Tag Archives: BMG

National Album Day 2025, Plus More Harrison/Dark Horse

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Apple has announced it will re-issue Badfinger’s Magic Christian Music on a striking blue vinyl as part of National Album Day in the UK.

You might recall last year the theme was ‘Great British Groups’ and The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night was issued on white vinyl to celebrate.

Well, this year the theme is ‘Rock’:

Magic Christian Music is the second album released by Welsh rock band, Badfinger. They recorded 5 albums for Apple Records, and were the first non-Beatle recording artists signed to the label.

This release will be the first time the 2010 remasters of Magic Christian Music are available on vinyl, and the first time the album has been re-pressed since 1996.

Magic Christian Music includes the band’s first international hit, ‘Come And Get It’, written and produced for them by Paul McCartney. Of the fourteen tracks, seven were newly recorded for the album while the remaining songs were lifted from their first album Maybe Tomorrow, which had seen only a limited release. Three of the new tracks were featured in the film The Magic Christian (starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr). They were produced by Paul, and the strings on ‘Carry On Till Tomorrow’ were arranged and conducted by George Martin. SIx tracks were produced by Tony Visconti and five by Mal Evans.

This 180g blue vinyl version, out on October 18, is housed in a single sleeve featuring the original artwork, with poly-lined white inner sleeves.

In other Beatle-related release news, the push by BMG to get more George Harrison/Dark Horse Records titles officially onto their catalogue continues. On October 24 they will release the next batch including the self-titled George Harrison (from early 1979) on both vinyl and CD:

The CD has one bonus track, ‘Here Comes The Moon (Demo)’:

Then in June 1981 came Somewhere In England. It too gets a vinyl and CD re-issue on Dark Horse:

The CD is interesting. It comes in the original album concept artwork and has one bonus track, a demo of ‘Save The World’:

And then comes 1982’s Gone Troppo:

The Gone Troppo CD also comes with a single bonus track, the demo version of ‘Mystical One’:

Also due for an October 24 release are CD versions of Brainwashed; Cloud Nine; and Thirty Three and 1/3. Each of these has already seen a vinyl release under the BMG distribution deal. This just makes a CD version available to collectors:

All CD’s are in Digipak packaging. You can get all the details on all these releases, and place pre-orders, at the Official George Harrison Store.

Interestingly, also listed there (for an October 3 release) is a 3LP set of All Things Must Pass. This too is to bring that classic title in under the BMG/Dark Horse Records banner as a vinyl issue (there’s already been a CD released).

The question is, will it come out with Dark Horse Records labels, or will it be on the traditional orange Apple and Apple Jam labels? The pack shot has a prominent Dark Horse hype sticker (click on the image to see a larger version):

This vinyl is the 50th anniversary mix by Paul Hicks and the set includes the original poster – but with the back of the poster containing notes by Dhani Harrison and Hicks about remixing the album.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the LPs have the Dark Horse label. For some reason our money is on Apple labels……look very closely at that hype sticker and you’ll see in the small print the words “Apple and the Apple logo are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd and used with permission.” So maybe it won’t have Dark Horse labels after all….

Huge Number of Dark Horse Titles on the Way

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We knew that Record Store Day this year will have three Dark Horse titles available for collectors of this Beatle-related sub-brand, but did you know that Dark Horse Records is planning a further big push in late April and early May?

RSD will have:

George Harrison and Beck with ‘Be Here Now’:

This is Record Store Day’s “Song of the Year” and it will be on a 12″ single with George’s original version on one side, and Beck’s cover version on the other.

There’ll also be the next installment of George Harrison back-catalogue titles appearing as Zoetrope picture discs. This time its the turn of All Things Must Pass, so it is a 3 LP set in an individually numbered sleeve. It’s catalogue number is DH0037Z:

And for RSD in the UK comes another Cat Stevens back-catalogue item, Back To Earth (DH0027). Like the Cat Stevens releases the label put out for RSD last year, this one will also come in a special lenticular album sleeve:

Then, once we get RSD 2025 out of the way, on April 25 comes a brand new Billy Idol title, Dream Into It. This is his first new, full-length album of original material in over a decade. It will be available on black vinyl, as a limited edition purple vinyl, and on CD:

There’s also limited edition signed copies to be had:

