John Lennon 70th Anniversary Collection - to be released 10-05-2010

Tracklisting and artwork revealed for Gimme Some Truth

Sweeping Catalogue Initiative Overseen by Yoko Ono and EMI Music Commemorates Lennon's 70th Birthday.
EMI Music has unveiled the complete tracklists and cover art for a broad selection of remastered John Lennon albums and new collections to be released on CD and digitally on 4 October (5 October in North America). Announced last month, EMI Music's global John Lennon 'Gimme Some Truth' catalogue campaign is being overseen by Yoko Ono and commemorates the music legend's 70th birthday on 9 October, 2010. Featured in the sweeping initiative are eight remastered John Lennon solo albums and new titles including Double Fantasy Stripped Down, Power To The People: The Hits, Gimme Some Truth, and the John Lennon Signature Box.

For the first time, Lennon's classic solo albums and other standout recordings have been digitally remastered from his original mixes. Double Fantasy, 1980's GRAMMY Award winner for Album of the Year, will be presented with a newly remixed 'Stripped Down' version produced by Yoko Ono and Jack Douglas, Lennon's original co-producers for the album. Some Time In New York City has been restored to include the six 'Live Jam' recordings featured on the original album.

The deluxe 11CD and digital John Lennon Signature Box includes 13 previously unreleased home recordings, and Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, and Julian Lennon have each written personal essays for the lavish collection.

The cover art for the new titles includes original drawings by Sean Lennon for Double Fantasy Stripped Down, while the cover of 1974's Walls and Bridges is restored to its original artwork.

John Lennon's life and music will be specially feted this fall with a variety of commemorative releases and events around the world. Please visit www.johnlennon.com for official announcements and updates.

And from www.consequenceofsound.net

The Beatles once asked us if we’d still need them when they’re 64. Only two of them made it that far. We still need Paul McCartney. We still smile at Ringo. But with George Harrison and John Lennon gone, the best we can get from them is reissues and remixes of their timeless work. In time for what would be his 70th birthday in October, the ex-Beatles’ solo albums are to be remastered and released.

Nearly 30 years after Lennon’s untimely murder, on Dec. 8th, 1980, a 11-CD John Lennon Signature Box set will be released, packed with new editions of his studio efforts, according to the LA Times. Additionally, Capitol and EMI are putting out a four-CD Gimme Some Truth box set with “thematically linked songs on each disc and a 15-song compilation Power to the People: The Hits.

What’s more, Lenonon’s last album, 1980’s Double Fantasy, will be completely stripped down, remixed and remastered. They estimate it will be similar to the treatment given to The Beatles’ album Let It Be…Naked which was a cleaned up version, with Phil Spector’s trademark wall of sound taken off. Reactions to that album were mixed, but Yoko Ono insists this album is worth the remix.

In a statement, Yoko Ono said,

“Double Fantasy Stripped Down really allows us to focus on John’s amazing vocals. It was [while] working on the new version of this album that I was hit hardest emotionally, as this was the last album John released before his passing.”

All of the releases will be available on CD as well as digitally on October 5th in North America and October 4th for the rest of the world. No word on whether the releases will also be out on vinyl, or whether bonus tracks will be released for the original albums. We imagine they’ll have bonus tracks. We still need John at 70.

Source: http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/09/02/john-lennons-gimme-some-truth-set-includes-unreleased-songs/
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE: THE HITS [CD; Digital]
1. Power To The People
2. Gimme Some Truth
3. Woman
4. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
5. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
6. Cold Turkey
7. Jealous Guy
8. #9 Dream
9. (Just Like) Starting Over
10. Mind Games
11. Watching The Wheels
12. Stand By Me
13. Imagine
14. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
15. Give Peace A Chance

POWER TO THE PEOPLE: THE HITS (EXPERIENCE EDITION) [CD/DVD]
CD
(tracklist same as above)
DVD
1. Power To The People
2. Gimme Some Truth
3. Woman
4. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
5. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
6. Cold Turkey
7. Jealous Guy
8. #9 Dream
9. (Just Like) Starting Over
10. Mind Games
11. Watching The Wheels
12. Stand By Me
13. Imagine
14. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
15. Give Peace A Chance

GIMME SOME TRUTH [4CD; Digital]
Working Class Hero
1. Working Class Hero
2. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
3. Power To The People
4. God
5. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Sunday Bloody Sunday
8. Steel And Glass
9. Meat City
10. I Don't Wanna Face It
11. Remember
12. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World
13. I Found out
14. Isolation
15. Imagine
16. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
17. Give Peace A Chance
18. Only People

