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Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Beatles Clothing from Leather to Suits

In early 1962, The Beatles clothing appeared to be a totally changed from what Britain had first seen them wearing just a few months earlier. Manager Brian encouraged the group to get out of their leather gear, black Beatles T Shirts and trousers ( No, not in that way ). Initially, Brian got the group to put on sweaters in their shows and ultimately suits. Having always been a fan of the theater, Brian Epstein knew a thing or two about how to present an act. Brian Epstein was from an upper middle-class background and he wanted the group to appeal to the radio people, TV and record companies.

John Lennon's reply was, 'Yeah man, all right, I will wear a suit - I'll wear a bloody balloon if someone's going to pay me. George agreed saying,'We gladly switched into suits to get some more money and some more gigs.' And it worked, the group were shortly playing shorter gigs for more money.

The band stepped onto the stage of the Manchester's theatre Theater in early 1962 for their radio debut wearing their new grey mohair suits with thin lapels, button-down shirts, and thin black ties. The new Beatles clothing came from Beno Dorm,'The Master Tailor For impeccable Hand-Made Clothes,' located in a Liverpool suburb. This became the pointy early 1960s style for young men. After that, The group would be leaders in fashion and not fashion followers.

Mr. Starr asserts Mr. But adds, the group made him change his look as quickly as he joined the band. Mr. Starr used to have his hair combed back like Tony Curtis and he had sideburns.

There had been gossip that it was McCartney who had abandoned the bands's leather style but , as McCartney remembered, 'I did not really have to pull anybody to the tailors. We all went quite gladly over the water to Beno Dorn, a little tailor who made mohair suits.' Fans were saying that the group's black leather clothing was too hard and they worried that booking agents would concur. So that was the end of the Hamburg time and a new style in Beatles clothing.

Check out my Beatles Clothing and Beatles T Shirt Shop!

- Beatles Geek Pete

Monday, 19 October 2009

The Beatles Final Show

The trouble of the Beatles final tour commenced on July twenty-nine, of sixty-six, when the teen heartbeat magazine named Datebook released an excerpt of a previous Lennon interview where John Lennon claimed that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. The writer's first interview published in the London Evening Standard did not cause any questioning after it hit the stands. But it blew up in the US four months later.

The negative PR cast a dark shadow over the start of the tour. A unnamed phone caller in August Nineteen Sixty Six threatened that members of the group would be shot during either of their 2 shows in in Texas. When fireworks later exploded in the evening performance, The Beatles immediately looked at each other to see which of them had been hit.

But the following evening the Beatles were similarly on edge when they were on the point of going onto the open-air stage on Cincinnati's Crosley Field in a torrential rainstorm. While over thirty thousand spectators sat within the Ballpark waiting to see the band, the band were afraid of getting electricuted if they were to plug into their amps. Paul McCartney chucked his lunch backstage. Fortunately, at the very last minute the concert was canceled and given a new date for the following day.

The next day, The Beatles gave their final paid show at Candlestick Park on Aug 29, 1966. The stage was at second base far from the audience of 25,000. It was raised 5 feet above the ground inside a 6' fence, and surrounded by 200 cops. Hits performed at the show were 'Rock And Roll Music', 'She's A Woman', 'If I needed Someone', 'Day Tripper', 'Baby's In Black', 'I Feel Fine', 'Yesterday', 'I Wanna Be Your Man', 'Nowhere Man', 'Paperback Writer', and 'Long Tall Sally'.

Then the four lads drove away from the concert in an fortified car. All 4 Beatles knew this was the final show. Lennon had brought a camera onstage and taken snapshots of himself and the other Beatles in between numbers. Paul had asked PR officer Tony Barrow to tape record the final performance on a little tape machine.

Unfortunatly, the only known filming of the bands last show was captured by a fifteen year old kid and appeared in a documentary titled The Unseen Beatles.

As The groups plane departed San Francisco, George proclaimed, 'Well, that is it, I am not a Beatle any more.'

