Steve Kevin asked:


The Beatles’ nest- Liverpool, is regarded as one of the top tourist spots around the globe. If you are planning to go on a splendid adventure to explore culture, then Liverpool should be on the top of your list.

Known as the United Kingdom’s Capital of Culture, Liverpool boasts of its many spots that define tradition and traces history. It features awe inspiring cultural attraction in almost every corner. Whether you are a traveler in search for a sense of inspiration, an adventurer in search of an enriching experience or a wanderer who just wants to see the world, Liverpool has the right spots and places for you.

Liverpool is home for much world class architecture consisting of about 2,500 buildings. Just like the famous Taj Mahal and the Pyramids of Giza, this city’s set of buildings and waterfront are acknowledged as one of the natural and cultural World Heritage Sites.

The said heritage site covers the waterfront from Albert Dock, running through The Pier up to the famous Stanley Dock, including a good number of historic commercial districts in the area. It stretches as far as the Rope Walks area and the cultural quarter where St. George’s Hall reigns as the major attraction.

However, one should note that the wonders of Liverpool should not be mistaken for the World Heritage Site alone for in and around this city, you will be surprised with the cultural wonders that await you.

Among the top visited sites in the city that combine art and religiosity are two cathedrals. Both Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and its Metropolitan Cathedral have been known to be fine attractions for eyes hungry of internationally acclaimed architecture. These cathedrals and other places of worship depicts Liverpool’s acceptance for religious diversity which has always been present due to the comings and goings of migrants in its famous docks.

Aside from the cathedrals, Liverpool boasts of many fine cultural gems within the William Brown Street better known as the Cultural Quarter. The street houses The William Brown Library, Walker Art Gallery, and the World Museum Gallery. Together with the beautiful St, George’s Hall, these buildings are famous neo-classical edifices.

If you are in for a tour of Liverpool’s fine early beginnings, then take a walk in that area and find the World Museum Liverpool, Tate Liverpool, and the Merseyside Maritime Museum. For sure, you would find a splendid experience that will qualify as your latest cultural feat.

A visit to Liverpool is incomplete without dropping by at the Pier Head where the most striking and famous buildings are located: Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building.

If you are in for a more contemporary cultural quest, then you must consider spending a day or two at Liverpool’s The World of Glass. The place which offers countryside culture matched with a vibrant life at night and a pulsating set of sporting events is nestled between the cosmopolitan cities of Liverpool and Manchester.

Another must visit around Liverpool that offers its guests with a peek into history, and to that of the world of sports is Halton. The towns and villages of Runcorn, Hale, Widnes, Daresbury and Moore belong to this city’s must-venture-to list.



Mike

Johnny Moon asked:


With The Beatles may be the least known and least talked about of all Beatles albums (if it’s not Beatles For Sale.) It was their second album released, after Please Please Me, so it doesn’t have the distinction of being their first album. It also doesn’t have the distinction of being their first truly formed great album (which was their 3rd album A Hard Day’s Night.) But that’s not to say it’s not a good album, it does contain some great Beatles classic.

It was ranked #420 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the greatest 500 albums of all time released in 2003. The album was released in the UK in 1963 but was not officially released in the United States until 1987 as the early Beatles albums in the US were cut & paste jobs. It wasn’t until Revolver that same album was released in the States as was released in the UK.

The album starts off “It Won’t Be Long” which while it doesn’t rank among The Beatles greatest songs is an enjoyable early pop song.

The second song is “All I’ve Got To Do” which has a nice bluesy sound to it, particularly on the title refrain. Among The Beatles more forgotten early songs, it’s a keeper.

The third song is easily the most well known song on the album, “All My Loving.” It was the opening song for The Beatles first performance on the Ed Sullivan performance.

The fourth song is “Don’t Bother Me” which was George Harrison’s songwriting debut.

The fifth song is “Little Child.” The first five tracks were all Beatles originals.

The sixth song is “Till There Was You” which is a cover. It’s a very soft song which features Paul McCartney in “music hall” mode.

Next is “Please Mr. Postman” which is another cover. It was the first Motown song to reach #1 when it hit the top spot for The Marvelettes in late 1961.