Woman
1. Mother
2. Hold On
3. You Are Here
4. Well Well Well
5. Oh My Love
6. Oh Yoko!
7. Grow Old With Me
8. Love
9. Jealous Guy
10. Woman
11. Out The Blue
12. Bless You
13. Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)
14. My Mummy's Dead
15. I'm Losing You
16. (Just Like) Starting Over
17. #9 Dream
18. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)

Borrowed Time
1. Mind Games
2. Nobody Told Me
3. Cleanup Time
4. Crippled Inside
5. How Do You Sleep?
6. How?
7. Intuition
8. I'm Stepping Out
9. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
10. Old Dirt Road
11. Scared
12. What You Got
13. Cold Turkey
14. New York City
15. Surprise Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)
16. Borrowed Time
17. Look At Me
18. Watching The Wheels

Roots
1. Be-Bop-A-Lula
2. You Can't Catch Me
3. Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy
4. Tight A$
5. Ain't That a Shame
6. Sweet Little Sixteen
7. Do You Wanna Dance
8. Slippin' and Slidin'
9. Peggy Sue
10. Medley: Bring It On Home/Send Me Some Lovin'
11. Yer Blues (Live)
12. Just Because
13. Boney Moronie
14. Beef Jerky
15. Ya Ya
16. Hound Dog (Live)
17. Stand By Me
18. Here We Go Again

JOHN LENNON SIGNATURE BOX [11CD; Digital]
Original Albums [digitally remastered]
- John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
- Imagine
- Some Time In New York City
- Mind Games
- Walls and Bridges
- Rock 'n' Roll
- Double Fantasy
- Milk and Honey

Home Tapes
1. Mother
2. Love
3. God
4. I Found Out
5. Nobody Told Me
6. Honey Don't
7. One Of The Boys
8. India, India
9. Serve Yourself
10. Isolation
11. Remember
12. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)
13. I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die

Singles
1. Power To The People
2. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
3. Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)
4. Cold Turkey
5. Move Over Ms. L
6. Give Peace a Chance

ORIGINAL ALBUMS (REMASTERED) [CD; Digital]

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
1. Mother
2. Hold On
3. I Found Out
4. Working Class Hero
5. Isolation
6. Remember
7. Love
8. Well Well Well
9. Look At Me
10. God
11. My Mummy's Dead

Imagine (1971)
1. Imagine
2. Crippled Inside
3. Jealous Guy
4. It's So Hard
5. I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna Die
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Oh My Love
8. How Do You Sleep?
9. How?
10. Oh Yoko!

Some Time In New York City (1972)
DISC ONE
1. Woman Is The Nigger Of The World
2. Sisters, O Sisters
3. Attica State
4. Born In a Prison
5. New York City
6. Sunday Bloody Sunday
7. The Luck Of The Irish
8. John Sinclair
9. Angela
10. We're All Water
DISC TWO
1. Cold Turkey (live)
2. Don't Worry Kyoko (live)
3. Well (Baby Please Don't Go) (live)
4. Jamrag (live)
5. Scumbag (live)
6. Au (live)

Mind Games (1973)
1. Mind Games
2. Tight A$
3. Aisumasen (I'm Sorry)
4. One Day (At A Time)
5. Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple)
6. Nutopian International Anthem
7. Intuition
8. Out The Blue
9. Only People
10. I Know (I Know)
11. You Are Here
12. Meat City

Walls and Bridges (1974)
1. Going Down On Love
2. Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
3. Old Dirt Road
4. What You Got
5. Bless You
6. Scared
7. #9 Dream
8. Surprise, Surprise (Sweet Bird Of Paradox)
9. Steel And Glass
10. Beef Jerky
11. Nobody Loves You (When You're Down And Out)
12. Ya Ya

Rock 'n' Roll (1975)
1. Be-Bop-A-Lula
2. Stand By Me
3. Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy
4. You Can't Catch Me
5. Ain't That A Shame
6. Do You Wanna Dance
7. Sweet Little Sixteen
8. Slippin' And Slidin'
9. Peggy Sue
10. Medley: Bring It On Home To Me/Send Me Some Lovin'
11. Bony Moronie
12. Ya Ya
13. Just Because

Double Fantasy Stripped Down (2010) / Double Fantasy (1980)
Stripped Down
Original Album, Remastered
1. (Just Like) Starting Over
2. Kiss Kiss Kiss
3. Cleanup Time
4. Give Me Something
5. I'm Losing You
6. I'm Moving On
7. Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)
8. Watching The Wheels
9. Yes, I'm Your Angel
10. Woman
11. Beautiful Boys
12. Dear Yoko
13. Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him
14. Hard Times Are Over

