Tag Archives: Australia

More Auction Buys – Dark Horse Singles

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As mentioned in December, we made some successful bids on a big Beatle and Beatle-related auction here in Sydney, Australia.

The other successful bid was on an auction lot made up of quite hard-to-find, original Australian (plus one quite rare New Zealand) Dark Horse Records singles. These are all 45’s you very rarely come across in the wild, so they’re welcome additions to the collection.

They each come in their original generic company outer sleeves too – in this case from Festival Records, which had the manufacturing and distribution rights for A&M Records (Dark Horse Records‘ parent company).

The first, which will be reasonably well-known to most, is from the George Harrison protégés Splinter. Their song ‘Costafine Town’ is lifted from the 1974 Dark Horse debut LP, The Place I Love. Harrison produced all the songs and played a variety of instruments, including electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, bass, and harmonium:

Next up another Splinter single, this time from 1975, called ‘Which Way Will I Get Home’ taken from the band’s second LP, Harder To Live produced by Tom Scott:

And there’s one other Splinter single from the Harder To Live LP, called ‘Half Way There’:

Also in this auction lot was a single from Shankar Family & Friends. It is of course ‘I Am Missing You’, taken from their self-titled 1974 LP, produced and arranged by George Harrison:

Jiva was a Los Angeles band signed to Dark Horse that released only one album with the label in 1975. From that self-titled album came this single. They had a nice funk/soft rock sound, but never made into the charts:

Attitudes was a bit of an L.A. super group consisting of killer keyboardist David Foster, brilliant guitarist Danny Kortchmar, bassist Paul Stallworth, and Jim Keltner on drums. They were all top flight session players who went onto play with just about everybody. In fact a very young David Foster met Jim Keltner while playing on George Harrison’s Extra Texture. Attitudes released two LPs on the Dark Horse label and this first single comes from their self-titled 1975 debut release:

This second single ‘Sweet Summer Music’ was included on Attitudes’ second album, from 1977, called Good News:

In this auction lot there was also an unusual New Zealand pressing of ‘Sweet Summer Music’ on the Dark Horse label but distributed there by WEA (i.e. Warner Bros. – hence the different company sleeve and small print on the labels). The label also contains a mistake as it incorrectly states under the title “from The Dark Horse Album “Attitudes” DH 3021″. It should say “from The Dark Horse Album “Good News” DH 3021″

If you want a bit more information on the Dark Horse label check out this article on the official George Harrison site.

Sixty Years Since The Beatles Toured Australia and New Zealand

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Here in Australia over the last week or so there’s been a lot of fond reminiscences of the time, sixty years ago now, that The Beatles came to this country.

Australia’s national broadcaster the ABC (kind of like the BBC in the UK) has just played a terrific hour-long documentary on The Music Show that is really worth a listen:

Click on the image above to stream. Or you can listen here:

One of the key guests on the show is Greg Armstrong, co-author with Andy Neill of a comprehensive new book all about the tour called When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964.

Greg is a Melbourne-born and based radio presenter, researcher and Beatle historian. He is a co-presenter on Australia’s Let It Be Beatles, the world’s longest-running radio show dedicated to the Beatles, on Melbourne’s WynFM. The show is now in its 31st continuous year, having broadcast over 1,400 episodes. Andy Neill is a UK-based music writer, researcher and historian, born in New Zealand. Alongside several other music biography books, he compiled and annotated Across The Universe: The Beatles on Tour and on Stage (2009) and Looking Through You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from the Beatles Book Monthly Archive (2015).

Their book is amazingly researched with a wealth of photos, memorabilia, stories and information. You can get a taste of what’s inside here.

When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 is published by Woodslane Press.

Paul McCartney is Coming to Australia

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Great news overnight, especially if you live Down Under.

Paul McCartney and Frontier Touring have announced that the living legend is headed this way in October and November for a series of six concerts. For those of our readers who may not know Australia that well, one interesting thing about this announcement is that the tour takes in two regional centres that are not capital cities: Newcastle in the state of New South Wales, and the Gold Coast in Queensland.

McCartney took to social media with this slightly longer video filmed at The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts, of which he is lead patron:

Also, as part of the publicity for the tour McCartney granted a lengthy interview to the Aussie podcast Behind The Hits, hosted by Dave Gleeson. In it he speaks about the Australian tour plus a whole lot more. It’s worth a listen:

Then Paul followed up with a TV interview on one of Australia’s leading news and current affairs shows, ABC 7.30. Here’s the version that went to air. He’s speaking with host Sarah Fergusson:

Or, if you prefer, the extended version of the interview:

A new Aussie Beatle Connection – Vintage Abbey Road Studio Mixing Console

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It’s not often we get to bring you news relating to The Beatles directly from here (down under in Australia) – but there is some today.

It’s been announced that an original REDD.17 mixing console, used to record and mix music at the famous Abbey Road Studios studios in London, is now the centrepiece of a brand new new recording studio at the amazing Museum of New and Old Art (MONA) located just outside Hobart, Tasmania.

The vintage console, one of only four ever built, was one of those used to mix several Beatle albums. It is now part of Frying Pan Studios on the grounds of the museum, and has become the first working recording studio housed by a museum in Australia.

The console was purchased back in 2014 by Australian businessman David Roper. He started discussions with MONA’s artistic director of music (and Violent Femmes bassist) Brian Ritchie about the studio-in-a-museum idea. They took it to flamboyant MONA founder David Walsh who liked the concept and funded the creation of Frying Pan Studios, so named because it sits opposite Frying Pan Island right next to the museum and the beautiful Derwent River.

