By Terry Ott

You all know by now that I regularly give it to the usually rotten Apple core, but darn it, when they (finally) do something right, well then, I'm gonna speak up too.

Now, the chances of me full time shilling for Neil and boys at Apple are as good as the Fabs getting back together again, but I must tell you that the new George Harrison Concert For Bangla Desh deluxe orange box DVD set is simply brilliant!

This time, the Apple audio rocket scientists have got it very roight-that's roight, mate!- indeed.

This is one of the best 5.1 audio mixes I have ever heard, and what's more, I think it captures the original feel of the Phil Spector vinyl production, put together some 34 years ago.

And if you are going to pick this release up, make sure you spring the extra 10 or 15 bucks and by all means get the deluxe box, that features the original cover, AND reproduces all of the original artwork and goodies contained in the 1971 3 (thanks Fred!) record box set.

The only critique I can up with is that possibly there could have been more footage from the afternoon show-or even in its entirety as a bonus-which is intercut in the excellent making of documentary contained on the second DVD of the set.

Great to see and hear the extra Bob Dylan track, and two short rehearsal numbers, but they are stand alone extras, and are not part of a "director's cut."

There is already some sporadic wanking on Amazon about the mixing of the also just released companion CD set to wit, some of the background singing has been excised from the new remastered CD, so perhaps the way to go is DVD all the way.

But just watching George, and Dylan and Eric Clapton and Leon Russell and Billy Preston all in their prime is, well, heartwarming.

That was a great time to be alive.

And George was really something, special.

You know one of my pet peeves-besides the lunatic legion of Macca Madhatters-are these dopey get-a-lifers who post continously bitchy ka-ka on the major Beatle Internet forums.

Wank after wank after wank about the most mundane and arcane points of view on the Fabs, and I now rarely get anything of worth of these vanity publishers and Beatle fetish freaks.

Some of these boobs seem to take great delight in dissing any author or journalist who DARES to make a mistake or error in reporting on the Beatles.

Take the case of the new 1000 page book by Bob Spitz, The Beatles.

Now I ain't sayin' that this is the best thing ever written about the group, and there are some rather sloppy obvious errors, but it seems to me that these Internet twits feel they can try to sabotage the thing before it barely gets out the gate because, oh by the way, "someone I know read it and says it's no good."

Jesus H, people! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to write a 1000 worder let alone a 1000 pager without any "errors?"

And ever thought of reading the fooker yerself before judging?

If these armchair Beatle "experts" think they know better, they should have the guts to have a go at it themselves instead of hiding behind their alias and posting snotty comments.

ALL books, no matter how lacking usually manage to advance the topic in some way, and Spitz's tome is no different from any other. Some good, some not so good. And he signed his name to it.

On the Internet forums, you get people claiming they met, for instance, Yoko Ono in a restaurant, and asked about upcoming CD releases, etc. and had a nice chat with Ms. Ono etc.

The story certainly sounds plausible, but it also could be total horse sheit, that is in reality, an "error" of reporting about Beatles related things.

Yet that poster will no doubt be showered with, "wow how great, neat, gee-whiz, this is big," and other such crap without that poster ever having to be held to account over the report.

So, before you become an instant expert on any scholarly work on the Beatles, walk a mile in the author/journalist's shoes, and then boot yourself in the ass with it.

"He had a lot of venom in him."

Paul McCartney, on his song writing partner, John Lennon.


Well, the MaccaMouth has gone and done it again.

Went and made a stupid remark in an interview in the current issue of Rolling Stone that he HAD TO KNOW would be seized upon, even if it does sound worst out of the context of the full comment by Paul on what it takes to write a good, angry song.

No matter the details, because it will be the "venom" remark-even if it is/was true- that will make the big news and Paul is a twit for making the statement, especially so close to the 25 anniversay of John's murder, a period in which Lennon may be idolized to stratospheric levels. Could it be that is what Macca was thinking when he said the dumb remark, you know, cutting John down to size before the love-in? Who knows, but it was dumb, dumb, dumb and a guy of his stature should be so dumb.

Then, last week, Paul evidently referred to Yoko as "not the brightest button," or some such similar catty remark, and once again, whether it is true or not, it just don't, how they say, look too damn good, calling the "grieving widow" a dope.

In addition, some of the stuff Macca sez in the interview, frankly, I think is bollocks.

Claims he never considered trying to get back the Beatles song catalogue from Michael Jackson, and that he advised John to change the tempo of Come Together so as not to be in copyright violation of the Chuck Berry tune, You Can't Catch Me. (Regardless, Berry was later credited as a co-writer.)

