Category Archives: Paul McCartney

Band on the Run – Preview and Part 1 of Documentary

Posted on by
1

Paul McCartney has today published the complete details of the forthcoming deluxe, special, standard and vinyl versions of the remastered “Band on the Run” album. You also get Episode 1 of “Making Band on the Run” – for free. Just click on the vinyl edition image below:

“Band on the Run” in its various editions is available on November 1 and 2, and interestingly pre-orders via the Paul McCartney official site receive digital downloads instantly of “Band on the Run (live in Glasgow, 1979)”, and “No Words (live in Glasgow, 1979)” as an additional bonus.

 

Apple Artist LP Reissues – From 1991 to 1996

Posted on by
5

There are about to be 16 Apple artists titles reissued on CD (many with bonus tracks) by the Beatles’ record company, Apple Records. But it’s not the first time that Apple has had such a big re-issue program. They’ve done it at least once before – only over the period of a couple of years in the early 1990’s in what they then called release “phases”. Phase I of the original reissue program started in 1991 with five newly digitally remastered CDs and vinyl seeing the light of day for the first time since they  originally came out back in the late 1960’s and early 70’s. For collectors of Apple vinyl these were interesting items because it often meant that the LP’s were expanded – with the bonus material contained on unique, separate, additional discs. The original single-sleeve covers also became gate-fold doubles. The Phase I titles included James Taylor – “James Taylor”; Mary Hopkin – “Postcard”; Billy Preston – “That’s the Way God Planned It”; Jackie Lomax – “Is This What You Want?”, and Badfinger – “Magic Christian Music” To mark Phase I there was a vinyl EP released, and also a CD with the same tracks. However, it was issued in a special apple-shaped cardboard container. There was also a promo CD with 14 tracks that was sent to radio stations featuring selected songs from each release that is now a real collectors item:

Apple “Phase I” limited edition promo CD cover

The Phase II titles came in 1992 when Apple re-issued (on vinyl and CD): Mary Hopkin – “Earth Song Ocean Song”; Badfinger – “No Dice”; Doris Troy – “Doris Troy”; The Iveys – “Maybe Tomorrow”; George Harrison – “Wonderwall Music”, and John Tavener – “The Whale”. Phase II also had a special, limited edition promo CD (also with 14 tracks) that’s become a highly prized collectors item as well:

Apple “Phase II” limited edition promo CD cover

Phase III was in 1993 and included John Tavener – “Celtic Requiem”; The Radha Krsna Temple London – “Radha Krsna Temple”; Billy Preston – “Encouraging Words”; Badfinger – “Straight Up”, and The Modern Jazz Quartet – “Under the Jasmine Tree”. There was then quite a break with nothing released until 1995 when two “Best Of” discs came out, one of which – from Badfinger – was a completely new, digitally remastered title. These were Mary Hopkin – “Those Were the Days” (previously released in 1972) and Badfinger – “Come and Get It – The Best of Badfinger”. Both were available on vinyl and CD. In 1996 Apple finished off the reissue series with I guess what must have been Phase IV by that time – although they’d given up actually using that term: The Modern Jazz Quartet – “Space”; Ravi Shankar/Ali Akbar Khan – “In Concert 1972”; Badfinger – “Ass”, and George Harrison – “Electronic Sound” (on the Zapple Records label). As mentioned before – the reason these vinyl releases were of interest to me was that most of them (but not all) came with unique, additional discs containing the bonus material:

Jackie Lomax “Is This What You Want?” – rear vinyl LP cover detail (1991)

The full-sized, 12-inch bonus discs  all play at 45 rpm (not 331/3 rpm like an LP):

Jackie Lomax – Bonus Disc Side 1

This Jackie Lomax reissue came out in 1991, has five bonus songs, and as you can see is a European pressing. Here’s Side 2:

Jackie Lomax – Bonus Disc Side 2

From the Phase II series in 1992 comes the album “No Dice” from Badfinger, also with five previously unreleased tracks:

Badfinger “No Dice” (1992 vinyl reissue) rear cover detail

Again, the 12-inch bonus records were to be played at 45 rpm:

Badfinger “No Dice” bonus songs – Side 1

Badfinger “No Dice” bonus songs – Side 2

An earlier incarnation of Badfinger was a band called The Iveys. In 1969 they had an Apple LP called “Maybe Tomorrow”. In 1992 it was re-issued by Apple on vinyl with four bonus tracks, two of them previously unreleased:

The Iveys “Maybe Tomorrow” (1992 vinyl reissue) rear cover detail

The labels from the bonus disc looked like this:

