Tag Archives: Beatles Related

FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney – Reviewed

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This is the US cover of the hardback edition of “FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney” by well-known biographer Howard Sounes.

I posted previously on this book when I got a copy of the Australian edition in softback. If you click on the link you can see it was published with a very different cover to the rather subdued and conservative North American edition.

It has really taken me some time to actually read the book and write this appraisal.

What happened was I’d published that earlier post and then Da Capo Press, the US publishers of the book, saw the post and wrote offering me a review copy of the US release. It took a while to get here via snail mail and then, at 634 pages, it took me a while to read it from cover-to-cover.

I found it a pretty good read actually. Sounes writes in an engaging style and the book had just enough new details to keep me coming back. All-in-all it really was a great summer holiday read (its still summer here in Australia!). The book is not sensationalist – it pretty much sticks to the facts and tells it like it is – and that is refreshing.

One thing does stand out though – like many books on the Beatles it’s still written from an outsiders perspective. No matter how many interviews you do with some of the main players in and around McCartney’s life (and Sounes did many – he says he interviewed over 220 people for the book), he didn’t interview McCartney himself and so you still get this feeling of an outsider looking in.

Having said that, “FAB: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney” is very revealing of the man himself, showing us aspects of the Paul personality we’ve perhaps thought were there but were never really sure. What we tend to see is the facade Paul wants us to see: “Macca”, the thumbs-up, positive, likable guy. This book goes deeper and reveals his his perfectionism; the fact that he he doesn’t suffer fools lightly; that for a wealthy man he was often quite frugal (for example paying Wings band members a very basic wage); that he wants above all to be remembered for having made a mark and leaving some sort of legacy; that family is very, very important; and that his mother (and her early death) has played a central role in his life, in his creative work, and in his relationships.

Sounes’s book is also good because it brings the reader right up to the present day. Its not just about the pre-Beatles and Beatles glory days. It includes a lot of detail about the Wings years, and about Paul’s solo career right up to 2009’s “Good Evening New York City“. In fact a good half of the book deals with the post-Beatles life of Paul.

It also gives a hint of what it must be like to live, practically for your whole life,  as one of the most famous and wealthy people in the world. Paul is a man who is used to getting his way and getting what he wants. Its not a life to be envied really. Everyone around you agrees with you because you are Paul McCartney. They suck up to you, they pay their respects. It must be incredibly difficult to keep a handle on what is real.

The gratifying thing about this book is that it’s not sensationalist. To be sure there’s plenty of opportunity to do that – particularly in that period of his later life (post Linda McCartney) when McCartney made some really bad relationship choices – but Sounes wisely sticks to the facts.

The book also has some great photographs. Who better to step us through the contents using some of those than the author Howard Sounes himself:

Russian Beatles – Fantastic Website

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My post about the many label variations of Paul McCartney’s 1988 Russian album “Choba B CCCP” prompted a response from a reader named Vadim who gave me some links to an absolutely fantastic website that deals specifically with Beatles and Beatles-related releases from the former USSR and Russia.

You can find the site here and, if you’re not careful, it will open up a whole new world of Beatles record collecting to you. I don’t read Russian and so many parts of the site are a mystery – it looks like it has been created by three friends and Beatles fans: Andrey Lukanin, Vadim Legkokonets and Valentin Isaikin, who run something called The Beatles Association. It also appears that The Beatles Association puts out a regular magazine called “From Me To You”. There are links on the Foreword page of the site to download two recent issues.

The site is huge and so comprehensive with details of seemingly every USSR/Russian release and variation – complete with pictures of the covers, labels, catalogue numbers and heaps of other fascinating information for the collector. It is truly mind-blowing and well worth a look. Put aside some time – you’ll need it to have a good look around. Once you figure out how the site is constructed and linked you can delve into more and more detail about individual releases.

It got me thinking about other Russian releases I have in my own collection – apart from the McCartney “Choba B CCCP” ones. I had a bit of a look and found these (and I must say its very meagre compared to Vadim’s treasures). The first is “A Hard Days Night”. This is on EMI/Melodiya and comes in a single sleeve with a plastic inner. It has one less track than the British release. Its also stated that this is a “Direct Metal Mastered” pressing and it has a small official DMM logo on the rear cover:

[You can see the exhaustive details for this pressing on the amazing Russian Vinyl records site here. It looks like my copy is pressed at the Riga pressing plant.]