Milk and Honey (1984)
1. I'm Stepping Out
2. Sleepless Night
3. I Don't Wanna Face It
4. Don't Be Scared
5. Nobody Told Me
6. O'Sanity
7. Borrowed Time
8. Your Hands
9. (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess
10. Let Me Count The Ways
11. Grow Old With Me
12. You're The One

Source: http://www.beatles.com/#/news/Tracklisting_and_artwork/

You can get them here:
http://rockermusical.blogspot.com/2010/10/john-lennon-gimme-some-truth-box-set-4.html

also here: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://flacworld.com/809-john-lennon-gimme-some-truth-4cd-2010.html&prev=http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26q%3Djohn%2Blennon%2Bgimme%2Bsome%2Btruth%2Bdownload%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN%26start%3D90

Macca's meltdown: The inside story of the marriage that cost Sir Paul £24m and almost destroyed him

By HOWARD SOUNES
Last updated at 1:07 AM on 14th August 2010

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She could hardly fail to catch his eye.

In a translucent red top that revealed her large breasts, she was what Paul McCartney might once have termed ‘a right little raver’.

He watched spellbound as Heather Mills, with a flirtatious toss of her thick blonde hair, strode confidently across the stage of a London awards ceremony in May 1999 to introduce a woman who’d shown fortitude in coping with the loss of her limbs.

Bitter end: Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills seemed in love, but their relationship disintegrated when her raunchy past was exposed

It wasn’t immediately obvious that Ms Mills was also wearing a prosthetic leg.

‘Who’s that?’ asked Sir Paul, who was waiting to deliver an award himself.

He was told that the woman who had made such a strong impression on him was a 31-year-old model who’d lost her leg in a road accident and now raised money for her charity.

Days later, Heather found a message on her answer machine: ‘It’s Paul McCartney here. I’d like to talk to you about the charity work.’

They met at his London office, where Paul presented the Heather Mills Trust — which she hadn’t yet registered with the Charity Commission — with a cheque for £150,000.

As she left that summer day, Heather noticed Sir Paul was admiring her backside. He hadn’t looked with lust at a woman since his wife’s death from breast cancer just over a year before.

Back then, he’d been in a very sorry condition, wandering about his estate and talking constantly about Linda.

‘Paul was just haggard. I mean, he sat there like an old man, lost,’ says Linda’s friend, the TV writer Carla Lane.

Now, however, he told himself that Linda wouldn’t mind about his feelings for Heather. He convinced himself that his dead wife was sending him messages via the wildlife on their Sussex farm.

‘There were strange metaphysical occurrences that seemed to mean something. Animal noises. Bird noises.

‘You’d ask yourself a question under the stars and, like, there’d be like an owl in the valley going whoo-whoo-whoo,’ he revealed later.

In short, he was set on dating Heather Mills — a decision that would one day cost him dear.

Like Paul, she came from a northern working-class family, but her background was troubled.

'The more you met (Heather), the more you knew she was a nutter'

At 14, she claimed in her autobiography, she’d run away from home. She’d started sleeping rough and mixing with drug addicts, rent boys and prostitutes.

Then she got a Saturday job with a jeweller, from whom she stole — resulting in a probationary sentence for theft. Next, Heather strayed into the fringes of the sex industry, finding employment at around the age of 16 as a waitress in a Soho hostess club.

A failed marriage and a career in glamour modelling had followed. The exact details are slightly mysterious.

Her ex-husband Alfie Karmal says: ‘It was difficult to believe anything she said, as I caught her out lying to me so often.’  

Still, whatever her short-comings, she was able to yank Sir Paul McCartney out of his grief. Quickly disposing of her fiance Chris Terrill (to whom she’d got engaged after a ten-day romance), she joined the Beatle for his annual vacation on Long Island in America.

By the time they returned to the UK, they were inseparable. Paul was so happy, she noted, that he was literally dancing down the street, like his hero Fred Astaire. For Halloween, he arranged a tryst with Heather in a London hotel, filling their suite with lanterns.

And for New Year’s Eve, they went to his house on Merseyside where Heather met the rellies, as Paul called his Liverpool family.  

The rellies, however, looked upon her askance. ‘I went in the kitchen for some reason. Seated at a table, in white faux fur and a white Cossack fake fur hat, is this very glamorous-looking blonde,’ recalls Paul’s cousin Mike Robbins.

