This mashup is a massive Christmas Beatle medley put together by Tom Teeley. It features bits from their annual Christmas fanclub messages, combined with backing tracks and out-takes to create a unique Beatle listening experience:
Thanks to Robert and Richard for reminding us about this one. Make sure you check out their terrific Something About the Beatles Holiday Show.
See also A Guide to the Beatles Christmas Recordings.
And here’s wishing a very happy Christmas to Beatle people everywhere!
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had an interest in the homes of the Beatles. Not a snooping, voyeuristic interest – but more of an architectural one because they (especially John and George) have lived in some very interesting buildings over the years.
That’s why our interest was sparked when we got a press release this week from a company called The Campfire Network advertising a new book. In coordination with “Ye Friends of Friar Park,” Campfire has just announced the publication of the second book in a series which celebrates the history and architecture of residences which at some point were homes of one or more of the Beatles. (Their first book in the series was The Dakota Scrapbook, published last year).
Now comes Friar Park: A Pictorial History, a collection of vintage, rare, and original photographs and illustrations telling the story of George Harrison’s spectacular and unusual home – Friar Park – from the time Sir Frank Crisp began purchasing land in the medieval town of Henley-on-Thames in the late 1800s, all the way to the time it was purchased by Harrison.
Carefully selected images offer a rare and unique glimpse of the property’s extraordinary gardens, mansion home, lodges, and assorted structures, lakes, and secret underground caves, as well as other architectural and horticultural treasures and wonders on the grounds of Friar Park. Here are some of the pages and images from the book:
Campfire’s Marketing Director Kelly Cardinal says: “Beatles fans, architects, historians, and anyone interested in grand homes and beautiful gardens have long-admired Friar Park from afar, with little more than the occasional description or photos that have appeared here and there. Now, for the first time, is a publication that includes the largest collection of photos and information about Friar Park that has ever been gathered together in one place before. It has generated quite a bit of excitement.”
The pictures and information in the book were found during the development of a forthcoming film documentary about the home.
Friar Park: A Pictorial History is now available from Amazon, as is a companion volume called Friar Park: 1919 Estate Auction Catalogue, a recreation of the official auction catalogue for the house when it was sold following the passing of original owner Sir Frank Crisp. Upon his death his family instructed auctioneers to sell the entire estate, including all the grounds, the boathouse on Henley-on-Thames, and three grand residential sites. The sale took place on Saturday, August 9th, 1919 and this book is a scholastic and educational study of an architecturally and historically significant English country house.
If you are interested in this sort of thing, “The Story of Tittenhurst Park” – the English stately home owned by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, will be released in 2015.
And the same company has also published The Dakota Apartments: Vintage Articles.
(Each of the links above are to Amazon pages with a “Look Inside” function so that you can have a bit more of a sticky beak at these very interesting books).
There are also two YouTube clips promoting Friar Park: A Pictorial History. This one is interesting – lots of photos and page shots from the book. Then there’s this one – much more dramatic!:
For your holiday reading pleasure Vanity Fair magazine has just published “a guide to the strange, little-known, hard-to-find Beatles Christmas recordings“. 
Another visit to Audiomania, the eclectic second-hand record store not far from our local area, and another Ringo Starr record find….
Audiomania is a quirky shop located in a run-down, semi-industrial area. It only opens two days a week (Thursdays and Saturdays), and then for only four hours at a time. One side of the premises contains blue crates full of good quality vinyl (pop, rock, and blues, as well as lots of jazz and reggae). On the other side they sell used hi-fi, restored motor cycles….and artworks made out of old motorcycle and hi fi parts.
Like we said, it’s an unusual place:
After a thorough trawl here last Saturday we ended up with two items.
The first find was a nice clean German pressing of Ringo Starr’s 1970 solo release Beaucoups of Blues. This one is on the Hörzu/Apple label, making it quite interesting:
Starting in the 1960s Hörzu (principally a radio and TV listing magazine) began producing and releasing records as a subsidiary of the Electrola company. Electrola had the rights to release EMI product (including the Beatles) in Germany.
Like we said in the previous post, we seem to moving from not having much Ringo as a solo artist on vinyl to now having quite a few of his releases.
Vinyl is the specialty of Audiomania, but while at the store we found a couple of small crates with some CDs. In there we turned up an original 1986 UK copy of Paul McCartney’s Press to Play: 
This is the disc without the bonus tracks (which were added for the 1993 re-issues called The Paul McCartney Collection). The lovely lady who runs the store gave this one to us for free!
