that's designed to satisfy the whims of the artist over the general desires of the crowd. Especially at big ticket shows, it's a reasonable expectation that the performing act will honor the outlay of money and commitment of time by his or her fans with a performance that, at the very least, isn't unprofessional or willfully challenging, and, even better, is geared toward broad appeal. That's not asking much. Now, within the "give the people what they want" prescription/policy, there's plenty of room for maneuvering and balance. It doesn't need to be pursued in draconian fashion (i.e., singles and hits always trumping lesser-known entries), but it should serve as a starting point, a guide. And for most performers, it does. But that doesn't undo how refreshing it is to hear Paul loudly proclaim the gospel of populism. Everybody, listen to the what the man said.

*There's also the obvious $$$ factor.

Here's part of the excerpt:

Well, I'm always reminded of when I was a kid and I used to go to shows. This was pre-pre-pre-Beatles. I was just a little kid in Liverpool with no money, and I'd be saving up forever. It'd be really good if the show satisfied me – and it really pissed me off if it didn't. So I have this thing, which is that these people have paid money. They're not necessarily all going be that flush, so let's give them a good night out. Let's have a party. Let's make it a fiesta kind of thing, so everyone goes home and thinks, "Yeah, I didn't mind spending that money." That's the philosophy behind a lot of what I do.

One of the first concerts I ever went to was a Bill Haley concert. I was so young, I was still in short trousers. I was about 13 or something. It was rock & roll coming to Liverpool, and I was so excited. I saved up, got this ticket, went to the Liverpool Odeon – and the whole first half wasn't Bill Haley! It was this other guy who, years later, I learned was a promoter who had his own band. Mind you, the second half, when Bill opened from behind the curtains with, "One, two, three o' clock, four o'clock rock," and did "Rock Around the Clock," which is almost the birth of rock & roll – okay, that was exciting. The curtains opened and they're all there in these crazy tartan jackets. That was worth it. But I was always pissed off about the opening act, thinking I got cheated. And I once bought a Little Richard record where he was only one track on the album. It was this other thing, the Buck Ram Orchestra.

"Chillin with my homies"

To be a fly on the wall... This charmed young fella was something like that fly. I love the unadulterated glee on his face. Read more here.

Weekend reading

- Here's Joshua Wolf Shenk on John, Paul, and "The Power of Two". Always important to keep in mind with this subject: John and Paul's creative partnership was very fluid. It played out in a variety of forms over a relatively short period. Hence the difficulty of categorizing their MO in general terms.

- Very cool: "The Beatles' mono albums remastered at Abbey Road set for vinyl release"

- Ugh, more sanitized, one dimensional, plaster-saint John Lennon: Peace Activist tripe is in the offing, thanks to Yoko's agreement with a global branding company to promote John's legacy.

Weekend reading

- Stereogum ranked John's 10 best solo joints. I applaud the exclusion of "Imagine" but rue the absence of "Love". Solid list overall. Also, kudos to the writers for issuing a furious corrective to the deep-seated fiction about John Lennon: Secular Saint. Like the myth of JFK's Camelot, it's a childish, absurdly unsupportable lie that has survived in the popular consciousness for far too long.

- "13 Days as a Beatle: The Sad History of Jimmie Nicol"

- The reissue blitz continues: "The Beatles to Re-Release Japanese Albums"

- Via Rolling Stone: "6 Best Out-of-Print Beatles Releases" - In my book, it's the Let It Be documentary and then everything else.

- Finally: "Imagine all the artwork: Lennon trove auctioned" - Words always fail when it comes to the dollar amounts involved. See here as well.

A night at the Grammys

Before we get too far removed from Grammy night, I thought I'd post this pair of videos.

The first is of Macca and Ringo's much-ballyhooed joint performance of "Queenie Eye" (the second and perhaps final single off New). The verdict: Though Richie plays a secondary role to Paul's regular drummer, Abe Laboriel, Jr., it's still a pleasure to watch the two ex-Beatles in tandem onstage. And it's a superb song - frivolous, flighty fun but impeccably crafted, with a sense of forward momentum that's dynamic and ear-catching. Paul nails the vocal too, 71 years old and all.

The second clip shows Ringo, flanked by a well-stocked backing band, delivering his most famous solo hit, "Photograph". Big, booming, widescreen - thumbs up. Richard Perry, who produced the song back in 1973, clearly borrowed a page from the Phil Spector manual.

