In the lead-up to the release of the newly remastered “Band on the Run” reissues, Paul McCartney is publishing via his official “Band on the Run” website a series of vodcasts.
The first episode is “Making Band on the Run”:
The second episode is “Wings in Lagos”:
The third episode is “Band on the Run Deluxe”:
Episode Four is “Wings The Band”:
Will post more as they become available. Thanks to TVpiotrek and pmc27 for putting these up on YouTube.
I was sent a new book the other day. Its called “1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die”. Great title.
Its edited by Robert Dimery and is a compendium of entries about the greatest popular songs ever recorded. The book is a companion to his previous work “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”. (Click here if you are wondering about what’s on that album list).
The front cover of "1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die"
Of course the first place I went was to the index to find where the Beatles appeared.
They have no less than six full entries: “A Day in the Life”; “Eleanor Rigby”; “Hey Jude”; “Strawberry Fields Forever”; “Ticket to Ride”; and “Tomorrow Never Knows”.
The entry for "A Day in the Life" uses an image of John Lennon's hand-written lyrics for the song
Interesting that “A Day In The Life” features so prominently as it was also recently nominated as the number one Beatles song in Rolling Stone’s Beatles special edition “Top 100” list.
The Beatles are matched in the book only by Elvis – who also featured with six entries. Bob Dylan, by way of comparison, has four entries…..
John Lennon as a solo artist gets one (a little predictably its “Imagine”); Paul McCartney gets one (perhaps surprisingly its “Maybe I’m Amazed”); George Harrison gets one (“Awaiting On You All”); and Ringo…well, Ringo doesn’t get any solo mentions.
Google have paid tribute to John Lennon’s 70th birth date with one of those fun animated headings on their main search page:
Click on the image to see the animation.
YouTube has also paid tribute:
Happy birthday John.
In November it will be 40 years since George Harrison released his masterpiece, “All Things Must Pass”.
It was the first triple LP ever released by a solo artist. Harrison had so many songs – many of them stored up from his Beatles days – that they sprawled across 2 LPs, plus a third disc called “Apple Jam” which was just that: George and his mates jamming in the studio.
In both the US and the UK the album came out in a black box with a matte, monochrome shot of Harrison on the front, sitting like an elf (complete with accompanying garden gnomes) in the garden of his Friar Park mansion:
The box came with a huge poster of George (36″ x 24″), and each inner sleeve was in a different colour, complete with the printed lyrics to the songs it contained. Record one is in a light blue sleeve, record two is grey, and record three (“Apple Jam”) is mustard coloured.
The US box open with orange inner and light blue sleeve for record one
The US box open with the lyric sleeve for record two
The US box open with the mustard coloured “Apple Jam” sleeve
The US and UK labels were Apple – but in this time in bright orange:
On the first two discs there was the full Apple on one side, and a cut Apple on the other:
The “Apple Jam” disc (sides 5 & 6) had its own custom labels:
In Australia the packaging for the 3 x LP set was quite different. It was a specially designed triple fold-out cover (not a box set), with a shiny laminated finish on the outside:
The Australian release – front cover
The original release was a top-load cover (there was a later Parlophone label release which was side-load – see below). Here’s the rear cover for the Australian release:
The Australian release – rear cover with song list and artist details
The triple gate-fold opened up like this, and the inserts in which the records are held were made of high quality textured paper in the same colours as the US and UK box-set inner sleeves:
The Australian triple gatefold open on one side
The Australian triple gatefold open both sides
The original Australian issues also came with the giant George poster, and had the bright orange Apple labels – however this time in full on all four sides of each LP (in other words no “cut” Apples on sides 2 and 4):
Plus it also had the special Apple Jam labels for sides 5 & 6:
