Tag Archives: Colored vinyl

New McCartney – The Boys of Dungeon Lane

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No doubt you’ve heard by now there’s to be a brand spanking new Paul McCartney solo album called The Boys of Dungeon Lane – due in stores from May 29. Very exciting to get a whole album’s worth of new material from the master – especially after a five year wait.

A new Paul McCartney release means inevitably there’ll be lots of variations to collect. Already there are 8 different vinyl colours you can pre-order, plus four different CD packages. Based on his last solo release (McCartney III), there’ll no doubt be more….

If you are collecting, here’s a bit of a guide to what’s available so far. And please bear in mind we haven’t seen the packaging in full as yet, so who know what artwork will be on the rear covers, spines, etc.

However, with the guide below you need to note some subtle differences between some of the versions – especially if you are a real packaging nerd. A few come with slightly different features (inserts, etc.), so we’ll try to point these out for you as we go along.

OK. Lets start off with the most obvious, and it’s the black vinyl. It is available from the official McCartney store, at Universal Music stores in various parts of the word (Australia for example), and seems to be widely available at most other places too from May 29:

The black vinyl includes embossed cover artwork (with red and black lettering), a printed inner sleeve and a 12-page lyric booklet.

There’s also a green vinyl which looks pretty nice. This is a McCartney store exclusive (plus at various Universal Music outlets – Umusic Shop Canada for example):

As you can see above, this comes with a unique cover with green and black lettering on the front (not red and black). It includes the store-exclusive green vinyl LP, a lyric card, and the 12-page lyric booklet. So, different to the black vinyl.

The gold vinyl will be available from Barnes and Noble stores in the US and is most probably the same gold vinyl as the Rough Trade exclusive offering.

The Rough Trade listing says “Includes 12-page lyric booklet and embossed cover artwork”. The Barnes and Noble listing is a little more vague as to what this version contains packaging-wise, but the hype sticker clearly states “Includes Photo Print”:

Now, until the launch of The Boys of Dungeon Lane last week we’d never heard of TalkShopLive. A quick Google reveals it is “the live streaming, social selling online network for anyone, anywhere, to buy & sell almost anything!” Hmmm. Still not exactly sure what that even means….BUT, the site has a purple vinyl exclusive. Could this have the potential to become the rarest version?

There’s precious little detail of what the packaging is for this TalkShopLive edition.

At the other end of the spectrum is the big online retailer, Amazon. They get a white vinyl Amazon exclusive:

Pressed on Amazon exclusive white vinyl, this LP includes the 12-page lyric booklet and embossed cover artwork.

The red vinyl is going out as an “exclusive” to a number of the big bricks-and-mortar stores like HMV in the UK, Target in the US, plus other large chain stores (like JB HiFi in Australia, fnac in France, jpc in Germany, etc.). This actually looks pretty good:

The red vinyl edition comes with the lyric card and the 12-page lyric booklet and embossed cover artwork.

Actually, jpc in Germany has quite clear images of the labels (which are common across the variants). Obviously they’re printed but look to be originally hand-written by Paul?

The pink vinyl is going to quite a lot of independant record stores (both bricks-and-mortar stores and online) right around the world, including Rough Trade, the SuperDeluxeEdition store, Juno Records in the UK, Badlands in the UK, the iMusic online store in Denmark etc., etc.:

This Indie-only pink vinyl features an embossed sleeve and comes with a 12-page lyric booklet.

So as you can see there are a number of little packaging wrinkles amongst the coloured vinyls.

But the biggest variation (so far) is probably the Amoeba Music exclusive just announced. It has completely out there alternate cover artwork (riffing on the Amoeba store’s official logo), and is on exclusive limited edition yellow vinyl:

No word on what else is included in this love-or-hate packaging! This looks to have unique labels as well.

As far as CD’s go it looks like there’s the widely-available standard CD: white disc, embossed cover with red lettering. Includes lyric booklet.

