I know. I’m always a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to getting on top of the latest Beatle magazines.
I literally stumbled across this one today on the shelf at one of my local newsagent stores. I genuinely hadn’t seen it before, but it looked pretty impressive and so I bought it.
It’s a 148-page Beatles special edition, published by the UK’s highly respected Uncut magazine. The magazine traces the rise of the band, its massive success, and then the eventual demise. It features interviews from the archives of Uncut, NME and Melody Maker. Looking back, the levels of access and revelation contained in the archives of these three journals is quite impressive. Their journalists sat in on meetings with Elvis Presley, travel round the United States with the Beatle touring party during the first tour, and are there as the band starts to fall apart. Alongside all these features Uncut’s current team of writers contribute in-depth new analyses of every Beatles album.
Here are some page scans from the mag, which includes unusual photos and great information on the band and their releases:
And this great photo of Beatle manager Brian Epstein – which should qualify for our Beatles With Records series of posts as well:
Apologies for the long delay in posting anything on Beatlesblogger but I’m on vacation.
As it happens I’m on a resort island off the coast of Australia – and funnily enough there is actually a Beatles connection to this place.
I’m sitting on beautiful Catseye Beach on Hamilton Island off the Queensland coast and it occurs to me (dredged from somewhere deep in the back of my mind) that George and Olivia Harrison once had a luxury holiday home on this very island….and here it is:
A quick search on Google confirmed that vague memory and led me to this comprehensive article in Architectural Digest outlining the full story of how George ended up owning a little piece of Australia. The article is penned by writer and Harrison family friend Paul Theroux – who contributed the Introduction to the book “Living in the Material World“, and whose work also appears in the very limited (and expensive) Genesis Publications anniversary book about the “Concert for George“. The Harrison home was sold in 2008, apparently for $8 million – setting a new sales record for the island at that time. I just wish George was still around to enjoy this very beautiful part of the world….
You can see a Google Map satellite image of the house here.
I was in Armidale, NSW (Australia) last week and managed (in between work meetings) to duck out to the recycled book and record store in town. I picked up a nice, used copy of book which looks to be a companion to the Rolling Stone magazine book I found earlier this year in Sydney about George Harrison. It’s similar in style and scope, only this time the editors of Rolling Stone have John Lennon and Yoko Ono as their focus:
This is the paperback edition and it came out in 1982. The book details (from the pages of Rolling Stone over the period 1967 to 1980) the love, the life and the activities of John and Yoko. It looks to be a fantastic compendium of some of the best writing about the pair as individuals, as a couple, and of course John as a member of the Beatles.
There are some great colour and black and white photos throughout, some of which I’d not seen before – like this one of Yoko.
The photograph above is an interesting composition. As you look at it you realise those are John’s hands.
Articles by the likes of Jonathan Cott, Jann S. Wenner, and Chet Flippo; photos by Annie Leibovitz; and a section just called “Remembering John” – with contributions from Gerry Marsden, Ray Charles, Joan Baez, Jim Keltner, David Geffen, Bobby Keyes, Carly Simon Norman Mailer, Chuck Berry, Mick Jagger and Harry Nilsson – to name just a few. It is going to be a very interesting read.
This blog is sub-titled “Adventures in Collecting Beatles Music”, and that’s exactly what happened to me this week.
I had some colleagues in town for a conference and on Tuesday we all went out for a drink in the city. On the way there our cab went past a second-hand book and CD shop called T.Kelly Books on George Street, which is the main thoroughfare through the Sydney CBD. I’ve known about this store for some time but not visited it for years. Its a bit of an institution. The reason I noticed it this time was a very big sign out the front: “ALL STOCK 50% OFF”. Hmmm….looks like it is closing down, which is sad. Mental note – “Try to get time to come back later this week….”.
