Lewisohn’s New Beatles Book – One Month to UK Release

Posted on September 11, 2013 by beatlesblogger

It is one month today until the official UK release of respected Beatle historian, Mark Lewisohn’s first volume in his three-part complete history of the band.

Volume One is called The Beatles All These Years: Tune In.

Hmmm. Still not sure about that cover.

There are three videos about All These Years: Tune In on YouTube – the first a short introduction to the book:

The second a longer interview with Lewisohn about why he wrote the book and why it is important:

The third explains where the book begins:

There will be two versions in the UK. The “trade” or standard, single book edition of 960 pages, and a deluxe, extended edition across two books totalling 1728 pages and featuring many extra words and photographs. The special edition consists of “….two individual hardbacks printed on New Langely Antique Wove wood free paper, with red-and-white head and tail bands and red ribbon marker. The two books will sit within a specially designed box and lid featuring soft touch and varnish finishes.” Both are published by Little Brown.

Then there will be the US edition – just a single volume of 944 pages has been announced so far and with a different cover:

The book comes out in the USA on October 29 and is published by Crown Archetype, a subsidiary of Random House.

It looks like it’ll be a landmark publication – one I’ll be keen to read and have in the collection.

The Beatles With Records – Part Nineteen

Posted on September 10, 2013 by beatlesblogger

It’s been a while since we had an instalment of The Beatles With Records.

For those unfamiliar with the idea, this is about the Beatles being photographed actually holding or nearby the things they sold so many of – LP and single records.

Since the last post (Part 18 back in March) quite a few more photos have come into the Beatles Blog.

First up a couple of shots featuring a young Ringo Starr signing LP’s: Those two albums above look like 1) Please Please Me, and 2) A Hard Day’s Night:

These air hostesses also have copies of AHDN – this time they are hopeful that Paul McCartney might sign: Beatles with Records6 Back to Ringo again and a female fan seeking an autograph for her autograph book is flanked by a young man holding a copy of Yellow Submarine (you can see the rear cover art here): Below, a copy of a US Sgt Pepper is held out at a concert event starring Harry Nilsson (front, leaning forward) and Ringo (behind him). Doesn’t look like the fan got that one signed….: Beatles with Records7 Next, a solitary George Harrison gets ready to sign a copy of the inner sleeve of his 1975 solo album Extra Texture – Read All About It:

Here’s the front cover:

If there’s a theme emerging here it’s the Beatles, either as a band or solo, signing copies of their albums for fans. Here’s John and Yoko – but which record? Any ideas?
This next one rang a bell when I saw it. It looks like it is on a train, possibly during the Beatles first tour of the USA: It reminded me very much of this colour photograph of John Lennon (from Part 3), which looks to have been taken in the same place and on the same day:

While we’re on the subject of the US version of Meet the Beatles, this happy fan also seems to have scored a signed copy:

McCartney with Records4 And lastly for this instalment yet another signing of a copy of Sgt Pepper, this time on the inside of the gatefold cover:

You can see the other parts in The Beatles with Records series here:

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17 and 18.

Our First Four – A Very Collectable First Apple Release

Posted on September 8, 2013 by beatlesblogger

One of the reasons I got into this Beatles collecting caper, apart from a love of the music, was that I became fascinated by the band setting up their very own record label – Apple Records.

The Beatles were amongst the first, if not the first, band to do so and (apart from themselves) they signed up an eclectic range of artists to the label.

Their very first releases were marked by the issuing of a limited edition press kit of the first four 45rpm vinyl singles to come out on Apple – which they called “Our First Four”.

In the UK there seems to have been two versions of this.

One was in a stronger, hard plastic outer case. Examples of this version were very limited, and these were hand-delivered to dignitaries like Stanley Gortikov, President of Capitol Records in 1968; to Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace; to her sister Princess Margaret at Kensington Palace; to the Queen Mother at St James’s Palace; and to the then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson at Number 10 Downing Street, London. The plastic box set looked like this:

The other, lower cost version was posted to radio disc jockeys, music journalists and critics. It was in a cheaper, thin black cardboard box.

Both versions contained four singles: The Beatles “Hey Jude/Revolution” (R 5722); Mary Hopkin “Those Were the Days” (APPLE 2); Jackie Lomax “Sour Milk Sea” (APPLE 3); and The Black Dyke Mills Band “Thingumybob” (APPLE 4).

Each single was accompanied by a press release printed on the outside of a coloured folder containing an artist photo and a plastic sleeve to hold the record.

The reason for this post is that a copy of the cardboard “Our First Four” has just sold on Ebay for an impressive AU$6,199 (that’s US$5,700, or £3,643 UK Pounds).

