McCartney’s ‘Pure’ – Place of Manufacture

Posted on July 8, 2016 by beatlesblogger

The three iterations of Paul McCartney’s latest “personal favourites” compilation, Pure, are interesting.

The small print on the rear covers of each of the formats and editions (2 CD Standard; 4 CD Deluxe; and the 4LP version) reveal that each are manufactured in different places, and one of them is very surprising.

The 4LP sets come from Germany:[Click on each “small print” image to see a larger version]

The 2CD version is made in Poland:But the real surprise of the bunch is the 4CD Deluxe edition. A check of the small print on the back shows that these are manufactured in China:

Once upon a time any CD with “Manufactured in China” stamped on it immediately aroused suspicions amongst collectors. That usually rings loud warning bells.

Chinese manufacturers are famous for producing unauthorised editions, and also counterfeit rip-offs – entirely fake copies of official releases. Just ask anyone who purchased a 2009 Beatles Stereo or Mono remastered box set at an unbelievably low price. Many of them discovered later that they’d been duped and the quality was just not there:

And so China has been very much on the nose in the music business. But not anymore it seems….

Clearly the country is gaining a new credibility in the legit music business. It is definitely moving into the mainstream.

McCartney’s distribution company, Concord Music, must have shopped around for which companies internationally could deliver the best product at the best price – and a Chinese CD maker won the Pure contract – at least for the 4CD “book” style deluxe edition.

We are seeing this more and more as Chinese manufacturers gain a reputation for making high quality items at affordable prices. It’s happening in the hi-fi industry as well, with some Chinese brands turning now out first-class speakers, amplifiers and players now.

(If you’re interested in this sort of thing see also Where “Made in the EU” Vinyl Might Be Pressed and New John Lennon LP Box Set Pressed By Optimal Media).

You might also like Some Unusual Asian Beatle Items Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

A Couple of Beatle DVD Finds

Posted on July 7, 2016 by beatlesblogger

We went “op shopping” recently and discovered a little bit of Beatle treasure.

First up a copy of Paul McCartney’s 2005 concert film In Red Square:

It comes in an outer slip-case. Here’s the rear cover:

There’s also an inner booklet included with a range of images from the historic concert:

The other DVD we found is a 2008 documentary called Magical Mystery Tour Memories:

This is a documentary, a behind-the-scenes/memories of making the actual1967 Beatle film Magical Mystery Tour. Narrated by actor and Beatle friend Victor Spinetti (who not only appeared in MMT but also the films Help! and A Hard Day’s Night), there are lots of stories about what happened during the filming. They range from those who were officially there as part of the cast and crew, through to the many innocent bystanders who just happened to bump into the Beatle entourage as they travelled by bus around England making their largely improvised film. There are appearances and reminiscences from the likes of Paul’s brother Mike McCartney; Beatle Fan Club secretary Freda Kelly; former Beatle insider Tony Bramwell; their press officer Tony Barrow; and Neil Innes from the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band (and later The Rutles).

It has to be said this is a fairly low-budget affair that received only mixed reviews when it was first released, but it’s an interesting documentary to have in the collection and contains some very nice stories and memories of what it was like making Magical Mystery Tour.

The Beatles Cartoons

Posted on June 11, 2016 by beatlesblogger

As a child I can remember watching The Beatles cartoons on TV.

I don’t think they’ve ever been officially released. This six DVD set is decidedly dodgy, but it contains every episode, plus the sing-along “bouncing ball” songs, trailers and intro’s and outro’s as extras:

Here’s the rear cover:

The discs are fairly obviously burned onto printable blank DVDs (read: “manufactured at home”), but they are of a reasonable quality and the makers have gone to a little bit of trouble with the graphics:

The quality on screen is similar (possibly even a little bit better) to this example on YouTube:

Rolling Stone magazine has a good article on the background to The Beatles TV cartoon series.

An Unusual Beatles “1” CD

Posted on June 6, 2016 by beatlesblogger

We were at a record fair the other day and picked up The Beatles 1 compilation CD from 2000. The front cover looks familiar:

As does the rear:

That is, until you look more closely at the fine print – just below the barcode:

There it says quite clearly, in bolded letters, “Not resale in the EU“. Never seen that before. Then there’s the disc itself:

Looks rather standard, but it too has the words “Not resale in the EU. LC 0299” in the small print around the perimeter:

Anyone seen this one before, or know what it means?

Official 12″ Remixes of ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’

Posted on May 20, 2016 by beatlesblogger

Following a very limited and mysterious white label vinyl issue in March of two re-mixed versions of the Paul McCartney and Wings song ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’, comes news of an official release on 12″ vinyl and digital download.

This puts ownership of these versions of the song within the realms of possibility for us mere mortals who couldn’t possibly have afforded the exorbitant prices the limited editions were fetching on auction sites like eBay.

The initial, white label releases had two remixes by German DJ/remixer Timo Maas and Canadian producer James Teej. The “official” release will have three. According to the track listings online, the 12″ will include a “radio edit” version of the song.

The vinyl is available for pre-order now and will be released on May 27 in Europe and Canada. No US listings for the physical product have yet appeared, but the US Amazon site is listing a digital download that’s available now.

