All These Years – Tune In – Extended Special Edition Unboxing

Posted on December 22, 2013 by beatlesblogger

We’ve finally secured a copy of Mark Lewisohn’s Extended Special Edition of The Beatles: All These Years Vol.1: Tune In. The box-set book has been out of stock in Australia for a few weeks, but new supplies have arrived.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is an unboxing of this treasure of packaging and the fine art of book-binding. The set comes in shrink-wrap. Here’s the front and side of the main outer box:

And the rear:

The base of the box (still in its shrink-wrap) carries some interesting information:

Sean Garrehy designed the box set. He’s Art Director at LBBG (Little Brown Book Group) – the UK publishers. Mike Wykes is the owner of Handmade Press, an art and design studio based in Leicester in the UK. As you’ll see later the hand-written design elements of the box set are in Lewisohn’s own writing.

Using a razor blade to carefully remove the shrink-wrap from the base of the box you can slide it up and off:

This reveals the two hardback volumes (together totalling 1728 pages) making up the extended text of All These Years Vol.1: Tune In. These sit inside an inner, three-sided cardboard holder:

So far, so good. This is an impressively packaged and presented item. Here are the three sides of the inner holder. First the right-hand side:

The left side:

And the rear panel:

When you remove the two books there’s more detail on the inside of the holder. On the right-hand side is a map of Liverpool:

On the rear panel just the word “Why?”:

And on the left a pic and short bio of Mark Lewisohn:

The books themselves are great. Very understated, but oozing quality and all the hallmarks of the bookmakers art. Lewisohn’s website says that they’re printed on New Langely Antique Wove woodfree paper, with red-and-white head and tail bands and red ribbon marker. The covers are very textured, deeply embossed and look good. One comes in dark grey, the other in red:

Inside there are more photo sections than in the standard editions (and hence more photos) – and many of the photos are laid out in a different way. Here are a couple of examples:

For a comparison between this special edition and the standard UK release here they are standing side-by-side:

Now that we have it we can’t wait for the holiday season to begin so that we can start ploughing through this baby! All the reviews so far agree: this is the definitive Beatles biography, bar none. And it’s beautiful to boot.

See also the UK and US standard editions compared.

The Beatles in America – New Limited Edition Book

Posted on November 16, 2013 by beatlesblogger

We’re a bit slow in discovering this. There’s a new book released in conjunction with the Smithsonian and Grammy Museums to celebrate the 50th anniversary next year of the Beatles conquering America.

It features articles by Ringo Starr, Smokey Robinson, Brian Wilson, Lester Bangs and Mikal Gilmore amongst others, plus previously unpublished photos.

With the price of just US$9.99 (plus postage) it seems like a bargain and worth getting.

The book being described as a “Limited Edition”. You can order The Beatles in America online direct for the Smithsonian store.

The Bloody Beetroots and Paul McCartney – Vinyl Single

Posted on November 10, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Remember this post about Paul McCartney and Youth teaming up with Italian dance punk performer Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo (a.k.a. The Bloody Beetroots)?

Well, our limited edition and numbered copy of the vinyl single “Out of Sight” has just arrived:

Things to note on the rear cover are the song and recording credits…..

….the Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo (SBCR) logo and the McCartney signature…..

……and the hand-written limited edition number:

The single is taken from the Bloody Beetroot CD Hide, released in September:

George Harrison – Early Takes Clear Vinyl Ltd. Ed.

Posted on November 9, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Ain’t the Internet marvelous? It just keeps on revealing stuff you never knew.

Like the fact that George Harrison’s Early Takes Vol. 1 (released on CD and vinyl LP in May last year) has been issued in a limited edition, “translucent green” clear vinyl version as well.

At beatlesblogger.com we like to think we keep pretty close tabs on what is happening release-wise in the Beatles world, but this was news to us:

Apparently this came out at the same time (or just after) the original, black vinyl release. It’s a limited edition LP, pressed on 180 gram clear vinyl and issued by Universal Music. Only 500 copies were pressed.

There are a couple of copies for sale on Ebay at the moment – but (predictably) they are pretty expensive.

However, a quick trawl around the web found that Universal Music itself is still selling copies at their official UK vinyl site. In fact they are even on sale at the moment, reduced from £24.99 to £17.49.

If you, like us, are George Harrison completists you’d best be quick.

Mark Lewisohn “Tune In” Book Competition – We Have a Winner

Posted on November 9, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Thanks to everyone who entered our Mark Lewisohn The Beatles: All These Years Volume One: Tune In competition.

We asked the question: “How old was Paul McCartney when John Lennon invited him to join his group The Quarry Men?” The correct answer was that Paul was fifteen years old.

Our winner is John from Roebling, New Jersey in the United States.

Congratulations John. The US publishers Crown Archetype will be sending a copy of the book your way very soon. Enjoy!

The next date to watch out for is November 14 and the release of the extended special edition of the book.

More soon…..

The Beatles: Tune In – US and UK Edition Comparison…and a Competition!

Posted on November 2, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Part One of Mark Lewisohn’s new biography of the Beatles is now out in two separate hard cover editions – one for the United States market, and one for the UK.

So, how are they similar – and how do they differ?

Here are some photos to show you in a direct side-by-side comparison. The UK edition is 946 pages. It appears on the left. The US edition is 932 pages and it appears on the right:

The book spines with their dust jackets on:

And without:

There’s an interesting and as-yet unexplained design element about the spines. On both dust-jackets you can see the word “All”. My guess is that Volume 2 will have the the word “These”, and Volume 3 will have the word “Years”. When they are eventually lined up on our bookshelves they will collectively read “All These Years”.

The UK edition gets fancy end papers, front and rear. The front ones show pictures of a youthful John and Paul:

The rear has George and Ringo. It is a nice additional design touch:

The US edition has plain end papers. Here are the title pages. First, the UK edition:

And the US:

You’ll be pleased to know that despite the design and layout differences the contents are exactly the same. Both have the same text and chapters, and both have three sections with pages of historic photographs – some of which have never been previously published.

In the UK The Beatles: All These Years Volume One: Tune In is published by Little Brown. In the Unites States the book is published by Crown Archetype.

Now, the people at Crown Archetype have kindly given Beatles Blog a US edition of the book to give away to a lucky reader. All you need to do is answer this simple question:

How old was Paul McCartney when John Lennon invited him to join his group The Quarry Men?

The first correct answer to reach beatlesblogger @ gmail . com will win a US copy of Mark Lewisohn’s book – kindly provided by publishers Crown Archetype.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery – Part 3

Posted on October 20, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A couple of posts ago we featured some of the album covers which blatantly copied or where perhaps inspired by the Beatles Let It Be. That followed this fairly similar copy from back in 2010 of the cover for their compilation The Beatles Number 1.

Now it’s time for the White Album.

Released in 1968, its cover was a simple and stark contrast to the visual complexity of the Sgt Pepper LP which (at least in Britain) immediately preceded it:

Since that austere, one-colour look with absolutely minimal text there has been more than a few followers to have worked the same theme. Here, in no particular order, are just some of the many:

Of course, good old plain black has been very popular over the years:Of course, John Lennon’s own Live Peace in Toronto probably qualifies too:

So too does McCartney’s side project The Fireman with his 1993 release Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest:Know of any more? Let us know.

At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP

Posted on October 13, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I have had in the collection for some time now a record that I thought was an original US pressing of the Beatles Let It Be.

You know the one. It comes in a gatefold cover, red Apple label on the vinyl, catalogue number AR 34001, red Apple on the rear cover:

The copy I have had for oh, maybe 30 years, looked genuine enough. That is until I read that this is one of the most counterfeited vinyl records of all time…..

When I started to look into it some more I discovered that what I had in my collection was actually a fake.

And it was only two weeks ago, after finally picking up a genuine copy at a record fair, that I could conduct a side-by-side analysis to spot the differences. Here are the tell-tale signs.

Firstly a close-up of the real cover:

And here is the illegal copy:

As you can see the skin tones on the photo of George Harrison are much more grainy on the fake. Also notice the white borders around each photo. They are much thicker on the counterfeit.

Next, a close-up of the red Apple label. The genuine copy is first, the fake is second:

Though this is not a definitive decider, the counterfeit label I have lacks vibrancy. It is washed out and dull. Some stock of legitimate pressings may also have a duller appearance – depending on which Capitol plant they were pressed.

The best proof that you have a legitimate copy is in the run-out area of the vinyl itself. There should be the words “Bell Sound” stamped there on both sides (the fake will not have this). It’s difficult to photograph but here goes. First, Side 1:

And Side 2:

Genuine Let It Be pressings with the red Apple were mastered at Bell Sound by a guy named Sam Feldman and that’s why you can see his initials “sf” scratched into the vinyl above. Fakes don’t have that Bell Sound stamp, but the people who made the illegal copies did try to imitate the originals by including the “sf” initials too.

Furthermore, depending on the Capitol pressing plant they originate from, legitimate pressings will have either the letters “IAM” in a triangle (Scranton PA), an asterisk (Los Angeles CA), or a mark that is supposed to resemble a rifle (Winchester VA). One of these will be stamped somewhere in the run-out area of the vinyl. It should be properly machine stamped on both sides.