The price it fetched is testament to it’s rarity. And as it is not often seen (and because the listing had such a good selection of photos of the item – showing in detail how the box worked and what was inside), I couldn’t resist reproducing a selection of them here:The Beatles official site has reproduced a nice press advertisement for “Our First Four”.

In the United States the press kit mailed to DJ’s and music journos was perhaps a little less colourful and extravagant, but its contents were definitely as interesting (and collectable). Respected Beatle writer and discographer Bruce Spizer has a great article on the background to this one:

If you had a lazy six grand lying around would you purchase one of these?

A New Beatles Book – Beatles With an A: Birth of a Band

Posted on August 31, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A brand new hard-back book about the Beatles arrived at Beatles Blog this week – and it came all the way from Finland.

Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band is the newest creation of bestselling Finnish author and illustrator Mauri Kunnas. It’s an “unauthorised biography” in the form of a graphic novel telling the story of the band’s humble beginnings – like it’s never been seen or heard before.

The book follows the Beatles and a full cast of mates and family members as they make their way from the Casbah to the Cavern Club, from empty halls in the Highlands to the packed clubs of Hamburg, through every name and line-up change until their first Number One song (Please Please Me from 1963).

Mauri has been a fan for 50 years, and his thorough research and love for the band shines throughout the story with its amazing details, hilarious tales, and some raunchy bits, too.

You can sample seven or so pages here if you’d like, or another five slightly different pages here.

Thanks to Otava Publishing for sending this very interesting and different Beatles biography through. You can order it here. The book is produced in a high quality hardback format with good, old-fashioned production values and a dash of style. Very nice.

“New” Paul McCartney

Posted on August 29, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Paul McCartney has today emailed fans with a preview of a track from his forthcoming album of new material. The song, appropriately enough, is simply called New.

Speaking about the new track, Paul said “We can do what we want, we can live as we choose.”

New comes from an album set for release on October 14 in the UK, and October 15 in the US. It’s his first record of brand new solo material in six years and is made in collaboration with a number of different musicians. It’s produced by Mark Ronson and will include twelve tracks.

A Visit to Some San Francisco Record Stores – Part 3

Posted on August 24, 2013 by beatlesblogger

The final instalment of the recent visit to San Francisco. Last time we looked at the vinyl purchases. This time it’s the CDs and DVDs. Both Rasputin, Recycled Records and Amoeba Music have lots of vinyl. They also have lots of CDs and also (Rasputin Music in particular) many, many DVDs to choose from.

First to the CD’s and at Rasputin I found a US copy of Paul’s Choba B CCCP on CD:

I already have a UK version of this on Parlophone, but a US copy on the Capitol label to join it (at a very low price) was too much to resist.

Also at Rasputin I found a copy, released by 20th Century Fox, of Paul McCartney’s 1984 ill-advised excursion into the world of movie-making Give My Regards to Broad Street:The movie had a less-than-enthusiastic reception when it first came out. To quote one user review from IMDB: “I wouldn’t go so far as to call this movie a ‘crap-fest’. I have definitely sat through much worse….I wouldn’t call it a guilty pleasure, either. Though it wasn’t a complete waste of time, it was awfully trite and clichéd. It plays like an extended music video….Although it didn’t completely suck, Sir Paul really should stick to writing songs and leave screen writing to professionals.”

Hmmm. I can only vaguely remember seeing the film once when it was first released. So when I saw this DVD (which came out in 2004 in this version) for just $3.99 I grabbed it. At that price it is well worth the cost of admission for another viewing. The disc itself is one of those two-sided DVD’s. One side has the full screen version, and the other a wide screen version – so the DVD itself looks pretty bland:

However, there’s an insert inside the case with a great photo of Paul and Ringo in costume:

The other DVD I got at Rasputin was also $3.99, and also from Paul McCartney:

This is the 2002 concert film Back in the U.S. I’ve got the two CD set of this concert, but never actually seen the video. Again, that that low price well worth adding to the collection.

Before leaving Rasputin Music’s Powell Street store I also discovered a nice, sealed CD copy of Electric Arguments by The Fireman (a.k.a. Paul McCartney and Youth).

