Tag Archives: Beatles Related

Ocean’s Kingdom – McCartney Ballet Music

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Paul McCartney’s first ballet score, “Ocean’s Kingdom“, with choreography by the New York City Ballet’s Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins, will premiere at the Lincoln Center in New York on September 22.

“Ocean’s Kingdom” marks the first time that McCartney has composed for dance, and Martins’ choreography will follow the music’s libretto of a romance between lovers from conflicting kingdoms. The production’s costumes are designed by another McCartney, daughter and leading fashion designer Stella. Its also the first time she has done costume design for the theatre.

The album containing the music from the work is to be released on October 4.
It is performed by the London Classical Orchestra, directed by John Wilson. According to Amazon there will be a CD and vinyl versions available, and it is released on the Hear Music/MPL/Telarc label:

There are four movements to the work:
1.  Movement 1 Ocean’s Kingdom
2. Movement 2 Hall of Dance
3. Movement 3 Imprisonment
4. Movement 4 Moonrise

Sir Paul will be attending the premiere in New York on September 22.

The Beatles With Records – Part Two

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Since my earlier post about the Beatles being photographed actually holding the things they sold so many of – LP and single records – a few more photos have come to light. This first one is a very early publicity shot of the band with a copy of their very first album for Parlophone Records – from 1963 “Please Please Me“:

Trawling the web I came across a great photo of an obviously happy Ringo Starr with a pile of LPs and singles:

Here you can clearly see Ringo holding the Motown Record “Little Stevie Wonder – The 12 Year Old Genius” (from 1963):

He’s also got a copy of The Shirelles “Foolish Little Girl“, which again dates from 1963 leading to the conclusion that this photograph was taken in that year. The record is lying down, just near Ringo’s left hand:

And on top of that LP are a couple of 45 rpm singles. Its impossible to make out the title of the one we can see, but you can clearly make out the distinctive red and white label of Top Rank records. I wonder if it’s also The Shirelles? In Britain they were released on Top Rank – so it could very possibly be a copy of  “Baby Its You“, a song the Shirelles recorded in 1961 and which the Beatles themselves covered on “Please Please Me“:

I’ve also found  a photograph of Ringo with wife Maureen. They’re sitting at home in a flat they rented for some time in London’s Montague Square. Behind Ringo you can see on the shelf quite a large collection of LP’s, and if I’m nor mistaken Maureen is sitting on what, for the times, would have been quite a sophisticated “radiogram” or record player:

Here’s another of Ringo, once again with Maureen, clutching a copy of the Beatles “Yellow Submarine” LP:

I had a  a photo sent to me after the earlier blog post. It’s Paul with a copy of 1965’s “Rubber Soul“:

George Harrison features on the web photographed with records, some with easily identifiable discs and some not. This one is pretty easy to see. Its a lucky fan getting an autographed copy of “Help“:

Here’s George again, this time a shot taken in what looks to be the Apple offices. It’s him holding a copy of his second solo outing “Electronic Sound“, released on the Zapple label:

You can clearly see the rear artwork for the LP in the photo above. Below is a shot of the back cover of the LP:

And here’s another one of George again signing albums, but this time its very difficult to see just what they are:

In 1970 John and Yoko posed for some photographs to publicise their new records. John had “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band”, and Yoko had “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band”. Both titles, on Apple Records, were released simultaneously. The front covers were almost identical, but the rear artwork of Yoko’s album showed her as a young girl, while John’s showed him as a young boy:

In the photo is also “The Wedding Album” box set, which came out in 1969. The photo below is taken at the same session:

As I said, the front cover artwork of these two LP’s is difficult to tell apart. “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” has John leaning against Yoko:

While “Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band” has Yoko leaning against John:

Very subtle.

Finally, a photograph of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein. He’s holding a copy of the controversial 1966 US Capitol Records release “Yesterday and Today“. This is the famous “Butcher Cover” LP. Maybe he’s contemplating the new photograph that Capitol was forced to paste over all the original issues of the album:

This is the more acceptable “trunk” cover shot that Capitol put on over the top of the original artwork:

And this is what it replaced:

The interesting thing about the Epstein photograph is that what he is holding appears to be an early mock-up of the replacement artwork. If you look closely there is no song list at the top and the font for the words “Yesterday and Today” is different to that used on the final version. Interesting.

