Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting

Wingspan – More Unusual Variations

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Since we published information on the Limited Edition version of Paul McCartney’s Wingspan – Hits and History CD collection last week, our friend Andrey in Russia has provided information about three more unusual and collectable versions.

The first is this Ukrainian release. Here’s the rear cover:ukraine2a

(click on any of the images to see larger versions)

And here are the two Ukrainian discs:ukraine1bVersion 2

Andrey also provided information on not one, but two very collectable Japanese variants:Version 2Version 3As you can see from the shots of the spines below these carry the same Japanese catalogue number and barcode:  wingspan-japan-spines-2versions-1

And both come with an additional booklet (written in Japanese and English). However, in one version this booklet is incorporated inside the slipcase (its white spine can be seen below), while the other version has the added booklet outside the slipcase (orange spine in the image below):wingspan-japan-spines-2versions

(click on any of the images to see larger versions)

The other main differences between these two releases are detailed further here (and in all pictures Version 1 is above, and Version 2 is below):

1) JAPANESE Version 1:
– the “hands” image on the front of the slipcase is printed (i.e. not holographic)
– slipcase in made in Japan
– additional booklet is inside the slip case
– The obi strip on the left hand side is a regular sized obi (i.e. small)
2) JAPANESE Version 2:
– the “hands” image on the front is the holographic image
– slipcase is made in the EU/UK                                                                                          – the additional Japanese/English booklet is outside the slip case
– the obi is large – it wraps right around and covers the entire rear of the outer slipcase

Another thing to note is that in Japan Wingspan – Hits and History contains an additional track to the rest of the world. It’s the song ‘Eat At Home’ and this can be found as track 19 on CD 1. (EU and US versions only have 18 songs on this disc).

Wingspan – Deluxe Limited Edition Version

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When we were in the United States a while back we managed to pick up a nice copy of the standard edition of McCartney’s Wingspan – Hits and History two-CD retrospective compilation from 2001.

It was originally issued in a jewel case with an outer cardboard slipcase with a holographic front cover. Getting copies of this in good condition is difficult because the slipcase is often missing or damaged.

Then I learned that there was also a Limited Edition version of Wingspan – Hits and History released as well. It has the same two discs and running order of songs, but is packaged in a hard-back book that fits inside a similar but slightly larger outer slipcase, also with the hologram “hands” image on the front.

Well, we’ve finally secured a copy of the book version on eBay for a very reasonable price:wingspan-outer  The book inside looks like this:wingspan-book1wingspan-book2

The CDs sit in two clear plastic holders inside the front and rear covers:wingspan-book-insidewingspan-inside-2

It’s the same 22-page booklet inside. However, it is produced specifically for this set as it’s in a larger format to the standard CD booklet:

wingspan-inside-4wingspan-inside-3The standard CD set in the UK has the barcode number 7243 5 32876 2 7, while this limited edition set was made in the USA and has the catalogue number 7243 5 32943 2 8. It caries the Capitol and MPL logos on the cover and on the CDs.

wingspan-cd-1wingspan-cd-2

This set also had this sticker on the outside (which the previous owner very kindly kept and placed inside the book):

wingspan-sticker

Just by way of comparison, here’s the size difference between the standard and limited edition versions:wingspan-sizewingspan-cover-2

 

The Beatles Collection Singles – Parlophone New Zealand

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A fairly unique and unusual box set came into the collection this week.

We’ve written before about a UK singles box set we have called The Beatles Collection. It was released by EMI back in 1978 and contains twenty-five Beatle singles. These were housed in a textured black flip-top box that looks like this:beatles-singles-collection-front

However, the copy of The Beatles Collection you can see below was officially released by EMI only in New Zealand:nz-collection-box2

This set, which dates from 1979, includes the same twenty-five top-selling Beatle singles as the UK version. They are also housed in a black and gold-embossed box. It’s not a flip-top box like in the UK, but a heavier, lidded one made of much thicker cardboard:

nz-collection-box3

As you can see, there are a few age spots and marks on the front, but overall this one is in very good condition with no tears or splits.nz-collection-box1 nz-collection-box4

All the green, white and black paper sleeves inside (including the “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” picture sleeve), weren’t printed locally. They’ve been imported by EMI from the UK and so are identical to the earlier UK release, with “Made in Great Britain” stamped on the front:

nz-collection-box8nz-collection-box18

The big difference here is that all the vinyl inside the sleeves was pressed locally in New Zealand, making this set somewhat interesting, unusual and collectable:nz-collection-box6nz-collection-box7

As you can see from the label for “Love Me Do” above, some of the singles have the original UK catalogue numbers, but some (like “Hey Jude” below) have unique New Zealand numbers – with an “NZP” prefix:nz-collection-box17All except “Hey Jude” and “Sgt Pepper” are exclusive New Zealand pressings, made only for this box set. They weren’t sold separately. The “Hey Jude” and “Sgt Pepper” singles were apparently sold separately, but not in the picture sleeves you see here. All the labels are black and yellow Parlophone labels.