Now, regular readers of Beatles Blog will know I have a bit of a passion for collecting versions and variations of this particular CD – and this was a variation I’d not seen before. Originally this disc came out when Paul was not signed to any particular label, and so in the UK it was distributed on the One Little Indian label. In the US it came out on ATO Records. More recently though Paul has been signed to the Hear Music label, part of Concord Music Group, and they have re-issued a few titles from that time when he was “between labels” – including Electric Arguments. The giveaway is that white barcode sticker on the rear cover where you can see the disc has been given a different catalogue number and there are tiny logos for MPL (McCartney’s company) as well as Hear Music and Concord:Next stop was Recycled Records on Haight Street, and a very nice US copy of the CD Working Classical:

This came out on the EMI Classics label in back in 1999. I have the vinyl (now worth quite a bit as it is rare, in mint condition, and long out of print). A CD copy for the princely sum of $8.00 was worth it:

The final CD purchase came from Amoeba Music, also on Haight Street. For some time now I’ve been on the lookout for a CD copy of the 2001 McCartney “best of” release Wingspan – Hits and History. It originally came in a cardboard slipcase which has a holographic front cover. Getting copies in good condition is difficult because the slipcase is sometimes missing, or it’s in poor condition. This one I found has the holographic cover and its in pretty good nick too:

So, that’s it – the results of a holiday visit to the US city of San Francisco. A great city with some great record stores to boot.

How Many Copies of the White Album Do You Own?

Posted on August 18, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A couple of months ago this interesting Dust and Grooves article about a performance artist named Rutherford Chang really grabbed my attention.

You see, Rutherford Chang is a Beatles collector who only collects one particular Beatles album.

It’s the double LP that comes comes in the plain white cover and is simply called The Beatles….or as it’s more colloquially known: The White Album.

You can take a look at a video featuring Chang’s very large collection here.

And then there’s the rather amazing beatlealbum.com website, dedicated solely to exploring every aspect of The Beatles.

All this got me wondering. How many copies of The White Album do you have in your collection?

They can be on vinyl, compact disc, 8-track tape, reel-to-reel, cassette…or maybe even as a digital download.

I added up the copies in my collection in various formats and it comes to a total of 16 copies in all. That’s 5 x CDs, and 11 x LPs…nothing on Chang’s extensive collection!

But I’d be very interested to hear from you.

How many do you have?

You can drop us a line by using this contact form:

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A Visit to Some San Francisco Record Stores – Part 2

Posted on August 14, 2013 by beatlesblogger

OK. In Part One I detailed the four main record stores I was able to visit while in San Fran.

Now some detail on what I found and brought home to join the collection. Firstly, the vinyl.

At Rasputin Music on Powell (near Union Square) I found a very clean copy of George Harrison’s Living in the Material World. It was a US pressing I didn’t have – a budget re-issue on the green Capitol label:As you can see, it’s a nice clean copy and the vinyl is mint.

Also at Rasputin there were two Ringo Starr LP’s I liked the look of and they were both very reasonably priced. I have Australian pressings of both of these, but good US copies like these were a welcome addition to the collection. They are both on the Apple label and original throughout. This gatefold copy of Ringo (1973) was complete with its book of lyrics and wonderful line drawings by Klaus Voormann (who also played bass on the album):

The Fab 4 Free 4 All Beatle podcast recently reviewed the Ringo album and raved about it (see episode 60, “Ringo” – Analysis and Review). Also at Rasputin was a copy of Ringo’s Blast From Your Past which came with the original inner sleeve of photos on one side and lyrics on the other:

Later in the week I got over to the Haight-Ashbury district were there were three stores in close proximity (Recycled, Rasputin and Amoeba – all on Haight Street).

The first I visited was Recycled Records. They had some vintage Beatles LP’s, but to be honest they were fairly expensive….and so I concentrated on the Beatles as solo artists. I’ve always been keen on collecting variations of Paul McCartney’s “Russian” album called Choba B CCCP. Well, Recycled was a bit of a treasure trove as they have numerous copies in their bins and tucked away underneath on shelves. There were thirty to forty copies in all, and so I set about identifying some versions I didn’t have. There are so many variations of this particular record because it came out firstly as an 11-track album, followed later by a 13-track version. And they were pressed in about six different Russian pressing plants, each with its own label styles and variations (sometimes subtle) within those labels. I turned up four distinct copies I wanted, and they were all very reasonably priced (between US$6.00-$10.00 each). There was one 11-track version (from the Aprelevka pressing plant), two 13-track versions (Tbilisi plant and Riga plant), and one “hybrid” that had an 11-track cover but a 13-track LP inside (which I didn’t realise until I got home). Both the cover and LP are from the same factory (the Riga plant) so I’m not sure if this is legit or just a mistake….

The rear cover of the 11-track version is identified by its yellow colour:

However, this one has a 13-track LP inside – on a plain white Melodyia Records label, made at the Riga pressing plant where the cover was made too:

So. A mystery there. If anyone knows if any other copies like this exist let me know. These are the labels from the other copies of Choba B CCCP purchased at Recycled:

Of course for the full detail on all Russian Beatle and Beatle-related vinyl releases you need to visit this one, fantastic central repository.

