On The Records

The movie A Complete Unknown has created renewed interest in the music of Bob Dylan.  Although the film is a fantastic recreation of Dylan’s emergence in the early 1960s, it didn’t have time to show how important it was that other artists covered his songs.  The first national and international attention Dylan received was as the songwriter of hits performed by Peter, Paul & Mary.

The trio was the most popular Folk act of the early 60s.  In ‘62 & ‘63 they had hits with “Lemon Tree” (#35), “If I Had A Hammer” (#10), and their #2 smash “Puff (The Magic Dragon” (#1 on the Adult Contemporary chart).  In July of 1963, they duplicated that chart performance with Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ In The Wind”.  It remains the definitive version.  Then in September of 1963, they entered the Top 40 with Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right”, which made it to #9.  Other Folk artists also covered those songs on their albums.  Dylan was becoming known for his great songwriting.

Bob Dylan’s self-titled first album had failed to chart in the Top-200 in 1962.  Then with the notoriety of those two songs Peter, Paul & Mary covered, his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan made it to #22 in 1963.  His 1964 album The Times They Are A-Chagin’ also did well, hitting #20.  However, through 1964, Bob Dylan never had a Top 40 hit on his own.  When another group covered his songs in 1965, he was pushed to the next level.

When Bob Dylan allowed The Byrds to record “Mr. Tambourine Man” in 1965 (before he released it), the Folk Rock movement burst onto the popular music scene.  The Byrds gave the song an electric Rock arrangement, and featured the 12-string guitar of Jim McGuinn.  Besides that #1 record, The Byrds had a Top-40 hit with Dylan’s “All I Really Want To Do”, and featured more of his songs on their popular albums.  Cher had an even bigger hit with “All I Really Want To Do” (#15).

Just a little later in 1965, Bob Dylan had his first Top-40 singles success with three of his own electric Folk Rock songs… “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (#39), “Like A Rolling Stone” (#2,), and “Positively 4th Street” (#7).

During that same time, August of 1965, The Turtles added Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” (#8) to the Folk Rock surge.

Other notable hit versions of Bob Dylan songs include… “My Back Pages” (#30) by The Byrds in 1967, “All Along The Watchtower” (#20) by Jimi Hendrix in 1968, “The Mighty Quinn” (#10) by Manfred Mann in 1968, “She Belongs To Me” (#33) by Rick Nelson in 1970, and “If Not For You” (#25) by Olivia Newton John in 1970.  That last one was also made famous by George Harrison as an album track that same year.

Some other famous covers of Dylan songs include “I Shall Be Released” by The Band, “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” by Linda Ronstadt, “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” by Eric Clapton, “Down In The Flood” by Blood, Sweat & Tears, and “Tommorow Is Such A Long Time” by Rod Stewart.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bob Dylan had a total of 12 Top-40 hits.  Besides those three mentioned earlier, his hits included…. “Rainy Day Women” (#2), “Just Like A Woman (#33), “Lay Lady Lay” (#7), “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” (#12), and “Tangled Up In Blue” (#31).

Bob Dylan’s fans love a lot of his lesser known album tracks, but Dylan’s songwriting fame came with the help of the artists who turned so many of his great songs into popular hits.

One thing many old Rock Stars have proven is that they need to keep performing.  Most 82-year-olds have been retired for about 15 years, but Paul McCartney and other artists from the ‘60s & ‘70s (like The Rolling Stones, the Eagles, & Ringo Starr) keep playing concerts.  The latest example is McCartney doing three surprise shows at a small venue in New York City.

McCartney regularly sells out arenas and stadiums, but he decided to do three nights of surprise shows (February 11th, 12th, & 14th) at the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan. It holds just 575 people….and tickets were only $50!  They were only sold at the Bowery on the day of the show.

Above are the exterior and interior of the small venue.  It was definitely a more intimate setting than McCartney normally plays, but it was a way to play for an audience without all the hassles and planning of a tour.

Even though the scale of the setting was small, McCartney did a full concert.  Here’s the setlist from the second show, February 12th, 2025.

You can see that 14 of the 20 songs were by The Beatles.

The Rock Stars from our youth don’t need any more money or fame. The only reason they keep performing is they love the thrill of sharing their music with their fans.

