George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience. Following the band's breakup, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Harrison generally wrote one song per side from the Help! album onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's breakup, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison. Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, and is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980. Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna. He was married twice, to the model Pattie Boyd in 1966, and to the record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias in 1978, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. American film director Martin Scorsese has announced that he is making a George Harrison documentary titled Living in the Material World: George Harrison.
01- You 02- Bangla Desh 03- Dark Horse 04- Poor Little Girl 05- That's the Way It Goes 06- Cockamamie Blues 07- Wake Up My Love 08- Life Itself 09- Crackerbox Palace 10- Cloud 9 11- Here Comes The Moon 12- Gone Troppo 13- Love Comes to Everyone
Helen Kate Shapiro (born 28 September 1946) is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had two number one hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness"; and, indeed, her first four single releases all went into the top three of the UK Singles Chart. Most of her recording sessions were at EMI's studios at Abbey Road in north west London. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK. At a mere 14 years and 316 days old when "You Don't Know" hit the top, she was nevertheless a year older than Frankie Lymon had been when "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" hit the UK number one slot in 1956. Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's 'Top Female Singer'. The Beatles' first national tour of Britain in the late winter/early spring of 1963 was as her supporting act. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Misery" intended for her, but Shapiro did not record the composition. In 1995, during a This is Your Life installment highlighting her life and career, Shapiro revealed, "It was actually turned down on my behalf before I ever heard it, actually. I never got to hear it or give an opinion. It's a shame, really." By the time she was in her late teens, her career as a pop singer was on the wane. With the new wave of beat music and newer female singers such as Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu - Shapiro appeared old-fashioned and emblematic of the bee-hived pre-Beatles era. She branched out as a performer in stage musicals, a jazz singer, (jazz being her first love musically), and more recently a gospel singer. She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! in London's West End and has appeared in British television soap operas; in particular Albion Market where she played one of the main characters up to the time it was taken off-air in August 1986. Shapiro retired from show business at the end of 2002 to concentrate on her gospel outreach evenings. She is married to John Judd, an actor with numerous roles in British television and cinema, she resides in the town of Highworth, Wiltshire. Her autobiography, published in 1993, was entitled Walking Back to Happiness.
01- Don't Treat Me Like A Child 02- You Don't Know 03- Walkin' Back To Happiness 04- Tell Me What He Said 05- Let's Talk About Love 06- Little Miss Lonely 07- Keep Away From Other Girls 08- Queen For Tonight 09- Woe Is Me 10- Look Who It Is 11- Fever 12- Look Over Your Shoulder 13- Tomorrow Is Another Day 14- Shop Around 15- I Wish I'd Never Loved You 16- When I'm With You 17- Marvellous Lie 18- Kiss N' Run 19- I Apologise 20- Sometime Yesterday 21- I Don't Care 22- Cry My Heart Out 23- Daddy Couldn't Get Me One Of Those 24- Walking In My Dreams 25- Ole Father Time 26- He Knows How To Love Me 27- I Walked Right In (With My Eyes Wide Open) 28- You Won't Come Home 29- I Was Only Kidding 30- It's So Funny I Could Cry
This album shows a more "classic" pop sound as well as a shift to a more serious personality to the music, a theme that would remain in later albums, most notably 1980's End of the Century. The influence of 1960s girl groups is evident, as well as the influence of The Byrds on tracks including "Don't Come Close" and the cover of "Needles and Pins," originally by Jackie DeShannon and later a hit for The Searchers. The album also contains the track "I Wanna Be Sedated", one of the band's most popular tunes. This is their first album with Marky Ramone on drums, after original drummer Tommy Ramone left due to fatigue from touring. However, Tommy (credited as his birth name, Tommy Erdelyi) stayed to produce Road to Ruin, as well as a brief comeback for 1984's Too Tough to Die. The album was remastered and released by Rhino Records in June 19, 2001. It also featured bonus tracks, which included alternate versions and demos. Two of the bonus tracks, "Rock 'n' Roll High School (Ed Stasium version)" and "Blitzkrieg Bop/Teenage Lobotomy/California Sun/Pinhead/She’s the One (Live)," are from the soundtrack for Rock 'n' Roll High School. "I'm Against It" was covered by Overkill on their album Coverkill. The original LP release was pressed on transparent yellow vinyl.
