In 2018, we again had to say Goodnight to a few famous names in Beatles history. The best known casualty is Geoff Emerick, so we begin and end this 'in memoriam' mix with Geoff. Second to be heard is Tony Calder, the music manager who promoted the Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do, died on 2 January at the age of 74. The British record executive, producer and manager worked with acts including Marianne Faithfull, Black Sabbath and Fleetwood Mac.Calder was hired by Beatles manager Brian Epstein to...
Jan 05, 2019•3 min
Keyboard player Billy Preston is another excellent candidate to be called the Fifth Beatle. In April 1969 the Get Back single was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", as was its b-side, Don’t Let Me Down. Along with Tony Sheridan, he was one of just two non-members to receive top billing on a Beatles single. On the Beatles albums ‘Let It Be’ and ‘Abbey Road’ we can listen to Preston’s keyboard playing. Here in the Cellar, for the first time ever, we have a recording of Preston singing, ...
Oct 30, 2018•4 min
This Harrison composition has a recording history that is far longer than the song itself....it was written during the All Things Must Pass period as "Whenever", after which it was copyrighted with the title "When Every Song Is Sung". Harrison originally intended the song for Shirley Bassey, who had a hit in the summer of 1970 with a cover version of "Something". Harrison recorded a demo of "When Every Song Is Sung" during the sessions for All Things Must Pass; some of the outtakes are available...
Oct 14, 2018•3 min
The BDJ engineers at North End Music Studios seized upon the opportunity to release a new Beatles EP, in Dutch. Two Ductch authors, Bindervoet and Henkes, have just pulished a book (Alle 214 Goed) in which they translate the complete Beatles oevre. Some of these songs were performed in a podcast (Fab4Cast 96) by famous singer/songwriter Yorick van Norden. He accompanied himself on guitar in the studio. We post-produced these tracks into full-blown tracks with proper arrangements. Listen to It's ...
Jul 24, 2018•9 min
Bart Huges, a former medical student from the University of Amsterdam and the grandfather of modern trepanation, recounts meeting with John Lennon in the 60s. Huges, already having bored a hole into his own skull with a basic drill, was approached by Lennon who told of his desire to open up his own “third eye”. Huges advised that Lennon needed no such intervention. “Third eye people are your kind of people,” Huges told Lennon. Because of Lennon’s creative talents and the fact that a small percen...
Jun 03, 2018•3 min
A great fan of the Cellar, P.R. Lee alerted me to the similarities between two McCartney songs: Mumbo, and Get Back. In particular, some early versions of Get Back have a more improvised character, resembling the mumbo-jumbo of Mumbo. Mumbo was recorded on July 25th, 27th, 28th & August 1971, and appeared on Wild Life. The song is credited to Paul and Linda McCartney. McCartney appeared to have liked this nonsense song, since he played it live 10 times, a.o. in Amsterdam and Groningen in 197...
Mar 30, 2018•2 min
Much has been said about the Rolling Stones vs. The Beatles. Which one was the better band, the most innovative, the loudest, the most anti-establishment? No need to enter hat discussion here. For a recent talk, listen to this podcast: http://beatlesfanclub.nl/fab4cast-90-the-stones-the-beatles/ (in Dutch). Although the Beatles launched the Stones’ career by giving them I Wanna Be Your Man (the Stones’ first hit single), they parted ways musically thereafter. The Beatles never covered a Stones s...
Mar 18, 2018•4 min
I'm always thrilled when I discover where the Beatles found inspiration for their songs. And sometimes that inspiration bordered on infringing other's rights: examples are Harrison getting in trouble for My Sweet Lord vs. She So Fine, Lennon angering Chuck Berry's lawyers over Come Together, and McCartney....... It seems that I don't have an example of McCartney crossing the line when using other people's music; he had some trouble over the the phrase "Ob la di, ob la da", and financially compen...
Feb 12, 2018•3 min
Who was the Fifth Beatle? There are a lot of candidates for this honorary title: some consider themselves the fifth Beatle, others could qualify through their merits for the Beatles. That's why we highlight a potential Fifth Beatle: Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. Purdie has clearly put his name forward with his bold statements: - "I overdubbed the drumming on 21 songs from the first three Beatle albums". - "There are four drummers on the Beatles records, but Ringo is not one of them" Purdie is known a...
Jan 09, 2018•3 min
Here's a different (new!) mix of Getting Better. This song was featured (of course) on Sgt Pepper, following Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds. Getting Better is mostly a Paul song, although Lennon contributed significantly to the lyrics and the vocals. On March 9, 1967, recording started at Abbey Road studios. They first recorded the 'rhythm' tracks, including drums, pianet (Wurlitzer?), rhythm guitar and - some - bass. The bass is only heard when the pianet is not playing, suggesting that Paul pla...
