Hello friends;
Today, as was 45 years ago, December 8 arrives on a Monday. This really is the hardest day of the Beatle calendar and yes, although I have given over three separate podcast episodes to examine the events of that evening, this is not the place for a rehash of the unspeakable. If you were there at the time, it is forever etched into your consciousness, and if you weren’t, then you can only imagine. But if John’s life and art means anything to us, allowing sadness on this day to surpass the joy that his music gave us is missing the point. So let’s not spend another second going down that path. If we want to dwell on anything from that day, maybe best to reflect on his thoughts as he spilled them out to the RKO radio team that afternoon, having spent the morning getting his hair cut and then posing for pictures for Annie Leibovitz, intended for a cover story for Rolling Stone.
John and Yoko had spent hours on Saturday December 6 likewise giving a marathon talk to another radio outlet, the BBC and Andy Peebles. Furthermore, on Tuesday December 9 he was scheduled to speak with an old friend, Ray Connolly for UK’s Sunday Times. The couple had been engaged in a flurry of promotional conversations with all interested parties, including Newsweek and Playboy magazines in the months following the Double Fantasy sessions. So in a sense, RKO was not exceptional, but after events played out, it became so as John’s final words on record. Furthermore, given all the warm-up sessions for other media outlets, the messaging had become refined; sharp and to the point.
You can hear the sprawling session here or read a transcription here.
NEWS
The casting for Sam Mendes’ “Four-film Cinematic Event” has been dripping out all year but the latest announcements have definitely been met with some extra attention. Actor David Morrissey - “the Governor” in the Walking Dead TV series - has been cast as Jim McCartney (Paul’s dad, not son). Even more notable: actual Beatle family (in a fashion) has been added. Leanne Best - granddaughter of Mona Best and Neil Aspinall, daughter of Roag, and niece of Pete - was announced for the plum role of John’s Aunt Mimi. I don’t think it’s a stretch to note a resemblance to her famous Beatle relation (in the eyes). Furthermore, she attended LIPA (the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, co-founded by Macca), so her casting almost seems preordained.
Also announced this past week was the BBC picking up a six-part series, Hamburg Days, based on Klaus Voormann’s memoir. Allan Kozinn was one of the consultants for the as-yet-no-timetable-for-release-given project. You can read about what’s being called, “the fascinating story of how, in the space of two short years, a raw young band from Liverpool honed their music skills in Hamburg, before returning home to become an overnight worldwide success” here.
And then there's the recut of Anthology streaming currently. A lot of you have seen it, and I’ve cut a new episode discussing it. Inevitably someone was going to do a comparison between what’s on Disney+ now and the previous iteration. Here’s one attempt, focusing on the first three installments. I’m certain that knowing what’s been done can only make the fans familiar with the 1995 and DVD versions wonder why.
PASSING NOTED
1941 - 2025
If he did nothing more than co-write “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay,” “Knock on Wood,” and “In the Midnight Hour,” recorded respectively by Otis Redding, Eddie Floyd, and Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper’s legend would be assured. But Cropper was an instantly identifiable guitarist who never played an unnecessary note, handled A&R at Stax records, and as a key member of Booker T and the MGs, contributed to any number of soulful funky recordings that have kept people grooving to this very day.
Fans beyond his 60s heyday are doubtless familiar with the call out, "Play it, Steve!" by John Belushi on the Blues Brother's remake of "Soul Man," but he was only quoting the Sam and Dave original that Cropper also played on, underscoring his memorable Telecaster sound. Born in Missouri, Cropper got his recording career started with The Mar-Keys, who scored a 1961 national hit with "Last Night," an instrumental that forecasted things to come. The following year, Cropper 's lean and mean fills were heard in the timeless "Green Onions," after he and the organ virtuoso Booker T Jones connected.
You might not expect much in the way of connections with the Beatles, but they exist. The Fabs listened to and were fans of all kinds of R&B and soul, including what was coming out of Stax. Their unreleased-until-the-’90s "12-Bar Original" was at best, an homage to “Green Onions” and Stax generally. (Most would not give it that benefit of doubt, including the Beatles themselves.) Also note that their pursuit of the sounds caught at Stax - the bottom end specifically - led to their seriously considering recording what would become Revolver at the Memphis facility (until security concerns led them to cancel their plans). Recalled Cropper later: “‘Taxman’ could’ve been ‘Staxman.’”
Booker T and The MGs released their album-length Abbey Road homage, McLemore Avenue in 1970. Cropper had by that time issued a solo album, titled after his cover of a certain Sgt. Pepper cut. Years later, Cropper recalled hanging out with John in LA during the Spector-produced Rock ‘N’ Roll sessions and the offer of a guitar lick (never taken up and apparently surfacing later on Walls and Bridges as “Beef Jerky,” though its resemblance to Paul’s “Let Me Roll It” cannot be ignored). Cropper made other claims which likewise are best taken with a grain of salt here but what seems beyond dispute is the mutual admiration between these artists. (He did in fact play guitar on Ringo’s Goodnight Vienna album, but specific credits are scant.)