01- I Just Want to Have Something to Do 02- I Wanted Everything 03- Don't Come Close 04- I Don't Want You 05- Needles & Pins 06- I'm Against It 07- I Wanna Be Sedated 08- Go Mental 09- Questioningly 10- She's the One 11- Bad Brain 12- It's a Long Way Back
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is the debut solo album by English rock musician John Lennon. It was released in 1970 after Lennon issued three experimental albums with Yoko Ono and Live Peace In Toronto 1969, a live performance in Toronto credited to The Plastic Ono Band. The album was recorded simultaneously with Yoko Ono's debut avant garde solo album Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band at Ascot Sound Studios and Abbey Road Studios using the same musicians and production team, and featured nearly identical cover artwork. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band is generally considered one of Lennon's finest solo albums and a landmark recording. Rolling Stone named it the twenty-second greatest album of all time. The "Plastic Ono Band" in the album's title refers to the conceptual band Lennon and Ono had formed in 1969 of various supporting musicians they would use on their various solo albums. After the Beatles' break-up in April 1970, both Lennon and Ono undertook primal therapy with the guidance of Arthur Janov for four months in Los Angeles. Forced to confront the traumas of his childhood (abandonment, isolation and death), Lennon finally let his submerged anger and hurt rise to the surface and dealt with it through his art. Similarly, Ono's concurrently-recorded album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band was a form of catharsis for her. Returning to England that September, Lennon and Ono called upon Phil Spector, who had produced Lennon's hit "Instant Karma!" earlier that year, to co-produce both their albums with them at Abbey Road Studios. Ringo Starr played drums, while Klaus Voormann played bass. Billy Preston, who had already worked with the Beatles, supplied piano for "God". Lennon performed all guitar duties, playing most of the piano as well. Throughout the album, Lennon touches upon many issues: the abandonment of his parents in "Mother"; the castigation of class issues in "Working Class Hero"; a reminder that despite his rage and pain, Lennon still embraces "Love"; and "God", a renouncement of external saviours. Here Lennon states that he believes only in himself, and his wife Yoko. The album's cover is almost identical to Ono's companion piece Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band—the difference being that on Ono's cover, she is lying on Lennon's body. The photo was snapped with a consumer-grade Instamatic camera by actor Daniel Richter who worked as an assistant for the Lennons at the time. The initial compact disc issue of the album listed the title and artist, while the 2000 remastered version restores the original artwork. In addition, the original LP did not feature a track listing on the back. Instead, the back cover showed what appears to be a school photo of Lennon in his youth (circa 1946). John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was received with high critical praise upon release. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." In early 1971, the album reached number eight on the U.K. and went to number six in the U.S., spending eighteen weeks in the Top 100. Phil Spector, a co-producer on this album, played piano on "Love". Contrary to popular belief, John & Yoko produced the album whilst Spector was unavailable during most of the recording sessions. John went as far as to post an ad in Billboard magazine inviting Phil to come visit him for the weekend. "Look At Me" dates from The Beatles period, and is built on a finger-picking guitar pattern very similar to the one Lennon used in "Dear Prudence", "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and "Julia". Lennon learned this guitar technique from Donovan while the two were in Rishikesh. Curiosuly, the album was released in Japan under the title ジョンの魂, which translates as "John's Soul."
