Category Archives: George Harrison

George Harrison’s Historic House “Friar Park” – New Book

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had an interest in the homes of the Beatles. Not a snooping, voyeuristic interest – but more of an architectural one because they (especially John and George) have lived in some very interesting buildings over the years.

That’s why our interest was sparked when we got a press release this week from a company called The Campfire Network advertising a new book. In coordination with “Ye Friends of Friar Park,” Campfire has just announced the publication of the second book in a series which celebrates the history and architecture of residences which at some point were homes of one or more of the Beatles. (Their first book in the series was The Dakota Scrapbook, published last year).

Now comes Friar Park: A Pictorial History, a collection of vintage, rare, and original photographs and illustrations telling the story of George Harrison’s spectacular and unusual home – Friar Park – from the time Sir Frank Crisp began purchasing land in the medieval town of Henley-on-Thames in the late 1800s, all the way to the time it was purchased by Harrison.Friar_Park

Carefully selected images offer a rare and unique glimpse of the property’s extraordinary gardens, mansion home, lodges, and assorted structures, lakes, and secret underground caves, as well as other architectural and horticultural treasures and wonders on the grounds of Friar Park. Here are some of the pages and images from the book:Friar Park. A Pictorial History Pages_3Friar Park. A Pictorial History Pages_4Friar Park. A Pictorial History Pages_6Friar Park. A Pictorial History Pages_7

Campfire’s Marketing Director Kelly Cardinal says: “Beatles fans, architects, historians, and anyone interested in grand homes and beautiful gardens have long-admired Friar Park from afar, with little more than the occasional description or photos that have appeared here and there. Now, for the first time, is a publication that includes the largest collection of photos and information about Friar Park that has ever been gathered together in one place before. It has generated quite a bit of excitement.”

The pictures and information in the book were found during the development of a forthcoming film documentary about the home.

Friar Park: A Pictorial History is now available from Amazon, as is a companion volume called Friar Park: 1919 Estate Auction Catalogue, a recreation of the official auction catalogue for the house when it was sold following the passing of original owner Sir Frank Crisp. Upon his death his family instructed auctioneers to sell the entire estate, including all the grounds, the boathouse on Henley-on-Thames, and three grand residential sites. The sale took place on Saturday, August 9th, 1919 and this book is a scholastic and educational study of an architecturally and historically significant English country house.

If you are interested in this sort of thing, “The Story of Tittenhurst Park” – the English stately home owned by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will be released in 2015.

And the same company has also published The Dakota Apartments: Vintage Articles.

(Each of the links above are to Amazon pages with a “Look Inside” function so that you can have a bit more of a sticky beak at these very interesting books).

There are also two YouTube clips promoting Friar Park: A Pictorial History. This one is interesting – lots of photos and page shots from the book. Then there’s this one – much more dramatic!:

George Harrison – Final Live Performance?

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Surfing the Internet today we came across this YouTube clip.

It’s from the VH1 cable TV channel in the US – way back in 1997.

They claim it is George Harrison’s last ever live public performance before his untimely death on November 29, 2001. We don’t have a way to verify that – unless anyone out there can add to the discussion? But even if it’s not true it is an extraordinarily frank interview which includes an impromptu rendition of the then un-released song ‘Any Road‘ on a borrowed guitar. ‘Any Road’ was later released posthumously on George’s Brainwashed album in 2002:

VH1 put the interview together with some linking historical pieces and re-broadcasted it as part of their commemorations on the day of George’s death. He was on the promo trail in 1997 with Ravi Shankar for the CD Chants of India (which George produced) and had dropped into the studio unexpectedly. What unfolded was simply great seat-of-the-pants TV.

Some Beatles Car Boot Sale Booty

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There was a big car boot sale just around the corner from us this last weekend, and we were able to find quite a few nice additions to the collection. One vendor just had boxes and boxes of CD’s, 7″ vinyl 45’s and 12″ LP’s on their stall – and so quite a bit of our Saturday morning was spent trawling….

It was time well spent though as it turned up a few gems.

