Being located in Australia means it is only a hop, skip and a jump across the Tasman Sea to our very close neighbor, New Zealand. And that means the occasional (and interesting) New Zealand Beatle items turn up here from time-to-time.
I recently scored a nice copy of the New Zealand Magical Mystery Tour LP, which came out in Australia and NZ on the World Record Club label. In both countries this release was unique to the rest of the world, but the New Zealand version has a number of differences again to the Australian. Here’s the front cover:
The picture is very similar to the Australian edition, but there is a large World Record Club/EMI logo over the white piano. And the rear is different too. The Australian cover is printed in colour, while in New Zealand it was black and white:
The most startling difference is the label – this is the one I have:
In New Zealand there are two variations of this label. Here’s the second:
I’m told there is an even more unusual New Zealand Apple label version. It still has the same outer cover, but with a different catalogue number – and green Apple labels on the vinyl….
To more closely compare the two World Record Club editions click here to see pictures of the Australian MMT release.
We got that Paul was carrying a copy of Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um: The Best of Major Lance, but not the record that we can see Ringo holding while getting off the plane in London after their famous first US tour.
Thanks to Andrey in Russia we now have this one solved too. He put out the word amongst his collector friends asking what this record could be:
And they quickly came up with the correct identification:
Andrey’s mates are fantastic. They also provided the answer to this unusual and obscure LP John Lennon had on the end of his bed:
Andrey also sent these next couple of photos. This Beatles photo, clipped from a newspaper, looks like it comes from the same photo shoot as the photograph used in Beatles with Records Part Three, but it’s a different pose and this time in black and white:
Next, from the height of the Apple days, Paul and Apple PR man Derek Taylor in the band’s offices at number 3 Savile Row, London. Paul is holding an unidentified acetate recording:
Here’s another of Paul (much later), this time proudly holding a copy of his 2006 classical release, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart):
And here’s one with Ringo holding his solo CD Ringo Rama (2003):
And signing a copy as well:
Finally, a couple of interesting photos of Beatles with records from the website Kenwood. Kenwood revels in discovering and detailing places that the Beatles (especially John Lennon) have lived. It tries to give “then” and “now” comparisons of how rooms and buildings have changed, often involving great detective work. This recent post looks at 57 Green Street, London – where all four of the lads lived for a short period in 1963. There are two photos of them there with records. This one of Ringo sorting through 45’s:
And this one of John, seated in front of the same record player that Ringo is using above:
(click images to see a larger version)
Behind him on the left-hand side, upside-down, is a yellow LP cover. Could it be The Fabulous Miracles (Tamla 238, 1963)?
This LP contains the Motown group’s second Top Ten single, “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”, which became such a smash that the album was soon reissued and renamed. However, this is the original cover art. “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” was of course covered by the Beatles on their second UK album With the Beatles (1963).
Thanks once more to everyone who has sent in further photos and information. You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13 and 14, 15 and 16
OK. We take a little bit of a sidetrack here. To a website I stumbled across by accident last week. As you do.
It’s still very much about “…adventures in collecting Beatles music…” though.
It’s a site called Greta’s Records, and it’s a fascinating concept realised by an American woman named Allison Anders. As she explains on her site: “Just before Christmas, I treated myself to a new and special experience — I bid in a live celebrity auction. Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, Ca. presented a 2 day live auction of the remaining estate of classic film actress Greta Garbo”.
And there was a mass of possessions on offer in the auction. (Click here to see the full Garbo collection catalogue).
Allison continues: “The question one needs to ask when you bid in an auction like this — what do I truly WANT, just something which belonged to her? Everyone would love a dress she wore — but what would I really DO with it?…..Then I saw it. WOW — Greta Garbo had records! Of course! Why wouldn’t she? Everyone had vinyl records, stacks of them in the 50s, 60s onward. What would possibly be in Greta Garbo’s private record collection? All of it was thrilling and surprising. There were several lots of records up for auction — including one of classical records and opera, one of spoken word, one of jazz, then one of international records, and one of rock and pop records…..[and] I was the winning bidder on the rock/pop records! 50 of them!” (Click here to see the catalogue page featuring Lot 420 – the popular records).
As well as some detail about the release and it’s songs, Allison has researched Introducing the Beatles fairly thoroughly – even down to notes and links on this the most counterfeited of all popular LPs. She also includes a backgrounder on the Vee Jay label, the most successful black-owned record label before Motown. And there’s even a video on how to tell whether your copy of this record is legitimate or a phoney (….turns out Greta Garbo’s is a phoney):
Well, there’ll be more Beatle records coming up on Allison’s great blog. There are at lease two others (Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour which we can see in the photos) and I’m sure she will be worth reading when she gets to these.
