George Harrison – The Vinyl Collection 1968-2002 – Box Set Announced

Long rumoured, now official. The Harrison family has announced the release of George Harrison – The Vinyl Collection box set containing all of George Harrison’s solo studio albums on 180 gram vinyl in one collection for the first time:

The box set LPs (also available separately) will be in their original packaging, faithfully reproduced with all the original inserts, posters, etc. included.

However, it’s not clear if Universal Music is releasing the Somewhere In England LP as a separate album with its original black and white image of George’s head superimposed on a map of England. This makes it different to all the images shown for the box set version. Collectors should note that both the Harrison online store and the Universal music website for the individual albums currently show the alternative cover if you are buying it as a single LP….

Exclusive to the box set will be two 12″ bonus picture disc singles (‘When We Was Fab’ and ‘Cloud Nine’), housed in their own custom box.

Not only that, for an additional £429.00, there’s a cool-looking, custom-made Pro-Ject turntable to play your LPs on, plus there’s to be a re-issue (in expanded form) of the book  I Me Mine.

harrison-turntableharrison-book

Early birds who place orders for the 13-album box set online at the georgeharrison.com store will also get a limited edition set of enamel pins. harrison-pins

All the discs are housed in a high-quality two-piece rigid slipcase box with a 3D lenticular front cover image:harrison-lenticular

The original analogue master tapes were used for the new re-masters and were cut at the legendary Capitol studios to ensure exceptional audio quality throughout.

Wonderwall Music (1968)
Electronic Sound (1969)
All Things Must Pass (1970) (3 LP)
Living In The Material World (1973)
Dark Horse (1974)
Extra Texture (1975)
Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
George Harrison (1979)
Somewhere in England (1981)
Gone Troppo (1982)
Cloud Nine (1987)
Live In Japan (1992) (2 LP)
Brainwashed (2002)
Bonus 12” Picture Disc Singles (‘When We Was Fab’ and ‘Cloud Nine’)

Happy Christmas Everyone!

chr-rec-63-01The first Beatles Christmas record was distributed by the Official Beatles Fan Club on December 9, 1963.

Beginning in 1963, the Beatles started a holiday tradition of recording Christmas messages for their fans. The first Christmas recording from the Beatles featured several renditions of the traditional carol “Good King Wenceslas” and individual messages from the four, ending with a closing chorus of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo”. The recordings were edited and issued on flexi-discs through the Official Beatles Fan Club in England.

The records were not available for sale, but were distributed free to Fan Club members. Tony Barrow came up with the concept for the Christmas records and scripted the initial efforts.

The record was packaged in yellow paper gatefold cover. The open gatefold contains the Fun Club’s National Newsletter No. 2.chr-rec-63-04

Lynton Recordings pressed 25,000 copies of the one-sided seven-inch discs, which have white labels with dark blue print. The disc plays at 33 1/3 – rpm. Total time: 5:00. Matrix number LYN 492-1U.
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Thanks to thebeatles-collection.com for this Christmas information.

The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four

If you are looking for a Christmas gift for the Beatle fan who has everything, then look no further. This fabulous book just out is sure to fit the bill:beatles-fab-finds

If your Beatle fan truly DOES have everything, then The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four will confirm it. And if they don’t, this book will provide an abundance of tempting new objects of desire to be on the lookout for.

Either way, for old hands with large collections, or those just new to collecting, this is a book to dip into, browse and enjoy.

Author Noah Fleisher had a front row seat to the amazing growth and skyrocketing value of all things associated with The Beatles. As the former Public Relations Director for the respected Heritage Auctions in the United States, and through his friendships with dealers and colleagues at other auction houses, Fleisher witnessed the emergence a new era of Beatlemania. He’s written numerous other books about collecting (on topics like Modern Furniture and Children’s Books), but his position within one of the top auction houses put him in the box seat to see and research first-hand thousands of collectable Beatle items over the years.

Not only is his book filled with a huge number of facts, background and information on the band and the many collectable items they have generated as a result of their ongoing success, it is also richly illustrated. Every page is in colour and carries a wealth of photographed examples to illustrate the text. To prove it, here are just a couple of pages, chosen pretty much at random:fab-four-inside-3 fab-four-inside-4 fab-four-inside-1 fab-four-inside-2

(for larger versions click on the images)

There are sections dealing with objects from the band’s early years, their instruments, their movies, photo shoots, merchandise, autographs, hand-written lyrics, and of course – the records, especially the rare ones. When you get the combination of records and autographs (see above for a couple of examples), then you’re talking about some very high-value auction items. Incidentally, the prices fetched for the various items in the book are mentioned throughout.