The Iveys – bonus disc Side 1, from “Maybe Tomorrow” released in 1992

The Iveys – bonus disc Side 2

The next release “phase” came in 1993 and on vinyl I’ve got four of the five releases (haven’t got the Radha Krsna Temple). Of those, two came with bonus discs:

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” vinyl LP rear cover detail (1993)

Billy Preston’s “Encouraging Words” record was co-produced by George Harrison and it was great to get on vinyl one previously unreleased song:

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” bonus disc Side 1

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” bonus disc Side 2

There were also bonus tracks on the Badfinger “Straight Up” LP. Here’s the rear cover of the 1993 release:

Badfinger “Straight Up” (1993 vinyl re-issue) rear cover detail

Inside the gate-fold cover was an additional record with six bonus tracks, five of which were previously unreleased:

Badfinger “Straight Up” bonus disc – Side1

Badfinger “Straight Up” bonus disc – Side 2

The forthcoming 2010 Apple CD reissues will contain bonus material as well, and in most cases these will be additional to the tracks already re-issued on these vinyls and on CD in the early 1990’s. Some of the additional tracks in 2010 will be included on the new CDs, but some will be only be available for digital download – that is unless you buy the box set of all the CD albums complete. Then you get an additional two CD’s containing absolutely everything.

Sony, Paul, and the Sgt Pepper Cover

Posted on by
8

I love this sort of incidental trivia that you can accidentally stumble across on the web. Even 43 years after the fact you can still learn something new about a Beatles album cover that’s been seen millions and millions of times….

I bet like me you’ve stared at the “Sgt Pepper” cover wondering about who was who and what was what, asking yourself why the Beatles and artist Peter Blake had chosen and placed all the items they did for their legendary and ground-breaking cover.

Now another small piece of the mystery has been revealed – and it comes from an unlikely source.

See that little portable TV set that is just above the “S” in the word “Beatles” (spelled out in red flowers), and behind the little doll figurine dressed in green:

Well, check out this article in the Japan Times.

Turns out “it’s a Sony”. It’s not that this connection hasn’t been noticed before. A year ago Sony itself posted this message on its own blog site, which confirmed it was a in fact a Sony television set (a model TV9-306UB in fact, which would have been fairly state-of-the-art as far as TV’s go back in the day).

It’s just confirmation now that it was actually Paul McCartney’s very own TV set.

From the articles and posts I also learned that the small Japanese figurine at the feet of the wax Beatles from Madame Tussauds is a Japanese fukusuke fortune doll owned by John Lennon. Who would have thought?

Just another bit of Beatles trivia…

(Wikipedia has a list of the people and items in the picture).

Two Apple Box Sets Coming

Posted on by
2

Steve Marinucci in his excellent Beatles Examiner column reports that both the Beatles “Red” and “Blue” plus the extensive Apple Records artists reissues will be available as box sets.

Called “The Beatles 1962 – 1970”, the box set containing the Red “1962-1966” and the Blue “1967-1970” will look like this:

Red and Blue Box Set front cover

Of course inside will be these two double disc sets:

The Red "1962-1966"

The Blue "1966-1970"

The initial information on these releases remains the same – they will be available as individual discs on October 18 (in the UK) and October 19 (in the US). The box set however is listed by Amazon UK for a November 29 release.

Meanwhile, the big Apple artists reissues also planned for October are to be gathered together in box set for those who would like to buy the complete set. The big news here is that the box will contain not only the “Come and Get It – Best Of” disc with its rarities, but also two additional discs featuring the additional and rare tracks that would have only been available as digital downloads – so, 17 CD’s in all. For collectors like me this makes this release a lot more interesting because I still like to have the physical disc in my hands, complete with the liners notes, photographs and artwork rather than the nebulous digitally downloaded audio….

The box set cover will look like this:

Steve Marinucci has a nice slide show of the box and all the discs it will contain.

The one problem I have with all this is that the Beatles and Apple have allowed such a large amount of collectable product to pile up all at the same time. Between now and November we’ll have George Harrrison’s “Collaborations”; John Lennon’s multiple “Gimme Some Truth” releases; Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run” in multiple versions; The Beatles “Red” and “Blue”; and all the Apple re-issues. This makes it incredibly difficult if not impossible for most avid collectors to afford all at once.

Thanks to Beatles Examiner for this information.

Band On The Run – Dates Confirmed + Free Download

Posted on by
2

I got an email today from paulmccartney.com confirming the info in my previous post that the “Band on the Run” remastered release will definitely come out on November 1 in the UK and November 2 in the US.  

