As we mentioned earlier, the Allman Brothers Band kicked off the second set of last night’s March Madness Run opening show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City yesterday with a cover of Rain by The Beatles. Though Gregg Allman had recorded the tune, which was originally released in 1966 as the b-side to Paperback Writer, back in 1985, this was the first time the Allmans played it.
ABB guitarist Warren Haynes said this about the band’s cover of Rain to Jambands.com, “[Gregg’s version] is based on a version John Lennon did with an acoustic piano and a choir.” Now we can check it out for ourselves as LazyLightning55 has posted a video of the Allman Brothers Band performing Rain. Far from the psychedelic-tinged Beatles original, this version has that signature Allman’s sound…
My mom told me once that we were all born into this world with a special talent that’s unique to us. Well I’m sure glad excellence in handfarting isn’t my skill, but I can still appreciate the HandFartMaster.
This gentleman has shared his “Handmonica” talents with the world through covers posted on his YouTube channel. Let’s start with HFM’s take on Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd…
Now how about Mumford and Sons’ oh so solemn The Cave…
Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon outside of the Dakota in NYC. My house growing up was always filled with the sounds of The Beatles, and they were the first band with which I was totally infatuated. Lennon’s death was senseless, and we were robbed of many years of genius, while his family was robbed of a father and a husband.
[Stevie Wonder Tells His Audience About Lennon's Death (Hat Tip Chris DiLeo)]
Back in 2005, I made my first trip to the annual gathering of Lennon fans in Central Park’s Strawberry Fields. Here’s an essay that I wrote when I returned home that cold evening seven years ago…
Earlier this week The Beatles’ acclaimed original studio album remasters, released on CD in 2009 and in 2010 for digital download, made their long-awaited stereo vinyl debut. Each of the band’s 14 albums were manufactured on 180 gram audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork. All of the albums are now available individually or together in a limited boxed edition that includes a 252-page hardbound book containing insight from radio producer Kevin Howlett and a wealth of Beatles’ photographs.
As part of our Everybody Wins When We Plug Something And In Return They Offer Us Free Shit To Give Away program, we’ve picked our favorite three Beatles albums to give away to one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment below telling us about your favorite Beatles album and we’ll select one entry at random to win Revolver, Abbey Road and The Beatles (The White Album) on vinyl. All entries must be received by December 3rd at 11:59PM ET.
Here’s the fine print…
To enter, leave a comment below telling us your favorite Beatles album
Your comment(s) must be left by 11:59PM EST on December 3rd
Anybody entering more than once will be disqualified, tarred and feathered
The winner will receive Revolver, Abbey Road and The Beatles on vinyl
HT staff members are not eligible to win
Check out a full list of The Beatles albums available now on vinyl…
In what has become fall tradition in New York City, the Royal Family Ball will once again return to the cavernous Terminal 5 on October 20 for an all-star night of funk and soul. Hosted by Soulive and Lettuce, this year’s stellar line up will feature Maceo Parker, Robert Randolph, Nigel Hall, Ledisi and Alecia Chakour. Tickets will go on sale this Friday, August 24, at 12:00PM EDT, with two tiers of tickets being offered – General Admission & VIP Rage, which includes: Rager tour laminate, a meet and greet with the band following sound check, access to a VIP viewing area, a signed poster and a download code containing recordings of the show.
Finally, on October 9th, The Beatles’ 1967 movie Magical Mystery Tour will be reissued for the first time on Blu-Ray by Apple Films. The film, which was directed by the Fab Four, follows the band on a unscripted psychedelic-infused bus tour throughout the United Kingdom. The re-release is set to feature ” new interviews with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and other cast and crew members, a director’s commentary track by McCartney himself, a 19-minute documentary, deleted scenes, new edits of past performances, and a BBC promotional video.” The film will also receive its first-ever limited theatrical release across North America, beginning on September 27th.
Whenever I tackle a song by The Beatles for Cover Wars, I like to head on over to see what Alan Pollack has to say on the song’s topic and the in-depth musical analysis he provides on his website, a must-bookmark site for any Beatles fan or musician. The absolute basics: Released on The White Album, written by George Harrison and Eric Clapton guests on lead guitar.
