A New McCartney Song Collaboration

Posted on June 21, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Just when you were recovering from the release of Wings Over America (in deluxe box set, triple vinyl, and standard CD), and Rockshow on DVD and Blu-Ray, comes news of yet another Paul McCartney release to track down.

This time he’s teamed up an Italian dance punk outfit which goes by the name of The Bloody Beetroots. Using some of the basic vocals from a song called “Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight” (from the 2008 Fireman release Electric Arguments performed with Youth – a.k.a. Martin Glover) they’ve just issued a pretty crazy remix single called “Out Of Sight“.

Here’s the teaser clip from June 10th:

Then the single came out as a digital download on June 14.

Rolling Stone magazine says of the song: Out of Sight (which also features Youth) finds the old Beatle appealing to the stadium EDM crowd in a heavily thumping, airily melodic track on which he wails in his finest Little Richard mode. There’s an interesting background article on how the song came about here.

If you want to hear it: [audio https://beatlesblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/01-out-of-sight-feat-paul-mccartney-youth.m4a]

I’m not sure if there’s going to be a physical version on CD or vinyl. If anyone knows that can they please let us know? The only thing I can find is that the track will appear on The Bloody Beetroots’ album Hide, out on Ultra Music in September.

Meantime it’s on the web at Soundcloud, on iTunes and on YouTube:

UPDATE: On July 8 this official film-clip was added to YouTube:

The Beatles – The Uncut Ultimate Music Guide

Posted on May 16, 2013 by beatlesblogger

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.

I get home, look it up, and it turns out it was actually released back in January….

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:

Beatles Books – Hardcover….and Electronic

Posted on May 13, 2013 by beatlesblogger

The general consensus from Beatle fans so far is unanimous: the cover art for Mark Lewisohn’s first volume in his series of three books is really quite amateur-looking, and I agree:

This is a very disappointing cover, one that doesn’t do justice to the high expectations surrounding the release of this long-awaited Beatles book. Someone of Lewisohn’s standing should get better than this. It comes out later this year.

Meanwhile, the Linda McCartney book Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs has been released in electronic/digital form on iTunes.

Linda McCartney – Life in Photographs features:

over 170 photographs selected from Linda’s archive of over 200,000 images—most of which users can pinch to zoom
forewords by Paul, Stella, and Mary McCartney, texts by Annie Leibovitz and Martin Harrison, and excerpts from interviews with Linda from BBC’s highly acclaimed 1994 “Behind the Lens” profile
a bonus video interview with Paul McCartney and his daughters, Stella and Mary

The collection was produced in close collaboration with Paul McCartney and his children. When it first came out in hard copy the McCartney family released a YouTube video talking about the book.

A New Addition to the Collection – Ringo the 4th

Posted on April 28, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I have found an interesting second-hand record store not far from my local area which I didn’t even know existed.

It is called Audiomania. It’s a bit oddly located in a semi-industrial area and, unusually, is only open two day’s a week for four hours at a time! On one side of the shop there’s an extensive selection of good quality vinyl (pop, rock, blues, lots of jazz and a bit of a specialty of the store – reggae). On the other side of the space they have vintage hi-fi (amps, turntables, CD players, etc.) and – wait for it – restored motor cycles….

It is the most eclectic record shop I’ve come across in some time.

My son and I descended on Audiomania on the weekend a couple of weeks ago. He was on the hunt for jazz vinyl, and me in search of the Beatles (or anything else Beatle-related).

I ended up with three items. An Australian copy of Paul McCartney’s Red Rose Speedway; a copy of his Give My Regards to Broad Street; and Ringo Starr’s Ringo the 4th.

I wanted the McCartney LP’s because the Red Rose Speedway (Australian pressing) had a cover which didn’t have the Braille writing on the back, and the Broad Street was a US copy on the Columbia label (in Australia this LP came out on Parlophone).

Like I said in the previous post, I seem to moving from not having much of Ringo solo on vinyl to now having quite a few of his releases all of a sudden. I didn’t have this LP at all in my collection. Despite the ringwear on the cover (which you cane see below), this one being both a US pressing and a promo copy, it seemed worth the A$5.00 asking price:

As you can see it has a big black and white Atlantic Records “Promotional Copy” sticker on the front containing a track-listing with composers, song publishers and running times (for use by radio stations I guess), plus a gold-embossed stamp on the upper left-hand side saying “Promotional Copy NOT FOR SALE”.

You can see the rear cover above (pardon the pun). I don’t know who that is sitting on his shoulders or why they are there….if you know please drop us a line. There is also a paper inner sleeve with a photo of Ringo and his co-writer of many tunes on the album Vini Poncia:

The album came out in 1977 on the Atlantic label and has a cast of top session players and guest artists of the day including David Spinozza (guitar), the great Steve Gadd on drums, Chuck Rainey (bass), Michael and Randy Brecker (horns), and Bette Midler, Melissa Manchester, Jim Gilstrap and Luther Vandross (background vocals).