Then comes “Help”. This is on AnTrop Records from St Petersburg, and has a plain white paper inner sleeve:

[You can see the exhaustive details for this pressing on the amazing Russian Vinyl records site here. It looks like my copy came out in 1991 and is sleeve and label Variation 2.]

Also on AnTrop Records is “Let It Be”. This comes in a single, quite thin, cardboard sleeve with a plain white paper inner sleeve:

[You can see the exhaustive details for this pressing on the amazing Russian Vinyl records site here.  This was released in 1992 and is sleeve Variation b., and label Variation 2.]

There are more “Let It Be” label variations on my site here.

The final Russian Beatles pressing I have is a unique compilation of early material called “A Taste of Honey” (1986). It is on the Melodiya label (and there’s also an EMI logo on the front cover). This is another “Direct Metal Mastered” pressing and it has an official DMM logo on the rear cover. Its in a single sleeve and a plain white inner bag:

[You can see the exhaustive details for this pressing on the amazing Russian Vinyl records site here and here. It looks like my copy is pressed at the Riga pressing plant.]

There is one other in my collection. Its Paul McCartney – “Flowers in the Dirt” (1989). This is on the white Melodiya label and has a plastic inner bag:

[You can see the exhaustive details for this pressing on the amazing Russian Vinyl records site here. It was pressed in 1991, and it looks like my copy was manufactured at the Aprelevka pressing plant, with sleeve variation 1d., and label variation White 2.]

Finally, in my post about different versions of Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run” from around the world there were two on Russian labels – the first a Melodiya pressing, the second from Santa Records:

The Ole Black Gretsch – An Update

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Just after Christmas I posted that the Gretsch guitar company was flagging they’d soon be releasing a very special, exact recreation of the guitar George Harrison owned back in the early Liverpool Cavern days of the Beatles – the Ole Black Gretsch.

Its time for an update because Gretsch have announced that a faithful, limited edition replica is now for sale – for a cool US$20,000……

The guitar is a Gretsch Duo Jet that George purchased back in 1961 for £90.00:

Gretsch guitars in the United States has measured every dimension, every detail right down to the scratches and dings and even the rust on the metal of the pick-ups so that each of the limited edition of just sixty guitars is accurate in every respect.

There’s much more information and background at: http://www.gretschguitars.com/features/georgeharrison

Label Variations – Part Five “Band on the Run”

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I have to thank the very wonderful Chained and Perfumed blogsite for this one. Every now and then this site features photos of interesting record labels from their own collection. One recent post highlights a whole raft of great images – different versions of “Band on the Run” (on vinyl) from around the world.

Chained and Perfumed got these from Ebay from a seller who has on offer a large number of versions of Paul McCartney’s classic album, itself recently re-issued on vinyl.

Like Chained and Perfumed we like seeing different global variations – so here are few from the Ebay collection, followed by a couple from my own collection. First off a couple of different Korean pressings:

Then Greece and Italy:

And France (on nice yellow vinyl):

India and Sweden both used the traditional Apple:

While for some strange reason New Zealand used the same Apple colour as those used on George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” original vinyl:

The Japanese pressings used the original custom labels. Here are two versions, one with the Apple logo, the other with the Capital and MPL logos:

And now for Argentina and Mexico:

Here’s an interesting version on Odeon Records in Germany:

There are a couple of Russian versions on Ebay. Firstly one on Santa Records and then the more common Melodiya:

Next come a couple of UK versions. The first is a pretty standard issue, but without the Apple logo appearing:

The next is a special limited edition of the disc from 1997, released to celebrate the EMI Records Centenary – 100 Years of recording:

Here are some labels that are from my own collection which are not represented  above which you might also find interesting if you are into this sort of thing. First is a Canadian pressing – which I think is actually exactly the same as the US:

We had a strange example from New Zealand above. The re-issue of “Band on the Run” in that country came out on Parlophone Records:

Of course there is always the standard, original UK pressing with the Apple logo:

In Australia the original release also looked very much like the UK:

The re-issues in Australia though came out on the Capital label. Here are two variations, one on purple Capital the other on blue Capital:

Finally, in 1999 for the 25th anniversary of the release of “Band on the Run” there came a two-disc, limited edition, remastered version. This is the UK pressing of disc 1:

And here’s the second disc, which contained previously unreleased material featuring alternate versions and special interviews on the making of “Band on the Run”:

If you’d like to see some more Beatles and Beatles related record label variations you can go to:

Label Variations – Part One “Sgt Pepper”

Label Variations – Part Two “Let It Be”

Label Variations – Part Three – McCartney’s “Choba B CCCP”

Label Variations – Part Four  “Shaved Fish”

“All Things Must Pass” – Variations and Collectors Items

and

The Beatles “Love” collectable variations

The Next McCartney Releases

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Wogblog is one Beatles blogsite you can trust when it comes to accurate news and information about planned future releases. I don’t know where Roger Stormo (who is based in Norway) gets his information from, but it is usually correct well out from any officially released news. In his latest post Wogblog is saying that the next two confirmed releases in The Paul McCartney Archive Collection series will be Paul’s first solo album “McCartney”, and the album that came out ten years later (and was recorded in a similar fashion at home studios), “McCartney II”.

“McCartney” (1970) will be available in two forms: as a 2 CD set, and as a 2 CD plus 1 DVD deluxe set with a 100 page book.

“McCartney II” (1980) will also be available in two forms: as a 2 CD set, and as a 3 CD plus 1 DVD deluxe set with a 100 page book.

I’m guessing the books will be just like the book format used for the recent deluxe packaging of “Band on the Run” (2010). There is no talk of vinyl pressings yet – hopefully they will be announced soon. No release dates are yet available for both collections.

Wogblog had the inside running on all the details for that “Band on the Run” set very early. It was the first release in the Archive series, so there’s reason to believe he could be onto something here too.

The Lost Lennon Tapes – Rolling Stone Magazine

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We’re a bit slow down here so pardon if you’ve got this info already – but the latest (February) Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine has just hit news stands.

Don’t know if they waited  intentionally to release this into the Christmas/New Year holiday market here, or there was something more pressing to put on the front cover Down Under a few weeks ago. This content was seen in the US back in early December . It was timed to coincide with the anniversary of John Lennon’s death. Here’s the Australian cover:

As you can see, the feature article is the final print interview with Lennon, conducted by journalist and writer Jonathon Cott:

On December 5, 1980, three days before he was murdered, John Lennon sat down with Rolling Stone‘s Jonathan Cott for a nine-hour interview. Select excerpts from the interview ran in Rolling Stone‘s tribute to John Lennon the following month — but Cott never transcribed all of the tapes. For 30 years they sat in the back of his closet.

So, much of this content is seeing the light of day for the very first time, accompanied by some terrific photographs by Annie Leibovitz, Rolling Stone magazine chief photographer at the time. One of the most interesting, spread over two pages, is the Lennon’s at home in their Dakota apartment kitchen:

Its a great photo – one I’d not seen before and so homely and domestic. Clearly many of the photographs by Annie Leibovitz from this day’s shoot at the Dakota  have now been seen in many iterations, including the LP and CD cover for “The John Lennon Collection”, a best-of released in 1989:

The Rolling Stone “Last Interview” is accompanied by a lengthy piece called “John’s Last Days” written by Yoko Ono in London. It’s dated October 18th, 2010, and in it she says that one day during the recording of “Double Fantasy” they had some time to spare, and had some retail therapy:

“After being in the dark studio for ages, the outside made us squint. It was like spring! A beautiful, beautiful day. The sky was shining blue. We felt like two kids skipping class. John decided we would go into Saks Fifth Avenue. He went through a few counters and stopped at the glasses: “We should get one for you.” He picked a pair out – large black wraparound shades – and put them on me….”You should wear these all the time.” I thought that was silly and wanted to laugh, but stopped short. He was gazing. “Why?” I asked with my eyes. He just took my hand and we walked quickly toward the exit. It was time to get back to the studio. I immediately forgot the incident totally. Later, those were the glasses I used to face the world.”

I’m guessing that these are those same glasses – by Porsche Design – which Yoko was seen wearing in public frequently in the years after John’s murder. This is a cover from a 1981 edition of Rolling Stone. If you look closely you can see that she is also  wearing the same necklace that John is wearing in the “The John Lennon Collection” CD cover shot:

Rolling Stone have uploaded four audio extracts from the Jonathan Cott “Last Interview” here, and you can download an 18 minute podcast here. Also in this latest edition of the magazine Yoko Ono lists her ten best John Lennon songs.