In my opinion, if McCartney was smart, he would continue to make his mediocre solo albums, conduct his yearly excellent tours,keep workin' on his second billion, and practice what our mothers all taught us as kids: if you can't say something good about someone-especially a Beatle connected someone-don't say anything at all.

Otherwise, boy, you're gonna carry that weight, carry that weight, a long time.

Yet more wild wanking on the on again, off again, on again, off again, on again, screw off again Let it Be DVD.

Seems the Detroit Free Press claimed in an article recently that a "source" within Apple Corpse confirmed that a new version of Let it Be would be out next month.

Later, in an e-mail to a Canadian Beatles site, the Motor City journo appeared to backtrack a bit and say, well, maybe the film would see a limited theatrical run prior to its-when, when!-DVD release.

Abbey Rd Steve, sez his sources continue to claim that much work still needs to be done on the project, and don't expect it anytime soon. (I believe Steve.)

But you know what I am REALLY looking forward to? The legit release of the complete 30 days of Get Back/Let it Be recording sessions, that have heretofore been booted splendidly by Yellow Dog.

The way Apple works, we should have this package, oh, say around X-Mas, 2011.

And don't doubt that we won't see it at some point. As I have always maintained, EVERYTHING will eventually come out, if for no other reason than there will ALWAYS be about a million fans who want it, and for the corresponding millions of bucks it will make for what's left of the Fabs, and Apple/EMI/Whatever.

Thanks to a good friend of mine stateside, I have now heard just about every hour of the ill fated sessions, and trust me, they are waaaaay more interesting than any version of Let it be on film that I have seen, or that would or could be made.

No one would sit through 60 hour movie-even at home- but given enough spare time, most hardcore fans would love to listen to all the goings on contained on these Nagra tapes, including (unintentionally) hilarious conversations and angry exchanges between Beatles.

As I may have mentioned before, John quickly telling Paul to f**k off, is one of my favourites, but there are many, many others.

And today for the first time, I heard the first take of For You Blue, with John playing slide. Sweeeeeeeeeeet.

So, start saving for 2011, and the biggest Beatle box set of 'em all.

In the meantime?

Let it Rot!

As I mentioned in a previous BB, I was not overly excited about the new John Lennon 2 CD collection, Working Class Hero.

A reader complained that after 25 years, the best they could come up with for the cover was a b&w version of the shot used for the Menlove Ave. album. I agree, but somehow, I kinda like the tasteful black and silver treatment.

In any event, there are 38 tracks on this release, all picked and segued by Yoko Ono, and to my surprise, I have found myself playing it quite often. I guess it just seems to flow well. (That plus I got it for under $20 Canadian bucks!)

But for completists, the major attraction here are the tracks from Wall and Bridges, and Sometime in New York, which have been remixed and remastered for the first time in over 10 years.

And they DO sound good, as does the whole collection, although liner notes indicate that nothing has been done to the other tracks since their last makeover. Yet, unless it is my imagination, EVERYTHING on this set sounds a bit better than before. But you can decide for yerselves, as sound is so subjective.

You can be damn sure that many of these sets will end up in Christmas stockings as the perfect gift for the Baby Boomers, and others.

Complain all you want about the selling of JL by Ms. Ono, but at least she did not stoop to the tried and true record company formula of putting several "bonus" or unreleased tracks on the set so that you would just HAVE to have it.

Nope. Yoko's wayyyyyyyyy smarter than that: she's saving most of the bonus stuff for another box set, and more power to the people to her.

And I say that with a level of confidence because according to AbbeyRd, evidently, Walls and Sometime will appear next month, with only 3 extra tracks between them.

So around this time next year, I'd bet we may hear about the Lennon Anthology II, just in time for Christmas 2006.

All you need is love, and cash. Lots of it.

"I used to say 'Only losers do drugs, you've got to go for some therapy, what's the matter with?'Now I have a bit more understanding, I'm older and wiser but if I saw someone take a puff from a joint, I would freak out completely...All drugs are disgusting"

Heather Mills McCartney, a possible freak-out and possibly in need of some meds.


Now, normally, your correspondent would never be so bold and sassy and within the "if we can't kid each other WHO CAN WE kid" spirit to write that Heather Mills McCartney had not a leg to stand on regarding her various causes and public outbursts and pontifications, but this time, I'm afraid, Mrs. Macca has gone far, way too far.

Get rid of land mines? Sure! All for it.

Don't eat warm blooded beasts? Maybe. I'll think about it, mate.

