It didn’t last long. Some helpful readers pointed out we’d left out Ringo’sStop & Smell The Roses – the numbered, liquid vinyl edition – limited to 400 copies.
And the other Ringo Starr was a red vinyl re-issue of his 14th studio album, Choose Love from 2005. This had first been slated for Record Store Day Black Friday, but was quietly removed from official lists prior to the day. It’s popped up again on the Friday Music site, this time with a late January 2026 release date (though knowing Friday Music that is extremely likely to change):
Then Dark Horse Records announced it would be issuing a further title from the Yusuf/Cat Stevens back catalogue that the label now has the rights to. It’s called Tell ‘Em I’m Gone and it will be on yellow vinyl:
So, each of these were duly added into a revised graphic and we were just about to re-publish when last Friday came news of yet another collectable, this time linked to the Beatles’Anthology re-issue – and in particular Anthology 4. On it are the 2025 re-mixes of ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ and they are now being released as a limited edition, double A-side 7″ translucent milk white vinyl single. This is the 2025 mix of both songs.
There’s been no indication of a CD version of the single being made available (except for Japan where there’s been an exclusive Japan-only CD announced). Nor has there been any talk of updated versions of the ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ EPs (or “maxi-singles”) which were originally released to accompany Volumes 1 and 2 of Anthology back in 1995 and 1996. That means all of the extra tracks on those EPs will remain unavailable, with the exception of the song ‘This Boy’, which has been added to the Anthology Volume 4 discs.
The ‘Free As A Bird’ (2025 Mix)/’Real Love’ (2025 Mix) 7″ coloured vinyl single is only available from Beatles official stores (e.g. in the UK or the US), or from certain Universal Music online stores (eg. this one in Germany).
So, it has been a most busy time for any Beatle collector who is a completist. There’s been so much product so fast it’s been difficult to keep up.
To help, here’s our updated visual. If you want everything, this is what you’ll need to order. There are no fewer that 51 items here! This has got to be unprecedented in the run-up to Christmas:
The book and its contents are very similar to the limited and expensive edition reported here, but this is a super special version (number 17 of just 25 copies), allocated to McCartney as author to send out to significant people.
It has its own unique signature page with hand-written details of just how limited it is.
The book comes in a deluxe cloth case featuring screen printing and includes a 24-page full-colour bound-in booklet of Wings-era album and singles cover artwork, an enamel Wings pin and blue and white embroidered patch, and a uniquely bound copy of the book itself:
It’s really nice to see that Denny’s family have received this from Paul and MPL, and that such things exist alongside the versions that you and I have access to.
It all seems timed to coincide with the release of a new children’s book, which in turn is adapted from the Academy Award winning animated short film of the same name that Sean Ono Lennon was involved in…….
Anyways, on the official John Lennon store site they’ve just announced a very special 12″ Zoetrope disc featuring the songs ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Ultimate Mix)’ and ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling (Ultimate Mix)’ on side one, and on side two ‘War Pigeon/A Game Of Chess/A Sudden Interruption/Then Peace’, from the soundtrack to the War Is Over! animated film, composed by Thomas Newman (who has done everything from The Shawshank Redemption to Finding Nemo, two Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, to 1917 and Elemental). Suffice it to say he is up there with the best! This is the first time soundtrack music from War Is Over! has been available on a physical format.
The 12” Zoetrope picture disc is designed by Drew Tetz using still frames from the film, and features (on the front outer title sticker) an illustration by Max Narciso from the children’s book adaptation.
The disc is 180g and cut at 45rpm, and comes in a PVC clear sleeve with a title sticker featuring the credits.
It looks very cool and is set to become a definite collectors item.
Meanwhile, the team at Dark Horse Records has announced yet another pre-Christmas release. This is in addition to the three titles announced for Black Friday Record Store Day.
It’s another Yusuf/Cat Stevens back-catalogue title Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, and it will be on yellow vinyl:
The album was produced by Rick Rubin and sees Yusuf exploring some of his bluesier influences, tapping into musical traditions that have informed his own work. Fans of Cat Stevens will know that Leadbelly has always been one of his favourite artists and alongside the album’s original compositions Tell ‘Em I’m Gone contains covers of songs dear to him such as Edgar Winter’s ‘Dying To Live’, Luther Dixon/Al Smith’s ‘Big Boss Man’, and a bluesy reworking of the Jimmie Davies/Charles Mitchell song ‘You Are My Sunshine’. Interesting stuff. The album is available for pre-sale now and is released on December 5.