That same evening, Paul and Ringo were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Cute Beatle also racked up four more Grammy wins, bringing his total haul to 18 (which includes those he won as a Fab). He shared Best Rock Song with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear - the surviving members of Nirvana - for their fantastic Sound City jam, "Cut Me Some Slack". Watch these most unlikely collaborators accept the award here.

Weekend reading #2

- "20 Awesome Unreleased Beatles Recordings We Want To Hear" - I wasn't aware of this alternate rendition of "Two of Us". Electric, more uptempo. Nothing could ever supplant the official version in my book, but I'd be curious to hear a full-length cut. And I really enjoyed the video clip too, with John and Paul singing nose-to-nose and goofing around. See, it wasn't all tension and acrimony during the "Get Back" sessions.

- Kudos to Stephen Deusner for directing attention to some of the other classic songs released in 1963 (that is, non-Fabs entries, like "Be My Baby", "In My Room", "Ring of Fire" and more). But spare me the trendy, quasi-poptimist criticism of The Beatles' post-Help! (or so) evolution. Yes, how lamentable it is that the band discovered sounds and influences beyond "Long Tall Sally". And yes, how sad it is that they failed to recognize their accountability to some vague ideal of True Rock 'N' Roll.

- Rolling Stone: "The 12 Weirdest Paul McCartney Songs". When life gets you down, just remember: we live in a world where "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" reached the top of the charts.

- From "Paul McCartney at 71: still here, there and everywhere" (The Guardian): "Such Macca fatigue seems peculiarly British – our national sense of cool is so nuanced as to be completely baffling to the rest of the world. Every other country would be proud to claim the 71-year-old McCartney as their own, to celebrate him as an actual living legend who changed the world through his talent. Whereas I feel as though I'm going to interview the NHS or the BBC, some well-loved British institution that inspires immense gratitude for past glories but is considered exasperating in its current form. Not necessarily by me, but that's the general air."

- From Slate: Macca's best solo songs.

"Words of Love" video

I'm not crazy about the new video, which is part of the promotional campaign for On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2. It's breezy fun for sure, but I would've preferred that the old footage remain free of animation. The added color and the fanciful flourishes just end up having a cheesy, distracting effect. Why not keep the clips of The Beatles and their fans unaltered and then intercut those scenes with purely animated ones? I think the final product would've been much better. In any event, if the video isn't your style, still check it out for the song itself (a Buddy Holly cover, for those unaware). The sound quality is superb, especially on John and Paul's harmonized "hmms." They're little moments of dreamy perfection.

Paul on "Fallon"

Late once again...

The clip below is quite fetching.

For more of Macca's appearance on Late Night, go here.

Macca on "Jimmy Kimmel"

I finally got around to watching Paul's appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. For the most part, it was exactly what you'd expect: Paul - ever loose and charming - reminisced about days past (e.g., his maiden trip to Hollywood, pre-Beatles jobs, meeting Elvis, etc.), Kimmel cracked some decent though not first-rate jokes, the audience devoured every moment, and then at the end Paul and company played a live set. Enjoyable but predictable. However, there was something about Paul's manner that caught my attention: the old-timer was clearly feeling a bit randy that night. When he was asked what stood out about his first time in Los Angeles, Paul mentioned all the pretty girls. He continued, "We were young, we were healthy, we were ready to roll." Cheeky. And then later, in the middle of a discussion about Elvis and his enormous popularity, Kimmel observed that it was strange to think The Beatles were ever "beneath" anyone in the rock 'n' roll hierarchy. Paul responded, "Oh we were beneath many people in our day. Believe me." Oh Paul, you're incorrigible.

Interview part 1

Interview part 2

Interview part 3

Paul debuts "New" songs

Macca played the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas this past weekend and live-debuted three cuts from his forthcoming record, New. One was the title track, which I wrote about here. The other two, "Everybody Out There" and "Save Us", can be found below. Enjoy.

New will be released stateside on October 15th.

"Everybody Out There"

"Save Us"

"New"

I'm exceedingly late to the ball, but I still wanted to opine...

The already-standard take on Macca's gleaming and sunny new single really does hit the mark: for a song entitled "New", there's no small amount of the past on display. The feel and flow of the verses recall "Got to Get You into My Life" and "Penny Lane"; the bouyant rhythm bears the fingerprints of "Getting Better"; and the surprise coda - a barbershop quartet contraption with a hint of the Beach Boys - comes from the playbook of "Hello, Goodbye". "New" is a masterful lesson in Beatles-esque from one of the originators.