Bonus:

And…Paul McCartney closed the 50th Anniversary celebration of Saturday Night Live on February 16th, 2025.  His voice was rough, but he and his band rocked the Abbey Road medley of “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End”.  It was a rousing and fitting end to the show.  Paul Simon opened the show, and although his voice sounded weak, he later announced he’s doing some tour dates in 2025.  Another of that generation’s artists, Neil Young, is also touring in 2025.

Update:  There will be a new Paul McCartney book, Wings: The Story of a Band On The Run.  It will cover the band’s existence from 1971 to 1979.  The release date is November 4th, 2025.

On his new Country album Look Up, Ringo Starr is wearing a white hat, and we know it’s the good guys who wear those.

Pretty much everyone likes Ringo, but it seemed that in 1964 he was an outlaw.

The same year The Beatles broke big in America, the star of the TV Western Bonanza, Lorne Greene, released his #1 Country song about the outlaw Ringo.  Of course he wasn’t referring to the Liverpool lad, but it was also in 1964 that Ringo Starr recorded the Carl Perkins Country hit “Honey Don’t”.  The following year, Ringo covered the Buck Owens song “Act Naturally”.  He and the rest of The Beatles were fond of Country & Western music from the time they were kids.

When The Beatles split in 1970, Ringo Starr released a Country album, Beaucoups Of Blues.  There were some great Nashville session players on the album, but it only made it to #65 on the album chart.  Fifty-five years later, Ringo has released his second Country album, Look Up.

This time, Ringo enlisted the help of producer T Bone Burnett, famous for Country & Americana music, and again there are excellent Nashville musicians adding a real Country feel.

Burnett, shown here with Ringo, co-wrote 9 of the 11 songs.  Artist Billy Swan wrote one song, and Ringo co-wrote the song “Thankful” with Bruce Sugar.

Even at the age of 84, Ringo’s voice sounds a lot like it always has.  The album is getting mostly positive reviews, so Ringo fans should at least give it a listen on streaming services, or wherever the songs are available online.  The best track is the Country ballad “Time On My Hands”.  It has the typical feel of a sad song about losing the one you love.  The melody is strong, and the steel guitar playing is a definite highlight of the album.  It sounds like it could have been a hit for George Jones (the “She Thinks I Still Care” singer).  Ringo’s “Thankful” is also a good effort that fits well with other songs he’s co-written.

The sound of the record is really good with such a talented producer as Burnett, but his writing the bulk of the songs may have limited the album.  It might have been better if Ringo could have obtained a greater variety of songs from more of Nashville’s big pool of songwriters.

This Spring, CBS will air Ringo & Friends at the Ryman.  It’ll be performances from two shows at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, recorded January 14th & 15th.  The concerts included many Country Music guests, and featured Beatles songs, as well as tracks from the new album.  Some proceeds from the shows were donated to the Red Cross to help victims of the California wildfires.  The 2-hour TV special included interviews, and was broadcast on Monday March 10th, 2025.

Here’s the setlist from the Ryman performance (click to enlarge).

You might notice three songs were played from Ringo’s new album, “Time On My Hands”, “Thankful”, and “Look Up”.

After the Ryman concerts, Emmylou Harris invited Ringo to play at The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville on February 21st, 2025.  This performance was not used for the TV special.  The Opry concert received positive reviews, and most fans were impressed how the 84-year-old performed like a younger man..

Ringo’s long career continues with his All Starr Band touring with dates currently in May, June, and September.  Between tour dates, Ringo will celebrate his 85th birthday on July 7th.

The new film A Complete Unknown is a must see for fans of Bob Dylan, music fans in general, and fans of the actors who make up the outstanding cast.

Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan couldn’t be better.  He plays and sings all of the songs live (so many great songs!), and his full acting performance makes you believe you’re watching a young Bob Dylan.  Honestly, his performance is better than the Oscar winner and nominees of recent music biographies.

Monica Barbaro is also amazing as a young and self-assured Joan Baez.  She fully performs the songs, and does a great job on the Dylan & Baez duets.

Other music stars featured in the film are folk pioneer Pete Seeger and Country icon Johnny Cash.  Edward Norton and Boyd Holbrook are also convincing in those roles, with Norton’s Seeger being a key part of Dylan’s story.

Besides the fantastic casting, the best decision with A Complete Unknown was to limit the time frame of the movie to 1961 through 1965.  This takes us from Dylan’s arrival in New York City (without giving us his childhood in Minnesota), and takes us through his “going electric” with his biggest hit “Like A Rolling Stone” which includes the movie’s title in its lyrics.

