Video Du Jour: George Harrison & Friends

You know this already – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” from the Concert for Bangladesh in Madison Square Garden, New York City 1971. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Video Du Jour: The Beatles

The Beatles, atop Apple Studios in 1969. Those were the days.

On this day in January, 44 years ago, The Beatles climbed to the rooftop of Apple Studios in London to give what would be their last public live performance.

The unannounced live show was a bit of a stunt, and an improvised ending to the documentary movie they were filming at the time, Let It Be. The movie was to be a fly-on-the-wall look at the Fabs working in the studio, cranking out songs for the planned Get Back album. What it turned out to be was a look at the world’s most famous rock band deteriorating in front of our eyes.

The rooftop show was a temporarily happy ending – the short set included “Get Back,” with Billy Preston on keyboards, “Don’t Let Me Down,” “I’ve Got A Feeling,” “One After 909,” a snippet of “Danny Boy,” “Dig A Pony,” then finally another run-through of “Get Back.”

We all know what happened: the cops came up and shut ’em down for making too much noise in the middle of a busy work day. And John Lennon’s signoff  “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition” neatly capped the era for the Beatles.

That quote appeared at the end of the Let It Be album from 1970, released after the group had already broken up. But in reality, the 1969 rooftop concert wasn’t the Beatles’ last work. They eventually got together in the spring and summer of that year to record what would become Abbey Road, arguably their best album.

YouTube: The 1969 rooftop concert (Part 1)

YouTube: The 1969 rooftop concert (Part 2)

Live: Paul McCartney, Houston

Paul McCartney’s stage filled the outfield of Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Paul McCartney’s recent set of concerts on his current “On The Run” tour are epic, full of breathtaking singing and instrumental virtuosity on faithful renditions of some of the greatest songs in the rock and roll canon. His show last night (11/14) at Houston’s Minute Maid Park was exactly that.

But there’s also a sense – certainly fleeting – of wistfulness and summing up of a brilliant, unparalleled career belonging to one of the greatest entertainers of all time. At one point of the show in Houston, Paul said “These events are so cool … I just want to take a moment for myself and drink it all in.”

Then he stepped aside from the mic and just stood there, surveying the nearly sold-out crowd (about 39,000) as it cheered him on.

He did that same thing when we saw him in 2011, at the beginning of this tour in New York’s Yankee Stadium. I can’t help but think this may be a victory lap for the 70-year-old ex-Beatle but who knows? He can keep this going for quite a while.

Because it’s obvious McCartney is clearly invigorated by staging these grandiose rock shows. He played for three hours in Houston, staying on stage virtually the entire time and never once sipping a drink of water or wiping sweat with a towel. It helped that the ballpark’s roof was open, and it was a crisp, cool Houston evening.

The voice is still there: on “All My Loving,” hitting the same notes he did in 1963, crooning on the goofy “My Valentine” and rocking out on “Got To Get You Into My Life” and “Paperback Writer.”

And the dude can play: he strapped on an electric guitar eight songs into the set to take the lead on “Let Me Roll It,” which morphed into an impressive instrumental rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxey Lady.” He pounded the piano keys for Band On The Run deep cut “1985” and the Beatles warhorses “Lady Madonna” and “Hey Jude.”

Video screens made the Beatle’s show feel intimate, even from the cheap seats.

McCartney has proudly accepted the mantle of keeper of the Beatles’ flame, and in addition to his own compositions he paid deeply touching tribute to his fallen fellow Fabs George Harrison and John Lennon. Harrison was remembered fondly with a great rendition of “Something,” which started out on ukulele and wound up with a full-on band treatment.

After that highlight, McCartney mentioned that George wrote that one “all by himself.” And he capped it with “Frank Sinatra once said that ‘Something’ was his favorite Lennon/McCartney song,” Paul shrugged.

Lennon’s tribute consisted of the acoustic ballad “Here Today,” written by McCartney after his mate’s murder in 1980. Then, later, Paul wound up with Lennon’s “A Day In The Life” appended to a singalong “Give Peace A Chance.”

Fireworks both figurative and literal peppered the homestretch: “Get Back,” “Helter Skelter,” “Let It Be,” and the James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” punctuated by an impressive pyrotechnics display.

Say what you want about McCartney’s cute/pop/cloying tendencies over the past 50 years – in 2012 this is the Cadillac of rock shows. To steal from another James Bond song (not written by McCartney), nobody does it better.

Paul McCartney setlist from Houston Minute Maid Park 11/14/2012

Found on YouTube: “Paperback Writer” from Houston (thanks pokabeb)

The pyro goes off for “Live and Let Die.”

Video Du Jour: George Harrison

Happy birthday, George Harrison. He would have been 69 today.

Video Du Jour: George Harrison/The Beatles

Here are Beatles producer George Martin, his son Giles and Dhani Harrison (son of George) listening to a mix of “Here Comes The Sun.” At one point Dhani turns up a channel with a forgotten electric guitar solo for the song that gives it a totally different feel. Fascinating.

