Now Is The Winter Of Our Discontent...

"All the clouds that lour'd upon our house
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths...." Shakespeare, Richard III

"It's important to state that a lot of water has gone under the bridge and that, as we talk now, everybody's good friends and we have a better understanding of the past. But talking about what was happening at that time, you can see it was strange." George Harrison, Anthology, p. 316.

January 1969
I've often seen the infamous Get Back sessions referred to as the "Winter of Discontent", most recently in reference to the spectacular Picture Perfect DVD release of Let It Be movie outtakes. I find a majority of the quote to be apropos--yes, the Beatles endured an extremely difficult January of 1969, but when all is said and done, they emerged victorious, forever engraved in our hearts and minds as a remarkable group of individuals who created a body of work that can never be surpassed within the medium of popular music. The split was acrimonious, a painful reality for us as fans; fortunately, most of those old wounds healed and peace was made between them.

Tackling the session tapes (all 84 cds worth, including all available audio from the A and B cameras) can be a daunting and somewhat gruelling task. However, what emerges is a clearer picture of what was going on within the group at that time. It can be disheartening and downright sad at times, but not always, and not entirely. (The musicianship is not always poor, either.) In fact, the Beatles' moods appeared to lighten once Twickenham is abandoned in favor of Apple, especially when Billy Preston joins them.

I recommend reading Doug Sulpy's Get Back: The Story of the Beatles' Let It Be Disaster for more information about what is contained within the available tapes; however, sometimes I think Sulpy allows his own opinions to come forward too much and color his commentary instead of just documenting the events as they occurred. Also, more session tapes are now in circulation that were unavailable at the time of the last edition's publication. Sometimes I enjoy listening Purple Chick's A/B Road or perhaps the easier to digest Thirty Days collection, take some time to look over Sulpy's book, and use my own analytical skills to mull over the break up of a band I love so dearly. There's still a magic to be found there, still some solid performances, great songs, and even some lighthearted hilarity. The comradiere of the old days appears at times, too.

The above screen caps were made from the 2003 Apple promos for "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down", created to promote the Let It Be...Naked project. The new footage indicates that Apple has access to some great extras that should be added to the deluxe Let It Be DVD!

All Things Must Pass...

(This post was created for my Beatle Buddy Mike! Hope you enjoy it!)

John at Home, Continued

Here are some additional photographs taken the day Johnny Dean and Leslie Bryce visited John's Weybridge home, "Kenwood".

I love John's style of decorating, indicative of his wit and creativity--he seemed to horde vast amounts of unusual objects he found intriguing for some reason or another. I especially love his Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's "Safe as Milk" stickers and the Monterey Pop festival poster. Apparently, he had many stickers bearing weird quotes plastered everywhere: "Quiet Please, Explosion Nearby," and "This Cemetery Welcomes Dangerous Drivers." :)

I know that John was often unhappy in this home, probably feeling like a prisoner to suburban life, far away from Swinging London's clubs and parties. I imagine the feeling is similar to this--"I know I need to be doing something exciting, but I haven't got the energy or motivation to get out and do it, so I'll just stay here and ruminate." I feel that way a lot, myself. Maybe it's a sort of wasting away feeling.

Despite John's unhappiness concerning Kenwood, I still find it to be a fascinating and beautiful home. These pictures reveal to us how John spent his days there and how he made the house truly his own with his unique touches.

(I scanned all of the above photos except the very first one--so, to whomever got that great color photo into circulation, thank you very much!)

John's Music Room--Kenwood, June 29, 1967

Apparently, there has been a bit of a controversy brewing in certain internet communities concerning the origins of a photograph of John in his music room at Kenwood. In order to dispell this controversy, I decided to scan some photos I have to confirm the photo's authenticity.

On June 29, 1967, Beatles Monthly editor Johnny Dean and photographer Leslie Bryce visited John at his Tudor-styled home "Kenwood" in the stockbroker belt of Weybridge. Bryce photographed John in various interesting places throughout his home, even taking some lovely photos of John and Julian together. Over the years, a myriad of pictures taken that day have appeared in issues of the Beatles Monthly, and the one in question made an appearance in the Sept. 1988 edition. This photo shows John playing one of his keyboards, and above him is a beautiful, touching photo of himself with friend and partner Paul, taken by photographer David Bailey. Looking closely, one can see that the photograph is on a cabinet door, and the door is slightly opened at an angle to reveal the photo to the camera--the shadows also indicate this. When the door is shut, the photo is not visible. Hopefully these scans offer evidence that this photograph has not been photoshoped by sentimental Beatles fans; on the contrary, it shows us all what a "softie" our John was at heart.

I can imagine Paul coming over, guitar in hand, settling in for songwriting sessions with John, while Cyn brings tea and butties up to them from time to time. A joint wouldn't be out of the question either! And there's that photo--the two titans poised as if sides of the same coin, as if they are One great force of art, creation, joy, and love--as inspiration for the evening's work.

I will be posting more information about Dean and Bryce's visit to John's home, and of course, more of those wonderful photographs, at a later date.

A Traditional British Christmas

Okay--I have an obsession with traditional British Christmas cakes, such as the one pictured here that our lads are happily slicing and devouring for Robert Whitaker's camera. I also love the cake's appearance in The Who's promo for "Happy Jack"--Roger's on look out as the others attempt to crack a safe; alas, they become sidetracked by this Christmas treat. (Watching Keith Moon slap the merenguie about his face is hilarious.) A friend of mine has attempted to get the perfect cake for me over the past two years, but I've settled on a marzipan covered fruit cake with a holly decoration imported from across the pond. British readers--do you think I'll enjoy what I've got?

It seems as if every British band had their pictures taken around a cake or a pudding for Christmas photo sessions, and they're all delightful. There's something about those traditional decorations that I enjoy, and of course the festive time they commemorate. I guess I'm just a sentimentalist...

Here are some photos of The Beatles with their Christmas Cake, all taken by Robert Whitaker during the same photo shoot that produced pictures for every season of the year (they hold brooms and baskets for Autumn, springs for Spring, etc.) The most famous of these photos ended up cropped and served as the album cover for the Captiol record, Beatles VI. The one shown here is a reverse print, but still pretty good.

I am also including pictures from a restaurant in Sweden where they were presented with a Christmas cake in October! More Beatles Christmas-related photos to follow soon...

(The photo where John has the "Merry Christmas" wreath on his head graced my Christmas cards this year!)