The eighth song (and the first of the second side of the album) is the Chuck Berry classic “Roll Over Beethoven.” It was a hit for Berry in 1956 and was ranked as one of the top 100 songs of all time by Rolling Stone. The song features George Harrison as both the lead singer and of course as the lead guitarist doing his best Chuck Berry impersonation.

The ninth song is “Hold Me Tight” which is a Beatles original breaking the streak of 3 straight covers. The song was originally recorded for Please Please Me but was left off. It was re-recorded for With The Beatles.

The 10th song is “You Really Got a Hold on Me” which was a cover by Smokey Robinson. It was a 1962 hit single by The Miracles (featuring Robinson) and it’s another Motown song.

The 11th song is “I Wanna Be Your Man” which written by Lennon & McCartney for their friends The Rolling Stones. The Stones version was released first. The Beatles version features Ringo Starr on lead vocals.

The 12th song is “Devil in Her Heart” which is a cover sung by George Harrison.

The 13th song is “Not a Second Time” which is the final Beatles original on the album. It was written and sung by John Lennon (of course it was credited to Lennon/McCartney as all songs by Lennon and/or McCartney were.)

The 14th and final song is “Money,” another cover of a song by a black artist (the 5th on the album.) It was a 1959 hit single for Barrett Strong.

While With The Beatles is certainly not one of The Beatles greatest albums, it is a rewarding listen if you are interested in their earlier material.



Bernice

Andreas asked:


Geoff Emerick was only sixteen years old when he worked on the Beatles’ first-ever recording session. Only a few years later he would play an important part in shaping the fab four’s musical direction.

At the age of fifteen, Geoff Emerick landed a job as an assistant engineer at Abbey Road Studios in London. Emerick, the son of a butcher, had developed a keen interest in music from an early age, despite the fact that none of his family members possessed any particular musical talent.

As a young child, Emerick was capable of picking out simple tunes he had heard on the radio and playing them solely by ear on his uncle’s piano.

“I have no explanation for how I was able to do it; for some reason I just knew where the notes fell, and it was only a matter of going from one note to another to make up the tune,” Emerick said in his book “Here, There and Everywhere - My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles.”

Emerick discovered his grandmothers collection of classical and operatic records at the age of six, and played these records endlessly. He started to mimic the role of a conductor when listening to the records - using a pencil as a baton.

“The music would not only evoke emotions in me - joy, sadness, longing, excitement - but also conjure up images in my mind,” Emerick said.

When his dad George presented him with his first radio, young Geoff began listening to skiffle and rock ‘n’ roll music. Listening contemporary music, he said, was like a breath of fresh air. He found himself drawn more and more to pop records, but at the same time retained his appreciation for classical and operatic music.

“Somehow my musical tastes were broadening, not just shifting,” he said.

A FUTURE TO CONSIDER

As he grew older, Emerick had to start thinking about his future. He was however reluctant to follow in his father’s footsteps (”there was no way I could face a lifetime of chopping up raw meat.”) In 1960’s England, pupils completed school at the age of 15. Although his parents suggested he should pursue a career in architecture, Emerick lost interest as soon as he discovered he would have to go to university to do so.

After some deliberation, Emerick finally decided that he wanted to be involved in the creation of music.

“I realized that I was never going to get the proper training to become a professional composer or an accomplished musician, but I wanted to somehow make a contribution,” he said.

Emerick sent application letters to record companies in London, but they either turned him down or never replied. His school’s career counselor, Mr. Barlow, tried to convince him that a job in the post office installing telephones was the right thing for him. But Emerick was headstrong and made it clear that it was music he wanted to do. A few months later, when Emerick was beginning to lose hope, Mr. Barlow called him into his office. There was an entry-level vacancy at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios and a job interview had been arranged.

“Good luck with it, and don’t let us down,” said Mr. Barlow.

A few weeks later, Geoff Emerick had been appointed assistant sound engineer - or “button pusher” as some called them - at Abbey Road. The year was 1962.

MEETING THE BEATLES

“They’re scruffy and they wear leather jackets and they comb their hair forward. But they sing brilliant harmonies, just like the Everly Brothers, and they’ve got a true rock ‘n’ roll attitude,” Emerick heard Chris Neal, one of the other assistant engineers at EMI, say.

