Tag Archives: Beatles Related

Band on the Run – Limited Edition 45 Single

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Just secured (via Ebay) a copy of the very limited, re-released 7″ vinyl single “Band on the Run”.

It’s a 45rpm single that is apparently only being distributed in the US to some of the Record Store Day shops. Its part of the build up to the forthcoming re-issue of the album “Band on the Run”, which will be available in a number of formats.

Haven’t got the single in the post yet – but here are some photos:

Band on the Run (2010) - front cover

Taken from the forthcoming Paul McCartney Archive Collection reissue, the paper sleeve front cover replicates the original U.S. and European single releases which came out in 1973 (1974 in the UK).

The rear though gives away the fact its a 2010 release with its bar code and references to Concord Music and Hear Music – Paul McCartney’s new record label since he left EMI.

Band on the Run (2010) - rear cover

Originally this would have been released on the Apple label, but this time around its a plain black and white label from Concord Music:

Back in 1974 in the UK the B-side was a song called “Zoo Gang”, but everywhere else it was another track from the “Band on the Run” LP – “Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Four”:

Much thanks to Wogblog – who once again was the first with the info that this special and limited Paul McCartney and Wings vinyl single was going to be released.

See also the full 2 LP vinyl re-issue, and the 4 disc Deluxe re-issue.

John Lennon – Gimme Some Truth Box

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This is the next installment of close-up, detailed photos of the current John Lennon re-issue program. We’ve already had a look at the “Signature” box set containing freshly remastered editions of all the original studio albums, plus two CDs of singles, home recordings and outtakes.

Now its the turn of the other box set issued as part of the program called “Gimme Some Truth”. First thing to say is that it is much smaller that the “Signature” box set (although that’s not saying much as the “Signature” set is huge). Its really just a slipcase kind of affair, designed to hold four CDs in cardboard sleeves plus a book. The other thing to say is that there’s nothing new here audio-wise for the avid collector. These are compilations completely made up of previously released tracks – most of which have been re-issued in a variety of forms many, many times…

The front and rear photos on the box are of John and Yoko in New York, only they’ve been superimposed on a drawing of New York Harbour (as imagined by John Lennon). It was taken by Scottish photographer Iain Macmillan, best known for his photo for the cover of “Abbey Road”:

"Gimme Some Truth" - front cover

And the rear:

"Gimme Some Truth" - rear cover

Here’s a shot from the same photo session with Iain Macmillan:

Inside the box are four themed CDs that gather John Lennon’s songs into categories. The first is “Working Class Hero”:

This photo is taken by Bob Gruen, a long-time friend and frequent photographer of Lennon who has taken some of his most iconic shots, including the images for the “Walls and Bridges” album, and he did the photograph used on the recent biography of John by Philip Norman. There are 18 tracks on this CD and they include “Power to the People”, “Steel and Glass” and “Give Peace a Chance”.

The second CD is called “Woman”, and gathers together love songs and songs specifically about the women in Lennon’s life:

This image is by Lilo Raymond, and is a photograph from the same sessions as the one used for the front cover of the 1983 posthumous LP release called “Heart Play – Unfinished Dialogue” which contained conversations with John and Yoko recorded in 1980:

The “Woman” CD also contains 18 songs, such as “Mother”, “Hold On” and “Jealous Guy”.  The third CD is “Borrowed Time”:

Got to be one of the saddest photos of John, don’t you think? So much potential there and a baby boy he won’t get the chance to see grow up….. Songs include “Nobody Told Me”, Watching the Wheels”, and of course “Borrowed Time”. The image was taken by Nishi Saimaru, who’s 1990 book “The John Lennon Family Album” features intimate family photographs taken over a three year period with the Lennon’s in New York, Miami, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. She also took the cover photo for that other four CD box set released in 1990, simply called “Lennon“.

The fourth and final disc collects Lennon covering tracks from his youth – early rock’n’roll standards plus a couple of other more contemporary rockers.

This is one of a series of famous images taken by Jurgen Vollmer of a young John Lennon in a Hamburg doorway. Vollmer, Astrid Kirchherr and Klaus Voormann met the Beatles in Germany in the early 60’s. Later, John was to write: “… Vollmer was the first photographer to capture the beauty and the spirit of The Beatles…We tried very hard to find someone with his touch after we returned from Hamburg, Germany…nobody could…The photographs…speak for themselves.” One of his photos from the same session was used on the cover of the 1975 album “Rock ‘N’ Roll”:

The “Gimme Some Truth” box also contains a 24-page book featuring an article (“Truth In All It’s Forms – The Songs of John Lennon”) by Anthony DeCurtis. DeCurtis also wrote the essay for the “Signature” box. It is illustrated with additional photographs, Lennon drawings and hand-written lyrics.