Let It Be – Dialogue From the Beatles’ Motion Picture

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This little item came into the collection last week:

It’s a one-sided 45rpm single with three tracks on the A side. These are as the label describes – three brief extracts of dialogue from the Beatles’ 1970 film Let It Be, which premiered in New York in May that year.  We’ve been looking around on the internet for some further information on it.

Fab 4 Collectables (which is a really interesting site by the way) says that this disc was issued to fan club members, but as it states on the the label “Beatles Promo – 1970”  you’d have to think it’s more likely a disc that was sent to radio stations to promote the Let It Be film which had only just been released in the United States. The dialogue was produced during the ill-fated recording and filming of the film in Twickenham studios in London in January, 1969.

The Apple By The Numbers site (no longer active) said that there are bootleg copies of this around: “….fakes exist which do not have machine stamped symbols in the matrix area of the run-out grooves. The original was on black vinyl. Fakes exist on colored vinyl. This record was made at Bell Sound Studios to promote the release of the Let It Be film documentary”. It was Bell Sound that pressed the official Let It Be LP for Apple Records in the USA.

This promo 45 here has symbols stamped in the run-out area, so I guess it could be an original. It says: “Promo  1970 . D – 1” then a symbol that looks like a circle within a circle, followed by a squiggle that looks like this:  ˜ (all hand-written).  As you can see, Apple is mentioned on the label, as is ABKCO, Allen Klein’s company which was managing the Beatles at the time.

It comes in a plain white sleeve, and the B-side is blank. There’s just a white label with no writing, and some groves stamped into the vinyl:

If anyone has any further information on this disc please leave a comment.

For other Let It Be posts see Label Variations – Part 2 ; Let It Be At 40 ; and At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP.

George Harrison – The Ole Black Gretsch

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The Gretsch guitar site has been running an interesting teaser video for a couple of weeks now….The advertising spiel goes something like this:

“Gretsch is pleased to announce the GEORGE HARRISON product “teaser” that will grace their homepage website beginning at midnight, December 9, 2010. By clicking on the “watch video” icon, George will narrate a brief story about his “ole black Gretsch”. There’s no doubt it will cause a major stir in the global marketplace. Want to know more about this project? Please keep checking back on the website as it will be updated over time…”

Seems like there’s to be a new line of reproduction George Harrison “Duo Jet” model guitars – which was his very first decent axe, purchased second-hand back in 1961.

You can read more about this guitar here. According to this site the “friend” to whom George gave the Gretsch (and who subsequently gave it back to him years later) was none other than Klaus Voormann.

Another great source I have is a really interesting book by Andy Babiuk called “Beatles Gear – All The Fab Four’s Instruments, From Stage to Studio“, which came out in 2001.

This book goes into a lot more detail about Harrison and his guitars. After 1961 he went on to purchase other Gretsch models notably the “Chet Atkins Country Gentleman” – George owned two, and the “Chet Atkins Tessessean“.  His profile helped greatly in continuing the brand’s fame in the 1960’s.

Here are some shots of George with that first, now legendary “Duo Jet” guitar:

And probably most notably it makes an appearance on the cover of his 1987 solo album “Cloud Nine”:

The Ole Black Gretsch is featured with Harrison in all the  photos used in the “Cloud Nine”  CD booklet too. I guess we know now that we have Klaus Voormann to thank for re-uniting the pair.

How famous is the Gretsch “Duo Jet”? It even turned up as one of the instrument choices for buyers of The Beatles “Rockband” console game:

How many kids playing “Rockband” today would know they’re “strumming” away on a stylised version of a 1957 model guitar that a young George Harrison purchased in 1961 second-hand from a Liverpool sailor?

John Lennon – Double Fantasy (Stripped Down)

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At long last my copy of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono “Double Fantasy – Stripped Down” two CD set has arrived.

I know, it was released way back in October as part of the Lennon 70th birth-date celebrations, along with the big Lennon “Signature” box set, the “Gimme Some Truth” 4 CD box set, and the two versions of the “best of” John Lennon compilations called “Power to the People – The Hits”.

The lengthy delay for me in getting “Double Fantasy – Stripped Down” was caused by a bad Ebayer who disappeared off the face of the earth after taking my (and many other peoples) money. After waiting weeks the item just didn’t turn up, and he didn’t reply to emails. Fortunately I’d paid  using PayPal and after lodging a refund claim with them I got my money back. I must say here that it was all very efficiently done by PayPal – so I’d recommend using them as a way to pay for anything you order on Ebay as it comes with this sort of buyer protection.

