Some Local Beatle Pressings From a Visit to Holland

Posted on July 9, 2015 by beatlesblogger

As mentioned in our previous post, a recent holiday trip took us to Europe (including a first ever visit to the Netherlands) and this presented the opportunity to trawl through a few of Amsterdam’s specialty vinyl record shops – and there are quite a few of them!

Collectors will know that pressings from Holland are fairly common because once upon a time EMI had quite a large presence there and pressed a huge amount of discs (both LPs and CDs). These were not only for local consumption, but also for distribution worldwide.

So, as a travel memento, we wanted at least a couple of Beatle or Beatle-related pressings as a physical reminder of our visit to the Netherlands.

The shops we made it to in Amsterdam included Record Friend, in the city’s Niewmarket area (at St Antoniesbreestraat 64); the enormous Concerto Records (at Utrechtsestraat 52-60); and finally City Records, also in Niewmarket (at Geldersekade 100A). There are many more places to find vinyl – but we had only a limited time.

The Record Friend store is situated below street level and it’s pretty big – and a bit overwhelming when you first walk in:

But it was easy to find the Beatles section and we soon found a nice clean Dutch copy of this double LP in its gatefold cover:

We already have this LP (in Australian and US pressings), but this one is made in Holland with unusual grey and silver Parlophone labels, so it’s different. And for us it serves as a reminder of a fantastic visit to a fantastic city:

Country of origin detail on the rear cover:

Next we called in to Concerto – which is huge. The store (spread over five shops all joined together in one long line – see photo below) offers a wide selection of new and used vinyl, CDs and DVDs. Surprisingly they didn’t have a huge amount of Beatle vinyl.

So, after a lengthy browse of their many shelves we moved on to City Records.

There, in a small but very neat and clean store (fairly new and with the owner still in the process of setting up), we found three nice collectable items. We’re always on the lookout for different versions of the 1970 Apple LP John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. We have quite a few – but to now have an original Holland pressing in the collection is a delight:

This one had the (censored) paper lyric sheet inner:

And a little surprise added bonus – the cheeky postcard insert from Lennon’s Imagine album which was meant as a rebuff to Paul McCartney’s Ram cover. Not sure how it ended up with this LP, but out it fell when we got home:

Next out of the crates at City Records was a Dutch pressing of George Harrison’s budget compilation LP The Best of George Harrison. We’ve been looking for a vinyl version of this for some time so it’s good to finally have one, pressed in Holland of course:

And here’s the final Beatle LP we found at City Records. This version of The Beatles Ballads is a really nice find. This release (which is a Beatles “Best Of” style LP also issued in the UK and Australia) is collectable because it has a front and rear cover unique to Holland and is titled De Mooiste Songs (which roughly translates as The Most Beautiful Songs):

The British and Australian covers for this have a blue border on the front cover:

And a predominantly yellow rear cover:

Here’s the Dutch label:

In Australia this came out originally on the orange and black Parlophone label:

For more on the background to the special painting done for this cover have a look here.

The owner of City Records was very helpful. Realising these albums had to make the very l-o-n-g journey back to Australia, he offered to put the LPs into a sturdy cardboard mailer to help protect them more fully. A kind gesture very much appreciated.

Next time – what happened on our visit to France……

New John Lennon LP Box Set Pressed By Optimal Media

Posted on May 24, 2015 by beatlesblogger

The new John Lennon 8 LP box set (due in stores early next month) will all be pressed at a state-of-the-art German factory in the town of Robel in Germany.

Optimal Media are a large and experienced outfit which has impressive high-volume CD replication and vinyl pressing facilities as well as the ability to print and assemble the high quality LP covers, inner sleeves and custom boxes in which they are presented for back-catalogue (and new) collections of music.

Optimal is the same place that the Beatles Remastered Stereo box set was manufactured back in 2012. Their site (and the finished product) demonstrates that they do impressive work at a high quality.

They pressed the 40th anniversary vinyl box set edition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” LP – a limited edition two-disc set released for Record Store Day in 2011.

Our copy of the Beatles in Mono vinyl box set also originated at the same Optimal factory. All the printing and pressing of the box set was done there and like the Stereo Box, this was a large and complex project to pull off. It has to be said the quality and attention to detail is absolutely first-rate. The cardboard used for the covers is thick, and the 180g vinyl feels chunky and solid in your hands.

