Tag Archives: Apple Records

Ravi Shankar – “Raga” Reissue

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Amidst all the anticipation around the huge Apple Records reissue program (scheduled for October 25), and the new George Harrison/Ravi Shankar “Collaborations” release (scheduled for October 19), there’s also further news about another previous Apple release called “Raga” (which is not part of the current official Apple Records reissue series).

Quite separately Ravi Shankar’s East Meets West company is re-issuing “Raga: A Film Journey Into the Soul of India”, a 1971 film about Shankar’s life and music, which features appearances by George Harrison.

The soundtrack is a former Apple vinyl title – but it won’t be part of the latest 16-title Apple CD reissues program.

The new artwork for "Raga", the soundtrack to the film of the same name - originally released by Apple Records

Both the DVD and a soundtrack (available as a digital download) are coming out on October 14, released on the East Meets West label:

Cover for the DVD release of the film

Further details about the DVD and the soundtrack (which will be available free via a digital download card with the purchase of the DVD, or which can be  downloaded separately at all digital retailers) can be found here. There’s also a high quality YouTube sample from the film as well:

Everything Old Is New Again at Apple

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At Apple Records they sure do know how to re-use and re-cycle.

Just discovered that the  cover image they are using for the “Come and Get It – The Best of Apple Records” CD (to be released on October 25th) featuring selections (plus some rarities) from the entire Apple Records artist catalogue, has been used before.

When Apple had its original vinyl series of reissues starting way back in 1991 they issued an EP (that’s a four song, vinyl single which plays at 45rpm for those of you not familiar with early vinyl releases!) with exactly the same artwork:

From way back in 1991.....

The EP contains:

1. Those Were The Days – Mary Hopkin                                                                       

 2. That’s The Way God Planned It – Billy Preston                                                        

 3. Sour Milk Sea – Jackie Lomax                                                                                     

4. Come And Get It – Badfinger

Compare that cover to the about to be released CD:

From 2010.....

There’s no reason to re-invent the wheel I guess…..

More on those original Apple Records vinyl re-issues from the early 1990’s shortly.

 

Two Apple Box Sets Coming

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Steve Marinucci in his excellent Beatles Examiner column reports that both the Beatles “Red” and “Blue” plus the extensive Apple Records artists reissues will be available as box sets.

Called “The Beatles 1962 – 1970”, the box set containing the Red “1962-1966” and the Blue “1967-1970” will look like this:

Red and Blue Box Set front cover

Of course inside will be these two double disc sets:

The Red "1962-1966"

The Blue "1966-1970"

The initial information on these releases remains the same – they will be available as individual discs on October 18 (in the UK) and October 19 (in the US). The box set however is listed by Amazon UK for a November 29 release.

Meanwhile, the big Apple artists reissues also planned for October are to be gathered together in box set for those who would like to buy the complete set. The big news here is that the box will contain not only the “Come and Get It – Best Of” disc with its rarities, but also two additional discs featuring the additional and rare tracks that would have only been available as digital downloads – so, 17 CD’s in all. For collectors like me this makes this release a lot more interesting because I still like to have the physical disc in my hands, complete with the liners notes, photographs and artwork rather than the nebulous digitally downloaded audio….

The box set cover will look like this:

Steve Marinucci has a nice slide show of the box and all the discs it will contain.

The one problem I have with all this is that the Beatles and Apple have allowed such a large amount of collectable product to pile up all at the same time. Between now and November we’ll have George Harrrison’s “Collaborations”; John Lennon’s multiple “Gimme Some Truth” releases; Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run” in multiple versions; The Beatles “Red” and “Blue”; and all the Apple re-issues. This makes it incredibly difficult if not impossible for most avid collectors to afford all at once.

Thanks to Beatles Examiner for this information.

Rolling Stone Magazine Names Its Top 100 Beatles Songs

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I’m a bit late catching up on this one as news first came out about it at the end of August, but it’s probably only just hitting news stands near you now – depending on where you live…

In a special Collectors Edition, Rolling Stone magazine has named its Top 100 Beatles songs of all time. (Apparently its the first time they’ve done this). News of the the special edition came out in the US on August 26.

