LOS ANGELES – The Independent called Backbeat: “A dynamic blast evoking the Beatles’ raw musical potential” while the Evening Standard hailed the musical as a “back-story to cherish” and the Sunday Express raved: “edgy and cool.”

After storming stages in London, Backbeat, the hit play with music about the Beatles’ Hamburg years, is now winning over audiences with its first U.S. performances this month at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. (The production continues through March 1, 2013.) Directed by five-time Tony Award® nominee David Leveaux, the production follows five rowdy working class lads from the docks of Liverpool – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe – to the raucous clubs of West Germany’s seedy red-light district. Backbeat is produced by Karl Sydow in association with The Glasgow Citizens Theatre and adapted for the stage by Iain Softley & Stephen Jeffreys, based on the Universal Pictures film.

Packed with music, the production’s talented cast thunders through songs that influenced the Beatles (“Johnny B. Goode,” “Money”) and traces the origins behind some of the earliest Lennon-McCartney collaborations (“Love Me Do” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand”). BACKBEAT: ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING features 20 tracks and is available now on CD for $18.98 from Rhino.

The cast will also visit Amoeba Records in Hollywood on February 4 for a free performance of several songs from the production, followed by a CD signing of the album. For more information, please visit www.amoeba.com.

Recorded and mixed by Paul Stacey (Black Crowes, Oasis) at Strangeways studio in London, the collection features cast members Daniel Healy (who plays McCartney) on vocals, guitar and bass; Andrew Knott (Lennon) on vocals and guitar; and Oliver Bennett (Best) on drums and vocals.

In the early ’60s, the Beatles’ played residencies at several Hamburg clubs. The Kaiserkeller and Star Club were two places where the band would play early into the morning every night for weeks at a time, honing its musicianship and developing its electrifying stage presence. Lennon once quipped: “I might have been born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.”

It was during this time that the group met German photographer Astrid Kirchherr, who captured several memorable pictures of the quintet and was credited with creating the band’s signature mop-top haircut. She was also engaged to Sutcliffe, who died from a brain hemorrhage not long after quitting the band. Backbeat revisits that turning point in the Beatles’ evolution and tells a remarkable story about friendship, love and the sacrifice it takes to be an artist.

BACKBEAT: ORIGINAL CAST RECORDING
Track Listing

1. “Johnny B. Goode”
2. “Good Golly Miss Molly”
3. MEDLEY: “Blue Moon Of Kentucky/(We’re Gonna Hang Out) The Washing On The Siegfried Line/(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window”
4. “Twenty Flight Rock”
5. “Long Tall Sally”
6. “(I’m A) Road Runner”
7. “You Really Got A Hold On Me”
8. “A Taste Of Honey”
9. “Rock And Roll Music”
10. “My Bonnie”
11. “Money”
12. “P.S. I Love You”
13. “Bad Boy”
14. “Slow Down”
15. “Please Mr. Postman”
16. “Twist And Shout”
17. “I Saw Her Standing There”
18. “Love Me Do”
19. “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
20. “Please Please Me”

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LOS ANGELES – Legendary singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Stills has released more than 250 songs since 1966, some solo, others with iconic bands including Buffalo Springfield, Manassas and, most famously, with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young. On the new four-CD set CARRY ON, producers Graham Nash and Joel Bernstein—in collaboration with Stills—outline the remarkable 50-year scope of Stills' career with 82 tracks, 25 of them previously unreleased. In retracing the musical paths he’s explored, it’s clear that Stills is more than a prolific hit-maker (“Love The One You’re With,” “Southern Cross”)—he is also a songwriter who speaks his mind (“For What It’s Worth”) and his heart (“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”) equally well, and is comfortable playing diverse genres including folk, rock, blues, jazz, country, and Latin.

The tracks unfold mostly in chronological order, and the anthology leads off with its oldest entry: “Travelin’”—a previously unreleased recording that Stills made at age 17 in Costa Rica (one of the many places he lived growing up in a military family). The youngest track, recorded only a few months ago, features CSN performing “Girl From The North Country” in New York City during a sold-out five-night run at the Beacon Theater that closed the group’s acclaimed 2012 world tour. CARRY ON, which features a 113-page booklet with rare photos and extensive liner notes by Michael O’Hara Garcia, David Bender, and NY Times Best Selling author Daniel Levitin, will be available as a 4-CD boxed set on March 26 from Rhino for a suggested price of $54.98. A digital version of the set will also be available.

In addition to essential studio and live recordings, CARRY ON covers new ground with more than an hour’s worth of previously unreleased material including “No-Name Jam,” a 1970 recording of Stills in London trading guitar licks with his friend Jimi Hendrix. Other previously unissued highlights include the songs “Welfare Blues” (1984), “Little Miss Bright Eyes” (1973), and “Who Ran Away?” (1968), and early demo versions of “Forty-Nine Reasons” and “The Lee Shore,” and “Black Coral,” a song Stills and Young released as a duo in 1976—the version here features all four members of CSNY. “The Treasure” offers a peek into Stills’ process—originally released in 1973 on Manassas’s self-titled debut, this version was recorded by Stills three years earlier with bassist Calvin Samuels and drummer Conrad Isidore during sessions for Stephen Stills 2.