The front and rear covers of the book feature a Lennon drawing with his face morphing into Yoko Ono’s, and vice versa:

The final inclusion in the box is a business card-sized piece of cardboard with the word “Online” on one side and instructions and a PIN code for you to access the John Lennon Universe on the web on the other.

I’m not sure, but I think this card and PIN get you access to less comprehensive content in the “Universe” to that of the “Signature” box one. If anyone confirm that let me know.

See also the John Lennon “Signature Box” revealed, and the Paul McCartney Deluxe “Band on the Run” CD and vinyl sets.

John Lennon – Signature Box

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Well, our copy of the new John Lennon “Signature Box” has finally arrived safely in the post, thanks to Amazon, all the way from America.

You’ll no doubt see lots and lots of small photos of the exterior and YouTube “un-boxing” videos, so I thought I’d scan in some extreme close ups of what’s inside to give you an idea of the contents from that perspective.

As you know (and any Google Image search will reveal) the exterior of the “Signature Box” and it’s main parts look like this:

You can see above that it is really a box-within-a-box as the entire exterior (which has the word “Lennon” in sky blue lettering on top, and a Lennon signature embossed in white on the front) slides up and off to reveal an inner box. What you first see at the very top of that box are three items: the first is a 60-page, hard-cover book with simply the word “Yes” deeply embossed in blue on the front cover:

There is a deep blue ribbon underneath this book to help you lift it out of the box neatly (those of you with the Beatles Remastered Stereo boxes will have seen something similar used in that box to help you lift out the CDs). This book contains a lengthy essay called “John Lennon – The Life and Afterlife” by Anthony DeCurtis. It is illustrated lavishly with photographs, drawings and hand-written lyrics. Also with the book at the top of the box is a four-page cardboard fold-out sheet with this on the front:

On one side are three separate messages about John Lennon and his legacy from Yoko Ono, Julian Lennon and Sean Lennon, all signed August 9th, 2010. On the other side are four words: Give Peace A Chance. The final item you find at the top of the box is a business card-sized piece of cardboard with the word “Online” on one side and instructions and a PIN code for you to access the John Lennon Universe on the web on the other.

(If you don’t have a PIN code you can still have a snoop around the “Universe” – only with a lot of the functionality disabled).

Once you have lifted these three items out you can see the CD’s tucked away vertically inside underneath the book. They’re held in place by a piece of white soft foam with finger cut-outs so that you can get the CDs out a little more easily:

All the CDs are housed in redesigned cardboard gate-fold covers, utilizing the original artwork but in the now-familiar style of all the newly remastered Beatles CD covers. (Incidentally, the new Paul McCartney archive re-issues [starting with “Band on the Run” next month] will also have this new look). The re-issued and remastered CDs now all have booklets with sleeve notes (by Paul Du Noyer), lyrics and additional photographs.  The only thing here that’s new music content-wise are two CDs housed together in a unique, plain white gate-fold cover. One of them contains six singles which are not on the albums:

The other contains 13 tracks which are previously unreleased studio outtakes or home recordings:

Then, at the bottom of the box is a slide-out drawer (its got a small blue ribbon tab so you can pull it out). It contains a white, hard covered folder with John Lennon’s signature embossed in white on the front. The drawer also has a long blue ribbon under the folder to assist you in lifting it out. Inside is a John Lennon 70th Birthday art print on high quality paper:

This tasteful art theme is continued on two sides of the inner box, with a further Lennon drawing appearing on the left-hand side:

And again on the right-hand side:

I hope this has given you a different perspective on the contents. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the packaging to try to make it hang together artistically in both design and colours. The strongest motifs are clouds, blue sky, and plain white). Its a MUCH bigger box than you’d expect – in fact the nine CDs inside look quite small by the time you get to them. There is a lot of packaging around them. It is significantly larger than the John Lennon  “Anthology” four-CD set and book that came out in 1998 (and which has some very similar design elements).

The Second Disc has written a comprehensive review of the “Signature Box”.

Next post will be a similar close-up, in-depth look at the new 4 CD “Gimme Some Truth” package.

See also the Paul McCartney Deluxe CD set, and the two disc vinyl.

1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die

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I was sent a new book the other day. Its called “1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die”. Great title.

Its edited by Robert Dimery and is a compendium of entries about the greatest popular songs ever recorded. The book is a companion to his previous work “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”.  (Click here if you are wondering about what’s on that album list).

The front cover of "1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die"

Of course the first place I went was to the index to find where the Beatles appeared.

They have no less than six full entries:  “A Day in the Life”; “Eleanor Rigby”; “Hey Jude”; “Strawberry Fields Forever”; “Ticket to Ride”; and “Tomorrow Never Knows”.