In the 1990’s in Australia came a vinyl re-issue of the set. It came in the same triple gatefold cover, but this time at a lower quality of paper. And it wasn’t on Apple Records, but the Parlophone label:
There were two 45 rpm singles released from the album at the time. These were “My Sweet Lord” and “What Is Life”. In Australia “My Sweet Lord” was backed with “Isn’t It A Pity” and a little bit unusually, the labels on each side had a full green Apple – kind of like a double “A” side:
In 2001 came an LP and a CD re-issue, both of which came as box sets. Here’s the deluxe vinyl box:
The EU 2001 re-issue vinyl box cover
Both the CD box and the LP box were expanded and remastered – containing five previously un-released bonus tracks: “I Live For You” (out-take); “Beware Of Darkness” (demo); “Let It Down” (alternate version); “What Is Life” (backing track); and “My Sweet Lord (2000)” (alternate version). Both box sets featured a colourised version of the original front cover image. Unlike the original 1970 LP box set, this one had a song list on the rear:
The vinyl was again three LP records – including the “Apple Jam” disc:
The vinyl box open – notice the booklet cover’s statement on environmental degradation
The internal packaging was quite different to the original in a lot of ways. The inner lining (now purple) and the inner sleeves for example:
The vinyl 2001 reissue with the inner sleeve for Disc 1
A booklet replaced the giant poster, but still had some shots from the same photo shoot:
And the LP labels (the record was released on George’s own GN Records label) were different too:
The CD box set contained all the content of the triple LPs – but on two CDs:
The 2001 CD reissue cover – still in shrink wrap with original sticker
All the tracks on “All Things Must Pass” (2001) were remastered and/or remixed by George. He says in the booklet that on some tracks he wanted to “….liberate some of the songs from the big production that seemed appropriate at the time, but now seem a bit over the top with the reverb in the wall of sound”. I guess he means Phil Spector’s production work on the original. There are no hard feelings though as in the booklet George pays tribute to “….the amazing Phil Spector, who produced so many fantastic records in the sixties. He helped me so much to get this record made….God bless you Phil”. For more information on the complete story of the 2001 reissue see wikipedia
The CD box also had the coloured cover. Urbanisation and degradation of the environment gets worse from the front image, through to changes in each image on the inner sleeves, until the final scene on the booklet where George is literally overshadowed by a motorway and factories belching smog. Here’s the CD label:
Also from 2001 comes a 3 track CD single re-issue of “My Sweet Lord”:
The 2001 “My Sweet Lord” CD single cover
The disc contained “My Sweet Lord”, “Let It Down” and “My Sweet Lord (2000)”:
For further information see also the official All Things Must Pass website, and the excellent Beatles Recorded Sound Index entry.
Don’t forget to check out this weird version of this album.
Also this update on another US label variation in the collection.
And click here for the Record Store Day 2010 limited edition of “All Things Must Pass”.
I came into the possession of two more Beatles books this week.
I wasn’t actually looking for them – they came looking for me. As I’ve posted earlier, we’ve recently visited Vietnam. It was my wife’s birthday this week and so I thought a Vietnamese cookbook might be popular. I went along to my local discount bookshop – but no Vietnamese cooking books were to be seen. However, in the Music section (a frequent haunt) I found these two Beatles “picture” books, both by the same publisher, both in the same format, and both only AUS$7.95 (US$7.28) each. Who could resist?
The first is “The Beatles – The Illustrated Biography”. It’s a small-format book – about 17.5 cm (7 inches) by 17.5 cm square. Here’s the front cover:
The Beatles - The Illustrated Biography - front cover
The sub-title reads: “A Unique Collection of 200 Classic, Rare and Unseen Photographs”, and that’s pretty much what this book is. It’s a photographic step through the career in photographs. Part One is called “Four Lads From Liverpool”. Part Two is called “The Long and Winding Road”. Text is provided by Tim Hill, Alison Gauntlett, Gareth Thomas and Jane Benn. It’s published by Transatlantic Press in Britain in 2009.
