Category Archives: Beatles

George Harrison’s Living In The Material World Gets SDE Treatment

Posted on by
Reply

As has been much expected on the rumour mill, the George Harrison Estate has announced a 2024 re-mix of George Harrison’s 1973 title, Living In The Material World.

It will come in a myriad of forms on November 15 – with one to suit the price bracket of just about every fan.

There’s a 2LP, 2CD, 1 Blu-ray, plus 7″ vinyl single super deluxe box set edition. Similar content is replicated across the vinyl, CD’s and Blu-ray. This set is limited to 5,000 units globally and contains 12 previously unreleased Harrison tracks – early renditions of every song on the main album, plus one previously unreleased song, ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) which is only available in this box. This will really upset fans who can’t spring for the box, or who simply just don’t collect vinyl. ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’ is on CD2, the Blu-ray, and the 7” single (with an instrumental version of the song on the flip side). It features Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Rick Danko from The Band alongside Ringo Starr. There’s a 60-page hardcover book in the set and a 12-page Recording Notes booklet:

There’s a 2LP version on 180g black vinyl. This includes the new mix of the album alongside 12 session outtakes housed in a gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet and an exclusive double-sided poster:

There are 2CD and 1CD editions. The 2CD includes the new 2024 mix of the album on one disc, along with the 12 session outtakes (but NOT including the previously unreleased ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’), housed in a clam shell style box with two printed wallets, a 20-page booklet, and an exclusive double-sided poster:

The standard CD edition comes in a 4-page gatefold sleeve with printed inner wallet, and a 12-page booklet. There’ll of course be a 1LP edition on black vinyl. It comes in a gatefold sleeve and includes a 4-page booklet:

Three limited edition coloured 1LP versions will be out there too. An exclusive purple vinyl from the official George Harrison store:

Orange vinyl exclusive from Barnes & Noble in the US:

And milky clear vinyl from Amazon:

So, the song ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’ only being exclusive to the big box will be a thorn in the side for a lot of collectors….

Also of note is that three other tracks – which were previously released on a 2006 re-mastered LP and a CD/DVD edition of Living In The Material World – are not on the new 2024 reissue. These are ‘Deep Blue’, ‘Miss O’Dell (alternative version)’, and ‘Sue Me, Sue You Blues (acoustic demo version)’ – plus some video content too that is not on the Blu-ray and could have been. And there’s another previously-released related track from George’s Early Takes Vol. 1: ‘The Light That Has Lighted The World (Demo)’.

Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono – More

Posted on by
2

The Beatles Official site now has all the details about the November 22 release of the 8LP The Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono box set, as well as the six LPs available individually.

There’s also a very interesting “behind the scenes” video doing the rounds with mastering engineer Kevin Reeves who cut the records at Nashville’s East Iris Studios, and Pat Kraus, Senior VP Recording Studios & Archives at UMG:

Details are also emerging of some stores getting an “exclusive” blue vinyl version of Meet The Beatles. So far these include Target in the US, Sunrise Records in Canada, HMV in the UK, the jpc chain in Germany, and FNAC stores in Belgium and France. Gotta admit it looks kind of cool:

And Andrew, over at the very good Parlogram YouTube channel, has made this handy introduction/explainer as to what these latest releases from Apple are all about:

The Beatles 1964 Capitol Albums to be Reissued on Vinyl

Posted on by
7

Looks like the The Beatles camp is getting set to announce the vinyl re-issue of six US LP’s from released between January, 1964 and March, 1965 on Capitol and United Artists Records. They are Meet The Beatles, Something New, The Beatles’ Second Album, Beatles ’65, A Hard Days’ Night (Original Soundtrack), and The Early Beatles.

The official website briefly had pages published depicting pack shots of each album, but these have have since been taken down.

As you can see, each album comes with a replica inner sleeve from the time, and a sheet or booklet replicating the original tape box. It’s not yet known if the albums will only be available separately or if there’ll also be a box set containing all six LPs on the cards.

Speaking of those images of the tape boxes, before the pages were taken down each album had this Mastering Note text attached:

These albums were cut for vinyl from the original master tapes using a completely analog signal path and with constant reference to first generation pressings of the original albums. They were made using a Studer A80 master recorder with analog preview & program paths, and an Neumann VMS70 cutting lathe originally installed in Capitol Studios in 1971. This specific all-analog cutting technique allows faithful representation of the full musical range and dynamics present on the original tapes.