For a full set of scans and some more information about this New Zealand pressing go to the great 45cat site. It’s got more information and images.

The New Zealand Beatles Collection (1979) is a Parlophone box set with 25 x 45rpm records comprising all the Beatles’ singles 1962-1978:

1. Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You
2. Please Please Me / Ask Me Why
3. From Me To You / Thank You Girl
4. She Loves You / I’ll Get You
5. I Want To Hold Your Hand / This Boy
6. Can’t Buy Me Love / You Can’t Do That
7. A Hard Day’s Night / Things We Said Today
8. I Feel Fine / She’s A Woman
9. Ticket To Ride / Yes It Is
10. Help / I’m Down
11. We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper
12. Paperback Writer / Rain
13. Yellow Submarine / Eleanor Rigby
14. Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane
15. All You Need Is Love / Baby You’re A Rich Man
16. Hello Goodbye / I Am The Walrus
17. Lady Madonna / The Inner Light
18. Hey Jude /Revolution
19. Get Back / Don’t Let Me Down
20. The Ballad Of John And Yoko / Old Brown Shoe
21. Something / Come Together
22. Let It Be / You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
23. Yesterday / I Should Have Known Better
24. Back In The USSR / Twist And Shout
25. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / With a Little Help From My Friends / A Day In The Life

From “Love Me Do” to “A Hard Day’s Night” the UK picture sleeves used in this set have this image on the rear:

nz-collection-box5

The singles from “I Fell Fine” to “Yellow Submarine” have this as the rear-cover image:nz-collection-box10

The sleeves from “Strawberry Fields Forever” to “Lady Madonna” have this photograph:nx-collection-box13

And from “Hey Jude” to “Back in the USSR” this image is used:

nz-collection-box16

Like the UK release, “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (which is a three-track single) comes in a different picture sleeve to the rest of the set: nz-collection-box25 nz-collection-box26nz-collection-box27

Eleven Early Yoko Ono Albums to be Reissued

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Way back in March, 2014 we flagged that there was a thorough Yoko Ono solo reissue program in the pipeline and it was to include all of her early, long-out-of-print Apple and Zapple Record releases. Since that time it has gone decidedly quiet….

Now comes news that it is finally going to happen – and soon:

Chimera Music and the Secretly Canadian label, have just announced that eleven solo Yoko Ono titles will be coming out in three groups of releases over the next twelve months or so.

The first grouping of three reissues is due out on November 11 – on CD, on vinyl, and as digital downloads. First titles are:

Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (originally issued on Apple in 1968):ono-unfinished-1

Bonus track on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be ‘Remember Love’.

Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With the Lions (originally issued on Zapple in 1969):ono-unfinished-2

Bonus tracks on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be ‘Song for John’ and ‘Mulberry’.

Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band (originally issued on Apple in 1970):ono-plastic-ono-band

Bonus tracks on the CD, and on vinyl (via a download card), will be: ‘Open Your Box’, ‘Something More Abstract’, ‘The South Wind’, and the never-before-heard ‘Why (Extended Version)’.

The release project overs studio albums issued between 1968 and 1985 and will painstakingly reconstruct the original vinyl packaging, along with never-before-seen photos and ephemera (although from these two “bundle offer” pack shots on the Chimera site it looks like the record labels and CDs will depict grapefruits instead of Apple, and that the vinyl will be white and/or clear):ono-bundle-vinylono-bundle-cd

The audio is re-mastered from the original tapes by Greg Calbi and Sean Lennon. In addition to making the vinyl available for the first time in decades, each album will also be available digitally for the first time. The complete list of titles and release groupings is:

1st group:
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions (1969)
Plastic Ono Band (1970)

2nd group:
Fly (1971)
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)
Feeling the Space (1973)
A Story (recorded in 1974, released as part of Ono Box in 1992)

3rd group:
Season of Glass (1981)
It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982)
Starpeace (1985)
Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album (1969)

The Beatles on Compact Disc – First HMV Box Set

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We’ve been slowly plugging away at collecting the HMV Beatles on Compact Disc box sets from 1987. These were issued in limited numbers as part of the celebrations around the Beatle back-catalogue being released on CD for the very first time in Britain.