The press release reads:

ROLLING STONE RELEASES “THE BEATLES 100 GREATEST SONGS”

“New York, NY – August 26, 2010 – Rolling Stone released its first-ever list of the 100 greatest Beatles songs as part of a special interest publication that coincides with the 40th anniversary of the Beatle’s final album, Let It Be, and the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Topping the list, as ranked by the editors of Rolling Stone, is “A Day in the Life,” followed by “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Following an introduction by Elvis Costello, the book features the stories behind each song, dozens of photos, an index of the complete list, and a breakdown of the numbers, including the years with the most songs (1965 and 1966 each had 17), the shortest song (“Her Majesty,” 23 seconds) and the song that spent the longest time at number one on the charts (“Hey Jude,” 9 weeks).

The book also includes special sections with lists of Lennon and Paul McCartney’s five favorite songs, the top guitar and drumming moments of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively, and the best Beatles cover songs.” (ends)

The magazine has created a really nice page detailing their Top Ten songs – including some great photographs too.

See also the different Australian cover.

Apple Records “Come and Get It” Cover Revealed

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The CD cover art for the soon-to-be-released “Come and Get It: The Best Of Apple Records” has been published by Amazon:

The tracklist for “Come And Get It” is as follows:

1 Those Were The Days / Mary Hopkin

2 Carolina In My Mind / James Taylor

3 Maybe Tomorrow / The Iveys

4 Thingumybob / The Black Dyke Mills Band (Paul McCartney’s theme tune for a 1968 British TV comedy drama series)

5 King Of Fuh / Brute Force (originally banned back in 1969, Brute Force is a New York songwriter championed by John Lennon and George Harrison)

6 Sour Milk Sea / Jackie Lomax

7 Goodbye / Mary Hopkin

8 That’s The Way God Planned It / Billy Preston

9 New Day / Jackie Lomax (an original non-album Lomax 45 that was co-produced with Mal Evans)

10 Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight / Trash (a heavy Scottish group that came to Apple via their producer, former Shadows drummer Tony Meehan)

11 Give Peace A Chance / Hot Chocolate Band (a reggae version by the band that became hugely popular in the Seventies)

12 Come And Get It / Badfinger

13 Ain’t That Cute / Doris Troy

14 My Sweet Lord / Billy Preston

15 Try Some Buy Some / Ronnie Spector (one-time Ronette and former wife of legendary producer Phil Spector)

16 Govinda / Radha Krishna Temple (a UK Top 30 hit for the Radha Krishna Temple in 1970 produced by George Harrison)

17 We’re On Our Way / Chris Hodge (a young British pop singer who caught the attention of Ringo Starr)

18 Saturday Nite Special / The Sundown Playboys (a Cajun French collective from Louisiana, USA)

19 God Save Us / Bill Elliot & The Elastic Oz Band (John and Yoko wrote this fundraiser for the defence in the famous Oz Obscenity Trial of 1971)

20 Sweet Music / Lon & Derrek van Eaton

21 Day After Day / Badfinger

Amazon is listing an October 5 release date.

105 Days with the Beatles

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This isn’t new – it comes from back in December last year but I’ve only just discovered it and thought its worth passing on because it’s kind of interesting.

Its an interview on the Australian EMI site with Richard Lush – who worked at EMI during the 60’s as second engineer to Geoff Emerick recording the Beatles. As he says in a great quote from the article:”….I did 105 sessions; 105 days I walked across Abbey Road and went to work for the Beatles….”.  Not many people can make that claim.

“I was 18 years old and I had been there for 6 months. Before I started on “Revolver”, when we did “A Day in the Life”… Geoff and I, Geoff was 2 years older then me… Geoff would have been 20 and I was 18. I remember us in the control room joking to one another… isn’t amazing…they are actually trusting us… (We laughed)”

“People often ask me: “What’s the worst thing about working for the Beatles?” And I always said… The fact that they would always start late. Most bands in those days started in the morning (10am) but they would start around 2pm. So you would show up just before 2… There would be no fans, no screaming girls, so you knew they had not arrived yet. Then George Martin would show up about 4 o’clock, we would set up, still be waiting, and then the Beatles would roll in about 7 or 8pm and go to about 8 in the morning……I worked on “Pepper”, did a track on “Revolver”, about half   “The White Album”, some of “Magical Mystery Tour”.”

Anyway, check out the interview in full – its worth a read.