Dec 01, 2017•3 min
Harry Bannink (1929 – 1999) was a Dutch composer, arranger and pianist. he had an amazing output: he wrote over 3,000 songs! He wrote music for several Dutch musicals, Dutch TV-shows (including "Ja zuster, nee zuster"), and a weekly (!) children's TV show. If only the Beatles had written songs at the same rate as Bannink, then we would have another 30 Beatles albums.... In Lennon & McCartney's defense, we should mention that Bannink only wrote the music; he used a number of well know lyrics ...
Oct 24, 2017•3 min
It appears as if we hear more and more Beatles tracks when I go to see a movie. Just went to see/hear McCartney sing Maggie Mae in Pirates of the Caribbean. But while settling in for the movie in the theater, a trailer was shown for the new movie "Justice League Come Together": Come Together, covered by Gary Clark Jr and Junkie XL. And then a commercial was shown that featured a cover version of Across the Universe! As a true Beatles fan, I welcome every opportunity to hear their tracks; but in ...
Oct 12, 2017•4 min
The film 'Freedom' is part of the exhibition of the art of Yoko Ono,"The sky is still blue, you know .... ", which opened in May this year. This exhibition is specially designed for the Tomie Ohtake Institute and consists of 65 pieces or "instructions" that ask the visitor to help make the art. In this way, the visitor is forced to think about the instructions, and the artwork suddenly becomes very unique and temporary. The exhibition gives a nice overview of Yoko Ono's work, from her first work...
Jun 21, 2017•2 min
The Analogues are a Dutch tribute act to the Beatles. Founded in 2014, the Analogues' ambition has been to perform The Beatles' music from their later studio years live, using analogue and period-correct instrumentation. How closely do the Analogues approach the original Beatles records in their performances? To find out, we have taken the 2017 (Giles Martin) remix of Sgt Pepper/With a Little Help and played it alongside a live recording of the Analogues. During the track, we alternate between t...
Jun 13, 2017•5 min
Love Me Do is a strange little record. Of course, it was the first Beatles record in the UK, and the fab-four also recorded Love Me Do eight times for the BBC. More recently, Paul performed Love Me Do on Pinkpop 12-06-2016. But that's not the complete story: all in all, the Beatles recorded and released five versions of Love Me Do, and a 6th version remained unreleased. And four different drummers played on these records! Here we present a compilation of all six studio versions of Love Me Do, in...
May 15, 2017•6 min
For most fans, a Day in the Life is their favorite track on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Some even consider it the Beatles best song. Considering its impact, the production on the stereo release on Sgt Pepper sounds rather understated; Lennon's voice floats around from left to right for no reason, and even the piano appears to move around the room.... Hence, the BDJ engineers decided to make a new Stereo remaster, based on the original tapes. Now, Lennon is firmly seated in the middle. ...
Apr 14, 2017•5 min
Harrison wrote "Try Some Buy Some" in early 1971, in an attempt to relaunch the singing career of former Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector. Ronnie was married to Phil Spector at that time, who produced the record. The track featured star performers: Harrison played guitars, Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth) keyboards, Klaus Voormann (Manfred Mann) bass, John Barham string arrangement, Jim Gordon (Derek and the Dominos) on drums, Pete Ham (Badfinger) guitar. The song would be included on a planned com...
Mar 21, 2017•4 min
2016 has been a prolific year for celebrity deaths. A fair number of the celebrities who passed away in 2016 were - somehow - connected to te Beatles. In this track, we remember the 2016's famous losses, in a touching tribute to their talent, inspired by one of The Beatles finest songs, In My Life. The Beatles celebrities in this mix are: - David Bowie (“Fame” with Lennon) - Glen Frey (Eagles, became musician after attending a Beatles concert) - Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane, jammed with McCa...
Feb 16, 2017•6 min
There are a number of similarities between Harrison's song (form his first solo LP) and McCartney's Hey Jude. They last (almost) as long, and most of the song consists of the outtro (a hallmark of later Beatles tracks). But would they mash well? That's what Paul-René Lee asked me to try. Here it is, judge for yourself!
Feb 13, 2017•6 min
It has turned into a tradition, the BDJ Christmas remix; in the past 4 years, a Christmas special was posted here, often lasting for 30 mins or more. This year, the Cellar received numerous requests for remixes, as a follow up to the broadcast of remixes in the Fab4Cast 64 and 65. (listen at http://web.avrotros.nl/podpourri/luisteren/fab4cast.aspx) Some requests were for remixes with songs by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), others requested remixes using the Beatles Christmas records (issued...