The website’s News section has all the info – it pretty much says what we already knew about the different formats that will be available (1 CD; 2 CD + DVD; 3 CD + DVD deluxe; and vinyl 2 LP), but goes into more detail about the deluxe version – which comes with a lavish book:

Collectors will be especially thrilled by the 4 disc (3CD, 1 DVD) deluxe edition which adds an extraordinary 120-page hard bound book containing many unseen and unpublished photos by Linda McCartney and Clive Arrowsmith, album and single artwork, downloadable hi-res audio versions of the remastered album and bonus audio tracks, a full history of the album complete with a new interview with Paul and expanded track by track information for all four discs. The deluxe edition also includes a special Band on the Run audio documentary (originally produced for the 25th Anniversary edition.)

The email sent to me also has a link to download an HD version of the one of the videos that will be on the DVD disc that comes with the Special and Deluxe editions. Its a big file but if you’d like to see it click on the image below:

Download "A Trip to Lagos"

Its a short little film with a very home-made feel – but worth it for the soundtrack which is a trance-like version of “Band on the Run” from Paul that I’d not heard before….

Rolling Stone Magazine Names Its Top 100 Beatles Songs

Posted on by
3

I’m a bit late catching up on this one as news first came out about it at the end of August, but it’s probably only just hitting news stands near you now – depending on where you live…

In a special Collectors Edition, Rolling Stone magazine has named its Top 100 Beatles songs of all time. (Apparently its the first time they’ve done this). News of the the special edition came out in the US on August 26.

The press release reads:

ROLLING STONE RELEASES “THE BEATLES 100 GREATEST SONGS”

“New York, NY – August 26, 2010 – Rolling Stone released its first-ever list of the 100 greatest Beatles songs as part of a special interest publication that coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Beatle’s final album, Let It Be, and the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Topping the list, as ranked by the editors of Rolling Stone, is “A Day in the Life,” followed by “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Following an introduction by Elvis Costello, the book features the stories behind each song, dozens of photos, an index of the complete list, and a breakdown of the numbers, including the years with the most songs (1965 and 1966 each had 17), the shortest song (“Her Majesty,” 23 seconds) and the song that spent the longest time at number one on the charts (“Hey Jude,” 9 weeks).

The book also includes special sections with lists of Lennon and Paul McCartney’s five favorite songs, the top guitar and drumming moments of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively, and the best Beatles cover songs.” (ends)

The magazine has created a really nice page detailing their Top Ten songs – including some great photographs too.

See also the different Australian cover.

FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney

Posted on by
5

I was in Hobart, Tasmania this week and a friend mentioned at dinner that he’d just picked up a new biography of Paul McCartney.

“What new biography?” I said, as I’d not heard of it. “Oh, its just been released. Looks good”, said he.

Well, next day I had an hour or two to kill waiting for the plane home, and so decided to take wander along the main street of the town. I popped into the local Angus and Robertson bookstore – and to my great surprise there it was on the shelf in its paperback form:

Front cover "FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul Mccartney"

As you can see from the Australian and UK cover above (yes, I bought a copy), it’s called “FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney”, written by Howard Sounes. Harper Collins is the Australian publisher and their website says it was published here and in the UK only very recently – on 25 August, 2010.

Until this week, I’d never heard of it! It has certainly flown under the radar as there hasn’t been much written about it in the lead-up to its release. At least, it flew under my Beatles radar….

In the US it gets a different cover:

As one reviewer asked, does the world need another Paul McCartney biography? The answer is that while this one does trawl through the early days once more, it brings us up right up to date with what has been a prolific and interesting later career. In fact the work includes “Electric Arguments”, “Good Evening New York City”, the Beatles Remastered releases, and his illustrated children’s book “High in the Clouds” released last year.

And it is big – 634 pages. I only got it yesterday – so a review will be coming later.

If you’d like to get a taste Sounes, who worked as a journalist for the Daily Mail in England, has published lengthy extracts from the book that you can read here and here. His other books include “Down the Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan”.

Beatlesnews has also published a short article about author Howard Sounes and this new McCartney book.  The Liverpool Echo has published an interview with the author. And there’s a very good review of the book by Simon Sweetman here.