The Beatles - The Illustrated Biography - rear cover
These sorts of books abound – with many of them published in a variety of formats and all using the Daily Mail library of Beatles photographs. This book is no exception. The photographs are all credited to Getty Images, but I suspect they are all pretty much from the Daily Mail archive – just re-packaged. I must say though that this one is nicely presented in black-and-white and in colour, and worth having in the collection.
Here is a random open page from the book:
The Beatles - The Illustrated Biography - open page
What you can see is a series of two colour shots taken on location in May, 1965 during the filming of the movie “Help”. Clearly the group are in downtime, waiting no doubt for a scene to be lit or some technical problem to be sorted out at Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire. The text talks about the Beatles the previous evening having attended Royal Albert Hall in London to watch a performance by Bob Dylan, whose song-writing was proving to be a big influence on John Lennon at this time.
This little Beatles book is accompanied by what is clearly a companion publication by the same publisher (Transatlantic Press) – a book called “John Lennon – The Illustrated Biography”:
John Lennon - The Illustrated Biography - front cover
This is in the same format (about 17.5 cm (7 inches) square) as the Beatles book above, and was also published in 2009.
It’s sub-title is “200 Classic, Rare and Unseen Photographs by the Daily Mail” – so clearly it is a re-packaging of many previous books along the same lines. Here’s the rear cover image:
John Lennon - The Illustrated Biography - rear cover
A happy moment (albeit public) between John and his then wife Cynthia Lennon.
The text for this book is by Gareth Thomas, and all photographs are copyrighted to the Associated Newspapers Archive (read: “Daily Mail”), and to Getty Images. Unlike the Beatles book, all the images in this one are black-and-white. Here’s a random open page from the book:
John Lennon - The Illustrated Biography - open page
The photographs here were taken in August 1966, and the text says: “Before leaving for Chicago, John and the boys were taken on a relaxed tour around London airport, including a visit to the new police facilities….However, by the time they had reached their destination [they’d learned about] the seriousness of the “more popular than Jesus” debacle they were facing. John’s anxiety levels were at an all-time high…as he prepared to apologize for his supposedly anti-Christian remarks at a televised press conference….”
Two nice little books to have in the collection
UPDATE: Another Beatles related book (released in August 2010) is Howard Sounes’ “FAB: An Intimate Biography of Paul McCartney”.
Herewith Part Three in a series of posts on some unusual Beatles and Beatles-related items I was able to buy on a recent visit to Vietnam. I should say again here that all my collection of records, CD’s, books and DVDs have been, to date, the official record company releases. I don’t collect pirate or illegal Beatles material. However, I was presented with something of a dilemma in Vietnam by not knowing if these quite intricately produced items were illegal or the real thing. As they were all sealed in heat-shrink plastic and on the outside had official-looking logos, etc. it made it very difficult to tell. In the end because they were so cheap and I didn’t have ready access to the internet to do research on them I decided to buy and check out their credentials later. So far I have not found anything on the web about this next CD.
Its another one I got in Hanoi in the country’s north:
As you can see its called John Lennon “Definitive Lennon”. It has a shiny, iridescent almost 3D cover that is very nicely done in green, white, silver and black. It really looks expensively produced. The photo above is of the printed slipcase around the over-sized plastic CD jewel case, which contains two CDs.
CD 1 is exactly the same track list as an official EMI Asia and Australia-only release called John Lennon “Peace, Love and Truth” from 2005. The release I have of that CD was printed in the Philippines (see below for info and images).
CD 2 has the same track listing as the CD re-issue of John Lennon’s “Rock’n’Roll” which came out in 2004. It has the same bonus tracks as that CD.
The Vietnam CD has the same SHM-CD logos that are on the Beatles Double Golden Collection series I posted about earlier. SHM-CD seems to be a legitimate process to improve CD technology and they have quite a few authorised releases – you can read more about it here.