Here’s the artwork:

Beatle Vinyl Collector Books for Spanish, French and Japanese Releases

Posted on May 5, 2016 by beatlesblogger

We received an intriguing email the other day from a marketing company called IM Digital alerting us to the publication of three new Beatle books for collectors. They are written by musician and collector Juan Carlos Irigoyen Pérez, and they detail across three separate volumes, every Beatle release in Spain, France and Japan respectively:

As you can see from the covers, these are Beatles discographies with full-colour illustrations of every release (single and LP) on the Odeon or Apple labels for Spain (between 1963-1972); for France (between 1963-1970); and Japan (between 1964-1970).

There appear to be both English and Spanish editions available, and the books are for sale on Amazon worldwide, both in paperback and e-book form.

Amazon has a “Look Inside” feature giving a peek at a few pages. You can see inside Spain here, France here, and Japan here.

Juan Carlos Irigoyen Pérez has also posted three youTube videos with more info:

HULU Wins Streaming Rights to New Beatle Film

Posted on May 5, 2016 by beatlesblogger

The Beatles official site has just posted a press release about the new Ron Howard directed feature-length documentary film, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week.

Hulu Launches Hulu Documentary Films with Highly-Anticipated Documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week from Director Ron Howard.

Hulu has secured the exclusive US streaming video on-demand rights to Academy Award Winner Ron Howard’s feature documentary The Beatles: Eight Days A Week (working title). The film is produced with the full cooperation of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.

Debuting in theaters and on Hulu this fall, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week is based on the first part of The Beatles’ career (1962-1966) – the period in which they toured and captured the world’s acclaim. Ron Howard’s film will explore how John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr came together to become this extraordinary phenomenon, “The Beatles.” It will explore their inner workings – how they made decisions, created their music and built their collective career together – all the while, exploring The Beatles’ extraordinary and unique musical gifts and their remarkable, complementary personalities. The film will focus on the time period from the early Beatles’ journey in the days of The Cavern Club in Liverpool to their last concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco in 1966. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week also includes rare and exclusive footage.

The Beatles: Eight Days A Week marks the first documentary feature to premiere exclusively on Hulu following its theatrical run. The film comes to Hulu in the company’s first-ever licensing deal with Apple Corps Ltd. The film will be the first to launch under the new Hulu Documentary Films arm, which will serve as a new home for premium original and exclusive documentary film titles coming to Hulu.

New Jazz Interpretations of the Band You’ve Known For All These Years

Posted on May 5, 2016 by beatlesblogger

This is an interesting project that’s been released just this week.

It’s way out there, but cool at the same time. How do new interpretations of the Beatles for a jazz big band sound? Well, we very much like what we’ve heard so far.

Kaleidoscope Eyes: The Music of the Beatles is a new CD from US trumpeter, arranger and band leader, John Daversa:

“A while ago, a good friend of mine asked me to write a “Daversafied” arrangement of a classic Beatles tune. I thought to myself, “wow, what a monumental challenge!” How do you take such classic material, remain reverent to the original intention and spirit of The Beatles, create a fresh vision with new twists and turns–and make it identifiably your own? The challenge intrigued me so much that I decided to create a full-length album for the big band. Let’s go!”

“I’ve since delved deep into the immensely rich Beatles catalog and fallen in love–as so many music lovers have. I’ve “reimagined” the music for the JD Big Band personalities and expanded the instrumentation to include tuba, bassoon, oboe, alto flute, piano, string section, a chorus of singers, and more—truly an expanded Large Jazz Ensemble! Vocalist Renee Olstead and spoken word artist, Katisse Buckingham will also join us on the album.”

As one YouTuber put it, “This is not your typical Beatles tribute!”:

Rare Beatle Footage Discovered in Australia

Posted on April 27, 2016 by beatlesblogger

On the 1st of November, 1965 The Beatles were in the Granada Television make-up room in Manchester in the UK.

They were there for a television show being taped in their honour called The Music of Lennon & McCartney. One of the make-up ladies, Australian dancer and make-up artist Dawn Swane, happened to have with her a small Super 8 movie camera. She took it out to shoot a personal memento of the band backstage. Of course The Beatles got into it, taking charge of the camera themselves to shoot their own scenes. In short, mucking around and vamping it up for the camera.

That short piece of footage has sat in moldering in a drawer – until now. It has just been donated to the Australian National Film and Sound Archive. You can view the footage on their site.

As 702 ABC Sydney breakfast radio presenter Robbie Buck said when introducing an interview with Dawn Swane’s daughter, Melinda Doring, it’s so rare these days to find previously unseen footage of such an iconic band:

You can see the opening credits and beginning of The Music of Lennon & McCartney TV program the Beatles were preparing for here:

Beatles Blog

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Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting

McCartney’s ‘Pure’ – Place of Manufacture

The Beatles Cartoons

An Unusual Beatles “1” CD

Official 12″ Remixes of ‘Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five’

Beatle Vinyl Collector Books for Spanish, French and Japanese Releases

HULU Wins Streaming Rights to New Beatle Film

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