Concert for Bangladesh is now digital

George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh, 1971.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Concert for Bangladesh, George Harrison’s Grammy-winning album is now available at the iTunes Store, 40 years after the historic concert event on August 1, 1971. The concert featured Harrison, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan and others to benefit the country, hit by a typhoon and ravaged by war.

In the altruistic spirit which gave birth to The Concert for Bangladesh, each download will benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF — helping to provide immediate emergency relief for children in famine and drought-stricken regions in the Horn of Africa.

Visit TheConcertForBangladesh.com to find out about The Concert and the George Harrison Fund For UNICEF.

The Concert for Bangladesh feature film will stream in its entirety in a 72-hour online event. The free video stream will be available worldwide from Saturday, July 30 through Monday, August 1 on iTunes as well as TheConcertForBangladesh.com and GeorgeHarrison.com.

A 5-minute video trailer for the album and a 49-minute radio program about The Concert for Bangladesh are also now available for free streaming on iTunes.com/TheBeatles.

MP3: “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Leon Russell and Ringo Starr

YouTube: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood” by Leon Russell (dig that outfit!)

YouTube: “Here Comes The Sun” by George Harrison w/Pete Ham of Badfinger

Live: Paul McCartney, New York City

Giant video Paul flanks himself, that little white dot in the middle of the stage.

New York City is arguably the world’s biggest stage for any music artist, and when a legend like Paul McCartney wants to kick off a tour in the Big Apple he needs an outta-site venue, the best of the best. So McCartney took over brand-new Yankee Stadium for a two-night stand over the weekend and launched his “On The Run” tour, which right now has scheduled stops in only four more U.S. cities.

We caught Sir Paul’s second night in NYC, and the 69-year-old former Beatle turned in a musical marathon performance that would make Bruce Springsteen proud. McCartney played Beatles classics, Wings favorites and some choice selections from his recent past, doing about 36 songs during a three-hour show. Opening with “Magical Mystery Tour,” McCartney was in fine voice and only three songs in, he rekindled Beatlemania with a rousing version of “All My Loving,” from 1963.

You didn't have to be close to feel like you were.

Jesus, are these songs really about a half century old? That didn’t stop the audience – including an awful lot of kids born after Wings, not to mention the Beatles – from singing along. McCartney pulled out “The Night Before,” from Help!, which he explained he hasn’t performed live until this tour.

“Paperback Writer” rocked, and even the Wings warhorse “Let Me Roll It” spiraled into a short instrumental cover of “Foxey Lady,” which McCartney dedicated to Jimi Hendrix.

Sir Paul also didn’t forget to remember his fallen bandmates, following a sublime “Eleanor Rigby” with George Harrison’s “Something,” which got one of the biggest ovations of the night. McCartney also remembered his dear friend John Lennon with “Here Today” and a rousing “A Day In The Life,” morphing into “Give Peace A Chance.”

If there was a surprise for the night, to me it was the five songs from the Beatles’ White Album: “Back In The U.S.S.R.,” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” “I Will,” “Helter Skelter” and “Blackbird,” which McCartney explained was written in response to the U.S. civil rights movement during the 1960s. He also did five more from another album, Band On The Run: the title song, “Let Me Roll It,” “Jet,” “Mrs. Vanderbilt” and “Nineteen Hundred Eighty Four.”

The encore guest shot by Billy Joel on “I Saw Her Standing There” was a surprise only if you believed the beer-line rumors of appearances by Elton John, Bono and the Edge or even Bruce Springsteen. Wishful thinking, but McCartney didn’t need any help.

Armed with easily the greatest catalog in the history of rock, McCartney could have sleepwalked through this show and still given everyone their money’s worth. But he came out rocking, never leaving the stage even while his younger bandmates took a few breaks, playing a dizzying variety of instruments and hitting pretty much every note like it was 1969 all over again. In fact, I thought he was in much better voice than he exhibited on the 2009 live CD/DVD Good Evening New York City – simply amazing.

By the time the full moon started to peek over the upper bleachers of Yankee Stadium, McCartney’s show was nearing its third hour with the standards “Let It Be,” “Hey Jude,” “Get Back” and the fireworks exploding around “Live And Let Die.”

With the final song lyrics “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” still echoing in our ears, we hit the subway to go from the Bronx back to Manhattan. And there in the Herald Square subway station, playing their hearts out after midnight, was a live band doing “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” A nice end to a great night of rock and roll.

Hollywood Reporter‘s roundup of reviews for McCartney’s Yankee Stadium shows

WCBS-FM review of McCartney’s second night show, with setlist and more photos

Rolling Stone review of the second night

YouTube: “Maybe I’m Amazed” from Yankee Stadium

YouTube: “I Saw Her Standing There” with Billy Joel

Paul McCartney official website

A special t-shirt was created for the NYC concerts.

It was a great night to be in NYC.