There’s an exclusive “green cover” CD: white disc, green lettering on front cover. Includes a “Paul McCartney photo print”, and lyric booklet. This again is a McCartney store exclusive (plus through various Universal Music outlets – Umusic Shop Canada for example):

Meanwhile in Japan there are two different SHM-CD variants available for pre-order. The first is the standard SHM-CD:

Not a lot of detail about what you get here, but it is almost certain to come with a lyric booklet and an insert with a Japanese translation of the lyrics.

There is also a limited Deluxe Edition SHM-CD described as a “Cardboard Sleeve (mini LP) in a 7-inch cardboard sleeve. Bonus item(s) are planned. Includes commentary, lyrics, and a Japanese translation”. Both SMH-CD’s do not have any bonus tracks.

New Ringo Starr – Long Long Road Coloured Vinyl, Black Vinyl & CD

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The old addage “when you’re on a good thing, stick to it” comes to mind today as Ringo Starr announces the release of his second album with T Bone Burnett as producer – due out on April 24.

It’ll be called Long Long Road and it follows on from last year’s well-received Look Up, a welcome return to the country/Americana style that Ringo, and his audience, are very comfortable with. Under the direction of Burnett, Ringo is having something of a late career revival and reaching new audiences.

Recorded in Nashville and Los Angeles, the 10-song album features collaborations with Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Sarah Jarosz, and St. Vincent.

Packaged in a gatefold sleeve, there’ll be an “Ultraviolet Dream” purple vinyl edition (not sure yet if this is exclusive to the Ringo Official Store and Universal Music’s various online outlets):

There’s also a standard black vinyl LP:

And a CD in a good old-fashioned plastic jewel case:

Talking about the new album Ringo says “I’m blessed to have T Bone in my life right now and working with me on these records. After we did the last record, which I love listening to, this one just sort of happened. I like to say sometimes I make the right moves, like you can go left or right at any point, and one of the right moves was hooking up with T Bone for Look Up, and now for this one, which I’m calling Long Long Road, because I’ve been on a long long road.”

Renowned music photographer (and good friend of Ringo’s) Henry Diltz shot the album cover, as well as additional photos for the album packaging. If you don’t think you’ve seen his work before, it’s almost certain that you have! Check out the link above to his official page. Since the 1960s he’s been snapping rock royalty. His photographs of The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young, James Taylor, Paul McCartney plus countless others have graced more than 250 album and magazine covers. 

The Pre-Christmas Bealtes Release List – Even More To Add!

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In late October we published a graphic titled “If You Want To Keep Up, Here’s Everything You’ll Need To Order” showing what we then thought was every Beatle, solo, or Beatle-related title released (or about to be released) this holiday season.

It didn’t last long. Some helpful readers pointed out we’d left out Ringo’s Stop & Smell The Roses – the numbered, liquid vinyl edition – limited to 400 copies.

This was due November 14, but seems to have been delayed. It is currently looking like December 5 now.

And the other Ringo Starr was a red vinyl re-issue of his 14th studio album, Choose Love from 2005. This had first been slated for Record Store Day Black Friday, but was quietly removed from official lists prior to the day. It’s popped up again on the Friday Music site, this time with a late January 2026 release date (though knowing Friday Music that is extremely likely to change):

Then came news of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘War Is Over (If You Want It)’ 12″ Zoetrope pressing issued to coincide with the release of the children’s hardback book and the premiere of the short animated film of the same name on YouTube.

Then Dark Horse Records announced it would be issuing a further title from the Yusuf/Cat Stevens back catalogue that the label now has the rights to. It’s called Tell ‘Em I’m Gone and it will be on yellow vinyl:

So, each of these were duly added into a revised graphic and we were just about to re-publish when last Friday came news of yet another collectable, this time linked to the Beatles’ Anthology re-issue – and in particular Anthology 4. On it are the 2025 re-mixes of ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ and they are now being released as a limited edition, double A-side 7″ translucent milk white vinyl single. This is the 2025 mix of both songs.

There’s been no indication of a CD version of the single being made available (except for Japan where there’s been an exclusive Japan-only CD announced). Nor has there been any talk of updated versions of the ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ EPs (or “maxi-singles”) which were originally released to accompany Volumes 1 and 2 of Anthology back in 1995 and 1996. That means all of the extra tracks on those EPs will remain unavailable, with the exception of the song ‘This Boy’, which has been added to the Anthology Volume 4 discs.

The ‘Free As A Bird’ (2025 Mix)/’Real Love’ (2025 Mix) 7″ coloured vinyl single is only available from Beatles official stores (e.g. in the UK or the US), or from certain Universal Music online stores (eg. this one in Germany).

So, it has been a most busy time for any Beatle collector who is a completist. There’s been so much product so fast it’s been difficult to keep up.

To help, here’s our updated visual. If you want everything, this is what you’ll need to order. There are no fewer that 51 items here! This has got to be unprecedented in the run-up to Christmas:

(Click on the graphic to see a larger version)

New Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Zoetrope, and More Dark Horse

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There’s been a further development in the green vinyl ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ 7″ single release announced a few weeks back…..

It all seems timed to coincide with the release of a new children’s book, which in turn is adapted from the Academy Award winning animated short film of the same name that Sean Ono Lennon was involved in…….

Anyways, on the official John Lennon store site they’ve just announced a very special 12″ Zoetrope disc featuring the songs ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Ultimate Mix)’ and ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling (Ultimate Mix)’ on side one, and on side two ‘War Pigeon/A Game Of Chess/A Sudden Interruption/Then Peace’, from the soundtrack to the War Is Over! animated film, composed by Thomas Newman (who has done everything from The Shawshank Redemption to Finding Nemo, two Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, to 1917 and Elemental). Suffice it to say he is up there with the best! This is the first time soundtrack music from War Is Over! has been available on a physical format.

The 12” Zoetrope picture disc is designed by Drew Tetz using still frames from the film, and features (on the front outer title sticker) an illustration by Max Narciso from the children’s book adaptation.

The disc is 180g and cut at 45rpm, and comes in a PVC clear sleeve with a title sticker featuring the credits.

It looks very cool and is set to become a definite collectors item.

Meanwhile, the team at Dark Horse Records has announced yet another pre-Christmas release. This is in addition to the three titles announced for Black Friday Record Store Day.

It’s another Yusuf/Cat Stevens back-catalogue title Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, and it will be on yellow vinyl:

The album was produced by Rick Rubin and sees Yusuf exploring some of his bluesier influences, tapping into musical traditions that have informed his own work. Fans of Cat Stevens will know that Leadbelly has always been one of his favourite artists and alongside the album’s original compositions Tell ‘Em I’m Gone contains covers of songs dear to him such as Edgar Winter’s ‘Dying To Live’, Luther Dixon/Al Smith’s ‘Big Boss Man’, and a bluesy reworking of the Jimmie Davies/Charles Mitchell song ‘You Are My Sunshine’. Interesting stuff. The album is available for pre-sale now and is released on December 5.


If You Want To Keep Up, Here’s Everything You’ll Need to Order

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It’s been a busy time over the last few weeks and months for Beatle collectors.

There’s been so much product announced it’s hard to keep on top of it.

So, we decided to made a visual representation for you, the avid completist, so that you can keep track.

If you want everything, THIS is what you’ll need to order:

Screenshot

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

Have we forgotten anything?

FYI, the Ringo Starr Choose Love LP announced for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 seems to have quietly slipped off the list again, so we have not included it here.

New Ringo Coloured Vinyl Announced

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As if we didn’t have enough Beatle or Beatle-related product between now and Christmas….

Now comes news that four coloured vinyl LPs from the Ringo Starr camp are due October 24.

They are his first four solo releases, beginning with his solo debut Sentimental Journey, produced by George Martin and originally released in 1970, now on custom “buttermilk yellow” vinyl:

Also from 1970 comes Beaucoups of Blues, back in print on custom “baby blue” vinyl and in a gatefold jacket. Recorded in Nashville and produced by the legendary slide player Pete Drake:

The great Ringo album is pressed on “molten lava” custom vinyl and comes with the original 24-page booklet included in a gatefold jacket. Looks good actually:

And last but not least, Ringo’s fourth studio album Goodnight Vienna. Like the Ringo album this is one of his best, once again collaborating with the greats: John Lennon, Elton John, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Robbie Robertson, Jesse Ed Davis, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Harry Nilsson. Produced by Richard Perry, the LP features the Lennon penned title track plus other standouts like ‘No-No Song’, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ and ‘Occapella’. This one is pressed on “psychedelic waves” custom vinyl:

At the moment these appear to be only available vie Ringo’s official store and through official Universal Music stores (for example here’s the US Udiscover Music store). Not sure if they’ll get a wider release.