Cropper was 84.
HISTORY
December 5, 1973: Band on the Run was released in the US.
This was the 3rd LP from Wings and Paul's 5th post-Beatles. Though he'd struggled mightily over the past two years to put together at least the semblance of a "band" (as distinct from a hand puppet), what happened on the eve of the recording sessions revealed the flaws in execution. Guitarist Henry McCullough's inherent musical incompatibility with Paul's philosophies had become manifest throughout the year as Wings toured Europe: Paul expected a lead guitarist who would flawlessly play the same solos heard on record for every performance, while Henry was more of a bluesy improvisational player who felt his creativity was being stymied when restrained from spontaneous expression.
Also, his perspective as a journeyman musician clashed utterly with the presence of a rank amateur - Linda - being given equal weight in the band and he was not shy about saying so. Things came to a head during the pre-recording session rehearsals and Henry walked out with no looking back (ending up with a recording contract with George's Dark Horse Records, as it happened).
Drummer Denny Seiwell's musical cooperation with Paul, which pre-dated Wings with the Ram album, had likewise reached its limit with the repeated promises of full partnership in Wings and the financial compensation (security) that would mean. Being kept on a low salary was one thing, but when Paul decided that Henry would not be replaced in order to maintain their recording schedule, Denny had had enough: he felt that everything he'd been working for in Wings - a full band capable of musical interplay and a robust live presentation - was being shortchanged by Paul, just to make a point. One day before the group's planned flight from Gatwick to Lagos, Nigeria, Seiwell rang up and told Paul he would not be joining them.
At this juncture, Paul could've sensibly postponed the sessions to reconstruct the band before pressing onward but this was not his nature: joined by stalwart Denny Laine (who had reasons of his own to pull out: his girlfriend Jo Jo had just given birth to their first child), the trio set off for Lagos, Geoff Emerick in tow, to proceed with the plan. This was not the first instance of Paul's "I'll show them!" tendency to manifest itself in his career nor would it be the last, but on this occasion, it certainly paid the most dividends.
Pushed into a corner by his band's mutiny and facing immediate difficulties that some simple due diligence would've avoided (wrong time of year to visit Lagos - wrong political situation - unfinished EMI studio - etc.), the McCartneys and Denny rose to the occasion, laying down tracks on arguably their finest collection of tunes since the inception of Wings, pulled off with the extra layer of something that came from facing down a make-or-break moment. This in the face of a traumatic armed robbery (relieving them of cash, cameras and irreplaceable recordings on cassette tapes), a health scare (more likely a panic attack rendered more frightening by Paul's weed-compromised lungs being challenged to breathe) and local resistance from music scene heavies harassing the ensemble for "cultural appropriation" i.e. pillaging the community's cultural resources as colonial powers tended to do in every corner of the globe.
Once they accomplished what they'd intended to in Nigeria (with Paul handling drum and lead guitar chores himself), the trio headed back to London, having made their point, to finish off the record, with orchestral arrangements courtesy of Tony Visconti and horn work from Howie Casey - a legend who'd played the Hamburg- Liverpool circuit alongside the Beatles as a member of Derry and the Seniors and who would end up as anchor to Paul's 4-man horn section on the subsequent tours.
Upon release, Band on the Run did something no Wings album had managed to do to this point: it impressed the critics while yielding two hit singles (three in the states after Capitol insisted on adding a single, "Helen Wheels," to side two); Paul had originally desired NO singles issued, ala his debut album. That said, it was, for what became a number one album, a slow seller, making its way to the top of charts twice over the next year.
Perhaps record buyers had become immune to the charms of Wings promising more than they delivered on album to this point, but once the public had a chance to fully absorb the implicit thematic unity (not unlike Pepper) of a significant statement being made - a subtext of escape and a flight toward freedom - BOTR was irresistible, and became the marker going forward that all Paul/Wings (for it too was credited as Paul McCartney and Wings, for the second and last time on album) product would be judged by going forward.
Note: the cover art was prepared by Hipgnosis and featured a minor variance between domestic and overseas pressings: switching positions of Linda and Denny's photos.
SEEDERMAN!
Time now for the latest installment. Volume 9 covers the period from June 1988
through July 1993, so think about that: Flowers in The Dirt - the inaugural All-Starr tour - Unplugged - Live in Japan - Off The Ground, plus lots and lots of stuff in between.
Here is the video link and here is the guide to the series so far. (Go back a few newsletters to get links to the entire series as shared.)
ONE LAST THING
Richard Mills is a pal and a world class Beatles scholar. He’s been on the show to talk about fandom, plus as part of the Ribbons of Rust launch panel, and will be again soon to discuss his latest book (The Beatles and Black Music). But this month, he is giving guided tours of The Beatles’ London. If you will be in the area in the coming weeks, are a local, or are otherwise interested, you can connect with him here. Knowing him as I do, I am comfortable guaranteeing that you will learn something that you didn’t know before because that’s how Richard rolls.
Cheers!
All best,
RR
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