Category Archives: John Lennon

Heaps of RSD 2024 Titles for Beatle Fans and Collectors

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Apologies, but we’re a little slow of the mark with the Record Store Day 2024 news from last week. However, it has given us a bit more time to research and hopefully provide a few more details – so here goes.

First up, from Apple Records is another unique format first for The Beatles. It is a tiny The Beatles Limited Edition RSD3 Turntable, featuring a Beatle-branded dustcover and turntable facing. Each turntable is Bluetooth-enabled and housed in a Beatles’ box that includes four super small 3″ records featuring the four songs they performed 60 years ago on The Ed Sullivan Show: ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Til There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. Each record is housed in an outer box and comes in a picture sleeve. There is also a poster for each. The package also includes a bright yellow Beatle-branded carrying case, which can hold up to ten 3” records. These little discs apparently play at 331/3 rpm.

If you don’t want the record player, the four 3″ singles will be sold separately, also housed in an outer box, with a picture sleeve and poster. The records only have music on one side:

The concept of these 3″ singles and their accompanying tiny record player have been around for a while (think the Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, or The Doors as recently as last year for RSD). However, they represent a limited format The Beatles have not yet embraced, making them a bit like those cards from last year containing special editions of the Red and Blue albums for kids to play on their Yoto players. So they could potentially reach a whole new younger audience. If you want to get an idea of just how small the turntable and discs are check out this Youtube unboxing.

Next up, from the John Lennon camp, comes a 4 track, 12″ EP teaser for the forthcoming Mind Games Ultimate Mixes box sets – due in June. Two versions of this will be available – one on “glow-in-the-dark” 140g luminous vinyl, and one described as “black ‘audiophile’ 180g vinyl”:

Gotta say the cover for the EP is great. The track list is:

Side A:
1. Mind Games (Ultimate Mix)
2. I’m The Greatest (Ultimate Mix) – feat. George Harrison & Ringo Starr

Side B:
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) (Ultimate Mix)
4. You Are Here (Outtake, Take 5)

Ringo Starr will have an RSD 12″ 45 EP called Crooked Boy available on exclusive black & white marble vinyl – and also in a really cool cover:

Written and produced by Songwriter’s Hall Of Famer Linda Perry, Crooked Boy features four brand-new tracks from Ringo. The EP also includes guitar performances on every song from Nick Valensi of The Strokes.

On a recent video Ringo showed the inside cover:

And a quick shot of what looks like a green vinyl edition. Maybe that is coming later?

Zoetrope picture discs seem to be all the rage this RSD. There are no fewer than nine LPs being released, including artists like Blur, Marc Bolan and T.Rex, Fatboy Slim, Lily Allen, and even one from Doctor Who.

What is a Zoetrope Picture disc? They look fantastic spinning on a turntable. Have a look at this YouTube from last year of Blur’s ‘The Ballad of Darren (Zoetrope Vinyl)’:

Dark Horse Records and Record Store Day have announced a multi-year partnership to release limited Zoetrope picture disc pressings of George Harrison’s entire studio album catalogue. The first two titles in the RSD exclusive series – Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound – will be available on Record Store Day in April 2024. Limited to 8,000 units globally and exclusive to Record Store Day, each is individually numbered in silver foil and will include an insert reproducing the original artwork. The front cover will look like this – with a cut-out window showing off the LP plus a hype sticker and limited edition numbering also on show:

As mentioned there’ll be an insert in each LP with the original cover artwork included:

Dark Horse is once again extremely busy this RSD. They’ll also have out a 25th anniversary edition of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros’ Rock Art & The Ex-Ray Style, the debut album by the band in a limited pink vinyl Record Store Day exclusive 2LP pressing. The remastered 1999 album, which was Strummer’s first album release in a decade, is spread over 2 LP’s for optimal sound quality, and the original gatefold artwork by Damien Hirst will be meticulously reproduced:

One obscure Dark Horse release can be found only on the US RSD list as a Limited Run/ Regional Focus release with only 800 copies made. Its an album called Dreamers In The Field by Huun-Huur-Tu, Carmen Rizzo and Dhani Harrison:

From Wikipedia: Huun-Huur-Tu are from Tuva, a Russian federative republic situated on the Mongolia–Russia border. Their music includes throat singing, in which the singers sing both a note and its overtones, thus producing two or three notes simultaneously. The overtone may sound like a flute, whistle or bird, but is solely a product of the human voice. They also play traditional Tuvan instruments. However, in recent years, the group have begun to selectively incorporate Western instruments and electronic music.

