Category Archives: Plastic Ono Band

Klaus Voormann – A Sidesman’s Journey

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One of the great artists and session men and part of the inner-circle of the Beatles for many years is Klaus Voormann.

He’s been a long-time friend and sometime collaborator and he has an album out looking back and celebrating that association with the group. I stumbled across this video which pretty much tells the back story to the making of the record, which is called “A Sidesman’s Journey”:

As you can see “A Sideman’s Journey” features guest appearances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Beatle-related songs like George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” – here sung by Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens).

Voormann has known the Beatles since the Hamburg days and is an artist and bass player. For example, he drew the legendary cover for “Revolver”:

The Beatles - Revolver (1966)

Later Voormann also played bass on numerous Beatles solo projects including, amongst many others,  Lennon’s “Walls and Bridges” and “Imagine”, Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and “Concert for Bangladesh”, and on the Ringo solo outings “Ringo” and “Goodnight Vienna”.  He was a founding member of the Plastic Ono Band.  See his biog entry in Wikipedia here.

Voormann’s new CD is made up of newly-recorded covers of some of the songs he helped make famous with the former Beatles plus many other artists over the years.

Well worth a listen.

Composing Outside the Beatles – DVD

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Despite the somewhat literal and unimaginative title, this recent release is a really a very interesting documentary study of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s careers immediately following the break-up of the Beatles.

I’d read about this DVD by chance and had been looking around on Ebay for a copy. I dropped in to my favourite shop – Red Eye Records – and there it was on the shelf for a reasonable price. Well, reasonable compared to the prices I’d seen for British or US copies on Ebay, plus postage, plus the uncertainty of “will it ever arrive?”….a bird in the bush as they say.

So, I got it at Red Eye, and watched it last weekend – which was a wet weekend and perfect for being a couch potato and settling in in front of the TV for a couple of hours.

Nicely put together, it traces the first few years of Lennon and McCartney trying to make their ways as solo entities outside the protective shell that used to be the Beatles. It compares them as composers and performers, examining their early singles and album releases. There is much more time and effort during the documentary placed on John Lennon’s output than that of Paul – but this is probably because the overall theory of the documentary is that Lennon was by far doing more serious and worthy work, and being more commercially successful than his former band-mate and co-writer.

There are nice shots of original album covers and single releases as the discussion panel (which includes Klaus Voorman, Paul Gambaccini, drummers Alan White and Denny Seiwell, and writers Johnny Rogan, John Blaney and Steve Turner amongst others) commenting on and appraising the relative strengths and weaknesses of each solo release between 1967 and 1972.

The front cover of "Composing Outside the Beatles"

The packaging of the DVD is impressive. It’s in the digi-pack style with opening “pages” revealing the DVD disc inside. It is glossy and has good production values with great photos and printed information.

The DVD cover open to the first of the tri-folds

Its a tri-fold digi-pack that finally opens out like this:

The tri-fold inner fully open

As you can see they have really taken some care with the presentation, including printing the DVD disc itself so that it matches the printing of the inner cover exactly. Here’s the rear cover:

The rear cover of "Composing Outside the Beatles"

So, “Composing Outside the Beatles” really has a strong slant towards John – both in the comments by the interviewees and the ratio of time spent on each. But maybe this is just a reflection on the times where Paul was struggling to be a musician outside the Beatles while John appeared to leap into it with a bit more style (as well as critical and commercial success). If you are interested there’s a further review here.

More on Beatles Box Sets

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The other day I posted an item about two variations of a little box that was produced last year (2009) by Apple/EMI to hold up to four copies of the new Beatles Remastered series of CD’s, and it got me thinking about another “box” I have.

I don’t collect Beatles memorabilia (clothing, dolls, badges or Beatles wigs!), and I don’t have many paper-based items (posters, photographs, store-displays, etc.).  I tend to stick pretty solidly to just collecting officially released records, CDs and books – in all their many variations….

However, occasionally you come across some interesting Beatles-related paraphernalia that’s directly related to the Beatles and the record business that is of interest.

Back in the sixties and seventies Apple Records in the USA used to ship its 7-inch (45rpm) records out to record shops and stores in specially produced brown boxes that could hold up to 24 singles.

The one I have is a little worse for wear now, but it looks like this:

Official Apple 45rpm record Shipping Box

The catalogue number of the 7-inch record was written in large numbers on the top flap of the box to help identify the contents. This one would have been used to ship copies of John and Yoko’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” when it first came out in 1971. It carried the US Apple catalogue number 1842:

Apple Shipping Box - top flap with disc catalogue number

To give you an idea of the size of the box, here’s a shot with the 7-inch 45 rpm single alongside:

Apple Shipping Box with "Happy Christmas (War is Over)"

That’s not the US version of the single – it’s the Australian – but you can get the idea.

New Releases – Coming Up or Out Now

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Time to detail a couple of new releases expected very soon…some definite, some pure speculation, and one that’s already out.

Paul McCartney this month will release a new CD and vinyl in a variety of editions.

It’s called “Good Evening New York City” and is a live set recorded at the newly-opened CitiField venue in New York on July 17, 18 and 21 this year. The concert was symbolic because CitiField is built on the site of the famous Shea Stadium where the Beatles played way back in 1965.

“Good Evening New York City” will be available in three formats:  a 3-disc (2 CD + 1 DVD) standard edition and a 4-disc (2 CD + 2 DVD) deluxe version featuring expanded packaging and a bonus DVD including McCartney’s July 15 live street performance on the David Letterman Late Show. The set will also be released on vinyl LP. Collectors get ready to dig deep into those pockets again…

It comes out 17 November (US) and 23 November (UK).