The entry for "A Day in the Life" uses an image of John Lennon's hand-written lyrics for the song

Interesting that “A Day In The Life” features so prominently as it was also recently nominated as the number one Beatles song in Rolling Stone’s Beatles special edition “Top 100” list.

The Beatles are matched in the book only by Elvis – who also featured with six entries. Bob Dylan, by way of comparison, has four entries…..

John Lennon as a solo artist gets one (a little predictably its “Imagine”); Paul McCartney gets one (perhaps surprisingly its “Maybe I’m Amazed”); George Harrison gets one (“Awaiting On You All”); and Ringo…well, Ringo doesn’t get any solo mentions.

Band on the Run – Preview and Part 1 of Documentary

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Paul McCartney has today published the complete details of the forthcoming deluxe, special, standard and vinyl versions of the remastered “Band on the Run” album. You also get Episode 1 of “Making Band on the Run” – for free. Just click on the vinyl edition image below:

“Band on the Run” in its various editions is available on November 1 and 2, and interestingly pre-orders via the Paul McCartney official site receive digital downloads instantly of “Band on the Run (live in Glasgow, 1979)”, and “No Words (live in Glasgow, 1979)” as an additional bonus.

 

Lennon Signature Box – Unboxing

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The first of the YouTube videos showing the unboxing of the new John Lennon “Signature Box” (containing all eight re-issued and remastered studio albums, plus a double CD containing non-album singles and 13 previously unreleased studio outtakes and home recordings) have begun to appear. This is one of the best so far:

It is actually a much larger box than I had imagined. I think its a pity that the box does not contain the new “Stripped Down” version of “Double Fantasy” and that we have to go out and buy that again separately…..

John Lennon – Google Celebrates 70th Birthday

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Google have paid tribute to John Lennon’s 70th birth date with one of those fun animated headings on their main search page:Click on the image to see the animation.

YouTube has also paid tribute:

Happy birthday John.

Apple Artist LP Reissues – From 1991 to 1996

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There are about to be 16 Apple artists titles reissued on CD (many with bonus tracks) by the Beatles’ record company, Apple Records. But it’s not the first time that Apple has had such a big re-issue program. They’ve done it at least once before – only over the period of a couple of years in the early 1990’s in what they then called release “phases”. Phase I of the original reissue program started in 1991 with five newly digitally remastered CDs and vinyl seeing the light of day for the first time since they  originally came out back in the late 1960’s and early 70’s. For collectors of Apple vinyl these were interesting items because it often meant that the LP’s were expanded – with the bonus material contained on unique, separate, additional discs. The original single-sleeve covers also became gate-fold doubles. The Phase I titles included James Taylor – “James Taylor”; Mary Hopkin – “Postcard”; Billy Preston – “That’s the Way God Planned It”; Jackie Lomax – “Is This What You Want?”, and Badfinger – “Magic Christian Music” To mark Phase I there was a vinyl EP released, and also a CD with the same tracks. However, it was issued in a special apple-shaped cardboard container. There was also a promo CD with 14 tracks that was sent to radio stations featuring selected songs from each release that is now a real collectors item:

Apple “Phase I” limited edition promo CD cover

The Phase II titles came in 1992 when Apple re-issued (on vinyl and CD): Mary Hopkin – “Earth Song Ocean Song”; Badfinger – “No Dice”; Doris Troy – “Doris Troy”; The Iveys – “Maybe Tomorrow”; George Harrison – “Wonderwall Music”, and John Tavener – “The Whale”. Phase II also had a special, limited edition promo CD (also with 14 tracks) that’s become a highly prized collectors item as well:

Apple “Phase II” limited edition promo CD cover

Phase III was in 1993 and included John Tavener – “Celtic Requiem”; The Radha Krsna Temple London – “Radha Krsna Temple”; Billy Preston – “Encouraging Words”; Badfinger – “Straight Up”, and The Modern Jazz Quartet – “Under the Jasmine Tree”. There was then quite a break with nothing released until 1995 when two “Best Of” discs came out, one of which – from Badfinger – was a completely new, digitally remastered title. These were Mary Hopkin – “Those Were the Days” (previously released in 1972) and Badfinger – “Come and Get It – The Best of Badfinger”. Both were available on vinyl and CD. In 1996 Apple finished off the reissue series with I guess what must have been Phase IV by that time – although they’d given up actually using that term: The Modern Jazz Quartet – “Space”; Ravi Shankar/Ali Akbar Khan – “In Concert 1972”; Badfinger – “Ass”, and George Harrison – “Electronic Sound” (on the Zapple Records label). As mentioned before – the reason these vinyl releases were of interest to me was that most of them (but not all) came with unique, additional discs containing the bonus material:

Jackie Lomax “Is This What You Want?” – rear vinyl LP cover detail (1991)

The full-sized, 12-inch bonus discs  all play at 45 rpm (not 331/3 rpm like an LP):

Jackie Lomax – Bonus Disc Side 1

This Jackie Lomax reissue came out in 1991, has five bonus songs, and as you can see is a European pressing. Here’s Side 2:

Jackie Lomax – Bonus Disc Side 2

From the Phase II series in 1992 comes the album “No Dice” from Badfinger, also with five previously unreleased tracks:

Badfinger “No Dice” (1992 vinyl reissue) rear cover detail

Again, the 12-inch bonus records were to be played at 45 rpm:

Badfinger “No Dice” bonus songs – Side 1

Badfinger “No Dice” bonus songs – Side 2

An earlier incarnation of Badfinger was a band called The Iveys. In 1969 they had an Apple LP called “Maybe Tomorrow”. In 1992 it was re-issued by Apple on vinyl with four bonus tracks, two of them previously unreleased:

The Iveys “Maybe Tomorrow” (1992 vinyl reissue) rear cover detail

The labels from the bonus disc looked like this:

The Iveys – bonus disc Side 1, from “Maybe Tomorrow” released in 1992

The Iveys – bonus disc Side 2

The next release “phase” came in 1993 and on vinyl I’ve got four of the five releases (haven’t got the Radha Krsna Temple). Of those, two came with bonus discs:

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” vinyl LP rear cover detail (1993)

Billy Preston’s “Encouraging Words” record was co-produced by George Harrison and it was great to get on vinyl one previously unreleased song:

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” bonus disc Side 1

Billy Preston “Encouraging Words” bonus disc Side 2

There were also bonus tracks on the Badfinger “Straight Up” LP. Here’s the rear cover of the 1993 release:

Badfinger “Straight Up” (1993 vinyl re-issue) rear cover detail

Inside the gate-fold cover was an additional record with six bonus tracks, five of which were previously unreleased:

Badfinger “Straight Up” bonus disc – Side1

Badfinger “Straight Up” bonus disc – Side 2

The forthcoming 2010 Apple CD reissues will contain bonus material as well, and in most cases these will be additional to the tracks already re-issued on these vinyls and on CD in the early 1990’s. Some of the additional tracks in 2010 will be included on the new CDs, but some will be only be available for digital download – that is unless you buy the box set of all the CD albums complete. Then you get an additional two CD’s containing absolutely everything.

“Stripped Down” – First Photos

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Maybe the very first images of the full packaging for “Double Fantasy – Stripped Down” have been posted on the web.

Apparently the full range of the “Gimme Some Truth” releases (including the 11 CD box set) are already available for sale in a CD shop in Brussells:

The site these come from is in French and Google Translate says something like this:

“No need to wait for the official release date (October 4th), all the new Lennon are already (and apparently have been for 1 or 2 days) at a record store in Brussels in the “old quarter”…The big box (at 145 € euros), the single CDs, compilations…and “Stripped Down” (at 19 € euros). The packaging is like those for the CD stereo Beatles remasters: soft cardboard (which shows fingerprints and the ink of which will undoubtedly be transferred onto neighboring CDs in a rack – just like the Beatles ones). The CD slid out without any protective inner sleeve.”

This was posted on September 30th. Thanks to the French Beatles forum yellowsub.net for these images.

Also, as to the sound of “Stripped Down” there’s a nice side-by-side comparison been posted by Willard on the Never Get Out of the Boat blogsite.

Ravi Shankar – “Raga” Reissue

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Amidst all the anticipation around the huge Apple Records reissue program (scheduled for October 25), and the new George Harrison/Ravi Shankar “Collaborations” release (scheduled for October 19), there’s also further news about another previous Apple release called “Raga” (which is not part of the current official Apple Records reissue series).

Quite separately Ravi Shankar’s East Meets West company is re-issuing “Raga: A Film Journey Into the Soul of India”, a 1971 film about Shankar’s life and music, which features appearances by George Harrison.

The soundtrack is a former Apple vinyl title – but it won’t be part of the latest 16-title Apple CD reissues program.

The new artwork for "Raga", the soundtrack to the film of the same name - originally released by Apple Records

Both the DVD and a soundtrack (available as a digital download) are coming out on October 14, released on the East Meets West label:

Cover for the DVD release of the film

Further details about the DVD and the soundtrack (which will be available free via a digital download card with the purchase of the DVD, or which can be  downloaded separately at all digital retailers) can be found here. There’s also a high quality YouTube sample from the film as well: