This week is a big one for The Beatles, with the re-release of all 12 of their studio albums plus Magical Mystery Tour, and the release of The Beatles: Rock Band. It’s fair to say that The Beatles are back in a big way, hopefully being discovered by a new generation as a result.

There is, however, one thing missing from this resurgence of The Beatles: a way of legally downloading their back catalog. The Beatles have so far refused all requests to put their albums online, rejecting selling them on Apple iTunes, and streaming them on services such as Spotify.

This past weekend saw the 40th anniversary of the day the classic cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album was shot. The occasion was commemorated by hundreds of fans who converged on the zebra crossing in order to recreate the famous pose and pay their respects to the greatest band the world has ever seen.

Rather unsurprisingly, the zebra crossing is located next to the Abbey Road studios in north London where The Beatles recorded the LP which would end up being their penultimate album. It’s a very ordinary street in a very ordinary part of London, but its place in …read more

Anyone who plays video games on a regular basis will be aware of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band phenomenon. Who would have thought that picking up little plastic instruments and pretending you’re a real musician could be so fun? But it is, immensely so, which is why the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises are so huge.

But as cool as Rock Band is, there is a way to make it better – make a special edition featuring The Beatles and only The Beatles. Which is exactly what is happening. The new video game, ingeniously titled The Beatles: Rock Band, features 45 …read more

Paul McCartney may now be 66 but he can still rock out with the best of them. Which is why he was booked to close the first night of the 2009 Coachella Festival. He played a set in excess of two hours and remembered all those people in his life who have passed away.

McCartney’s set on Friday night spanned the whole of his career, with song from his days in The Beatles and Wings sitting comfortably alongside those from his later solo career and his alter-ego The Fireman.
McCartney played alongside his four-piece band for the duration although did sing alone …read more

40 years ago today, the four members of The Beatles, plus guest keyboardist Billy Preston, played a concert on the roof of the Apple building in Saville Row, London. Although it was cut short, it’s still regarded as a momentous moment in music history.
By this time in their career, The Beatles weren’t getting on, with tensions producing some of the band’s best music in the studio, but putting paid to the notion of performing in public. This therefore ended up being the last gig the four played in public together.
The gig on the roof is now an iconic moment, but …read more

When he was in The Beatles, Paul ‘Macca’ McCartney was a gem. As part of the best song writing duo who have ever lived, he and John Lennon created some of the best songs ever released, ones that still stand up to scrutiny today.
So what has happened since then to turn him in to one of the least friendly and humourless celebrities around?
Let’s not beat around the bush here, Paul McCartney’s solo stuff is crap. No seriously, even the big hits aren’t a patch on what he wrote and released when he was The Beatles.
How he has still got …read more

Neil Aspinall, The Beatles manager and confidant died on Sunday night at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in Manhattan. He was there receiving treatment for lung cancer, and was only 66 when he passed away.
Aspinall was often referred to as “The Fifth Beatle”, a title which George Harrison himself gave to the man with probably the longest association with the band expect for Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr.
He was involved with the band from its earliest days, hanging flyers advertising their performances around Liverpool, England, as far back as 1961. He eventually became the head of Apple Corps., the …read more

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has opened up The Beatles back catalogue, making 259 songs available to advertisers for use in commercials.
Although open for commercial licensing, the tracks will however, have to be re-recorded by other artists, rather than the Beatles originals used in adverts.

This is the first time that Beatles songs have been available for use in commercials, and the music giant is quite protective over the material. Sony Chief executive Martin Bandier said only select brand partnerships would be considered for the deal, rather than all and sundry being allowed to latch on to the songs.
He also insisted he …read more