When I did I discovered this book at half the marked price (i.e. $20.00):
I’d never seen this book before and so it was a surprise. It was first published in 2002 by Simon and Schuster, and is as its title suggests a collection of articles about the late George Harrison that have appeared in Rolling Stone magazine over the years. This is the rear cover:
The Google Books review says it is “….a definitive tribute that features a new foreword by Olivia Harrison, the editors have drawn on their archives and hundreds of photographs, both the iconographic and the rarely seen, to celebrate the life and career of one of the most important musicians in rock & roll history.”
“Compiled by the editors of ROLLING STONE, Harrison chronicles the guitarist’s life before, during and after the Beatles. Contributing editor Mikal Gilmore offers an expansive, thoughtful new essay, “The Mystery Inside George.” ROLLING STONE senior editor David Fricke tells the stories behind Harrison’s best-known songs, and offers a guide to twenty-five essential Harrison recordings. Harrison also features news stories and interviews with the guitarist from throughout ROLLING STONE’s history — from his first Q&A with the magazine, in 1968, to his last, a 1987 interview with ROLLING STONE contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis”.
We got that Paul was carrying a copy of Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um: The Best of Major Lance, but not the record that we can see Ringo holding while getting off the plane in London after their famous first US tour.
Thanks to Andrey in Russia we now have this one solved too. He put out the word amongst his collector friends asking what this record could be:
And they quickly came up with the correct identification:
Andrey’s mates are fantastic. They also provided the answer to this unusual and obscure LP John Lennon had on the end of his bed:
Andrey also sent these next couple of photos. This Beatles photo, clipped from a newspaper, looks like it comes from the same photo shoot as the photograph used in Beatles with Records Part Three, but it’s a different pose and this time in black and white:
Next, from the height of the Apple days, Paul and Apple PR man Derek Taylor in the band’s offices at number 3 Savile Row, London. Paul is holding an unidentified acetate recording:
Here’s another of Paul (much later), this time proudly holding a copy of his 2006 classical release, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart):
And here’s one with Ringo holding his solo CD Ringo Rama (2003):
And signing a copy as well:
Finally, a couple of interesting photos of Beatles with records from the website Kenwood. Kenwood revels in discovering and detailing places that the Beatles (especially John Lennon) have lived. It tries to give “then” and “now” comparisons of how rooms and buildings have changed, often involving great detective work. This recent post looks at 57 Green Street, London – where all four of the lads lived for a short period in 1963. There are two photos of them there with records. This one of Ringo sorting through 45’s:
And this one of John, seated in front of the same record player that Ringo is using above:
(click images to see a larger version)
Behind him on the left-hand side, upside-down, is a yellow LP cover. Could it be The Fabulous Miracles (Tamla 238, 1963)?
This LP contains the Motown group’s second Top Ten single, “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”, which became such a smash that the album was soon reissued and renamed. However, this is the original cover art. “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” was of course covered by the Beatles on their second UK album With the Beatles (1963).
Thanks once more to everyone who has sent in further photos and information. 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 and 14, 15 and 16
Masses of photos sent in recently – especially from Andrey in Russia. This series is about finding photographs of the Beatles actually holding the product they sold so prolifically – either their own records or those of other artists. We also accept photographs of those close to the Beatles in the proximity of records or CDs.
Back in Part 8 and in Part 10 we identified a very early photo of the band playing on a stage that had a backdrop consisting of a black curtain with LP covers pinned to it. Turns out these were taken in 1961 at a hall with the very grand title of The Palais Ballroom in place called Aldershot in the south of England. Pete Best is still their drummer and this was the band’s first foray to the south of the country. A mere 18 people turned up for the gig! Despite that, the Beatles look to be giving the performance their all. These were the photos we had so far:
From these we were able to identify the following records:
Well, Andrey has sent a couple more photos from that same 1961 Aldershot show:
(Click on some images to see larger versions)
From these its possible to identify at least three more LPs pinned to the backdrop. From the first photo, just above Paul’s microphone you can see this one:
And in the final photo, hanging upside down at an angle just behind Pete Best and above the guitar amp:
Just below the Bobby Darin, also on an angle, is one called Sing It Again No.2. I can’t find an image of that exact disc, but did find Sing It Again No.4 which has very similar artwork:
Also in Part 8 we had a small photo which was taken in 1963 at EMI headquarters for the launch of the Please Please Me LP. The band is on a stage with lots of album covers behind them:
Here are a couple more from that same day – and much larger, too:
This one below is also a fairly early photograph. Adoring fans seeking autographs on their Beatles singles. Maybe they are copies of “From Me To You”, the first 7″ single released in the plain green Parlophone paper sleeve?