Previously we’ve posted on the Sgt Pepper box set, Magical Mystery Tour (both from 1987), and also the Beatles (Red) 1962-1966 set (which came out later –  in 1993).

Just this week these have been joined by the first set release in the series which contained not one, but four CD’s: Please Please Me; With The Beatles; Beatles For Sale; and A Hard Day’s Night. It carries the catalogue number BEACD25:Beatles on CD front

The box lid lifts off to first reveal a “Beatle Fact Sheet”. This is a single 12″ x 12″ sheet of paper, printed on one side only:Beatles on CD fact

Underneath the “fact sheet” are the four UK CD’s, stored in slots on a black plastic inner tray:Beatles on CD discs

Underneath those four CD’s is a 224-page book, The Book Of Beatle Lists, written by long-time Beatle historian and writer, Bill Harry. The book is stored in its own slot within the plastic tray:Beatles on CD holderBeatles on CD bookBeatles on CD book2

Inside the lid of the HMV box there’s a song list for each CD and a picture of the band:Beatles on CD lid

Plus the limited edition number is stamped here:Beatles on CD number

Rare McCartney Acetate Fetches US$23,639

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‘It’s For You’, the previously unknown acetate demo Paul McCartney gave to the late Cilla Black to help shape her recording of the Lennon/McCartney penned song back in 1964, has sold at auction in England for £18,000 (that’s about US$23,639 or AUS$31,229).

‘It’s For You’, which was never recorded by the Beatles, was given to Black who had a hit with it in Great Britain. It made the UK Official Charts’ Top 10 at No. 7 and was one of seven Top 10 hits she had in the UK between 1964 and 1966.

The disc was discovered last month by relatives who’d found it tucked away as part of Black’s personal effects while sorting through her estate. Wisely they took it to the The Beatles Shop in Liverpool for evaluation by owner Stephen Bailey, who immediately recognised it as a long-lost treasure. Bailey confirmed a report by the BBC that Paul McCartney had made a copy of the song for his archive before it was sold at the auction.

The auction was conducted in Liverpool last Saturday. Here’s the online catalogue.

 

Giles Martin on Live at the Hollywood Bowl

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Bob Boilen at the NPR show All Songs Considered has interviewed producer Giles Martin about how he and the engineers at Abbey Road studios cleaned up the newly found tapes of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, due out on September 9.Beatles Hollywood

Martin clearly sent over some additional recordings for the program to use during the interview and these give us some more indications of what to expect. During the conversation there’s a comparison between the 1977 vinyl release of ‘She Loves You’ directly alongside the 2016 version, and then a lengthy extract of how ‘Ticket to Ride’ now sounds.

The new versions of ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ are now available for purchase on iTunes. ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ is also up on Vevo in full as a stream on the All Songs Considered page.Beatles Hollywood 1Beatles Hollywood 2

And don’t forget, there’s another interview with producer Giles Martin (covering similar ground – and more) by the boys at the Fab 4 Free 4 All podcast.

Radha Krsna Temple – 1993 Vinyl Re-issue

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Many people will know of the Fresh From Apple box set of CD’s which includes most of the artists once signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records label.

That set came out in December, 2010 and gathered together sixteen original albums on CD, plus a “Best Of” CD collection of Apple singles, and a double CD of rarities from Badfinger, Mary Hopkin and Jackie Lomax.

But fewer will know that this wasn’t the first time that Apple attempted to do this.

Over a number of years (between 1991 and 1996) Apple slowly re-issued some twenty-two titles from its back-catalogue, not only on CD but also on vinyl, and included in many instances a wide range of bonus material.

These releases were done in a number of “phases”, and you can read all about this 1990s re-issue program here.

Over the years we’ve been steadily trying to add to our collection all the vinyl releases from that 1990s re-issue program – and just last week we acquired one more:

Radha1

This is the UK Apple Records with the original catalogue number SAPCOR 18, The Radha Krsna Temple by The Radha Krsna Temple London. It was re-issued in 1993. Here’s the rear cover:Radha2

That this is a re-issue is immediately identified by the barcode you can see in the upper right-hand corner – something that just didn’t exist when this LP first came out in 1971. The album was produced by George Harrison.

