For your holiday reading pleasure Vanity Fair magazine has just published “a guide to the strange, little-known, hard-to-find Beatles Christmas recordings“. 
A Guide to the Beatles Christmas Recordings
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Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting
Ringo’s ‘Beaucoups of Blues’ – German Pressing
Another visit to Audiomania, the eclectic second-hand record store not far from our local area, and another Ringo Starr record find….
Audiomania is a quirky shop located in a run-down, semi-industrial area. It only opens two days a week (Thursdays and Saturdays), and then for only four hours at a time. One side of the premises contains blue crates full of good quality vinyl (pop, rock, and blues, as well as lots of jazz and reggae). On the other side they sell used hi-fi, restored motor cycles….and artworks made out of old motorcycle and hi fi parts.
Like we said, it’s an unusual place:
After a thorough trawl here last Saturday we ended up with two items.
The first find was a nice clean German pressing of Ringo Starr’s 1970 solo release Beaucoups of Blues. This one is on the Hörzu/Apple label, making it quite interesting:
Starting in the 1960s Hörzu (principally a radio and TV listing magazine) began producing and releasing records as a subsidiary of the Electrola company. Electrola had the rights to release EMI product (including the Beatles) in Germany.
Like we said in the previous post, we seem to moving from not having much Ringo as a solo artist on vinyl to now having quite a few of his releases.
Vinyl is the specialty of Audiomania, but while at the store we found a couple of small crates with some CDs. In there we turned up an original 1986 UK copy of Paul McCartney’s Press to Play: 
This is the disc without the bonus tracks (which were added for the 1993 re-issues called The Paul McCartney Collection). The lovely lady who runs the store gave this one to us for free!
Very Rare, Early Beatles 45
An auction has just concluded on eBay. It was for a very rare, early Beatle 45rpm vinyl single. 
This is a UK demonstration/promo 45 of their debut single ‘Love Me Do’/’Please Please Me’.
According to the listing, just 250 copies were pressed for distribution to radio DJs & reviewers prior to its October, 1962 release. Only a handful survive today.
The thing which distinguishes it is the white label with the large red ‘A’ on the ‘Love Me Do’ side. Both labels also have the ‘DEMONSTRATION RECORD – NOT FOR SALE’ wording, and ‘The Parlophone Co. Ltd..’ around the rims. Paul McCartney’s songwriting credit on both sides is misspelt as ‘McArtney’.
Listed by a Greek eBayer, the record sold for a sensational US$12,100.00 (A$14,699).
Comprehensive New Russian Beatles Books Released
We have a lot of Russian readers and so it’s appropriate to mention what looks like a very comprehensive, two-volume Beatles book published recently in Russia.
Earlier this year Vladimir Bokarev and Yury Mitrofanov released the two-volume book called ИСТОРИЯ “БИТЛЗ” В СССР (1964-1970 гг). That translates as The History of the Beatles in the USSR (1964-1970). Here’s the cover of Volume One:
And here’s Volume Two:
These publications form a forensic, historical research of the Beatles as a phenomenon in Soviet society. Through examining numerous historical sources the authors show the evolution and rise of the popularity of the Beatles in the Soviet press, Beatle art in the Soviet Union (for example through their records, printed music, lyrics and translations, concert performances by other artists, films, etc.), and the influence of the Beatles on Soviet youth.
Record images and other items shown in the books come from the collections of Andrey Lukanin (Russia), and Vadim Legkokonets (Ukraine). As well there’s a wealth of information provided from these two great websites:
http://www.beatlesvinyl.com.ua/
http://beatlespress.com.ua/
To order this set of two books (published only in Russian) write to beatera@yandex.ru
The authors plan to continue the work and publish a further book on the same theme – but about the years 1971-1980.
Beatles “Long Tall Sally” EP – Record Store Day 2014 Ltd Ed
Our copy of the recent Record Store Day Black Friday Beatle EP release has finally arrived. Copies were not brought into Australia, and so an overseas purchase was required.
