Tag Archives: A Hard Days Night

The Beatles ‘Hard Day’s Night’ Mystery Chord Revealed

Posted on by
Reply

Sum of All Parts is an ABC Radio podcast here in Australia.

The show recently examined (from a mathematical perspective!) the famous opening chord of The Beatles’ song, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’:

The podcast episode is called ‘The Magical Mystery Chord’.

Using the research and insights of mathematician and Beatle fan Professor Jason I. Brown, and personal experiences at Abbey Road Studios by Canadian musician Randy Bachman, the podcast un-picks just how The Beatles (with producer George Martin) achieved a chord that has tantalised musicians now for over fifty years…..

There is also a very short Sum of All Parts “bonus” episode, ‘Slow Down, George Solo-son’. Also well worth a listen.

A Hard Day’s Night – On the Big Screen Across Australia

Posted on by
1

An image of The Beatles forms the centrepiece for all this year’s advertising for the 2014 British Film Festival. The festival will be held in Australia between November 5 – 26.

That’s because the film A Hard Day’s Night is to be shown at big screen cinemas right across the country as part of the festival activities:

The long rich history of British cinema is represented in the festival’s ‘Six From The 60s’ retrospective, with six standout films from the era including a digitally restored, 50th anniversary print of Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night – a day in the life of The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania.

Check out the location and time listings for when AHDN is coming to a big screen near you.

Australian A Hard Day’s Night – BluRay and DVD

Posted on by
5

Finally got hold of an Australian, two-disc, BluRay/DVD edition of the 50th anniversary release of A Hard Day’s Night.

Not much to show really. We here in “Region B” get a low-cost, very basic set in a standard BluRay blue plastic box….not even a booklet or insert inside:

AHDN frontAHDN rearAHDN BluRay1AHDN DVD1The BluRay special features are The Beatles: The Road to A Hard Day’s Night – An Interview with author Mark Lewisohn; In their Own Voices – The Beatles on A Hard Day’s Night; Anotomy of a Style – a piece on Richard Lester’s methods; Picturwise – A featurette on Richard Lester; Audio Commentary – by the cast and crew; and a new trailer for the film.

The DVD adds: You Can’t Do That! – the making of AHDN; The Running Jumping Standing Still Film – Richard Lester’s 1960 short film; Things They Said Today – a 2002 documentary; Audio Commentary – by the cast and crew; and the new trailer for the film.

In Australia the film is distributed by Umbrella Entertainment.

A Hard Day’s Night Already Available At US iTunes Store

Posted on by
4

The new 4K digital restoration on BluRay and DVD of the Beatles film  A Hard Day’s Night, approved by director Richard Lester and with 5.1 surround mix supervised by Giles Martin at Abbey Road Studios, is not officially out in the US until June 24.

And it’ll be July 21 until you can buy it on disc in the UK….

But AHDN is already up and available to buy or rent right now at the US iTunes store (click on image to see full size):HDN iTunes US Store

The key part of the page is here. All you need is a US iTunes account:

HDN iTunes US StoreInterestingly when the film is released in hard copy it will have different covers for the US and European markets. It will also have different special features included for each version too – see Wog Blogs post on this here.

US A Hard Day's NightUK 2014 Hard Days Night

If the image quality seen in the official trailer is anything to go by this newly restored version will be well worth getting:

 

A Hard Day’s Night Re-Issue Coming Soon

Posted on by
Reply

http://www.criterion.com/films/28547-a-hard-day-s-night

Criterion Films have announced a new re-issue of the Beatles A Hard Day’s Night film. It will have a new cover:Hard Days Night coverHard Days Nigh Rear cover

And will come in two versions – a DVD only, and a “dual-format” 3 disc box set edition which combines DVD and BluRay versions. What you’ll get is:

  • A new 4K digital film restoration, approved by director Richard Lester, with two audio options—a monaural soundtrack and a new 5.1 surround soundtrack made by Apple Records (which Giles Martin worked on) — presented in uncompressed monaural DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray (dual-format only)
  • Audio commentary featuring various members of the film’s cast and crew (dual-format only)
  • In Their Own Voices, a new piece combining interviews with the Beatles from 1964 with behind-the-scenes footage and photos
  • You Can’t Do That: The Making of “A Hard Day’s Night,” a 1994 documentary program by producer Walter Shenson
  • Things They Said Today, a 2002 documentary about the film featuring Lester, music producer George Martin, writer Alun Owen, cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, and others (dual-format only)
  • New piece about Lester’s early work, featuring a new audio interview with the director (dual-format only)
  • The Running Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959), Lester’s Oscar-nominated short featuring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan (dual-format only)
  • Anatomy of a Style, a new piece on Lester’s approach to editing (dual-format only)
  • New interview with Mark Lewisohn, author of Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years—Volume One (dual-format only)
  • Deleted scene (dual-format only)
  • Trailers
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Howard Hampton
  • The film will be in a 1:75:1 aspect ratio, which is how it was originally shown in movie theatres in 1964
  • The re-issue is due for release on June 24

Record Store Day Celebrated with a Record Fair

Posted on by
4

Happy Record Store Day 2012.

And what better way to celebrate in Sydney, Australia than with a huge record fair in the inner-city suburb of Glebe:

Many of the city’s best new and second-hand record stores and dealers were well represented:

As you can see it was very well attended and there was a sense of frenzy in the air as collectors streamed in throughout the day to try to find the best bargains – and those elusive collectors items. There was plenty of Beatles material on offer:

I was able to pick up a couple of Beatles and Beatles-related items I’d been hankering after for some time plus, just as I was leaving, this unexpected little gem:

It’s an original paperback novel based on the original screenplay for the Beatles first motion picture “A Hard Day’s Night”. It is an Australian edition, printed in 1964 and it is in pretty good condition considering it’s almost fifty years old. Inside the pages are fairly yellowed by the years, but the spine is almost perfectly intact. As well as the central storyline of “A Hard Day’s Night” told as a novel there are eight pages of photographs taken during the filming of the movie:

It’s interesting to note (on both the front and rear covers) that when it first came out the book would have cost fans  4/6 (that’s four Shillings and Sixpence) to buy. Back then that was about 46 cents.

The next two blog posts will be about the other items I discovered. Stay tuned.