Carmen Rizzo is an American record producer, mixer, programmer, DJ, remixer and recording artist. A two-time Grammy nominee, he’s worked with Seal, Coldplay, Dido, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Pete Townshend. In addition to collaborating with Huun Huur Tu, Rizzo co-founded the world/electronic act Niyaz with Azam Ali and Loga Ramin Torkian (with three #1 iTunes albums). He’s released his own solo electronic albums too, so this RSD release looks to be an eclectic sound mix!

And lastly, on the UK and Australian RSD sites, there are two Dark Horse Yusuf/Cat Stevens LP re-issues listed (….can’t seem to find these on the US list).

They are (from 1975) Numbers on black vinyl LP – which will be limited to 2,000 units globally, and reissued for RSD with a lenticular gatefold cover. Included will be a reproduction of the original 16-page book with lyrics and illustrations:

And also (from 1977) Izitso – again, limited to 2,000 units globally and presented in a lenticular gatefold cover:

So, a lot of product from Dark Horse for RSD 2024…..

Record Store Day 2024 is on Saturday, April 20.

‘Give Peace A Chance’ – Another Charity Acetate From Yoko & Sean

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Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon have announced that they have donated specially created Limited Edition acetates to 50 charities for them to raise money for peace and love this holiday season.

The pair, in association with Abbey Road Studios and Universal Music, have had made 50 rare and strictly limited 12″ vinyl acetates of the Ultimate Mixes of the Plastic Ono Band single ‘Give Peace A Chance’/’Remember Love’.

This is a repeat of what they did in 2021 when 50 ultra-rare 12″ copies of ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ where made. That time they sent the discs to 50 independent record stores, asking each to sell, auction, or creatively fundraise in any way they saw fit and donate the money to a charity of their choice. We tried to follow what happened to each of those discs and you can read about that here.

This time the discs are going direct to 50 different charities to use as they please. In a note accompanying each record, Sean Ono Lennon says:

‘Happy Holidays. To raise the spirit of Peace and Love this December, here is one of only fifty Limited Edition acetates that have been hand-cut at Abbey Road. It’s yours – to sell, auction, raise money to help your charity or to fund your Xmas party – to GIVE PEACE A CHANCE and REMEMBER LOVE.

We’d like to follow the journey these acetates take and the goodwill that they spread – please use the hashtag #GivePeaceAChance and we’ll re-tweet and share their progress on social media to help promote the good causes and good vibes.’

The 50 double-sided 12” acetates have been individually hand-cut on the lathe at Abbey Road Studios by mastering engineer Sean Magee. The acetates use the latest ‘Ultimate Mix’ version of the songs, produced by Sean, mixed by Paul Hicks, engineered by Sam Gannon and executive produced by Yoko Ono.

Each edition is stickered and numbered out of 50 and includes a machine printed signature from Yoko Ono Lennon, making them incredibly collectable.

As we said back in 2021, we reckon this is a fantastic initiative by Yoko, Sean, Abbey Road Studios, UME, and the John Lennon Estate to do some good and promote some much-needed peace in the world this particular holiday season. Good on them for using ‘Give Peace A Chance’ in this creative way.

You can read more and find a list of the 50 chosen charities on the official John Lennon website.

John Lennon ‘Mind Games Ultimate Collection’ Confirmed for June 2024

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And the hits just keep on coming….

