The Beatles' 'Eight Days a Week': the live career of 'a great little rock 'n' roll band'

[rooster59]

The Beatles' 'Eight Days a Week': the live career of 'a great little rock 'n' roll band'

 

 

Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison’s widow Olivia and John Lennon’s, Yoko Ono, have hit up London’s Leicester Square for the premiere of ‘Eight Days a Week: the Touring Years.’

 

Ron Howard’s documentary pieces together the live career of The Beatles, or as McCartney refers to them: “a great little rock and roll band.”

 

He and drummer Starr collaborated on the documentary, but hadn’t seen the finished product until the premiere, Starr said.

 

The two remaining members of the Fab Four said the documentary had brought back memories they’d not thought about in years.

 

“I mean, there’s some nice little things like we refused to play this show in Jacksonville because we found out the audience was segregated and I think that was a big surprise for us to remember that,” said McCartney, while Starr looked back fondly on the bond the band shared.

 

“We weren’t like brothers, we were brothers and we looked out for each other and that was great. And, you know, I can’t say it enough, I was an only child and I ended up with three brothers. My dream as a kid was to have an older brother. I never achieved that,” he said.

 

‘Eight Days a Week’ uses little-before-seen footage in the years up until The Beatles stopped touring, in 1966. It was released just after the 50th anniversary of their final concert.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-09-17

 

[augustwest]

Opie makes great films. If it comes to CM I'll go.

[Ulysses G.]

The greatest rock group of all-time! 

[billd766]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

The greatest rock group of all-time! 

 

They were very good for their time but IMHO Queen were far superior in every way.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 minutes ago, billd766 said:

 

They were very good for their time but IMHO Queen were far superior in every way.

They were a great POP group, but once they fried their brains with drugs the stuff they produced was dire, IMO. That so many loved their stuff AD ( after drugs ) was IMO an indication of just how many were also on drugs.

 

Best ever group- Rolling Stones.

[augustwest]

 

They were very good for their time but IMHO Queen were far superior in every way.

Opie would never do a documentary on Queen. What would be the point? If everyone lived by Lennons "imagine" the world would truly be a wonderful place. I'm not holding my breath though.

[camble]

I remember seeing 'Hard Day's Night' when I was a kid.  Girls were screaming, ..in the movie theater.

[maoro2013]

A group,  similar to the monkees, put together by recording studios.

 

Forget the balderdash about how they started and the not having money for haircuts crap.

 

[Merylhighground]

Overrated. 

[rijb]

11 minutes ago, Merylhighground said:

Overrated. 

 

Over your head.

[Mousehound]

I wasn't a great fan of the Beetles - more a Stones lad, but the Beetles revolutionised the pop scene and I think people forget how much they influenced the music world for a very long time..  Their stuff after the films subject matter, was impossible to reproduce on stage.  They really changed the way music was produced.  To equate them with The Monkeys is an inane comment.  The Monkeys had no standing in the music world at all. Saying one group was better than another is fine but the music needs to be put in the context of the times.  I know kids that laugh at the Stones and Beetles music and try to convince me Rap is the best musical genre of all time - good luck with that!  Each generation has the music of the time and that music triggers memories of good (or bad) times.  It is often those associated memories that endear us to music.  The other day I heard some Buddy Holly on the radio and it was great.

 

I will go to see the film - Ron Howard will most likely have done a job with it.  I would have liked it to be more about their developing the recording studio style than just the early stuff, but it is what it is.

[jackh]

4 hours ago, Ulysses G. said:

The greatest rock group of all-time! 

That could be debated with the Rolling Stones.

[reptile91602]

The Stones were and are an incredible band. What they could do with 3 or 4 chords was phenomenal but no matter what you come up with you will never be able to outdo what the Beatles did in music. The range, the orchestrations, the complexity and even up to their last album. and of course what they did individually after the break up. No other band can compare. sorry!

[transam]

Half a century on and the group name that expired many years back is still known throughout the world...

 

The Beatles...Any of YOU that want to trash it are....DAFT........

[Dexlowe]

3 hours ago, camble said:

I remember seeing 'Hard Day's Night' when I was a kid.  Girls were screaming, ..in the movie theater.

 

Heyyyy! Not many of us can say we went to see a movie and the girls wet their pants. What is your secret?

 

 

 

[Rancid]

So you mean bands actually played live audiences for years to tighten the group and develop a style? There I was thinking you just went on "Wherever has Talent" and you got a recording deal.

 

Actually is quite amazing though the amount of gigs the Beatles (and probably others of the time) put in. There have been many great bands, the Beatles were unique, extremely talented and versatile.