First up was a Australian vinyl single taken from the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy. ‘Watching the Wheels’ was the third single from this LP (the first two were ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ and ‘Woman’). We didn’t have a copy of ‘Watching the Wheels” so this was a good find.Beatles books_0010

Next was another 7″ single we didn’t have – Badfinger’s ‘Come and Get It’ on the Apple label. It dates from 1969 and is a Paul McCartney composition written for the band, and it makes an appearance on the soundtrack for the film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. This is an Australian pressing. There’s a lot of writing on the label – but still…..Beatles books_0014

Further hunting through the boxes revealed another Apple single – this time from George Harrison. It’s an Australian copy of ‘My Sweet Lord’ b/w ‘Isn’t It A Pity’. In Australia this was a double A side as both titles have green Apple labels:Beatles books_0016Beatles books_0015

Our good luck continued in the multiple boxes at this car boot sale. Next out were two singles – a US copy of McCartney’s ‘Coming Up’, and ‘Say Say Say’ with Michael Jackson – both on the Columbia label, then a division of CBS. In the late 70’s/early 80’s McCartney was briefly (six years) on the Columbia label for his releases in America. He’d temporarily turned his back on Capitol Records, enticed by one of the most lucrative recording contracts around at the time, a deal which included as a sweetener the ownership of Frank Music, a CBS owned publishing company consisting (amongst other things) of Frank Loesser’s songs (think of the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, etc.). Frank Music is now of course folded into McCartney’s highly successful MPL Music Publishing business.

The two singles we found came out on the Parlophone label in Australia, so it’s good to have these US versions:Beatles books_0012Beatles books_0011

The final 45 we discovered was Billy J. Kramer’s ‘From a Window’ – which sadly is kind of beat up, but worth having because it is a song from 1964 written specifically for Kramer (and his band the Dakotas) by John Lennon and Paul McCartney: Beatles books_0013

The last purchase of the day was a bit of a find. It’s Jools Holland’s 2001 CD Small World Big Band, which is an important one to have in the collection because it contains George Harrison singing and playing on his last ever recording. George passed away just two months after this recording. He does a song called ‘Horse to the Water’, co-composed with his son Dhani.

Holland’s CD is sub-titled “….his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and friends”, that’s because for each track he invites various stars to join him for a track each. These include the likes of Sting; Paul Weller; Dr John; Mark Knopfler; Van Morrison; Steve Winwood; and Eric Clapton, amongst many others.Beatles books_0017Beatles books_0020 To quote two of the poignant reviewers on Amazon:

“For me, the big reason to buy this CD was the George Harrison contribution, ‘Horse to the Water’. It is a GREAT song, and a brilliant Harrison song at that. George sounds weak, and I am not sure if Clapton has stepped in on some of the guitar parts, but what a brilliant and fun piece of music, worthy to be held in the highest esteem among its author’s ouvre. IT is reason enough to buy the CD.”

And this one:

“I purchased this CD for one reason. I had seen the DVD Concert for George and loved it. Among the best offerings on the DVD was the Sam Brown/Jools Holland rendition of ‘Horse to the Water’ by George. Except for the words, I would never have guessed that it was a Harrison song. It was too R&B. So I was curious to see how he handled it. Well, he does not have the powerhouse voice of Sam Brown, but I was in fact really surprised at how well he did, helped greatly by the superb backup band. I would not have recognised his voice. I am sure his throat cancer was behind that.”

There’s a small picture of George in the booklet:

Beatles books_0019Beatles books_0021

 

How Much is That Beatle Autograph Worth?

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We don’t collect Beatle memorabilia like autographs, signed photos, tickets, posters, toys and such – but many people do.

If you have an authentic Beatle photograph which is autographed by one or more of the band you might be wondering what it’s worth. And is it increasing in value as the years go by?Signed Beatles PostcardBeatles_Autograhs

Well, it turns out that signed Beatle photographs appear to be a pretty good investment.

That’s according to the PFC40 Autograph Index (to 2018), compiled by Paul Fraser Collectibles. Their list tracks the values of 40 of the world’s most sought-after autographs since the year 2000. The prices given are an evaluation of the market value for a fully authenticated, best quality signed photo, based on close monitoring of dealer and auction sales. (A “best quality” example will feature a photograph in superb condition, depicting the subject in their most famous era, with a sharp, clear signature acquired during that period).

On the latest PFC40 Autograph Index Summary the Beatles feature prominently:

The most valuable autograph: £29,500 for a signed photo of The Beatles. (That’s US$38,560, or AU$50,439 at today’s exchange rate!)

One of the top performing autographs was Paul McCartney’s, with a value for the year of £2950.

Over the period 2000-2018 the top performing autograph was George Harrison’s with an 18.2% increase over that period.

The Beatles as a group appear twice in the Top 40 list for 2000-2018, as do all four individual Beatles – John Lennon (+12.2% over 18 years), Paul McCartney (+17% over 18 years), George Harrison (see above), and Ringo Starr (+12% over 18 years).

Ringo AutographLennon_Autograph

So, hang on to those autographs – especially if they are on photographs or album covers.

To see some of the prices that Beatle items are fetching go to the search page at Paul Fraser Collectables.

Limited Edition George Harrison Poster For Sale in Two Editions

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In association with the release of George Harrison: The Apple Years 1968-1975 box set, the official George Harrison site and the Obey Giant online store are offering for sale a limited edition print by artist Shepard Fairey.

The 18 inch x 24 inch screen print Poster For George (based on a photograph taken by Astrid Kirchherr) is offered in two editions, Red and Silver.

Both editions are limited to 400 signed and numbered copies. Each cost US$65.00.

The Red edition was available only from the Obey Giant web store on October 23 at a random time between 10am and 12pm PST. It looks to be sold out already.

The Silver edition is released today – October 24 – at the George Harrison web store at 10am PST / 6PM BST.  There is a limit of one poster per customer.Harrison-Red-500x666 Harrison-Silver-sm-500x666

 

John Lennon – Solo in 20 Songs

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To mark John Lennon’s birthday, Yoko Ono and Universal Music have launched a special microsite called John Lennon Solo in 20 Songs:Instant-Karma-single

Universal has also re-issued the Lennon solo catalogue on a variety of streaming platforms:Spotifyrdio logoDeezer_LogoBeats music

Universal is also making every album available for download as high definition audio for the first time. These are available for purchase from hi-res digital audio providers like these:7 DigitalHD tracks logHighRes Audioqobuz

(P.S.  Universal also created a George Harrison Hail a Dark Horse microsite to coincide with the release of The Apple Years 1968-1975. It’s to let fans know there’s a limited re-pressing of the previously sold out 2004 companion box set The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992. However, a quick search on the Amazon US site failed to find it…..The Amazon UK site has this – stating the set is due for a limited release on October 20. If anyone can confirm it is actually being re-issued please let us know.)

Two More Apple Vinyl Re-Issues for the Collection

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In our last post we featured a new series of books being prepared called A is for Apple, a history of the Beatles’ Apple Corps company. Volume 1 in the series will be released in the first half of next year.

Apple Corps was established not only to release the Beatles own records but also to promote new talent – to build a stable of newer and undiscovered artists. In the late 1960s and early 1970s they signed and released a series of albums and singles by a wide range of performers.

In 2010 Apple re-issued a selection of those artists on CD.

But well before that (between 1991 and 1996) they had a similar re-issue program under way – releasing on CD and vinyl a selection of the artists signed to Apple. There were 23 titles in all, re-issued in five main phases over the course of five years.

We’ve slowly been collecting examples of these re-issues on vinyl – the reason being that most of them (but not all) came with unique, additional discs on the Apple label containing bonus material, previously unreleased tracks, etc.

You can see some examples of these here (e.g. Jackie Lomax’s Is This What You Want?; The Ivey’s Maybe Tomorrow; Badfinger’s No Dice and Straight Up; and Billy Preston’s Encouraging Words), and also here (Badfinger’s Magic Christian Music). 