For a further discussion on the origin of recent Beatle vinyl releases see: Where “Made in the EU” Vinyl Might Be Pressed

Original TV Ads – The Beatles Red and Blue Albums

Posted on May 18, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Stumbled upon this on the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcsyyAEwgi8

And here’s the 2010 advertisement released when the remastered CD sets came out:

Both reminded me of the recently re-issued vinyl now on the Universal Music label…..

Ringo Starr – Postcards From Paradise

Posted on May 5, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Our CD copy of Ringo’s Postcards From Paradise has finally arrived. Apparently Australia Post has recently installed new automated machines which sort packages – and they are not going well…..

It has cost A$500 million to install the new system, but since then over 20% of parcels are being delivered to the wrong address! I’m blaming this on the length of time it took this little CD to get from Canada to my front door…..

It’s actually a pretty good listen with some really catchy hooks, clever lyrics and musical ideas. Here’s Ringo himself with a YouTube update:

Here’s the link to that cover story in Rolling Stone magazine that he mentions. And here Ringo is interviewed about the recording of the album:

And finally an album review from the April edition of Rolling Stone which gives Postcards three stars:

It’s been more than 50 years since Ringo Starr declared himself a fan of Beethoven — “especially his poems.” But all that time, he’s reigned as one of rock & roll’s most beloved sages. Postcards From Paradise, his 18th solo effort, is a masterful summary of Ringo-ness: his cheer, his cheek, his wisdom. He gets a little help from old friends like Joe Walsh and Todd Rundgren — no Kanye or Rihanna on this track list — and builds the title tune out of Beat-les quips: “It’s like I said the night before/I’ll love you when I’m 64.” Best of all is “Rory and the Hurricanes,” celebrating his pre-Beatles band — the one that made Ringo a star in Liverpool when the other three Fabs were nobodies. ♦♦♦

And you can read an interview with Postcards From Paradise recording engineer Bruce Sugar at Beatles Examiner.

Warman’s “Beatles Field Guide” Book

Posted on May 2, 2015 by beatlesblogger

We found a cute little Beatle book the other day. It’s called Warman’s Beatles Field Guide. Published in 2005 it is a small (but thick at 512 pages), pocket-sized book listing prices and descriptions for a wide range of Beatle collectables.

Inside you’ll find articles on “Why the Beatles Still Matter” and “Ranking the Beatles” as well as commentary and information on their post-break-up and solo careers.

But the biggest and most interesting chapters are the sections on “Memorabilia” – which is a comprehensively illustrated price guide (in 2005 US$ of course!):

The “Singles” (again lavishly illustrated and with indicative prices):

And then a lengthy section detailing each of the “Albums”:

These sections are all based around the US releases only – but it’s a great ‘ready-reference’ style book with a huge number of photos, background information and examples for each of the entries. A really worthwhile little book to have.

New John Lennon Vinyl Box Set Coming

Posted on April 25, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Whenever new Beatle or Beatle-related vinyl is mentioned we get interested.

Yes, like most collectors we have these albums already (in some cases many times over….) but the completist in us has to have the latest. And the latest announcement is that a new box set of eight John Lennon LPs is due for release on June 8. For all the details go to johnlennonmusic.com – but in a nutshell these will be faithful reproductions on 180-gram vinyl of John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band; Imagine; Some Time in New York City; Mind Games; Walls and Bridges; Rock ‘n’ Roll; Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey:

All artwork, including inner bags, posters, postcards and original labels will be reproduced:

Looks like the LPs come in a white box with the same design cues as the John Lennon Signature Box from back in October, 2011:

That set contains the same titles – only on CD – plus it has two bonus discs of non-album tracks, studio outtakes and home recordings:

Of course there’s been a previous incarnation of a John Lennon , 8 LP vinyl box set.

Record Store Day 2015 – An Epic Fail….