Frying Pan is a working studio and so it’s bookable facility. You can find more details here. Maybe you’d like to record your own album using the very same mixing desk that John, Paul, George and Ringo used!

You can also visit the studio as part of your ticketed entry into MONA and, if you time it right, actually see musicians at work. It does look like an incredible place to work and create:

Frying Pan Studios have built a great interactive website that gives you more on the history, the facilities, and the amazing location.

You can also check out this article from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) for more.

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

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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

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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.

Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part Five

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The latest instalment in the Australian Beatles celebrations this month is the creation of a week-long “pop-up” digital radio station called The Beatles in Australia on ABC Extra.

Run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the special Beatles station goes to air from 8.00am (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on Tuesday, June 17. It will run 24/7 until midnight on Tuesday, June 24.

Here’s a radio promo for the station:

You can listen in three ways. If you live in an Australian capital city and have a digital radio go the the ABC Extra channel. If you don’t have a digital radio, don’t worry – the station will be streamed live online (from next Tuesday) on the ABC Extra site. And the special programs can be accessed on your mobile device using the ABC Radio app. You can get that app here.

And here’s the official press release:

The Beatles arrive at Sydney airport in torrential rain on June 11, 1964. With them is stand-in drummer Jimmie Nicol.

The Beatles arrive at Sydney airport in torrential rain on June 11, 1964. With them is stand-in drummer Jimmie Nicol. (Image: ABC)

 THE BEATLES IN AUSTRALIA on ABC EXTRA

13 June 2014

ABC Radio is set to launch a pop-up radio station celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles concert tour of Australia in June 1964. The Beatles in Australia on ABC Extra will run from 8:00AM on Tuesday 17 June for one week. It will be available via mobile on the ABC Radio App, online and on digital radio.

The station will feature a series of specially made programs, programs from the ABC Radio archive and the music from 1964, including:

  • Hindsight from RN: This program charts the story of the Beatles down-under, with contributions from some of the people who helped to orchestrate the visit, as well as social historians, fans and detractors of the Beatlemania phenomenon which swept Australia. The version of the Beatles that Australia saw in 1964, with their mop top haircuts, and neat black suits, marked the arrival of the manufactured boy band. But did they also spark the beginning of an overdue generational and social shift in this country?
  • The Beatles In Australia Exhibition: Rod Quinn from ABC Local Radio visits the exhibition curated by Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum (currently on display at the Melbourne Arts Centre).
  • The Importance of The Ed Sullivan Show: Rod Quinn from ABC Local Radio interviews Beatles historian, Ken Womack about why the appearance by The Beatles on the popular American variety show helped feed into the high expectations surrounding the arrival of the Beatles in Australia in June 1964.
  • The Story of Jimmie Nicol: Ringo Starr became ill just prior to the Australian tour of 1964 and was replaced by Jimmie Nicol. What effect did those 13 days and ten live shows (four of them in Australia) have on him? And what happened to Jimmie Nicol as a result? That’s the subject of a new book by author and Beatle historian Jim Berkenstadt.
  • The Beatles Story: An official Capitol Records documentary from 1964 on the rise of the Beatles.
  • The music: Their one and only concert tour of Australia was characterised by thirty-minute concerts comprising only 10 songs: I Saw Her Standing There, I Want To Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can’t Buy me Love, This Boy, Twist and Shout and Long Tall Sally. Hear all these, plus many more.

 Broadcast time:

  • 8:00AM, Tuesday 17 June to 8:00PM, Tuesday 24 June

Listen:

For more information please visit the ABC Extra homepage.

See also: The Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four.

And for an earlier post on the the subject see: The Beatles in Australia

Previously Unheard Beatle Interview Published In Full for the First Time

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Beatles fans are today able to hear, for the first time ever, the unedited version of an interview that John, George and Ringo gave to Melbourne radio personality Binny Lum ahead of their Australian tour in April, 1964.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) has just published the 16-minute conversation to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ Australian tour on 11 June. Edited versions have been broadcast and included on special discs over the years, but the interview in full has never previously been released.Binny Lum with the Beatles

NFSA Radio curator Maryanne Doyle said: ‘The Beatles were at the height of their popularity and it was a real coup that an Australian radio personality, unknown in the UK, had managed to secure an interview with the English rock band, the hottest property in show business. The fact that this occurred says as much for Lum’s tenacity as her well connected network of contacts.’

The interview and a full transcript is now available on the NFSA’s SoundCloud channel.

You can read the NFSA’s official press release here.

Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part Four

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This is interesting and well worth a listen. During the the Beatles 1964 tour, radio journalist Ian Nicholls interviewed John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Jimmie Nicol when they visited Melbourne:Beatles and Ian Nicholls

See also The Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part Three

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In anticipation – this coming week – of the 50th anniversary the Beatles first set foot in Australia, the local press has begun publishing a number of articles today.

The Sydney Morning Herald is carrying two pieces – this one about the fans:SMH Beatles-1SMH Beatles2

And this feature piece (which also appears in the Melbourne Age newspaper) about the continuing influence of the Beatles on some of the leading Australian musicians of today:SMH and Age Beatles3

Meanwhile, The Australian newspaper has a comprehensive review of the ABC TV special which goes to air at 8.30pm (Australian Eastern Time) next Tuesday, June 10:The Australian BeatlesSee also Beatles Australian 50th Anniversary Celebrations Are Hotting Up – Part One and Part Two.