[Mansell]

Stones were good and pretty creative......Led Zeppelin were better IMO. But the Beatles were on a whole other level and changed music and the way it was recorded. Remember the Stones first hit was written by the Beatles. I think you had to be living at that time to grasp the impact of what the Beatles brought into this world. Living in England at that time, the late fifties and  1960-2 the Brit music was pretty crap with the supposed high points Cliff Richard and Billy Fury. 1963 on everything was new and the Brits started a revolution and it was the Beatles in the forefront with everybody else following on behind including The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

[Ulysses G.]

5 hours ago, reptile91602 said:

The Stones were and are an incredible band. What they could do with 3 or 4 chords was phenomenal but no matter what you come up with you will never be able to outdo what the Beatles did in music. The range, the orchestrations, the complexity and even up to their last album. and of course what they did individually after the break up. No other band can compare. sorry!

 

I agree with you completely, but, IMO, the Stones were a damned close second and I see how someone could contest that the Beatles were better. Both groups were FAR above the rest. 

[Chris Lawrence]

It was them or the Stones

[GOLDBUGGY]

Looks like it will be a good documentary and well worth seeing. No doubt in my mind the best band that ever existed. You will never be able to replace the Beatles anymore than someone can replace Elvis.

 

What surprised me the most is that the 2 remaining Beatles and the 2 Beatles deceased wives were able to all get together and agree on this documentary. I would have thought that Yoko could never agree on anything with Paul. Looks like they mellowed out a bit as they got older, and like the rest of us.  

[Ulysses G.]

1 hour ago, Mansell said:

Stones were good and pretty creative......Led Zeppelin were better IMO. But the Beatles were on a whole other level and changed music and the way it was recorded. Remember the Stones first hit was written by the Beatles. I think you had to be living at that time to grasp the impact of what the Beatles brought into this world. Living in England at that time, the late fifties and  1960-2 the Brit music was pretty crap with the supposed high points Cliff Richard and Billy Fury. 1963 on everything was new and the Brits started a revolution and it was the Beatles in the forefront with everybody else following on behind including The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc.

 

Great Post. Before the Beatles, IMO, Buddy Holly's band were really exceptional, but they were American.

[Ulysses G.]

8 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

They were a great POP group, but once they fried their brains with drugs the stuff they produced was dire, IMO. That so many loved their stuff AD ( after drugs ) was IMO an indication of just how many were also on drugs.

 

Revolver, Sgt. Peppers, the White Album and Abby Road were "dire"? Not many - including me - would agree with that. They are some of the best rock LPs of all time.

[bannork]

From 'She loves you' to ' Tomorrow never knows' in just 3 years  was an incredible musical journey. As mentioned you really had to live through those times to realize how simply enormous they were. Every new album eagerly awaited and so different. There can't have been a person in the UK in the 60s who hadn't heard of The Beatles.

[Johpa]

6 hours ago, maoro2013 said:

A group,  similar to the monkees, put together by recording studios.

 

One can of course endlessly debate which was the "best" rock group of all time, but that debate does not negate that the above statement has got to be one of the most idiotic statements posted on ThaiVisa of all time, and that is not an easy accomplishment.

[Ulysses G.]

4 minutes ago, Johpa said:

 

One can of course endlessly debate which was the "best" rock group of all time, but that debate does not negate that the above statement has got to be one of the most idiotic statements posted on ThaiVisa of all time, and that is not an easy accomplishment.

 

Really. 

[GOLDBUGGY]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Great Post. Before the Beatles, IMO, Buddy Holly's band were really exceptional, but they were American.

Absolutely!

 

Buddy Holly was great to and a real classic. Odd as it is but whenever I hear his music played today, which isn't often, my toes still get tapping.

[GOLDBUGGY]

1 hour ago, Ulysses G. said:

 

Revolver, Sgt. Peppers, the White Album and Abby Road were "dire"? Not many - including me - would agree with that. They are some of the best rock LPs of all time.

Exactly!

 

When Sgt. Peppers came out it was considered in the Music Business to be Revolutionary. It changed how music was to come after that and how it was arranged.

 

You know something is Great not by people like us, who say it is. You know it is Great when other recording artists at that time, your competition and your piers, say it is Great. Which all of them did do with Sgt. Peppers.   

[GOLDBUGGY]

1 hour ago, bannork said:

From 'She loves you' to ' Tomorrow never knows' in just 3 years  was an incredible musical journey. As mentioned you really had to live through those times to realize how simply enormous they were. Every new album eagerly awaited and so different. There can't have been a person in the UK in the 60s who hadn't heard of The Beatles.

Or anywhere else in the World for that matter. 

[augustwest]

John Lennon said they were more well known than Jesus. He got a lot of shit for that but the fact remains he was right

[Ulysses G.]

8 minutes ago, augustwest said:

John Lennon said they were more well known than Jesus. He got a lot of shit for that but the fact remains he was right

 

He said it in 1966. That was about the time that the 60s really kicked in. A few years before that, HE would have been crucified in America.