Tag Archives: Beatles Collecting

Weird “Concert for Bangladesh” LP

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Every so often you come across a CD or LP where you just can’t identify the country it was released in. Its kind of frustrating because collectors usually like to know this kind of detail…especially when you come across unusual or different packaging of a release you think you know well.

That’s the case here with this three-LP set from 1971 of George Harrison’s “Concert for Bangladesh”.

Every copy I’ve seen to date comes in a hard cardboard box, with a lid that lifts off and looks like this:

The usual "Concert for Bangladesh" box

The box contains the three vinyl discs, and the white-covered 64-page book of concert photos, text and credits for the album. The rear of this box is plain and has no writing on it.

However, I have a copy in the collection that’s a bit different. Its a box, but made of soft cardboard that doesn’t have a lid. The front cover looks familiar enough:

Front cover "Concert for Bangladesh"

So far so good. But this release has flaps on the back which you pull out to get access to the records and book inside:

The flaps in the closed position

You flip open these flaps and the “box” looks like this:

"Concert for Bangladesh" open

From what I can tell the US, UK and Australian versions all have the lidded box, and not this top-opening, slide-out style box. Also the US and UK versions have dark khaki brown inner sleeves in which the records sit (the Australian release doesn’t have any paper sleeves).

Inside this box  though the LPs are in light yellow colored thin paper sleeves:

The LPs are in yellow paper sleeves

The place you can usually tell the country of origin is in the small print on the labels of the records themselves. This one has no hints – with no mention of a country of origin. However, it does have a lot more copyright information on each disc, located just near the record number information (see top the left-hand side in the pics below as compared to the Australian release):

The label of the "strange" version - with copyright info top left

Compare this to the official Australian release:

The Australian release label - note no copyright info

The final main difference is that the words “Sole Distributors, Gramophone Record Company, Ltd” are written on the labels and prominently across the back of the box. The image below is from the rear of the box:

"Sole Distributors, Gramophone Record Company, Ltd" printed on the rear of the box

So, a weird one.

Being a huge worldwide Apple release, this concert disc set would have been issued in a large number of countries. I have my suspicions that this one here could be either the New Zealand or the Indian release.  But I don’t have anything to prove that.

If anyone has any information on this release please let me know by submitting a comment. Cheers for now.

George Harrison – Traveling Wilburys (Deluxe)

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If there’s ever a thing to get a collector going it is a couple of different versions of the same release….

Enter the George Harrison side project The Traveling Wilburys, a super band he shared credit for with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.  (Or, as they are credited on the album sleeve: Lucky, Otis, Charlie T. Jnr. and Nelson Wilbury).

In 2007 Rhino Records released a limited edition box set of the two Wilbury albums, plus a DVD disc featuring a twenty-four minute documentary on the band and a collection of music videos.

The box set was released in three editions; the standard edition, with both CDs and DVD in a silver-coloured double digipak package with a 16-page booklet, and a “deluxe” boxed edition with the CDs and DVD, a hard-back 40-page booklet, and an envelope containing two old-style photos, two modern band photos, and a sticker.

The first release of this deluxe edition came out in a white linen covered box. However, you can see in the pictures below not one, but two versions of this deluxe box set – that’s because the first edition was so popular it quickly sold out….and so a year later they released another version – this time with the exact same content inside but housed in a blue linen covered box.

Each comes with a “Certificate of Authenticity” and is numbered. The white box here is number 18887. The blue box is numbered 102681.  Both are now pretty hard to find, though I think the white box is the rarer as there were fewer produced.  There was also a vinyl edition of the set – but I haven’t got that one. Yet…..

Traveling Wilburys     The Traveling Wilburys Collection

(First & Second Editions)

Label: Rhino  Records

Cat. No.:   R2 167868     (8122 7998 233)

2007 and 2008/US/2 CD/1 DVD/Ltd. Ed./book/4 photos/sticker/linen covered box sets

Traveling Wilburys 1st and 2nd Editions

Traveling Wilburys 1st and 2nd Editions

Traveling Wilburys 1st and 2nd Editions

Traveling Wilburys 1st and 2nd Editions - Front

Inside the 1st Edition Deluxe Box

Inside the 1st Edition Deluxe Box

Beatles Mono Box – Unboxing Pix

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Well, as promised in an earlier post, here are some photographs of my “un-boxing” of the remastered Beatles In Mono. It’s a white box that holds 10 CDs – that is each original mono album released by the group, plus a 2 CD set called “Mono Masters”. This is like the “Past Masters” double that is available either individually or in the stereo remastered box set. However, “Mono Masters” has a slightly different track list with four different songs unique to this package. These are from “Yellow Submarine” and have never previously been issued in mono on CD: “Only A Northern Song”, “All Together Now”, “Hey Bulldog” and “It’s All Too Much”.

The box also contains a 44 page booklet with lots of great photos and text by Beatles aficionado Kevin Howlett.

Interestingly the small print on the removable promotional flyer that is tucked into the shrink wrap on the outside of the box says “Made in Japan” – so I guess EMI commissioned their Japanese pressing plant to produce these sets. It was reported that only 10,000 box sets were made. Such was the demand though that EMI quickly moved to create more. I read that another 3,000 were being produced, though this is unconfirmed. I know these box sets are expensive but given the interest, another 3,000 doesn’t seem enough for the whole world. If you have any more details on this let me know.

The packaging for the individual CDs in this set is different to the newly-designed stereo remaster covers, recreating down to the finest detail how the original UK LP record covers would have looked back in they day had you purchased them when they were first released. This includes the paper inner sleeve for the disc, all original inserts and cover art. Even how the cover was glued together is authentic. There’s also a resealable plastic outer sleeve for the cover and a small, protective plastic sleeve for the disc itself – just like those you get on LPs (at least in Australia!). You can see examples of these in photos below. Notice also that the CD labels printed on the CD echo what the original LP labels would have looked like (in the photo of “Please Please Me” below check out the very early Parlophone label).

The “Help!” and “Rubber Soul” CDs here also contain the original 1965 stereo mixes of these albums (which are different to the 1987 George Martin stereo remixes done for the first round of CD issues of the Beatles catalogue.  So, now we have three different versions to compare!)

Beatles In Mono

Label:  Apple      Cat.No:   5 099969 945120

JAPAN/2009/11CDs/book/boxed set/all original covers and inserts

I like to keep the shrink-wrap on to help protect the box and so a razor blade is required to carefully cut an opening

I like to keep the shrink-wrap on to help protect the box and so a razor blade is required to carefully cut an opening

The box slides out to reveal 11 CDs (in their plastic covers) and the 44 page booklet

The box slides out to reveal 11 CDs and the 44 page booklet

The Mono set revealed

The Mono set (in their plastic covers) revealed

All the original inserts are included - like the Sgt Pepper cut-out card and the "psychodelic" pink-coloured inner-sleeve

All the original inserts are included - like the famous "Sgt Pepper" cut-out card and the "psychedelic" pink-coloured inner-sleeve. You can also see the little plastic sleeve to help protect the CD

Detail of how they have strived to recreate the original covers. The old-fashioned fold-over tabs on the outside and even the original paper inner sleeves. Note the old PArlophone label printed on the CD

Detail of how they've striven to recreate the original covers. The old-fashioned fold-over tabs and even the original paper inner sleeves. Note the old Parlophone label printed on the CD

Beatles – Remastered Press Coverage

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One thing the Remastered Beatles catalogue has generated, aside from great excitement amongst avid collectors, is media coverage of the releases. This included TV, radio and internet coverage but also massive press coverage as well in the form of countless newspaper articles and major features in music magazines.

A couple of my favourites:

“Rolling Stone” , “Uncut” and “Mojo” magazines each had special stories reporting on aspects of the new releases in detail.

The British magazine “Q Music” also had a nice photo gallery.

However, one magazine really took it to the next level and went all out. The British weekly music mag New Music Express (NME) created not one special edition to mark the 09.09.09 releases, but thirteen – each with a different collectable cover. Inside, the 12 September edition contains over 30 pages of text and photographs detailing each of the remastered albums. On the outside though there is a different shiny silver cover, each featuring a Beatles album. Below is a partial scan of number 12 of the 13, featuring “Let It Be”.  I also got the “Sgt Pepper” cover (number 8 of 13), but drew the line there as it would have just been over the top to spend so much money buying all thirteen versions! (The shiny silver didn’t scan all that well but you get the general idea…). To see all the covers go to the NME site.  For an interview with Paul click here.

Beatles             New Musical Express

UK/Sept 2009/collectors edition “Let It Be”, cover 12 of 13

Cover number 12 of 13 special NME covers celebrating 09.09.09

Cover number 12 of 13 special NME covers celebrating 09.09.09

Beatles 09.09.09 Sampler

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Well, there’s been a lot of reportage of the remastered Beatles catalogue. And I have to say most of the praise is warranted. It sounds pretty good. More on that soon and in the next couple of days I’ll post an “unboxing” of both the Beatles In Mono box set, and the Beatles in Stereo. But first…

One of the advantages of having a contact in the record business is the occasional promotional disc coming my way. And when it comes to the Beatles, they really do it in a special way. For the release of the new Remastered series Apple produced a limited edition double CD that was sent to radio stations around the world. It’s kind of understated in that its fairly simple in its black and white packaging, but it fits with the look and feel of the big black box that contains the Stereo remastered set. The two CD’s contain a selection of 32 tracks (16 per disc) taken from across the 14 Stereo Remastered albums. Its a gatefold cardboard cover. CD 1 is printed with the old black and yellow Parlophone label. CD 2 has the Apple label. A nice touch.

The title of the CD is simple: “09.09.09 Sampler”. Copies are selling on Ebay right now for around the $100 mark, if not more. That’s the initial rush of interest price.  I reckon it’ll come back from that – but then the numbers available will slowly taper off and they’ll become increasingly harder to find. If you don’t get the chance to get one here are scans of the front cover, the inside of the gatefold, rear cover and the discs themselves.

The Beatles        09.09.09 Sampler

Label:  Apple      Cat. No:  5 0999 6 84414 25

EU/ 2009/2 CD/promo

Front Cover

Front Cover

Rear Cover

Rear Cover

Inside Gatefold

Inside Gatefold

Disc 1

Disc 1

Disc 2

Disc 2

Beatles Blog – Welcome

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Welcome to Beatles Blog, a page dedicated to the avid Beatles music collector. Here you’ll find regular updates about new Beatles releases and collectable vinyl, compact discs and DVDs – either by the Beatles as a group, as solo artists, or Beatles-related projects.

As new items come into my collection I’ll update this blog with details, cover photos, catalogue information and stuff like that.

Please feel free to contribute images or other information on anything you see here – especially if it will assist other collectors in their knowledge of things Beatle. Just email me at beatlesblogger@gmail.com