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The Rough Guide to the Beatles

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Got the opportunity to wander through a second-hand bookshop in Sydney (Australia) the other day, and what should I see sitting all on it’s lonesome on a shelf? A little book called “The Rough Guide to the Beatles”.

The “Rough Guides” book series cover a wide range of topics, starting with travel and then extending out into all sorts of reference book territory, from The Rough Guide to Android, through to World Music and everything in-between. Of course if they wanted to be serious about covering music they had to have a guide to the most influential musical group of the twentieth century: The Beatles.

The other good thing about the book I found this week in the second hand shop was its price sticker of just A$7.95. Even with the very favourable exchange rate we have here at the moment that translates to just US$8.25 – very good buying in anyone’s language or currency. And its a great little find content-wise. Author Chris Ingham (who has also written books about Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Metalica, along with countless articles about music and interviews with musicians) has done an excellent job of pulling together the story and the essential facts around the Beatles, their music and the main players in their world. The Rough Guide adds in lots of other incidental information about the band and their recordings which makes it great reading – even for a devoted Beatles fan.

The First Edition (2003) looks like this:

My copy (2nd Edition – 2006) looks like this:

It also comes out with this picture of the band on the cover (3rd Edition with expanded content) as well:

If you’d like a bit of a look inside you can see about 17 pages or so (plus the Index) here.

The Rough Guide to the Beatles has sections on the post-Beatles Beatles (or as Ingham calls it “Being and ex-Beatle”); their movies, promos, cartoons and biopics; the 50 essential songs you have to have (“The Canon”); and a great little chapter called “Beatleology” containing a range of trivia and oddball information. It’s a book you can dip into and learn something new. Well worth it if you can track down a copy for yourself.

Lennon Letters to Be Published, and an Anniversary

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Stumbled across two articles today, one from Rolling Stone magazine pointing out that this weekend marks the 41st anniversary of the Beatles breakup.

Author David Browne writes in Rolling Stone that in the process of researching a forthcoming book he needed to get the sequence of events of the breakup correct – and about how he got on the trail of the actual documents involved. This led him to Britain’s National Archives “…an hour outside London, home to historical documents dating back 1000 years, and I had to look at them in a windowless room, locked from the outside. I wasn’t allowed to photograph any of the papers and could only use a pencil to take notes.” In his article “The Real Story Behind the Beatles’ Last Days” Browne steps us through the sad chronology of events. For the text of Paul’s complete press release announcing his departure from the band click here.

It was the beginning of the end when this letter (below), a year before the split, was sent to Lee Eastman (Linda McCartney’s father) who was then representing Paul’s interests:

The second article is about the publication next year of a book that will collect together John Lennon’s letters, postcards and notes.

Reuters Canada reports on plans for the book which it says will be called “The Lennon Letters” and will be edited by Beatles biographer Hunter Davies. Compiled in cooperation with Yoko Ono, the book is the first ever such collection and will include hundreds of letters and postcards the Lennon wrote to friends, family, newspapers and organisations.

In a press release the publishers, Little Brown and Company, said:

He lived — and died — in an age before emails and texts. Pen and ink were his medium. John wrote letters and postcards all of his life; to his friends, family, strangers, newspapers, organisations, lawyers and the laundry — most of which were funny, informative, campaigning, wise, mad, poetic, anguished and sometimes heartbreaking….many of the letters are reproduced as they were, in his handwriting or typing, plus the odd cartoon or doodle.

A postcard to Ringo from John and Yoko (from “Postcards from the Boys”, Ringo Starr, 2004)

Australian-Only Magical Mystery Tour

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You might be more familiar with this cover:

But in Australia, the Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” LP first came out as a 12-inch on the World Record Club (WRC) label – and it had a very different cover:

Here is the rear cover, also a real departure from the US release:

This WRC record (catalogue number S-4574) was issued in 1970. The World Record Club was EMI’s mail order division, making the purchase of music recordings possible to people who lived in remote areas and to music buffs who subscribed to the club for regular releases posted direct to their homes. The company had the rights to sell a wide range of recordings (including popular, jazz and classical titles) from around the world – often issued with unique and artistic individual covers.

This Australian edition of MMT came with the expanded front-cover title “The Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour and Other Splendid Hits”. The rear cover went into even more detail: “The Beatles in Songs and Music from the Color Television Film called “Magical Mystery Tour”.  The image used on the front cover was taken from page 10 of the 24 page booklet (plus a 4 page lyric sheet) in the centre of the original 7″ EP version from 1967.

There were two different types of WRC labels as well. The initial pressings came with this light-green “S” label:

Later pressings came with a green “Trumpeter” on a light-blue label:

The terrifically detailed Beatles Australia Album Labelography site has much more information on this and other unique Australian releases.

In Australia we also got local pressings of the original double 7″ EP 45rpm, six-song “Magical Mystery Tour” set which would be familiar to British collectors:

This is the mono version above (denoted by the catalogue number MMT-1 at the bottom left-hand side). It also came out in stereo in Australia and both were released in 1967. These EP’s were on the black and silver Parlophone label:

UPDATE:  You might also be interested in this post.

FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney – Reviewed

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This is the US cover of the hardback edition of “FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney” by well-known biographer Howard Sounes.

I posted previously on this book when I got a copy of the Australian edition in softback. If you click on the link you can see it was published with a very different cover to the rather subdued and conservative North American edition.

It has really taken me some time to actually read the book and write this appraisal.

What happened was I’d published that earlier post and then Da Capo Press, the US publishers of the book, saw the post and wrote offering me a review copy of the US release. It took a while to get here via snail mail and then, at 634 pages, it took me a while to read it from cover-to-cover.

I found it a pretty good read actually. Sounes writes in an engaging style and the book had just enough new details to keep me coming back. All-in-all it really was a great summer holiday read (its still summer here in Australia!). The book is not sensationalist – it pretty much sticks to the facts and tells it like it is – and that is refreshing.

One thing does stand out though – like many books on the Beatles it’s still written from an outsiders perspective. No matter how many interviews you do with some of the main players in and around McCartney’s life (and Sounes did many – he says he interviewed over 220 people for the book), he didn’t interview McCartney himself and so you still get this feeling of an outsider looking in.

Having said that, “FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney” is very revealing of the man himself, showing us aspects of the Paul personality we’ve perhaps thought were there but were never really sure. What we tend to see is the facade Paul wants us to see: “Macca”, the thumbs-up, positive, likable guy. This book goes deeper and reveals his his perfectionism; the fact that he he doesn’t suffer fools lightly; that for a wealthy man he was often quite frugal (for example paying Wings band members a very basic wage); that he wants above all to be remembered for having made a mark and leaving some sort of legacy; that family is very, very important; and that his mother (and her early death) has played a central role in his life, in his creative work, and in his relationships.

Sounes’s book is also good because it brings the reader right up to the present day. Its not just about the pre-Beatles and Beatles glory days. It includes a lot of detail about the Wings years, and about Paul’s solo career right up to 2009’s “Good Evening New York City“. In fact a good half of the book deals with the post-Beatles life of Paul.

It also gives a hint of what it must be like to live, practically for your whole life,  as one of the most famous and wealthy people in the world. Paul is a man who is used to getting his way and getting what he wants. Its not a life to be envied really. Everyone around you agrees with you because you are Paul McCartney. They suck up to you, they pay their respects. It must be incredibly difficult to keep a handle on what is real.

The gratifying thing about this book is that it’s not sensationalist. To be sure there’s plenty of opportunity to do that – particularly in that period of his later life (post Linda McCartney) when McCartney made some really bad relationship choices – but Sounes wisely sticks to the facts.

The book also has some great photographs. Who better to step us through the contents using some of those than the author Howard Sounes himself:

Beatles on CD – “1962-1966” – the Red Album

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Last time I posted on getting a bargain on the HMV box set of “Sgt Pepper”. This comes from back in 1987 when the Beatles catalogue was released on Compact Disc for the very first time. EMI used their UK record store chain HMV to release all the titles in special, limited edition 12″ box sets.

