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 with Records – Part Fifteen

Posted on January 29, 2013 by beatlesblogger

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 Beatles Revolver 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)

Different Markets, Different Covers

Posted on January 27, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I know Christmas is well and truly over, but one more thing on the Holidays Rule release before we move on.

This CD came out with the title Holidays Rule in the US – but for the European, UK and Australian markets we got a CD called Christmas Rules. This is because we don’t use the term “happy holidays” when talking about the Christmas break.

Here’s what they both look like, beginning with the US version which comes in a sparkly, metallic, dark red and white gatefold cover:

And in the UK/EU/Australia it is called Christmas Rules and comes in a bright red, matt finish gatefold:

The 8-page booklet (above) for both the US and the Australian/European versions appears to be the same. There is an odd website address on the rear of the booklet though. In large type at the bottom of the page of both versions it says: SEARCH PARTY, and then gives this address in smaller type: searchpartymusic.com

This is strange because it’s the website for a Boston-based wedding and functions band. Not sure what’s going on with that….

Both Holidays Rule and Christmas Rules come with the non-strings version of the “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”. To get the strings version you need to download the iTunes version.

New McCartney Song Features in “Sound City” Documentary

Posted on January 21, 2013 by beatlesblogger

On December 13 the WogBlog site featured a video of a brand new Paul McCartney song performed for the first time at the big fundraiser concert for Hurricane Sandy held at Madison Square Garden. Paul called out former Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Krist Noveselic and Pat Smear to back him on a brand new and rocking song called “Cut Me Some Slack”:

Turns out the song will also feature in a new, feature-length documentary and album directed and coordinated by Dave Grohl called “Sound City”:

It’s about the legendary recording studios called Sound City, in the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley, which was (as the press release says): “….home to countless legends, capturing their magic on two-inch tape, decade after decade. It was witness to history. It was rock and roll hallowed ground. And it was our best-kept secret.”

“Sound City was state-of-the-art when it opened in 1969. It soon became known for churning out one rock and roll classic after another. Featuring a legendary, one-of-a-kind Neve recording console, and arguably the best tracking room in America, many of the seminal albums of the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s were put on tape within these walls: classics by Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Metallica, Nirvana… The list is staggering.”

McCartney’s “Cut Me Some Slack” will feature in the film and on the soundtrack CD release – both out in February:

You can download the Australian press release about “Sound City”. The US dates are here. And there’s a cool poster for the film:

Beatles Memorabilia – The Julian Lennon Collection

Posted on January 17, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Had this amazing find yesterday. Just near where I work there’s a discount bookshop that sells lots of remainders. Over the years I’ve picked up quite a few things here (see: The Beatles Second Album; “The Beatles” book; Beatles Books Abound; etc.)

Yesterday I went in for the first time in weeks and saw about five copies of this sitting on a shelf:

I’ve seen this book around the traps but never purchased a copy, but at just A$14.99 how could I refuse?

John Lennon’s son Julian has turned his Beatles memorabilia, previously sitting in storage, into a travelling exhibition and a book – all to raise funds for his charity The White Feather Foundation.

There are lots of gold record awards – all of them from the US and all of them genuine (that is, the actual records that were presented by the RIAA – the Recording Industry of America – to the Beatles). In fact Julian says that his is the only full collection of the American gold discs. How can you tell they are all original? Well the book explains that official presentations are identifiable by the “…white-matte style, so named because of the white linen background used in the construction of the award. These types of awards were produced from 1963 to 1974 and were strictly limited to the artists only.”

Interestingly, Julian says in the text that despite being the only person to own a complete set of Beatles US gold records, he doesn’t own any of the Beatles vinyl albums at all. Extraordinary.

There are a couple of great guitars pictured in the book – some of which were given to him by his father and others acquired later (like this one):

Julian says that nearly everything he now owns he had to buy at auction. When his father passed away in 1980 he didn’t inherit any mementoes or keepsakes. Which is incredibly sad for himself and for his family.

If you want to have a peek inside just click here, and here’s a video of Julian Lennon talking about the book and exhibition.

A Minor Wings Find

Posted on January 13, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I have posted very rarely on Wings in this blog, but of course collecting records and CDs by (or related to) the Beatles and Paul McCartney means that the band is well-and-truly included. During a recent visit to Canberra (the capital of Australia) I came across a second-hand shop I’d not visited before in the city’s downtown area. They mostly specialise in CDs, DVDs and games, but on the floor there was a large amount of unsorted vinyl where I found a small but interesting addition to the collection.

I already have a German pressing of the Wings single “Good Night Tonight” (1979). It’s the 12″ full version (7 minutes 15 seconds) of the song, on a green EMI Electrola/Odeon label:

As you can see, the cover is not in great shape but the vinyl is in mint condition. Anyway, in the Canberra store I found the Australian release of this same disc. It came out here with an orange Parlophone label:

The two releases have pretty much identical exterior artwork throughout with the only real difference being the colour of the inner sleeves. The German inner sleeve is made from thin paper and is printed in black and white:

While the Australian inner sleeve is made of thicker cardboard and is more deep blue in colour:

I also have the 7″ 45rpm edited version (4 minutes 18 seconds) of “Good Night Tonight” on an Australian black and silver Parlophone label:

It’s nice to have the orange Parlophone version, and at the cost of just A$3.00, a small but worthwhile addition to the collection.

Beatles with Records – Part Fourteen

Posted on January 10, 2013 by beatlesblogger

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.

There will be more “Beatles with Records” soon….

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Category Archives: Paul McCartney

Beatles with Records – Part Seventeen

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