Another distinguishing feature is that this release has additional liner notes written by long-time Beatle friend, confidante and publicist Derek Taylor. These begin inside the gatefold cover (alongside descriptions of what each track is about, and information about Krsna consciousness from the original release) and they tell the story of how Apple Records and the Krsna movement got together:Radha5

Taylor’s liner notes conclude on the inner bag which holds the record:Radha4

Here’s the other side of that inner bag:Radha3

And the 1993 re-issue Apple labels:Radha6

Radha7

This particular release doesn’t have any bonus material and so is a single LP release that is true to the original.

The striking cover is designed by the English art director and album cover designer John Kosh. If his name looks familiar, that’s because you’ve probably seen it on a number of record covers from a wide variety of artists. Kosh was a bit of a favourite at Apple and was responsible for the design of Abbey Road and Let It Be LP covers along with numerous solo projects by John Lennon and Ringo Starr.

The Radha Krsna Temple was included in the 2010 box set Fresh From Apple.

For a couple more of the 1990’s vinyl reissues see John Taverner The Whale, Billy Preston That’s The Way God Planned It, and Badfinger Magic Christian Music.

Paul McCartney Back with Capitol Records Again

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Paul McCartney has just announced that he’s signed a worldwide recording agreement with his old label, Capitol Records.

The deal encompasses McCartney’s entire body of post-Beatles work, from his 1970 McCartney album, through his decade with Wings, to the dozens of solo and collaborative works and is a welcome home to the label where he began his career.

“This is genuinely exciting for me,” McCartney said. “Not only was Capitol my first U.S. record label, but the first record I ever bought was Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ on the Capitol label.”

McCartney is currently working on a new studio album, while a comprehensive plan for the artist’s catalogue is being conceived by Capitol and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) – in conjunction with the artist and his management team – and will be implemented beginning July 2017**. The catalogue moves to Capitol/UMe from the Concord Music Group, Paul’s previous label partner.

Capitol Music Group (CMG) Chairman and CEO, Steve Barnett said “Paul McCartney’s association with Capitol has long defined so much of our historic legacy, and all of us here are extremely proud and honored that he has chosen to come back home. Paul’s indelible contributions to our culture are second to none, and his constant evolution as an artist and performer continues to inspire and enrich the lives of countless millions of people. We are overjoyed that Paul will be creating new music for years to come, and that Capitol will be helping to present it to the world.”

Paul McCartney High in the cloud recording session

** Just what this means will be interesting for collectors and fans. We’re in the middle of a huge McCartney Archive re-issue program in conjunction with Concord Records. So, what happens to that is one question that comes immediately to mind. Hopefully we’re not looking at starting over with an entirely new back-catalogue release program…..

Splinter – The Place I Love

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One of our favourite places in Sydney to crate dig is Revolve Records and Relics, and it has come up with another Beatle-related treasure for the collection.

Splinter was one of the first bands signed to George Harrison’s Dark Horse record label in 1974, and The Place I Love was their debut album:Splinter coverSplinter rear coverThey were a two-man band hailing from the town of South Shields in England. Bill Elliott and Bob Purvis wrote all their own material, were produced by George Harrison, and were joined on this album by Harrison (on guitar, mandolin, bass, harmonium and percussion and using the pseudonyms Hari Georgeson, P. Roducer and Jai Raj Harisein), as well as the likes of Klaus Voormann (bass), Billy Preston (organ), Jim Keltner (drums) and Gary Wright (piano).

The album was recorded at Harrison’s Friar Park home studio.

This is an Australian pressing. The cover is a gatefold, graced with a sepia-toned historic street scene of The London Hotel, taken in the late 1800’s in Splinter’s home town of South Shields.  Splinter gatefold

Here’s the LP’s ever-stylish Dark Horse label:Splinter label

There’s also a single sheet insert with the song lyrics printed on each side:

Splinter insert

And an inner bag made of heavy paper and stamped with the Dark Horse logo to hold the record:Splinter inner

Splinter’s Bill Elliot has another strong Beatle connection. John Lennon had earlier invited him to perform the song ‘God Save Us‘ with The Elastic Oz Band. Released as a 7″ single on Apple Records in the US in 1971. This was a protest song in support of the underground publication Oz magazine, then embroiled in the famous Oz obscenity court case.God Save Us