Here’s the front cover image of the CD jewel case for “Definitive Lennon”:
The rear cover contains the track-listing:
When you open the jewel case there’s a booklet (with song lyrics) and two CD’s on a swinging “door”:
Here’s a close-up of the printing on CD 1:
As with the “Beatles Double Golden Collection”, the CD box is oversized. Here’s a comparison with the standard CD jewel case for “Lennon Legend”:
You can also see this by comparing the spines of the CD cases. The unofficial one is much wider:
The is what appears to be an official-looking Universal records logo on the outer slipcase, though to my knowledge John Lennon never had a record deal with Universal:
As mentioned above CD 1 from this set is copied from an official 2005 release called “Peace, Love and Truth” which came out in the Asian and Australian markets only. It contains a number of (then) newly remixed version of some classic Lennon songs including “Give Peace a Chance 2005 (featuring Voices of Asia)”, “Gimme Some Truth (Remix), “Love (Remix)”, “Hold On (Remix)”, “Give Peace a Chance 2004 Y2K+”, “Imagine (Remix)”, “Bring On the Lucie (Remix)”, “Mind Games (Remix)” and “I Don’t Want to Be a Soldier (Remix)”. There are also versions of “Real Love (Slow Version)”, “Help ME To Help Myself”, “I Don’t Want to Face It”, “Bless You”, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”, “Listen the Snow is Falling” and the standard version of “Give Peace a Chance”. The cover of the official “Peace, Love and Truth” looks like this:
The rear cover:
The “Definitive Lennon” SHM-CD was amongst some other purchases made in Vietnam. You can see posts on those in Part One and Part Two. Again, there has been quite a lot of thought, expense and detail put into the production of the disc and its packaging, making it difficult to categorically rule it out as a fake.
I think this is the first detailed information about this release I have seen on the Internet.
UPDATE: I just realised where this CD cover comes from. It always reminded me of something I’d seen before – and its the artwork for the cover of the 2009 charity release “Make Some Noise – The Campaign to Save Darfur”:
Make Some Noise - various artists cover John Lennon songs for the Amnesty International CD release to raise funds for troubled Darfur
If the South East Asian CD “The Definitive John Lennon” is a fake then not only are they ripping off the Lennon estate, they’ve stolen artwork probably donated to the Amnesty International cause……
See also Some Unusual Asian Beatles Items – Part One, and also Some Unusual Asian Beatles Items – Part Two
Ned in the US sent me images of another rare and collectable CD in his collection. This time, Paul McCartney’s US version of the CD single “From A Lover To A Friend”.
It was released in 2001 just after the terrible news of the World Trade Centre attacks in New York City came through. (In fact, at the time of the attacks McCartney himself was stranded on a runway at JFK Airport just outside NYC in a plane that had been grounded that day due to fears that other aircraft might be hijacked….).
In September 2001 Paul McCartney had just released the first CD single from his new album “Driving Rain”. On both sides of the Atlantic this was to be Track 2 from that record, the song “From A Lover To A Friend”.
However, as a result of what happened on 9/11 he decided to withdraw “From A Lover to a Friend” in the US and rush-release a different single, a patriotic song called “Freedom” which he’d written the day after September 11.
This is the stuff that collectors items are made of and Ned was in the right place at the right time yet again. He’d purchased a copy before it was taken off the shelves forever and kindly sent through these images of the now-rare US CD:
"From A Lover to a Friend" - rare withdrawn US version (front)
"From A Lover to a Friend" - US withdrawn version (rear)
"From A Lover to a Friend" - US version (case open)
Incidentally, all profits from the “Freedom” single (right around the world) went to aid the families of the New York Fire Brigade and Police who lost their lives trying to assist those in need and to deal with the catastrophe.