These next two show the Beatles arriving back in the UK in 1964 after their tour to America – with Ringo, George and Paul each having records under their arms. To identify just what they are though will need your help:
If you can help identify Paul and Ringo’s records (its hard with George because his are in a paper bag!) please post a comment below or email me here
Once the band started to sell some records and earn some money they purchased the latest gadgets to play records – including in their cars:
Dick James formed the music publishing company Northern Songs (with Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney) and became the publisher of all the Beatles songs. As the photo caption says – he kept a close eye on the fortunes of his key partners:
(That’s some letter opener he has there!)
Finally, a photo of Klaus Voormann, the man who designed the BeatlesRevolver cover art in 1966. Here he is more recently signing a copy of the CD for a fan:
As usual thanks to all those who have sent in content and further information. 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, 16 and 17.
COMING SOON – The Beatles with Gold Records – and believe me there are LOTS of those.
(Click on many of the images above to see larger versions)
Since the last instalment we’ve been swamped with some great content – enough for at least two or three more posts featuring the Beatles (or people close to them) photographed or filmed with records or CDs – either their own or those of other artists.
This first one comes from beatlesblogger.com reader Ariel, who sent in this great YouTube clip of John Lennon and Yoko Ono strolling past a crowd of reporters and photographers:
The footage was clearly taken in 1970 when John and Yoko were publicising this Plastic Ono Band album:
The footage comes from a 1977 film by French film-maker Gérard Courant, whose website says of the film: “The year punk music exploded, Courant gave his most avant-garde outburst by relating for the first time the shattering experiences that took place in the second half of the 20th century…with the rock culture that clamored that same idea of rupture…”. Lennon and Ono can also be seen publicising the same LP in Part Five and also in Part Two.
Staying with John Lennon for a moment here’s an image sent in by Andrey in Russia of the Lennon’s in New York – holding court with assembled media and hangers-on in their apartment in February, 1972 in Greenwich Village:
There’s obviously a record you can see sitting there at the foot of the bed:
But what and who is it? I was having real trouble identifying this one. Well, thanks to Andrey’s Russian-speaking friends we’ve been able to find that LP. He asked one of the Beatles.ru forums for some help. Which artist could it be? Andrey says he got the answer in about ten minutes:
The Power Pop website says that the group Soup was from Wisconsin in the USA and the members were Doug Yankus, Rob Griffith and David Faas . The band released a self-titled album in 1970, however what we can see here is the bands second LP, The Album Soup, from 1971. How it came to the attention of John Lennon, and what he thought of it we’ll probably never know.
Continuing on the Lennon theme – this time with Yoko and a gentleman named Kristofer Englehardt, author of the book “The Beatles Undercover“, holding a copy of her solo LP from 1971 called Fly:
In Part Six there’s a terrific photo of George Harrison in the back of a limo holding up a copy of his All Things Must Pass LP. Here’s another good one from around the same time:
Could it be that this photo below was taken on the same day and location? It looks very much like the same shirt George is wearing above. Perhaps he’s playing one of the sides from All Things Must Pass on his record player at home?
