- Title: UK/GERMANY: BEATLEMANIA STRIKES AGAIN FOR THE RELEASE OF THE BEATLES NO 1 HITS CD
- Date: 10th November 2000
- Summary: VARIOUS , BEATLES 2000 COVER BAND PERFORMING (6 SHOTS) VARIOUS, AUDIENCE DANCING (2 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 25th November 2000 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HAMBURG & COLOGNE, GERMANY.
- City:
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVACQKS86COVM994YCTG4HAHWKJ0
- Story Text: Beatlemania is back - or is it? Thirty years after John, Paul, George and Ringo split, The Beatles are set to make a big comeback and thrill new generations - with the launch today of a stunning new website AND a remarkable compilation album featuring all of their TWENTY-SEVEN US and UK number ones - entitled appropriately enough '1'. Fans of all ages have been celebrating the Fab Four.
Beatles fans no longer have to sing the blues.
30 years after the boy band with the bowl haircuts officially split, a new compilation album is being released with all of the bands 27 number one hits.
The first copy of the album 1 was flown to Germany from England by helicopter into Colognes Media Park on Thursday.
The comeback had all the kitsch of Beatles memorabilia, complete with band lookalikes.
The Beatles began their career in 1956 in Liverpool, England as the Quarrymen with John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
They later paired up with George Harrison and Stu Sutcliffe in 1958 changing their name, and eventually settling on The Beatles in 1960.
Ringo Starr joined the group in 1962, the same year the Beatles reached the UK top 20 with the song, Love Me Do.
The band officially broke up in 1970 with the members persuing solo careers. John Lennon was murdered by a deranged fan in 1980, and the remaining members briefly reunited in 1994-1996 for the creation of three Anthology volumes.
In conjunction with the new release of 1, the Beatles are also launching their official website.
By logging on to www.thebeatles.com fans can take a virtual tour of the 27 Beatle hits that went to Number One in Britain and the United States.
The website goes on line on November 13th, the same day the album hits the store shelves.
But it turned out to be a hard day's night for a major London record store when it opened its doors at midnight on Sunday to sell the latest Beatles album.
The HMV store had hoped to be besieged by hundreds of fans but there were few signs of Beatlemania -- just 15 had turned up by midnight despite the offer of a special certificate for the first 350 buyers of the greatest hits album.
But the diehard fans did try to bring back memories of the the Fab Four's 1960s heyday by running and jostling to get the first copy of the album "1."
First in line was Japanese Naoto Ito. "I'm honoured to be the first to buy the record," he said.
Ito was unsure what to do with his certificate: "I guess I'll keep it so when I retire I can look back on how much I liked the Beatles," he said.
He was soon pushed aside by mop-topped Londoner Alan Harrington, who described himself as "the world's number one Beatles fan."
Harrington said he had spent about 40,000 pounds ($57,300) on Beatles records and memorabilia since the 1960s.
"No one could touch me. I've got the knowledge and the experience," he said.
Michel D'Isa from New York was thrilled to add "1" to his collection of 2,000 Beatles records, saying the group "always seem fresh and exciting."
An 18-year-old British university student, Andrew Lewis, agreed: "They've been so influential on bands of our generation."
Justine Walking from London couldn't wait to hand over her 16.99 pounds ($24.34) for the album but said: "I'm unimpressed with the certificate -- it looks like a CD insert."
The store is like holy ground to the diehard fans. Back in 1962, Brian Epstein used the store to make a demo disc by a new band he was managing -- the Beatles.
The supergroup's first official website is due to be launched on Monday, when 21st century fans will be able to take an armchair ride around their songs in the electronic age.
Ito explained his devotion to the Fab Four: "I've been listening to the Beatles since I was 14 and I just don't get bored. They're still magic."
Thirty years after the Fab 4 officially split, Beatles fans on Sunday (November 12) hoped to set a world record with a 13 hour Beatles Music Marathon in Hamburg, Germany.
Why Hamburg, Germany for this vinyl vindication? A 1962 performance at Hamburgs Star Club was a watershed performance for The Beatles that helped catapult the band to fame.
On that fateful night 38 years ago, the Beatles were actually the opening band for singer Tony Sheridan, so it seemed fitting that Sheridan was on hand to celebrate.
The Beatles played new music which enlightened the youths.
Lots of youngsters said if they can do it, so can we, Sheridan said, before launching into his own rendition of the Number One hit Yesterday.
For 13 hours stretching from Sunday afternoon until late in the night, die-hard Beatles fans filed into Hamburgs Kaiserkeller and Star Club during whats being billed as the longest Beatles party in the world.
For 780 minutes, deejays and Beatles band wannabees spun and sung the tunes that made Paul, John, George, and Ringo household names.
The timeless tunes have launched a new generation of Beatles fans, some of which werent even born when the quartet hit the top of the charts.
The Mini-Beats, a group of 4 adolescent German boys, crooned to the crowd doing their best impersonation of the Fab 4.
The biggest band of all time have also made their first ever official release in cyberspace - www.thebeatles.com.
The innovative new site is linked to the release of a new Beatles compilation album "1", which features all 27 of their UK and US number one singles - and contains both archive material and completely new interactive images.
"There's two main sections to the site, the first section is like a hub section, and there's 27 different singles pages in the hub section, " says Anthony Cauchi, Wthe Website's project manager.
"What you find there is recording materials, sleeves and labels, pictures from each of the single's periods, so you can come on and find out what the band looked like, and what the press was like at the time, and in the charts what was number 2, 3 and 4 when that single was number one, so just the whole experience behind that single, and aside from that, there's 27 new pieces that we have created, interactive pieces, for each of the singles, we're actually going to launch with 10 of these on the 13th, and build them on-line every week so people can come back and find new things.
"These pieces range from Yellow Submarine shoot-em-up games for the younger audience, to the Get Back piece where we have recreated the rooftop concert so you can walk around it and see it from every angle, to sort of brand new promo videos for I Feel Fine and Hard Day's Night, so quite a lot of different things really and different experiences, like a whole museum, or gallery of experiences."
The mammoth project, masterminded by Abbey Road Studios, the recording home of The Beatles, and Apple Corps, the band's company, has drawn on a wealth of international internet talent- and Paul, George, Ringo and Yoko Ono have all injected their creative ideas.
"It's taken a good six to eight months to do really," says Anthony Cauchi.
"What we decided to do was go to one company and say come up with a Beatles site, it's not very Beatles to be in one company in one country, so we actually went to different companies all round the world, in Japan, New York, LA, London, France and said do a section of the site each, so they have actually been working simultaneously on stuff, that way we actually got things done quicker but also go different experiences and different styles of artwork because the Japanese style of web deign is completely different to German, to French, so that make s the site quite different and I think it really works, that idea."
The Beatles have undoubtedly one of the most impressive careers in recent musical history - the joint release of the album and Website comprehensively charts their successes, and development, both musically and visually.
Vice President of EMI International Chris Windle is well aware of the ever-lasting demand for The Beatles.
"The biggest catalogue we have, the biggest selling catalogue within EMI world, is The Beatles, and the people that are buying The Beatles today aren't all people my age, so basically what we put together here is an album that reflects their career, of all their huge singles, from the first one to the last one, and gives everyone a real taste of what a fantastic band they were, the music is a fresh and as vibrant today for those newer audiences, which is why we decided we would build the website to give them a lot more information, have some fun with the music, and also get some visual impact from the band."
The official Beatles website - www.thebeatles.com went on-line worldwide on Monday 13th November. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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