The promo cover of the US “Freedom” single looked like this:
Promo cover for US "Freedom"
Interestingly “From A Lover to A Friend” remained on sale in UK. Its got the same cover as the withdrawn US version:
"From A Lover to a Friend" - British release (front)
In Britain McCartney released “Freedom” as a second CD single later, backed with “From a Lover to a Friend” plus a different remix of that song. Here’s that British edition of “Freedom”:
British version of "Freedom" (front)
The same thing happened in Australia. Here’s a very rare “rush release” promo copy of “Freedom” that was sent to radio stations here:
Australian "Freedom" promo copy
The hand-written look and signature on a piece of paper from an exercise book was actually properly printed.
Following the release of the single McCartney performed four songs, including “Freedom”, at a special concert called “The Concert for New York City”. It was staged in 2001 to raise funds for victims the disaster and was recorded and released on CD and DVD later. Here’s the CD cover:
The Concert For NYC (front)
There’s more info about “Freedom” and a video of the Concert for New York live performance of the song (plus a live “Let It Be” with Eric Clapton) here.
Earlier this week I blogged about an interesting CD variation of John Lennon’s “Shaved Fish”.
That post prompted me to drag out the vinyl copies of this 1973 “Best Of” compilation and publish some photos of the different versions I have in the collection.
The front cover, rear cover, and inner sleeve of this album in LP form seems to be very consistent right around the world. Here’s a typical front cover. This one below is the Italian release:
Italian front cover of Lennon's 1973 "Shaved Fish"
And here is the rear cover:
"Shaved Fish" rear cover (Italy)
There is a strong Japanese influence to the graphic design throughout, which was provided by designer Roy Kohara who worked again with Lennon as Art Director and Designer for both his “Walls and Bridges” and “Rock’n’Roll” LP’s.
The sub-title for this album seems to be “Collectable Lennon” as this phrase is printed on the rear covers of both the Italian and British versions of the album. Its not on the US or Australian rear covers, but does appear on a big sticker on the front of the US copy of the LP that I have:
All copies seem to come with an inner sleeve which is solid red on one side with the lyrics for each song printed in white. The other side has a red rising sun, reminiscent of the Japanese national flag, continuing Kohara’s Japanese theme:
Red inner sleeve with lyrics - Italian release
Kohara's Japanese theme continued on inner sleeve
Here’s the label for the Italian release – a green Apple label:
Italian Apple label
I have two versions of the Australian release. The original Apple label:
Australian green Apple
And the later Parlophone black and silver re-issue:
Australian Parlophone re-issue
The U.S. release is a green Apple:
US green Apple label
And finally the U.K. release, again a green Apple label:
UK green Apple label
If you’d like to see some more label variations you can go to:
Label Variations – Part One “Sgt Pepper”
Label Variations – Part Two “Let It Be”
Label Variations – Part Three – McCartney’s “Choba B CCCP”
and
I’ve been sweating on the postman arriving this week as I bought a copy of the “Paperback Writer/Rain” Parlophone Record Store Day re-issue, and it arrived today. Mine came from the US. It was finally released there on June 8 after an on-again/off again series of dates came and went. This followed the initial UK release on Record Store Day proper earlier this year on April 17.
In the UK the re-issue was limited to just 1000 copies – and hence the prices being asked went through the roof. I believe (see below) that the US releases are imports of the exact same UK pressings – and so are a chance to catch up on that really rare initial UK release.
You can see five close-up images here – three of the most recent “Paperback Writer/Rain” US release, and two of a previous US Capitol issue.
Steve Marinucci, who has a Beatles news column online at the Examiner newspaper, published this story about the UK release, and this story about the then US re-issue plans. Reviewer, writer and Beatles fan Matt Hurwitz sent the Examiner the following description of the new vinyl single:
I’ve just received a copy of the new “Paperback Writer”/”Rain” 7″ vinyl single from Capitol, which will be issued to participating indie record stores as part of continued celebration of Record Store Day. The disc & sleeve are actually the same as was released in England. This is an import of that release (i.e. not pressed here in the States by Capitol). The record features a black-and-white Parlophone die-cut sleeve with dark blue label backdrops. The A-side label lists both songs; the B-side label features art that matches that on the back of the sleeve – letters spelling out “Parlophone.” For those who keep track, the disc is Parlophone R-6813/EMI 50999-6-41639-7-0. The disc itself features stereo mixes of the two songs. It’s important to note – this is the first vinyl release taken from the new masters, and they sound fantastic. The stereo spread sounds as if the mastering engineer pulled in the left and right a hair (i.e. so that the hard-left and hard-right panning of some channels isn’t quite as far left or right). And, of course, being mastered at Abbey Road, my needle didn’t jump out of the groove on “Paperback Writer”.