So, one more Ringo Starr for the collection – and a promo copy at that.

Record Store Day, and a Record Fair…

Posted on April 25, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I had a goooood Record Store Day last weekend.

For starters I managed to pick up copies of the Wings 12″ 45 of “Maybe I’m Amazed“, and I also scored the Ringo Starr three x 7″ box set. I got the Wings at one of Sydney’s longest-running, best-known and best-stocked independent record stores – Red Eye Records. We had to queue up in pouring rain outside the shop from opening time (9.00am Saturday) to get in. There were so many people hunting for RSD product it was a bit nerve-wracking wondering if they’d sell out of the Wings title. But, no problems. They still had some left when I finally got to the sales counter.

The Ringo box-set was another matter though. Red Eye hadn’t been able to secure any copies at all, and a quick phone around to just about every other likely outlet in town was the same story. I don’t think any copies of this actually made it into the country. So then it was a matter of just waiting for RSD to roll around in the USA and some copies to begin appearing on eBay. Which, due to the time difference between here and there, they eventually did late on Saturday night.

The Ringo Starr Singles Collection is three 7” vinyl singles in a lift-top box. You get “Photograph” b/w “Down And Out” / “It Don’t Come Easy” b/w “Early 1970” / “(It’s All Down To) Goodnight Vienna” b/w “Oo-Wee”, presented with replicated original picture sleeve artwork, a poster, and a bonus custom record spindle adapter.

Meanwhile….the rest of Saturday was taken up largely by attending the Glebe Record Fair. This is one of the big second-hand record fairs on the Sydney calendar and this year it did not disappoint. The heavy rain on Saturday did not deter people coming out in their droves:Crate digging at the Glebe Fair I actually found quite a lot of things. First was a Beatles eight-LP box set I’ve been seeking out for some time – The Beatles Box – From Liverpool:

It’s the Australian edition from 1981 on the Parlophone label, and it came with the original poster too! I already had the Readers Digest Australian edition of this set (with different labels) – but having a mint copy on the orange Parlophone label has been an aim for a very long time:

From the same dealer I also got what I think is a quite rare Ringo Starr LP from 1983 called Old Wave. You can read the story of why there aren’t a lot of copies of this one around on Wikipedia. Because I’d purchased The Beatles Box – From Liverpool set he sold this one to me for A$10 – which I think was a bargain:

This copy is on the Australian gold RCA label:

I seem to be going from having hardly any Ringo Starr solo to now having quite a few. At the Glebe Fair I also spied a reasonable copy of the budget Music For Pleasure edition of his Blast From Your Past:

This “best of” compilation originally came out on Apple in 1975. In fact it was the last record to be released on Apple (before the label re-emerged in the 1990’s). This MFP re-issue comes from 1981. See the post Budget Beatles for more info on this and other budget labels which feature the Beatles as a group and as solo artists.

On the topic of budget Beatles, my final purchase for the day was a copy of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl on the Australian EMI budget label Axis:

This LP came out in 1987 in a single sleeve (as opposed to the original EMI/Capitol issue from 1977 which had a gatefold cover). This is nice copy in very good condition.

So, a really productive (if somewhat expensive) Record Store Day.

It’s Here. Record Store Day 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by beatlesblogger

This is fun:

Beatles Collecting – The Nice Things People Do

Posted on April 14, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Sometimes you don’t go looking for Beatle records. Sometimes, Beatle records come looking for you. That was my experience about three weeks ago when an old friend asked me if I was still interested in collecting the Beatles because she had a couple of records and would I like them?

Well, yes of course I would! Always open to donations. She dropped them in a couple of days later, and you’d have to say it’s a mixed bag of goodies….

The first one wasn’t even the Beatles. It was Wings. Well, not even Wings really, just an obscure band called P.K. and the Sound Explosion doing covers of Wings:

I think there are only two saving graces about this one. One is the daggy cover design featuring a (poorly) stylised version of the official Wings logo of the time. This is what the real thing looks like:

The other saving grace is that this copy is still sealed in protective plastic and is in mint condition. This is a US copy that came out on the Pickwick Records budget label back in 1977. It is so bad, it’s good! (P.K. and his group have also done a Disco Christmas LP, the Beach Boys Songbook, a Paul Williams Songbook, and the Bee Gees Songbook).

