Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting

A Beatles Carnival

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I’d not heard of these before but apparently they are quite popular. They’re called “Carnivals” – a blog where someone decides to gather together a whole lot of information from the web on one subject, aggregating it conveniently into one place.

JimsGotWeb has today launched his first Beatles Carnival:

Beatles Blog is featured on Jim’s first edition, as is the very fine WogBlog. Jim says the first 25 people to register on the site will win a free Beatles memorabilia item.

There will be a new Beatles Carnival on the site on the first Monday of each month.

Beatles With Records – Part Twelve

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A few people have sent in some more images of the Beatles either as a band or as solo artists being photographed with those things they sold so many of – records and CDs.

This first one, from Beatles Blog reader Ariel Caceres,  is a stunner – a photograph of John Lennon I have never seen before. Ariel says this was taken  on 24 October, 1973 during the filming of a TV commercial to publicise John’s “Mind Games” LP. There are some more images documented here:
If anyone knows more about the background to this shot just get in touch. Why is John kneeling and holding a copy of his 1973 LP “Mind Games”? Why is a man dressed as a fairy godmother casting a spell over him? And who is the bearded gentleman? Please write in and let us know:

(click on the image to see a larger version)

I think you’ll agree that it is an extraordinary photograph! Lennon is clearly doing something to publicise his latest record at the time (below), but what is going on in the scene above?

Our friend Claude Defer in France has once again been busy in his archives and has sent through some more images of the Beatles photographed with records.

First, a photograph of George with sleeves of his “33 1/3” album (from 1976) behind him:

Next comes Paul and Linda (in Bruxelles according to Claude – on July 2, 1992). They’re signing a copy of the “London Town” LP from 1978:

You can see in Paul’s hand the rear cover of the LP:

You can also just see that the man at the right in the photograph is holding a copy of the Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson picture-cover, 12-inch single from 1983, “Say, Say, Say“. You can see the rear of the cover:

Claude also sent in a picture which was already shown in the Beatles With Records – Part Seven, but he’s kindly included the full set of George Harrison photos taken at the same location of George looking at, and signing, a copy of the Beatles “Help!”:

And a final photo, another one from Ariel. This time not of a Beatle, but a Beatle son. It’ s Julian Lennon holding what could be a book – or is it a 45 rpm picture-cover record? The photo is kind of faded and I’m not sure:

He definitely has in his hands something with this image on the front cover:

If you know what this item could be let us know at beatlesblogger@gmail.com, or simply submit a comment in the space provided below.

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, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Another Two Beatles Picture Discs

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Last year I was able to get two Beatles vinyl picture disc 45 rpm records. One was “A Hard Day’s Night“, the other “Please Please Me“.

Another two discs have just come into the collection – thanks to reasonable prices on Ebay. They are “Love Me Do”:

And “From Me To You”:

These are both from the 22 picture disc series released by EMI/Parlophone in the UK on the anniversary of each singles’ release. Each disc was released on the 20th anniversary of that single reaching the number one spot on the charts. You can see the rest of the UK picture disc set here (1982-1985), here (1985-1987), and here (1988-1990) – with thanks to Dave Dermon for the links.

So, now I have four. There’s only eighteen to go….

Magical Mystery Tour to be Re-Released

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It is now official.

As WogBlog correctly reported last Saturday, the Beatles are to re-issue the film “Magical Mystery Tour” in a range of formats – including a replica of the original 1967 double vinyl 45 set:

(click image to see a larger version)

It will be part of a collectors deluxe edition, to be released on October 8 (October 9 in the USA).  The limited edition deluxe version will come in a 10″ x 10″ box containing the DVD & Blu-ray versions, a 60 page book with background information, photographs and documentation from the making of the film, and a faithful reproduction of the mono double 7″ vinyl EP of the film’s six Beatle songs, originally issued in the UK for the its 1967 release.

“Magical Mystery Tour” will also be available as a single DVD:

Or as a single BluRay:

Each release will contain “Magical Mystery Tour” special features including:

Director’s Commentary – by Paul McCartney

The Making of Magical Mystery Tour  – Featuring interviews with Paul and Ringo, along with other cast members and crew, and will include previously unseen footage.

Ringo the Actor – Ringo reflecting on his role in the film.

Meet The Supporting Cast – A feature on the background and careers of Nat Jackley, Jessie Robins, Ivor Cutler, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Victor Spinetti, George Claydon, and Derek Royle.

