Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Beatles: All These Years Volume 1 - Tune In - New Book by Mark Lewisohn

The world's leading authority on the Beatles - and author of the bestselling Beatles Recording Sessions - has completed the riveting first volume in a groundbreaking trilogy about the iconic band that changed the face of pop music. Tune In uncovers the lives of John, Paul, George and Ringo as never before.

Forget what you've read or know about the Beatles, tune in, and start anew.

This is the lesser-known Beatles story - the pre-Fab years of Liverpool and Hamburg - and in many respects the most absorbing, extraordinary and incredible period of all. Here is the warts and all story of their family backgrounds, childhoods, and their infatuation with American music. As Tune In chronicles in amazing nuance, everything comes together in these years and in this one book: the Beatles' talent, charisma, looks, sex appeal, personalities, honesty, humor, attitude - and the Lennon-McCartney partnership.

Their enduring fame and legendary exploits have led to countless biographies of the Beatles, but now we have the ultimate portrait. Tune In is the first book in a genre-defining trilogy, telling the story of the Beatles from before their beginning up to the final night of 1962, with success within their grasp and on the cusp of a whole new kind of celebrity.

Monday, June 17, 2013

The Beatles: The BBC Archives: 1962-1970

The Beatles exploded into British popular culture in the 1960s and changed the face of music for ever. Central to this success were the BBC radio and television programmes that brought them from the clubs of Hamburg and Liverpool into the living rooms of an adoring public. The Beatles performed on countless BBC programmes, performing both their hit songs and rare cover versions of the music that inspired them.

In this landmark book, BBC producer and Beatles expert Kevin Howlett delves deep into the BBC archives to reveal hundreds of rare photographs and long-forgotten interviews that document the early rise, steady evolution and eventual split of the group. Uncovering additional archive documents such as early audition reports, audience feedback forms and internal memos from startled BBC executives, the files give a fascinating insight into the biggest band of all time.

Beautifully packaged and extensively researched, The Beatles: The BBC Archives is a definitive guide to a unique relationship between two cultural icons.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

The Rolling Stones - Crossfire Hurricane

OUT ON DVD, BLU-RAY AND DIGITAL VIDEO

Eagle Rock Entertainment releases The Rolling Stones’ Crossfire Hurricane on DVD and Blu-ray.  Crossfire Hurricane is the kaleidoscopic new film that documents the key periods of the Rolling Stones’ career and their incredible journey.

Directed by Brett Morgen, Crossfire Hurricane provides a remarkable new perspective on the Stones’ unparalleled journey from blues-obsessed teenagers in the early 60’s to rock royalty. It’s all here in panoramic candor, from the Marquee Club to Hyde Park, from Altamont to Exile, from club gigs to stadium extravaganzas.

With never-before-seen footage and fresh insights from the band themselves, the film will delight, shock and amaze longtime devotees, as well as a new generation of fans, with its uniquely immersive style and tone. Crossfire Hurricane places the viewer right on the frontline of the band’s most legendary escapades.

As befits the first rock band to reach the 50-year milestone with their global stature now greater than ever, the film combines extensive historical footage, much of it widely unseen, with contemporary commentaries by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts,Ronnie Wood and former Stones Bill Wyman and Mick Taylor. Period interviews, extensive live performance material and news archives give the production a truly kinetic aura and no-holds-barred approach.

Bonus features on the DVD and Blu-Ray include previously unreleased concert footage -  “Live in Germany ‘65”, NME Poll Winners concert footage from 1964 and 1965, a new interview with director Brett Morgen, “The Sound and Music of Crossfire Hurricane”, footage from The Arthur Haynes Show (1964), and the theatrical trailer

Crossfire Hurricane received its worldwide premiere at the London Film Festival in October, where Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood all hit the red carpet to the delight of fans and media from all around the world. The film received a similar premiere in the U.S. the following month, hosted by HBO at the Ziegfeld Theatre.

Asked in a formative interview in the film what it is that sets them apart from other groups, Jagger says with quiet understatement: “A chemical reaction seems to have happened.” Keith Richards added, “You can't really stop the Rolling Stones, you know when that sort of avalanche is facing you, you just get out of the way.” It’s been happening ever since, and the life and times of the Rolling Stoneshave never been as electrifyingly portrayed as they are in Crossfire Hurricane.