Mojo Magazine – McCartney Cover Story

Posted on by
1

This month’s Mojo magazine features a front cover and a 23-page Beatles and Paul McCartney special:

On the Beatles front, journalist Jon Savage examines “Let It Be” , and Mark Paytress returns to the corridors of Apple Corps. And there’s a free CD on the cover called “Let It Be Revisited” – the Beatles’ final album from 1970 re-interpreted by the likes of Beth Orton (“I Me Mine” and “Dig It”), Phosphorescent, Judy Collins, Wilko Johnson, Pete Molinari, and Australia’s C.W. Stoneking among others:

The free CD (it comes with the magazine) is also available for separate purchase as a limited edition vinyl LP.

On the McCartney front, the magazine asks “What to do after The Beatles?”.  For Paul McCartney it meant boozing, battling, then rebuilding and rediscovery in the playful freedom of Wings and the arms of Linda. “I survived,” he tells Tom Doyle.

There is also an essay called “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” by Danny Eccleston, looking at “Ram”, the second solo outing by Paul. He writes: “Ram is different. Side one, especially, has much of the intimacy of McCartney, the impression of one man gluing something together before your very eyes. Sometimes – it’s there in opener Too Many People‘s haunting, weird distance and tangled jangling outro – it makes you think of Beck, or more recent American bedroom psych.”

Band on the Run (Remastered) – Release Date Pushed Back

Posted on by
3

The newly remastered version of Paul McCartney’s “Band On The Run”, initially expected this month and then put back to September 28th, is now looking like having a November 2nd release. It will be released through Concord Records. For further information on the deal see my post from May 2010, plus an additional page at the Concord Records “News” site here.

Maccablog is reporting the release date change – as well as what looks to be complete details of the four different editions that will be on offer (a 1 CD standard edition, a 2 CD + 1 DVD special edition, a 3 CD + 1 DVD deluxe edition, and a 2 LP vinyl edition). The website also has an image of the cover:

Clearly they intend using the famous original cover photo – but the change is a white strip down the left-hand side featuring the words “Paul McCartney Archive Collection” along with McCartney’s signature. This would fit with Concord Records’ announced plans for a comprehensive reissue schedule.

The details of the different “Band on the Run” releases are:

1CD digipack – Standard Edition:

1. Band on the Run (2010 Remaster)
2. Jet (2010 Remaster)
3. Bluebird (2010 Remaster)
4. Mrs Vandebilt (2010 Remaster)
5. Let Me Roll It (2010 Remaster)
6. Mamunia (2010 Remaster)
7. No Words (2010 Remaster)
8. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) (2010 Remaster)
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (2010 Remaster)

2CD+1DVD digipack – Special Edition:

CD1 same as the Standard Edition plus:

CD2

1. Helen Wheels (2010 Remaster)
2. Country Dreamer (2010 Remaster)
3. Bluebird [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
4. Jet [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
5. Let Me Roll It [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
6. Band on the Run [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
8. Country Dreamer [from One Hand Clapping” (2010 Remaster)
9. Zoo Gang (2010 Remaster)

DVD

Musical Videos:
1. Band on the Run (5:10)
2. Mamunia (4:52)
3. Album Promo (7:42) (Featuring Band on the Run, Mrs Vandebilt, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, Bluebird)
4. Helen Wheels (3:39)
5. Wings In Lagos (3:01) (Edit of mute black and white footage of a day out in Lagos during the recording sessions with a soundbed based on an alternative version of Band on the Run)
6. Osterley Park (15:20) (Edit of behind the scenes footage at the album cover photoshoot featuring all participants)
7. One Hand Clapping (51:49)

“One Hand Clapping” – a documentary programme originally made for TV featuring studio performances
It was filmed & recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, August 1974
Directed by David Litchfield

7.1. One Hand Clapping Theme
7.2. Jet
7.3. Soily
7.4. C Moon
7.5. Little Woman Love
7.6. Maybe I’m Amazed
7.7. My Love
7.8. Bluebird
7.9. Let’s Love
7.10. All Of You
7.11. I’ll Give You A Ring
7.12. Band on the Run
7.13. Live and Let Die
7.14. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
7.15. Baby Face

3CD+1DVD case – Deluxe Edition:

CD1 & CD2 same as the Special Edition plus:

CD3 21 tracks remastered from the original documentary produced for the 25th Anniversary Edition.

