Meet the Beatles for Real

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Horns by Tom Scott (1974)

Horns by Tom Scott

The Harrison Alliance

March 1975

Harrison or Beatles?

"The audiences have been mixed," Scott explained between sets in Montreal. "Radically different from city to city. If they keep an open mind, anybody will walk away knowing something's going on, even if they don't understand it all. Maybe sometime it will sink in.

"There isn't a lot of yelling out Beatles songs. They've been pretty tolerant. Bill Graham was concerned. To Bill, the main reason people came was because George was a quarter of the Beatles, and he thought George should play more Beatles tunes, but George would rather have less people come and have them be interested in what he wants to present to them. That's a dangerous or risky attitude. It's not the most commercial approach you can take, and that's why people say the tour was terrible, not because anything's wrong with the music. It's a dynamite band. We get on stage and we know it's good. People can say what they like. The material isn't important. It's what George wants to do, and I'm behind him."

"Rehearsals for the tour took place at the A & M soundstage for three weeks," Tom Scott reminisced. "The plans were made last fall. It was a spontaneous thing. We knew of five or six songs we definitely wanted to do, so we started with those. "What is life?" "In My Life", the John Lennon song, which he always wanted to do. "Sue Me" and " While My Guitar Gently Weeps " were some of the things he knew people would want to hear. Yet he could still feature me on one song and Billy Preston on three songs. He wanted to give the impression of a band with him as host, soloist, singer, and guitarist."

And off they went, plagued by untrue press reports, but pleased by the music being made by a troupe that included 16 Indian musicians playing along with Americans like Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark, Chuck Findley, Billy Preston, and Jim Keltner, creating a new unbounded music that defied labeling as easily as the men involved defied natural boundaries.

Tied to Beatle images "It's not true that the tour's been bad," Scott explained. "I was very disappointed with Ben Fong-Torres, who wrote Rolling Stone's analysis of the Harrison Tour, for using comments many of us made, and making them sound negative. Naturally, there have been some things wrong with the tour. He took a large part of that article from only the Vancouver show, the very first show. Everyone's first show has problems with sound and programming. In fact, the music is sensational. The people who say it's terrible wanted to go and see a Beatles medley. Those are the people who will walk away unsatisfied, but they have to try and understand that George is an ex-Beatle. He has other interests, other musical interests, other musicians. He prefers that to the Beatles for musical reasons. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. If he wanted to, I think that would be great, but he does not. So let the guy do what the heck he wants. He's a tremendous talent.

"Right after the first show, there was a reorganization of the set, and that's what pisses me off about Ben. He traveled with us from Vancouver to L.A. long after we'd made all the changes. Ravi's section was moved, and at the end of the show, rather than doing material from the new album, which were the unfamiliar, we put Billy's hits just before "What Is Life" and "My Sweet Lord." The changes were so minor that I can't believe anyone made a big deal about it. The only places we had trouble were in the very beginning of the tour. There was confusion revolving around the advertising. People in line in Vancouver were saying, "Is he going to sing?" I've seen very conceivable opinions written about Joni, myself, and George, and it's all part of the game. You hope that most people get the message.

"Another problem has been George's voice because he hasn't gone out on tour in so long. He strained himself, so his voice has occasionally been very hoarse. Lately, it's been superb."

Secular album Perhaps more than anything else, the biggest surprise on Dark Horse is the lack of songs dealing directly with religion. "Maya Love", a soft, funky rocker spiced by superb Billy Preston piano riffs, follows "Bye Bye Love" almost as an answer to the prior song's chanted desperation. Then on side two, "Ding Dong Ding Dong," and the title track, and a song George originally wrote and played on for Ron Wood's solo album Far East Man are all simply good songs.

Dark Horse brings back memories of the White Album, as Chuck Findlay, Jim Horn, and Scott dart through the intricate melody on flutes. Scott again excels on "Far East Man", with a horn solo that would vindicate any context in which it was put. Only the final track, "It Is He Jai Sri Krishna", deals directly with Harrison's religious beliefs. "He who is complete free worlds at his feet", Harrison sings, and the song, as the capper to the album, gives the impression that Harrison belongs among the free.

"He loves to discuss religion," Scott said. "I spent many early mornings talking with him about what religion means to us and how it relates to trying to be a rock and roll musician.