If anything's "new", it's 1) the producer, Mark Ronson, who applies a spotless pop polish to the harpsichord-driven arrangement, and 2) the source of Paul's inspiration, Nancy Shevell, who wed the ex-Beatle in October of 2011. When Macca sings, "We can do what we want / We can live as we choose," you can't help but take his youthful enthusiasms at face value. An unparalleled talent, a towering cultural icon, and a happily married man, Paul runs on joie de vivre. "New" is just another victory lap.

(If the video is removed, go here.)

Paul's forthcoming album, New, is due out on 10/15. The track listing is here.

"It's contrapuntal, man!"

I'm open to correction, but it strikes me that the most talked-about Beatles song of 2013 has been "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!." Weird, no? It owes to Paul's (questionable) decision to dust off the Sgt. Pepper's circus curio for his current tour. In my humble opinion, it ill-fits the stage (follow the appropriate link here to arrive at your own conclusion). But I do salute Macca for keeping his set-lists fresh. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, he elaborated on the history of "Kite!" and the thought process that led to its resurrection. Interesting remarks.

Excerpt:

You've added a few new Beatles songs to the set – "Lovely Rita," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and "All Together Now." What's it like playing those live for the first time ever?

That's challenging. I mean, something like "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is hard to do. Ask a bass player who sings. It's contrapuntal, man! It really is. I've got to sing a melody that's going to one place, and then I've got to play this bassline that's going to other places. It's a concentration thing. But that's half the fun of the show. I'm still practicing, still trying to figure it out, particularly on the new numbers. It's like, "How does this one go again?"

What made you want to revisit those particular songs?

Well, for instance, "Mr. Kite" is such a crazy, oddball song that I thought it would freshen up the set. Plus the fact that I'd never done it. None of us in the Beatles ever did that song [in concert]. And I have great memories of writing it with John. I read, occasionally, people say, "Oh, John wrote that one." I say, "Wait a minute, what was that afternoon I spent with him, then, looking at this poster?" He happened to have a poster in his living room at home. I was out at his house, and we just got this idea, because the poster said "Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite" – and then we put in, you know, "there will be a show tonight," and then it was like, "of course," then it had "Henry the Horse dances the waltz." You know, whatever. "The Hendersons, Pablo Fanques, somersets…" We said, "What was 'somersets'? It must have been an old-fashioned way of saying somersaults." The song just wrote itself. So, yeah, I was happy to kind of reclaim it as partially mine. But like I said, you've got to look what you're doing when you play that one.

Does it feel like you're coming full circle when you sing those words in front of these huge crowds after all those years?

You know, it's more a question of what a delight it is to finally play it. We played it when we recorded it – for instance, "Mr. Kite," when we recorded it, we laid down the track as a group, and then I put the bass on afterwards, as I often did in those days. So that gave me the opportunity to really think about the bassline and make it melodic. But, of course, if I'd have thought, like, "Tomorrow you're going to have to play this live," I don't think I'd have made it so complicated! "Day Tripper" was another one. I thought, "I just can't do it." It's like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. It's not that easy to do. You've got to practice up on that. I goofed it a million times in rehearsal. Then, finally, I just thought, "OK, wait a minute, I'll do that . . ." And I worked out how I was going to do it. So it's great for me, reviewing the past, and just thinking, "This is cool." It's still up-to-date. The combination of all of that makes it quite a joy to do.

Catching up on Beatles news

A thousand apologies for the lengthy absence from this space. I'll try to resume semi-regular blogging starting now. Below is a news round-up from my time away.

- Paul will appear on The Colbert Report this Wednesday for an hour-long music special. Colbert: "I think this McCartney kid’s got something special and I’m gonna put him on the map!"

- In Memphis for a gig late last month, Macca visited Graceland for the first time and left a memento at Elvis' grave.

- From Rolling Stone's review of the Wings Over America re-issue: "There’s something daft and touching about how McCartney strives for band democracy: Whenever Denny Laine sings lead, you can almost hear the fans stampede for their bathroom weed break. Here's a better, more detailed appraisal. And here are some streaming tracks from the triple album. And video. Ah, the Seventies!

