Friday, February 24, 2012

When The Night Is Cloudy



The "Let It Be" single was finally released March 9th, 1970 in the UK, and two days later in the US. On the 11th, George Harrison sat down with BBC Radio's Johnny Moran for a lengthy and wide-ranging interview covering George's recent studio activity with Jackie Lomax, Billy Preston, Doris Troy, and the Radha Krishna Temple, as well as the Let It Be album and film, and the Beatles' future.

A short extract of the interview was aired on Scene And Heard March 15th, but the majority was aired March 30th as a special, The Beatles Today. Because Phil Spector was still mixing and overdubbing the Let It Be album, the BBC opted to air a couple of tracks ("Dig A Pony" and "Dig It") from Glyn Johns's unused version of the LP.

The Sentimental Journey album came out March 27th in the UK, and Ringo spent the last half of the month promoting it. On March 25th, he chatted with David Wigg for Radio 1's Scene And Heard, with the interview aired in two parts on the following two Sundays.

On the 29th, Ringo appeared live on LWT's Frost On Sunday to introduce a promo clip of the LP's title track. Two days later, he and DJ Pete Murray spun records live on Radio 2's Open House; Ringo also taped an open-ended interview discussing Sentimental Journey track-by-track for Radio Luxembourg, aired April 11th.

17 comments:

  1. Wow, is that it, the finale? If so, I have to praise you for a Herculean task beautifully done. If not, and there's more, I'm excited! What happened in April, any available interviews?

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    1. I'm sure the George interview to Howard Smith is coming down the pike.....and in my crystal ball, I see Derek Taylor, talking to the press, and fans reacting....(I don't know, just a hunch!)

      Great great work, thank you so much Dinsdale!

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  2. The Beatles Today! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
    Cheers, John - Topus Jobus (as the Romans used to say....)
    Justin
    Brisbane, Australia

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  3. John,
    Do you know when Anne Nightingale interviewed John Lennon? Is it on your blog? I may have missed it.
    Wikipedia says she started at BBC Radio January 1, 1970. There are several clips of the interview in The Beatles Story special (BBC 1972) plus these two clips recorded before Let It Be was released...

    http://www.4shared.com/mp3/yHWe57mT/1970__J__BBC_Anne_Nightingale_.html

    Great job John,

    Randy

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    1. Thanks for that clip, I'd never heard it before but I'm thinking it's from early December 69, during their promotion of the "Live Peace In Toronto" LP. I've never been able to identify the various Nightingale interviews from the Beatles Story doc, but I'll have to compare to see if they match the ambience of this one. I'd always assumed they were post-Beatles.

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  4. Thank you John for a wonderful audio diary of The Beatles 62-70. It's been fascinating listening to these interviews side by side with your excellent books.
    Now I'm wondering what's next? Hopefully more great stuff from the solo years.

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  5. Thanks a lot John, WONDERFUL work man!!!

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  6. Re: Anne Nightingale -
    Here's the site where I found the two new clips -
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/annienightingale/anniversary/

    I think there's six clips in BBC Beatles Story -
    http://www.4shared.com/mp3/9PRl6vzn/Anne_Nightingale_Interview.html

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  7. will you be posting

    Episode 38
    April 10, 1970
    APPLE CORPS, LONDON
    Broadcast: April 26, 1970
    BBC 1 – “Fact Or Fantasy”

    and if so or not, what is next?

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    1. Give the guy some room to breathe! All will be revealed in due time!

      Just like Beatlefans to have so much given to them....and still want more!! Here, go over here and remix Abbey Road if you can't wait for the next Dinsdale update!:

      http://everythingfabfour.blogspot.com/

      Viva Dinsdale!

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  8. Request IF the chronology is finished (which, wow.....give our baby a standing ovation!!! Did you ever think you'd hear all this stuff??!!!!!!)

    If you're done with the chronology: way back you had posted the bits of session chat from (I guess) Rock band. "Sun King 1" doesn't work! So don't make it a priority! But if you ever get around to it!

    Also, Fred Robbins on the set of Help! I didn't see that here, and also another Help era interview that's in your book, I think it's German interviewers, I think early April, late March of '65. (but of course, only if you feel like it and it's not too much trouble!!!). (and only if you're done with the chronology!).

    YOU...are the best. Thanks, John!!!!!

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    1. Thanks for the kind words! You can find the Robbins interviews here:
      http://beatlechat.blogspot.com/2011/08/do-dog-man.html

      And the German one here:
      http://beatlechat.blogspot.com/2011/08/acht-arms-to-halten-you.html

      I'll have a look at Sun King...

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    2. OK, Sun King 1 has been re-uploaded and the link fixed.

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    3. Oh man, thanks! I can't believe I missed those, they were there the whole time! Thanks!

      Ok, I also found that the link to this one is dead, Kenny Everett interviewing George in '66:

      http://beatlechat.blogspot.com/2009/12/cuddly-ken-meets-gorgeous-george.html

      John, what do you make of these new boots that have the full multi-tracks available for remixing! I've been going through the whole lot of them! "Twist And Shout" with count-in! Solo-ing the harmonies for "Sun King"! Listening to "Helter Skelter" without it fading out! Solo-ing the effects for "Yellow Sub" (definitely can hear Mick Jagger in there at least once!!).

      Because the tracks are more than four, are these the tracks they used for "remastering"? (which to me, sound like remixing by creating new mixes by splitting eq's and the like).

      I pant for your two cents!!!

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    4. Not from the remasters, but from the "Rock Band" video game, and yes, they split things up not by track but by instrument. That means sometimes using EQ to separate, say, bass and lead guitar, if they were on the same track originally. Fun to play around with, but frustrating in some ways.

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    5. Yeah, it can be frustrating, especially for some of the early stuff. And that explains why "I'm Looking Through You" has a count-in that couldn't possibly be the right one (since it had the false starts!).

      Still....I did "All You Need Is Love" and just got the basic track, with George playing violin and John on harpsichord.....I never realized that elements I had assumed was part of the George Martin arrangement were actually amateurish string playing by a Beatle!!! Really interesting (and charming!) to listen to, just the basic track of "All You Need Is Love" sans orchestra and vocals....try it if you get a chance (if you haven't already!)

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  9. NEW LINK:

    http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?7996o7oahh9tm1t

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