‘Your Mother Should Know’
‘Blue Jay Way’
‘The Fool On The Hill’
– These are three new edits of these songs all featuring footage not seen in the original film.

‘Hello Goodbye’ – as featured in Top of the Pops 1967 – The Beatles allowed the BBC to film them in the edit suite where they were working on “Magical Mystery Tour”. This was then turned into a promo by the BBC, who shot their own additional footage. It was then broadcast on Top of the Pops to mark the ‘Hello Goodbye’ single going to No 1 in December 1967.

Nat’s Dream – A scene directed by John Lennon featuring Nat Jackley and not included in the original film.

Ivor Cutler – ‘I’m Going In A Field’  – Ivor performs ‘I’m Going In A Field’. This scene was not included in the original film.

Traffic – ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’  – The filming of Traffic acting out their 1967 hit single ‘Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush’ was commissioned by the Beatles for possible inclusion in “Magical Mystery Tour” but was not used in the final edit.

There’s more here (HD trailer):

The Beatles Discomania – A Great Book

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Time for another gem found during my recent brief visit to Paris (see the previous France visit posts here, and here).

At the Gilbert Jeune bookstore I found this wonderful book by French writer and Beatles fanatic Francois Plassat:

“The Beatles Discomania” is a fantastic career-spanning summary of the Beatles output as a band and also as solo artists. It brings the story right up to the end of 2011 with details of the John Lennon Signature box set and his other re-issues, the Paul McCartney “Archive” series gets a mention, Ringo’s “Y Not”, and the George Harrison documentary “Living in the Material World“.  As you can see in the images below this is a lavishly illustrated with extensive album cover images and memorabilia spanning a wide range of releases. It is a very attractive book to own – even though I don’t speak French!

It turns that François Plassat works in graphic design and it shows as the text and image layout throughout this book is excellent. He created an agency called China Night which he led for more than twenty years . After writing a book about  Paul McCartney (released in October 2010 – see below), Plassat’s most recent work “The Beatles Discomania” is about  fifty years of the Beatles releases.

The book is a large format, soft-back  which has been stylishly and sensibly laid out. It was published by JBz & Co in France in 2011. The book is full of information on all the recordings released by the group as well as the solo releases of each band member. There are sections on Apple Records, George Martin, etc. This is a true guide to the complete musical output of the Beatles, a carefully laid out goldmine of information. Bring on the English translation!

Here are some images giving just a taste of what’s inside and the attention to detail in the illustrations and photographs:

Author Francois Plassat has also written another book “Paul McCartney: L’empreinte d’un Géant”, which translates as “Paul McCartney: The Footprint of a Giant”:

If you speak French (and we have some followers of the Beatles Blog in France) then you might be interested in these two interviews with author Francois Plassat about his amazing book “The Beatles Discomania”.

Here’s the rear cover:

Three French Beatles LP’s

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This post continues on from the one previous detailing some Beatles items found on a recent visit to Paris. As well as bookstores, I was also on the lookout for new or second-hand Beatles records and CDs. With only limited time (and limited knowledge of the geography of the city) I could only scout around nearby where I was staying and so I really only got to visit four record shops in all.

The best of them was definitely Crocodisc, which is at 40 rue des Ecoles, Paris which is smack bang in the middle of the Sorbonne university district and just down from the Pantheon. (Here‘s a link to their English translation site).

Crocodisc was a pretty good find:

As you can see it is crammed full, floor-to-ceiling, with LP’s, 45’s, CD’s and DVDs. Not only that, as well as the main store there is another whole shop-full of records right next door specialising in jazz and metal, etc. Pretty incredible.

They had a fairly large Beatles section – some new, mostly second-hand. I was looking out for actual French pressings to add to the collection and to serve as a happy reminder of my time in Paris – which is definitely one of the world’s great cities. I also couldn’t buy a massive amount – partly because I’d have to say that Beatles items in the store were commanding top prices, but also anything I purchased had to be carried safely back to far-away Australia as part of my luggage.

After much deliberation (and checking out the quality of the covers and discs inside) I settled on three choices. None of these is especially rare or unusual, but each is distinctly different and come from different phases of the Beatles career.