Don’t forget, if you have any other photographs of the Beatles actually listening to or holding singles or LP’s you can send them to me at:  beatlesblogger@gmail.com

You can see the other parts in “The Beatles with Records” series here:  Parts 1, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7 , 8, 9 , 10 , 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Concert for Bangladesh at 40

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The official Beatles site, the George Harrison site, the iTunes Store, and a special site created just for the purpose all have it: that the 40th anniversary of the staging of “The Concert for Bangladesh”, and the subsequent release of the film and the records of the same name, will be suitably celebrated – only this time monies raised will go to UNICEF to assist those facing the 2011 disaster of famine in the Horn of Africa.

Forty years after the historic concert, which in 1971 raised so much to help the starving in Bangladesh, comes the first digital download of the music. The Beatles site carries this press release:

To celebrate the anniversary and honor Harrison’s legacy of giving back, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF today announces a special ‘Month of Giving’ donation campaign in August for the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF, helping to provide emergency relief for children in famine and drought-stricken regions in the Horn of Africa. All after-tax proceeds from sales of The Concert for Bangladesh album on iTunes will directly benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF. iTunes, Apple Records Inc., and all artists, songwriters and publishers associated with the concert will keep no income from each sale and have waived all fees.

The iTunes release of The Concert for Bangladesh album includes Harrison’s “Bangla Desh” studio single, originally released July 5, 1971, as an exclusive bonus track. A 5-minute video trailer for the album and a 49-minute radio program about The Concert for Bangladesh are also now available as free streams on iTunes.

In a worldwide, 72-hour online event, The Concert for Bangladesh feature film will be available for free streaming in its entirety from Saturday, July 30 through Monday, August 1 on iTunes.com/thebeatles, GeorgeHarrison.com and TheConcertForBangladesh.com.

When George Harrison was asked in 1971 why he chose to focus his time and talents on The Concert for Bangladesh, he replied, “Because I was asked by a friend if I would help, that’s all.” Monday, August 1 marks 40 years since Harrison and his friend Ravi Shankar, along with several other top music stars, including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Leon Russell, and Billy Preston, shared the stage at Madison Square Garden for two history-making concerts to alert the world to the plight of the Bangladeshi people, victims of simultaneous floods, famine and civil war.

The groundbreaking Concert for Bangladesh and its award-winning double album and feature film releases have since inspired other major, entertainment-led charitable initiatives, including Bob Geldof’s LIVE AID and LIVE8, Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid, and Hope For Haiti Now.

During the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF’s Month of Giving in August, all donations to the Fund will benefit UNICEF’s life-saving programs for children in the Horn of Africa. To jump start this fundraising initiative, the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF is immediately releasing $1 million to UNICEF for emergency efforts in the Horn of Africa.

The Horn of Africa is facing what is being called the worst drought in 60 years, and famine has been declared by the United Nations in two regions of southern Somalia. More than 2 million children are acutely malnourished, including half a million children who are at imminent risk of death if they do not receive immediate lifesaving assistance.

“Forty years ago this August, the friendship between George Harrison and Ravi Shankar forever changed music and the lives of countless Bangladeshi children. Today millions of children in the Horn of Africa desperately need our help. We are humbled by the outpouring of support from the music community led by Olivia Harrison, Apple Records and our friends at iTunes,” said President and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Caryl Stern.

Says Ravi Shankar, “I’m so moved that this concert, which emerged from my close friendship with George, is regarded as historically significant 40 years on and continues to inspire musicians of all generations.”

A brief video message with information about how to help is available for streaming on georgeharrisonfundforunicef.org and on iTunes. In the U.S., supporters can text FRIEND to UNICEF (864233) to give $10 to the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF (messaging and data rates apply), or visit TheConcertForBangladesh.com to donate and learn more.

Go there. See what you can do to help.

See also this unusual LP copy of “The Concert for Bangladesh”.

The Beatles Forever

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Nicholas Schaffner wrote this book in 1977, and I gather from what I’m reading on the web that it was, in it’s time, something of a Beatles “bible” for readers back then. So far this book has eluded me – so its good to have an original paperback copy now in the collection.

“The Beatles Forever” has subsequently been reprinted numerous times and the current cover looks like this. But the copy I found last weekend in an old-wares/antiques/records and second-hand book shop has the original cover above. This is a paperback copy.