The other set I was able to get at the same time was “The Beatles 1962-1966” (which was issued later – in 1993).

This is a limited edition box with the catalogue number BEACD25/11. It contains the well-known Red Album double CD set, and comes with a large-format 12-page colour booklet featuring song reviews, a 16″ x 24″ colour poster of the band (posed in front of a big US flag), and a special metal badge.

The front of the box looks like this:

Note the original price sticker still attached. When you take off the lid, this is what you see:

This is the 12-page booklet, and it is different to the small booklet which comes with the CD itself. It features some great photos, a short essay, and a song-by-song commentary by Andy Davis from Record Collector magazine:

Next in the box there’s a large poster:

Then comes the CD itself, held in place by a special cardboard holder with a slot just right for the CD and it’s outer cardboard sleeve. There’s a small thumb-slot at the bottom to help you get the CD out. This box, by the way, is thicker so that it can accommodate the jumbo-sized double “Red” CD :

Also in the box is a small metal pin or badge:

As already mentioned, the CD’s which come with this are in the red jumbo-sized double CD holder – which comes with a booklet:

Inside the lid of the HMV box there’s a limited edition stamped number:

See also the “Sgt Pepper” HMV box set.

 

Band on the Run – Deluxe CD and Vinyl

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Finally, my copies of “Band On The Run” –  in both the 2 disc vinyl edition and the deluxe 4 CD bound-book special edition – have arrived from the United States.

They both came together, packaged in the same big cardboard box – and I have to say it was pretty beaten up by the time it got here to Australia.

As I opened it up I was really worried about what I might find inside. It’s not the first time I’ve had vinyl records in particular arrive in a less than optimum state. For example, when I ordered The Fireman “Electronic Arguments” LP (direct from the official McCartney website back in 2008).  It was, to put it mildly, pathetically packaged up for such a long journey in the post. It’s a fragile vinyl double record that needed to travel from the United Kingdom half-way ’round the world to Australia. And how had they prepared it for such an epic journey? Simply plonked it in a loose-fitting cardboard box and put two of those large bubble “fillers” inside tho make up the volume. These didn’t stop the record moving around, being tossed from side to side when being dropped and bounced and placed at the bottom of piles of other packages along the way. Consequently the cover was bent and torn in places by the time it got here….I’d have expected more from the company charged with dispatching orders to collectors direct from the McCartney site….

Anyway, the box of “Band On The Run” goodies which arrived this week from Amazon was, I have to say, similarly packaged  – only this time for some reason both the LP and the CD set had survived unscathed! They were both enveloped in a tight shrink-wrap that really helped keep everything together. I’m very pleased with the results actually, though it could have been an entirely different story as again, the box they came in was bashed around considerably.

Here’s what was in the box. Firstly, the 2010 double LP – which is a gatefold cover. It is still sealed I’m afraid. I can’t bring myself to open it!:

Front cover "Band on the Run" 2010 vinyl LP - still sealed!

Here’s the rear cover, and its the same photo layout as the original UK version:

Rear cover "Band on the Run" 2010 vinyl LP

There is a sticker on the bottom left-hand side of the LP’s front cover:

Now onto the Deluxe, 4 disc edition – which comes as a large format, thick hardback book. This one I have opened up so you can see some of what is inside. Here’s how it presents when you first get it in its plastic seal:

Sealed front cover "Band on the Run" deluxe

Here’s a close-up of the sticker on the front right-hand side:

On the rear when the book is still sealed is a card insert:

Rear when sealed. This is a card that can be removed when the plastic comes off.

On the card you can see the MPL, Hear Music and Concord Records labels. Once you have the plastic off here’s what you have:

Deluxe edition "Band on the Run" book - front

It is a cloth-bound, hardback book. Really thick and solid and beautifully done. The photo is recessed and the printing of “Paul McCartney Archive Collection” and the signature are embossed into the cloth. On the rear there is a Limited Edition stamped number:

Inside, the 121 page book is richly illustrated with photographs and text. The chapter headings are: Introduction; The Songs; A Trip to Lagos; Return to London; The Photo-shoot; Release; Press; Film and Video; and Lyrics.