It’s been a busy time over the last few weeks and months for Beatle collectors.
There’s been so much product announced it’s hard to keep on top of it.
So, we decided to made a visual representation for you, the avid completist, so that you can keep track.
If you want everything, THIS is what you’ll need to order:
Screenshot
(Click on the image to see a larger version)
Have we forgotten anything?
FYI, the Ringo StarrChoose Love LP announced for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 seems to have quietly slipped off the list again, so we have not included it here.
As if we didn’t have enough Beatle or Beatle-related product between now and Christmas….
Now comes news that four coloured vinyl LPs from the Ringo Starr camp are due October 24.
They are his first four solo releases, beginning with his solo debut Sentimental Journey, produced by George Martin and originally released in 1970, now on custom “buttermilk yellow” vinyl:
Also from 1970 comes Beaucoups of Blues, back in print on custom “baby blue” vinyl and in a gatefold jacket. Recorded in Nashville and produced by the legendary slide player Pete Drake:
The great Ringo album is pressed on “molten lava” custom vinyl and comes with the original 24-page booklet included in a gatefold jacket. Looks good actually:
And last but not least, Ringo’s fourth studio album Goodnight Vienna. Like the Ringo album this is one of his best, once again collaborating with the greats: John Lennon, Elton John, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Robbie Robertson, Jesse Ed Davis, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Harry Nilsson. Produced by Richard Perry, the LP features the Lennon penned title track plus other standouts like ‘No-No Song’, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ and ‘Occapella’. This one is pressed on “psychedelic waves” custom vinyl:
At the moment these appear to be only available vie Ringo’sofficial store and through official Universal Music stores (for example here’s the US Udiscover Music store). Not sure if they’ll get a wider release.
First up is the next installment in the ongoing George Harrison/Zoetrope disc back-catalogue series, Living In The Material World:
Featuring the 2024 50th anniversary mix of the album, this will come in a numbered sleeve with an insert of the original cover art. Hopefully it will be easier to secure than the Zoetrope edition of All Things Must Pass from Record Store Day earlier this year! It quickly became as rare as hen’s teeth.
Also on Dark Horse is a Billy Idol 12″ single picture disc. It features the track ’77’ which was on his LP Dream Into Itfrom earlier this year. The song is a collaboration with Avril Lavigne, but the version with her has so far only been available as a digital download. She didn’t make the cut for the version on the physical release. Well, now we get both versions on this 2-sided picture. Side 1 features the duet with Lavigne, while Side 2 is the album version.
A third Dark Horse Records title for RSD Black Friday is only appearing (so far) on the UK list. It looks to be a follow-up to last year’s RSD collaboration between Dhani Harrison and Carmen Rizzo. That was called Dreamers In The Field and featured world music artists Huun-Huur-Tu. This time Ivan Shopov is also involved and special guests are the New Bulgarian Voices and composer/choir leader Georgi Petkov. The album is called Ascending Into Silence. Very interesting stuff:
And lastly, there’s also the now almost obligatory RSD Ringo Starr re-issue on coloured vinyl from Friday Music. It’s his Choose Love from 2005 and it is the first time this record has been available on vinyl, so that makes it interesting. It’ll be on ruby red vinyl:
UPDATE: Despite being published on early RSD Black Friday 2025 lists, this Ringo Starr release seems to have quietly slipped off those same lists in recent days. We’ll keep an eye on it to see if it re-appears and will let you know.
Liveright Books has just announced a special numbered, limited edition of Wings: The Story of a Band On The Run, signed by Paul McCartney. There will be 175 copies available for the US market, and 175 copies for the UK market.
These limited signed edition books are packaged in a deluxe cloth case featuring screen printing, including a 24-page full-colour bound-in booklet of Wings-era album and singles cover artwork (front and back). They also include an exclusive colour vinyl 1 LP (with unique labels) of the forthcoming Wings: The Definitive Collection release. There’s also a special enamel pin and a blue and white embroidered patch.
Each copy will be numbered and signed by Paul McCartney.
On sale from November 25, they’re available now for pre-order (if you can find one). The limited edition has a RRP of £2500 or US$4,000.
This is a lot of money, but they will sell out and become genuine collector’s items for sure.
As has become usual with these limited McCartney book releases various retailers undertake a variety of promotional activities to entice you to secure a copy – and they probably only get one copy each. This bookshop is asking you to enter a competition just to win the right to BUY the only copy they have for sale!
