Category Archives: Apple Records

Three French Beatles LP’s

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This post continues on from the one previous detailing some Beatles items found on a recent visit to Paris. As well as bookstores, I was also on the lookout for new or second-hand Beatles records and CDs. With only limited time (and limited knowledge of the geography of the city) I could only scout around nearby where I was staying and so I really only got to visit four record shops in all.

The best of them was definitely Crocodisc, which is at 40 rue des Ecoles, Paris which is smack bang in the middle of the Sorbonne university district and just down from the Pantheon. (Here‘s a link to their English translation site).

Crocodisc was a pretty good find:

As you can see it is crammed full, floor-to-ceiling, with LP’s, 45’s, CD’s and DVDs. Not only that, as well as the main store there is another whole shop-full of records right next door specialising in jazz and metal, etc. Pretty incredible.

They had a fairly large Beatles section – some new, mostly second-hand. I was looking out for actual French pressings to add to the collection and to serve as a happy reminder of my time in Paris – which is definitely one of the world’s great cities. I also couldn’t buy a massive amount – partly because I’d have to say that Beatles items in the store were commanding top prices, but also anything I purchased had to be carried safely back to far-away Australia as part of my luggage.

After much deliberation (and checking out the quality of the covers and discs inside) I settled on three choices. None of these is especially rare or unusual, but each is distinctly different and come from different phases of the Beatles career.

The first was a French pressing of the soundtrack album “Help!”, or as the cover says, “Les Beatles chanson du film Help!”:

I have multiple copies of “Help!” (see here, and here for more) but not a French pressing with this unique cover and released on the Odeon label.

Next is a French Apple pressing of the 1970 Beatle compilation release, “The Beatles Again” (or in some markets known as “Hey Jude”). The rear cover and labels for this one are unique to France with their prominent references to the disc manufacturer Pathe Marconi:

 

Finally, a French vinyl copy of “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl”, a budget Beatles record from 1977 and so far never (so far) officially released on CD:

This is on the Parlophone/Pathe Marconi/EMI label and has a great inner sleeve featuring some of the other Beatles titles available in France at the time:

So, that was my Paris Beatles records experience. Nothing earth-shatteringly special about the purchases, but some great reminders of a trip to Paris. The Crocodisc shop was definitely a fun visit, too. You could easily spend a couple of hours in there…

Click here for a comprehensive list of record stores – not only in Paris but right across France (it’s big).

Label Variations Part Seven – Help!

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Our last post was about the 1965 US Capitol Records edition of the Bealtes “Help!”

Here are some label variations of that album (both LPs and CDs), including the versions released in Australia and the UK.  Some are from my collection, augmented by images of variations from around the world. You can click on the labels to see larger versions and hover your mouse over to get the country of origin:

And one final vinyl – thanks to Paul in France for this image of an exclusive French edition from 1978 on orange vinyl:

There are also a few CD’s:

(Click on labels to see larger versions. Hover mouse over to get country of origin)

And of course the DVD (which came out in 2007 in both Deluxe and standard edition sets). Here’s the standard edition box and DVD:

To publicise the DVD, Capitol issued a promotional disc – a seven song “Sampler” from the film:

For more Label Variations you can see Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six plus the Beatles “Love” variations here and here. There’s also a comprehensive post on all the extensive variations of the McCartney/Fireman “Electric Arguments” release, the Twin Freaks LP and singles, and McCartney‘s recent “Kisses On The Bottom” CD’s and LP. There is also a post on some George Harrison “All Things Must Pass” label variations.

Yellow Submarine – Songtrack and Blu-Ray

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The new “Yellow Submarine” has been out for a couple of weeks now and my copies have just arrived – courtesy of Amazon in the United States.

