Beatles News

.

April 28, 2009 - "Let It Roll" Update. The following track listing is unconfirmed but has been circulating among Japanese online vendors. Source: Tower Japan .

1. Got My Mind Set On You
2. Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)
3. The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
4. My Sweet Lord
5. This Song
6. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Live)
7. Any Road
8. This Is Love
9. All Those Years Ago
10. What Is Life
11. Rising Sun
12. When We Was Fab
13. Something (Live)
14. Blow Away
15. Cheer Down
16. Here Comes The Sun (Live)
17. I Don't Want To Do It
18. All Things Must Pass
19. Isn't It A Pity


Update (04/29/09): A slightly different track list has been posted on amazon.com:

.

April 27, 2009 - Below, is the cover art for the upcoming George Harrison compilation, "Let It Roll". Source: amazon.com . 

More Details: There's a 5 minute video about the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony on www.georgeharrison.com . In this video, Olivia states that all the songs on "Let It Roll" have been remastered by Giles Martin at Abbey Road. The compilation will span "All Things Must Pass" through to "Brainwashed", and will have "a couple of songs on there that haven't been included on any other album".

Web Links: 

.

April 21, 2009 - (photo) Paul McCartney at Coachella 2009. Web Links: 

Paul McCartney Performs At Coachella 2009 Festival - Video Clips:

Web Links:

April 17, 2009 -

.


Related Web Links:

April 14, 2009 - Press Release:

Capitol/EMI Announces Global Release of George Harrison's First Ever Career-Spanning Solo Hits Collection, 'Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison,' on June 16

CD and Digital Collection Features Harrison's Solo Hits, Remastered, Plus Live Recordings from 1971 Concert For Bangladesh

George Harrison Honored Today with Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Presentation

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- As music legend George Harrison is celebrated today with a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, Capitol/EMI announces Harrison's first ever career-spanning solo hits collection, Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison. To be released June 16, the new title will feature digitally remastered tracks in deluxe packaging, including an extensive booklet featuring previously unseen and rare photos. The collection will also be available for download from all major digital service providers.

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison is the first release that will span his entire solo recording career, including the #1 Billboard Pop singles "My Sweet Lord," "Isn't It A Pity," "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)," and "Got My Mind Set On You." The new title will also feature live recordings of three Harrison-penned Beatles songs, "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Here Comes The Sun" from his 1971 all-star Concert For Bangladesh benefit at Madison Square Garden. The complete track list will soon be announced.

George Harrison is a twice-inducted member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a solo artist and as a member of The Beatles, and an 11-time Grammy Award winner for his recordings with The Beatles, Traveling Wilburys and as a solo artist.

www.georgeharrison.com

SOURCE Capitol/EMI

Photos: Above, Olivia Harrison and Paul McCartney at George Harrison's Walk of Fame ceremony.

At left, Paul McCartney wipes off the newly displayed star on the Walk of Fame.

.

Olivia and Dhani Harrison at Walk Of Fame ceremony.

.


At left, Tom Petty. Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney join Olivia and Dhani Harrison in unveiling a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for George Harrison.

.

Paul McCartney, Olivia and Dhani Harrison at Walk of Fame ceremony.

.

Below, Olivia speaks at the the Walk Of Fame ceremony:

April 13, 2009 -

.




Below, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Tom Hanks, Olivia and Dhani Harrison gather at The Walk of Fame ceremony.

Other News:

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.

www.thebeatles.com

    The Stereo Albums (available individually and collected in a stereo boxed
    set)
    The stereo albums have been remastered by Guy Massey, Steve Rooke, Sam
    Okell with Paul Hicks and Sean Magee
    All CD packages contain original vinyl artwork and liner notes
    Extensive archival photos
    Additional historical notes by Kevin Howlett and Mike Heatley
    Additional recording notes by Allan Rouse and Kevin Howlett
    * = CD includes QuickTime mini-doc about the album
           Please Please Me* (CD debut in stereo)
           With The Beatles* (CD debut in stereo)
           A Hard Day's Night* (CD debut in stereo)
           Beatles For Sale* (CD debut in stereo)
           Help!*
           Rubber Soul*
           Revolver*
           Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band* (also includes 1987 notes,
            updated, and new intro by Paul McCartney)
           Magical Mystery Tour*
           The Beatles*
           Yellow Submarine* (also includes original US liner notes)
           Abbey Road*
           Let It Be*
           Past Masters (contains new liner notes written by Kevin Howlett)