Check out this link for a full list of all US participating bookseller locations.
In Britain it’s the same. For example, the big Waterstones chain there is offering a chance to win the limited edition version in a prize draw. The competition is open to all customers who order the standard hardback online from them.
Meanwhile, here in Australia this record store has this super deluxe edition for sale at an incredible AUD$24,999.00. That’s around US$16,315.00, or £12,397.00 British Pounds, or €14,094.00 Euros. Blimey!
Magic Christian Music is the second album released by Welsh rock band, Badfinger. They recorded 5 albums for Apple Records, and were the first non-Beatle recording artists signed to the label.
This release will be the first time the 2010 remasters of Magic Christian Music are available on vinyl, and the first time the album has been re-pressed since 1996.
Magic Christian Music includes the band’s first international hit, ‘Come And Get It’, written and produced for them by Paul McCartney. Of the fourteen tracks, seven were newly recorded for the album while the remaining songs were lifted from their first album Maybe Tomorrow, which had seen only a limited release. Three of the new tracks were featured in the film The Magic Christian (starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr). They were produced by Paul, and the strings on ‘Carry On Till Tomorrow’ were arranged and conducted by George Martin. SIx tracks were produced by Tony Visconti and five by Mal Evans.
This 180g blue vinyl version, out on October 18, is housed in a single sleeve featuring the original artwork, with poly-lined white inner sleeves.
In other Beatle-related release news, the push by BMG to get more George Harrison/Dark Horse Records titles officially onto their catalogue continues. On October 24 they will release the next batch including the self-titled George Harrison (from early 1979) on both vinyl and CD:
The CD has one bonus track, ‘Here Comes The Moon (Demo)’:
Then in June 1981 came Somewhere In England. It too gets a vinyl and CD re-issue on Dark Horse:
The CD is interesting. It comes in the original album concept artwork and has one bonus track, a demo of ‘Save The World’:
And then comes 1982’s Gone Troppo:
The Gone Troppo CD also comes with a single bonus track, the demo version of ‘Mystical One’:
Also due for an October 24 release are CD versions of Brainwashed; Cloud Nine; and Thirty Three and 1/3. Each of these has already seen a vinyl release under the BMG distribution deal. This just makes a CD version available to collectors:
All CD’s are in Digipak packaging. You can get all the details on all these releases, and place pre-orders, at the Official George Harrison Store.
Interestingly, also listed there (for an October 3 release) is a 3LP set of All Things Must Pass. This too is to bring that classic title in under the BMG/Dark Horse Records banner as a vinyl issue (there’s already been a CD released).
The question is, will it come out with Dark Horse Records labels, or will it be on the traditional orange Apple and Apple Jam labels? The pack shot has a prominent Dark Horse hype sticker (click on the image to see a larger version):
This vinyl is the 50th anniversary mix by Paul Hicks and the set includes the original poster – but with the back of the poster containing notes by Dhani Harrison and Hicks about remixing the album.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the LPs have the Dark Horse label. For some reason our money is on Apple labels……look very closely at that hype sticker and you’ll see in the small print the words “Apple and the Apple logo are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd and used with permission.” So maybe it won’t have Dark Horse labels after all….
It’s now been announced. Here is the official press release with all the details on the Anthology Collection audio releases, the Beatles Anthology documentary series on Disney+, and the re-press of The Beatles Anthology book:
THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY
Award-winning Documentary Series, Music Releases and Iconic Book
All Together Now for Release this Autumn. The Beatles Story… by The Beatles. On screen, on record, and in print.
London – August 21, 2025 – First released three decades ago, The Beatles’ eight-part Anthology series reinvented the music documentary. Instead of a standard treatment centred on an outside narrator and talking heads, The Anthology featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr candidly telling their own story, with all its complexities and contradictions. It introduced The Beatles to new generations of viewers and listeners and marked the start of a creative and commercial afterlife that continues to this day.
Now, The Beatles Anthology returns in its ultimate form for a comprehensive global release campaign—on screen, on record, and in print.
Now a Nine-Part Series Featuring a Brand-new Episode Nine Streaming Exclusively on Disney+ Beginning November 26
The Beatles’ landmark Anthology documentary series has been restored and remastered.