I got the re-packaged “Yellow Submarine Songtrack” CD.  Yes I know, it’s the exact same songs re-mixed and remastered way back in 1999.  Despite a perfect opportunity to do so Apple hasn’t provided us with the 09.09.09 remixes that were used for the “1962-66″ (Red), “1967-70” (Blue), and the “1” re-issues – but the same old remixes used on the original “Yellow Submarine Songtrack” release. As one Beatles collector wrote: “Just how lazy is that. Making us pay again for the same 12 year-old mixes?”

But it does come in the re-versioned packing making it compatible with all the new-look cardboard CD covers, including the back-catalogue titles in the 2009 box set – and the Beatles “1”, and so the completist collector just has to have it:

I also got the Blu-Ray of the 1968 film (it’s also out in a refreshed DVD, too) in excellent remastered quality.

(Click on images to see a large version)

But did you know that there was a unique, limited edition Blu-Ray cover offered in the UK, apparently issued in small numbers only by the HMV chain of record stores there? Check it out in this un-boxing video…

For more on “Yellow Submarine” see this post. Yes, the Blu-Ray will be crystal clear and worth it, but what are we collectors really getting that’s new?

Label Variations Part Six – Abbey Road

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I haven’t done one of these for a while. It’s been over a year in fact. The last Beatle-related “Label Variations” was Part Five – and that was way back in February, 2011.

(You can see Parts One, Two, Three, Four, and Five plus the Beatles “Love” variations here and here. There’s also a comprehensive post on all the extensive variations of the McCartney/Fireman “Electric Arguments” release, the Twin Freaks LP and singles, and McCartney‘s recent “Kisses On The Bottom” CD’s and LP. There is also a post on some George Harrison “All Things Must Pass” label variations).

So it’s now time for another. This time some label variations of the Beatles legendary 1969 release “Abbey Road”, kicking off with the original UK pressing:

Here’s a more recent (1994) UK re-issue. This label is more yellow/green:

Here are some Australian pressings:

The Australian “Abbey Road” front cover is distinguished by the word “Stereo” on the top right-hand side:

Here’s a couple of examples from New Zealand, starting with the original Apple pressing. As you can see the Apple colour on NZ pressings is quite a pale, washed-out green:

Incidentally, these early copies of “Abbey Road” in New Zealand came in covers with the old-fashioned external tab-fold on the rear of the cover:

These first New Zealand copies also come in a black paper inner sleeve.

Here’s a more recent black and silver Parlophone label from New Zealand:

Next an Apple label from Germany:

One made in France by Pathe Marconi:

This label below is the one used by EMI for Asian markets (Hong Kong, South East Asia and Malaysia):

And finally the fairly plain USA label:

I’ve also got a few copies of “Abbey Road” on CD (I really love this album!)

This first one is the original UK pressing:

And here’s the Australian CD, which is quite similar to the UK:

And the EU version of the very impressive 2009 Beatles digital remasters version:

Lastly, a CD that I think is an illegal copy from China. I got a series of these on a trip to Vietnam (you can read some more about this here). The series is called the Beatles “Double Golden Collection”. There are two CD’s in each jewel box and you get one 2009 remastered album on each disc, complete with the bonus mini documentary. Disc One, shown here, has “Abbey Road” (the other in this set has “Let It Be” on the second disc):

If anyone else has some “Abbey Road” labels they’d like to share please send them to beatlesblogger@gmail.com

(For most images above click to see a larger version)

Badfinger “Magic Christian” Apple LP Re-issue

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On Record Store Day 2012 I went to the huge Glebe Record Fair in search of some collectable treasure and came home with three nice items.

One of them was another in the series of Apple reissues that came out on vinyl in the early 1990s. These are now very rare and you can read all about the background to these here.  At the record fair I stumbled across one of the LPs from that time which I’ve been searching for for a very long time:

This is the original 1970 album “Magic Christian Music” by Badfinger, reissued in 1991 on Apple Records – only this time as a gatefold cover and containing a bonus 12″ disc with two extra songs. It was part of Phase I of a significant series of reissues which included James Taylor’s “James Taylor”, Mary Hopkins’ “Postcard”, Jackie Lomax’s “Is This What You Want?”, and Billy Preston’s “That’s the Way God Planned It”.

