Last year Andrey, our reader and an avid Beatle collector in Russia, sent in an amazing historical photo which closely resembled one particular iconic Beatle LP image:
Andrey has just sent another contender for Russian Abbey Road lookalike. It’s a beauty and was taken in Surgut town in 1976. The picture was called “To drilling site with concert”:
They sure do have a lot of muddy roads over there!
Paul McCartney has uploaded a short “behind the scenes” film of how they made the promo video for the 2015 remix of ‘Say Say Say’:
You can see the video in full here:
And a 12-inch single of ‘Say Say Say’ (2015) on clear vinyl will be issued this Friday as part of the Record Store Day Black Friday releases:
A little earlier this year we found a New Zealand pressing of Paul McCartney and Wings controversial ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’ dating from 1972. As was the case in most of the rest of the world this was on a custom Apple label.
The other day at one of our local second-hand vinyl favourites (Audiomania) we found an original UK pressing, complete with its bright yellow custom Wings paper sleeve: 
The single itself, also on custom Apple labels, is in near mint condition:
Thinking of all those in Paris during this time of mourning. Stay strong.
Following on from all the excitement of the last week, next month will see the double vinyl LP edition of The Beatles 1 in 2015 form featuring the new stereo remixes created by Giles Martin:
The 2015 version of The Beatles 1 CD was released last week, along with numerous Blu-ray/DVD video iterations. The gatefold, 2LP 180g vinyl set looks to be packaged exactly the same as the two previous releases of this title (in 2011, and again in remastered form only just last year). Like them, it will come with four art cards (11′ x 8.5′), two inner jackets packed with images of original single sleeves, and a huge poster (33′ x 22′) featuring examples of more single sleeves from around the world:
Interestingly, all previous versions of The Beatles 1, featuring the 2009 remasters (first issued in 2011), are set to be quietly withdrawn and the new CD and vinyl versions with the new stereo remixes will permanently supersede them.
The Beatles 1 on 2LP vinyl will be released on 4 December 2015.
The final instalment in the five-part series backgrounding the work done to restore the Beatles 1 video collection has been uploaded to YouTube:
In it leading Australian Director of Photography Mike Molloy reminisces about his time with the Beatles. In 1968 he’d been living and working in London as a freelance cameraman for about a year when he was asked to go down to EMI’s Studio Three at Abbey Road and film a promo clip for “Lady Madonna”. Instead, what he came back with was unique footage of the band recording what was then a brand new song called “Hey Bulldog”.
As Mark Lewisohn says in his book The Complete Beatles Chronicle, “While the cameras whirred, the Beatles recorded ten rhythm track takes of “Hey Bulldog” and completed it with overdubs. Then, at the conclusion of this 4.00pm-2.00am session, after the filming had ended, they watched as it was mixed into mono.”
Mike Molloy says he spent all day with the Beatles. Mike told me that they were very easy to get along with, very friendly. “In the film, for effect, I superimposed a shot of a paisley tie over George Harrison’s face. It was George’s tie! He was great, and very open to trying the effect to see how it turned out.”
Molloy went on to work in London as a cameraman and Director of Photography on feature films for 29 years, before returning to Sydney, Australia, where he now lives. He’s worked with some of the greats, including Stanley Kubrick (on A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon) and Nicolas Roeg (on Performance and Walkabout).
The Beatles 1 and Beatles 1+ DVDs and BluRays are released globally tomorrow, November 6. (Note that the “Hey Bulldog” video is only available on Disc 2 of the Beatles 1+ edition).
You can see the other four parts in the Restoration Series here. Just click on “The Restoration” tab at the top.
Just two more days before fans can get their hands on The Beatles 1 and The Beatles 1+.
CNN’s Paul Vercammen reports “in detail” on the new DVD and BluRay sets, due for release on November 6. In this segment he talks briefly to Michael Lindsay-Hogg, one of the film directors the Beatles worked with on a number of their promotional clips (and of course the Let It Be movie).
Notice that Paul Vercammen already has his copy of The Beatles 1+ on the desk.
Worth a look:
(click on the image to go there)
Is Apple doing a limited reissue of The Beatles Stereo USB?
The UK online store Spin CDs has just listed it, with a release date of 30 October…… 
Details on their site are sketchy so if anyone else knows about this let us know.
Originally issued in December, 2009 as a limited edition of 30,000 units, the small metal Apple contains a USB drive with all 13 of the band’s studio albums, plus all the Past Masters songs. Also included are the 13 album mini-documentaries which came with the remastered CDs, and the complete digital booklet artwork. The USB has all songs in stereo in both FLAC format (24 bit 44.1 kbps) and MP3 (320 kbps).
Seems to be a steadily rising number of Beatle children’s books about. If you have young ones or you just appreciate the child-like qualities of kids books, they’re nice to have.
The latest is a picture book illustrating Ringo Starr’s song ‘Octopus’s Garden’:
Octopus’s Garden is published by Simon and Schuster and beautifully illustrated by British children’s book illustrator Ben Cort. It’s a large-format, hardback book with really nice pictures to accompany the printed lyrics to the song:
There’s also a CD included with four tracks. Track 1 is a short spoken endorsement from Ringo; Track 2 is a new recording of ‘Octopus’s Garden’ (with Ringo providing the vocal); Track 3 has Ringo reading the story (without music); and finally an instrumental version for you or your child to sing along with:
Here’s a little promo video with more of a taste of what you get:
See also Real Love: The Drawings for Sean from 1999.
While we were in Long Jetty last week we discovered a nice copy of John Lennon’s Rip It Up – 15 Rock’n’Roll Greats. This was at The Sound Exchange Record Bar. Immediately next door is a small bric-a-brac/old wares store called Webster’s Vintage:
Inside this bright green building is crammed a veritable potpourri of clothing, jewellery, books and all sorts of knick knacks. You name it, they’ve got it.
While looking around we spied, in a glass case behind the main counter a lone Beatle record that looked interesting. It was a 1965, Australia-only pressing of a four-song EP called With The Beatles:
We asked the owner if she could open the cabinet so that we could check it out. The records was in very good condition. With its dark front cover image (unique to Australia) it’s rare to find these without a lot of ring wear showing, and the vinyl itself was very good too:
Rear cover:
So, another nice Aussie EP addition to the collection.
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