Happier times: Sir Paul and Heather Mills announce their engagement in 2002

He extended his hand, but the blonde didn’t shake it and seemed to want to stay in the kitchen rather than join everyone else in the living room. Mike assumed she was ‘one of Paul’s brief bits of crumpet’.  But, he adds, ‘the more you met her, the more you knew she was a nutter’.

Clearly, Paul didn’t think so. Nor did he seem bothered by the stories now emerging that suggested Heather had been a party girl who kept company with rich Arabs, including the Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi. Why did Paul invest such trust in a self- publicising minor celebrity with a dubious past?

Mike Robbins thinks he knows the answer: sex. Paul had been in a monogamous relationship for almost 30 years and then along came a busty blonde who may have had a certain expertise in the bedroom.

‘I’m being crude now, but he was c**k happy. He confused sex with love,’ says Mike. ‘He couldn’t tell the difference.’

Another way to look at Paul’s relationship with Heather is to consider that, like John Lennon, he’d spent his adult life being venerated by almost everybody he met.

Indeed, both Beatles had become so famous, so rich and so powerful that they were inevitably slightly monstrous.

And they were only comfortable with women who weren’t overawed by their fame.

When Heather admired a beach house near Hove in Sussex, Paul lent her £800,000 to buy it. By then, nearing 60, he also delighted in arranging romantic surprises — so he flew with her to India for her 33rd birthday and took her shopping in Manhattan on Valentine’s Day.

'You know when a woman loves a man she’s with and there was no love there. Everyone could see it'

Not everyone believed she was equally smitten. Anthony Smith, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, who had them both to stay several times while Paul was writing a choral work for the college, says: ‘You know when a woman loves a man she’s with and there was no love there. Everyone could see it. Everyone around them.

‘You could just see it, you could feel it, and he didn’t, or he’d convinced himself that because he was a good man — which he is, an extremely morally motivated person in all things, I think — he felt he ought to love her. That’s my theory.’

Among Sir Paul’s friends and associates, the consensus was that Heather was trouble. The musician Eric Stewart of 10CC was so concerned about his old friend that he wrote a letter to Paul, warning him about Heather.

He didn’t get a reply, nor could he get through to Paul on the phone. ‘It was like he was trying to sweep out anybody who knew him and Linda together.’

When Paul introduced Heather Mills to Tony Bramwell, another old friend, the former Beatles employee recognised Heather as a girl who used to hang around the London club scene. ‘Heather looked at me in horror,’ Bramwell says, ‘knowing I’d been in the clubs when she was slapping around looking for a rich man.’

Unwilling to spend time in his company, she announced: ‘There’s nobody interesting here — I’m going shopping.’ Paul followed her meekly.

Bramwell concluded that Heather was every bit as horrible as he’d always found Yoko Ono to be.

Glamour model: Heather's raunchy past came back to haunt her after she married Sir Paul

That summer of 2001, Paul dropped down on his knee at a hotel in the Lake District, gave his girlfriend a sapphire and diamond ring and asked her to marry him.

When she said yes, he burst into tears. In the new year, he bought her more jewellery, gave her a joint Coutts credit card and advanced her £150,000 to decorate her new house near Hove, writing off the original £800,000 home loan as a gift.

He then embarked on a spring tour of North America, with Heather in tow. Photographs suggest they were the image of happiness at this time, but away from the cameras there were ugly scenes.

In mid-May, when the tour reached Florida, Paul and Heather had checked into the Turnberry Isle Resort and Club in Miami. In the early hours, hotel guests awoke to hear Paul shouting: ‘I don’t want to marry you. The wedding’s off!’

Heather’s engagement ring was then apparently flung from their hotel window. The next day, hotel staff hired metal detectors to find it.  

However, the relationship was patched up in time for a lavish 2002 wedding in Ireland.

There was no sign of Paul’s son James or his adoptive daughter Heather, both of whom were understood to be against Dad’s second marriage. Most of the other rellies turned up, but their enjoyment of the big day was tempered by suspicions about the bride.

‘By then the family knew — my family are not dopey — this was a wrong’un,’ says Mike Robbins.

Afterwards, Paul resumed his North American tour and Heather did a TV interview with broadcaster Barbara Walters.  

‘I am married to the most famous person in the world and that is very unfortunate for me,’ said the new Lady McCartney, making it clear she didn’t like her charity work being overshadowed.  

Indeed, she seemed to find her husband generally annoying. ‘This is a man who has had his own way his entire life,’ she told Walters.

Volatile: Despite putting on a happy appearance, the couple's marriage was marred by rows

‘When you become famous at 19, it is sometimes hard to listen to other people’s opinions.’