- The news that John felt some shame over his spell as a radical activist is not news at all. It's been well documented for years. The more interesting part of this story deals with John's desire near the end of his life to return to Liverpool. He "wanted to sail into the city on board luxury liner Queen Elizabeth 2 as his fans lined the shore."

- Photograph, a collection of pictures that Ringo took on tour and in the studio as a Beatle, is being released in e-book form on June 12th and in (laughably overpriced) physical form next December.

- June 1st was the 46th anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's. In her infinite wisdom, The Gray Lady sneered at it.

- It's a staple of "How The Beatles Impacted History" journalism: Yes, The Beatles won the Cold War. I love this detail: "A widely held fantasy that Woodhead (an ex-British spy turned filmmaker who traveled throughout Soviet Russia) heard over and over was that the Beatles landed in the USSR to play an impromptu concert on the wing of their tour airplane on their way to Japan. The Soviet city would change in each telling but people sincerely believed that this undocumented performance happened."

- A guitar played by John and George was recently auctioned off for $408,000.

- Help! is coming to Blu-ray later this month.

Happy Friday from Paul (and Harold)!

(Image source: BBC)

From The Daily Mail:

His band The Beatles are arguably the most famous musical group of all time.

But on Tuesday night, Paul McCartney was more about the grasshoppers as he found his stage invaded by a swarm of the insects during a concert in Goiania, Brazil.

The 70-year-old musician was forced to complete his three-hour performance as clouds of the Esperanca Grilo creatures buzzed around him.

However, animal-lover Macca appeared unfazed by the stage intrusion as he pushed through and delighted the 47,000 crowd with his songs.

Sir Paul even introduced one of the little grasshoppers as Harold during a performance of hit song Hey Jude.

As he sang the track, Sir Paul turned to Harold as he sang the words 'the movement you need is on your shoulder', adding 'it certainly is now'.

Paul's "Out There" playlist

When a Beatles song is played live for the first time, it's no minor event. Last Saturday, at the kickoff to his "Out There" world tour in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Paul debuted not just one but four: "All Together Now," "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!," (a curious choice, no?*) "Lovely Rita," and "Your Mother Should Know." Also included on the setlist were "Eight Days a Week," which The Beatles performed live just once back in 1965, and "Another Day" (Paul's solo-years answer to "Eleanor Rigby"), which had been absent from his concert repertoire since 1993. Kudos for the variety, Sir Macca.

*I say this because 1) the lumpy and un-melodic "Kite!" isn't exactly begging for a live treatment; and 2) While Paul occasionally performs material written by other Beatles (in this instance, John), it's usually done explicitly as a tribute, and that doesn't seem to be the case here.

"Eight Days a Week"

"Let It Be" vs. "Let It Be...Naked"

It was announced earlier in the week that Let It Be…Naked (2003), the remixed, Phil Spector-less version of The Beatles' final record, is at long last available on iTunes. The news inspired me to revisit the album and note what I like and don't like about the major differences. I didn't find many negatives.

Like:

- The best change by far was the addition of "Don't Let Me Down." What a song, what a vocal. It never should have been excluded from the 1970 release. That, combined with the removal of "Dig It" and "Maggie Mae" – two short and goofy superfluities best left as outtakes -, improved the flow of the songs and their overall quality.

- Generally speaking, the track order is much better. "Get Back" works more naturally as an opener than a closer, and "Let It Be" finishes the album on an appropriately elegiac note. I'm not a huge fan of "Let It Be," but I don't like that it was buried on Side 1 of the original. It deserved better.

- I stand with Paul on "The Long and Winding Road." He hated that Spector lavished the song with ornate instrumentation. He saw it as an insulting deviation from the "back-to-basics" sound that The Beatles had aimed for on the album. The gentler, more earth-bound version on Naked is an upgrade. The same goes for "Across the Universe," which sheds the gooey, underwater encasement that Spector had overdubbed onto an earlier recording of the song. In these instances anyway, less is more.

Don't like:

- Notwithstanding what I said about "Get Back" as a winning opener, I still prefer "Two of Us" in that spot. It's probably due to a combination of: 1) I treasure the song; 2) Hearing it at the outset, with its warm melancholy and autumnal ease, seems to improve everything that follows; and 3) I dig John's mock intro.

And that's basically it. Canon fealty be damned, I prefer the unified, precise polish of Naked to the incongruous clutter of the original.