An auction has just concluded on eBay. It was for a very rare, early Beatle 45rpm vinyl single. 
This is a UK demonstration/promo 45 of their debut single ‘Love Me Do’/’Please Please Me’.
According to the listing, just 250 copies were pressed for distribution to radio DJs & reviewers prior to its October, 1962 release. Only a handful survive today.
The thing which distinguishes it is the white label with the large red ‘A’ on the ‘Love Me Do’ side. Both labels also have the ‘DEMONSTRATION RECORD – NOT FOR SALE’ wording, and ‘The Parlophone Co. Ltd..’ around the rims. Paul McCartney’s songwriting credit on both sides is misspelt as ‘McArtney’.
Listed by a Greek eBayer, the record sold for a sensational US$12,100.00 (A$14,699).
We have a lot of Russian readers and so it’s appropriate to mention what looks like a very comprehensive, two-volume Beatles book published recently in Russia.
Earlier this year Vladimir Bokarev and Yury Mitrofanov released the two-volume book called ИСТОРИЯ “БИТЛЗ” В СССР (1964-1970 гг). That translates as The History of the Beatles in the USSR (1964-1970). Here’s the cover of Volume One:
And here’s Volume Two:
These publications form a forensic, historical research of the Beatles as a phenomenon in Soviet society. Through examining numerous historical sources the authors show the evolution and rise of the popularity of the Beatles in the Soviet press, Beatle art in the Soviet Union (for example through their records, printed music, lyrics and translations, concert performances by other artists, films, etc.), and the influence of the Beatles on Soviet youth.
Record images and other items shown in the books come from the collections of Andrey Lukanin (Russia), and Vadim Legkokonets (Ukraine). As well there’s a wealth of information provided from these two great websites:
http://www.beatlesvinyl.com.ua/
http://beatlespress.com.ua/
To order this set of two books (published only in Russian) write to beatera@yandex.ru
The authors plan to continue the work and publish a further book on the same theme – but about the years 1971-1980.
We happened upon a new series of Australian radio programs featuring the Beatles last night. A popular presenter called Rod Quinn hosts a national overnight radio show on the ABC (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
As each Beatle album marks its 50th anniversary Quinn has been speaking to US Lennon biographer (and Beatle expert) Jude Southerland Kessler. Jude is author of the extraordinary and ambitious nine-volume John Lennon series – a narrative biography she is presently writing. The latest instalment in her series is Volume 3: She Loves You.
Well, last night here in Australia the pair looked at the band’s fourth studio album Beatles For Sale, released on December 4, 1964: 
As you’ll hear in the podcast, Jude Sutherland Kessler brings unique insights to this famous fourth Beatle album by examining its song selections, running order, lyrics – and even the way the Beatles are portrayed in the LP’s UK cover images. You can click on the links in this post to hear a podcast of the original ABC Radio broadcast.
Previous broadcasts have covered Please Please Me; With the Beatles and A Hard Day’s Night, each also well worth a listen.
Incidentally, the album looked quite different here in Australia having a cover unique to this market, but with the same LP inside:
Our copy of the recent Record Store Day Black Friday Beatle EP release has finally arrived. Copies were not brought into Australia, and so an overseas purchase was required.
This is a limited edition, and (like the recent Mono LP re-issues) faithfully reproduces the original British release, down to the labels and the old-fashioned tabbed rear cover:
And here’s a close-up of that sticker on the front:
For some time now we’ve been running a series on the Beatles photographed or filmed holding records or CDs – either their own, or those of the artists they were listening to.
You can view the past twenty five instalments here.
Quite independently a video maker on the other side of the world from us had an idea for something similar – and we have been in touch over the past couple of months. He goes by the name Billy Shears and he can be found on YouTube at The Sgt Pepper Channel.
Billy has just uploaded a fantastic video compilation of absolutely everything he can find of The Beatles With Records. It shows many of the photographs featured on our site, but also a LOT more. It’s very cleverly done as the images flow together and emerge in themes. Really well worth a look!
We just received an email from paulmccartney.com letting us know that the extended EP of Paul McCartney’s ‘Hope for the Future‘ is now available for download from iTunes.
There will also be a physical release in the form of a 12″ vinyl single. No track listings for that are available as yet, but it will come out on January 12 in the UK, and January 13 in the US.
Spincds.com in the UK and the Amazon US store have place-holders for the vinyl release and it can be pre-ordered now.
And there’s an official video to accompany the song where a holographic Paul McCartney sings the song in the world of Destiny:
Also check out this exclusive in Wired magazine.
Beatles Blog 