The major non-singing role is by Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo.  She’s based on Dylan’s girlfriend Suze Rotolo.  Here she is on Dylan’s album cover.

She was an artist (painter) and political activist.  She encouraged Bob Dylan to perform more of his own songs, and is the original source of his political activism.

Like the rest of the cast, Elle Fanning has earned positive reviews for her performance.  Because of her age, it’s unusual that Fanning was a Dylan fan when she was 13.  She says director Cameron Crowe introduced her to Dylan’s music.  She may have been the only teenage girl in that decade to have a Dylan poster on her bedroom wall.

Dylan freely gave credit to Suze Rotolo for her help early in his career, including being the inspiration for several of his songs over many years.  Dylan and Rotolo remained lifelong friends.  She died from lung cancer in 2011.  The movie is not a documentary, and hardcore Dylan fans will notice some historical facts are out of order or telescoped to serve the flow of the film.

The movie does an amazing job of recreating the early 1960s, not only with the sets and the vintage cars, but with all of the supporting cast.  We see people we’ve only read about in books or on album covers come to life.  It really feels like you’ve been dropped back in time.

(Posters in the movie theater in Springfield, OR)

My wife and I went to the movie on December 27th, our wedding anniversary.  After the show I asked Jeannette what she thought of it and she said “I want to see it again.”  That’s probably the best compliment you can give a movie.

Update:  The movie is available to buy or rent, and is streaming on Hulu.

Related:  Here’s an article about the artists who helped make Dylan famous

https://ontherecords.net/2025/03/bob-dylan-the-artists-who-helped-make-him-famous/

 

Taylor Swift wasn’t named the Top Artist of the 21st Century, she earned it by her sales, airplay, and streaming.

Billboard gathered all the statistics from how artists performed on their album and singles charts over the last 25 years.  It’s likely the statistics show that no one was even close.  Just five years ago, Swift was the number eight artist of all time.  The artist who is number two this century is Drake.  He was only at number sixteen five years ago.  Since that time, Taylor Swift has had another eight #1 albums.  Drake has had three…commendable…but obviously not competitive with Swift.

Here’s how the artists ranked five years ago (November of 2019) when Billboard published their list of the Top Artists Of All Time.

You can see where four of the top five artists on the new 21st Century list ranked in 2019.

In an historical and statistical context, Taylor Swift has probably moved into second place all-time behind The Beatles.  She has the second most weeks at #1 on the album chart (after The Beatles).  She is the first artist to ever have all of the Top 10 singles at one time, and now the Top 14 singles.  She has dominated the album charts in recent years in record-setting numbers.

It’s been over 54 years since The Beatles broke up, and no one in their right mind in 1970 would have expected to see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr rocking out together in 2024!

The final night of the tour was made extra special when Ringo Starr joined Paul for rocking versions of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “Helter Skelter”.  I saw the video, and the two Beatles did a great job on those songs.  The 82-year-old McCartney’s voice isn’t quite as good as it once was, but he can still rock the vocals, and the 84-year-old Starr can pounds the drums with authority.  Here’s a photo of the two together at the show..

It’s great to see them doing so well as octogenarians since we lost John Lennon at 40, and George Harrison at 58.  Paul and Ringo have played together at live shows over the years, have performed on each other’s albums, and have jointly appeared at various Beatles related functions.  They obviously love each other like brothers.

McCartney shows amazing stamina by performing shows that approach three hours in length and include 36 songs.  Here’s the setlist.

You might have noticed another famous name on the setlist.

Guitarist Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones joined Paul on “Get Back”.  Wood is the youngster of the three stars at 77.  Actually, there’s another old rocker in the above photo.  That’s Paul’s original Hofner bass that he bought in 1961.  It had been stolen out of a van in 1972, and only surfaced recently.  You can see the instrument has been beautifully restored.

A couple days after his last Got Back concert, McCartney gave fans the good news that he’s been working on a new album.  He says the tour interrupted his efforts, but his New Year’s resolution is to finish the album.

Fleetwood Mac was always a real life Soap Opera, and soon it’ll be a Documentary.  On November 19th, 2024, Apple TV+ announced that Frank Marshall will direct the feature-length film.  Marshall is a five-time Oscar nominee, and recently directed documentaries on The Bee Gees and The Beach Boys.

Marshall said… “I am fascinated by how this incredible story of enormous musical achievement came about.  Fleetwood Mac somehow managed to merge their often chaotic and almost operatic personal lives into their own tale in real time, which then became legend.  This film will be about the music and the people who created it.