After reading all this I got a bit inquisitive and wanted to find out if the Beatles Parlophone re-issue was a one-off, or part of a bigger re-issue by the company around Record Store Day. Turns out “Paperback Writer” was just one of many re-issues by the label – all done with similar dark blue sleeves and labels. Here is the official Parlophone press release
Parlophone Plan Vinyl Series For Record Store Day – Twelve artists will be taking part (Posted 8th April, 2010)
Parlophone have announced plans to release a series of limited vinyl (1000 copies each) for Record Store Day (17th April).
Twelve artists will be taking part, including Hot Chip, Bat For Lashes, Pet Shop Boys, Lily Allen and The Beatles. Each release will come in a vintage-style paper Parlophone house bag which has been designed ‘specially, and uses elements of historic sleeves from the 1960s to the present day. From this year’s hottest new urban artist Tinie Tempah to the band that made the label what it is today, The Beatles. Each release will come in a vintage-style paper Parlophone house bag which has been designed especially for the releases and uses elements of historic sleeves from the 1960’s to the present day.
The releases are:
Babyshambles Side of the Road/UnBiloTitled
Bat For Lashes Howl! (Live at De La Warr Pavillion)/Wild Is The Wind (Live at Grove Music Studios)
The Beatles Paperback Writer/Rain
Chiddy Bang Opposite of Adults/Sooner or Later
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse Just War (featuring Gruff Rhys)/Just War (instrumental)
Eliza Doolittle Pack Up/Rollerblades
Hot Chip I Feel Bonnie (featuring Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billie)/Bear Witness
Jónsi Go Do/Boy Lilikoi
Lily Allen Back To The Start/Kabul Shit
The Pet Shop Boys Love Life/A Powerful Friend
Tinie Tempah Pass Out/Pass Out (SBTRKT Remix)
(plus one other release)
Miles Leonard, President of Parlophone said: “Parlophone and our artists recognise the importance of our Indie stores and their contribution to not only our new and developing artists but to our catalogue as a whole. Being able to support this campaign with some great 7″ releases from The Beatles to Bat For Lashes is our way of thanking them for their continued support. After all ‘Music Matters’.”
Of course Capitol in the US also released The John Lennon Singles Bag as part of the celebrations for Record Store Day as well, and you can read more about that here.
Up on the very top shelf of a closet in my study there’s a large pile of old music magazines – mostly Rolling Stone magazine. They’ve been there, oh, for at least 16 or 17 years. Sitting quietly, gathering dust.
About a week ago it suddenly occurred to me that there could probably be some Beatles-related treasure hidden away in there.
Really don’t know why I’d never thought of this before. And so I got them down from the shelf this weekend and had a browse. This post, in chronological order, is about what I found.
(July 1979) Issue 295 Paul McCartney by Paul Gambacini
These are all the Australian editions of Rolling Stone, and back in 1979 it was still very much like a newspaper in appearance. No staples to hold it together and printed on flat, newsprint style paper. The cover story about Paul (above) is by veteran DJ, writer and rock historian Paul Gambacini. The cover portrait of Paul McCartney is by Julian Allen, June, 1979. Gambacini’s byline says: “The leader of Wings looks back at yesterday”, and he writes: “I have known Paul McCartney for over five years, since just before the release of ‘Band on the Run’…Not surprisingly, McCartney at that time was desperate to avoid talking about the Beatles, especially about the never-ending reunion rumors…In the years since, Paul has let down his defenses. Anecdotes about the Beatles now flow, in addition to reminiscences of the pre-Beatles days. He seems pleased with his past. This is a product of being happy with his present.” The article coincided with the release of Wings “Back to the Egg”.