If you want to see Richard Lush in the studio here’s a short clip of him examining the piano and drum parts for the John Lennon track “God”, from his solo album Plastic Ono Band. This was part of the great “Classic Albums” video series:

Mojo Magazine – McCartney Cover Story

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This month’s Mojo magazine features a front cover and a 23-page Beatles and Paul McCartney special:

On the Beatles front, journalist Jon Savage examines “Let It Be” , and Mark Paytress returns to the corridors of Apple Corps. And there’s a free CD on the cover called “Let It Be Revisited” – the Beatles’ final album from 1970 re-interpreted by the likes of Beth Orton (“I Me Mine” and “Dig It”), Phosphorescent, Judy Collins, Wilko Johnson, Pete Molinari, and Australia’s C.W. Stoneking among others:

The free CD (it comes with the magazine) is also available for separate purchase as a limited edition vinyl LP.

On the McCartney front, the magazine asks “What to do after The Beatles?”.  For Paul McCartney it meant boozing, battling, then rebuilding and rediscovery in the playful freedom of Wings and the arms of Linda. “I survived,” he tells Tom Doyle.

There is also an essay called “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” by Danny Eccleston, looking at “Ram”, the second solo outing by Paul. He writes: “Ram is different. Side one, especially, has much of the intimacy of McCartney, the impression of one man gluing something together before your very eyes. Sometimes – it’s there in opener Too Many People‘s haunting, weird distance and tangled jangling outro – it makes you think of Beck, or more recent American bedroom psych.”

All Things Must Pass – Variations and Collectors Items

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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:

atmp-us-cover1

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”.

Harrison/Shankar – “Collaborations” Announced

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And so, the ever-growing list of forthcoming releases swells with yet another interesting title….

George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records has just announced a new box-set package called “Collaborations”. And yes, it too is coming in October.

From the official press release:

Dark Horse Records announced today the October 19th release of a limited edition deluxe box set, entitled “RAVI SHANKAR GEORGE HARRISON – COLLABORATIONS“. The release honors the sitar master’s 90th birthday.

“Collaborations” is a 3 CD and 1 DVD uniquely numbered limited edition box set. All compositions were composed by Ravi Shankar and produced by George Harrison over a period of 20 years.

The DVD is a rare concert performance of the Ravi Shankar’s “Music Festival From India”, recorded at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1974. The albums include the acclaimed “Chants Of India” (1997), “The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India” (studio version 1976), and “Shankar Family & Friends” (1974). The 56-page book includes a foreword by Philip Glass, a history of George and Ravi “in their own words”, and rare photographs from both family archives.

"Chants of India" - original cover (1997)

"Music Festival from India" - original cover (1976)

"Shankar Family and Friends" - original cover (1974)

The official website has the full press release. Steve Marinucci has details in his Examiner column, and Wog Blog also has information on his site.

I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time that “The Ravi Shankar Music Festival From India” and “Shankar Family & Friends” have been issued on CD.

Speaking of Ravi Shankar, the master sitar player (who had such an influence on George Harrison and the Beatles) has embarked on a huge archival project of his own – with a series of discs being released on his East Meets West label.

The first in the series is a single disc CD titled “Nine Decades, Vol. 1: 1967-1968”:

"Nine Decades" - out now

The next release in the series will be the soundtrack to the movie “Raga” – which was originally issued on Apple Records in 1971 and features George Harrison. Details about the release schedule so far is here, and it looks like the “Raga” release will be a CD and DVD double which is good.

"Raga" - original cover (1971)

“Raga” is due in the “American fall” – which is a bit vague but I guess that could mean yet another October release?

October is going to be one very expensive month for us die-hard, complete-ist collectors. We’ll have to put out hands in pockets for the 70th birthdate Lennon “Gimme Some Truth” material; the remastered Apple Records catalogue; the Shankar/Harrison “Collaborations”, and “Raga” now as well. That’s not to mention “Band on the Run”, the first of the Paul McCartney re-issues on Concord Records that is due sometime in August…..

Beatles “Red” and “Blue” to be Remastered and Re-Issued

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Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music have announced that The Beatles original 1973 compilations, “1962-1966” (‘Red’) and “1967-1970” (‘Blue’) have been digitally remastered for worldwide CD release on October 18 (October 19 in the USA).

Both will be 2CD packages and each will include expanded booklets with original liner notes, newly written essays by Bill Flanagan, and rare photos. However, in typical EMI/Apple fashion they will not have contain any bonus material, nor any bonus DVD discs 😦

Its the same team at Abbey Road Studios responsible for remastering The Beatles original studio albums remasters in stereo and mono last year who have carefully maintained the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings of the “Red” and “Blue” albums. The result will be the highest fidelity versions the catalogue has seen since its original 1973 release.

See the official Beatles news site (now with cover art) here, and the EMI Music press release here.