After quite a few weeks that dispute was solved and I placed another Ebay order – this time with a store in the US. I particularly wanted a US copy of “Stripped Down” to go with all the US versions of Lennon’s other titles contained in the “Signature” box set. They sent it surface mail or something and it also took a while to get here – but this time at least it has finally arrived.

You’ve probably gathered by now that I’m quite interested in the packaging, small print text, and the images used for the covers of LPs and CDs. (If you are too, you might like a page called “Sleevage” that specialises in album music, art and design of all types).

Clearly, this late in the day, this CD cover isn’t new to you. Its been out since October and everyone has come to terms with the fact that both the front and rear covers are cleverly based on sketches of the original LP’s black-and-white shots of John and Yoko taken back in 1980. I think its a nice touch that they asked Sean Lennon to do this. Yoko says in the booklet liner notes (quote):

“And thank you Sean, after many days of hesitation, you finally did the drawings for the front and back covers…for your dad and your mom. All sorts of memory of that time came back to you, you said.. I know how hard it must have been. This is a thank you from me and your dad.”

One other piece of information that caught my attention reading the small print in the cover notes was that two of the photographs used on the inside panels of the cover are actually significant. This shot of John and Yoko leaving the Dakota building was taken on their  way to the Hit Factory studios in New York on August 4, 1980, for the first day of recording for what would become the “Double Fantasy” album:

From inside the gatefold cover: John and Yoko leave the Dakota for the studio and the very first day of recording "Double Fantasy" - August 4, 1980

And this photo on another panel of the gatefold for “Stripped Down” was taken on 44th Street, New York on December 6, 1980 – the last day of recording:

Another image from the packaging: John and Yoko on 44th Street on the very last day of recording "Double Fantasy"

Its not the first time that photo of the pair leaving the Dakota Building has been used. It appeared as the picture sleeve for the US release of one of the three singles taken from the original “Double Fantasy” LP – the song called “Watching the Wheels”:

The same Dakota photograph was used for the vinyl single "Watching the Wheels", released on 27 March, 1981

Interestingly, when you purchase the Lennon “Signature Box“, which reissues all his original solo albums, you get “Double Fantasy” remastered in its original form – a single disc with the 1980 cover art and without the “Stripped Down”  version as an additional CD:

In the booklet for this edition of “Double Fantasy” you get a different short essay by Paul Du Noyer, but it has all the same photographs as those used in the booklet for the “Stripped Down” booklet.

Also, I’m not sure that you can purchase this single disc 2010 remastered version of “Double Fantasy” as a stand-alone item. I had a quick look around on the web and couldn’t find it for sale anywhere and so I think it may only be available by getting the “Signature” box. If anyone has any info on that one please let us know.

 

Phil Spector’s Christmas Album

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Originally called “A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records” and released in 1963, this Apple Records LP reissue of the same album came out in 1972 – with different cover art and retitled “Phil Spector’s Christmas Album”:

Phil Spector's "Christmas Album on Apple (front)

Phil Spector's "Christmas Album" on Apple (rear)

Funnily enough the Apple labels  list the title differently to the sleeve, calling it “The Phil Spector Christmas Album Various”….

This is the US pressing (APPLE SW 3400).  As well as listing the artists (Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Crystals, etc.), the small print on the rear cover has a typically kooky quote from Spector:

“Because Christmas is so international it is certainly in keeping that these youngsters should record their Christmas gift to you, for this album is produced solely with you in mind. It comes with the sincere wish that you understand and appreciate this endeavour into something new and different”. (Phil Spector 1963)

There have been numerous other reissues of this record. I also have the disc with the same artwork (with a few small variations) on the Phil Spector International label:

Spector's "Christmas Album" on the Spector International Label

Notice the words “Phil Spector’s” is in black and superimposed over the words “Christmas Album”, and the artists featured are in written in white on the photo of Phil. On the rear the Apple logo is replaced by the Phil Spector International logo:

Spector's "Christmas Album" on Spector International (rear)

This is the UK pressing (SUPER 2307 005) and the label of my copy looks like this:

Thanks to the the lovely Chained and Perfumed blog for the Christmas inspiration for this one. If you want to see another label variation (this time for the original LP) click on the link.