    'The Beatles in Mono' (boxed set only)
    The mono albums have been remastered by Paul Hicks, Sean Magee with Guy
    Massey and Steve Rooke
    Presented together in box with an essay written by Kevin Howlett
    + = mono mix CD debut
           Please Please Me
           With The Beatles
           A Hard Day's Night
           Beatles For Sale
           Help! (CD also includes original 1965 stereo mix)+
           Rubber Soul (CD also include original 1965 stereo mix)+
           Revolver+
           Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band+
           Magical Mystery Tour+
           The Beatles+
           Mono Masters

Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue

The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn't impact on the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today's music, overall limiting - to increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles' music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three - a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there - and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room. Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team's satisfaction.

New Notes/Documentaries Team

Kevin Howlett (Historical and Recording Notes)

Kevin Howlett's career as an award-winning radio producer spans three decades. His music programmes for the BBC have included many documentaries about The Beatles, including 'The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes.' He received a Grammy nomination for his involvement with The Beatles' album 'Live At The BBC' and, in 2003, produced the 'Fly On The Wall' bonus
disc for 'Let It Be...Naked.'

Mike Heatley (Historical Notes)

Mike entered the music business via HMV Record Stores in 1970, transferring to EMI Records' International Division three years later. He eventually headed up that division in the early Eighties before joining the company's newly created Strategic Marketing Division in 1984. In 1988, he returned to International, where he undertook a number of catalogue marketing roles until he retired in December 2008.

During his career he worked with many of EMI's major artists, including Pink Floyd, Queen, Kate Bush and Iron Maiden. However, during the last 30 years
he has formed a particularly strong relationship with Apple, and has been closely involved in the origination and promotion of the Beatles catalogue, besides solo releases from John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Bob Smeaton (Director, Mini-Documentaries)

Bob Smeaton was series director and writer on the Grammy award winning 'Beatles Anthology' TV series which aired in the UK and the USA in 1995. In 1998 he received his second Grammy for his 'Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys' documentary. In 2004 he gained his first feature film credit, as director on the feature documentary 'Festival Express.' He subsequently went on to direct documentaries on many of the world's biggest music acts including The Who, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Elton John, Nirvana and the Spice Girls.

Julian Caiden (Editor, Mini-Documentaries)

Julian has worked with Bob Smeaton on numerous music documentaries including 'Jimi Hendrix: Band of Gypsys' and the 'Classic Albums' series, featuring The Who, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Elton John and Nirvana among others. He has worked on documentary profiles from Richard Pryor to Dr. John to Sir Ian McKellen, Herbie Hancock and Damien Hirst and on live music shows including the New York Dolls and Club Tropicana.

The Abbey Road Team

Allan Rouse (Project Coordinator)

Allan joined EMI straight from school in 1971 at their Manchester Square head office, working as an assistant engineer in the demo studio. During this time he frequently worked with Norman (Hurricane) Smith, The Beatles' first recording engineer.

In 1991, he had his first involvement with The Beatles, copying all of their master tapes (mono, stereo, 4-track and 8-track) to digital tape as a safety backup. This was followed by four years working with Sir George Martin as assistant and project coordinator on the TV documentary 'The Making of Sgt. Pepper's' and the CDs 'Live at the BBC' and 'The Anthology.'

In 1997, MGM/UA were preparing to reissue the film 'Yellow Submarine' and, with the permission of Apple, asked that all of The Beatles' music be mixed for the film in 5.1 surround and stereo. Allan requested the services of Abbey Road's senior engineer Peter Cobbin and assistant Guy Massey and, along with them, produced the new mixes.

Two years later, he proposed an experimental stereo and surround mix of John Lennon's song 'Imagine' engineered by Peter Cobbin. Following lengthy consultations with Yoko Ono, the album 'Imagine' was re-mixed in stereo and the Grammy award-winning film 'Gimme Some Truth' in surround and new stereo. This led to a further five of John's albums being re-mastered with new stereo mixes and the DVD release of 'Lennon Legend' being re-mixed in 5.1 surround and new stereo.