The interview allegedly led to a spectacular argument with Paul — one of a series that would eventually lead them to the divorce courts.

Heather complained to him that Walters had raised some of the less flattering stories about her early life. But he apparently dismissed her concerns, saying she was in a mood. 

Heather decided he was drunk. According to her account in the divorce documents: ‘[Paul] grabbed [Heather] by the neck and pushed her over a coffee table. He then went outside and in his drunken state he fell down a hill, cutting his arm.’

Still, Heather’s experience didn’t put her off chat shows: she appeared repeatedly on Larry King Live in the months to come, facing increasingly tough questions about her past.

That December, Paul gave her a cash gift of £250,000 — which she used to help buy a £450,000 flat in Hammersmith, West London — then set up a £360,000-a-year allowance for her. Meanwhile, more people were starting to talk.

A childhood girlfriend disputed details in Heather’s memoirs about the two of them being held prisoner by a paedophile. She sued Heather and won compensation.

Charles Stapley, effectively Heather’s stepfather, likewise disputed Heather’s story of running away from home at 14.

‘She did go and sleep in the back of a truck with a chap who worked on the dodgems, but that was just at weekends,’ he said, describing Heather as a ‘damaged personality’.

The Clapham jeweller who’d employed Heather as a teenager alleged that she stole far more than she’d admitted — including gold chains worth £25,000. ‘She virtually plundered the shop,’ he said.  

Most damaging was the testimony of two women associates of Adnan Khashoggi, who spoke of Heather enjoying the high life with rich Arabs in London at a time she’d claimed to be working as a swimsuit model in Paris.  

Again, Heather was upset, but Paul seemed indifferent.

Sir Paul fell for Heather after losing his first wife Linda to cancer

‘An argument ensued in the  bathroom during which [Paul] became angry and pushed [Heather] into the bath,’ according to the divorce papers.

When Paul’s tour moved on to Hamburg in Germany, he introduced Heather to his old friends Horst Fascher and Astrid Kirchherr, whom he had met there when touring in the early Sixties. Astrid didn’t warm to her.

She reflects: ‘He was so protected by Linda, and surrounded with her love and care, that he was like an unborn baby towards women and Heather could just roll him around her fingers . . . She turned out to be a bitch.’

Few people were able to be candid to Paul’s face, of course. His children had tried to tell him what they thought of Heather, but he didn’t want to know.

In the summer of 2003, Paul took Heather to his U.S. holiday home in Long Island. Another big row allegedly ensued, this time over his pot-smoking.

As her divorce petition states: ‘[Heather] asked [Sir Paul] if he had been smoking marijuana. He became very angry, yelled at her, grabbed her neck and started choking her.’

Despite apparently being at each other’s throats, Heather fell pregnant a few months later.

Back on Paul’s Sussex estate, the month before she gave birth, they allegedly had another row which resulted in broken crockery, glasses and lamps. A mark on the wall also indicated that Heather had thrown a bottle of ketchup at her 61-year-old husband.

After their baby Beatrice was born in October 2003, Paul renewed his efforts to make the marriage work. But more problems arose because Heather wanted to establish herself as a media personality in the U.S., while he wanted them to live as a family in the UK.

Few people were able to be candid to Paul’s face, of course. His children had tried to tell him what they thought of Heather, but he didn’t want to know

Heather had other complaints.

Paul, she claimed, didn’t want her to breastfeed Beatrice, saying ‘they are my breasts’ and ‘I don’t want a mouthful of breast milk’.

She also resented having to cook for him every night, as his mum and Linda had done. Plus she liked to get up early, but he slept late, and wanted her beside him when he woke.

Another bone of contention was Paul’s Manhattan townhouse, which was partly used by his music publishing business. Heather made it clear she had her eye on space downstairs as a private office, but he refused to let her have it.  

When he ‘reluctantly agreed to provide her with alternative office space in the city’, according to the divorce papers, Heather told Paul that the office, a 20-minute walk away, was too small and too far away. 

She refused to use it and he called her an ‘ungrateful bitch’. Some may think he had a point. In 2005 alone, he’d given his wife jewellery worth £264,000.

Yet like Oliver Twist, Heather always wanted more. In November, she emailed Paul Winn, Paul’s accountant, asking him to pay £480,000 into her NatWest bank account so she could clear a mortgage for that amount on her Hammersmith flat.

She asked for the money twice, but didn’t receive it — for the very good reason there was no mortgage on the flat (a situation later characterised in court as verging on the fraudulent).