According to the  announcement, the documentary has not been titled, and a release date has not been determined.  New interviews, archival interviews, and some unseen video footage will be used to tell the story of the famous British/American band.

Although Fleetwood Mac started as a British blues band in the 60s, their greatest popularity came in the 70s with a shift to Rock and the addition of Americans Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.  Their biggest albums were Fleetwood Mac in 1975, and Rumours In 1977.  The band’s music remains extremely popular.

Also on November 19th, 2024, a new book was released, Songbird: An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie by author Lesley-Ann Jones.

Extra:  First thought for a possible fun title for the documentary.  Fleetwood Mac: The Rumours Were True

Extra II:  A Hamilton grand piano Stevie Nicks owned and used for songwriting, and that Christine McVie played during concert tours, has come-up for auction.

The piano was gifted to songwriter Robbie Patton, who had asked for it as payment for his songwriting assistance on “Hold Me”.  It’s estimated the piano could bring as much as $200,000.  Here’s the letter of authenticity.

With the recent release of the Crosby Stills Nash & Young album Live At Fillmore East, 1969, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash have been doing some interviews.

Stills (79) was interviewed by Variety & The Globe And Mail, and Nash (82) was interviewed for the Song Exploder podcast.  As you’ll see, the two sometimes had slightly different takes on some of the topics.

The Stills’ interviews included comments comparing the new release of the 1969 concert with the 1971 live album 4 Way Street.

Stephen Stills was blunt… “I Always hated 4 Way Street, and I love this record (Live At Fillmore East, 1969).  The singing on 4 Way Street is awful.  Everybody refused to dub any voices, which sometimes got spectacularly out of tune.  We were brand new (in 1969), and all that enthusiasm and warmth is apparent.  4 Way Street is more ‘Okay we’re a big deal now’, and it showed.”

About the 1969 concert, Stills said… “The vocals were really tight.  Later on, when we quit singing on one mic, the blend sort of suffered…singing 10-feet apart and in front of really loud amps in very big places.”

Among his recent interviews, Graham Nash was a guest on the excellent podcast Song Exploder.  It’s a clever program that details how popular songs were recorded, and interviews the artist about the creative process.  In this case, the song was “Our House”.  The half-hour interview goes beyond just the song, as Nash talks about the beginnings of CSN&Y, and the fairly recent death of David Crosby (January of 2023).

Nash tells the now familiar story of writing ‘Our House” when he and Joni Mitchell were living together at Joni’s place in Laurel Canyon in 1969.  They had returned to the house after a shopping trip during which Joni had purchased a vase at a local shop.  Graham said…”Why don’t I light a fire, while you put some flowers in that vase you bought today”…and that was the beginning of the song.  The host of the podcast is Hrishikesh Hirway, and in this one-minute excerpt, he plays the voices of CSN.

It sounds so good to hear the vocals highlighted in that way.  You can hear the careful harmony parts that make up the CSN sound.  This type of vocal and instrumental isolation on a selection of songs would have made great additions to the Deja Vu box set. After the segment played, Hirway asked Nash his reaction.  Graham said he was concentrating on David Crosby’s voice and how much he misses him.  Nash went on to explain that he and David were mending fences and were scheduled to video-chat together, but that David passed away before it happened.

Nash also told the story of how Crosby Stills & Nash first sang together during a gathering at Joni Mitchell’s house.  Stephen Stills says that’s not the way it happened.

Stills says he has a very clear memory of Mama Cass Elliot bringing the three men together at her house, and that’s where they first sang.  Stills thinks it’s Nash’s romantic nature that makes him want it to have been at Joni Mitchell’s place.

Another way there’s disagreement between S&N is that Nash believes the surviving group members, Stills Nash & Young, will never perform together again, because Crosby’s not with them.  Stills, who has recently performed for charity with Neil Young, says there could be a cause for which they might perform, so he wouldn’t rule it out.

It’s obvious that Graham Nash has great affection for all of his CSN&Y buddies, but his description of Neil Young gave me a chuckle.   He said…”Neil Young is an incredibly great guitar player, and I think he’s a decent singer.”  Maybe he should have mentioned that Neil is a tremendous songwriter, instead of characterizing his singing voice.

Stephen Stills closed one of his interviews with a little extra hope for CSN&Y fans.  He said there’s a locker with a lot more unreleased tapes that could someday be turned into albums.  He said, “There’s some magic in there.”