You can see a very short teaser for the album on Paul’s official YouTube site. And here is a cover image:

Good Evening New York City

Good Evening New York City

Another release that’s supposedly pending is a special 40th Anniversary box set vinyl edition of the Beatles “Abbey Road”.  No one is sure if this is to be the newly remastered version of the disc or the previous mix. You can find out a bit more here, and the Record Store Day site says that the box set will include the vinyl album, a t-shirt, and a poster. The limited edition deluxe package will, according to them, be released on November 7th in the US and will be limited to 5000 copies worldwide. Intriguingly, Amazon has a holding place for the record here.  Someone has produced this cover image, so I’m not sure if this release is really happening or not:

418453424510 550

Abbey Road 40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set?

Speaking of vinyl, rumors persist that there is to be a full box set of ALL the Beatles Remastered albums made available in Mono and Stereo on vinyl.  The respected Mojo magazine carried this article on its website yesterday saying that the box sets are on the way, but there are no firm release dates just yet. Watch this space….

And finally Beatles’ long-time friend and sometime collaborator Klaus Voormann has a new album out now. Its called “A Sideman’s Journey”, and features appearances by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.  Voormann has known the Beatles since the Hamburg days and is an artist and bass player. He drew the cover of “Revolver”, and has played on numerous tracks for Beatles solo projects (including, amongst many others,  Lennon’s “Walls and Bridges” and “Imagine” and Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and “Concert for Bangladesh”). See his biog entry in Wikipedia here.

His new CD is made up of newly recorded covers of some of the songs he helped make famous with the Beatles and others over the years.

Abbey Road – Full Download in Rock Band

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Hi, today I got this in an email from the official Beatles site:

The Beatles

Abbey Road is launched as the first Beatles album to be available for purchase and playable as downloadable content in The Beatles: Rock Band Music Store.

With Come Together, Something, Octopus’s Garden, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Here Comes The Sun and The End already included on The Beatles: Rock Band game disc, players will now be able to play songs from and complete the entire Abbey Road album.

Available for Xbox 360 (Oct.20) and PlayStation 3 System (Oct.22):

Individual Abbey Road singles: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling and Because. Price: $1.99 USD, £0.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per each individual track.

Additionally, the following songs from Abbey Road can also be played as 1-to-3-song sets, based on how they were recorded/composed: You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight”, The End/Her Majesty. Price: $16.99 USD, £10.46 UK, €11.37 EU (1360 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for “Complete The Album Pack”

The “Complete The Album Pack” features: Abbey Road singles: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, and Because. The entire Abbey Road B-side 16 minute medley that includes: You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End

Available for Wii (Oct. 20):

Individual Abbey Road singles: Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Because and You Never Give Me Your Money/Her Majesty. Price: $2.00 USD (200 Wii Points) per each individual track. Price: $1.00 USD (100 Wii Points) for Her Majesty

Multi-track sets: Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam/She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End. Price: $3.50 USD (350 Wii Points) per 2-Pack/No additional cost for 3rd song “The End” as it is already included on game disc.

Additional Beatles albums that have been announced as upcoming downloadable content include Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) in November and Rubber Soul (1965) in December.

The Beatles: Rock Band downloadable content will be available for purchase on the XboxLIVE Marketplace for Xbox360, PlayStation Network and via the in-game The Beatles: Rock Band Music Store for Wii‚ using Wii points purchased through the Wii Shop Channel.

For more on The Beatles: Rock Band visit the official Beatles store at TheBeatles.com

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Its definitely a brave new world…..I don’t have The Beatles Rock Band game, or even a device to play it on if I did. I reckon US$16.99 for the rest of Abbey Road is pretty pricey, but I guess it integrates into the game and there is animation and other effects with it….there’d want to be!

Plastic Ono Band – Live Peace in Toronto 1969

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This recent addition to the collection is the DVD version of a legendary early album by John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band – recorded as the title suggests in Toronto, Canada in 1969. The newly formed group appeared at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Festival. Also on the bill, and seen in brief performances in the DVD, were Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Kind of a strange line-up for the Plastic Ono Band to be sharing the stage with as they were all legends of a previous era of rock, while Lennon’s group was brand new – one of his very first outings outside the Beatles. I guess it was because they were at a Rock and Roll Revival concert that they chose to do some covers of some of the great songs that Lennon had grown up with and some he’d recorded with the Beatles (“Money”, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” and “Blue Suede Shoes”) mixed in with some more recent original material (“Yer Blues” from the White album, “Cold Turkey” and “Give Peace A Chance”), alongside a couple of Yoko Ono’s more experimental works (“Don’t Worry Kyoko – Mummy’s only looking for her hand in the snow” and “John, John – Let’s hope for peace”). Joining Lennon and Ono on stage were Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White, something of a super-group who allegedly practiced their set for the first time in the jet on the way to gig….

The interesting thing about the film is that it was directed by D.A.Pennebaker, who made the legendary Dylan documentary “Don’t Look Back”.

This DVD is reasonably decent quality for both sound and vision. Its an Australian pressing.

Where possible with this blog I’ll give you as much release information as I can, including cover photos, catalogue numbers, etc.

The details are:

Plastic Ono Band    Live Peace In Toronto

Label:  Umbrella Music   Cat.No:  DAVID0669

AUS/1998/DVD

The cover artwork looks different to other releases of this film I have seen, though it all seems to be legit and not a bootleg:

Cover

Cover

 

 

Back Cover

Back Cover

DVD

DVD