If you regularly view the Beatles Blog on an iPad we’ve just added a version optimised for that device:
The iPad version displays an app-like experience for visitors. It supports touch interactions, swiping, and rotation. You can see all the latest posts and even create a Beatles Blog app icon so that you can go straight to the site. Here’s how the icon appears on an iPad Home screen:
Of course you can still read the blog using the standard browser version if that’s your preference.
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?
The song “Take It Away” was released 30 years ago on 21 June.
Paul McCartney’s official site has all the details. You can check out the video for the song there – or you can view it on YouTube below. It features some very well-known faces:
Steve Gadd and Ringo on drums, Eric Stewart on guitar, George Martin producing and on piano, Linda on vocals, and actor John Hurt as the “lonely driver”…
The song was a single lifted from the album 1982 album “Tug of War”:
It came out as a 45rpm 7-inch single backed with a non-album track called “I’ll Give You a Ring”, and as a 12″ extended play with an additional song – “Dress Me Up as a Robber” (which was also from the LP). Both the 7″ and the 12″ were released in cover sleeves:
Here are some label variations. Click the labels to see larger versions:
The very nice Chained and Perfumed blogsite has posted a trip down memory lane in photographs to mark Paul McCartney’s 70th birthday this week.
Time magazine has released a hardcover special edition book called Paul McCartney: The Legend Rocks On that looks back on his career.
They’ve published an excerpt from the book that tells the story of when Lennon and McCartney first met (plus it contains heaps more links). And there’s a 70- photo collection of images here.
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)
A local community radio station (2MBS-FM) often holds fundraising book, CD and record fairs to raise some much-needed cash in order to keep going.
There’s just been another one and I was able to score a couple of Beatle-related items of interest. I got in on the first day and before things had been picked over too much.
They didn’t have much in the way of vinyl, but there were masses of CD’s and books this time – and as the CD’s were so daunting (so many of them) I headed first to the books as they’d kindly identified a “Music” section. The very first thing I grabbed was this:
It is a hardback copy of Ray Coleman’s 1984 biography (I think initially released in two volumes?) in one, very thick book (640 pages). Its a little bit worn, but in pretty good shape seeing it is a US first edition from 1985. This is published by McGraw Hill, and for $6.00 looked like a good read. I know that Coleman (who died in 1996) had mixed reviews for this work. I didn’t have a copy of this book in the collection. Now I do.
Also in the books section I found this:
Yes – it is a little bit beaten up and well-used – but it’s an original UK paperback edition from 1965 (published by Mayflower Dell). It is a “novelisation” by author Al Hine of the Beatle’s “Help!” movie from the same year. I purchased this little Beatles book because I’d also very recently scored a copy of the “novelisation” of “A Hard Day’s Night” at another record fair. This makes a matching pair…..and also it was just $6.oo. A bargain.
The final find was hidden away in amongst the many CD’s on offer. I’ve already got this Paul McCartney release on LP but not the CD version. It comes with a bonus track – “”Ou Est Le Soleil”:
(click on the image for a larger version)
This is the UK pressing on MPL/Parlophone and comes from 1989. There’s a sticker on the back that says it was sold by the “Compact Disc Den” in the regional city of Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia. So it has had something of a journey to end up in my collection! But isn’t that often the way?
Happy collecting.
I’ve been a bit slow in telling you about some of the supporting websites and background info around two of the latest Beatle-related releases – Paul McCartney’s “Ram” reissues, and “Yellow Submarine” which is now out on BluRay, DVD and CD.
So, here’s a bit of a catch-up:
(click on the image to go there)
On the Yellow Submarine site there is a wealth of interactive material like photos, games, movie dialogue, sounds and “making of” videos. Well worth a look.
There’s also a range of great things out on the web now about the reissue of Paul McCartney’s “Ram” album:
Paul’s people certainly have been busy in producing supporting web content for “Ram” with not one but two dedicated websites:
(click on the image to go there)
In the Deluxe Box set of “Ram” you also get the 1977 orchestral/instrumental version of “Ram” that Paul put out under the pseudonym of Percy “Thrills” Thrillington:
(click on the image to go there)
There’s also a very interesting and insightful interview with McCartney by Paul Draper from the band Mansun. It’s not only about “Ram” but a wide range of other things. One great example is Paul talking about his early influences as a songwriter:
What I take the influence back to was A Teenage Opera. That was a very early record in the late 60s, by Keith West… it was his only, like, big hit. That was episodic, there was a bit and it went ‘buh-buh-bum’, then it went there, and there, and there [Sir Paul makes some stacking gestures with his hands]. I think that was the first record I heard, and we heard, and we thought ‘that’s interesting’. You can have a song here, then you can cut like a film to another song, and you can even cut the tempo and go slow and so on. That was really the one that was the biggest influence, and then lots of people started doing it. We’d do it a bit, prog-rock did it, Townshend started doing it a bit, The Who opera and all that. I think it was just that one record that made you realise that it didn’t have to be the same tempo or the same key all the way through, you could cut like a film.