Hot on the heels of a huge two weeks of Beatle announcements and expectation comes just a little bit more vital detail on the John Lennon Ultimate Collection box set of his 1973 album Mind Games.

This blurry image has now appeared on the official Lennon website:

Along with it are these words:

This builds on the scant detail in an October 9 Tweet (for John’s birthday) teasing that the Lennon estate would indeed be releasing “….a brand new, completely remixed Mind Games (The Ultimate Collection) in the summer of 2024, featuring an incredible six albums worth of material, followed by even more surprises later in the year.”

Today’s news makes it very clear that the June 2024 box set follows in the format footsteps of Imagine and Plastic Ono Band, two highly acclaimed reissues already out there. Good news for Lennon fans and collectors!

We can also confirm that, as was done for Imagine and Plastic Ono Band, there will be a separate accompanying hardback book to go with Mind Games.

Comparing John’s Demo to the Final Track

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This is a well put together analysis of how the original demo tape of ‘Now and Then’ compares to the finished Beatles ‘Now and Then’ just released:

RSD 2023 Beatle-related Titles Announced

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The Record Store Day 2023 release list has just come out and come April 23 there’ll be at least three titles of interest to Beatle collectors.

Probably the most interesting and hard-to-get will be a re-imagining of John Lennon’s Gimme Some Truth best-of compilation which is being re-issued as a boxset containing 9 x 10” white vinyl EPs. Each EP will feature four tracks. Only 500 copies of this will be produced, hence the ‘hard-to-get’ moniker….

Next is the highly speculated 50th anniversary release of Paul McCartney’s Red Rose Speedway in limited edition, Half Speed Master vinyl form:

According to the RSD list there will be 5,000 pressed so this should be much easier to secure. It follows similar Half Speed Master editions of McCartney, Wings Wild Life and RAM.

Then there’s a re-issue of the 1981 Ringo Starr title Stop and Smell the Roses. This is being re-issued on vinyl as a 2LP with six bonus tracks for the first time. It will come in a gatefold with printed inner sleeves, original record labels and specialty color vinyl described as lava lamp effect clear red/white for LP1 and lava lamp effect clear red/pink for LP2. There are 2,500 copies being pressed.

Stop and Smell the Roses will also be issued on RSD as a CD (500 copies).

So, that’s John, Paul, and Ringo for Record Store Day 2023.

But wait, there is a George connection too. Dark Horse, the record label he started up (now run by son Dhani Harrison) is releasing not one but two LPs.

The first is by Stairsteps, a band originally signed to the label back in 1975. For Record Store Day 2023 we’ll see their 1976 album 2nd Resurrection re-issued on black vinyl. Billy Preston played synthesizer and served as co-producer alongside Robert Margouleff.

Dark Horse will also have a 20th Anniversary edition of the Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros album Streetcore as a limited edition pressing on white vinyl for RSD:

More Info on the Photographs Used for the Revolver Cover

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We’ve had readers doing a lot more detective work and research into the photographs that Klaus Voormann used for his collage and line drawings for the famous Revolver cover.

In case you’ve missed it the story on our blog started here and here when we stumbled across a terrific montage detailing all the then known images used for the cover.

Turns out the author of that montage was Ukrainian Beatle fan Sergey, one of our readers! He wrote to us letting us know he’d first created it (way back in 2012!) for a Russian Beatles discussion forum called beatles.ru.

Sergey has since tracked down the source of the image of Ringo used as inspiration for the line drawing of him Klaus placed at the bottom left of the Revolver cover – the one where he is looking skywards.

We’re still not sure of the photographer, but it was published in a German booklet Das sind die Beatles which features a series of black-and-white photographs and short comments about each. It was produced by Bravo magazine for the 1966 Bravo Blitztournee tour, under the auspices of Beat Publication Ltd. The photographer details are not indicated, but Sergey sent us these photographs of the actual publication:

We then published what we feel is another piece in the mystery – the photograph of John Lennon that was very likely the inspiration for Klaus’s line drawing of John at the top right-hand side of Revolver. You can read about that here.