Just before the final break-up, Heather tried again to extract cash from Winn to clear what she now claimed were four loans on the Hammersmith property, totalling £450,000.

Seven weeks after the accountant had knocked back this latest request, on April 25, 2006, the couple allegedly had an explosive argument which ended with Sir Paul pouring the remainder of a bottle of red wine over Heather.

According to the divorce papers: ‘[Sir Paul] then reached to grab [Heather’s] wine glass and broke the bowl of the glass from the stem.

‘He then lunged at [her] with the broken, sharp stem of the wine glass, which cut and pierced [her] arm just below the elbow and it began to bleed profusely. He proceeded to manhandle [her] . . . screaming at her to apologise for “winding him up”.’ (Paul strenuously denies these allegations.)

Days later, after less than four years of married life, they separated.

Not long afterwards, a 1988 German sex manual emerged in which Heather was pictured nude and semi-nude, simulating sex acts with an equally bare male model.

Then even more explicit pictures were uncovered, showing her with her legs splayed.

Such was the sorry state of Paul’s private life as he reached 64 — immortalised in his song When I’m 64, in which he’d imagined an uxorious old age, scrimping and saving to make ends meet.

Media target: Heather, pictured speaking outside court after her divorce hearing, compared herself to Princess Diana

In fact, he had a net wealth of approximately £387 million, making him one of the richest entertainers in the world, but a marriage that had crashed and burned.

For his divorce case, he adopted a policy of dignified silence, while his estranged wife compared herself to Princess Diana and wailed: ‘I’ve had worse press than a paedophile or a murderer and I’ve done nothing but charity for 20 years.’

Her popularity plummeted, reaching its nadir when TV presenter Jonathan Ross described Heather as such a ‘f***ing liar [I] wouldn’t be surprised if we found out she’s actually got two legs’.

Having parted company with her lawyers, she decided to represent herself, asking the judge for a £125 million settlement.

But Mr Justice Bennett disagreed, ruling that Paul should pay her £16.5 million in cash and other assets, meaning that she left the marriage with a total of £24.3million.

Despite winning this vast sum, Heather was furious. In the closing moments of the case, she tipped a jug of water over the head of Paul’s lawyer, Fiona Shackleton.

Her woes multiplied when Mr Justice Bennett’s judgment was made public against her wishes.

‘I am driven to the conclusion,’ he wrote, ‘that much of her evidence, both written and oral, was not just inconsistent and inaccurate but also less than candid.’

He noted that she’d made ‘untrue and distorted allegations’ against Paul — and ordered that neither of them should disclose any further details to the media.

This was a severe blow to Heather. Unable to say anything of substance about her famous ex-husband, and with plenty of money to spend, she soon faded into semi-obscurity. And in the two years since the divorce, she has employed a succession of public relations consultants, who have found themselves hard-pressed to improve her image.

Of course, any woman who married Paul was always going to have a near impossible task: living up to his first wife, Linda, whose image as the ultimate earth mother was only enhanced by her untimely death from breast cancer in 1998.

However, as we will see on Monday, when Linda first came into Paul’s life she was far removed from the maternal vegetarian campaigner who was to become almost as famous as her husband.

Far from it. She was a single mother who made a living photographing rock stars who she then often slept with — one friend dubbed her a ‘groping groupie’.

And long before she met any of the Beatles, she decided she liked the look of the baby-faced one. From then on, Paul McCartney was her number one target.

Extracted from Fab: An Intimate Life Of Sir Paul McCartney by Howard Sounes, published by HarperCollins on August 25 at £20. © Howard Sounes 2010. To buy a copy at £18 (p&p free), call 0845 155 0720.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1302966/Maccas-meltdown-The-inside-story-marriage-cost-McCartney-24m-destroyed-him.html

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1302966/Maccas-meltdown-The-inside-story-marriage-cost-McCartney-24m-destroyed-him.html#ixzz124eGE1bW

Paul & Ringo Appear at Mary McCartney Book Launch

With A Little Help From His Friends: Paul McCartney reunited with Beatles bandmate Ringo at book launch

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:57 AM on 22nd October 2010

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He Loves You: Sir Paul and Ringo pucker up for Mary McCartney's book launch

There's nothing like kissing and making up in the Rock and Roll world, but it seems the two surviving Beatles may be taking it a bit literally.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were reunited once more by McCartney's daughter Mary, who was launching her new photograph book From Where I Stand.

The mini reunion comes days after McCartney, 68, discussed the rift that tore the Beatles apart in the press.