Further down Haight Street is another Rasputin Music store and so I ducked in for a look. No vintage Beatles here, but lots of copies of the latest remastered vinyl at good prices. I did find an interesting re-issue copy of the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band’s Live Peace in Toronto LP however, complete with a reproduction of the 1970 calendar which was included with original copies. It is brand new, still sealed, looked like a good buy and so I got it:

I think this re-issue was released in 2012 through a company called Hi Horse Records (which is a subsidiary of City Hall Records). It’s on the original Apple label and has the same SW 3362 catalogue number. If anyone has any other info on this one it would be very welcome. Please drop us a line.

Then it was on to Amoeba Music’s Haight Street store – which is an enormous warehouse of a building with thousands of LP’s, CD’s and books…however, not a lot of vintage Beatles on display here either, but two very good vinyl buys none-the-less. The first was Paul McCartney’s first solo LP simply called McCartney. It is a US copy, a re-issue in very good condition and on the black Capitol label:

And last but not least a really nice copy – practically mint throughout – of George Harrison’s The Concert for Bangladesh. I already have an Australian and an unusual South African pressing of this, but have been on the lookout for a good UK copy, and of course a US example as well, which is what we have here. Amoeba had this priced at just US$14.99, which for a triple album set in such excellent condition was an absolute bargain. It came with a mint copy of the original 64-page book, and all the LPs were housed in their original brown paper inner sleeves:

So, that was a quick summary of the vinyl found in four San Francisco record stores during a short visit there last week. Next time a look at the CD’s and DVD’s I found and added to the collection.

Rare Sgt Pepper Fetches Big Price at Auction

Posted on August 11, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Remember this very rare and collectable copy of the Beatles Sgt Pepper which came up for auction?

Well, it sold earlier today for US$24,375, plus a buyers premium of $8,125, bringing the total to $32,500:The reason it is so rare is that the cover features the faces of some forty Capitol Records executives rather than the original collage of celebrities. It’s believed only 40-50 copies were ever produced to be distributed at a Capitol Records conference, essentially one for each of the executives pictured. This particular copy belonged to Marvin Beisel, Capitol’s National Sales Director at the time, and one of the executives pictured on the cover.

You can visit the auction house website (Heritage Auctions in Texas) for more.

A Visit to Some San Francisco Record Stores – Part 1

Posted on August 10, 2013 by beatlesblogger

You may have noticed that beatlesblogger hasn’t been updated for a little while. That’s because I’ve been on holiday in San Francisco, USA and of course while there I had to make time to visit some record stores seeking out any Beatles or Beatles-related records and CD’s. What I found will be the subject of the next couple of posts here.

First though to the main stores I discovered in San Francisco offering either new and/or second-hand Beatles. There were three main contenders here – and all very worthwhile checking out if you happen to be in town.

The first was Rasputin Music. They have two stores in San Francisco itself, plus shops in nine other locations in the wider Bay area and California. The two I got to were the store just down from Union Square on Powell Street, and the one on Haight Street in the famous Haight-Ashbury district.

The Powell Street store is by far the largest of the two, with five floors (that’s right, I said five levels) of new and used records, CD’s, DVD’s and tee shirts to tempt you.

Joining Rasputin on Haight Street is the wonderful Recycled Records. Owner Bruce Lyall has been there for over 25 years – and it shows. For anyone who loves the smell, look and feel of a large second-hand record store this is the place to come. I loved it so much I took these photos:

As you can see, Recycled has a wonderful ambience and can be a bit overwhelming at first such is the extent of their collection. They sell LP’s, 45’s, compacts discs, posters and assorted paper memorabilia; rare books and a wide assortment of collectibles. If at first you don’t see what you want in the bins look below them to the shelves. I found quite a few other great items stored down there. Again, well worth checking out.

Finally the big one: Amoeba Music:

Amoeba have two shops in the Bay area – one in Berkley, and one at 1855 Haight Street (they also have one in Los Angeles too). So, if you are on Haight for a visit to the groovy, picturesque and historic Haight-Ashbury district you can use the time to check out not one but three stores (Rasputin, Recycled, and Amoeba) all within easy walking distance of each other and all harbouring potential Beatle treasure.

When you walk into Amoeba be prepared for an intake of breath. It is HUGE:

So, those are the stores I visited covered. Next time some details on what I found……check back again soon.

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Lewisohn’s New Beatles Book – One Month to UK Release

How Many Copies of the White Album Do You Own?

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Rare Sgt Pepper Fetches Big Price at Auction

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