Assorted Beatles links

- Paul: "… when she (Yoko) turned up at the studio and sat in the middle of us, doing nothing I still admit now that we were all cheesed off." Cheesed off! The quote comes from an interview Paul did with Q. The British mag's most recent issue celebrates The Beatles' 50th anniversary.

- Which bassist had the largest influence on Macca? Motown's James Jamerson.

- Ray Connolly on Paul and his mother, Mary.

- Paul will be featured on the score for Michel Gondry’s upcoming film, Mood Indigo. He contributed bass parts to several instrumental compositions.

- Paul has a new album of his own in the works, and three of the tracks were produced by Mark Ronson.

- Read about Paul’s original plan for “Yesterday.”

- Peter Brown, friend and assistant to Brian Epstein and a former Apple Corps executive, reflects on life with The Beatles.

- Via Slate, "photos from the early days of Beatlemania."

- Rolling Stone’s Jody Rosen on Please Please Me: “It captures the group at its scruffiest and most 'bar band' – it is a document, as Lennon once said, of the Beatles before they were "the 'clever' Beatles."

- And here are 10 facts about PPM.

- Lastly, a copy of Sgt. Pepper’s that was autographed by all four Beatles just sold for nearly $300,000. Madness!

"Cut Me Some Slack"

In the same calendar year now, Paul has put out a dapper standards album called Kisses on the Bottom and contributed lead vocals to "Cut Me Some Slack," the stomping Nirvana-reunion jam that was debuted at the 12-12-12 Sandy benefit concert. That's impressive range, but it's not unheard of from Paul. Consider that on "The White Album" only two tracks separate "Helter Skelter" and "Honey Pie," a pair of McCartney creations that are as different as any in The Beatles' songbook and that almost seem to parallel the dichotomy above. In a sense, "Helter Skelter" makes it easier for "Cut Me Some Slack" to work. There's the foreknowledge that heavy, hard-charging confines aren't totally unfamiliar to Paul. In fact, he made a classic belting his way through them. Then when you get into the song, it's hard not to detect traces of "Helter Skelter" itself, especially in the brief, wiry chorus. And while Paul's voice is certainly not what it used to be, he brings just enough grit to the proceedings. 70 years old, and he's rocking out with Dave Grohl and company. Just awesome.

For more on the song, go here.

"Cut Me Some Slack"

(If the video is removed, go here.)

"Roll up for the mystery tour"

Big news announced yesterday: Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles' long out-of-print film from 1967, has been restored and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in early October. A little backstory... MMT came in the wake of both The Beatles' decision to stop touring and the tragedy of Brian Epstein's death. It was an unfocused period for the band. With Paul as the driving force, the Fabs themselves directed the film, a druggy, surrealist, madcap vision of a weekend bus trip around the English countryside. Production was sloppy and haphazard, as there was no script and the Four had little idea what they were doing. Upon release, MMT took a beating from the British press. It was a rare creative black-eye for The Beatles (though the soundtrack did deliver the goods). Since then, opinion has shifted a bit, and it seems the various Beatles estates have determined that the film is finally ready for another look. It's one missing piece of the puzzle that we won't have to complain about any longer. Now bring on the Let It Be doc!

Go here for the Magical Mystery Tour trailer.

A portrait of George as a young solo artist

From Ultimate Classic Rock:

‘Early Takes: Volume 1,’ a collection of raw, mostly acoustic demos from the start of George Harrison‘s solo career, will be released next month, with fans treated to early takes of some of Harrison’s most celebrated songs and many others.

The disc focuses on the time period in 1970 before the youngest Beatle dropped his first solo album, the smash ‘All Things Must Pass,’ with demos of ‘My Sweet Lord,’ ‘Awaiting On You All,’ ‘Behind That Locked Door,’ ‘Run Of The Mill’ and Harrison’s collaboration with Bob Dylan, ‘I’d Have You Anytime,’ included.

The article features a video for the acoustic demo of "My Sweet Lord," which you can find below. Give it a listen. With no slide guitar, backup vocals, or overall Spector-ian lushness, the beaming pop hymn that we're used to plays instead like folksy blues; warm reverence is replaced by shaggy soulfulness. Adding to the beauty, George's voice sounds as expressive as ever. All told, it's a more-than-worthy companion to the finished product.

Enjoy:


(If the video is removed, go here.)