So, fully analogue AAA pressings is very welcome news. As to whether they’re the original Capitol Mono or Stereo mixes the images seem to confirm Mono as the albums above all show catalogue numbers starting with the “T” prefix – meaning Mono.

These releases tie in well with the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Beatles conquering America and the rumoured The Beatles: The First U.S. Tour re-issue of the famous Mayles brothers’ film – also expected to be announced soon.

UPDATE: It looks like an image of the box set (to be called The Beatles 1964 US Albums In Mono) has also been leaked. This confirms rumours that the box contains a bonus double disc in the form of The Beatles’ Story:

(click on images to see larger versions)

The discs will be on 180-gram vinyl cut from the original mono master tapes and will have a global release on November 22. They’ll feature faithfully replicated artwork and new four-panel inserts with essays written by American Beatle historian and author Bruce Spizer.

News Round-Up: Some Films and Books On The Way

Posted on by
2

There are not one but two John Lennon and Yoko Ono films set for release shortly.

The first, and the most interesting, is One to One: John & Yoko which has just premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and is getting very good reviews. It is a documentary set in New York in 1972 exploring not only John and Yoko’s new-found love of that city, but also their musical, personal, artistic, social, and political lives – all with a backdrop of that turbulent year in American history. At the film’s core is the One to One charity concert for special needs children, Lennon’s only full-length concert between the final Beatle concert in 1966 and his death. The footage and music from that Madison Square Garden show has been restored with Sean Ono Lennon and his team producing a superb sound remix. This is one to look out for when and if it makes it to Blu-Ray. We can only wish for some sort of soundtrack audio release of the concert as well. For a great article on the film check out The Hollywood Reporter.

The second film, also set in 1972, is another John and Yoko feature-length documentary called Daytime Revolution. This details five crazy days the pair co-hosted the iconic Mike Douglas Show, at the time the most popular show on US daytime TV reaching an audience of 40 million viewers a week. As producers and hosts, Lennon and Ono where allowed to pick their guests including Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, social activist Jerry Rubin, and political activist and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. They conducted candid Q&A sessions with their studio audience, had conversations about police violence and women’s liberation, mounted conceptual art events, and made one-of-a-kind musical performances, including playing live with Chuck Berry and a poignant rendition of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’.

It looks like Daytime Revolution is set for a theatrical release in the US on John Lennon’s birth date, October 9, so look for it in a cinema near you. It will then be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 26.

And of course September 26 sees the worldwide limited cinema release of One Hand Clapping, the film by David Litchfield documenting Paul McCartney and Wings live at Abbey Road Studios in August, 1974.

One Hand Clapping (and it’s accompanying soundtrack album) captures a moment when Wings had found and defined their sound. The documentary gives an insight into the inner workings of the band as they work and play together in the studio. The film, originally shot on 1970s videotape (code for “It looks pretty awful!”), has been scanned and restored at 4K. The between song dialogue has been de-mixed using Wingnut’s MAL software and the film features a new Dolby Atmos audio mix by Steve Orchard and Giles Martin. Find out if One Hand Clapping is showing near you and order tickets online.

Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting news of any film/music releases in celebration of The Beatles conquering America 60 years ago this year.

Rumor has it (from Ringo at least….) that there is some sort of Beatle film product on the way, possibly based around a re-issue of the Mayles brothers’ excellent backstage documentary The Beatles: The First U.S. Visit. Don’t know if this will be a stand-alone physical release on Blu-Ray, or if it will simply pop up as a streaming-only offer on Disney+ at some stage. Watch this space.

On the book front the next eagerly anticipated release is Mind Games, the companion piece to the audio of Mind Games The Ultimate Mixes. It’s due in shops from September 24. Like the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band The Ultimate Collection and Imagine The Ultimate Collection remixes which also had separately-sold thick books to accompany them, this book will be far more detailed than the 136 page book included in the 6CD/2 Blu-Ray deluxe box set. That book’s purpose is to unpack the music on those CDs and Blu-Rays. The separate Mind Games book goes much wider, examining not only the creation of the album in greater detail, the times in which was recorded, and what John and Yoko where up to.

Then, in December, comes the much-anticipated The McCartney Legacy, Volume 2 1974-80. This is the follow-up to 2022’s The McCartney Legacy, Volume 1 1964-73, described as the most complete work on the life and work of Paul McCartney ever published.

If authors Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair bring the same level of exhaustive research to Volume 2 that made the first installment such a critical success, then this book will be a must-have. It is released on December 10 and is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

For those of you with deep pockets who want to celebrate the Beatles continued domination of popular music in America in 1964, then Genesis Publications has a high-class book of photographs from the time for you.