These vinyl reissues are now really very difficult to track down so I was surprised to see one at the fair and decided on the spot to get it.  It comes with the original Apple catalogue number SAPCOR 12 and looks to be a European pressing:

One of the distinctive and cool parts about it is that instead of being in a single sleeve it’s a gatefold:

Being a gatefold means there’s obviously space for more photos and information about the release, and that in the second half of the sleeve there’s another 12″ record (a 45 rpm disc) containing two additional songs. On Side 1 you get “Storm in a Teacup”, and on Side 2 you get the previously unreleased “Arthur”:

“Arthur” was later included on the double CD of bonus tracks which came with the Apple CD box set that came out in 2010, only with a different stereo remix.

Next time the other collectable item I discovered. Stay tuned.

McCartney’s Kisses on the Bottom – Who Owns The Songs?

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Just had an email from Bruce Hamlin, an Australian collector who runs The Beatles Records Information Service, with some information about the new Paul McCartney release of Kisses on the Bottom (out on February 7).

Because the album is Paul interpreting some of the great old songs he loves, Bruce muses at the end of his email: “The cynic in me reckons that Paul owns the publishing rights to all these songs too. Just for that extra bit of icing on the cake when the royalties come in….”

McCartney of course owns MPL Communications Limited, one of the biggest song publishing and licensing companies in the world – and in fact does own the rights to literally thousands of songs and covering nearly 100 years of music.

So, how many of the songs he’s covering on Kisses on the Bottom does McCartney already own, and will he subsequently get song royalties from tracks he didn’t write back into his own business? In the album’s track-list below I’ve put in RED whether MPL administers the publishing rights:

1. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter  –  YES  (written by Joe Young, Fred E. Ahlert, 1935)
2. Home (When Shadows Fall)  –  NO
3. It’s Only A Paper Moon  –  NO
4. More I Cannot Wish You  –  YES  (written by Frank Loesser, 1949)
5. The Glory Of Love  –  NO
6. We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me)  –  YES  (written by Dick Robertson, Sammy Mysels, Nelson Cogane, 1939)
7. Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive  –  YES  (written by Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, 1944)
8. My Valentine (it’s a new McCartney composition, 2012)  –  YES 
9. Always  –  NO
10. My Very Good Friend The Milkman  –  NO
11. Bye Bye Blackbird  –  NO
12. Get Yourself Another Fool  –  NO
13. The Inch Worm  –  YES  (written by Frank Loesser, 1951)
14. Only Our Hearts (another new composition)   –  YES  

The Deluxe CD Album will feature 2 bonus tracks:

15. Baby’s Request (a 1979 McCartney tune from Back to the Egg)  –  YES 
16. My One And Only Love  –  YES

Therefore, in answer to Bruce’s question, for the standard CD edition of Kisses Paul McCartney owns half the songs. For the deluxe edition he owns the rights to 9 out of the 16 tracks.

Also, it’s just been pointed out to me by Beatlesblog reader Craig that two of the songs on the album have previously been released in versions on Apple Records. Ringo did ‘Bye, Bye Blackbird’ on Sentimental Journey (his 1970 tribute to old songs he loves), and Mary Hopkin recorded ‘The Inch Worm’ on her first album, Postcard (1968).

Peter Asher, Paul, Mary Hopkin at Trident Studios, London, 1968 (Apple)

Paul produced Mary Hopkin’s Postcard LP, so he must have liked the song ‘The Inch Worm’ for a long time. He chose the album’s songs, the arranger and even the artwork for the album cover. From the liner notes of the digitally re-mastered edition of Postcard from 2010:

Mary remembers that the show tunes and hits from yesteryear that make up half the collection were favourites of Paul’s father, Jim McCartney. They call to mind the valve-warming radio days of the BBC’s old Light Programme, Ringo Starr’s Sentimental Journey album that Apple would soon release, and the comfy familiarity that Paul evoked in Beatles songs such as ‘Honey Pie’, ‘When I’m Sixty Four’ and ‘Your Mother Should Know’.