For anyone with a collector’s heart this is a fascinating journey and a document of a famous person’s taste in popular music.
Firstly, David wrote to correctly identify the record that you can see Paul holding in these two photographs below when the band arrived back in the UK in 1964, fresh from their first US tour. It’s the Okeh record Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um: The Best of Major Lance:
Thanks David!
We’re still looking for someone to identify the record that Ringo has under his arm in the top photo. It’s a lot more generic because it seems to be some sort of “Best Of” LP. You can only just see part of the title (on its side) – the numbers “1963”, followed by what looks like a track listing in the style of juke box listings:
Meanwhile, the photo of Klaus Voormann signing a Revolver CD in Part Fifteen reminded French Beatles collector Claude Defer of a photograph that he has of Klaus signing his very own Revolver LP (a German issue):
You now have a real collectors item there Claude!
Collector Andrey sent in a Beatle-related image. It is of John Lennon’s estranged father Alfred Lennon who tried to cash in on his son’s fame by releasing a record of his own in 1965 called “That’s My Life (My Love and My Home)”:
You can hear some of “That’s My Life (My Love and My Home)” here:
And read an interesting article by the man who penned the words to the song here.
Andrey also sent in this advertising photograph of Paul McCartney holding a CD copy of his ninth solo album Off the Ground, released in 1993:
The same image was used as the cover of a highly collectable extended 2CD version of Off the Ground called Off the Ground – The Complete Works:
The photo was again used (with a different background Photoshopped in) to promote the first round of re-mastered and re-released McCartney back-catalogue back in 1993, called “The Paul McCartney Collection” series:
Don’t forget you can submit photos or further information that you have by posting a comment below or you can email me here.
And you can view the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here:
Masses of photos sent in recently – especially from Andrey in Russia. This series is about finding photographs of the Beatles actually holding the product they sold so prolifically – either their own records or those of other artists. We also accept photographs of those close to the Beatles in the proximity of records or CDs.
Back in Part 8 and in Part 10 we identified a very early photo of the band playing on a stage that had a backdrop consisting of a black curtain with LP covers pinned to it. Turns out these were taken in 1961 at a hall with the very grand title of The Palais Ballroom in place called Aldershot in the south of England. Pete Best is still their drummer and this was the band’s first foray to the south of the country. A mere 18 people turned up for the gig! Despite that, the Beatles look to be giving the performance their all. These were the photos we had so far:
From these we were able to identify the following records:
Well, Andrey has sent a couple more photos from that same 1961 Aldershot show:
(Click on some images to see larger versions)
From these its possible to identify at least three more LPs pinned to the backdrop. From the first photo, just above Paul’s microphone you can see this one:
And in the final photo, hanging upside down at an angle just behind Pete Best and above the guitar amp:
Just below the Bobby Darin, also on an angle, is one called Sing It Again No.2. I can’t find an image of that exact disc, but did find Sing It Again No.4 which has very similar artwork:
Also in Part 8 we had a small photo which was taken in 1963 at EMI headquarters for the launch of the Please Please Me LP. The band is on a stage with lots of album covers behind them:
Here are a couple more from that same day – and much larger, too:
This one below is also a fairly early photograph. Adoring fans seeking autographs on their Beatles singles. Maybe they are copies of “From Me To You”, the first 7″ single released in the plain green Parlophone paper sleeve?
These next two show the Beatles arriving back in the UK in 1964 after their tour to America – with Ringo, George and Paul each having records under their arms. To identify just what they are though will need your help:
If you can help identify Paul and Ringo’s records (its hard with George because his are in a paper bag!) please post a comment below or email me here
Once the band started to sell some records and earn some money they purchased the latest gadgets to play records – including in their cars:
Dick James formed the music publishing company Northern Songs (with Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney) and became the publisher of all the Beatles songs. As the photo caption says – he kept a close eye on the fortunes of his key partners:
(That’s some letter opener he has there!)
Finally, a photo of Klaus Voormann, the man who designed the BeatlesRevolver cover art in 1966. Here he is more recently signing a copy of the CD for a fan:
As usual thanks to all those who have sent in content and further information. You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 17.
COMING SOON – The Beatles with Gold Records – and believe me there are LOTS of those.
(Click on many of the images above to see larger versions)
I know Christmas is well and truly over, but one more thing on the Holidays Rule release before we move on.
This CD came out with the title Holidays Rule in the US – but for the European, UK and Australian markets we got a CD called Christmas Rules. This is because we don’t use the term “happy holidays” when talking about the Christmas break.