Next came three of the real thing, some it has to be said in better shape than others. For instance this very well-used example of the Australian-only cover of Beatles For Sale:

You’d have to say this is a copy that has had a good life. I’m not sure about you, but it has so much patina of age that I’m tempted to keep it just because it looks so pre-loved and lived-in. There was one other intriguing thing. When I took out the vinyl it’s the mono pressing, but not the Australian version. Here’s what I got:

This is what it should look like:

Clearly the original Aussie pressing has been played to death and someone, over the course of the long history of this particular copy of the album, has sought out another to replace it – that being the UK mono we see above….

There was another Australia-only cover in the four records my friend donated. It’s the 1972 release The Essential Beatles on the Apple label. This is a “best of” compilation and as its catalogue number suggests (TVSS 8), it was associated with a TV advertising campaign by EMI in Australia:

This copy of The Essential Beatles has a well-used cover but the vinyl inside is actually in pretty good shape.

Finally a double LP of the soundtrack to the documentary movie Imagine John Lennon:

This is a gatefold album of twenty-one Beatles and Lennon songs. It is in what I would describe as good (G) to very good (VG) condition. The Internet Movie Database says of the film: This “biography” evolves around the nearly 240 hours of film and videotape fortuitously taken by Lennon of his life. The archive footage is transformed into a fascinating life story of one of the most complex and fascinating men of the modern music era….Includes some very personal and insightful footage, never before made available to the public.

The gatefold has some nice photos:

This is the Australian pressing, on the black and silver Parlophone label:

So, some varied, interesting and unusual donations from a friend. Sometimes you don’t have to go looking too far. Beatle records just come to you.

Record Store Day 2013

Posted on April 1, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A late addition to Record Store Day for 2013 will be a Ringo Starr Singles Box, three 45″ singles accurately reproduced in their original picture sleeves in an Apple Records lift-top box. It will come with a Record Store Day spindle adapter.

The singles will be Photograph b/w Down And Out; It Don’t Come Easy b/w Early 1970 and (It’s All Down to) Goodnight Vienna b/w Oo-Wee. There will be just 5000 copies released.

The 3×7″ lift-top lid box sounds very similar to the Beatles singles box from Black Friday 2011 (an alternate Record Store Day limited edition release).

Also this year on Record Store Day Paul McCartney will release a Maybe I’m Amazed 12-inch single with mono and stereo versions of the song in varying durations. This is a pre-cursor to the next instalment in his McCartney Archives release series which will be Wings Over America, due later in the year (probably June by all accounts) featuring a multi-disc CD/DVD box set, “deluxe” and “standard” edition CD’s, plus vinyl.

This live version of Maybe I’m Amazed was originally serviced as a radio-only promotional 12-inch vinyl single back in 1976, also to herald the release of Wings Over America.

Beatles with Records – Part Seventeen

Posted on February 16, 2013 by beatlesblogger

First up we have another answer to the questions posed in The Beatles with Records Fifteen and The Beatles with Records Sixteen.

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:

(See The Beatles with Records Part Fourteen for the answer).

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):

He’s also got a copy of this DVD, which also made an appearance in The Beatles with Records Part Seven:

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

Linda McCartney Remembered – Well Sort Of

Posted on January 30, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Back on 16 January WogBlog posted about a mysterious new animation which had appeared overnight on YouTube on a newly-created Linda McCartney channel. He was tipped off to it by a Tweet from Paul McCartney:

The video cartoon has Paul singing a new arrangement the song “Heart of The Country” from the Ram album. So….what was this? A belated effort to promote the Ram remaster? Or the start of something new? Perhaps another of McCartney’s forrays into animation? Then a week later the same video appeared, this time with a voice-over by Elvis Costello:

Turns out it’s an advertisement for Linda McCartney Foods. The theme of the campaign is #Love Linda, and it’s the first time in 15 years that the vegetarian brand has done television advertising. The thirty second ad shows the McCartney family in animated form and is produced by Passion Pictures, whose other work includes projects for the Beatles and the Gorillaz. It went to air for the first time on 28 January as part of a campaign to launch a new range of chilled meat free foods.

Then I get home yesterday and find an email from a PR company letting me know about “…..a new 30 minute film called Love Linda in which members of the McCartney family speak about Linda McCartney, her influence on them and how they are continuing her legacy. It also includes commentary from people who knew Linda including Elvis Costello and Chrissie Hynde. The film is a very personal look at how Linda touched the lives of people she knew, interspersed with beautiful photography of her and the McCartney family.” Here’s the three-and-a-half minute trailer:

And here is the full thirty minutes.

All this kind of reminds me of Paul and Advertising and The Beatles and Advertising.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Category Archives: Paul McCartney

The Beatles – The Uncut Ultimate Music Guide

Beatles Books – Hardcover….and Electronic

Beatles with Records – Part Seventeen

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