BeatlesTrivia.com - The Beatles Trivia, Facts and History » Albums

Who created the cover illustration for the Beatles’ Revolver album?

BeatlesTrivia — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:24:09 +0000

The cover illustration for the Revolver album was created by artist and bassist Klaus Voormann. German-born Voormann was a friend of the Beatles, dating back to their early days when they played at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. In 1966, Voormann was asked by John Lennon to design the album sleeve for Revolver. Klaus came up with a “scrapbook collage” for the cover. The band and their manager, Brian Epstein, loved the result. Voormann was paid £40 for the design. He would later receive a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for this work.

Over 20 years later, Voormann would design the cover art for George Harrison’s 1988 single, “When We Was Fab”. This design included the image of Harrison from the Revolver cover along with an updated drawing in the same style.

In 1995, Voormann designed the covers for The Beatles Anthology albums for Apple Records. He, and fellow artist Alfons Kiefer, painted the covers.

Klaus was the bassist for the British band Manfred Mann, and later a session player and record producer. He occasionally played bass with some of the ex-Beatles’, either for studio recordings or live performances, and was a member of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Plastic Ono Band.

Lennon and McCartney wrote all the songs on which Beatles album?

BeatlesTrivia — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:01:43 +0000

A Hard Day’s Night is the only Beatles album where all of the songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It is also the first Beatles album to contain only original compositions, and no cover songs. A Hard Day’s Night was released on July 10, 1964, as the soundtrack to the Beatles’ film of the same name.

Most of the band’s earlier albums contain at least a few covers, and most of their albums have at least one George Harrison composition, but A Hard Day’s Night had neither. Harrison does get to sing lead vocals on the Lennon/McCartney penned “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You”.

A Hard Day’s Night is one of three Beatles albums that do not feature Ringo Starr on vocals on at least one track (Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be are the others). But Starr is credited with the accidental creation of the movie/album’s title. During an interview with Playboy magazine in 1980, John Lennon said: “I was going home in the car and Dick Lester [director of the movie] suggested the title, ‘Hard Day’s Night’ from something Ringo had said. I had used it in ‘In His Own Write’, but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny… just said it. So Dick Lester said, ‘We are going to use that title.’”

Which Beatles album was released the day JFK was assassinated?

BeatlesTrivia — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:42:29 +0000

‘With the Beatles‘ was released on Friday, November 22, 1963, the day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. On the same date, The Beatles performed a concert at the Globe Theatre in Stockton on Tees, England. ‘With the Beatles’ was the band’s second UK album and it was recorded four months after their first album, ‘Please Please Me’.

Here’s a gazettelive.co.uk article about that date: The Beatles and a night to remember. Friday November 22, 1963

What is the official name of “The White Album”?

BeatlesTrivia — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:14:54 +0000

The double album released on November 22, 1968, though more commonly known as “The White Album”, is actually eponymously titled The Beatles. There are no photos on the plain white cover of the album, and the only text is the band’s name (and a serial number on the early LP and CD releases). Earlier pressings of the album had the band’s name embossed, and others have it printed in gray.

Originally the album was titled A Doll’s House. That name was given up when it was discovered that British progressive rock band Family released an album with the similar title of Music in a Doll’s House.

The Beatles was the first album to be released by the band’s own record label, Apple.

Who was the only bearded Beatle on the Let It Be cover?

BeatlesTrivia — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:00:47 +0000

Paul McCartney was the sole Beatle wearing a beard during the recording and filming of the ‘Let It Be’ album and movie. Ironically, he was the only Beatle without a beard on the cover of ‘Abbey Road’, which was recorded the same year as ‘Let It Be’ (1969).