(October 1982) Issue 358 Exclusive: The Private Years
Of course John and Yoko frequently made the cover of Rolling Stone, and there have been some striking images of them published. Who could forget the most famous Annie Leibovitz shot of the pair? But this one comes a close second I reckon. Its by Allan Tannenbaum and it is a beautiful contemplative study that perfectly accompanies an article by Chet Flippo (which was an extract from the book “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, first published by Rolling Stone Press in October, 1982) detailing the years from 1975 to 1980 when John Lennon dropped out of rock & roll, retreating to his white bedroom in the Dakota building in New York. Inside, the article is accompanied by another touchingly composed Tannenbaum photograph:
John and Yoko, New York City, November 1980 (Tannenbaum)
See more Allan Tannenbaum photographs from the same session here.
In November, 1987 Rolling Stone celebrated twenty years on newsstands with a 20th Anniversary Special Edition. In it they re-published a selection of Letters to the Editor from across the 20 years. This one, from 1974, is telling: “John Lennon has given more to America that Nixon and Ford….He fought for peace a long time before it came to the attention of the government that “the people of America” wanted peace. Lennon was concerned about America, and now they’re deporting him. Nixon has admitted he’s a crook; why don’t we deport him?” – Lynn Grubbs, Malvern, Arkansas. And then this, from 1981, sadly again about John Lennon: “We’ve come a long way in seventeen years, from shooting presidents to murdering musicians.” – Jon Grabill, Wayland, Massachusetts…..this was the cover of that special edition:
(November 1987) 20th Anniversary Special Edition.
The special edition was comprised of a series of previously-published Rolling Stone articles. There’s one on Paul McCartney by Anthony DeCurtis, and one on Yoko Ono by David Fricke. There are some image galleries as well from across the twenty years, but they only include one photograph of John Lennon.
(October 1986) Issue 403 Paul McCartney - The Rolling Stone Interview
October, 1986 saw another Paul McCartney cover shot (above) – with very grey hair and an interesting heart-shaped ring on Paul’s wedding finger…? The Rolling Stone interview was by Kurt Loder, who begins: “It is Monday in London, two days before the royal wedding, and Soho Square is filled with flowers, sunshine and fresh-faced young tourists. Some loll on the grass, sharing joints. Others peer up expectantly at the etched-glass windows of an art-deco-style town house across the street, where, in an airy third floor office, Paul McCartney presides over the bustling affairs of MPL Communications, the company that manages the professional projects of the singer and his wife, Linda.”
Inside Rolling Stone, Issue 403
The McCartney’s were doing publicity for “Press To Play”, the fifteenth album he’d released since he announced the breakup of the Beatles in 1970…..Loder observed “After eight years of largely lackadaisical releases on Columbia, he is back with Capitol – the Beatles’ old label – and he seems serious about rehabilitating his somewhat tattered artistic reputation.”
(February 1988) Issue 415 The New Age of George Harrison
In 1988 George had a new record to push. “Cloud Nine”, his first record in five years, had just been delivered to Warner Brothers Records. The article, by Anthony DeCurtis, is a really good read about George, the production of the album (with ELO’s Jeff Lynne), his past, and where he was at in 1988. “After years of tending his garden, his movie company and his son, the elusive ex-Beatle has reemerged with a great album”.