Beatles and Solo News Update

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Woke up this morning to a couple of intriguing emails.

First was big news from Apple. Seems they’ve listened to fan reaction and have decided to offer Anthology 4 as a separate purchase:

By popular demand, Anthology 4 is now available as a standalone triple LP and double CD — 36 tracks including 13 previously-unreleased demos, rare sessions from 1963–69, the band’s 2023 final single ‘Now and Then’, and new mixes by Jeff Lynne of ‘Free As a Bird’ and ‘Real Love’.

This means collectors won’t have to buy the box set just to get the much sought after 4th installment in the Anthology series. Good news!

Then came a mysterious email from the official John Lennon Store saying that the ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ 7″ single on green vinyl was now available for pre-order:

A “What?”, closely followed by a “Why?” was heard. Hmmm. “Must investigate this some more. There has to be a reason this has randomly appeared out of nowhere.”

Then, scrolling further down the morning’s emails came this, with the headline: Introducing The Classic Holiday’s Singles Box Set!

Clicking through takes you to Universal’s udiscovermusic.com site and the announcement of a box set of 14 coloured vinyl Christmas singles from across the ages:

Of course it includes the John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band green vinyl single, but also in there is the Paul McCartney holiday fave, ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ – on canary yellow vinyl:

The box set is kinda expensive but fortunately for those of you who collect coloured vinyl, as was just announced for Anthology 4, these too are available for purchase separately. Yay!

You can find ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ here or here, and ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ here or here. Release date is October 31.

And, while we’re on the subject of coloured vinyl, last week Apple announced there’s to be a green vinyl release of Abbey Road:

This comes on heavyweight 180g green vinyl and is pressed using the version remixed from the original 8-track tapes by Giles Martin in 2019. In the UK this is exclusive to HMV stores, Target in the US, JB HiFi in Australia, Bravado in Germany, FNAC in France, Tower Records in Japan, The Circle in Denmark, etc. In other words, there will be one retailer per territory. It is released on October 10.

A Rainbow of McCartney III LPs!

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If you don’t believe there are collectors out there intent on having every single variation, then think again:

This is a photograph from the collection of one of our readers and contributors – Guy from the USA. Guy has managed to secure no less than 16 different McCartney III colour variants, and 10 different McCartney III Imagined double LPs.

You can check them off against our two guides to all the known variants below (they include CDs and cassettes – which Guy also has BTW!). Click on the images to enlarge:

Heaps of RSD 2024 Titles for Beatle Fans and Collectors

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Apologies, but we’re a little slow of the mark with the Record Store Day 2024 news from last week. However, it has given us a bit more time to research and hopefully provide a few more details – so here goes.

First up, from Apple Records is another unique format first for The Beatles. It is a tiny The Beatles Limited Edition RSD3 Turntable, featuring a Beatle-branded dustcover and turntable facing. Each turntable is Bluetooth-enabled and housed in a Beatles’ box that includes four super small 3″ records featuring the four songs they performed 60 years ago on The Ed Sullivan Show: ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Til There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. Each record is housed in an outer box and comes in a picture sleeve. There is also a poster for each. The package also includes a bright yellow Beatle-branded carrying case, which can hold up to ten 3” records. These little discs apparently play at 331/3 rpm.

If you don’t want the record player, the four 3″ singles will be sold separately, also housed in an outer box, with a picture sleeve and poster. The records only have music on one side:

The concept of these 3″ singles and their accompanying tiny record player have been around for a while (think the Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, or The Doors as recently as last year for RSD). However, they represent a limited format The Beatles have not yet embraced, making them a bit like those cards from last year containing special editions of the Red and Blue albums for kids to play on their Yoto players. So they could potentially reach a whole new younger audience. If you want to get an idea of just how small the turntable and discs are check out this Youtube unboxing.