As it says on the rear cover (see below), The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four is filled with delights and insight. “Readers will discover John Lennon’s lost Gibson guitar now worth millions; the most expensive vinyl record in the world; the sculpted bust featured on the album Hey Jude – along with a fascinating and fun cache of rarities, oddities and never-before-seen items that tell anew the story of The Beatles”.

The section on Lennon’s Gibson J-160E steel string is expertly told by Andy Babiuk, author of the book Beatles Gear. There’s also a lengthy interview with Babiuk included, and lots of photographs of other guitars and drum kits that the Beatles used.

“The story of the Beatles has been told many times though never directly through their collectibles” said Fleisher. “The fact is that the market in Beatles collectibles is as hot as it’s ever been and the respective value of collectibles from each period of the band’s existence tells the story of John, Paul, George and Ringo in a fascinating and fresh way.”

Showcasing more than 600 images from the top music auction houses in the world, and interviews with a wide array of experts and authors, The Beatles: Fab Finds of the Fab Four is not only a fun and wonderfully visual read but it’s a great reference and resource for fans and collectors alike.

Highly recommended. (And if you’d like to have a further “look inside”, visit Amazon).fab-four-rear-cover

Beatles “Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” Blu-ray Photo Unboxing

After seeing this on the big screen in the cinema on its first day of release we finally got around to purchasing a Blu-ray copy for the collection. Chose a good day to do it too, as our local store had 30% off all DVD’s and BluRays! This is the Australian, 2 Disc Special Edition (for all images click on each to see a clearer, higher definition version):

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Here’s the rear cover:bathb-rear

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The inner 3-panel gatefold fans out to reveal this fabulous photograph on its rear: bathb-inner6

On the other side are the storage for the booklet and the 2 discs:bathb-inner4

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The 64 page booklet is nicely done, with a lengthy introduction from director Ron Howard, plus a long essay about the Beatles touring years by Jon Savage, plus lots of great black and white photographs:

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A close-up of the sticker on the Australian edition:bathb-sticker

And for those of you who like the small print on the rear outer cover:bathb-smallprint

And finally the two discs:bathb-disc1bathb-disc2

Another Radha Krsna Temple

A couple of months back we wrote about finding a nice vinyl re-issue copy of Radha Krsna Temple. It’s another of the LPs from the early 1990s when Apple Records first began reissuing its back catalogue. That series, especially vinyl examples, is definitely in the “hard-to-find” category now and so securing an almost mint copy for the collection was a bonus.

When doing some further research on the George Harrison produced Radha Krsna Temple it was a surprise to discover that the album is still in print as a CD via a completely different source – the Australian Krishna Store. The “store” is based in the small Queensland town of Eumundi, which is up behind the Sunshine Coast. Of course, being mad completists, we had to have a copy so we ordered it online and the CD was posted to us direct from India.

As you can see below, this edition has a different cover and contains a couple of different bonus tracks to those included on the official 2010 Apple CD re-issue (included in the Fresh From Apple box set).

The CD from the Krishna Store looks like this:radha-cover

And here’s the rear cover:radha-rear

It is a cardboard gatefold, digi-pac-style cover that opens up like this:radha-inside

The additional bonus tracks on this disc are a different version of ‘Hare Krsna Mantra’, and ‘Purport by Srīla Prabhupāda‘. (The bonus track ‘Prayer to the Spiritual Masters’ was included on both the 1993 and 2010 Apple re-issues).radha-cd

This isn’t the first time that Radha Krsna Temple has been re-issued by a completely separate entity. Well before Apple first did re-released the album in 1993 (and again in 2010), the recording was re-packaged in 1973 on vinyl as Goddess of Fortune, on the Spiritual Sky label:goddess-of-fortune-2

John Lennon – ‘Jealous Guy’ 12-inch Single

My daughter was at a big market in Melbourne a couple of weeks back. There was a guy selling records and so she bought this for me:lennon-jealous-1

It’s the 12″ single release of John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’, taken from his Imagine album. As far as I can tell the single was released in 1985. Discogs doesn’t have this particular release listed, but it does have entries for the UK and Europe which look to be the same.

This is the Australian release and as you can see it’s backed with ‘Going Down On Love’ (from Walls and Bridges), and ‘Oh Yoko!’ (also from Imagine).lennon-jealous-3lennon-jealous-4

(click on the labels for a larger version)

The cover is a bit worn and creased and there’s a slight tear on the back, but the vinyl inside is in absolute mint condition. lennon-jealous-2It’s nice when your kids buy you presents!