CARRY ON also features a number of classic songs newly remixed by Nash and Stanley Tajima Johnston, including “Everydays,” “To A Flame,” “See The Changes,” “4+20” and “Change Partners,” the latter with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel guitar. There is also a newly edited version of Stills performing “Cuba Al Fin” at the Havana Jam in 1979.

Several songs make their CD-debut with CARRY ON, including “Uno Mundo,” “War Games” and the single mix of “Love The One You’re With.” Stills’ time on stage is represented as well with a number of previously released performances, including several from his acclaimed 2005 album Man Alive. The collection boasts new live tracks, including CSN singing “No Tears Left” in 1997 at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and CSNY on stage in 2002 at Madison Square Garden with Memphis Horns Booker T. Jones and Donald “Duck” Dunn covering Otis Redding’s “Ole Man Trouble.” Other famous players turn up on CARRY ON’s wealth of material as well, including Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Maynard Ferguson, Ray Baretto, Willie Bobo, and Larry Harlow.

CARRY ON
Track Listing

Disc One
1. “Travelin’” – Stephen Stills*
2. “High Flyin’ Bird” – The Au Go Go Singers
3. “Sit Down I Think I Love You” – Buffalo Springfield
4. “Go And Say Goodbye” – Buffalo Springfield
5. “For What It’s Worth” – Buffalo Springfield
6. “Everydays” – Buffalo Springfield*
7. “Pretty Girl Why” – Buffalo Springfield
8. “Bluebird” – Buffalo Springfield
9. “Rock ’n’ Roll Woman” – Buffalo Springfield
10. “Special Care” – Buffalo Springfield
11. “Questions” – Buffalo Springfield
12. “Uno Mundo” – Buffalo Springfield
13. “Four Days Gone” – Buffalo Springfield
14. “Who Ran Away?” – Stephen Stills*
15. “Forty-Nine Reasons” – Stephen Stills*
16. “Helplessly Hoping” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
17. “You Don’t Have To Cry” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
18. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
19. “4+20” – Stephen Stills*
20. “So Begins The Task” – Stephen Stills*
21. “The Lee Shore” – Stephen Stills*
22. “Carry On/Questions” – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
23. “Woodstock” – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Disc Two
1. “Love The One You’re With” – Stephen Stills
2. “Old Times Good Times” – Stephen Stills
3. “Black Queen” – Stephen Stills
4. “No-Name Jam” – Stephen Stills & Jimi Hendrix*
5. “Go Back Home” – Stephen Stills
6. “Marianne” – Stephen Stills
7. “My Love Is A Gentle Thing” – Stephen Stills
8. “Fishes And Scorpions” – Stephen Stills
9. “The Treasure” – Stephen Stills*
10. “To A Flame” – Stephen Stills*
11. “Cherokee” – Stephen Stills
12. “Song Of Love” – Stephen Stills
13. “Rock ’n’ Roll Crazies/Cuban Bluegrass” – Stephen Stills
14. “Jet Set (Sigh)” – Stephen Stills
15. “It Doesn’t Matter” – Stephen Stills
16. “Colorado” – Stephen Stills
17. “Johnny’s Garden” – Stephen Stills
18. “Change Partners” – Stephen Stills*
19. “Do For Others” – Stephen Stills and Steve Fromholz*
20. “Find The Cost Of Freedom” – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young*
21. “Little Miss Bright Eyes” – Stephen Stills*
22. “Isn’t It About Time” – Stephen Stills

Disc Three
1. “Turn Back The Pages” – Stephen Stills
2. “First Things First” – Stephen Stills*
3. “My Angel” – Stephen Stills*
4. “Love Story” – Stephen Stills
5. “As I Come Of Age” – Stephen Stills
6. “Know You Got To Run” – Stephen Stills*
7. “Black Coral” – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young*
8. “I Give You Give Blind” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
9. “Crossroads/You Can’t Catch Me” – Stephen Stills*
10. “See The Changes” – Crosby, Stills & Nash*
11. “Thoroughfare Gap” – Stephen Stills
12. “Lowdown” – Stephen Stills
13. “Cuba Al Fin” (edit) – Stephen Stills
14. “Dear Mr. Fantasy” – Stephen Stills & Graham Nash
15. “Spanish Suite” – Stephen Stills
16. “Feel Your Love” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
17. “Raise A Voice” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
18. “Daylight Again” – Crosby, Stills & Nash

Disc Four
1. “Southern Cross” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
2. “Dark Star” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
3. “Turn Your Back On Love” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
4. “War Games” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
5. “50/50” – Stephen Stills
6. “Welfare Blues” – Stephen Stills*
7. “Church (Part Of Someone)” – Stephen Stills*
8. “I Don’t Get It” – Stephen Stills
9. “Isn’t It So” – Stephen Stills
10. “Haven’t We Lost Enough?” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
11. “Ballad Of Hollis Brown” – Stephen Stills
12. “Treetop Flyer” – Stephen Stills
13. “Heart’s Gate” – Stephen Stills
14. “Girl From The North Country” – Crosby, Stills & Nash*
15. “Feed The People” – Stephen Stills
16. “Panama” – Crosby, Stills & Nash
17. “No Tears Left” – Crosby, Stills & Nash*
18. “Ole Man Trouble” – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young*
19. “Ain’t It Always” – Stephen Stills

*previously unreleased

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