1. Paul McCartney (Intro) /Band on the Run (Nicely Toasted Mix)(2010 Digital Remaster)
2. Band on the Run (Original) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 1)(2010 Digital Remaster)
3. Band on the Run (Barn Rehearsal – 21st July 1989) (2010 Digital Remaster)
4. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 2) /Mamunia (Original) (Background) /Denny Laine (Dialogue) /Mamunia (Original) (Background) /Linda McCartney (Dialogue) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 3)(2010 Digital Remaster)
5. Bluebird (Live Version – Australia 1975) (2010 Digital Remaster)
6. Bluebird (Original) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 4)(2010 Digital Remaster)
7. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 5) /No Words (Original) (Background) /Geoff Emerick (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
8. No Words (Original) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 6) /Tony Visconti (Dialogue) /Band on the Run (Original) (Illustration) /Tony Visconti (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
9. Jet (Original from Picasso’s Last Words) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 7) /Jet (Original from Picasso’s Last Words) (Background) /Al Coury (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
10. Jet (Berlin Soundcheck – 3rd September 1993) (2010 Digital Remaster)
11. Paul McCartney (Dialogue) /Clive Arrowsmith (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
12. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (Original) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 9) /James Coburn (Dialogue) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 10) /John Conteh (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
13. Mrs Vandebilt (Original) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 11) /Kenny Lynch (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
14. Let Me Roll It (Cardington Rehearsal – 5th February 1993) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 12)(2010 Digital Remaster)
15. Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 13) /Mrs Vandebilt (Original) (Background) /Michael Parkinson (Dialogue) /Linda McCartney (Band On The Run Photoshoot) (Dialogue) /Michael Parkinson (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
16. Helen Wheels (Crazed) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 14) /Christopher Lee (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
17. Band On The Run (Strum Bit) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 15) /Clement Freud (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
18. Picasso’s Last Words (Original) (Background) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 16) /Dustin Hoffman (Dialogue)(2010 Digital Remaster)
19. Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me) (Acoustic Version) (2010 Digital Remaster)
20. Band on the Run (Nicely Toasted Mix) /Paul McCartney (Dialogue Link 17) (2010 Digital Remaster)
21. Band on the Run (Northern Comic Version) (2010 Digital Remaster)

DVD same as the Special Edition

2LP:
Disc 1 : same as the CD1 Standard Edition
Disc 2 : same as the CD2 Special Edition

UPDATE: The release dates have been confirmed – plus a FREE download of one of the short films on the DVDs which come with the Special and Deluxe versions has been made available.

SEE ALSO “Band On The Run” 2010 – Deluxe CDs and the 2LP vinyl set.

Harrison/Shankar – “Collaborations” Announced

Posted on by
2

And so, the ever-growing list of forthcoming releases swells with yet another interesting title….

George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records has just announced a new box-set package called “Collaborations”. And yes, it too is coming in October.

From the official press release:

Dark Horse Records announced today the October 19th release of a limited edition deluxe box set, entitled “RAVI SHANKAR GEORGE HARRISON – COLLABORATIONS“. The release honors the sitar master’s 90th birthday.

“Collaborations” is a 3 CD and 1 DVD uniquely numbered limited edition box set. All compositions were composed by Ravi Shankar and produced by George Harrison over a period of 20 years.

The DVD is a rare concert performance of the Ravi Shankar’s “Music Festival From India”, recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1974. The albums include the acclaimed “Chants Of India” (1997), “The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India” (studio version 1976), and “Shankar Family & Friends” (1974). The 56-page book includes a foreword by Philip Glass, a history of George and Ravi “in their own words”, and rare photographs from both family archives.

"Chants of India" - original cover (1997)

"Music Festival from India" - original cover (1976)

"Shankar Family and Friends" - original cover (1974)

The official website has the full press release. Steve Marinucci has details in his Examiner column, and Wog Blog also has information on his site.

I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time that “The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India” and “Shankar Family & Friends” have been issued on CD.

Speaking of Ravi Shankar, the master sitar player (who had such an influence on George Harrison and the Beatles) has embarked on a huge archival project of his own – with a series of discs being released on his East Meets West label.

The first in the series is a single disc CD titled “Nine Decades, Vol. 1: 1967-1968”:

"Nine Decades" - out now

The next release in the series will be the soundtrack to the movie “Raga” – which was originally issued on Apple Records in 1971 and features George Harrison. Details about the release schedule so far is here, and it looks like the “Raga” release will be a CD and DVD double which is good.

"Raga" - original cover (1971)

“Raga” is due in the “American fall” – which is a bit vague but I guess that could mean yet another October release?

October is going to be one very expensive month for us die-hard, complete-ist collectors. We’ll have to put out hands in pockets for the 70th birthdate Lennon “Gimme Some Truth” material; the remastered Apple Records catalogue; the Shankar/Harrison “Collaborations”, and “Raga” now as well. That’s not to mention “Band on the Run”, the first of the Paul McCartney re-issues on Concord Records that is due sometime in August…..