See Film Footage at the Beatles Last Concert

- Beatles Geek Pete
Visit my blog for more Beatles News and Beatles Merchandise
Review of the Beatles Abbey Road Album

The Beatles Abbey Road Album is beautiful blistering music. The album meets the standard of the masterpiece Sgt Peppers. Show me any other musical artist that loaded so much originality of composition and great pop music onto a single album. This is the best of all the Beatles Records.

John Lennon highlights include a booming turning song called Come Together with a rasping Lennon vocal, down and dirty bass guitar and pulseing Ringo drums. Then suddenly we're into a sustained, instrumental section with all the inertia of being hooked on the ending of 'Hey Jude'.

The opening of John's Because sounds to like Moonlight Sonata, but then it moves into a frictionless, close vocal harmony. A wonderful track with one of John's best melodies. John's Sun King starts with a smooth attitude and a chorus of crickets singing in the background. A easygoing jam is broken with a Beach Boys vocal harmony chord and into the full song. The Beatles have a little fun with some counterfeit Romance Language lyrics backed with beautiful harmonies only the Beatles could pull off.

Paul McCartney highlights include Oh! Darling, with its 50s Doo-Wop feel. The song has a big open-voiced McCarthy and those guitar riffs they used to do and classic 1950s vocal harmonies. Paul McCartney even does his best Little Richard falsetto.

Paul McCartney does his funny thing with the instantly-remembered tale of Maxwell's Silver Hammer, which appeared to fall down upon his head every time poor old Max moved in the direction of doing something he desired to with his life. Another good McCartney tune is named She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, a story-in-song inspired by an American fan who truly did enter from the toilet window. Rough-voiced Paul tells how she claimed she'd always been a dancer and worked in fifteen clubs a day.

Something is one of the two tracks by George. Harrison's Here Comes The Sun starts with excellent guitar and sunnyness and an immediate commercial sound. Mental Pictures of sunshine to get rid of the chill from a winter's day.

Ringo Starr has his time in the spotlight with a cute singalong song titled Octopus' Garden. It is the best thing he has ever penned. Very catchy.

Getting near an end now, Carry That Weight is a thick mass of voices repeating a single line like a happy bar chorus, 'Boy you've got to carry that weight a long time'.

There's a jam in the end with a great bit of precision drumming by Ringo Starr. Then after all of the denseness, a bit of silence and then a brief song titled Her Majesty perfomed by McCartney to finish it off on a amusing note.

The Beatles Abbey Road is always great and vital for anyone that loves the Beatles.

Get your copy of the Beatles Abbey Road Album on Amazon today!

Sunday, 18 October 2009

Sgt Pepper and the Beatles Costume

With the Beatles Sargent Pepper record, the band wanted to create and album that might, in a way, go out and perform for them. The Beatles had already explored this concept with Promo movies that were filmed to push the Beatles in the States when they weren't performing there.

Paul thought that he should concoct fictional alter-egos for each Beatles member and create a record that would be a performance by that fictitious group. The record was like one large Beatles Costume. This imaginary band gave the Beatles the freedom to experiment with song.

The band's celebrity motivated them to grow mustaches and beards and even longer hair, and was an inspiration for the disguise of their showy Sgt Pepper Beatles Costume. Paul McCartney was celebrated for stepping into the public in disguise and all 4 had used made up names for plane and hotel reservations.

The Beatles Costume from Sgt Pepper was essentially from a costume rental house, the kind of storeyou could order a Halloween Costume from. It's surprising in this era, and considering the bands wallet, that a custom Beatles Costume wasn't created for Sgt Pepper.

Sgt Pepper opens in character with the title track, which introduces the Sgt. Pepper group itself. This song segues into a sung intro for bandleader Billy Shears (Ringo Starr) who sings with some help from his friends. A reprise version of the title trakc was also recorded, and is on side two of the original album just before the climactic A Day in the Life, making a book-ending effect.

Lennon was firm in saying that the songs he wrote for the album didn't have anything to do with the Sgt Pepper idea. Though songs appeared to slip into the theme serendipitously, like with the Carnival theme of Mr.

