Just in time for some holiday listening The Beatles have quietly launched a new official 6-part podcast celebrating the legacy of the band.
Written, produced and presented by someone close to the band, music historian Kevin Howlett, it features interviews with John, Paul, George and Ringo, as well as many other musicians and producers including George and Giles Martin, Dave Grohl and Mark Ronson,
The podcast documentary ties in with the 50th anniversary reissues of the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ compilations and also unpacks the story behind the band’s final single, ‘Now And Then’.
Part 1 of The Beatles’ Legacy is divided into three chapters and deals with The Beatles 1962-1966. You can find it here.
One of our readers (Guy in the USA) prides himself on securing every possible variation and often sends us a tantalising image or two. For ‘Now and Then’ he points out that most collectors only show pictures of the outer covers. Here, he says, are the contents – photographed all together:
For collectors in the west there are no fewer than 9 variations to seek out. If you add in unique Japanese editions that number creeps up to 14.
Because there are enough different pressings we thought we’d create another visual representation to capture them all (we have previously created these for McCartney III and McCartney III Imagined too):
(Click on the image to see a larger version)
The Japanese ‘Now and Then’ vinyl pressings are unique in that they have a rear cover written in Japanese. They also come with a special lyric sheet with the lyrics in English and Japanese:
Additionally, the SHM-CD single comes with an OBI strip (and also the extra lyric insert):
To add to the onslaught on collector wallets there was also Black Friday Record Store Day.
Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’sOld Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. Here’s Guy again:
You can see there on the bottom row the little Yoto kids toy card editions of the 2023 Red and Blue albums, plus a unique Paul McCartney card containing a selection of his hits for kids which also contains two hard-to-get instrumentals.
Ever heard of Yoto, the children’s educational toy?
Me either, until one of our readers named Tom pointed out that they exist, AND they have a couple of items that will be of keen interest to the absolute Beatle completists among us.
Yoto is a digital player that accepts specially pre-recorded cards (slightly larger than a credit card) which kids slot into the player to hear stories, podcasts, games and……..music:
The big news is that Yoto has just added two very special music cards.
Yoto describes the contents of their unique 12-track Red Album like this:
An introduction to The Beatles for kids. Enjoy timeless hits from their early years, 1962-1966.
Twelve special chosen tracks from the early years of The Beatles, 1962-1966. The perfect introduction for music-loving kids to the fab-four.
Discover the songs that broke them onto the world stage. Sing, dance and play along to these timeless classics, some of the most popular and indelible rock songs of all time.
Tracklist:
Love Me Do (2023 mix)
Please Please Me (2023 mix)
From Me To You (2023 mix)
She Loves You (2023 mix)
Can’t Buy Me Love (2023 mix)
Ticket To Ride (2023 mix)
I Want To Hold Your Hand (2023 mix)
If I Needed Someone (2023 mix)
Drive My Car (2023 mix)
Got To Get You Into My Life (2022 mix)
I’m Only Sleeping (2022 mix)
Yellow Submarine (2022 mix)
And their 12-track Blue Album like this:
An introduction to The Beatles for kids. Enjoy timeless hits from their later years, 1967-1970.
The second curated collection of tracks from the most iconic band of all time. Charting the later part of their career where they experimented with new sounds and created some songs that are loved across generations and around the world.
The perfect way to share music as a family and the ultimate inspiration for all the music-loving, dancing and singing little ones out there.
Tracklist:
Penny Lane (2017 Mix)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017 Mix)
With A Little Help From My Friends (2017 Mix)
All You Need Is Love (2015 Mix)
Hello, Goodbye (2015 Mix)
Magical Mystery Tour (2023 Mix)
Hey Jude (2015 Mix)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (2018 Mix)
Blackbird (2018 Mix)
Here Comes The Sun (2019 Mix)
Octopus’s Garden (2019 Mix)
Let It Be (2021 Mix)
But that’s not all the original Beatle content Yoto has. Also recently added is a unique Paul McCartney card, Say Hello To Paul McCartney:
Yoto says: Dance, sing and play along to a selection of songs, especially chosen for Yoto.