Sounds just like the 2012 publicity for Kisses on the Bottom, doesn’t it.

‘The Inch Worm’ originally comes from the 1952 Danny Kaye film Hans Christian Anderson. And Paul’s company MPL Communications Limited now owns the publishing rights to the song.

You can access the database for all the songs that ML Communications has the rights to at: www.mplcommunications.com/search.php  For most tracks in the database you can also listen to full audio examples, often by a range of performers.

For a great film of Mary Hopkin performing different language versions of ‘Those Were the Days’ see the Wogblog page. Great shots of the Apple offices in 1968, too.

Beatles White Album Cover Designer Dies

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Sad news this past week that Richard Hamilton, the British artist who helped the Beatles design the minimalist cover and inserts (a large photo-collage poster and four individual photographs of the band) for their famous “The Beatles (White Album)” LP has died at the age of 89.

Released in 1968, no Beatles collection would be complete without it. Its simple plain white cover was the very antithesis of the one which immediately preceded it – the comparatively gaudy and colourful “Sgt Pepper”.

I really don’t have to write much here as there is such a lot of good information on the web already about Richard Hamilton and the work he did on “The Beatles (White Album)”.

In fact there’s one extensive website dedicated to just about everything you’d care to want to know about it, including a page on the design, and a page about Hamilton the artist himself.

The Beatles Bible website also has a six-page article on the “White Album”. And the Guardian newspaper ran this obituary to Hamilton.

The Beatles “1” – Remastered 2011

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It was released today (Friday, September 2) in Australia:

This is the re-issue, in newly remastered form, of “The Beatles 1” compilation which first came out in the year 2000. As the sticker on the front cover says: “27 Classic Number 1 Singles – Remastered”. Here’s the rear cover:

These are the remasters done at the same time as the big release of all the albums back in 2009. It comes in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that’s in the same format as all the 2009 re-issues.

Below is the front cover of the booklet, which despite some speculation that it would be different, has exactly the same 30 pages and layout as the 2000 issue:

Each page is dedicated to a particular song and gives the recording place and date, chart information and full colour photographs of various record sleeves of that single from around the world.  Even the CD printing is the same as the 2000 issue:

(click on images to see a large version)

A bit disappointing really….

It comes out on September 13 in the US, on September 5 in the UK, and is also expected on iTunes as a digital download on September 6th.

See also:  The Beatles Number 1 Vinyl  and  The Beatles Number 1 – Taiwan Variation  and  Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

The Beatles official site has this promotional video for “1” now on the front page:

The Beatles With Records – Part Two

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Since my earlier post about the Beatles being photographed actually holding the things they sold so many of – LP and single records – a few more photos have come to light. This first one is a very early publicity shot of the band with a copy of their very first album for Parlophone Records – from 1963 “Please Please Me“:

Trawling the web I came across a great photo of an obviously happy Ringo Starr with a pile of LPs and singles:

Here you can clearly see Ringo holding the Motown Record “Little Stevie Wonder – The 12 Year Old Genius” (from 1963):

He’s also got a copy of The Shirelles “Foolish Little Girl“, which again dates from 1963 leading to the conclusion that this photograph was taken in that year. The record is lying down, just near Ringo’s left hand:

And on top of that LP are a couple of 45 rpm singles. Its impossible to make out the title of the one we can see, but you can clearly make out the distinctive red and white label of Top Rank records. I wonder if it’s also The Shirelles? In Britain they were released on Top Rank – so it could very possibly be a copy of  “Baby Its You“, a song the Shirelles recorded in 1961 and which the Beatles themselves covered on “Please Please Me“:

