August 27:
♫Hello everyone out there and welcome to the 73rd issue of everyone’s favourite Monkeynuts website. Talking of monkeynuts, I’m astonished that I actually did find some links to monkeynuts when adding our videos at youtube – I thought it was just our site making the word famous! Anyway, you can now see three of our Youtube adverts at the following YouTube addresses (although typing ‘Alan’s Album Archives’ should still find two of them). The latter two feature our very own star-in-the-making: Max The Singing Dog, who along with two of his friends are helping to advertise our site:
In other news, our website has now rocketed past 1800 views and the stat counter is adding up a little quicker each time, so hello to all our new members and hurrah to all our old members who keep coming back (remind me to give that singing dog a bone as a thankyou!) That also means, stat lovers, that we have had an average of 180 views per calendar month since the site moved to its current home at Moonfruit – that’s gone up almost 100% since the first three months of the site which isn’t too bad at all. Please keep leaving me messages on our ‘about the site’ page though – somebody out there must have an opinion on what we write, surely we can’t have got it all right! (or all wrong!) Anyway, that’s enough back slapping –on with the site...
♫ Beatles News: More on that Apple re-issue series we mentioned a couple of issues back: the set will be released on October 25th and will contain the first 14 non-Beatles albums issued by the fab four’s company. What’s exciting about this set is that few of these albums have ever made it to CD and the few that have – such as the Badfinger sets – are well overdue a remastered reissue. It appears that the records are being re-issued separately as well as in a big box –which is good news for collectors who don’t have to sit through the Mary Hopkin stuff top get to Billy Preston – although the most interesting rare release of all is Jackie Lomax’s LP ‘Is This What You Want?’, featuring George Harrison’s rare 1968 song ‘Sour Milk Sea’. The full list of albums are James Taylor’s eponymous album, the first four albums by Badfinger – Magic Christian Music (produced by Paul McCartney), No Dice (produced by Mal Evens), Straight Up (produced in part by George Harrison) and Ass, Mary Hopkins’ ‘Postcard’ and ‘Earth Song, Ocean Song’ (both featuring Paul McCartney), Billy Preston’s ‘That’s The Way God Planned It’ (featuring the first version of George’s ‘My Sweet Lord’) and ‘Encouraging Words’, Doris Troy’s eponymous album featuring contributions from George Harrison and Stephen Stills, Jackie Lomax’s ‘Is This What You Want?’ (featuring George Harrison on many tracks), The Modern Jazz Quartet’s two LPs ‘Under The Jasmin Tree’ and ‘Space’ plus the weirdest of all, John Taverner’s classical music ‘The Whale’ and ‘Celtic Requiem’, produced by Ringo!
Oh and in other news, director Richard Lester has donated his copies of early draft scripts for the Beatles films ‘A hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Help!’ to the British Film Institute for safe-keeping. The drafts, titled ‘Beatles’ and ‘Beatles Two’, were written before the songs to accompany them – hence the names – and were donated along with several other items, including a begging letter from Spike Milligan asking for money!
♫ Belle and Sebastian News: At long last the band have announced the news that they will be releasing a new album, tentatively titled ‘Belle and Sebastian Write About Love.’ The album, which hasn’t been given a release date but may well be out in time for Christmas, would be the first release of ‘new’ material from the band since 2005’s ‘The Life Pursuit’, the longest gap by far in B and S’ canon. The band’s website www.belleandsebastian.com are also offering a competition where fans can have their artwork included on the packaging. To enter, simply chalk the album title in some non-permanent paint or chalk (which can be easily washed off) on any part of your neighbourhood you fancy, take a picture of it and send them in to the website. As well as being on the packaging, the band also want to use the pictures in a forthcoming TV documentary – more news on that if ands when we hear about it. And, presumably, if you get an Asbo for your graffiti the band can use that picture on their artwork too!
♫ ANNIVERSARIES (August 23-29th): Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear AAA members Keith Moon (drummer with The Who 1965-78) who would have been 64 on August 23rd and Chris Curtis (drummer with The Searchers) who would have been 69 on August 26th. Anniversaries of events include: John Lennon marries first wife Cynthia in the presence of Paul, George and Brian Epstein but Ringo – who has been in the band a matter of a fortnight – doesn’t find out about it till afterwards (August 23rd 1962); security guards at a Stones concert in Manchester get so desperate to keep control of rioting fans they end up turning hoses on the audience mid-show! (August 23rd 1965); Patti Harrison goes to a lecture given by the Maharishi at the London Hilton and persuades her husband George to visit his next lecture in Bangor when she returns home (August 24th 1967); Mark David Chapman receives a life sentence for the murder of John Lennon (August 24th 1981); The Who revive Tommy for the first time in 15 years with an all-star charity event Los Angeles’ Universal Ampitheatre (August 24th 1989); Brian Wilson makes his only stage appearance with The Beach Boys between 1966 and 1976 (August 25th 1967); Henry McCullough becomes the first – of several – members to leave Paul McCartney’s band Wings (August 25th 1973); The Beatles see the Maharishi at Bangor, Wales (August 26th 1967); 10cc make their first stage appearance at the Isle Of Mann’s Douglas Palace Lido (August 26th 1973); The Beatles take a break from their latest American tour meet Elvis at his Beverly Hills’ Home (August 27th 1965); Brian Epstein, Beatles manager, dies of mysterious causes (August 27th 1967); Apple Records launches in the UK with two singles, The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ and Mary Hopkins’ ‘Those Were The Days’ (August 27th 1968); The Rolling Stones sign with manager Allen Klein (August 28th 1965); Cat Stevens releases his second-best selling single ‘Moonshadow’ (August 28th 1971); 15-year-old George Harrison plays with The Quarrymen for the very first time (August 29th 1958) and finally, The Beatles play their last ever concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park (August 29th 1966).
No comments:
Post a Comment