It would not take long before Emerick would experience first hand what Neal was taking about. Emerick was in fact present at the Beatles’ very first proper recording session - on September 4 1962. That was also when he was introduced to producer George Martin - “the fifth Beatle” - for the first time. Martin and Emerick would later form a partnership in the studio which would contribute enormously to the Beatles’ artistic progress. But none of them new any of that at this stage, of course. Emerick was just an teenage assistant, a few weeks into his new job.

In the coming years, Emerick took part in Beatles sessions on an on and off basis, and he got to know Paul McCartney fairly well. Step by step, he also moved up the ranks at EMI, and was assigned to do different tasks which gave him the opportunity to experiment with sounds and to develop a good understanding of the recording studio as a whole.

REVOLVER: A NEW SOUND

In 1966, 18-year old Emerick was asked by George Martin if he wanted to take over from Norman Smith as the Beatles’ sound engineer. Norman had decided to move on to produce another promising new band, called Pink Floyd. Emerick was gob smacked. Firstly, it was not common for EMI staff to be promoted to the position of full sound engineer before the age of 40. Secondly, he had been asked to work with the most famous band in the the whole world!

Although Emerick had worked on Beatles sessions before, he also new that his new role would involve a lot more responsibility than previously. Quite frankly, he was terrified of what the sessions would bring.

“I pictured the four of them - even friendly, charming Paul - ganging up on me, reducing me to tears, banishing me from the studio in disgrace and shame,” he said.

And young Emerick was put on the spot from day one. In early April 1966, the Beatles were booked into EMI’s Abbey Road studios in London to start the recording of a new album - Revolver.

The first track to be recorded was an unusual one-chord song penned by Lennon, which had the working title “Mark 1.” It would later be entitled “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

“I want my voice to sound like Dalai Lama chanting from a mountaintop, miles away,” Lennon told producer George Martin.

“Got it. I’m sure Geoff and I will come up with something,” Martin replied.

In reality, what Martin was saying is that he was sure Geoff would come up with something. This was 1966, however, and the standard studio tricks available would not do the job alone.

“I looked around the room in panic. I thought I had a vague idea of what John wanted, but I had no clear sense of how to achieve it,” Emerick said.

Then he got an idea: The studio’s Hammond organ was hooked up to a Leslie, a large wooden box that contained an amp and two sets of revolving speakers. What would John’s voice sound like if it was put through that?

Precisely like Dalai Lama chanting from a mountaintop!

Lennon was thrilled with the result, and so were the others. That gave Emerick the confidence to experiment further. In an attempt to create a distinctive drum sound for the song, he put an old woolen sweater inside the bass drum and moved the microphones in close - just inches away. This was a direct violation of EMI’s strict recording rules, of course, but nevertheless - it sounded fantastic!

“Beyond my immense relief at having passed muster and being accepted as the Beatles’ new engineer, it probably not too far fetched to claim that recording history was made during the very first night of working on Revolver,” said Emerick. In fact, both the drum sound and the vocal-through-a-Leslie trick has become the standard to this very day.

Emerick’s new inventions did not stop with that, however. When Paul McCartney wanted a deep Motown bass sound for his new song “Paperback Writer,” Emerick delivered the goods again. No surprise then, that Emerick also played an important role during the recording of the Beatles’ next album - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Emerick quit during the recording of “The Beatles” (The White Album) however, following the “poisonous” atmosphere that dominated the sessions. But he was back again for the recording of “Abbey Road,” a worthy finish of the Beatles’ career.

Geoff Emerick never developed close friendships with John, George or Ringo - but he is close friends with Paul to this very day. He has worked on many of McCartney’s solo albums, including Band On The Run, which was recorded in Nigeria. When Emerick married his late wife Nicole in 1988, Paul McCartney was his best man and his late wife Linda the wedding photographer.

In addition to McCartney’s solo albums, Emerick also worked on the Beatles’ re-union singles “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love” in the 1990s.

“We laughed and joked our way through the sessions, just as we had done in the early years, but here was a sadness, too. A huge piece of the puzzle was missing, and we were reminded of that every time we heard John’s distinctively nasal vocal coming through the studio loudspeakers.”

Andreas Walstad is a journalist an the author of The Beatles Online:

http://www.thebeatlesonline.com/pages/beatles_songs.htm



Jackie