It is genuinely one of the first really comprehensive survey’s of the band’s output in terms of their record releases, rarities and memorabilia – all accompanied by fairly detailed text describing the history of the Beatles and giving the context in which records were released and the collectable nature of a wide range of Beatles items. There are extensive photographs of the band as well as photos of albums, singles and memorabilia – but all in black and white. I won’t go into a detailed analysis of the contents because this has already been done by a range of writers who have reviewed and critiqued “The Beatles Forever”. Probably the most comprehensive is by Donald Sauter – who has written extensively on his Beatles collection and reminiscences from his youth. His article also contains a small selection of the many photos from the book. There is another interesting page on the book here.

Its a handy reference book to have in the collection – even though it came out more than 30 years ago. It still has lots of information and insights.

McCartney and McCartney II Finally Arrive

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I’ve been very patiently awaiting the arrival (from Amazon in the US) of my copies of “McCartney” and “McCartney II“.

I’d ordered the Deluxe hard back book versions of both titles, along with the 2 LP set (got to have the vinyl!), and the Special Edition CD packs as well. (I had already purchased locally the single CD versions which are only being released in certain markets).

These were all ordered online on May 24th. They were officially released on June 14th, and then had to make the LONG journey via the postal service down under to Australia. I didn’t receive them until last week – on July 12th. That’s almost a two month wait….

As they they were very heavy, I got a notification in the mailbox that had to collect them from the local Post Office. I’ve got to admit when I saw the box my heart sank. As you can see below it was pretty bashed around. On that two month journey it had clearly been thrown around and had frequently been at the bottom of piles of other packages. Postal workers obviously don’t have much regard for “Fragile” and “Handle With Care” stickers. I was particularly  worried about the two LP sets in there. They are the most fragile. Could they have survived intact?

With great trepidation I opened up the box, expecting the worst. Inside there was just a minimal amount of padding:

Thank goodness Amazon had individually sealed the LPs in their own special LP mailers and this really helped. There were two of them, essentially sitting in their own protection at the bottom of the box. The strong cardboard mailers had done a great job of protecting the most fragile of the contents. Thanks Amazon!

These sealed cardboard mailers are great and had clearly been individually pre-packed in bulk by Amazon for the McCartney re-issues. They both had special stickers with the contents on the outside:

All the other precious contents had miraculously survived too:

I actually think that the heat shrinking Amazon uses also plays a big part in protecting CD’s and LPs – especially when they’re being thrown around in transit. The two limited edition Deluxe hardback book versions are sealed and have a sheet inside the shrink wrap detailing the contents:

So, I now have a complete set of the new McCartney releases. Safely, but only just, delivered half way around the world.

George Harrison Film Premiere, DVD, Book and CD Announced

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Today on georgeharrison.com comes the formal announcement and official details of the Martin Scorsese film “George Harrison: Living in the Material World“.  Here’s an extract from the press release:

“George Harrison: Living in the Material World” focuses the imaginative and inspired eye of one of cinema’s most pre-eminent filmmakers on one of the world’s most influential men. The film takes viewers on the musical and spiritual voyage that was George Harrison’s life, much of it told in his own words. The result is deeply moving and touches each viewer in unique and individual ways.

Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese traces Harrison’s life from his musical beginnings in Liverpool through his life as a musician, a seeker, a philanthropist, and filmmaker. Scorsese weaves together interviews with Harrison and his closest friends, performances, home movies, and photographs. Much of the material in the film has never been seen (or heard) before. The result is a rare glimpse into the mind and soul of one of the most talented artists of his generation and a profoundly intimate and affecting work of cinema.

The film includes interviews with Eric Clapton, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, George Martin, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, Tom Petty, Phil Spector, Ringo Starr and Jackie Stewart. They speak honestly and frankly about George’s many talents and contradictions.

The film was produced by Scorsese, Olivia Harrison and Nigel Sinclair. Margaret Bodde served as the film’s executive producer and the film was edited by David Tedeschi (who previously worked with Scorsese, Bodde and Sinclair on the Grammy Award-winning “No Direction Home: Bob Dylan” and with Scorsese and Bodde on the Rolling Stone concert film “Shine A Light”).