The coherent construction and precise sequencing of and transitioning between songs on the album, as well as the employment of the Sgt Pepper bookending device, have led the album to be widely recognized as an early and world-leading representation of the concept album.

I was privileged to see the Beatles Sgt Pepper costume at a Rock and Fashion museum exhibit in Manhattan. 3 out of the four Pepper Costumes were the originals worn by the Beatles (George did not want to give his up for the museum event). Despite the fact picture taking wasn't permitted, I secretly snapped a shot, but I can not find the picture for this article. I looked high and low.

The Sgt Pepper Beatles costume allowed the band to step out of themselves for some time in the making of the record. The Beatles evolved from Moptops into Sgt Pepper and out the other side as a utterly new group again. Partly thanks to some simple costumes.

See more Beatles News and Beatles Merchandise

Friday, 16 October 2009

Beatles Halloween Costume Guide

My friend Ryan had the idea of dressing like the Beatles this year for Halloween, and he obviously needs a Beatles Costume. He and three of his college buddies are going to a few parties and thought it would be cool to be the Beatles, especially with all the Beatles Rockband and Beatles Remasters buzz that's going around this year. So, of course, they leave it to me to research their Beatles costume. I'm not sure if I should feel flattered or used. But, it's fun. Anyway, here are the best options...
Sgt Pepper Beatles Costume

First, you could go with the Sgt Pepper era Beatles Costume.

OK, wait till you see how pathetic these look in the Amazon product images. I just had to have some fun. These actually look great without Amazon's goofy poses and odd faces (nice leg kick George)...

These Sgt Pepper costumes are available on Amazon in four colors...

Don't be frightened off by the goofy pictures on Amazon! (I warned you.)

Green - John Lennon
Pink - Ringo Starr
Blue - Paul McCartney
Red - George Harrison

Other suggestions include the Early Beatles Costume, or a Cheaper Sgt Pepper Costume Jacket. Here's the...

Sgt Pepper Costume Jacket

As a slightly cheaper alternative, you can go with just the jackets made from another company. But, unfortunately they only come in Blue and Red, and you're on your own for pants. They are also less authentic looking compared to the real Beatles versions...

Sgt Pepper Costume Jacket Blue
Sgt Pepper Costume Jacket Red

Early Beatles Suits

The next alternative is to go with Early Beatles Costumes. Here, everyone would obviously wear the same suit. The Beatles suit fits chest sizes up to 42". (I'm 6'3" and 220lbs with a 42 inch chest, so I guess I'd be the maximum size that would fit).

Early Beatles Suits

Deluxe Early Beatles Costume

Want to go all out? Check out this Super Deluxe Beatles Costume suit. This is something that could be worn by a Beatles Cover band. Four of these would have a great shot at first place in a costume contest.

Deluxe Beatles Costume (head not included)

Beatles Wig

Of course every Beatles costume deserves a Beatles Wig. Unless of course you have enough hair to comb forward.

Here's a Deluxe Beatles Wig...

Here's a darker shorter Beatles Wig... (Save $10 Off on this Beatles Wig)

Beatles Costume Accessories

And, here's a good thin black Beatles Neck Tie to finish off the early Beatles Costume...

Beatles Tie

John Lennon Eyeglasses

These are great John Lennon Eyeglasses for the Sgt Pepper costume. (John Lennon didn't wear them in the early Beatles.) These John Lennon eyeglasses are clear so they will look like the real thing but they won't have you bumping into walls and bridges...

John Lennon Eyeglasses

Beatles Costume Mustaches

For the Beatles Sgt Pepper Costume, you'll need costume mustaches for all four members and maybe some sideburns.

For some odd reason, costume mustaches are sold by the dozen. (Today's weird fact of the day.)

Costume Mustaches 12 pack

Check out these Fake Sideburns too.

If you do go out on Halloween as a Beatle or a group of Beatles, PLEASE post my a comment. If you have a photo, let me know. I'll post it to my blog. Happy Halloween, Have fun!

-Beatles Geek Pete
For more Beatles Merchandise and Beatles News, check out my blog.