This is a limited edition, and (like the recent Mono LP re-issues) faithfully reproduces the original British release, down to the labels and the old-fashioned tabbed rear cover:
And here’s a close-up of that sticker on the front:
Hope for the Future – Digital Single Out Now
We just received an email from paulmccartney.com letting us know that the extended EP of Paul McCartney’s ‘Hope for the Future‘ is now available for download from iTunes.
There will also be a physical release in the form of a 12″ vinyl single. No track listings for that are available as yet, but it will come out on January 12 in the UK, and January 13 in the US.
Spincds.com in the UK and the Amazon US store have place-holders for the vinyl release and it can be pre-ordered now.
And there’s an official video to accompany the song where a holographic Paul McCartney sings the song in the world of Destiny:
Also check out this exclusive in Wired magazine.
McCartney’s ‘Hope for the Future’ – Release Confirmed
paulmccartney.com has confirmed a December 8 global release for Paul McCartney’s song ‘Hope for the Future’.
It will be a digital download only, and the original version of the track (which is taken from the best-selling ‘Destiny’ video game credits) will be made available alongside four other special mixes of the song:
1) ‘Hope For The Future’ (Main)
2) ‘Hope For The Future’ (Thrash)
3) ‘Hope For The Future’ (Beatsession Mix)
4) ‘Hope For The Future’ (Jaded Mix)
5) ‘Hope For The Future’ (Mirwais Mix)
A is For Apple Book – More Info
Since we reported back in September on a new series of books detailing the history of the Beatles Apple company, there’s been a flurry of activity and a lot of further information coming through.
The authors of A is For Apple now have a cover for Volume 1, which is due for publication in April next year:
And they’ve produced a YouTube video, too:
There are a couple of further very interesting draft sample pages now available here and here. (These come with a “big file” warning and may take some time to download).
For Apple fans these both contain great info and photos.
And there are now details about some special offers and bonus material which will come with Volume 1 of A is For Apple.
One Apple artist has given the publishers permission to release two rare recordings with the project. Jackie Lomax, just a couple of days before his tragic death in 2013, signed an agreement to include an exclusive 7“ vinyl of his previously unreleased track ‘Land Of People’, and the demo version of ‘Is This What You Want?’. Both songs will be included with Vol. 1 of A is For Apple.
Additionally, if you pre-order Volume 1 before December 3, you not only save €5 Euro on the purchase price but also receive a strictly limited edition bonus flexi disc of The Iveys‘ unreleased 1968 Christmas Record:
In late 1968 The Iveys (later to become Badfinger) taped a Christmas message for their fans just like the Beatles had done since 1963. But contrary to the Beatles‘ annual Crimble messages this one has never been released. Only very recently the A is For Apple people got permission to include this Christmas flexi disc that never was.
For the whole story of the project so far see the A is For Apple website.
New Budget George Martin Collection
Wog Blog is reporting a new budget label release collecting some of Beatle producer George Martin’s output over his many years in the recording industry.
It is a double CD set and there are two Beatle songs included (‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’) plus thirty others by a wide range of artists. It’s a pretty good overview of his work:
Every track listed (except the two Beatle tunes) is also available on the 2001, six CD set Produced by George Martin. That box set contains 150 titles, but if you can’t find it (or can’t afford it!), this new release from Not Now Music looks like a bargain at just £5.99.
Something About the Beatles – Do Yourself a Favour and Have a Listen
We raved about a new podcast called Something About the Beatles back when it first came out. SATB is hosted by two Beatle experts and authors Robert Rodriguez and Richard Buskin.
If you need any convincing to make this a regular download, have a listen to Episode 11.
It’s a great example of how interesting this podcast is. The two look into the instruments that the Beatles used on stage and in the studio – and how these directly impacted the sound and their creative push to always try new ways of making music. Buskin interviews Andy Babiuk, author of Beatles Gear (and the newly-published Rolling Stones Gear), but also talks with his co-host Rodriguez, delving into their own extensive knowledge and understanding of the music. Great stuff.
It is episodes like this that make it well worth subscribing to this podcast – which comes out roughly once a month:
See also our post on Beatles 101, Richard Buskin’s latest book.
Beatles Blog 