Here’s what they both look like, beginning with the US version which comes in a sparkly, metallic, dark red and white gatefold cover:
And in the UK/EU/Australia it is called Christmas Rules and comes in a bright red, matt finish gatefold:
The 8-page booklet (above) for both the US and the Australian/European versions appears to be the same. There is an odd website address on the rear of the booklet though. In large type at the bottom of the page of both versions it says: SEARCH PARTY, and then gives this address in smaller type: searchpartymusic.com
This is strange because it’s the website for a Boston-based wedding and functions band. Not sure what’s going on with that….
Both Holidays Rule and Christmas Rules come with the non-strings version of the “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)”. To get the strings version you need to download the iTunes version.
Had this amazing find yesterday. Just near where I work there’s a discount bookshop that sells lots of remainders. Over the years I’ve picked up quite a few things here (see: The Beatles Second Album; “The Beatles” book; Beatles Books Abound; etc.)
Yesterday I went in for the first time in weeks and saw about five copies of this sitting on a shelf:
I’ve seen this book around the traps but never purchased a copy, but at just A$14.99 how could I refuse?
John Lennon’s son Julian has turned his Beatles memorabilia, previously sitting in storage, into a travelling exhibition and a book – all to raise funds for his charity The White Feather Foundation.
There are lots of gold record awards – all of them from the US and all of them genuine (that is, the actual records that were presented by the RIAA – the Recording Industry of America – to the Beatles). In fact Julian says that his is the only full collection of the American gold discs. How can you tell they are all original? Well the book explains that official presentations are identifiable by the “…white-matte style, so named because of the white linen background used in the construction of the award. These types of awards were produced from 1963 to 1974 and were strictly limited to the artists only.”
Interestingly, Julian says in the text that despite being the only person to own a complete set of Beatles US gold records, he doesn’t own any of the Beatles vinyl albums at all. Extraordinary.
There are a couple of great guitars pictured in the book – some of which were given to him by his father and others acquired later (like this one):
Julian says that nearly everything he now owns he had to buy at auction. When his father passed away in 1980 he didn’t inherit any mementoes or keepsakes. Which is incredibly sad for himself and for his family.
If you want to have a peek inside just click here, and here’s a video of Julian Lennon talking about the book and exhibition.
I have posted very rarely on Wings in this blog, but of course collecting records and CDs by (or related to) the Beatles and Paul McCartney means that the band is well-and-truly included. During a recent visit to Canberra (the capital of Australia) I came across a second-hand shop I’d not visited before in the city’s downtown area. They mostly specialise in CDs, DVDs and games, but on the floor there was a large amount of unsorted vinyl where I found a small but interesting addition to the collection.
I already have a German pressing of the Wings single “Good Night Tonight” (1979). It’s the 12″ full version (7 minutes 15 seconds) of the song, on a green EMI Electrola/Odeon label:
As you can see, the cover is not in great shape but the vinyl is in mint condition. Anyway, in the Canberra store I found the Australian release of this same disc. It came out here with an orange Parlophone label:
The two releases have pretty much identical exterior artwork throughout with the only real difference being the colour of the inner sleeves. The German inner sleeve is made from thin paper and is printed in black and white:
While the Australian inner sleeve is made of thicker cardboard and is more deep blue in colour:
I also have the 7″ 45rpm edited version (4 minutes 18 seconds) of “Good Night Tonight” on an Australian black and silver Parlophone label:
It’s nice to have the orange Parlophone version, and at the cost of just A$3.00, a small but worthwhile addition to the collection.
Since the last instalment we’ve been swamped with some great content – enough for at least two or three more posts featuring the Beatles (or people close to them) photographed or filmed with records or CDs – either their own or those of other artists.
This first one comes from beatlesblogger.com reader Ariel, who sent in this great YouTube clip of John Lennon and Yoko Ono strolling past a crowd of reporters and photographers:
The footage was clearly taken in 1970 when John and Yoko were publicising this Plastic Ono Band album:
The footage comes from a 1977 film by French film-maker Gérard Courant, whose website says of the film: “The year punk music exploded, Courant gave his most avant-garde outburst by relating for the first time the shattering experiences that took place in the second half of the 20th century…with the rock culture that clamored that same idea of rupture…”. Lennon and Ono can also be seen publicising the same LP in Part Five and also in Part Two.
Staying with John Lennon for a moment here’s an image sent in by Andrey in Russia of the Lennon’s in New York – holding court with assembled media and hangers-on in their apartment in February, 1972 in Greenwich Village:
There’s obviously a record you can see sitting there at the foot of the bed:
But what and who is it? I was having real trouble identifying this one. Well, thanks to Andrey’s Russian-speaking friends we’ve been able to find that LP. He asked one of the Beatles.ru forums for some help. Which artist could it be? Andrey says he got the answer in about ten minutes:
The Power Pop website says that the group Soup was from Wisconsin in the USA and the members were Doug Yankus, Rob Griffith and David Faas . The band released a self-titled album in 1970, however what we can see here is the bands second LP, The Album Soup, from 1971. How it came to the attention of John Lennon, and what he thought of it we’ll probably never know.