Scorsese comments, “Like so many millions of people, I first came to know George through the music, which was the soundtrack of our world. The Beatles’ music, those beautifully lyrical guitar breaks and solos, those unforgettable songs of George’s, like “I Me Mine” or “If I Needed Someone,” and the images, in magazines, on album covers, the TV appearances, the newsreel footage, the Richard Lester movies; and then there was the world after the Beatles, when George and his music seemed to open up and flower. I will never forget the first time I heard All Things Must Pass, the overwhelming feeling of taking in all that glorious music for the first time. It was like walking into a cathedral. George was making spiritually awake music – we all heard and felt it – and I think that was the reason that he came to occupy a very special place in our lives. So when I was offered the chance to make this picture, I jumped at it. Spending time with Olivia, interviewing so many of George’s closest friends, reviewing all that footage, some of it never seen before, and listening to all of that magnificent music – it was a joy, and an experience I’ll always treasure.”

Olivia Harrison notes, “Martin Scorsese’s intuition towards George was evident the first time we met to discuss this project. He sensed what George was about: his music, his strong beliefs, his art, his place in the Beatles story, and his extraordinary life afterwards. Marty’s wonderful film has found all of that and more.”

“This film was an extraordinary journey for all involved and it has been a sheer pleasure working with Martin Scorsese and Olivia Harrison to bring the amazing story and legacy of George Harrison to life,” adds Sinclair.

“George Harrison: Living in the Material World” will be released in the UK on 10th October in three editions – DVD, Blu-ray and DVD Double play (DVD/ BD combi pack), and a beautifully packaged DVD / Blu-Ray Deluxe Edition, which includes an exclusive CD of previously unheard tracks from George Harrison, and a book of photography to accompany the film.

In the United States HBO has acquired the TV broadcast rights to Scorsese’s film, which will debut in two parts — on October 5 and October 6, 2011.

In late September, Abrams Books will publish Olivia Harrison’s “George Harrison: Living in the Material World“, a personal archive of photographs, letters, diaries, and memorabilia from George’s life that reveals the arc of his life, from his guitar-obsessed boyhood in Liverpool, to the astonishment of the Beatles years, to his days as an independent musician and bohemian squire. The book release is intended to coincide with the release of Scorsese’s film.

Lennon Legend Book

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After a long time searching, I’ve finally got hold of a second-hand copy of Lennon Legend – An Illustrated Life of John Lennon, a book by James Henke (and designer Katie LeClerq) which first came out back in 2003. This is one of those books that you can literally delve in and out of at will because as well as lots of text and photos about the life and times of John Lennon it also has a broad selection of replica memorabilia scattered throughout its pages. These are tucked away in little holders and pockets. For example hand-written lyric sheets like this one for ‘In My Life’ from the Rubber Soul album of 1965:

In this regard, this book is very similar to Treasures of the Beatles, which we wrote about here. However, this book is of higher quality in it’s attention to detail.

Lennon Legend traces John’s life from the early days in Liverpool and has reproductions of a little school magazine he produced (called “The Daily Howl” from 1950) and a Christmas, 1955 report card from Quarry Bank High School when Lennon was aged 15 years and 2 months old:

You may be able to make out above that in English J. W.Lennon is “….capable of good work and has done quite well”, in Geography “…he is undoubtedly trying harder in his new form. Hope he keeps it up”, but in French John’s results are disappointing: “He is so fond of obtaining a cheap laugh in class that he has little time left for serious contribution.”  John’s headmaster notes (in red) “The best report he has had for a long time. I hope this means that he has turned over a new leaf.”

As the Beatles become better known the memorabilia in the book reflects their journey. There’s a little Cavern Club membership booklet from 1964, which contains this advice to patrons: “IMPORTANT Handbags, coats, shoes, hats, umbrellas etc. must NOT be left lying around the Club UNDER SEATS, in the toilets….or anywhere where you cannot look after them. Your property is your responsibility. USE THE CLOAKROOMS!“:

You get a set of miniature movie posters for A Hard Day’s Night, and a replica of an original ticket to the film’s Royal World Premiere at the London Pavilion:

Moving on to when John and Yoko were in the thick of their peace campaign (combined with art “events”), on one page of the book in a small pocket there’s a small card tag (below). In July, 1968 one of these was attached to a helium-filled balloon (and there were 365 of them), and released into the skies over London to promote John’s first art exhibition called You Are Here:

In a similar vein is a replica sheet – a typed Declaration from 1973 (note the date of April 1st) of the establishment by John and Yoko of an imaginary country called Nutopia:

Along with the Declaration you get a miniature Nutopian national flag – which is simply an all-white piece of cloth with no colours or emblems…

Lennon Legend also comes with a CD containing 60 minutes of interviews and music. Here’s one of the interviews. John is on radio station WNEW on September 28, 1974. (WNEW was an AM station located in New York, but changed its call sign to WBBR in 1992). In this extract he’s talking about the Beatles:

The CD also contains a live version of the song ‘Imagine’, recorded on the long-running US daytime TV talk show hosted by Mike Douglas. John and Yoko co-hosted the show for a week in February 1972. You can listen to that version of ‘Imagine’ here:

The book takes the Lennon history up to Double Fantasy, and of course his tragic murder.