A page from the chapter "A Trip to Lagos"

A page from the chapter "The Photo-shoot:

A page from the chapter "Release"

Inside there is also a business card sized card which says: “This card offers you free access to the 24bit 96kHz High Resolution audio download of the remastered album….”, and gives you a code number to use:

One side of the free download card

Finally, right at the very back of the book are two thick cardboard pages that hold the four discs you get. Three CDs and one DVD:

As you can see, each of these discs has individual artwork to differentiate between them.

All-in-all its a very nicely put together item. It’s not cheap – but you can see the work that has gone into it and it will probably become a very collectable item in my view.

To close then, that rear, removable card says: “Look for future re-issues in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, including “McCartney”, “McCartney II”, “Ram” and more, coming soon”. It makes you wonder if that’s the planned release order by Paul McCartney and Concorde Records, and if so just how soon the “McCartney” re-issue will be available. How long will it be between this one and the next? You can imagine your bookshelf beginning to fill up with a line of these beautifully finished books….if you can afford them that is.

See also the very limited edition vinyl 45 released as part of the promotion for “Band on the Run” 2010.

If you like John Lennon see the “Signature Box” and the “Gimme Some Truth” collections.

Paul’s Poem For John – Still Poignant After All These Years

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As part of the recent commemoration of John Lennon’s 70th birthdate, the respected NPR radio program “Fresh Air” re-broadcast a wide selection of interviews it had done over the years about Lennon.

One of them was an interview that host Terri Gross did with Paul McCartney. It comes from back in 2001 when he was on the promotion trail for a new book of his collected words called  “Blackbird Singing – Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999“. Its a beautiful little book. If you haven’t seen a copy it looks like this:

In it are the lyrics to “Here Today (Song for John)”, the song Paul wrote specifically for John Lennon after he’d been murdered. It had first appeared on the 1982 album “Tug of War” with a lovely string arrangement by George Martin. More recently though McCartney has been performing it live as a solo acoustic guitar number and speaking more openly about how much he misses his friend and colleague. There’s a very emotional version of the song on the live “Good Evening New York City” (2009), for example.

Anyway, back to the “Blackbird Singing” book interview…..in 2001 radio host Terri Gross asked Paul to read the words to “Here Today” out loud as a poem. In 2010, at this time of remembrance for John, its also very moving:

In his book “FAB – An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney“, author Howard Sounes recounts a story from composer and musician Eric Stewart (ex 10cc) which also sheds some light on how those words might have come about. During the early sessions for “Tug of War” McCartney was working at his friend Stewart’s Strawberry South Studios. He says at the time McCartney was going through a pretty low period:

“He said, ‘I’ve just realised that John has gone. John’s gone. He’s dead and he’s not coming back.’ And he looked completely dismayed, like shocked at something that had suddenly hit him. I said, ‘Well, it’s been a few weeks now.’ He said, ‘I know, Eric, but I’ve just realised.’ It was one of those things maybe he wanted to say something to him [John], but it was too late to say it then….”

Beatles Finally on iTunes

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Well, the cryptic iTunes advertisement yesterday certainly had people speculating again:

Forget the fact that the term “…just another day” isn’t actually a Beatles song (it’s a Paul McCartney solo song), it was more those clocks being side-by-side that triggered off the guesswork that it was Beatles-related.  Something about the position of the hands:

Thanks to the TechCrunch website for starting that one off. It was quickly followed up by the MacRumours site, too. Once that happened it was on for young and old.  The New York Times then got in on the act, stating they had spoken to an anonymous insider who’d told them everything:

Apple is expected on Tuesday to announce that it has finally struck a deal with the Beatles, the best-selling music group of all time, and the band’s record company, EMI, to sell the band’s music on iTunes, according to a person with knowledge of the private deal who requested anonymity because the agreement was still confidential.  (Read the full article)

Then today, finally, came confirmation. The Beatles entire catalogue is now available for digital download. The New York Times has updated its stories – this one in particular has some interesting history and background. And they’re also running an article with information about what we’ll pay for the Beatles back-catalogue digitally. Certainly from what I can see in the Australian iTunes Store its a premium price, thats for sure. (The outrage at the Aussie pricing by Apple is growing. See here and here).

