A Beatles Weekend – Somewhere In England/Help!
George Harrison would have turned 78 on February 25th … His Somewhere in England LP turns 40 this year …. The Rewind and On The Turntable celebrate with a Beatles Weekend! On The Turnable will also feature HELP! which will celebrate 55 years this summer!
Somewhere In England
Somewhere in England is the ninth studio album by George Harrison, released in June 1981 on his Dark Horse Records label. The album was the first Harrison album to be released following the murder of his friend and bandmate John Lennon. The first single “All Those Years Ago” pays tribute to John. It was Harrison’s biggest single since “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace), it is a de facto Beatles Reunion with Ringo playing drums, and, Paul and Linda McCartney offering over-dubbed vocals on the record.
The album had a rocky start … Warner Brothers originally rejected the album and demanded that four songs be dropped with four new songs to replace those. Somewhere in England’s chart run was relatively brief in America, and it became Harrison’s first album since the Beatles’ break-up not to reach gold status in the U.S. Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers Somewhere in England to be the 257th best album of 1981.
Notable Tracks – ‘All Those Years Ago’ ‘Life Itself’ ‘Hong Kong Blues’
HELP!
I can’t believe it has taken us this long to set this lp on our turntable … Help! is the fifth studio album by the Beatles and the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released on August 6, 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles “Help!” and “Ticket to Ride”, appeared in the film and take up the first side of the album. Every Beatles album is a favorite of mine …. However, this one is special. Side one features some of John Lennon’s best vocals.
Help! was met with favorable critical reviews and topped both the US and British Charts … The album was nominated for the Album of The Year Grammy in 1966, the first rock album to ever achieve this status …. Help! may not have been the band’s greatest album …. However, it did deliver some of their greatest early hits …. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Help! 331st on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time … Best Ever Albums considers the LP the fifth best of 1965 and the 38th best of the decade … Digital Dream Door Dot Com ranked the album 6th in its top one hundred of the year …. Side two features two of McCartney’s best early hits …. “I’ve Just Seen A Face” and ‘Yesterday” … it also delivers one of Lennon’s best cover songs … Dizzy Miss Lizzy.
Notable Tracks – ‘Help’ ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’ ‘Yesterday’ ‘You’re Gonna Lose That Girl’
Don’t miss On The Turntable. The program airs Saturday evening at 6pm on 97.7FM/1330AM The Rewind .. on line at www.kvol1330.com and on The KVOL App. On The Turntable replays Sunday at 7am.