This Cover Wars has been a long-time coming as I have started compiling it at least once in the past but did not complete it as there is such a large number of exceptional covers of the tune. But today, I present to you these 14 covers of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
The Contestants:
Artist: Jake Shimabukuro Album: Gently Weeps The Skinny: Leading off this week is ukelele extraordinaire Jake Shimabukuro who consistently wows audiences everywhere he plays. Shimabukuro’s cover is well known and is the inspiration for his 2006 album Gently Weeps.
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There are no shortages of live performances from Shimabukuro of this song on YouTube with multiple clips having 1,000,000+ YouTube views. This one is the most popular, shot in New York City’s Central Park:
Each year we’re more and more impressed by Bonnaroo’s ability to mix both classic and contemporary acts from across multiple genres, but we also love when they seem to throw the proverbial curve ball. Yesterday fest organizers did just that, when they revealed that country legend and former rotisserie chicken impresario Kenny Rogers had been added to the lineup. Rogers, who is best known as the singer of the country classic The Gambler and karaoke staple Islands In The Stream, has released 32 studio albums, charting 21 number one hits and has sold a staggering 68 million records in the U.S. Along with the announcement of The Gambler would be appearing in Manchester, we were also given the first batch of artists that will be playing the smaller Cafe stages – which include HT faves Deep Dark Woods, Jukebox The Ghost and Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds.
Finally, we’re big fans of rock-docs, and we’re even bigger fans when you can actually go and see them on the big screen in a movie theater, so we were pretty excited to hear about a new documentary about The Beatles first full U.S. concert entitled The Beatles: The Lost Concert. The 92-minute doc features The Fab Four’s entire 12-song, thirty-plus minute set recorded on February 11, 1964 at D.C.’s Washington Coliseum, which was “lost” for 47 years. The concert, which will took place just two days after their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, was originally filmed by eight cameras, and shown later that month on close-circuit at movie theaters around the country and has not been seen widely since. The film be shown in a limited engagement at theaters across the United States on May 17th and 22nd, with a special premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan on May 6th.
The phrase “the show must go on” originally referred to Broadway and show biz, but the cliché also rings true with live music. Considering we’re talking about rock stars playing demanding, high-energy music it’s no surprise that a number of instances of bands playing one man short have come up over the years. It’s actually more of a surprise that it doesn’t happen more often.
For this week’s B List we look at ten cases where acts we cover have performed without the services of one member. Some gigs were train wrecks while others wound up being great shows. Here’s what we came up with…
1. moe. – 07/09/2010 – Minus Al Schnier
This gig was the impetus for this list as Al Schnier was unable to perform at a recent moe. gig in Peoria, but his band mates went ahead with the show and delivered a solid performance heavy on Chuck and Rob songs. moe. offered fans refunds, but we bet there weren’t many takers.
Set One: Bullet> Awesome Gary> Billy Goat> Timmy Tucker> Zed Nought Z, Buster
Set Two: Captain America> Blue Jeans Pizza> Sensory Deprivation Bank, McBain, All Roads Lead to Home, St. Augustine, Don’t Fuck With Flo> Plane Crash
Encore: Stranger Than Fiction
Did you realize The Beatles dropped Smack My Bitch Up on an unsuspecting Shea Stadium crowd in 1965? Okay, that didn’t really happen. But if it did, it would’ve looked a little something like this…
Hey Jude was the B-Side to the 1968 single Revolution by The Beatles. This single was the Beatles first release on the Apple label. Originally titled Hey Jules, the song was written by Paul McCartney in reference to John Lennon’s son Julian. One of my favorite online Beatles resources is Alan W. Pollack’s site, click here to read all the musical (and other) information you would ever want to know about Hey Jude.
The Contestants:
Leading off this week we’ve got The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival courtesy of a great recording from That Tent at Bonnaroo. Source:6-15-2008
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Video from the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise January 2009:
On Tuesday night the Foo Fighters played a “secret” show in Tarzana, CA, where the band showcased a number of songs from their new album that hits stores sometime next year. The 500 or so fans in attendance received an unexpected treat as Foo Fighters‘ front man Dave Grohl staged an impromptu Nirvana reunion as he welcomed Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear to the stage to perform Marigold – marking the first time the trio had played together live since 1997. The song, which was the B-side to Heart Shaped Box, and which Grohl sang on, was his only solo contribution to the band.