Mania Days is described as “…the ultimate photographic record of the Beatles’ tour of the USA, as captured through the lens of the band’s photographer Curt Gunther, with introductory quotes from the Beatles’ press officer, Derek Taylor. Mania Days is a must-have book for Beatles aficionados and anyone interested in the transformative power of music and popular culture. The final 100 copies are now available in a new and updated binding and slipcase, specially designed to commemorate 60 years of The Beatles in the USA and 50 years of Genesis Publications in 2024.”

It has to be said that Mania Days contains some brilliant images capturing Beatlemania in all its crazy glory. Curt Gunther has a good eye and his black and white images are often striking. The only drawback is the £265 price tag. That is $514 Australian or $347 US. Granted, Genesis Beatle books have a tendency to hold or even increase their value, but it’s still a lot for a book! They must be selling them though as there are only 30 copies left, and the even more expensive “Deluxe” edition is listed as sold out on the site.

Lennon ‘Mind Games – Meditation Mixes’ Available for Pre-Order

Posted on by
2

True to his word that there would be more Mind Games-related product released before the end of the year, Sean Ono Lennon has announced a 3 LP set called Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes. The tracks (out on October 11) will also be available to stream, but there’s no mention of a CD at the present time.

Watch the “unboxing” promo video:

These Mind Games – The Meditation Mixes were produced by Sean Lennon and came out as part of a consciousness-expanding app called Lumenate in the lead-up to the release of the Mind Games Ultimate Mixes box sets.

Sean Lennon: “You might say meditation is the ultimate mind game. These very abstract interpretations will hopefully assist you in exploring your ‘Innerverse’. I was both thrilled and surprised when UMG said they wanted to make a vinyl edition. This part of the Mind Games project evolved spontaneously and feels like it is sprinkled with just the right amount of good vibes and fairy dust. (Effects may vary).”

The meditation mixes will be released on vinyl as a limited edition 3LP set, pressed on 180-gram crystal clear vinyl and packaged in a triple gatefold mirrorboard sleeve. Side B on LP3 will feature nine unique 1.8 second mantras that will play continually in the vinyl’s run out grooves to create infinite loops.

Interestingly, and perhaps very frustrating for those who forked out the big bucks for the Super Deluxe Box Set, these albums are not included in that box. The Meditations set will have to be purchased separately if you want to have absolutely everything associated with this campaign.

Also, people who only collect CDs (and are not interested in vinyl at all) are also upset and already expressing their pain and dismay on some of the Beatle forums that this is vinyl-only in physical form…..

More on the release from the Universal Music Store site:

“Newly, radically re-imagined remixes, created from John Lennon’s classic song, Mind Games, these nine Meditation Mixes create their own space while maintaining firm, authentic roots in John Lennon’s original recording of the song. Each of them have been radically altered, slowed down and extended, ranging from 5 to 10 minutes to over 33 minutes, allowing for the musical soundtrack to wash over the listener and provide a relaxing, immersive, deep listening and meditative experience. Four of these tracks are presented as Binaural versions that each focus on different types of brain waves: Beta, Delta, Gamma and Theta. Named ‘Mind’, ‘Space’, ‘Spirit’ and ‘Love’, these tracks utilise the effect created when the ears hear left and right frequencies which combine to be perceived as a new frequency that can activate different brain patterns for scientifically proven therapeutic effects.

Of the original song, Mind Games, Yoko Ono Lennon said:  “John was trying to convey the message that we all play mind games. But if we can play mind games, why not make a positive future with it – to be a positive mind game?”

Produced by Sean Ono Lennon, mixed and engineered by Sam Gannon with additional recording engineered by Scott Holingsworth, the song will now bring a new positive impact in the realm of meditation and mindfulness.”

Here’s a sample:

And the track listing:

LP1 Side A

  1. Mind Games Meditation Mix – MIND (Binaural Gamma Waves 100Hz) (10:02)
  2. Mind Games Meditation Mix – MAGIC (10:58)

LP1 Side B

  1. Mind Games Meditation Mix – SPACE (8Hz Theta Binaural) (5:42)
  2. Mind Games Meditation Mix – SEED (5:59)
  3. Mind Games Meditation Mix – YES (6:03)

LP2 Side A

  1. Mind Games Meditation Mix – SPIRIT (15Hz Beta Binaural) (5:36)
  2. Mind Games Meditation Mix – LOVE ().5Hz Delta Binaural) (12:32)