That prompted two other readers – Tom and burnham42 – to offer up even more clues. These revolve around the source images for the three small Beatle faces (and two hands) on this part of the cover:

burnham42 wrote:

I think the one of the three small photos top left is in The Beatles Anthology book page 70 (in my French edition). You can also find it on pinterest. The photo was taken on the way to Hamburg. There is John, Paul, George and Gerry and the Pacemakers in the photo. The man on the floor (George?) is pulling a face and you even have the hands that Klaus also used.

Well, drag out your English edition of The Beatles Anthology book too if you have one because the image is also on page 70 there as well:

The Anthology Book says the photo is from George Harrison’s private collection. The caption in the book reads: In a lay-by on the road to Hamburg and the Ost See. Me, Paul and John with Gerry and the Pacemakers.

We have George and Paul, who are standing on the left, and John sitting on the ground pulling a funny face.

Voormann has cut out three sections of this image. Paul has been placed to the left, his raised arm now just below George’s face. And he’s cropped John’s face to make it appear he has a Beatles hair-cut, and tilted it so that it is more upright. His hand from the image is also used, but also at a different angle.

So, one more mystery solved!

Following all this, Sergey has been back in touch and has offered up a revised, updated version of his original Revolver cover “sources” montage. Here it is:

Please click on the image to see a larger version.

Another Piece in the ‘Revolver’ Cover Mystery?

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Could this be another piece in the jigsaw puzzle that is the famous Revolver cover montage by Klaus Voormann?

In this explainer collage below there’s a question mark about the origins of the photograph Voormann used as inspiration for his drawing of John Lennon:

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

It is the drawing on the top right-hand side:

Could it have been this image?

The eyes, mouth and hair all look very similar.

We don’t think this has been identified in other Revolver photo research info before. See our previous posts on this here and here.

We’re still looking to confirm who might have taken the photo (more on this soon) but beatlesblogger.com reader naturalkatsup, who kindly sent it in, says it was taken at Reed Pigman’s “Pigman Ranch” in Missouri on September 19th, 1964. They say it seems to be taken by a photographer named Curt Gunther? We’re not sure if the image was published in a magazine that Klaus had access to, but naturalkatsup has found other photos from the same day on the web. Here’s the full photo:

And here are a couple of other shots from the same photo shoot:

What do you think? Could this be the source for Klaus Voormann’s Revolver drawing of John?

If you definitely know who the photographer is please get in touch.

UPDATE:

We can now confirm that this image was in fact taken by photographer Curt Gunther:

Thanks to the info supplied by naturalketsup, we checked our own Beatle library, and found this book:

It was published in 1989 and chronicles the Beatles’ 1964 tour of the U.S. and Canada in great detail. It includes 150 never-before-seen photographs at the time by freelance photographer, Curt Gunther.

Although Beatle manager Brian Epstein had ordered that no photographers accompany The Beatles on the tour, Derek Taylor, their Press Officer and friend, had persuaded Epstein to allow Gunther to tag along with the touring party. And he captured some amazing images. They were issued in 2000 in an expensive Genesis Publications book called Mania Days.

But prior to that came another more affordable book called Beatles ’64 – A Hard Day’s Night In America, with text by A.J.S Rayl and many of the same photographs by Curt Gunther. Here’s the rear cover:

The book has the details a day the band had off in their hectic schedule and their visit to Reed Pigman’s “Pigman Ranch” in Missouri on September 19th, 1964, including a very scary night flight from Arkansas in a small plane to get there. George Harrison feared they’d perish, just like Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper had in a small plane crash in 1959:

So, this confirms the origins of the image:

And the photographer:

The meetthebeatlesforreal.com site has some more images from the Pigman ranch stay.

The only question is, did Klaus Voormann use one of Gunther’s photos as his inspiration for John Lennon’s image on the cover of Revolver?

We reckon it’s likely.