One final shot of George taken in 1972 according to the caption, this time with his triple LP from 1971 The Concert for Bangladesh:
When you are Paul McCartney, just getting into a building you are visiting can have it’s challenges. The photo below shows the type of crush which can eventuate when everyone wants a photograph or an album signed – including one fan bravely holding up a copy of the 1988 Russian release Снова в СССР:
Here he is again – this time with fans thrusting forward copies of (amongst other things) Help! and Tug of War (you can see the cover of Tug of War at the very bottom right-hand side of the photo):
One other final shot of Paul holding a 45 single, this time with Ringo and John. It is what is reported as a test acetate recording (printed in limited quantities and used by the band and engineers for checking the quality and the mix) – it is supposedly of a song from Sgt Pepper:
There’s another photo from the studio on the same day below – from a different angle with George also in attendance and more acetates lined up on the piano:
One final photo for this instalment – again of the Beatles as a group and possibly arriving in Rome. I say that because the gentleman in the light coloured jacket, moustache and glasses (who is a fellow named Alf Bicknell – the Beatles chauffeur between 1964-1966) is holding a copy of the Italian version of A Hard Day’s Night. You can tell it’s the Italian cover of the LP because the large type across the top saying “The BEATLES” is distinctively different to the standard UK release:
Thanks to all those who have sent in content and further information. 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, 15, 16 and 17.
The opening lines of George Harrison’s“Bangladesh” song from 1971 are: “My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes, he told me that he wanted help, before his country dies…..”.
That friend was Ravi Shankar – Indian sitar virtuoso and legendary musician who has died today – aged 92.
A statement on the musician’s website says he passed away in San Diego, near his Southern California home. His foundation issued a statement saying that he suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also confirmed his death and called Shankar a “national treasure”.
Labelled “the godfather of world music” by George Harrison, Shankar helped millions of classical, jazz and rock lovers (including me) discover the centuries-old traditions of Indian music. He became a teacher, mentor and father figure to Harrison and greatly influenced the Beatles music, from composition through to their fascination with India and it’s culture.
His discography is understandably extensive, spanning a recording career of well over 55 years. Ravi Shankar was briefly signed to the Beatles Apple Records label and released two albums. The first was a soundtrack album to a film about his music and life called Raga(1971), with the album of music from the film produced by George Harrison:
Andthen in 1973 came a double LP called In Concert 1972, with sarod player extraordinaire Ali Akbar Khan:
George Harrison of course famously called upon his friend Shankar in 1971 to open the fundraising Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, and then released a live film and a triple LP called The Concert for Bangladesh with the whole of the first side of Disc One dedicated to a performance by Ravi Shankar. This was also released on Apple Records:
Following the demise of Apple in the seventies, George Harrison continued his association with Shankar, releasing two LP’s on his Dark Horse label. The first was Shankar Family and Friends (1974):
Shankar Family and Friends was followed on Dark Horse Records in 1976 by Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival From India:
George Harrison also compiled and produced a 1996 box set called Ravi – In Celebration (for the EMI subsidiary label, Angel Records). A single CD of highlights was also released:
And in 1997 (also on the Angle label) came Chants of India, which was again produced by George Harrison:
It was no surprise then, when in 2002 a tribute concert was held in honour of the late Beatle, that the music of Ravi Shankar would feature prominently. He was present for the show and a Shankar composition “Arpan” (Sanskrit for ‘to give’), was specially written for the occasion:
All the Dark Horse Harrison/Shankar collaborations, plus Chants of India, came out in a lavish box set simply called Collaborations in November 2010:
In recent years Ravi Shankar’s own record label EastMeetsWest Music has been steadily working through his back-catalogue and re-releasing his life’s work on CD, DVD, and digitally.
First comes from Jerry Woods who wrote: “Saw your blog featuring various record labels (I LOVE this stuff!!) and noticed that you didn’t have a MONO version of Abbey Road on display, so I thought I would share. Although, not a true mono mix (they never “officially” did one – and this LP sounds identical from start to finish to the Stereo version when the Stereo version is folded down to Mono) this is kind of an interesting oddity – but only a fold down to Mono from Stereo.”
