On January 30, 1969, Billy performed with The Beatles at their famous rooftop concert atop the Apple Corps headquarters in London. "They didn't tell me they were going to put my name on it! The guys were really kind to me." For Let It Be, Billy played on "Dig A Pony," "I've Got A Feeling," "One After 909," "The Long And Winding Road," "Dig It," "Let It Be" and "Get Back." In April 1969, The Beatles rush-released their worldwide number one single "Get Back"/"Don't Let Me Down." Both sides of the disc were credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." "The greatest surprise was when the record came out," Billy remembered in 2002. In 1969, Billy worked with The Beatles once more, playing Hammond organ on the Abbey Road album songs "Something" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and on their final studio album Let It Be, which has been remixed and expanded for a new Special Edition to be released October 15 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.
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In 1962, at 16, Billy joined Little Richard's touring band with live dates including a performance in Liverpool, with The Beatles as the opening act. Throughout Encouraging Words, impassioned lyrics are bolstered by jam-band energy and Billy's incredible work on the keys including "Let The Music Play," "When You Are Mine" and closer "You've Been Acting Strange."Īs a child prodigy, Billy played the organ for the gospel great Mahalia Jackson, and in 1957 at the age of 10, he performed a vocal and organ duet with Nat King Cole on his US television show. He takes The Beatles' classic "I've Got A Feeling" into funky territory. With a dramatic classical music intro, Billy immediately shifts gears on "Sing One For The Lord," which he co-wrote with George Harrison, to a heartfelt and inspirational plea. "Use What You Got" has the honky-tonk feel its name suggests and the title track "Encouraging Words," offers universal wisdom about truth-telling and living the golden rule. The opener "Right Now" sets that gospel-funk vibe to lyrics about yearning and impatience while the spiritually infused "Little Girl" takes a somber look at love lost. In 2010 Record Collector magazine described Encouraging Words as "one of the finest titles in the Apple Records catalogue," while virtuoso keyboard player Rick Wakeman told BBC Radio 4's John Wilson he considered Preston's two Apple albums "absolute gems - a perfect combination of gospel and funk." Both of Preston's album cuts were available two months before the versions recorded by George Harrison appeared on his own triple album masterpiece All Things Must Pass, which was recently reissued. Preston recorded two of Harrison's songs, "All Things Must Pass" and " My Sweet Lord," for Encouraging Words. Showcasing the songwriting, singing and musicianship honored with his induction this year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for musical excellence, ‘Encouraging Words’ is set for release as a vinyl reissue on October 29, 2021, via Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.įirst released in the UK on September 11, 1970, Encouraging Words was co-produced by Billy Preston and George Harrison. Revisiting this 1970 album underscores why his legacy as one of the most talented and versatile artists endures.
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But you can’t deny he knew how to (re)-write (and arrange/re-arrange) a pop song.‘Encouraging Words’ exemplifies the wide-ranging talent that Billy Preston was revered for by fans, critics and peers. Jeff Lynnemight have pulled a few all-nighters studying up The Beatlesand it paid off when he (eventually) got to rub up against one of them in that supergroup (and can’t you just see him doing exactly that, Tom Petty possibly funnelling him with some weed to give George Harrison’sknee a break from all the not-entirely-dry-humping). Are you kidding me? All of this stuff is great. Evil Woman, Livin’ Thing, Strange Magic, Telephone Line, Can’t Get It Out Of My Head. I just won’t accept that this band is not good. You could argue over missing one or two but this has everything you need. I think that ELO suffers from being one of the most over-anthologised bands around and really all you need is this slim (perfect) volume. So many songs I knew – now they were all in one place. I only realised that many of them had been songs of my childhood after I heard a compilation CD my father bought. I instantly adored the pop confections of the Electric Light Orchestra.
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Electric Light Orchestra, ELO’s Greatest Hits (1979)