The first was a French pressing of the soundtrack album “Help!”, or as the cover says, “Les Beatles chanson du film Help!”:

I have multiple copies of “Help!” (see here, and here for more) but not a French pressing with this unique cover and released on the Odeon label.

Next is a French Apple pressing of the 1970 Beatle compilation release, “The Beatles Again” (or in some markets known as “Hey Jude”). The rear cover and labels for this one are unique to France with their prominent references to the disc manufacturer Pathe Marconi:

 

Finally, a French vinyl copy of “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl”, a budget Beatles record from 1977 and so far never (so far) officially released on CD:

This is on the Parlophone/Pathe Marconi/EMI label and has a great inner sleeve featuring some of the other Beatles titles available in France at the time:

So, that was my Paris Beatles records experience. Nothing earth-shatteringly special about the purchases, but some great reminders of a trip to Paris. The Crocodisc shop was definitely a fun visit, too. You could easily spend a couple of hours in there…

Click here for a comprehensive list of record stores – not only in Paris but right across France (it’s big).

John Lennon – Une Vie en Images

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I was fortunate recently to visit Paris, France and while there of course I had to have a snoop around for Beatle books and records. I had a couple of successes and over the next couple of blog posts I’ll detail what I found there….

In Paris there is a fantastic chain of discount bookstores called Gilbert Jeune:

They have a number of outlets all around the Place Saint-Michel, right across the road from the River Seine and just near where we stayed. In one of the stores they were stocking a number of Beatle and Beatle-related titles and I very much liked the look of this one:

“John Lennon – Une Vie en Images” translates roughly as “John Lennon – A Life in Images”. This is a large format softback book – very thick and heavy and printed on quality paper. The text by John Blaney is in French but as the book is largely made up of photographs of John Lennon that’s not so much of a drawback for me (I don’t speak French!). It actually makes this book a little more unusual and interesting if anything.

John Blaney comes with some cred. He’s a contributor to Shindig magazine and has written extensively on the Beatles, and Lennon and McCartney as solo artists. His books include “Paul McCartney – The Songs He Was Singing”; “John Lennon – Listen to this Book”; “Lennon and McCartney: Together Alone”; and “Beatles For Sale: How Everything They Touched Turned to Gold”. (You can read more about Blaney on his Amazon author page).

Amazon also carries this review of “John Lennon – Une Vie en Images” from the Booklist site: “Although this biography-in-photographs appears in conjunction with the thirtieth anniversary of John Lennon’s tragic death at 40, it concentrates on what Yoko Ono describes in her preface as her husband’s “magical” life. While Ono remembers Lennon as a “curious and highly intelligent man,” Blaney writes of Lennon’s “butterfly mind,” shorthand for his brilliance and impatience. In his extensive commentary accompanying hundreds of remarkably elegant private and public photographs, Blaney notes that while the always-photogenic Lennon appears to be “a confident, happy, normal young boy,” everyone knew he was exceptional. Creative, charismatic, ambitious, daring, and sensitive, Lennon concealed his terrible grief over his mother’s death when he was 17 behind a caustic and aggressive demeanor and struggled with his repressed feelings as the tempest of fame engulfed the Beatles. Image and narrative track the group’s rapid rise and evolution and Lennon’s discovery of his soul mate. Blaney writes, “Ono transformed Lennon; she filled him with confidence, inspiration and energy.” This superior photographic record of Lennon and his and Ono’s love, activism, and mutual artistry is strikingly romantic and poignant.” — Donna Seaman

Amazon has a “Look Inside”  page for the English version of this book. It  gives a much better idea of the great photos, layout  and content.

Further research when I got back home revealed that this book has also been published in English, but with the title  “John Lennon – In His Life”:

It was published in Germany as “Being John Lennon – The Visual Biography”:

And in Italian as well, this time with the title “John Lennon – A Revolution in Music”:

The French edition is a nice addition to the collection and a great memento of my first visit to Paris. Next post will feature some more French Beatle finds….

Kisses on the Bottom – Some Further Variations

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When Paul McCartney’s “Kisses on the Bottom” CD and LP was released earlier this year we posted on all the known variations at that time.

This week I had an email from Andrey in Russia alerting me to not one, but three further variations.

They are all Russian editions of the CD version of “Kisses”:
*  A 14-track official CD in a digipack – with an official Russian Universal Music small sticker on the front,
*  A 14-track illegal or pirate CD in a jewel case (using the same cover as the EU official version) and,
*  A 16-track illegal or pirate “Deluxe” CD+DVD (of the iTunes Live concert) in a cardboard digipack.