Here are the labels – the record comes from Brazil:
Another nice one sent in was from a reader in New Zealand and it’s really quite unusual. It is Abbey Road on an orange Apple label – very similar (but not quite) to the orange labels used for George Harrison’sAll Things Must Pass. VERY collectable:
Of course there were lots of green Apples from other countries. Nice examples here from France, Italy and a green vinyl pressing of the album from the UK:
There were these two from Canada that were missed first time around. They include a couple of purple Capitol labels with two variations (one with a fairly obvious spelling mistake):
There were also a couple of other US pressings. The orange Capitol, and also the collectable Mobile Fidelity Audiophile pressing:
Finally, a couple of pressings of Abbey Road on a black and silver Parlophone label. This first one is from the UK:
While this other one, sent in by Andrey in Russia, is much more unusual. It is a rare UAR (Egypt?) label for Abbey Road:
(except for a couple, click on labels to see larger versions)
Ah, collecting….the variations sometimes seem endless. Thanks to everyone who emailed more labels.
You can see Label Variations Parts One, Two, Three, Four, and Five and Six, plus the BeatlesLove LP variations here and here.
The Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian news providers are today (via the Press Association) reporting on one of the often-mentioned Beatle mysteries – the opening chord of the song “A Hard Day’s Night”:
The SMH says: “It is one of the most famous sounds in the history of rock and roll. The clanging, opening chord at the start of the 1964 Beatles hit A Hard Day’s Night is instantly recognisable. Yet, as many musicians have discovered, every attempt to reproduce it seems to sound wrong.
A British mathematician now claims to have got closer than anyone else to solving the decades old musical mystery. Dr Kevin Houston, from the University of Leeds, used sophisticated software to split up the sound on the record into its component frequencies.
Presented on a computer screen, a pattern was revealed showing which notes were most prominent. The results suggest a much simpler solution than one proposed four years ago by another scientist from Canada.
Professor Jason Brown, from Dalhousie University, maintained that missing guitar notes were replaced by Beatles producer George Martin playing a piano. Buried in the background behind the guitars, the piano is hard to hear. Yet according to Prof Brown it provides the vital musical spark that makes the chord so distinctive. Dr Houston does not dispute that the piano is there, but challenges its importance.
His believes George Harrison was playing a straightforward F add9 on his 12-string electric Rickenbacker guitar, rather than the unusual fingering indicated by Prof Brown. At the same time, Harrison appears to have had his thumb curled round the neck of the guitar, pressing down the bottom E string at the first fret. This is a common technique among self-taught pop and rock guitarists.
Dr Houston also established that John Lennon was playing the same chord on an acoustic guitar. On the stereo track, Harrison and Lennon are heard on different speakers.
The wonders of music and mathematics! Dr Houston takes us through it all in detail here:
The SMH continues: “The opening chord to A Hard Day’s Night is a mystery,” said Dr Houston, who was speaking at the British Science Festival. “It turns out that nobody really knows what it is. People who do know are a bit cagey about it. George Martin probably knows quite well but I think he’s quite happy not to tell people. “I wouldn’t like to say that we’ve definitely got it right, but I think we’ve put the record straighter. It makes mathematical and musical sense.”
Both are implausible, according to fellow mathematician, teacher and guitarist Ben Sparks who was taking part in Saturday’s presentation. “It beggars belief to say George Harrison was dodging the first string; its laughable,” he said. “Trying to play four strings in the middle of a 12 string is bloody hard, and most musicians would think it’s ludicrous to have John Lennon play just a high C.”
A question mark still hung over the role of Paul McCartney’s bass guitar, said the mathematicians. Whether he was playing a full note, or a harmonic, or both, remains a puzzle.” (ends)
Meanwhile….Paul McCartney has been in France being presented with France’s highest cultural award, the Legion of Honor, by French President Francois Hollande:
Paul looked pleased. Nice tapestry in that room, too!
And this great photo of Beatle manager Brian Epstein – which should qualify for our Beatles With Records series of posts as well:
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