Continuing on the Lennon theme – this time with Yoko and a gentleman named Kristofer Englehardt, author of the book “The Beatles Undercover“, holding a copy of her solo LP from 1971 called Fly:
In Part Six there’s a terrific photo of George Harrison in the back of a limo holding up a copy of his All Things Must Pass LP. Here’s another good one from around the same time:
Could it be that this photo below was taken on the same day and location? It looks very much like the same shirt George is wearing above. Perhaps he’s playing one of the sides from All Things Must Pass on his record player at home?
One final shot of George taken in 1972 according to the caption, this time with his triple LP from 1971 The Concert for Bangladesh:
When you are Paul McCartney, just getting into a building you are visiting can have it’s challenges. The photo below shows the type of crush which can eventuate when everyone wants a photograph or an album signed – including one fan bravely holding up a copy of the 1988 Russian release Снова в СССР:
Here he is again – this time with fans thrusting forward copies of (amongst other things) Help! and Tug of War (you can see the cover of Tug of War at the very bottom right-hand side of the photo):
One other final shot of Paul holding a 45 single, this time with Ringo and John. It is what is reported as a test acetate recording (printed in limited quantities and used by the band and engineers for checking the quality and the mix) – it is supposedly of a song from Sgt Pepper:
There’s another photo from the studio on the same day below – from a different angle with George also in attendance and more acetates lined up on the piano:
One final photo for this instalment – again of the Beatles as a group and possibly arriving in Rome. I say that because the gentleman in the light coloured jacket, moustache and glasses (who is a fellow named Alf Bicknell – the Beatles chauffeur between 1964-1966) is holding a copy of the Italian version of A Hard Day’s Night. You can tell it’s the Italian cover of the LP because the large type across the top saying “The BEATLES” is distinctively different to the standard UK release:
Thanks to all those who have sent in content and further information. You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17.
We’ve really been enjoying the newly-released BBC-Arena documentary “Produced by George Martin“. And it has been getting some very good reviews too. You might recall a little while ago we gave away a copy of the DVD to a lucky Beatlesblog reader, Eric Leon in France.
The DVD and BluRay contain the extensive documentary, plus over 50 minutes of extended interviews with Martin, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and many others. But it is not just Sir George’s work with the Beatles which is featured. “Produced by George Martin” is a history of Parlophone Records, which is a division of the huge recording conglomerate known as EMI. George Martin was the boss of Parlophone and so alongside the Beatles (by far his most famous signing) he was responsible for recording some of the top hit-makers in Britain (and the world) including Cilla Black, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Rolf Harris, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, Matt Monro, Shirley Bassey, and of course Wings. Many who see the doco will be wondering if there’s a way to get hold of some of the great music and comedy featured which Martin produced. There is – it’s a six CD box set of his work that came out way back in 2001. Interestingly, although it was released more than ten years before this latest documentary, it carries a very similar title to this year’s DVD and BluRay: “Produced by George Martin – 50 Years in Recording”:
Each CD set is individually numbered (mine is 08750) and comes in a fold-out, long-box length holdings which holds the six CD’s and a book. Here’s the rear cover and some of the inside fold-out panels:
The CD’s themselves contain tracks that date back to Sir George’s earliest work, beginning in 1955 and then traversing his entire career up to his post-Parlophone days recording acts like America, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Webb and John McLaughlin. Whoever designed the set decided to give each CD an authentic and historic Parlophone label. It’s a design idea that the Beatles themselves decided to copy in the their latest series of remastered re-issues of their own work, both for the 2009 CD remasters (mono and stereo), and for the LP box set which has only just been released:
Glued inside the fold-out package is a 35 page book, with liner notes by Mark Lewisohn (who will be well-known to Beatles fans as the band’s most knowledgable and respected biographer). In it Lewisohn details the background to Sir George’s life and the multitude of artists and styles he produced over a 45-year span in the business:
For those who were not able to fork out the considerable outlay for the full 6 CD box set, EMI/Parlophone also produced a “Highlights” single CD version containing 24 tracks:
And there was also a promo CD produced. It came in a simple cardboard slipcase with a further reduced selection of material (14 tracks). This would have been sent to radio stations, and reviewers at magazines and newspapers to promote the box set:
This 2001 box set from 2001 forms a great companion to the filmed “Produced by George Martin” DVD and BluRay documentary released in 2012.
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