Andrey kindly sent some great scans of the covers, so here they are. Firstly the official Russian Universal Music edition, with 14 tracks in a cardboard digipack sleeve. You can see the official sticker on the front:

Note in the small print the official Russian publication details on the back.

Next an “unofficial” or pirate version which comes in a plastic jewel case:

And finally, the other “unofficial” or pirate edition. This time it is the Deluxe 16-track version of the CD. It comes in a cardboard digipack complete with a “bonus” DVD containing the Apple iTunes launch concert of the album live from the Capitol studios in Hollywood, California. This, to my knowledge, has never been officially released in hard copy like this. (However, if you purchased the official Deluxe edition you do get a bonus digital download of the same performance):

(To see larger versions of all the covers above just click on the images)

Thanks to Russian collector Andrey for this information and the images. See also the terrific website beatlesvinyl.com.ua for comprehensive information, images and details of other USSR and Russian Beatles releases.

If you have any interesting Beatles or solo releases feel free to email us at beatlesblogger@gmail.com

UPDATE:  The very informed and accurate Wogblog site is reporting that the Capitol Studios live concert performance of “Kisses on the Bottom” will be officially released on DVD on September 7th. Thanks for that Roger. Here’s the promo poster for the DVD:

Label Variations Part Seven – Help!

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Our last post was about the 1965 US Capitol Records edition of the Bealtes “Help!”

Here are some label variations of that album (both LPs and CDs), including the versions released in Australia and the UK.  Some are from my collection, augmented by images of variations from around the world. You can click on the labels to see larger versions and hover your mouse over to get the country of origin:

And one final vinyl – thanks to Paul in France for this image of an exclusive French edition from 1978 on orange vinyl:

There are also a few CD’s:

(Click on labels to see larger versions. Hover mouse over to get country of origin)

And of course the DVD (which came out in 2007 in both Deluxe and standard edition sets). Here’s the standard edition box and DVD:

To publicise the DVD, Capitol issued a promotional disc – a seven song “Sampler” from the film:

For more Label Variations you can see Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six plus the Beatles “Love” variations here and here. There’s also a comprehensive post on all the extensive variations of the McCartney/Fireman “Electric Arguments” release, the Twin Freaks LP and singles, and McCartney‘s recent “Kisses On The Bottom” CD’s and LP. There is also a post on some George Harrison “All Things Must Pass” label variations.

Latest Addition to the Collection – The Beatles “Help!” US LP

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After many a year I’ve finally got myself a copy of the US vinyl version of the Beatles “Help!”.

Last week I visited a newly-opened record store called Pacific Records. It’s located in the Sydney suburb of Mona Vale and sells new and used LPs, singles, CDs, music books, posters and t-shirts. The guy running it also has an Ebay store.

I’ve already got a few different versions of “Help!”, but have never had an LP copy of the US Capitol Records pressing – which varies in a number of ways to the LP released in Australia and elsewhere. The one I got last week is on the orange Capitol label:

The LP is of interest because the US edition has seven songs from the film interspersed with instrumentals, a different running order, and a very different cover to that issued in places like the UK, Europe and Australia:

Also, it has a really cool gatefold with lots of additional photos inside (whereas in other countries “Help!” comes in just a single LP sleeve):

In Australia (and in the UK) we’re used to this “Help!” LP cover image:

As I said there are some songs in common, but the running order is different and Bruce Spizer explains why in his liner notes for the booklet that comes with “The Beatles Capitol Albums, Vol. 2”:

“In England, Parlophone repeated its practice of issuing an album with songs from the film on one side and additional new recordings by the group on side two. (Three of those songs had previously appeared [in the US] on “Beatles VI”.) Capitol issued an album with the seven Beatles songs from the film augmented with “Exclusive Instrumental Music From the Picture’s Soundtrack.” Ken Thorne’s score for the film consisted of a mix of Thorne originals, classical music and orchestrated Beatles tunes, often with an Indian flavour. Capitol’s “Help!” LP was issued with a deluxe gatefold cover on August 13, 1965″.

The copy I got also has a nice original paper inner sleeve, with advertisements for other Capitol LPs, including a couple by the Beatles:

Next time a post on some “Help!” label variations from around the world.