Finally, the indelible image of The Beatles that graces the cover of Abbey Road may arguably be the most famous and iconic album covers of all time. The pedestrian crossing where the picture was taken of the Fab Four on the morning of August 8, 1969, and has been innumerously replicated over the years, has been designated as a site of national importance by the British government. So, the crossing can be altered but only with the approval of the local authorities which would make a decision based on the site’s historic significance, function and condition.
Appearing on the 1967 Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Within You Without You was written by George Harrison. While of course technically a song by “The Beatles”, Harrison is the only member of the band that appears on the recording. For an in-depth musical analysis of the musical structure and more, I recommend reading the notes from Alan W. Pollack.
The Contestants:
In 1998, Bela Fleck & The Flecktones were pairing Within You Without You with their own tune Shanti from their ’98 release Left Of Cool. This Flecktones show features sit-ins from Carter Beauford and Dave Matthews, who sang on the track Communication, also on Left Of Cool. Audio Source: 10-22-1998
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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…
This week Brian Bavosa asks us to go interactive with PFPS’ first poll as we examine The Beatles as they finally join Apple and iTunes, and if it is a good or bad thing within the context of their musical legacy…
After hotly debating what to focus on for this week’s installment, I finally decided on Tuesday’s announcement by Apple, Inc. that it had finally acquired the complete collections of the biggest selling band of all-time, The Beatles for iTunes purchase.
While certainly big news on the surface, this poses a much larger question not only about technology and its progression (something I talked about last month), but also the fact that The Beatles remain relevant — and prevalent — nearly 60 years after their debut notes graced the world’s stage.
This week’s column also allows me to encourage all of you readers to participate and comment — in true Hidden Track fashion — in the poll below or comment section, another aspect of Postcards that I intend to incorporate every once in a while.
So, the clear argument seems to be divided into several factions regarding today’s announcement by Apple. In one corner, you have the baby boomers, who actually grew up with The Beatles, still cherish their vinyl copies of the classic albums and are seemingly scared by change, even if it is one that expands their beloved band to a whole other generation.
READ ON for more of this week’s Postcards From Page Side…
After years of negotiations, The Beatles’ studio output is finally available for purchase through Apple’s iTunes store. All 13 studio albums plus the Past Masters compilation as well as the Red and Blue greatest hits collections can each be downloaded for $12.99 per album or $1.29 per individual song.
You can purchase all of the studio albums at once through the Beatles Box Set for $149, which also includes a recording of The Beatles’ first U.S concert – Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964. You can stream the Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 concert film for free via Apple’s website.
Now, Yoko Ono’s decade-long resistance to selling individual tracks has really hindered the importance of today’s announcement. What self-respecting music fan doesn’t already have a copy of each of these albums in their collection? Are there really that many people out there who will buy the albums just so they can have the “official” version? While we’re sure next week’s iTunes charts will be filled with Beatles tracks and albums, can you imagine how many downloads the group would’ve sold had they made a deal with iTunes around the time the Beatles’ reissues came out on 9/9/09?
SiriusXM satellite radio will celebrate reaching the 20 Million Subscriber mark on December 13th with a special performance from Paul McCartney at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Tickets will be distributed through a sweepstakes that SiriusXM subscribers can enter here.
This marks Macca’s first-ever concert at the legendary venue, though Beatles band mate John Lennon performed at the Apollo on December 17, 1971 as part of a benefit for the families of victims of the Attica State Prison riots.
SiriusXM will broadcast McCartney’s concert in its entirety on a new month-long channel called Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run Radio. The channel will feature a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Band on the Run, hosted by McCartney himself, as well as newly-discovered live performances of Wings tracks recorded at Abbey Road Studios from The Paul McCartney Archive.
In other Beatle news, the Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will announce a deal for iTunes to distribute the Beatles’ music later today. Head over to Apple.com at 10AM to watch the announcement.
UPDATE [10:04AM]: All 13 Beatles’ studio albums as well as Past Masters and the Red and Blue greatest hits compilations are now available through iTunes.
may arguably be the most famous and iconic album covers of all time. The pedestrian crossing where the picture was taken of 