You can read Part One here, and Part Two here. There are links to musical examples given throughout.
Finally, one cute little “Ram” publicity item – a “Ewe-Tube Map” – based on the London Underground train network:
(click for a larger version)
Oh, and this kind person has added a “Ram” Deluxe Edition “unboxing” video to YouTube:
Thanks to two very observant readers here are two updates for The Beatles With Records – Part Eight.
In that post there is a great image of the very early Beatles on stage. Behind them is a curtain with lots of record covers pinned to it:
(click image to see a larger version)
We got to identify a fair few of the LP covers that you can see in this picture (in previous posts on this subject – see below for links). However, there was one that I couldn’t quite make out. Have a look at the cover in the picture above between John and Paul. Turns out – and thanks to reader Jorges Morales – that it’s this LP from 1956:
It’s The Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Fontessa” – [SD 1231] on Atlantic Records.
“Fontessa” is a 1956 album. It was the first of the MJQ’s albums released on Atlantic.
The Modern Jazz Quartet would much later briefly become signed to the Beatles’ own Apple record label in the late 1960’s. They had two records released by Apple in 1969 – “”Under the Jasmine Tree” and “Space“:
We’ve been able to identify one other LP cover in a picture on The Beatles With Records – Part Eight. It is from this one below of Ringo at home with his mother and father:
We were able to identify that Ringo was holding the self-titled James Ray LP “James Ray“.
But look closely at the record player/radiogram on their left-hand side. On the floor they’ve got some LP covers lined up against it. On the very far right of the photo just under the radio dial (partly obscured) you can just spot a copy of “James Brown – Live at the Apollo” from 1962:
Thanks so much to Lammert for that info – and if you have any other LP covers you can identify in the “Beatles with Records” series please email me at: beatlesblogger@gmail.com
You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
So, I got home from work today and had this interesting email waiting for me in the inbox:
Hello there, Beatles Blogger!
Jude Southerland Kessler here. I was doing some research on Robert Freeman and The Beatles and came upon your wonderful site. Thanks for all you do!
I’ve been working for the last 26 years on The Lennon Series, a 9-volume expanded biography of John’s life. The first volume, “Shoulda Been There”, (covering 1940-Dec.1961) came out about 4 years ago. And the second volume, “Shivering Inside” (covering Dec. 1961-mid-April 1963) came out in 2010.
Right now, I’m working on the third book, “She Loves You” (mid-April 1963 – end of 1965) now. All total, the series will take 46 years of research and writing to complete.
If you have a moment, I’d be honored if you’d check out the website at www.johnlennonseries.com. And thank you for helping me with my research! I’ll be sure to include you in the acknowledgments for “She Loves You”.
All the Best!
Cheers,
Jude
Thanks so much for getting in touch Jude – and good luck with the huge Beatles writing and research task you have undertaken. I’m staggered by your 9-book, 46 year project!
For those wanting to find out more there’s an interesting text interview with Jude Southerland Kessler at Daytrippin’ Beatles Magazine. You can also listen to an extensive interview at Happy Nat’s The Beatles Rarity.
To learn more go to www.ontherockbooks.com. Click here to have a bit of a look inside the Kindle edition of “Shivering Inside”.
When I ducked into a random newsagent shop recently in Surry Hills (in Sydney), I picked up the special Newsweek commemorative edition devoted to fifty years of the Beatles.
I also picked up a copy of this CD:
It was in a small pile of discs I saw in a corner on the floor. The pile was a selection of those free CDs which come attached to the front of some magazines. These discs had obviously become separated from a variety of publications over the last couple of months. The newsagent had held onto them and was now offering them for sale individually at $1.00 each. I don’t think they are supposed to do this – offer the CDs for separate sale….
Anyway, what I found in there was well worth the dollar asking price – it was “Sounds of the Star Club”, the free CD that came on the cover of this Uncut Magazine in March 2012:
The CD is actually a very good 16-track collection of the original versions of some of the songs the Beatles covered in the band’s very early years.
It’s not a bad little CD to have in the collection because it references some of the key musical influences to impact on the Beatles, songs they loved enough to put into their repetoire for live shows, or to record on early albums. This includes original tracks by the likes of Chuck Berry (“Roll Over Beethoven”); Carl Perkins (“Lend Me Your Comb” and “Everybody’s Trying to be My Baby”); Fats Waller (“Your Feet’s Too Big”); Little Richard (“Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey”); Peggy Lee (“Till There Was You”); Gene Vincent (“Be-Bop-A-Lula”); Ray Charles (“Hallelujah I Love Her So”) and Elvis Presley (“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You”):
(click to see a larger image)
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