The Idol release will be followed on May 9 with no less than 9 re-issues from Dark Horse that officially bring even more of the George Harrison back-catalogue under the Dark Horse/BMG umbrella. These include All Things Must Pass – 50th Anniversary mix as a 2CD set with Dark Horse and BMG on the label for the first time (instead of Capitol and Universal Music). It will be given the Dark Horse catalogue number DH0037:

All Things Must Pass will be joined by George’s 1974 title, Dark Horse on black vinyl and on CD, with the catalogue number DH0038:

There’s also Extra Texture (with the catalogue number DH0039) on black vinyl and on CD:

And Thirty Three & 1/3 (catalogue number DH0040) – but only on black vinyl at the moment for some reason:

Also on May 9 to bring Harrison more firmly under the BMG banner will be a CD re-issue of his Wonderwall Music (with the catalogue number DH0033). This joins the Zoetrope vinyl with the same catalogue number from Record Store Day last year:

Likewise, Electronic Sound gets the same CD treatment – joining its Zoetrope vinyl partner in carrying the catalogue number DH0034:

And lastly, one further May 9 release. It is Harrison’s Early Takes Volume 1 on CD (catalogue number DH0047). It joins the black vinyl that was issued last year also under the Dark Horse/BMG label:

As if that isn’t enough, on May 16 comes two long-rumoured but also long delayed Jon Lord Dark Horse titles, re-issues of his albums Gemini Suite and Windows. Gemini Suite will be on a spectacular splatter vinyl (with the catalogue number DH0023):

While Windows comes on a cool orange vinyl:

So, collectors who like to keep up with everything Dark Horse is doing alongside their Beatle collecting are going to need deep pockets over the next two months.

                 

Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Sign Further Publishing and Album Release Deals with BMG

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You might recall that back in 2020 the mega music distributor and publisher BMG announced that it had formed a multi-faceted, worldwide distribution partnership with Dark Horse Records, the George Harrison-founded record label now led by his son, Dhani Harrison.

Well, there have been some developments.

Last week there was a rather intriguing press release from BMG announcing that they’ve now secured the publishing rights to the entire George Harrison song catalogue, including his Beatle, solo, and Traveling Wilbury compositions.

Plus the company has secured the rights to distribute some existing – and additional – interesting legacy artists on the the Dark Horse record label.

Here’s the official 2-page press release. We’ve highlighted those bits that grabbed our attention:

So, while there’ll be new publishing deals being done by BMG/Dark Horse for George Harrison’s compositions, it also looks like we can expect a range of interesting physical releases on the Dark Horse label.

These will include another EP from Billy Idol, and the new studio album from former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench. There’s also likely to be a slew of back-catalogue re-issues from the great Leon Russell.

Interesting times indeed.

See also our articles on the six BMG/Dark Horse Records already released so far: Joe Strummer’s Assembly LP, Billy Idol’s The Roadside EP, the Billy Idol Happy Holidays Christmas album, Ravi Shankar’s Chants of India LP, and Joe Strummer’s two Record Store Day 12″ singles: ‘Junco Partner’ and ‘Johnny Appleseed’.

BMG Signs Deal with George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records

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Billboard and Music Week are reporting that music distributor and publisher BMG has formed a new multi-faceted worldwide distribution partnership with Dark Horse Records, the George Harrison-founded record label now led by his son, Dhani Harrison.

The deal not only includes releases from the back-catalogue of Dark Horse, but also Harrison’s Indian label imprint, HariSongs. It’ll also include the solo work of Joe Strummer, and his work with The Mescaleros.

Dark Horse will also release entirely new recordings through BMG, like the recent Tom Petty estate charity single ‘For Real – For Tom’ that featured Jakob Dylan, Dhani Harrison, Amos Lee, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, and Willie Nelson.

Initial releases are digital only. The first slate of titles under the deal will include the George Harrison-produced Chants of India by Ravi Shankar; the live album Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan In Concert 1972; Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros’ albums Rock Art and The X-Ray Style, Global A Go-Go, and Streetcore; and Attitudes Ain’t Love Enough: The Best of Attitudes.

However, the good news for collectors of physical product is that future releases in 2020 will include compilations, live albums, and box sets featuring rare and unreleased recordings from the Dark Horse label. That means we might see new releases (plus bonus material) on CD and LP from the likes of Splinter, Stairsteps, Keni Burke, Jiva, the late Henry McCullough, and maybe even some Ravi Shankar…..