This is just a small taste of the content inside. Lennon Legend – An Illustrated Life of John Lennon by James Henke comes in a hard cardboard slipcase and was published by Chronicle Books in 2003.

See also: “Treasures of the Beatles” here and here.

“Maybe I’m Amazed” Cover Winner Announced

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A little while back I posted on a competition being run on the Paul McCartney official site calling on fans to submit their own YouTube versions of the classic “Maybe I’m Amazed” from the “McCartney” album, Paul’s first solo effort from 1970.

Today they have announced the winner:

“The Winner of the ‘Maybe I’m Amazed Covers’ Competition is ‘Troubleclief’ who with his beautiful classical guitar version of the song, received a remarkable 1492 likes for his video.

We were all astounded at the quality of all of the entries but felt that ‘Troubleclief’s’ entry stood out from the rest in the way that he made the song his own and yet retained the essence of the original. We would like to give a a huge congratulations to ‘Troubleclief’ for capturing our attention and winning the competition.”

Pretty nice playing. View the second place video by clicking here (seriously? Can’t say it does it for me…), and third place by clicking here.  Seems the McCartney people really like solo guitar if these three versions are anything to go by….

I still like the rendition by a singer named Katrice Gavino.

To watch all the videos click here.

McCartney and McCartney II – Labels

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For those of us who love record labels – spotting and collecting different variations – with yesterday’s reissue of the two McCartney solo “debuts” the lovely Chained and Perfumed blog site has posted some interesting varieties of “McCartney” and “McCartney II“:

McCartney on Apple. 1970.

McCartney on Capitol. 1970.

A rare and unusual Brazilian edition of McCartney in mono from the Chained and Perfumed collection.  Nice.

The new McCartney Hear Music reissue. 2011. Released just last week on vinyl and CD. This label is from the second disc of the two-disc LP set which contains some rare and previously unreleased stuff.

McCartney II. Side 2 of U.S. edition. 1980. (I have a variation of this label below with the MPL logo in different spot).

McCartney II. Side 2 of the Japanese edition.

So, Chained and Perfumed inspired me to have a look in my own collection and I found some additional variations:

McCartney. Australian pressing. 1970.

McCartney. Singaporean pressing. 1970.

McCartney II. US pressing. 1980. This is included as its a variation on the one above. The MPL logo placement is different.

McCartney II. Singaporean pressing. 1980. These pressings were made in Singapore but also sent to Hong Kong and Malaysia.

McCartney II. An original Australian pressing with the orange Parlophone label. 1980.

McCartney II. Unusual Australian green/blue Parlophone label from a re-issue – probably in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s.

Well, that’s it from my collection. If anyone has any other additions please email a photo and I’ll put them up on the site.   beatlesblogger@gmail.com

UPDATE:  Some other labels are beginning to come in. Thanks to Paco who writes: “Here are mine. They are Spanish editions with the translation of the titles. All generic EMI Odeon labels (nothing too exciting :-)”.

McCartney (above) – The Spanish edition with translations of the titles of each song.

Ditto for McCartney II.

Above is the “Fame” budget label re-issue, this time for the Spanish market. Nice. Have a look here for more on budget Beatles releases.

Thanks to Paco for sending these through. If you’d like to add to the collection of McCartney and McCartney II labels from around the world take a photograph or scan and email them to: beatlesblogger@gmail.com

“Here Comes the Sun” Google Doodle Style

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To mark what would have been Les Paul’s 95th birthday, last week Google designed one of those nifty little Google Doodles for their search homepage (see above). You can actually play it and record what you create.

PCMag Creative Director Chris Phillips is a clever person. He’s recorded himself picking the Beatles “Here Comes the Sun”. Just click on the Play button here. Cute.

You can find out how to do it here.

Les Paul and Paul McCartney

You might also remember the John Lennon 70th birthday tribute Google Doodle tribute from last year which when you clicked on it featured an animation and an extract from “Imagine”.