Contra Band Music

By June 26th, 1968, all four Beatles were together again in EMI Studios recording their new album. The first two weeks of sessions conce...

As soon as they had begun, the "White Album" sessions were put on hold when George and Ringo flew to California on June 7th, 1968....

The "White Album" sessions got underway May 30th, 1968 at EMI Studio Two. The first three dates were spent recording a version of ...

The two weeks between John and Paul's return from America on May 16th, 1968 and the start of the "White Album" sessions on May...

The Lennon-McCartney publicity blitz promoting Apple Corps in New York City reached its zenith on May 14th, 1968. The day began with a 1:30 ...

With India seemingly in their rear-view mirrors, it was time for the Beatles to concentrate on their new business venture, Apple Corps. Appl...

Before heading off to India, the Beatles spent a few days in early February, 1968 at EMI Abbey Road recording tracks for a stopgap single to...

With Apple in its embryonic stages and no group projects in the pipeline, 1968 began on a quiet note for the Beatles. On January 7th, George...

1967 ended on a disappointing note for the Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour was released as an LP (by Capitol in North America) on November 27...

I seem to have already posted most of 1967's remaining interviews and spoken word bits, so here's a quick recap: John and George pon...

In the immediate aftermath of Brian Epstein's death, the Beatles' future was in question. The seeds for Apple Corps had already been...

Pattie Harrison had begun studying Transcendental Meditation in 1967, so it was natural that she would encourage her husband to attend a lec...

The Summer of Love rolled along as July 1967 turned to August. Just two days after returning from Greece, George and Pattie Harrison (accomp...

At the urging of their new electronics guru "Magic" Alex Mardis, the Beatles decided to take a holiday in Greece during the last w...

Even as late as the summer of 1967, it was possible to meet a Beatle by simply marching up to the front gate of their home and ringing the b...

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was launched with a press event at Brian Epstein's London flat on May 19th, 1967. A day later...

The Sgt. Pepper recording sessions wrapped up April 3rd, 1967, with the final overdubs on George's contribution, "Within You Witho...

As winter turned to spring in 1967, the Sgt. Pepper sessions were drawing to a close. After four months with nary a peep from the Beatles (...

Being ensconced in EMI Studios throughout the first three months of 1967, the Beatles made few public appearances and gave few media intervi...

The "studio years" phase of the Beatles' career began when they reassembled at EMI Abbey Road on November 24th, 1966. With no ...

Road-weary and shell-shocked after a harrowing summer of worldwide touring and controversy, the Beatles retreated to individual pursuits fro...

The Beatles' concert career came shrieking to a halt in San Francisco just before 10pm on August 29th, 1966, as the group roared through...

The Beatles flew to Seattle on August 25th, 1966, for two concerts at the Seattle Coliseum. Vancouver's CFUN radio kept fans abreast of...

Kenny Everett switched on his tape recorder as the Beatles' flight from New York approached the Los Angeles airport in the pre-dawn...

The Beatles' final concert in New York would be at Shea Stadium, but compared to the previous year's record-setting sellout, the 196...

Heavy downpours and a lack of protection over the stage cancelled The Beatles' scheduled concert in Cincinnati on August 20th, 1966, for...

From the time John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks made headlines, the backlash was largely concentrated in America...

The Beatles' August 18th, 1966 concert at Suffolk Downs in Boston was highlighted by a fan jumping onstage during "Long Tall Sally...

The Beatles' final performances in Canada were at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on August 17th, 1966. The between-shows press confere...

August 16th, 1966 saw the Beatles playing a single concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Prior to the show, in lieu of a press conference,...

The August 1966 tour carried on with concerts in Detroit on the 13th, Cleveland on the 14th, and Washington, DC on the 15th. In the latte...

The Beatles' final tour kicked off with a pair of concerts at the Chicago International Amphitheater on August 12th, 1966. Media coverag...

August 11th, 1966 was John Lennon's day of reckoning. Even before the Beatles boarded their flight to America, a BBC-TV reporter at Lond...

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're m...

During their month off in July 1966, the Beatles tried to put the horrors of Manila behind them and recoup their energy for another American...

On July 4th, 1966, The Beatles played to their largest-ever single day crowds (80,000 total) in two performances at Manila's Rizal Memor...

As noted in a previous blog post , the Beatles' June 26th, 1966 Hamburg press conference was a contentious affair, although the concerts...

The Beatles spent the first half of June, 1966 ensconced in EMI Studios finishing up the Revolver LP. On the 16th, they made a surprise liv...

Rather than make the usual rounds of pop music TV shows to plug the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single, the Beatles opted ...

With a new single to promote ("Paperback Writer"/"Rain"), the Beatles recorded a chat segment for BBC Radio's Saturd...