There is one thing for free though if you are quick. On iTunes there’s a free download of the 1964 concert live at that Washington Colliseum, the Beatles first ever on US soil. Its quite fascinating to watch. Its the entire performance – complete with associated pandemonium, between-song banter, screaming, bad sound and a rawness thats revealing.

Thanks to Henry for sending me the MacRumours link.  iTunes have an Artist page here.

A Warning About Garage Sales….

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This is a sad story that I think all Beatles collectors can relate to….

When you go to a garage sale (or you might call them yard sales) the thrill of the chase for that elusive LP or CD can sometimes see you just not taking enough care.

It recently happened to me. Went out as I sometimes do on a Saturday morning to a local garage sale. These can be rich pickings (or not – but you never know). Did the quick scout around upon arrival – but there was no vinyl in sight. There were a couple of compact discs – but nothing remotely Beatles-related. So before leaving I posed the usual question to the owner of the house, just on the off-chance: “Do you have any records? LPs or 45s. You know, vinyl?”  It never hurts to ask.

“Oh – yes. Actually we do, but I hadn’t thought to put them out. Are people still interested in them?” And off she goes, into the house to hunt out said vinyl records….

About 5 minutes later (it seems like ten) out they come, boxes of them – frustratingly one box at a time. Most are pretty bashed up – but quite an eclectic selection and some interesting things – and by this stage another record collector has arrived and is also interested….

The first thing I see is a picture disc copy of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. Hmmm. Could probably get that. Might as well for A$1.00. (Its actually the same as this one – selling online for US$75.00).

There’s also, for some strange reason, lots of Jethro Tull. All original pressings and all in reasonably good condition. Probably collectors items for the right person – but not me. Then some Hendrix. Tempting, but the other collector seems really interested and so I let him have free reign.

Then finally a box with some Beatles. Both me and the other guy fall upon it and kind of unofficially, by mutual agreement, agree to split the contents amicably. No need for aggro on a Saturday morning over $1.00 records.

He finds “Abbey Road” and I think: “OK. You can have it. I’ve got lots of pressings of that.” It’s the Australian pressing on Apple by the looks of it. He is happy.

I find a copy of “Revolver”. Its also an Australian pressing, this time on the orange Parlophone/EMI label and I can’t remember if I have this or not and so decide to get it anyway. Its actually in pretty good shape and for a dollar, what the heck?. When I get home later turns out I don’t have this particular pressing. Good one!

Then there’s a copy of the Beatles “Oldies…but Goldies!”. It too is an Australian pressing and I know I have this and so let the other guy take it. More good karma points for me. Then there’s a copy of “The Beatles”, or the “White Album“. Its an older, original Australian pressing on Apple – the one with the top-loading cover, and its got the poster. No Beatle pictures included though, and the cover is a little battered, but still, its kind of rare and interesting because of it’s age. The old-style top-loader cover is mildly collectable. I flipped out Disc 1 for a quick look to see if it was scratched and useless. It was in pretty good shape and so I decide to get it.

Move forward in time now about three hours. I’m back home cleaning up the LP’s I got and I pull out Disc 2 of the “White Album” from it’s sleeve and guess what? Its not the “White Album” in there but “Abbey Road”!!

The seller, probably years ago, had mixed up the LPs when putting them away. So, the other collector guy who bought “Abbey Road” has probably got my Disc 2 of the “White Album”, and I have his “Abbey Road”. I don’t know who he is and have no way of contacting him. There is really nothing quite as frustrating to a collector than an incomplete set I can tell you…

So, a lesson for all garage or yard sale hunters: always check the contents of the CDs or LPs you’re interested in before you leave the premises….