More ‘Revolver’ Cover Photo Mysteries Solved

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With the 2022 remaster and remix of The Beatles‘ Revolver album due to hit stores next month, there’s renewed interest in solving some of the remaining mysteries of just where cover designer Klaus Voormann sourced all those little images that make up the collage he created for this now-famous cover:

As you know last year we published an article about the latest thinking. There were still at least four images (circled in yellow) that remain mysterious as to their source (click on the image to see a larger version):

Now at least three of those four yellow circles have been solved (to an extent) by German fan and YouTuber, Yaacov (Jack) Edisherashvili.

Jack actually took a trip to visit Klaus Voormann in person and spoke with him about the Revolver cover. While there he asked him about where he’d sourced some of those photos.

You can see that video below. It’s interesting because in this first video Klaus talks about the cover and how it will be explained in the new book that’ll be included in the new 2022 release:

After Jack visited Klaus he wrote to us to say:

“The image on the top left corner – the three faces – was never published. This was given privately to Klaus by the band.

The one on far right – the tiny image of Klaus himself – was shot by the late Astrid Kirchherr while Klaus was in his band Paddy, Klaus & Gibson.

The Ringo image – on top right corner – Klaus says was shot on a boat trip.

The John Lennon image with cigarette – I forgot to ask, but looks to me taken from press conference pictures?“

So, that’s more information than we’ve had previously. Following his visit to Klaus, Jack has also uploaded this comprehensively researched YouTube with a detailed breakdown of the Revolver cover:

As you can see still a couple of mysteries remain.

If anyone knows the origins of the John Lennon photo with the cigarette – please let us know.

Also, two other outstanding questions are around the origins of the image of Ringo that Klaus used as inspiration for the drawing at the bottom left of the Revolver cover. Where was it published and who’s the photographer? And also the George image on the right – same questions: 

A New Beatle Book – ‘The Beatles’ Liverpool’

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Now that international travel is slowly becoming more feasible for many of us again, a visit to Liverpool – the city where it all began for The Beatles – might just be back on your travel “must do” list.

If so, it’d be nice to have a guide to point you in the right direction when you get there.

Liverpool, on the banks of the River Mersey always looms large in any discussion about the formation of the band and their influences. Many of the physical places they lived or frequented have become key parts of the Beatle story. It is of course the city where John, Paul, Ringo and George were born, grew up in, and knew well.

Now a new guide book The Beatles’ Liverpool – just released – takes you there by gathering more than fifty Liverpudlian localities. The fully illustrated guide then explains why those particular places played such a key role in the band’s development and success.

Of course there are the obligatory entries for the childhood homes (Menlove Avenue for John, Arnold Grove for George, Forthlin Road for Paul, and Admiral Grove for Ringo); there’s the background to Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields; The Cavern Club; and the well-known St Peter’s Church, Woolton where John first met Paul.

But there are many more obscure listings too. Like Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight; the Neston Institute in Wirral; and 4 Rodney Street, birthplace of Beatle manager Brian Epstein.

There’s also a handy two-page guide map pinpointing the location of all the places mentioned in the guide.

If you’re planning a Liverpool visit, this book would be an essential to take with you – and it won’t cost you any excess luggage fees. At just over 44 pages The Beatles’ Liverpool is compact and light enough to easily slip into a travel bag or backpack to have with you as you walk the streets of the historic city.

Even if you’re still a way off physically getting to Liverpool, you can dive into The Beatles’ Liverpool and pay a visit vicariously. It’s the perfect armchair alternative to actually being there.

Author Mike Haskins was himself born and raised in Merseyside – and he still lives there! He’s worked as a scriptwriter and researcher for TV, radio and the stage, and has published over fifty books.

WIN A COPY OF THE BEATLES’ LIVERPOOL (NOW CLOSED)

Courtesy of Pitkin Publishing and Batsford Books in the UK, we’ve have two copies of The Beatles’ Liverpool to give away to two lucky readers.

All you need to do is provide your name, email address and have a go at answering two easy Beatle Liverpool-related questions. Just click on the link below to enter:

https://beatlesblogger.survey.fm/the-beatles-liverpool-giveaway

Good luck!