Further projects followed, including The Beatles 'Anthology', 'The First US Visit' and 'Help' DVD and the albums 'Let It Be...Naked' and 'Love' along with George Harrison's 'Concert for Bangladesh' DVD and album.

For a number of years now, Allan has worked exclusively on Beatles and related projects.

Guy Massey (Recording Engineer)

Guy joined Abbey Road in 1994, and five years later assisted on the surround remix for The Beatles film 'Yellow Submarine.' This led to The Beatles' 'Anthology' DVD and later, along with Paul Hicks and Allan Rouse, they mixed and produced 'Let It Be... Naked.' In 2004 he left the studios to become freelance and has engineered The Divine Comedy: 'Victory for the Comic Muse,' Air Traffic: 'Fractured Life,' James Dean Bradfield: 'The Great Western' and Stephen Fretwell's 'Magpie,' co-producing the last two. Since leaving, Guy is still a vital member of the team, and has been the senior engineer for the re-mastering project and was responsible for surround and new stereo mixes for the DVD release of 'Help!'

Steve Rooke (Mastering Engineer)

Steve joined Abbey Road in 1983 and is now the studio's senior mastering engineer. He has been involved on all The Beatles' projects since 1999. He has also been responsible for mastering releases by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Paul Hicks (Recording Engineer)

Paul started at Abbey Road in 1994, and his first involvement with The Beatles was assisting engineer Geoff Emerick on the Anthology albums. This was followed by 'Yellow Submarine Songtrack,' 'Anthology' DVD and 'Let It Be...Naked.' Like Guy Massey, he has also become a freelance engineer and since leaving the studios he has been responsible for the surround mixing of Paul McCartney's DVD 'The McCartney Years' and The Beatles' 'Love.' Paul has been in charge of the mono re-masters.

Sean Magee (Mastering Engineer)

Sean began working at Abbey Road in 1995 with a diploma in sound engineering. With a wealth of knowledge in analog and digital mastering, he has worked alongside Paul Hicks on the mono re-masters.


Sam Okell (Recording Engineer)

Sam's first job as a member of the team was in 2006, assisting Paul Hicks on Paul McCartney's DVD 'The McCartney Years,' and during that same year he was responsible for the re-mastering of George Harrison's 'Living In The Material World' CD along with Steve Rooke. This led to him restoring the soundtrack to the Beatles film 'Help!' in surround and stereo, in addition to assisting Guy Massey with the song remixes.

Sam has re-mastered 'With The Beatles' and 'Let It Be.'

Simon Gibson (Audio Restoration Engineer)

Simon joined Abbey Road in 1990. He has progressed from mastering mostly classical recordings to include a much wider range of music, including pop and rock, with his specialized role as an audio restoration engineer. Apart from the re-mastering project, his other work includes George Harrison's 'Living In The Material World,' John Lennon's 'Lennon Legend,' The Beatles' 'Love' and the 'Help!' DVD soundtrack.

Website: http://www.thebeatles.com/

.

Pictured at left is Paul and Ringo during rehearsal for the "Change Begins Within" concert, shortly after Friday's press conference.












Here are Paul and Ringo, during the soundcheck

Songs played during the soundcheck :

Jam (by Paul & band)
Jet
With A Little Help From My Friends (with Ringo)
Can't Buy Me Love
Got To Get You Into My Life
Matchbox (with Ringo)
With A Little Help From My Friends (with Ringo)
Blackbird
We Can Work It Out
Band On The Run
I Saw Her Standing There (Ringo on drums)
Cosmically Conscious
Cosmically Conscious (2nd time)

Other News:

.

Pictured at left, Paul McCartney, David Lynch, Ringo Starr, Bettye Lavette and Donovan attend a news conference to promote the "Change Begins Within" benefit concert for the David Lynch Foundation and to support an initiative to teach one million at-risk youth to meditate, Friday, April 3, 2009, in New York.

Web Links:

.

April 3, 2009 -