“Great Record Labels” Book

Chanced upon a small local garage sale (or yard sale) this morning and found this book:great-labels-cover

Great Record Labels, written by Al Cimino and published by Chartwell Books in 1992, is quite an interesting overview of some of the most famous record companies, admittedly with a strong US bias. It has some really good images liberally scattered throughout, not only of the various record company labels themselves, but also many of the artists signed to the labels too.

Cimino has split his book into five broad categories covering music from the 1950’s through to the 1990’s. He starts with Sun Records in the Fifties, and ends with Def Jam in the Nineties, and works his way through most of the big labels in between – like Atlantic, Stax, Motown, Decca, A&M, CBS, Warner Brothers, Island, and Virgin – to name but a few.

There are two main segments of the book where The Beatles pop up. First is the chapter on the British EMI/Parlophone label:great-labels3great-labels4

In the section on EMI’s US subsidiary Capitol Records there is only fleeting reference to The Beatles, despite the huge amounts of money they made for the company:great-labels9

But to make up for that there’s no less than four pages dedicated to The Beatles’ own Apple Records:great-labels5great-labels6great-labels7great-labels8

Here’s the rear cover of Great Record Labels (the dust cover has seen better days…):great-labels-rearDespite being a little beat up, this is a nice little find and a good book to have in the collection.

Yellow Submarine Lego Kit On Sale Tomorrow

When we wrote about this back in February it was still very much a “wait and see” proposition.

Now it is about to be a reality.

Tomorrow, November 1, the Lego Beatles Yellow Submarine kit goes on sale around the world.yellow-submarine-box

Based on an idea submitted to Lego last year by musician and Beatle fan Kevin Szeto, the kit was brought to reality by Lego designer Justin Ramsden who was given the opportunity to refine Kevin’s initial model: “I€ watched€ the€ film€ when€ I€ was€ younger€ and€ was €really €inspired€ by €how €it €oozed€ so€ much€ imagination€ –€ comparable€ to€ how€ I€ view€ LEGO€ elements.Š €I’m €also €a €massive €fan €of €The€ Beatles ˆ€having €grown€ up€ with €their €music€ all€ my €life ˆ€so €to €see €The €Beatles €in €LEGO €form €is€ a €dream €come €true.”yellow-submarine-figures

The finished model is very close to Kevin Szeto’s original idea, right down to what John, Paul, George and Ringo are wearing. The set contains 550 pieces and will retail for US $59.99 / EUR €59,99 / GBP £49.99, and in Australia $79.99.

To celebrate the release the Beatle mini figures gave Lego a tour of their hometown of Liverpool, including the famous Strawberry Fields:

Lego Beatles on tour in Liverpool - Strawberry Fields © Mikael Buck / Lego

Lego Beatles on tour in Liverpool – Strawberry Fields
© Mikael Buck / Lego

To see the kit up close go to Brothers Brick Lego fan site for a review and lots of pics.

George Harrison – Behind The Locked Door Biography

Just got a copy today of George Harrison – Behind The Locked Door by Graeme Thomson and am taking it away on holiday this week to read. Looking forward to it immensely:george-harrison-biog Here’s a review from the Chicago Tribune.

Wingspan – More Unusual Variations

Since we published information on the Limited Edition version of Paul McCartney’s Wingspan – Hits and History CD collection last week, our friend Andrey in Russia has provided information about three more unusual and collectable versions.

The first is this Ukrainian release. Here’s the rear cover:ukraine2a

(click on any of the images to see larger versions)

And here are the two Ukrainian discs:ukraine1bVersion 2

Andrey also provided information on not one, but two very collectable Japanese variants:Version 2Version 3As you can see from the shots of the spines below these carry the same Japanese catalogue number and barcode:  wingspan-japan-spines-2versions-1

And both come with an additional booklet (written in Japanese and English). However, in one version this booklet is incorporated inside the slipcase (its white spine can be seen below), while the other version has the added booklet outside the slipcase (orange spine in the image below):wingspan-japan-spines-2versions

(click on any of the images to see larger versions)

The other main differences between these two releases are detailed further here (and in all pictures Version 1 is above, and Version 2 is below):

1) JAPANESE Version 1:
– the “hands” image on the front of the slipcase is printed (i.e. not holographic)
– slipcase in made in Japan
– additional booklet is inside the slip case
– The obi strip on the left hand side is a regular sized obi (i.e. small)
2) JAPANESE Version 2:
– the “hands” image on the front is the holographic image
– slipcase is made in the EU/UK                                                                                          – the additional Japanese/English booklet is outside the slip case
– the obi is large – it wraps right around and covers the entire rear of the outer slipcase

Another thing to note is that in Japan Wingspan – Hits and History contains an additional track to the rest of the world. It’s the song ‘Eat At Home’ and this can be found as track 19 on CD 1. (EU and US versions only have 18 songs on this disc).