For the review of Live At The Fillmore East, 1969, click here: https://ontherecords.net/2024/09/crosby-stills-nash-young1969-concert-release/

Music memorabilia can sell for high prices, especially if it involves The Beatles.  Equipment used by the group has recently surfaced, including John Lennon’s first Vox amplifier, the recording console used for the Abbey Road album, and a George Harrison guitar from the early days of The Beatles.

Pictured above is the first recording session by The Beatles after they were signed to EMI by George Martin, and the amplifier John Lennon used in that session.   The amp recently resurfaced when a fan spotted it in an online auction.  Not that it was easy to see.  The old owner had decided to paint it black (we could blame The Rolling Stones), but the serial number matched the fawn colored amp used by Lennon.  As you can see, the black paint has been removed, and the 60+ year old amplifier looks a little rough around the edges.

There is still some certifying that needs to be done to make sure it’s the genuine article, but at this point it seems real.  The buyer in England took a chance and paid 16,000-pounds for it, but if it’s certified and is put up for auction again, it’s estimated it could bring $123,000 to $320,000.  It makes me wonder what happened to The Beatles’ most famous amplifiers, the Vox “Super Beatle” model.

Of course even these larger amps were not powerful enough for the size of concerts The Beatles played.  A couple of the guitarists in my 1960’s band had “Super Beatle” amplifiers, and really liked them.

The Beatles’ Abbey Road album is the band’s most modern sounding recording.  That’s because of this 8-track custom built console.

Previous Beatles albums were recorded on older 4-track consoles.  Here are photos from when the recording console was new back in 1969.

It was state of the art back then, and was also used to record some of the first solo albums by the ex-Beatles.  Without considering its historical value, the console was eventually disassembled and placed in storage.

Now, the console has been restored to its original working condition using 70% of its original parts.  The owners believe the console could bring up to 3-million-dollars.

In November of 2024, a George Harrison Futurama guitar sold at auction for 1.27–million-dollars!

That’s a record amount for a Beatles guitar.  The Futurama guitar was played by Harrison during the group’s early days playing the Cavern Club in Liverpool, and during The Beatles time in Germany in the early 1960s.

Other Beatles items have also sold for big numbers.  In 2005, John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to “All You Need Is Love” sold for 1.25-million-dollars, and in 2015, Ringo Starr’s personal copy of The White Album sold for $790,000

It’s not one of the big anniversary box sets, but A Hard Day’s Night  has received a 60th Anniversary release on white vinyl.

The release was October 19th, 2024…National Album Day.  This was the first album that had all Lennon-McCartney compositions.  Here’s the tracklist.

If you were in England in 1964, that is the album you got.  Unfortunately, those of us in America got the below movie soundtrack that only had the seven songs from side one of the British version, along with some instrumental music from the film..

The full lineup of songs was finally made available to everyone when the CD’s came out in 1987, and we heard what a great album it is.  The album has two #1 singles “Can’t Buy Me Love” & “A Hard Day’s Night”, two great ballads “And I Love Her” & “If I Fell”, and a couple more classics…Lennon’s “You Can’t Do That” & McCartney’s “Things We Said Today”.

The cover of the album says it’s stereo, but the press release did not mention whether it’s the new remixed stereo (like the songs from this record that are on the Red album from 2023), or the original 1964 stereo.  If it was completely remixed, they’d probably announce it and there would also be a CD version.

The new vinyl release is for anyone who doesn’t already have the album, or for those who want the novelty of white vinyl.  The rest of us are waiting (impatiently) for the Rubber Soul box set which was originally expected in 2023.  Rubber Soul may turn out to be the last Beatles album to get the full box set treatment.  Remix producer Giles Martin said Rubber Soul has enough alternate takes to justify a box set.  That may not be the case for the earlier albums.

And…

The Beatles first #1 hit in the U.S. is being re-released.  If you missed Capitol Records’ big single the first time (released December 26th, 1963), the new pressing came out on Record Store Day, November 22nd, 2024.  It’s just like the original…analog & monophonic…and with the iconic cover.

Here are two copies of the singles I have.  You can see that I wore out the original 1964 record on the left, and haven’t played the one on the right.  That cover, which I believe is from the 80s or 90s has Paul McCartney’s cigarette air-brushed out.  Thank goodness Paul (and Ringo) stopped smoking decades ago.