Say Hello To Paul McCartney is a unique collection of timeless songs from one of the greatest ever songwriters and performers. Paul McCartney has curated this collection of tracks from his legendary catalogue and it’s sure to get all of your family singing and dancing along.
Sway and jump to ‘Dance Tonight’, take a trip to the Scottish Coast with ‘Mull of Kintyre’ or sing along in chorus to ‘We All Stand Together’ – these and many more songs await you on this ultimate Yoto music card! This card also includes two tracks never before released on a music product – the ‘Hey Grandude’ and ‘Hey Nandude’ themes, from Paul’s highly acclaimed children’s books.
Tracklist:
Grandude Theme
Dance Tonight
Little Willow
Heart of the Country
Mary had a Little Lamb
We All Stand Together
Great Day
Mama’s Little Girl
Calico Skies
Let ‘Em In
Mull of Kintyre
Winter Bird, When Winter Comes
Who Cares
Nandude Theme
So, this is one way for you to get clean versions of two rare original McCartney tracks – the instrumental ‘Grandude Theme’ and ‘Nandude Theme’, taken from the audiobook recordings of his two children’s books Hey Grandude (2019), and Grandude’s Green Submarine (2021).
Sincere apologies if this news is going to cost you more money!
Techmoan has done a great video explaining just how these little players and the cards work (you don’t have to have a player):
Our readers Tom and Guy have both confirmed that you don’t need a stand alone Yoto player. The Yoto app can be downloaded for free to your phone, and a simple tap of the card gives you access to the contents. The cards are the size of a credit card:
By now you’ll be aware that there’s a brand new Beatle song coming. It is called ‘Now and Then’ and is the last Beatles song ever to be released.
Like the singles ‘Free As a Bird’ (1995) and ‘Real Love’ (1996) before it, ‘Now and Then’ is all four Beatles contributing additional music and vocals to a cassette demo that John Lennon was working on in the late 1970’s but never got to properly record. It will now be released in 2023 as a vinyl single (in a variety of colours, plus as a 12″ single), and as a cassette (or a “cassingle” as we used to say), on November 3.
The new single has ‘Love Me Do’, the song that started it all off for the band, on the other side. So, it is listed as a “Double A Side”. The ‘Love Me Do’ news is that it is in stereo in a 2023 mix!
The colours for the 7″ are:
And an exclusive Beatles Shop blue/white marble 7″. Also available at some independent record stores:
There is also a 12″ single.
It’s a little confusing as to whether this is also available on red vinyl. It’s shown on the front page of the official Beatle announcement site, but when you click through to purchase it is not on either the US or UK stores.
Not finished with vinyl yet…..on some official sites there have been links to a black vinyl 10″ pressing. Take the French Beatles store for example:
The 10″ was listed briefly on the UK official site too – as a “Spotify Fans First” exclusive – but the link provided no longer seems to work. However, it is still up on the US Beatles Store, Universal Music Canada, and the Universal Music Brazil sites – but with all now showing as ‘Sold Out’. Strangely it is still for sale on the Universal Music Columbia site though!
In 2022, Paul and Ringo set about completing the song. Besides John’s demo vocal (now much enhanced quality thanks to the use of new technology developed by film director Peter Jackson and his audio team for the Get Back documentary series) ‘Now And Then’ includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul, which matches John’s original playing. Paul added a slide guitar solo inspired by George; he and Ringo also contributed backing vocals to the chorus.
Then in Los Angeles, Paul oversaw a Capitol Studios recording session for the song’s Beatlesque string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster. Paul and Giles also added one last touch: backing vocals from the original recordings of ‘Here, There And Everywhere’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Because’, which are woven into the new song using the techniques perfected during the making of the LOVE show and album. The finished track was produced by Paul and Giles, and mixed by Spike Stent. Can’t wait to hear it!