As you can see, mine is from the Scranton plant so it looks like this:The fakers tried to imitate this too – but it they did just a crude drawing which you can see here:

(By the way, the “IAM” in the triangle stands for the International Association of Machinists Union whose workers ran the pressing plant).

FYI, here is a handy list of the markings from each of the Capitol pressing plants: screen-shot-2022-04-18-at-5.27.19-pm It was Sam Feldman who also scribbled the words “Phil + Ronnie” on the dead wax. This was for Phil Spector (who produced Let It Be) and his wife, singer Ronnie Spector:

Non-legitimate copies also have “Phil + Ronnie” scratched in the play-out area of the disc but the writing is much smaller.

So that’s it. Your guide to real and fake copies of Let It Be.

The Beatles Tune In – Lewisohn’s New Book Out Today

Posted on October 9, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Volume One of Mark Lewisohn’s new biography of the Beatles is out in the UK today.

The book is called The Beatles: All These Years – Volume One: Tune In. The marketing people have come up with a catch-phrase: Throw away what you think you know and start afresh.

It may well be true.

We’ll know more when we see the book for ourselves – but early reports and reviews are good. They’re saying that there is “….a surprise on every page, a revelation in every second chapter.”

At the moment on the book’s official homepage they are running seven read extracts from the audio edition. Here they are collected on SoundCloud for you:

All These Years – Introduction (Read by Mark Lewisohn)
All These Years – Extract Two (Jim McCartney warns his son Paul that John Lennon will get him into trouble. Read by Mark Lewisohn)
All These Years – Extract Three (The decisive moment in John’s separation from both his father and mother. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Four (John and Paul meet for the first time. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Five (John and Paul welcome young George Harrison’s talents into the mix. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Six (Paul is growing up fast, and 1958 draws to a colourful close. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Seven (Pete Best is unwell so the Beatles grab Ringo Starr as temporary deputy – and enjoy the difference. Read by Clive Mantle)

See also Mark Lewisohn on YouTube (three short videos) talking about the background to the book, and the different versions which will be available.

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

Posted on October 7, 2013 by beatlesblogger

OK, to kick off Part 20 in our series a couple of photographs of the Beatles with records which are going to be tough to solve.

Here Paul is standing in front of a display. The thing is these record covers are all not immediately recognisable as they seem to be from other countries. They would all be from the 1960s. Does anyone have any idea what these discs might be?

And this one below of John – is that an LP to his left (our right)? This appears to be a photograph taken while the artists known as The Fool give one of John’s pianos a very special paint job. Amongst other things The Fool designed the original inner sleeve for Sgt Pepper, and they did the huge mural which adorned the outside of the Apple Boutique clothing shop in London.

Back to the photo. Is this an LP record cover? You can clearly make out what looks to be the word “Velvet…..”. Or could it be a poster?

Let us know if you have any further info on this one.

Now onto some easier-to-solve Beatles With Records photos. Firstly to Paul and Linda with a copy of Press to Play, his sixth solo studio album, released August 1986.

I really don’t know what the occasion is below – Yoko is photographed with a group of young men, one of whom is in a Beatle jacket, and another who is holding up a copy of John’s “legal obligation” disc called John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits (which later, and with much better sound, appeared on Apple Records as Rock ‘n’ Roll):You can read the full story about how this album came into being here. It’s a long and complicated tale….

These next photographs are very similar (but taken at a different event) to those photos you may have seen in Part 14 where Paul McCartney is swamped by waiting fans eager for him to sign LP covers.

In the two photos above I can make out at least ten albums, beginning at the top:

If you can see any others let us know.

And yet again, another flock of fans hoping for a signature but this time at a different location:

I can make out these titles:

Signings for their fans have always been something the Beatles as a band (and as solo artists) have always embraced. Here’s another of Paul – this time autographing a copy of Wings at the Speed of Sound from 1976:This one of George Harrison doesn’t have any records in view (except for the indistinguishable 45 actually on the turntable) – but it has a cool little record player though….and it’s a great shot of George: One final photo to finish off this installment….obviously taken at the quality control room at the EMI plant in 1965:

A big thank you to Andrey in Russia for most of these images. You can see the other parts in The Beatles with Records series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17,18 and 19.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Category Archives: Beatles Collecting

All These Years – Tune In – Extended Special Edition Unboxing

The Beatles in America – New Limited Edition Book

The Bloody Beetroots and Paul McCartney – Vinyl Single

George Harrison – Early Takes Clear Vinyl Ltd. Ed.

Mark Lewisohn “Tune In” Book Competition – We Have a Winner

The Beatles: Tune In – US and UK Edition Comparison…and a Competition!

At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP

The Beatles Tune In – Lewisohn’s New Book Out Today

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

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