But do away with dope? Go to hell, Heather!

Gimme a break, gal. No wonder your hubby has been so stressed out lately, calling the cops on fans, and playing Helter Skelter in concert. Look out! It's comin' down fast.

Who died and made you Queen, Heth?

Ever hear Got To get You Into My Life, Mrs. Macca? One Toke Over The Line?

Didn't Pauley explain that one to you, that M, was his friend?

Now heroin and speed are nasty, but pot, boo, ganja,reefer, tea? This stuff is ORGANIC girl and how could anything from God's good green earth be bad for ya?

Bloody 'ell! Veggie peeps should know this!

And look what has happened to Macca since his wife said he couldn't toke no more: last year, he got tanked, had a run in with a fan, and then fired long time PR weasel Geoff Baker for being "unstable," and Baker is now busy writing a tell all that will surely grab Macca by the short ones.

Time to get mellow, yellow.

Or, as the late John Lennon-born 65 years ago today- once observed, "The Pope smokes dope everyday."

And Heather, please take a pill, or something.

While I am less than excited about the new John Lennon 2 CD best of out this week-same old, same old, except for the tracks from Walls and Bridges which evidently have been remastered for the first time- I do have some rather interesting news, courtesy of regular reader Ann, from the great state of Hawaii.

As I understand it, Ann actually lives in the same apartment complex-the Kukui Plaza-that actually housed the infamous Mark David Chapman, in 1980.

Ann gave me a heads up about a month ago that some sort of film production was taking place in the area, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of John's murder in New York City, by the crazed Chapman.

According to the local paper in Honolulu, the UK based Picture Players Productions filmed in town 6 days with a budget of less than $500,000, and the working titles are, "The Killing," and/or "The Killing Of John Lennon."

The director, Andrew Piddington, shot the documentary in the Kukui Plaza apartments in unit 2108, the nearby library, using local actors, and hopes to show the film at Sundance in January 2006.

This could prove to be a very important document in the understanding of the murder of Lennon, IF it sticks to the facts and trys to scope out the underlying mental illness that drove MDC off the edge, into infamy in the pop culture world.

If however, it trys to make some sort of larger statement about gun control in the US, I think will miss the mark, because although lax controls at the time DID contribute to the murder, history will show Chapman circumvented the exsisting controls-he flew to Georgia to buy.38 caliber hollow point bullets that he could not buy in NYC which had the toughest regs in the land-and most likely would have found some (illegal) way to carry out his twisted plan.

In my opinion, the best look so far at the MDC horror was Let Me Take You Down, by Jack Jones, which pretty much nailed the Chapman pathology.

Let's hope the new film contributes (intelligently) to the debate.

I was speaking with AbbeyRd Steve the other day, and both of us were surprised to realize that Beatle Bits has been coming to you now for two years.

(Where did the time go? Yesterday, I guess.)

In fact, we were also surprised to realize that perhaps AbbeyRd and BB were the "first" large scale Beatle Bloggers in the world.

Whatever. I do know we were the first-or among the first- to offer critique of Beatle projects to the masses, and it is on that point I wish to discuss.

Even after two years and 335 posts, it still does not cease to amaze me that some Beatle fans seem to take so seriously what I muse about in Beatle Bits, that they feel they have to not only personally attack me, but even to dump upon the individual Fabs themselves.

If you are a regular reader of BB, you will know of the small, but sick and venal band of Macca Madhatters who come after me even if I write something positive about their savior. You know this because I delight in exposing just what twisted twits they are.

But what you have not heard about, is the dark, sick souls-sadly again mostly MMs-who are not content just to blast me in personal e-mails and posts on forums, but also in bitter personal attacks on John Lennon and Yoko Ono, some of which I can not even reproduce, they are so loathsome, hateful, racist, etc.

Interestingly, I rarely get hate related mail from John, George or Ringo fans, even though if you look with a careful eye, I have taken plenty of shots at all of them in the past two years.

All together now: IT IS NOT A SIN TO BE CRITICAL OF A FORMER BEATLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Billioniare pop stars DO NOT need protection from Internet Bloggers, a fact that still seems to escape some of my readers, again most of them hardore Macca fanatics.

Plus, if you disagree with me, by all means say so, but do it with logic and reason, rather than personal attacks on me, or another ex-Beatle.

I have answered every single e-mail that I ever received from a BB column, and will continue to do so.

Ninety percent of those e-mails are constructive.

The idiots and bona fide get-a-lifers that make up the last ten percentile know who they are.

And they are in desperate need of mental health help.