01- Mother 02- Hold On 03- I Found Out 04- Working Class Hero 05- Isolation 06- Remember 07- Love 08- Well, Well, Well 09- Look at Me 10- God 11- My Mummy's Dead
Bonus Tracks:
12- Power to the People 13- Do the Oz 14- Cold Turkey 15- I Found Out 16- Working Class Hero 17- Love 18- Well, Well, Well 19- Look at Me 20- God
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues,(July 23, 1920 – October 6, 1999), also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress. Despite official documents which give her date of birth as July 23, Rodrigues always said her birthday was July 1, 1920. She was born in Lisbon, in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), neighborhood of Pena. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them. She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. In fact, she was one of the most important figures in the genre’s development, and enjoyed a 40-year recording and stage career. Rodrigues' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Rodrigues wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female fadista — or fado singer — should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Rodrigues enjoyed an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. Other well-known international fado artists such as Mafalda Arnauth, Madredeus, Dulce Pontes and Mariza have come close, however. Here is more evidence that fado is one of the great urban sounds, and Amalia herself, at her best, one of the finest singers this century has produced. No frills here, just enchantment backed by the equally classic duo of guitars, Portuguese (Jaime Santos) and six-stringed (Domingos Camarinha or Santos Moreira). Three cuts are in Spanish. The rest are pure Lisbon saudade.
01- O Namorico da Rita 02- As Rosas de Meu Caminho 03- Raizes 04- Cansaço 05- Antigamente 06- Grão de Arroz 07- Anjo Inutil 08- Marcha Do Centenario 09- Sem Razão 10- Trepa No Coquiero 11- Toiro! Eh! Toiro 12- Job 13- Faia 14- Fadista Louco 15- Lar Português 16- No Me Tires Indire 17- Por un Amor 18- Lerele
News of the World is the sixth studio album by British rock group Queen, released in 1977. Containing hit songs "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Spread Your Wings", the album went platinum in the United Kingdom, four times platinum in the United States and achieved high certifications elsewhere throughout the world as well. News of the World was the second album to be produced solely by the band (the first being A Day at the Races) and was recorded at Sarm West and Wessex Studios, England and co-produced and engineered by Mike Stone. After releasing A Day at the Races, Queen's self-producing debut and followup to A Night at the Opera which featured their magnum opus "Bohemian Rhapsody", having received some criticism that Races was a "boring" album, Queen decided to shift their musical focus towards the mainstream, but remaining as the producers of the next album. After completing the A Day at the Races Tour, the quartet re-entered the studio to begin work on their sixth studio offering in July 1977, enlisting Mike Stone as assistant producer at the Basing Street Studios in Wessex, London. The group completed recording and production of the album two months later in September and released the album on 28 October. News of the World initially received mixed reviews, mostly reflecting on the differences to the previously predominantly progressive rock sound produced by Queen, and this album's vast shift towards a more pop-rock oriented sound. Following the immense success of singles "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", the critical reception shifted towards a more positive stance, as it became evident that the band was displaying another field of their musical ability.
01- We Will Rock You 02- We Are The Champions 03- Sheer Heart Attack 04- All Dead, All Dead 05- Spread Your Wings 06- Fight From The Inside 07- Get Down, Make Love 08- Sleeping On The Sidewalk 09- Who Needs You 10- It's Late 11- My Melancholy Blues
The Record Producers profiles a man often labelled ‘The Fifth Beatle’, Sir George Martin. Richard Allinson and Steve Levine examine his work as a producer, arranger and, through his experiments with sound, technical innovator. Highlights include the chance to hear newly restored versions of the original master tapes for “Please Please Me”, along with analysis of the original multi-track of “Come Together”. This programme also gives the opportunity to hear some of the Beatles most famous songs in a new way. Because of the limitations of tape machines during the 1960s, it was necessary to either record or mix various instruments and voices onto the same track. Once they'd been committed to tape there was no way of separating them. But now, through the use of revolutionary software, listeners can hear some of these parts in isolation for the very first time. In this exclusive interview, Sir George talks about various aspects of the studio and recording process, the albums Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road, along with a number of songs, including “Strawberry Fields Forever”, “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Rain”.
01- Introduction 02- The first audition 03- Love Me Do 04- Remastering Please Please Me 05- The recording technology back in early the 60’s 06- Recording the drums 07- Remastering Taxman 08- Four tracks and orchestrations 09- Rain 10- Tomorrow Never Knows 11- Strawberry Fields Forever 12- She’s Leaving Home 13- A Day in the Life 14- The White Album and Let It Be 15- Come Together 16- The LOVE project + Epilogue