He said: 'Personally it was a nightmare. It was really difficult, because I knew I didn’t hate them, but I knew we had to save The Beatles, and I was the only one who was going to do it - because the three of them were just sending it down the chute.'

All is clearly forgiven now though, as the two looked closer than ever at the book launch, which was also attended by a pregnant Stella McCartney, Starr's wife Barbara Bach and his daughter Lee Starkey.

Mary has worked as a photographer for 15 years, and launched From Where I Stand at the Michael Hoppen Gallery in London - where the images were displayed exclusively.

Speaking about the book's images, Mary said: 'I wanted to pick shots that stand alone.

'I like the photographs of other people that inspired me to be a photographer that make me think: "Who was that person? Where was this picture taken? What was the feel behind it? What the emotion behind it?"

Call: The two Beatles talk on the telephone, looking closer than ever

Fab Five: Lee Starkey, Ringo Starr, Mary McCartney, Barbara Bach and Stella McCartney pose for pics at Mary's book launch

'Those are the things that intrigue me and drive me as a photographer.'

Despite growing up with one of the world's most celebrated and popular icons, Mary revealed that she used to find Paul's constant desire to play his music 'annoying'.

She said: 'It was like: 'Dad will you stop playing guitar? We're trying to watch EastEnders - that's just annoying.'

However she did admit he's 'pretty good' now.

Mary was photographed as a baby on the reverse sleeve of McCartney's debut solo album in 1970.

From Where I Stand: Sir Paul's daughter has been a professional photographer for 15 years

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1322780/Paul-McCartney-reunited-Ringo-Starr-book-launch.html#ixzz13HQ9ltQR

Ed Sullivan Shows DVD Reissue

Ed Sullivan Shows DVD Go On Sale

September 13th sees the UK release of the Complete 1964-65 Ed Sullivan Shows Starring the Beatles at a bargain price of only £11.19. In the USA, the set is being released on September 7th, at $11.99. This digitally remastered two disc edition runs to over four hours, complete with all the four appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 and September 1965. All together 15 songs were performed live by the band during these shows, including: "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Help" and "Yesterday" and it's now available to view with a brand new 5.1 surround soundtrack and carefully restored video. This special new package also includes an exclusive original Ed Sullivan Show ticket replica from The Beatles 1st appearance and approximately 13 minutes of additional footage. The added material, rare Beatles-related gems from other Sullivan shows, is placed at the end of each disc. Among them is a brief London interview with The Beatles by Sullivan which has not been seen since the day it originally aired on May 24th 1964; a 1966 black-and-white commercial for Beatles dolls introduced by Sullivan in colour; and the host reading a 1967 telegram from The Beatles congratulating him on the renaming of the studio to "The Ed Sullivan Theatre".

"We used the full extent of today’s technology," says Andrew Solt, Executive Producer and CEO of SOFA Entertainment, which purchased all 1,050 hours of "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1990. "The quality is better than it ever was, in fact, better than when the shows aired, especially visually. For example, the February 16 performance was from Miami’s Deauville Hotel, not from a studio. The quality of the tape image was very fragile. We went back and improved it frame by frame."

The set includes the following Beatles performances:

Show #1 – aired Sunday February 9, 1964

• All My Loving
• Till There Was You
• She Loves You
• I Saw Her Standing There
• I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Show #2 – aired Sunday February 16, 1964

• She Loves You
• This Boy
• All My Loving
• I Saw Her Standing There
• From Me To You
• I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Show #3 – aired Sunday February 23, 1964

• Twist And Shout
• Please Please Me
• I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Show #4 – aired Sunday September 12, 1965

• I Feel Fine
• I’m Down
• Act Naturally
• Ticket To Ride
• Yesterday
• Help!

A similar set was released in 2003, but the footage has apparently been remastered on the new set and there is the additional 13 minutes. There will also be the option to play a mono audio track or a 5.1 surround remix.
This looks to be a fantastic set, especially for those who didn’t pick up the earlier, far more expensive release, like we did.

Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring the Beatles (1964) DVD

A great concept: The Beatles appeared four times on CBS' The Ed Sullivan Show, and while one is tempted to skip through this collection to watch only the Fab Four's 20 performances, there is historic value in seeing Sullivan's complete programs. With America reeling from the murder of a popular president, JFK, less than three months prior, the Beatles' Sullivan debut on February 9, 1964, ushered a renewing joy into the country's living rooms. The band kept it up another two weeks, sharing Sullivan's variety-show bills with the likes of impressionist Frank Gorshin, comedians Allen & Rossi, future Monkee Davy Jones (in a scene from Oliver!), and sundry unrepentant vaudevillians, magicians, and acrobats. Various problems with microphones and bad direction (one barely sees John Lennon on 2/9) couldn't stop the magic, and by the time the Beatles made a return trip in September 1965, the group's brilliance and wit outsized their television surroundings. --Tom Keogh
Product Description
An estimated 73 million Americans tuned in to watch the Ed Sullivan Show when the Beatles performed All My Loving, Till There Was You, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There and I Want To Hold Your Hand. And every one of these songs is included on this rockin' dvd! They are all part of 20 live performances and 7 number one hits!