Dec 11, 2016•4 min
Went to see the film 'Eight Days A Week". A splendid time was guaranteed for all, and it was exciting to see the Beatles live on stage. I found it disappointing that of the live performances are interrupted by interviews; these add little to the story, but break the spell of watching the Beatles live. I noticed hardly any new material as such; virtually all was available on Anthology, or on bootlegs. I was struck, however, by the quality of the concert in Manchester, of November 20, 1963. The Be...
Dec 10, 2016•24 min
The Rolling Stones closed out the opening night on October 7th of the all-star Desert Trip festival in Indio, California with a greatest-hits set that featured a few surprises, including the rock legends' first ever attempt covering the Beatles' "Come Together." The Stones faithfully ran through the Beatles song complete with an extended guitar solo courtesy of Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards and a mouth organ solo by Mick. How does it line up against the Abbey Road original? Judge for yourself: ...
Oct 08, 2016•4 min
"Every Night" was written by Paul McCartney while he was on holiday in Greece, and first released on his McCartney album on April 17, 1970. Every Night is a long-time favourite Macca track of mine. Why? Just so, but the lyrics have a calming effect that resonates with me; I like to be home too. And the chords changes are great too. But overall, the appeal form me is how the lyrics and music are completely aligned; you could feel much of the emotion of the song from the music, even if you didn't ...
Oct 11, 2015•4 min
"Temporary Secretary" is featured on the 1980 album McCartney II. It was released as a third single from the album only in a form of 12" single. McCartney claims that he viewed the song as an "experiment", somewhat influenced by Ian Dury. It indeed showcases Macca's 'avant-garde' strand and may be Pauls attempt to outdo the Who's 'Won't get fooled again' in its repetitive synthesizer riff. Macca played the song for the first time ever at the O2 Arena in London on May 23, 2015. This is the audien...
May 25, 2015•3 min
Because the A Capella Isolation of Because is well known (it appeared on Love), we complete the catalogue with the instrumental isolation. All you have to do, is go to your bathroom, and add a 4 part harmony to it. Stu Sutcliffe provided the cover painting.
Jan 11, 2015•3 min
A demo of the obscure Charlie Dore song "Fear of Flying" recorded one day in 1979/1980 when Dore visited Harrison's house was rediscovered by Olivia Harrison while searching through George's archives, a section of which was used on the Jools Holland show on BBC Radio 2. Olivia Harrison: "It's a demo, it's not embellished, it's just him, George, on an acoustic guitar. I don't know how he'd feel about it being played, but I think it's really sweet." Written by the lady herself, backed by "Hula Val...
Oct 26, 2014•3 min
"Country Dreamer" is the B-side song to the single "Helen Wheels" released by Paul McCartney and Wings on 26 October 1973 in the UK and 12 November 1973 in the US. It is a pleasant acoustic song, it was not on an LP at the time. It has since been included as bonus track on the CD re-issue of Band On The Run, so that completists can easily find it these days. It was recorded in October 1972, and its country ambiance is similar to "Heart of the Country" from Paul McCartney's 1971 album Ram. Unfort...
Jan 06, 2014•3 min
"Misery" was written for Helen Shapiro on 26 January 1963, and later completed at Paul McCartney's Forthlin Road home. This is the official version of things, but wouldn't it be problematic for Helen Shapiro to sing "I'm the kind of guy who never used to cry"? For this reason or another, Shapiro didn't use it and British singer and entertainer Kenny Lynch recorded it instead, thus becoming the first artist to cover a Lennon–McCartney composition. He had only a minor hit with it, though. Kenny Ly...
Dec 31, 2013•2 min
In the United States, Do You Want To Know a Secret was the first top ten song to feature Harrison as a lead singer, reaching number 2 on the Billboard chart in 1964 as a single released by Vee-Jay, VJ 587. The Beatles' version was never released as a single in the UK, where a cover version by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas hit number one in the NME chart. Lennon said he based the song on Wishing Well, from Walt Disney's 1937 animated feature film Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Indeed, the op...
Dec 29, 2013•2 min
"From Me to You" was the first Beatles song to reach number one in Britain. "From Me to You" would be the first of eleven consecutive British number one singles by the Beatles. The recording of From Me to You took place on 5 March 1963 at Abbey Road Studios and on 11 April Parlophone released "From Me to You" in the UK as a single. The stereo version (recorded on two tracks) lacks the harmonica intro which was inserted into the mono version which was issued as a single, on the 1988 issue of Past...
Dec 27, 2013•2 min
