Thursday November 9 11:32 AM ET
Beatles 'dot.com Together' After 30 Years
dailynews.yahoo.com
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Thirty years after
their breakup, The Beatles are ready to
``dot.com together'' again for the launch
of their first official Web site -- and the
world's media got a sneak preview
Thursday.
The Beatles are finally taking the long and winding road
onto the information superhighway with the world's top
Internet designers offering a magical mystery tour
around their 27 Number One hits.
-- You can step back on a London roof to hear The
Beatles perform ``Get Back'' in their last live
performance together.
-- Players from London, Tokyo, Sydney and New York
can sign on to play ``Help'' in an interactive search for
the Beatles' instruments in a giant labyrinth.
-- Welcome to the famous Abbey Road recording
studios, stand behind John Lennon, join in for the first
chorus of ``I Wanna Hold Your Hand'' and listen to the
band chatting between takes.
-- For those who had fun in the Sixties but may be too
addled to remember why, try the kaleidoscopic effects
for ``Day Tripper.''
The site -- www.thebeatles.com -- goes live on
November 13 to illustrate a compilation album of the
27 Beatle hits that went to Number One in Britain and
the United States.
Pioneers Again
Abbey Road Studios joined forces with the three
surviving Beatles -- Paul McCartney, George Harrison
and Ringo Starr -- and John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono
for the ambitious global project. Lennon was murdered
in New York in 1980.
Geoff Baker, spokesman for the Beatles company Apple
Corps, dubbed the ambitious venture ``Dot.Com
Together. The Beatles are back at Abbey Road -- in
cyberspace.''
``The Beatles are pioneering new ground for the launch
of a new album. Nobody has ever done anything on this
scale before,'' Baker said at the Abbey Road studios
where the zebra road crossing must rank as the most
photographed in the world ever since it graced a Beatles
album cover.
There are about 3,000 Beatles-related sites but this is
the first official one and the Beatles were determined it
would offer a state-of-the-art window into their music
for diehard fans and, hopefully, a new generation.
Jeremy Neech, project manager for the song-sites,
proudly showed off the first 10 illustrated hits -- the
other 17 will come out over the next three months --
and explained what input the Beatles had.
``They loved it. They are all Internet-savvy and like what
we have done,'' he said. ``Paul suggested taking sound
from the Abbey Road archives of them talking whilst
they were recording. Ringo recommended a Los
Angeles designer. George loved the 'Day Tripper' stuff..
We went over to New York and showed Yoko Ono
what we were doing.''
Novel ideas abound. ``For 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'
we took a 360-degree photo of Studio Two from each
Beatle's perspective and you can just click onto John
and stand behind his microphone,'' he said.
``And if you click onto 'All You Need Is Love' then you
can download origami instructions on how to make
your own love heart or love dove.'' |