Video Du Jour: Leon Russell

This is a great moment in live music: Leon Russell’s performance of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood” at the Concert for Bangladesh, New York City, 1971. Simply a legendary performance, with a band that includes George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Billy Preston, Jesse Ed Davis and many more.

Sampler Daze: Warner Bros. holiday samplers

Guess this could be a holiday companion piece to our series on the WB-Reprise Loss Leader samplers that came out in the 1970s – these are two radio promo albums released by Warner Bros. in 1987 and 1988 to help radio stations and listeners celebrate the holiday season with the Warners’ stable of artists.

Yulesville came out in 1987, all decked out in red (or green) vinyl to look like a Christmas ornament and the track list was a mix of spoken-word promos and a handful of music tracks.  Artists like Brian Wilson, George Harrison, Madonna and others cut the PSAs (public service announcements) while the Ramones, the Pretenders and the like have holiday-themed tracks.

The Ramones’ “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)” was exclusive to this LP at the time, while the Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” appeared on the 1983 album Learning To Crawl and Prince’s “Another Lonely Christmas” was originally the B-side to the 1984 single “I Would Die 4 U.”  There are a few other music tracks, including “Yulesville” by Edd “Kookie” Byrnes (from 1959!), Erasure doing a short little holiday ditty and a couple of godawful tracks from long-forgotten bands like 54.40 and the so-called New Monkees (featuring no one named Jones, Dolenz, Tork or Nesmith).

The next year, in 1988, Warner Bros. pulled out all the stops and unleashed a double holiday promo album, Winter Warnerland.  This one had more PSAs from their artists, more tracks from label losers (another one from 54.40!) but also had some cool stuff from the likes of R.E.M.,  Los Lobos and Daniel Lanois, as well as some contributions from Warner Nashville label mates Mark O’Connor and Randy Travis.

Lonesome George Harrison turns up again, this time doing a promo bit as Nelson Wilbury, his alter-ego from the Traveling Wilburys.  Pee Wee Herman livens up the proceedings with his weirdness, and former Chicago lead singer Peter Cetera turns in a country-rock version of “Silent Night” that works for some strange reason.

One of my favorite tracks on this one is “Santa Claus Is Getting Down,” a blues tune from guitarist Jesse Ed Davis.  Davis was an A-list session guitarist of the era who played with people like John Lennon, George Harrison, Leon Russell, Taj Mahal and many others.  Davis popped up at the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus event in 1968 and was a featured player at the Concert for Bangla Desh in 1971.  Davis is probably best known for contributing the guitar solo on Jackson Browne’s hit single “Doctor My Eyes.”  During most of the 1970s and 1980s Davis was troubled by his drug abuse, and finally in 1988 he died in California of a suspected heroin overdose.

To be honest, I’m not sure what kind of circulation these albums had at the time.  Aside from promotional distribution to radio stations and news media types, it seems that Winter Warnerland had some kind of commercial availability as a CD in 1988 or so.  Both albums turn up frequently on eBay and other internet selling services, so maybe they’re more easily obtained today than they were when they were released – only now they’re more expensive.

MP3: “Merry Christmas Message” by Brian Wilson (from Yulesville)

MP3: “2,000 Miles” by the Pretenders (from Yulesville)

MP3: “Holiday Greeting” by the Bee Gees (from Yulesville)

MP3: “Happy Holidays Message” by Joey Ramone (from Yulesville)

MP3: “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight)” by the Ramones (from Yulesville)

MP3: “Another Lonely Christmas” by Prince (from Yulesville)

MP3: “Christmas Medley” by Pee Wee Herman (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Deck The Halls” by R.E.M. (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Rudolph The Manic Reindeer” by Los Lobos (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Holiday ID” by Nelson Wilbury (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Santa Claus Is Getting Down” by Jesse Ed Davis (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Silent Night” by Peter Cetera (from Winter Warnerland)

MP3: “Holiday Greeting” by Pee Wee Wilbury (from Winter Warnerland)

Nine Years Out: George Harrison

Nine years ago today, George Harrison died of cancer.  It’s hard to believe he has been gone such a relatively short time – compared to John Lennon, who died in 1980 – but it seems his music has been with us forever.

Try to imagine being in a rock band with the two greatest songwriters of all.  The fact that George Harrison got his music onto Beatles records, and some of his songs are comparable to Lennon-McCartney’s, is a brilliant testimony to the man’s musical talent.   And like his former bandmates, his solo career had peaks and valleys – perhaps maybe a little higher and lower than the other Beatles.

December 8, the date of John Lennon’s murder, is burned onto our collective memories but let’s take a moment today to remember another great musician.

MP3: “Bangla Desh” (single)

MP3: “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” (mono)

MP3: “This Guitar (Can’t Keep From Crying)”

MP3: “My Sweet Lord” (early vocal take)

MP3: “Deep Blue”

MP3: “It Don’t Come Easy” (demo)

MP3: “This Song”

MP3: “Sour Milk Sea” (demo)

MP3: “When We Was Fab”

YouTube:  All Things Must Pass (30th anniversary re-release) electronic press kit