I’ve also found  a photograph of Ringo with wife Maureen. They’re sitting at home in a flat they rented for some time in London’s Montague Square. Behind Ringo you can see on the shelf quite a large collection of LP’s, and if I’m nor mistaken Maureen is sitting on what, for the times, would have been quite a sophisticated “radiogram” or record player:

Here’s another of Ringo, once again with Maureen, clutching a copy of the Beatles “Yellow Submarine” LP:

I had a  a photo sent to me after the earlier blog post. It’s Paul with a copy of 1965’s “Rubber Soul“:

George Harrison features on the web photographed with records, some with easily identifiable discs and some not. This one is pretty easy to see. Its a lucky fan getting an autographed copy of “Help“:

Here’s George again, this time a shot taken in what looks to be the Apple offices. It’s him holding a copy of his second solo outing “Electronic Sound“, released on the Zapple label:

You can clearly see the rear artwork for the LP in the photo above. Below is a shot of the back cover of the LP:

And here’s another one of George again signing albums, but this time its very difficult to see just what they are:

In 1970 John and Yoko posed for some photographs to publicise their new records. John had “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band”, and Yoko had “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band”. Both titles, on Apple Records, were released simultaneously. The front covers were almost identical, but the rear artwork of Yoko’s album showed her as a young girl, while John’s showed him as a young boy:

In the photo is also “The Wedding Album” box set, which came out in 1969. The photo below is taken at the same session:

As I said, the front cover artwork of these two LP’s is difficult to tell apart. “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” has John leaning against Yoko:

While “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band” has Yoko leaning against John:

Very subtle.

Finally, a photograph of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. He’s holding a copy of the controversial 1966 US Capitol Records release “Yesterday and Today“. This is the famous “Butcher Cover” LP. Maybe he’s contemplating the new photograph that Capitol was forced to paste over all the original issues of the album:

This is the more acceptable “trunk” cover shot that Capitol put on over the top of the original artwork:

And this is what it replaced:

The interesting thing about the Epstein photograph is that what he is holding appears to be an early mock-up of the replacement artwork. If you look closely there is no song list at the top and the font for the words “Yesterday and Today” is different to that used on the final version. Interesting.

Don’t forget, if you have any other photographs of the Beatles actually listening to or holding singles or LP’s you can send them to me at:  beatlesblogger@gmail.com

You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here:  Parts 1, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Thinking About Abbey Road Studios at 80

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I stumbled today upon an article on (of all places) the computer/gadget specialist site CNet. It is about the famed EMI Abbey Road studios in St. John’s Wood, London – the site of so much fantastic recorded music including just about all the songs recorded, in one way or another, by the Beatles. The studios have just turned 80 years old and it got me thinking about what an important role this particular pile of bricks and mortar on a nondescript street has played in the history of popular and classical music – not the least of which is the music of the the Beatles.

If George Martin is often referred to as “the fifth Beatle” then surely Abbey Road could be regarded as one of the instruments they played – with as much importance to the Beatles sound as the Gibson acoustics, the Gretsch and Epiphone electrics, the Ludwig drums, and the famous Hofner bass.

The CNet article has some very interesting observations made during a recent tour of the famous building and it’s numerous rooms – so many of which are associated with Beatles tracks. You have got to scroll through the thirty photographs taken during CNet’s visit. Its a terrific tour with some great shots for both Beatles fans and technical nerds alike.

The studio itself has a website which is worth a visit every now and again to catch up on their news – one of the latest of which is the remastering of the Beatles “Anthology” series for digital download.

So much happened at this one address – including the Beatles themselves honoring their home-away-from-home with an album bearing the studio’s name.

Abbey Road photo session - August 8, 1969

Then there was the heritage listing for that famous zebra crossing out the front….and the zebra crossing web cam, now complete with live street sounds. Its no longer in exactly the same spot as the photo on the front of the “Abbey Road” album having been moved down the road a bit from the studios – but countless fans still come each day, month, and year to be photographed striding across it.

Happy 80th birthday Abbey Road Studios. Here’s to 80 more years.