Three Copies of “Q” Magazine

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I needed to visit Australia’s national capital Canberra for work the other day and ended up staying overnight. That meant driving back to Sydney on a Saturday morning and so I had time to call into the large-ish New South Wales country town of Goulburn, which is just off the freeway on the way home.

Goulburn, I had discovered on a previous trip, has a very large second-hand book and record shop just off the main street called The Argyle Book Emporium. When I say big I’m talking an extensive old rambling period building with room after room literally filled floor-to-ceiling with books. One room at the rear is devoted to music. There’s a small selection of music-related books and magazines, and boxes and boxes of records and CDs. Its a bit frustrating as these boxes are just randomly grouped together. They’re not split out into Male Vocal, Female Vocal or Groups for example. Not even 50s, 60s ,70s and 80’s. Just everything mixed in together – making finding anything of interest a needle-in-a-haystack affair….

I didn’t have a lot of time and so I gave the LPs just a cursory flip through. I looked at a couple of boxes at the front which were easy to get to and didn’t find anything. What was more interesting was a very large pile of “Q” and “Rolling Stone” magazines. A collector had obviously off-loaded a lot of past editions that were no longer wanted. The “Rolling Stone” magazines had been pretty well picked over. Nothing really of interest to the avid Beatles collector. However, in the “Q” magazine pile I found these three editions: 

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The first dates way back to June 1987 – a time when we were all celebrating the 20th Anniversary of “Sgt Peppers”. Inside there are ten pages of photos and text:

Sadly, there was a “Sgt Pepper Part II” article that was due to be published in the following month’s magazine. It wasn’t on the pile of mags I found in Goulburn….oh well.

The next “Q” magazine I found featured an extensive article about Paul McCartney from July 1989. The headline on the front cover screams: He sings! He plays! He writes his own songs! For  PAUL McCARTNEY OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS! * Now available for live work! *.  Inside there’s a nine-page article about Paul. It begins: “He never expected to be doing this when he was 46 – “We thought 25 was the end of the line” – but Paul McCartney has stoutly refused to give up his day job. Engaged in rustic rehearsals for his first British tour in 10 years, and with a fresh solo album on offer [“Flowers In The Dirt”], he’s preparing once again to be public property. With mixed feelings…”. In the article there’s reference to the number of times McCartney makes reference to his father, Jim McCartney….”a Liverpool cotton broker and part-time musician who brought Paul up after his mother’s death (when McCartney was 14), and who died himself in 1976. One song on McCartney’s new album “Flowers In The Dirt”, is called “Put It There”, after a favourite phrase of his Dad’s”.

Finally, the “Q” magazine with that awesome David Bailey portrait of Paul and John on the cover. It comes from August 1999. Its a pretty simple premise on the part of “Q”. As the century draws to a close why not run a reader poll asking who are the 100 greatest stars of the 20th Century. According to “Q” readers back then the top ten are (were):

10. Michael Stipe; 9. Liam Gallagher; 8. Noel Gallagher; 7.Madonna; 6. David Bowie; 5. Elvis Presley; 4. Bob Dylan; 3. Kurt Cobain; 2. Paul McCartney; and and number one the runaway winner (according to “Q” by a long way)…..John Lennon.

It is kind of fitting to look back and read a magazine like this (from 1999) in this year (2010) when Lennon would have turned 70, don’t you think? Kind of cements the fact that his presence could in fact be enduring. That now, a further eleven years down the track, his music is still around and he’s still held in very high regard by many. There’s an additional article right at the end of the poll headed: “John Would Have Been Proud”. It says: “Yoko Ono, the keeper of the Lennon flame and the Lennon vat of money, telephoned Q as soon as she heard about the readers’ tsunami-sixed endorsement of her late husband’s transcendental magic and generation-straddling stature….”. That article is illustrated with this beautiful photograph:

Enough said.

(see also “Nine Copies of Rolling Stone”)