LP2 Side B

  1. Mind Games Meditation Mix – SURRENDER (23:41)

LP3 Side A

  1. Mind Games Meditation Mix – PEACE (23:55)

LP3 Side B (ALL TRACKS INFINITE LOOPS)

         MANTRA 1 (∞)
         MANTRA 2 (∞)
         MANTRA 3 (∞)
         MANTRA 4 (∞)
         MANTRA 5 (∞)
         MANTRA 6 (∞)
         MANTRA 7 (∞)
         MANTRA 8 (∞)
         MANTRA 9 (∞)

Sixty Years Since The Beatles Toured Australia and New Zealand

Posted on by
Reply

Here in Australia over the last week or so there’s been a lot of fond reminiscences of the time, sixty years ago now, that The Beatles came to this country.

Australia’s national broadcaster the ABC (kind of like the BBC in the UK) has just played a terrific hour-long documentary on The Music Show that is really worth a listen:

Click on the image above to stream. Or you can listen here:

One of the key guests on the show is Greg Armstrong, co-author with Andy Neill of a comprehensive new book all about the tour called When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964.

Greg is a Melbourne-born and based radio presenter, researcher and Beatle historian. He is a co-presenter on Australia’s Let It Be Beatles, the world’s longest-running radio show dedicated to the Beatles, on Melbourne’s WynFM. The show is now in its 31st continuous year, having broadcast over 1,400 episodes. Andy Neill is a UK-based music writer, researcher and historian, born in New Zealand. Alongside several other music biography books, he compiled and annotated Across The Universe: The Beatles on Tour and on Stage (2009) and Looking Through You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from the Beatles Book Monthly Archive (2015).

Their book is amazingly researched with a wealth of photos, memorabilia, stories and information. You can get a taste of what’s inside here.

When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 is published by Woodslane Press.

Collector’s “Mind Games” Sampler – Uncut Magazine

Posted on by
4

If you’re collecting everything to do with the forthcoming re-issue of John Lennon’s Mind Games, you’ll want to grab a copy of the latest Uncut magazine.

Here’s what Uncut has to say about it:

Next month sees the release of Mind Games: The Ultimate Edition – a deep dive into John Lennon’s 1973 album overseen by Sean Ono Lennon. We’re honoured to present an exclusive, ultra-collectable nine-track Mind Games CD, curated for us by the John Lennon Estate, full of new mixes that shine fresh light on Lennon’s working practices. We hope you agree, it’s a great way in to the marvelous work done by Sean and his team. “We’ve really tried to include everything we possibly can and we’re really looking forward to hearing people’s feedback,” Sean confides to us. “I’m very proud of the work we’ve done on an album that has always meant a lot to me personally.”

You’ll also find an in-depth exploration of all Lennon’s solo albums in our 32-page Ultimate Music Guide sampler, and a terrific cover story from Peter Watts.

The CD comes in a cool alternate collector’s cover:

The tracklist:

  1. Mind Games (Evolution Documentary)
  2. I’m The Greatest (Ultimate Mix)
  3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) (Ultimate Mix)
  4. You Are Here (Outtake, Take 5)
  5. Tight A$ (Raw Studio Mix)
  6. Bring On The Lucie (Elemental Mix)
  7. You Are Here (Elements Mix)
  8. Out The Blue (Elemental Mix)
  9. Meat City (Evolution Documentary)

Click here to pre-order the magazine, CD sampler and Lennon album guide.

Latest Paul McCartney Release Now Available

Posted on by
Reply

Want to get your hands on the latest Paul McCartney release? (And no, it is not One Hand Clapping which is due on Friday next week….)

It’s a track from the latest Destiny video game called The Final Shape, which was released earlier this week.

The original soundtrack from the game is also out – and it contains a song co-written by Paul. The track, ‘After All This Time’, is quite symphonic is style and there are no vocals.

‘After All This Time’ is co-written with (amongst others) Michael Salvatori, Skye Lewin, and Martin O’Donnell, and McCartney has collaborated with them before on the original Destiny soundtrack – most notably the closing credits song, ‘Hope For The Future‘.

Back then the creators of the Destiny franchise released the whole soundtrack as an impressive 6 LP set. No such luck this time. Looks like The Final Shape (including the track ‘After All This Time’) is only available as a digital download.

(See also McCartney’s Destiny Credits and Closing Theme Song.)

Mind Games Being Played? The ‘Mind Games’ Launch

Posted on by
1

The lead up to the release of John Lennon’s Mind Games, the next of his back-catalogue LPs to get the deluxe and super deluxe box set treatment, is proving that this time around they are having some fun with the “mind games” of the title.

