August 15, 1969 While the Beatles were putting finishing touches on their Abbey Road album, an ambitious music festival was scheduled to take place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY, the weekend of August 15-17, 1969. The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition—3 Days of Peace and Music.” It…

July 20, 1969 While the Beatles were at Abbey Road Studios recording their Abbey Road LP, Apollo 11 headed towards the moon. On the day of the July 16 liftoff, the Beatles were adding overdubs to “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun.” On July 20, 1969, while in lunar orbit, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin…

The infamous Beatles Butcher cover (shown above) made its limited appearance in June 1966. After Capitol Records sent out copies of the album to distributors, disc jockeys and reviewers, the company was besieged with angry protests over the grisly photo. It marked the first time that the Beatles judgment was severely and universally criticized. Faced…

Today is the 53rd anniversary of the release of the Beatles first album, PLEASE PLEASE ME. When the LP went on sale on March 22, 2963, youth-oriented albums typically contained a hit single or two packed with filler. Although British records buyers got 14 songs, they were lucky if four of them were worth the…

The 1965 Christmas season was a very special time for Beatles fans. On December 3, 1965, Parlophone simultaneously released the double A-side single “We Can Work It Out” c/w “Day Tripper” and the album “Rubber Soul.” In America, Capitol issued the same single and its version of the “Rubber Soul” album three days later on…

I will never forget the magic I felt when I removed my copy of Hey Jude from its black “The Beatles on Apple” sleeve for the first time.

Today’s trivia questions come from the “Capitol of the World” chapter in the revised and expanded digital edition of “The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records, Part One: Beatlemania and the Singles.” What British recording artist had four singles on Capitol before the group signed the Beatles and whose management turned down a Lennon-McCartney original? Hint:…

Happy Holidays and Gold Records!

The Beatles began well-deserved vacations on May 2, 1964.

Having completed the filming of their first movie, the Beatles were once again busy with concerts and television appearances.

Filming of the Beatles first movie was completed during the week of April 20 – 24, 1964.

Work on the Beatles first film resumed at Twickenham Film Studios on Monday, April 13.

Work on the Beatles first film at Twickenham continued on April 6 and 7, 1964, with the shooting of the make-up room scenes and the police station scenes.

Nowhere was the Beatles dominance of American radio and the American record industry more evident than in the April 4, 1964, issue of Billboard magazine.

In America, Vee-Jay Records continued with its release of “new” Beatles product

The Beatles sixth U.K. single and first U.K. single for 1964, Can’t Buy Me Love b/w You Can’t Do That, was released on March 20, 1964.

The Beatles spent the week of March 9, 1964, being filmed for their first movie.

Filming began for the Beatles first movie on Monday, March 2, 1964, and continued non-stop through the following Friday.

The Beatles returned to Abbey Road Studios on Tuesday, February 25, 1964, to begin recording songs for their upcoming film and next album.

The Beatles spent the week of February 17, 1963, relaxing in Miami Beach.