Posted on April 18, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Record Store Day is already well under way here in Australia and we were very keen to secure a copy of the Paul McCartney soundtrack to the film The Family Way:

So we schlepped all they way in to the city to one of the biggest and best record shops in Sydney – Red Eye Records. They always get good stocks in of most Record Store Day releases and were opening at 9.00am. We got there about 20 minutes before hand expecting to see a small queue. Turns out that was an over-ambitious expectation. There was already a very long queue well down the block. So long that you couldn’t actually see the Red Eye store:

We dutifully took our place and after an hour slowly shuffled toward the entry. They were basically letting one person in as one person left, so it was taking quite some time:

We eventually got to within about 20 people from the sales counter and at this point an employee came out and was helpfully going down the line (which was still snaking its way down the block behind us) asking what people were looking for and advising them if they still had stock. “Any copies of Paul McCartney’s The Family Way left?”. “No”, came the answer. “We only got one copy of that and it went ages ago”. Damn……

The guy standing behind me said he thought Record Store Day caused more disappointment than joy. Maybe he’s right. 😦

McCartney/Rihanna/Kanye ‘FourFiveSeconds’ CD Single

Posted on April 13, 2015 by beatlesblogger

This just arrived from Amazon.

It’s the CD single of Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney singing ‘FourFiveSeconds‘:

There’s just the one song, plus another track with the official video:

Have to say we really like the song.

One of the most interesting things about now having a physical copy of this release is the packaging – especially the detail contained in the prolific small print on the inside sleeve:

As you can see, for just one song, there is certainly a LOT of small print……

Turns out ‘FourFiveSeconds’ was indeed written by McCartney and Kanye West – but we learn they did it with (wait for it) seven other people. That’s a total of nine composers listed:(Click on the image above to see a larger version)

The rights to the song are administered by thirteen listed companies. And the song was recorded in New York, Santa Monica….and Mexico. Paul McCartney played acoustic guitar, but bass was provided by multi-instrumentalist and hip hop producer Mike Dean.

Oh, and apparently that Braille-like writing on the front cover is in fact Braille and it reads “four five seconds”.

Four Beatles-related Finds at Record Fair

Posted on April 11, 2015 by beatlesblogger

We’ve just returned from the annual Glebe Record Fair – one of the biggest of the year – held in the Sydney suburb of Glebe:

The two photos below were taken just after opening time at 9.00 am. This was before the venue really became absolutely packed with patrons hungrily seeking out vinyl, books and CDs. As you can see it’s already very crowded:

And the crowds just got bigger and bigger. In the melee that ensued we were lucky to discover four interesting little 45 singles. First up, a US white-label pressing of George Harrison’s ‘This Song’ from 1976 on his Dark Horse label, complete in its original outer sleeve. First pressings of this came with these white labels, while later issues have the traditional colour label:

At the same vendor’s stall we also discovered this unusual New Zealand pressing of Paul McCartney and Wings controversial ‘Give Ireland Back to the Irish’, dating from 1972. As was the case in most of the rest of the world this is on a custom Apple label:

A little later in another pile of 45s we spied this nice US pressing (and original picture sleeve) of Mary Hopkin singing ‘Goodbye’:

By this time we were feeling pretty weary, and the crowds had built considerably. We were just about to leave and doing one final trawl through some singles at another table when out popped this rare little gem:

It’s a 1986 UK pressing with re-mixes of the Suzy and the Red Stripes song ‘Seaside Woman‘ (a.k.a Linda McCartney and husband Paul). This was originally released on the A&M label back in 1980 with this cover:

Four Recent Ebay Purchases

Posted on March 31, 2015 by beatlesblogger

We got an email from PayPal the other day saying we’d earned a $10.00 credit that could be used on any Ebay purchase, and so we delved into the collection to uncover some items that were missing.

Turns out we’re drastically under-represented when it comes to early Ringo Starr Apple singles. For some reason or other these were a blind spot in the collection and so these three items have now been added:

These 7″ 45 rpm singles are all Australian Apple Records releases.

“Beaucoups of Blues” is taken from the 1970 album of the same name.

“It Don’t Come Easy” is a 1971 non-album single produced by George Harrison, and “Back Off Boogalooo” (also produced by Harrison) came out in March, 1972.

The same seller also had a Wings single we didn’t have and hadn’t previously been aware of:

“Arrow Through Me” is b/w “Old Siam, Sir”, and both songs come from the 1979 album Back to the Egg.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting

Some Local Beatle Pressings From a Visit to Holland

New John Lennon LP Box Set Pressed By Optimal Media

Original TV Ads – The Beatles Red and Blue Albums

Warman’s “Beatles Field Guide” Book

New John Lennon Vinyl Box Set Coming

Record Store Day 2015 – An Epic Fail….

McCartney/Rihanna/Kanye ‘FourFiveSeconds’ CD Single

Four Recent Ebay Purchases

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