DVD Product Details

* Actors: Ed Sullivan, Frank Shuster, Johnny Wayne, Jack Carter, Roberta Peters
* Directors: Kenneth Whelan
* Writers: Frank Shuster, Johnny Wayne, Jerry Bresler, Jerry Juhl, Lyn Duddy
* Producers: Chester Feldman
* Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
* Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
* Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
* Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
* Number of discs: 2
* Rated: Unrated
* Studio: SOFA Entertainment
* DVD Release Date: October 28, 2003
* Run Time: 240 minutes


* Format: Color, NTSC
* Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. )
* Number of discs: 1
* Rating:
* Studio: Ventura Home Entertainment
* DVD Release Date: November 23, 2004
* Run Time: 240 minutes
* Size: 7 1/2" x 5 1/4" x 1"

This 2 disc set provides a most wonderful glimpse of an important time in both music and television history. Most notably, it contains the three full length shows (along with commercials) that were integral in the Beatles' first visit to the United States. The Beatles perform their chart toppers in the U.S. including "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "From Me To You," and "Please Please Me." The set also includes a most intriguing (and complete) 1965 show where you can clearly see the group's growth as songwriters. The 1965 song set consists of "I'm Down," "Ticket to Ride," and "Help." This is a long way in a relatively short time from "All My Loving" and "From Me To You." The first show is the one most treasured by fans, and it obviously is a must-see. Viewing the complete show allows you to better appreciate the magnitude and importance of the Beatles appearance in the U.S. However, ALL of the shows provide an amazing look at popular music during this time. Performances by Mitzi Gaynor, Cab Calloway, and the original brodway cast of Oliver (including Davy Jones who later became a member of the Monkees) are incredible and historical. Cilla Black (also managed by Brian Epstein) performs two enjoyable numbers.

One interesting note about the entire set is that you might get a feel for the generation gap that existed in America at that time and what impact the Beatles had on whom Ed Sullivan called "youngsters." Performances by Acker Bilk, Tessie O'Shea (from England), and Gordon & Sheila McCrae show us what most adults who tuned in to Sullivan were listening to. The Beatles clearly went against the grain. As one famous person noted, "Suddenly, there were the Beatles and everybody else. And everybody else just looked wrong." As you see the younger generation embrace the Beatles, references to Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and even Dave Barry's comedy routine (on disc 3) seem like something that only the "old folks" would be interested in and perhaps considered very "square." Suddenly, the younger generation has decided what they like and what they would listen to. Soon after the Beatles first visit, Sullivan would be sure to always include "something for the youngsters."

Historic and classic comedy routines by Allen & Rossi, Morcombe & Wise (also from England), and Soupy Sales are enjoyable to watch as well. The novelty acts are quaint and somewhat amusing, but nevertheless important because they were an integral part of Sullivan's shows. The real importance of these discs lies in the music and musical productions.

The only drawback to the set is that it leaves Beatle fans hungry for more in the sense that now we want "the story behind the story." Davy Jones mentioned his inability to leave the wings during the broadcast because he was so enraptured by the Beatles' performance and how he suddenly realized that he wanted a future in a band. McCall & Brill, who perform a comedy skit on the first show, have told of their experience that Sunday night. Ed Sullivan hated their skit and wanted them to switch to another routine just before they hit the air. They panicked and didn't know what to do. By chance, they met the Beatles backstage while John Lennon was looking for a Coca-Cola. All of the Beatles made them feel more at ease and they went ahead with the routine, but Sullivan was not pleased. You'll notice that he does not call them over to shake hands, which is what Sullivan usually did with the acts he truly liked. It would have been nice to see interviews with reflections from those involved in the production of the first show.

There are naturally some technical glitches once in a while but they are really not noticable. The shows are in glorious black and white and the audio is at its best. If you are a Beatle fan, this is definitely a must-buy. If you're not, but have a longing for musical variety programs once again, this set is still classic and enjoyable.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Historic-Sullivan-Featuring-Beatles/dp/B0000C3I2X/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1284306391&sr=1-2