Just by the way, the cover artwork is by celebrated US artist Ed Ruscha. That’s a Paul McCartney influence right there because Ruscha did the cover art (in all it’s many variations) for the McCartney III, McCartney III Imagined releases, and the box set McCartney 1,2,3.
Coincidentally, Ruscha is the subject of a major retrospective currently showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It’s title? “Now Then”. You can see a short CBS News interview and retrospective about the man here.
As if all this wasn’t enough, on November 10, The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (aka The Red Album) and The Beatles 1967-1970 (aka The Blue Album) collections are to be released in 2023 Edition packages.
Both collections have been expanded, with all the songs mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos. Together both sets contain 75 tracks, 36 of which have new mixes for 2023. The booklets will contain new sleeve notes by journalist and author John Harris.
The UK single version of ‘Love Me Do’ now kicks off the CD version of The Beatles 1962-1966 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 12 additional tracks added chronologically. ‘Now And Then’ ends the CD version of The Beatles 1967-1970 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 9 additional tracks also added chronologically – to complete the career-spanning CD collections. Both are 2CD sets.
But is is different with the vinyl.
The Red and the Blue will have the first two discs just as they were originally released when they were double LPs, with the third disc containing all the expanded material. In other words, 12 extra tracks on Disc 3 for the Red, and 9 extra tracks Disc 3 for the Blue. Quite a different approach to the CD. No slotting in the newly added songs in chronological order here. In fact the new song ‘Now and Then’ is Track 1 of Side 6 of the Blue. A little bit odd.
Both are 180 gram Half Speed Mastered. They will be available on black vinyl separately as triple LP sets, and they’ll be sold together as a 6LP box set:
The Beatles Store is also offering exclusive limited editions of the box set and individual albums on red and blue colour vinyl:
And here’s the CD packaging:
And a 4CD collections will pair the Red and Blue in a slip-cased set.
The new music video for ‘Now And Then’ will debut on Friday, November 3. It is directed by Peter Jackson.
There’s also going to be a short “making of” documentary film released on November 1. Here’s the teaser:
Here’s a further instalment in our occasional series on Beatle (and Beatle-related) album covers or photographs that, over the years, have been borrowed as inspiration by others.
As observed on reddit recently, it’s a surprise that more bands haven’t used this iconic LP cover photograph as inspiration:
Given that Sgt Pepper, The White Album and Let It Be have all been imitated many times in one way or another by so many bands, why not the famous Please Please Me as well?
Maybe it’s because it would be limited only to EMI artists, and also that the actual building where the picture was taken now no longer exists…..
But still, there are a couple of examples out there. The Sex Pistols did it in 1977:
Even before The Beatles looked down from that balcony, the famous English bandleader Joe Loss (signed to the EMI subsidiary label HMV) did the same pose:
And in 1983 it was Dutch Beatle Fan Club President Har van Fulpern’s turn:
When Universal Music re-issued the Beatles 1962-1965 (Red) and 1966-1970 (Blue) albums we posted some info on the Angus McBean photo shoot location here, including a video from a very keen fan who went to the trouble of tracking down the actual location of the shoot for the Red and Blue LPs – and of course for 1963’s Please Please Me release.
Both photographs of the old and new Beatles were taken at EMI’s former headquarters in Manchester Square, London – with the group looking down over the building’s stairwell. The building has since been demolished.Click here for the other posts in “Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery”.
I’m really surprised to read on Amazon (US) that the Beatles “1962-1966 (Red)” and “1967-1970 (Blue)” combination box set is still not due for release in America until December 7th, and on Amazon (UK) that it won’t be available there until November 29th. The individual discs have been available separately in both places since October 19th and October 18th respectively.
This is really odd because here in Australia the separate discs and the box set have been available from day one of the worldwide release of the individual discs on October 18th. It’s much more usual for Australia to be well behind US and UK releases, but this time EMI Australia has clearly got its act together and is ahead of the pack for once.
Add to that the fact that I ordered on Ebay – and today have received in the post – my copy of the European (EU) version of the box set which holds both the “Red” and the “Blue” double discs in the one box. Go figure…..
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