"There are no simple answers, but George, rather than in his previous albums where he tried to verbalize some of those questions and thoughts, was more concerned with writing good songs than having a good time. You don't start out with a preset tone for an album. You write what you feel at the moment. You get 10 to 12 tracks, and as George did, pick the eight or 10 best. Those tunes which he may like because of the melody, or a solo, or just as a tune, may not have anything to do with the philosophical meaning of the song."

That, more than anything else, is the truth about George Harrison's latest excursion into the material world. As he explained in his Los Angeles press conference prior to beginning the long tour, he just wants to be a musician again, to bring his music to people without being chained and bound by expectations. Towards that goal, he's surrounded himself with musicians of the highest caliber. Men like Tom Scott and Billy Preston are the finest examples of pure creative musicianship.

George tends to throw a lot of inside jokes into his albums. In fact, the inside of the album is a picture of George in Friar Park with Peter Sellers, but their backs are to the camera. They're quite good friends. The line "Leo, what say we promenade around the park," comes from the Zero Mostel film The Producers, one of George's favorite pictures, which he carries around with him on a video cassette. He's seen it hundreds of times, constantly quoting from it, and Monty Python, his favorite comedy troupe.

On the liner notes, it appears that Pattie Harrison and her old flame Eric Clapton are the only backing musicians, along with an enigmatic performer. performer named Rhythm Ace, but as Tom Scott explains, that's not the case. "Rhythm Ace is an electronic machine that plays any rhythm: a boogaloo, a cha-cha, or a rumba. I suppose a lot of people will think it's a person. George decided to do that song by himself late in October when no one else was around. We'd all gone home. Pattie and Eric are not actually on the track. George just scribbled out those liner notes almost as he was getting on the plane door, and he hadn't slept from mixing down Dark Horse. When you're that out of it, you scribble whatever comes into your head. Clapton isn't even on the record. Let alone Pattie!"

On Liverpool Bay

July 19, 1991

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Goodnight Vienna

July 17, 2011 - Vienna

Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning (1986)

Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning

By Chris Logan

Coventry Evening Telegraph

July 17, 1986

Pop star Paul McCartney warned young people today to stay away from the evils of drugs. McCartney, 44, who has been fined three times for drug offenses and spent nine days in a Tokyo jail, said youngsters would feel better if they avoided drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.

Interviewed on BBC's Breakfast Time, the former Beatles said, "I would warn people, particularly anyone who's getting into anything like heroin, which is a known killer, heavy alcohol, which is a known killer, heavy cocaine. Really, stay away from all of them quite categorically.

McCartney, who once campaigned for the legalization of cannabis, then added, "I think cigarettes, alcohol, soft drugs, and so on, all up the line. Really, all of them are dangerous. The smarter kids are the ones who stay away from them."

McCartney spent nine days in a Tokyo jail in 1980 after allegedly being found with cannabis on arrival at the city's airport. He has been fined for possessing the drug in Scotland and Sweden, and was fined in Barbados in January 1984 for possession.

McCartney told interviewer Selina Scott, however, that he has no regrets about taking drugs. "I am not going to stand up for or against it. I don't regret anything I've done in my life." But he agrees that pop stars should discourage young people from using drugs. He spoke as the government launched a £2 million anti-drug campaign

Lennon and Ono Chased by Fans (1971)

Lennon and Ono Chased by Fans

Wire Reports

July 16, 1971

John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were chased through Selfridge, London's largest department store, by a gang of screaming fans on Thursday. The couple had come to the store for Yoko to autograph copies of the paperback edition of her book Grapefruit.

One thousand fans, most of whom seemed to be holding copies of the book, Beatles records, and photographs, set upon them as they sat in the book department. Fans followed them, screaming when they walked to the elevators for a luncheon party in the store.

At lunch, Mrs. Lennon said, "This is the first time I have been mobbed in Britain. Now I know what Beatlemania was like."

The couple has a new record released this week, "God Save Us", and are working on a joint book.

Lennon said, "I'm not at all personally sad that the Beatles broke up. I precipitated it before the public got tired of us. As individuals, we are now earning more than we did as Beatles. I have $24,000.00 in the bank. So has Paul McCartney. I hope Paul and I make friends again. It could happen when we are about 50, like Gilbert and Sullivan."