UPDATE:
Thank you to everyone who entered. And congratulations to the two readers who were first in with the correct answers!

They are Fred, from Ontario, Canada; and Diane from New York, USA. They will receive a copy of The Beatles’ Liverpool book, courtesy of Pitkin Publishing and Batsford Books.

The correct answers to our questions were:

  1. In their early career band members purchased many of their instruments from which famous Liverpool music store? Hessy’s Music Centre
  2. Ringo’s family hails from Liverpool’s Dingle area. His Mum worked at pub called The Empress there. In what way did Ringo put that building on the map? It’s on the front cover of his Sentimental Journey LP

Beatles With Records – Part 31

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The photos of George Harrison at home we published in Beatles With Records – Part 30 unleashed something of a flood of further images from readers depicting band members with LPs – especially George.

Additional images from what appears to be that same ‘at home’ photo session show him with even more records:

Specifically a well-stocked, three-tiered record rack seen on the right-hand side here (and thanks to our reader Lammert who sent these images through, plus many more across the whole Beatles With Records series):

Here, in the top left compartment you can just make out this 1966 album, Krishna Consciousness by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami, the Indian spiritual teacher and founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the “Hare Krishna Movement”:

On the top right is Booker T and the M.G.’s Soul Limbo from 1968:

In the middle row, to the left is Woody Guthrie’s classic, Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (with Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry and Bess Hawes), first released in 1962:

Staying on the middle row – on the right-hand side is one of George’s all-time favourite bands, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. This time with their Greatest Hits Volume 2 LP first issued in 1967:

And of course, in the bottom left compartment of his record holder George has his own Electronic Sound, released on the Zapple label in 1969:

We say Smokey Robinson is one of George’s favourites because when he got a big package of records delivered during the filming of the Let It Be documentary it contained more Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, as these images from the recent Peter Jackson Get Back film clearly show:

These are (in order of appearance) the aforementioned Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Greatest Hits Volume 2, and also the album Make It Happen (from 1967):

Plus there’s copy of Away We A Go Go, from 1966. (You can see the rear cover of this album in the last Get Back photo above):

For another image of George with a different Miracles LP check out Part 18.

Jumping back a few years, we’ve been sent this image by reader and regular contributor Andrey:

The caption reads: ‘EMI House, Manchester Square, London, October 5 1965. According to Beatles Book #28 the group went to the West End headquarters of their record company to collect four Russian-made acoustic guitars and to be photographed playing them for the benefit of the factory where they were made.’

A stack of jazz records just happened to also make it into the image – and we can see a mono pressing of the 1962 Oscar Peterson Trio release The Sound of the Trio clearly in shot:

In this photo the Beatles look a bit tired and jet-lagged. But they’re still carrying records!

Paul has a copy of Frankie Lymon’s Greatest All-Time Oldies from 1963:

And Ringo has a disc we saw him with in The Beatles With Records Part Seventeen – a ‘Best Of’ compilation called The Golden Goodies of 1963 – Volume 18:

Back to George, and a meeting with the secretaries of the Beatle Fan Club to sort through some of the fan mail. He has some more records on his lap, the top one of which is another of his all-time favourites, Chet Atkins:

And to end this installment, a photograph of John Lennon and Paul McCartney holding a picture sleeve EP cover:

What they have with them is this record:

Why? Because it’s a screen shot from The Music of Lennon & McCartney, a British TV special honoring the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. Produced by Granada Television it first went to air on 16 December, 1965.

During the show The Beatles perform originals, and artists from around the world perform cover versions of their songs. The two are just about to introduce French singer Dick Rivers:

Wikepedia says that Hervé Forneri, known professionally as Dick Rivers, was a French singer and actor who began performing in the early 1960s. He was an important figure in introducing rock and roll music in France. He was an admirer of Elvis Presley, who influenced both his singing and looks.

There will be another Beatles With Records soon. We have been sent many more images since our last post on the subject. Check out all the previous installments here.