The series’ original eight episodes trace the legendary journey that began in Liverpool and Hamburg and soon captivated the world. They bring to life the timeless stories — of Beatlemania, the band’s groundbreaking arrival in the USA, their role at the forefront of the 1960s counterculture, their spiritual exploration in India, and their eventual breakup. And through it all, the constant thread: the music, always the music.
There is now a completely new Episode Nine, including unseen behind-the-scenes footage of Paul, George and Ringo coming together between 1994 and 1995 to work on The Anthology and reflecting on their shared life as The Beatles.
The restoration has been overseen by Apple Corps’ production team, working with Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films & Park Road Post teams along with Giles Martin, who has created new audio mixes for the majority of the featured music.
The Beatles Anthology Music Collections
Restored & Expanded to Four Volumes: 12LP Vinyl, 8CD & Digital Collections Out November 21
The musical side of The Anthology Collection, originally curated by George Martin, now remastered by Giles Martin, in the form of three double albums of rare material, a shadow story to the one told in the documentaries. They are an enthralling insight into the early development of songs that became the recorded masterpieces that resonate just as loudly today as they did when they were first recorded.
It also has an important new element. Anthology 4, newly curated by Giles, includes 13 previously unreleased demos and session recordings and other rare recordings. It also includes new mixes of The Beatles’ Anthology-associated hit singles: the GRAMMY-winning “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love,” given new life by their original producer, Jeff Lynne, using de-mixed John Lennon vocals.
The original “Free As A Bird” music video has also been beautifully restored:
Both new mixes are placed alongside the band’s most recent UK No. 1 hit single, 2023’s GRAMMY-winning “Now And Then,” the last Beatles song. All three singles were created from rudimentary home demos John recorded in the 1970s, later completed with vocal and instrumental parts recorded by Paul, George and Ringo.
Across all the Anthology albums, there are 191 tracks which will be released on November 21 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMG for digital purchase and streaming, and in deluxe 12LP 180-gram vinyl and 8CD box sets. Both box sets include the original sleeve notes for Anthology 1, 2 and 3; the new Anthology 4 includes track notes written by Kevin Howlett and an introduction compiled from 1996 interviews recorded with The Beatles’ close friend and adviser Derek Taylor. The Beatles Store’s exclusive editions for both box sets add four 12-inch band photo art cards in a numbered envelope.
The Beatles Anthology Book
The 25th Anniversary Edition Out October 14
Finally, the 25th Anniversary Edition of The Beatles Anthology book will be released on October 14th by Apple Corps Ltd. and Chronicle Books. Throughout its pages, John, Paul, George and Ringo share their honest, intimate and revelatory recollections of the band’s journey. Their memories are accompanied by impressions from their closest colleagues, including Neil Aspinall, George Martin, Derek Taylor and others. The bestselling 368-page book is beautifully illustrated with more than 1,300 photos, documents, artwork, and other memorabilia from the band’s archives.
Everything The Beatles did involved change. Listening to their songs and watching their story unfold brings us closer to the shifts in culture, ideas and music that they helped shape—and which continue to resonate today. TheAnthology was always about their past, but this new edition confirms its enduring place in the present and future. (ends)
The packaging of the 12LP and 8CD has come in for criticism as being a “low rent” looking for a proper Beatle release. It turns out that they are indeed using Klaus Voormann’s amazing original montage for the box on all editions. The image with that black and white photo is called a “belly band” or “O” card which slides over the outer case and wraps around the whole box. (This “belly band” is also on the Anthology book – if you look closely at the image above you can see it).
Here are some high res images of the Anthology box set configurations:
The four art photos shown in the pack-shot above come in a numbered envelope and are exclusive to the Beatles Store (or if you order through Universal Music). The photo pack:
The 12LP exclusive is limited to 8,500 in the UK and 8,500 in the U.S.
Other editions come without that photo pack:
And here it is with the “belly band” in place:
Below is the 8CD set with art photos only available from the official stores. This is limited to 8000 copies in the UK and 8,000 in the U.S.
And the standard issue, minus the art photo pack. (Click here for the full track listing):
It looks like The Beatles Anthology TV series is destined for a Disney+ streaming release as expected:
When it first aired in 1995 Anthology was a six-part series, so it looks to have been expanded somewhat given the advertising banner says it is now a nine-parter. And that it is due to go to air on November 26 with a three-part premier.
It also looks like those images we got for the accompanying audio box sets are coming true. But what will the final artwork look like? There are currently two different gifs doing the rounds showing variations to the outer box images for the CD set:
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