We’ve just added two more to the collection. They are John Tavener’s The Whale, and Billy Preston’s That’s the Way God Planned It.

The Whale frontThe Whale rear

The Whale was re-issued on vinyl in June, 1992. Like the original 1970 release it comes in a beautiful gatefold cover which opens to reveal a fantastic painting (click image to see a larger version):The Whale gatefoldThe Whale does not come with any bonus material and so it is a single LP disc. The labels look like this:

The Whale Label AThe Whale label B

Unlike the original release though this 1992 re-issue comes with an inner sleeve containing an article about the recording and how a modern classical composer like Tavener came to be signed to Apple. It is by Andy Davis (from Record Collector magazine). On the other side is some detail about the re-issue:

The Whale inner aThe Whale inner b

Our other recent find was a copy of Billy Preston’s That’s The Way God Planned It, which was reissued on vinyl in 1991: Preston God coverPreston God rear

Unlike the original 1969 release this one comes in a gatefold cover. That’s so that the cover can hold a second vinyl record with the three bonus tracks (click image to see a larger version of the gatefold image below). As you can see, That’s The Way God Planned It was produced by George Harrison: Preston God gatefoldPreston God Side 1

Preston God Side 2Preston God Bonus APreston God Bonus B

Note that while the bonus tracks come on a 12″ disc, it plays at 45 rpm.

The hunt for other vinyl examples in this 1990s Apple re-issue series continues!

George Harrison – Living in the Material World – 1973 Pressing Plant Footage

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Check out this great YouTube promotional video posted on the George Harrison official YouTube page.Living in the Material World footageThe footage – shot in 1973 on 16mm film – was taken both at the EMI pressing plant in Hayes Middlesex in the UK (the black & white film), and in the USA at Capitol Records (colour film).

It shows the packaging and testing of the original vinyl pressings of George Harrison’s Living in the Material World LP – back when vinyl was king!

The album has been newly remastered for the forthcoming The Years 1968-1975 CD box set – to be released on September 22.

The Apple Years 1968-75

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As well as cover art and a picture of the contents of what’s inside the new George Harrison box set The Apple Years 1968-75, the release is now appearing for pre-order on both the UK Amazon and US Amazon sites – with September 22 and September 23 release dates respectively. Harrison Apple Years CoverHarrison The Apple Years Box Set

Confusingly the US Amazon site has the heading The Apple Years [9 CD Box Set], but below that in the “Product Details” section it says: Number of Discs: 7 …. which makes us think that to get to the number nine they’re counting the three CD’s which will be inside All Things Must Pass.

If you click on the box set contents photo above to enlarge it you’ll see that ATMP comes in a faithfully replicated box, just like the original LP. If that’s the case then we can expect two CDs with orange Apple labels to be in there, plus a third CD which on the custom “Apple Jam” label – and that these will all be housed inside individual coloured inner sleeves. There should also be a great little replica poster of George Harrison in there as well.

From what is shown above it’s clear that the Dark Horse CD has been similarly faithful to its original 1974 LP release. It will come in a gatefold cover with all the inserts, and will replicate the label styles from that LP on the CD. It all looks to have been very nicely done.

Next McCartney Archive Series Releases – Dates Pushed Back

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Seems the never-ending announcements about releases for Beatles or Beatle-related product in the month of September has forced Paul McCartney to delay the release of the next two instalments in his Archive series. We just had an email from Amazon saying that the dates for Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound have been pushed back.

It’s not that surprising that something had to give.

We’ve just had the new DVD and BluRay of A Hard Day’s Night, the Beatles Japan Box CD set, and the vinyl re-issue of Lennon’s Shaved Fish. Then in September comes The Beatles In Mono vinyl box set (September 8); the Icon series CD’s for John Lennon and Ringo Starr (both September 9); and the news that a George Harrison The Apple Years CD box set is due for a September 22 release.

The schedule was getting very crowded….not to mention the strain on collectors’ wallets!