There have been quite a few firsts in the marketing, and in what we can expect in the content of the Super Deluxe, Deluxe, 2LP and 2CD sets, released on July 12.

Probably the best summary of the known fun and games to date comes from well-known YouTuber Andrew Dixon. Here’s Andrew with a summary of where we’re at so far:

Remember this?

Posted on by
3

Back before Christmas you might recall us running a story about Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon sending out another batch of rare, specially cut acetates to a select group of 50 charities. You can read about that here.

Well, one of the charities has been in touch to let us know how they are using their acetate to raise much needed funds to promote the cause of peace. Here’s their press release:

Limited-edition John Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘Give Peace a Chance’ vinyl acetate available in prize draw to fight extreme poverty

International humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide is running a prize draw for the exclusive vinyl acetate, newly released in 2023 and hand-cut at Abbey Road Studios. It is one of 50 that has been gifted by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to charities that support peace.  

Funds raised from the prize draw will go directly towards Concern’s work across 26 countries to end hunger and extreme poverty.  

“It’s amazing to be able to offer our supporters the chance to win such an exclusive item, with such an important and unique history, and we’re grateful to Sean and Yoko for including us,” says Lucy Voakes, Fundraising Innovation Manager at Concern.  

“The prize draw will raise vital funds at a time when nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other economic factors.” 

Concern delivers life-changing interventions in some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities, including emergency response, health and nutrition, livelihoods and education.  

The record bears a machine-printed signature from Yoko Ono and is a collector’s item. It also includes the B-Side ‘Remember Love.’  

‘Give Peace a Chance’ was first produced fifty-five years ago in June 1969, during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “bed-in for peace” in Montréal, Canada.  ‘Give Peace a Chance’ quickly became the anthem for the anti-war movement at the time.  

To enter the prize draw, visit the charity’s crowdfunder page. Tickets are £5 for a single entry. To enter the draw for free, submit your entry via post. Visit the crowdfunder page for more information: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/give-peace-a-chance-vinyl  

So, that means we know where limited edition acetate number 14 of 50 was sent, and how they intend to use it to help fight poverty.

But what of the other 49? We know where they’ve gone (scroll down the News page on the official John Lennon site to see the full list of charities), but what are they actually doing with them?

As we did for the 50 acetates that the Lennon estate sent out to record stores previously, we decided to have a look around the web to try to find out.

However, it’s proving a much more difficult task this time around because not many of the charities have (yet) openly publicised their intentions. Here’s our very short list to date:

9/50 Thanks to Discogs we know that this one went to British Red Cross. Not sure what they did with it, but here are a couple of small, somewhat fuzzy images we found:

14/50 as we know went to Concern Worldwide. They are selling raffle tickets for a prize draw (as per the details above). This closes on May 31. More info can be found at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/give-peace-a-chance-vinyl. Here’s their disc:

45/50 War Child UK. They are holding a timed online auction 24 April – 16 May called Spring Clean for War Child. Lots of other rock and pop culture memorabilia is available to bid on, but you’ll need to register. Details on the acetate they were sent – it is Lot 59 – is available here. As of the date of publication the current bid is £500, and there are 13 bidders:

46/50 One of our readers won this disc! It was raffled by War Child Canada and Barry our reader made the winning bid. He’s kindly sent in a couple of photographs, probably the best close-up look at this collectible item we’ve seen yet:

50/50 This was sent to World Vision UK and Liverpool Lighthouse. After hanging on to it for almost a year and a half, they will auction it during a Liverpool Lighthouse event called the Liverpool Gospel Music Festival on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at the Liverpool Olympia. All proceeds will help transform the lives of vulnerable children worldwide:

And finally this one, which shows that the record is indeed a rare, specially cut acetate:

Unknown disc number. Sent to Refugees International. They’ve already held an online auction and it ended on April 30, 2024. The winning bid for the limited edition acetate was $500. See: refugeesinternational.afrogs.org/#/view/942515 for more.

Unknown disc number. Beyond Conflict UK. Details of just how they intend to raise funds are unknown at present. They have posted online that they will disclose details “in the new year”. So we guess it is a case of ‘watch this space’. beyond-conflict.co.uk/mediahub/blog/john-lennon-donates-rare-give-peace-a-chance-record-to-bc/

And that is it!

So far we’ve been able to track down just 7 of the 50 acetates!

If you know where any of the others have ended up, and what the plan is on how to use them, please let us know!