The front page of Issue 424 has an image of John Lennon and the words “Lennon – A Special Photo Album and the inside story on Goldman’s book”:
(November 1988) Issue 424 Lennon - A Special Photo Album and the inside story on Goldman's book
Inside is a revealing article by David Fricke and Jeffrey Ressner called “Imaginary Lennon – The True Story Behind Albert Goldman’s Character Assassination of John Lennon”. That title pretty much says it all… Albert Goldman’s controversial book “The Lives of John Lennon” had just been released, and his publishers claimed it to be “…a startling and revolutionary portrait”. Fricke and Ressner write however that it is not “the definitive biography”. “In fact,” they say, “the book is riddled with factual inaccuracies, embroidered accounts of true events that border on fiction and suspect information provided by tainted sources.” The magazine devotes five and a half pages to taking apart Goldman’s work. The article is worth digging out if you can. As if to balance that, Issue 424 also has six pages of candid Lennon photographs from another book (“Imagine: John Lennon” by Andrew Solt and John Egan). Here’s a terrific, early shot of Lennon, Paul McCartney, drummer Pete Best and George Harrison – taken by Paul’s brother, Mike McCartney:
Early Beatles (Mike McCartney)
Issue 443, in April 1990 also contained a wealth of rare early photographs, though it was the B52’s who made it onto the front cover. You have to look pretty closely for the Beatles reference:
(April 1990) Issue 443 The Beatles Rare Early Photos
This contains never-before-published photographs that chronicle the Fab Four’s first American tour in 1964. They are all taken by Curt Gunther, and I think you’ll agree they are impressive. I’d never seen these before and will certainly be seeking out the book they come from. Here are just a few from the Rolling Stone eight page spread:
Fans from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at Indianapolis airport (Curt Gunther)
Paul photographs Canadian Mounties at Malton Airfield, Toronto (Curt Gunther)
Lennon in bed, King Edward Hotel, Toronto (Curt Gunther)
All the photos above were reproduced in Rolling Stone, but come from the book “Beatles ’64: A Hard Day’s Night in America” released in 1989. Photographs by Curt Gunther, text by A.J.S.Rayl. There are also some fantastic Gunther images here from the Genesis Books publication “Mania Days: The Beatles 1964 US Tour”
October, 1990 saw Rolling Stone release another special issue. This time it was The Sixties – The Age of the Beatles. And it was an excuse for a psychedelic-look, Beatles-inspired cover:
(October 1990) Issue 448 A Special Issue: The Sixties - The Age of the Beatles
Mikal Gilmore in his feature article “The Sixties” spends a lot of time on the Beatles and their impact throughout that turbulent decade: “In short, the Beatles were a rupture – they changed modern history, and no less craftsman than Bob Dylan understood the meaning of their advent. ‘They were doing things nobody else was doing. But I just kept it to myself that I really dug them. Everybody else thought they were just for the teenyboppers, that they were gonna pass right away. But it was obvious that they had staying power. I knew they were pointing the direction that music had to go….'”.
The final magazine to pop out of the large pile was from November, 1992, issue 476, a 25th Anniversary Special Edition, subtitled “The Great Stories 1967-1992”.
(November 1992) Issue 476 25th Anniversary Special Edition
Like the special Twentieth Anniversary edition (above) this one contained some of the all-time great articles ever written by Rolling Stone‘s staff writers and contributors over the past quarter of a century. There are pieces on Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Springsteen, Bowie, Van Morrison, REM, Madonna, Neil Young, Michael Jackson and (of course) Bob Dylan, but probably pride of place was given to the now legendary interviews with John Lennon by Jann S. Wenner – a 30,000 word verbal splurge in which the ex-Beatle spoke openly, fully and truthfully about the Beatles and announced their breakup:
The Jann Wenner interview with John Lennon in Issue 476
Originally from Rolling Stone Issues 74 and 75 in 1971, this was Lennon talking about the demise and aftermath of the Beatles as he saw it – for the first time. You can listen to extracts and read transcripts at Jann Wenner’s own page.
So, that it. An accidental journey through the past through random editions of Rolling Stone magazine – mags that have been hidden away in a cupboard at home for over 17 years…..
Beatles Blog 