Next up, from the John Lennon camp, comes a 4 track, 12″ EP teaser for the forthcoming Mind Games Ultimate Mixes box sets – due in June. Two versions of this will be available – one on “glow-in-the-dark” 140g luminous vinyl, and one described as “black ‘audiophile’ 180g vinyl”:

Gotta say the cover for the EP is great. The track list is:

Side A:
1. Mind Games (Ultimate Mix)
2. I’m The Greatest (Ultimate Mix) – feat. George Harrison & Ringo Starr

Side B:
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) (Ultimate Mix)
4. You Are Here (Outtake, Take 5)

Ringo Starr will have an RSD 12″ 45 EP called Crooked Boy available on exclusive black & white marble vinyl – and also in a really cool cover:

Written and produced by Songwriter’s Hall Of Famer Linda Perry, Crooked Boy features four brand-new tracks from Ringo. The EP also includes guitar performances on every song from Nick Valensi of The Strokes.

On a recent video Ringo showed the inside cover:

And a quick shot of what looks like a green vinyl edition. Maybe that is coming later?

Zoetrope picture discs seem to be all the rage this RSD. There are no fewer than nine LPs being released, including artists like Blur, Marc Bolan and T.Rex, Fatboy Slim, Lily Allen, and even one from Doctor Who.

What is a Zoetrope Picture disc? They look fantastic spinning on a turntable. Have a look at this YouTube from last year of Blur’s ‘The Ballad of Darren (Zoetrope Vinyl)’:

Dark Horse Records and Record Store Day have announced a multi-year partnership to release limited Zoetrope picture disc pressings of George Harrison’s entire studio album catalogue. The first two titles in the RSD exclusive series – Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound – will be available on Record Store Day in April 2024. Limited to 8,000 units globally and exclusive to Record Store Day, each is individually numbered in silver foil and will include an insert reproducing the original artwork. The front cover will look like this – with a cut-out window showing off the LP plus a hype sticker and limited edition numbering also on show:

As mentioned there’ll be an insert in each LP with the original cover artwork included:

Dark Horse is once again extremely busy this RSD. They’ll also have out a 25th anniversary edition of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros’ Rock Art & The Ex-Ray Style, the debut album by the band in a limited pink vinyl Record Store Day exclusive 2LP pressing. The remastered 1999 album, which was Strummer’s first album release in a decade, is spread over 2 LP’s for optimal sound quality, and the original gatefold artwork by Damien Hirst will be meticulously reproduced:

One obscure Dark Horse release can be found only on the US RSD list as a Limited Run/ Regional Focus release with only 800 copies made. Its an album called Dreamers In The Field by Huun-Huur-Tu, Carmen Rizzo and Dhani Harrison:

From Wikipedia: Huun-Huur-Tu are from Tuva, a Russian federative republic situated on the Mongolia–Russia border. Their music includes throat singing, in which the singers sing both a note and its overtones, thus producing two or three notes simultaneously. The overtone may sound like a flute, whistle or bird, but is solely a product of the human voice. They also play traditional Tuvan instruments. However, in recent years, the group have begun to selectively incorporate Western instruments and electronic music.

Carmen Rizzo is an American record producer, mixer, programmer, DJ, remixer and recording artist. A two-time Grammy nominee, he’s worked with Seal, Coldplay, Dido, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Pete Townshend. In addition to collaborating with Huun Huur Tu, Rizzo co-founded the world/electronic act Niyaz with Azam Ali and Loga Ramin Torkian (with three #1 iTunes albums). He’s released his own solo electronic albums too, so this RSD release looks to be an eclectic sound mix!

And lastly, on the UK and Australian RSD sites, there are two Dark Horse Yusuf/Cat Stevens LP re-issues listed (….can’t seem to find these on the US list).

They are (from 1975) Numbers on black vinyl LP – which will be limited to 2,000 units globally, and reissued for RSD with a lenticular gatefold cover. Included will be a reproduction of the original 16-page book with lyrics and illustrations:

And also (from 1977) Izitso – again, limited to 2,000 units globally and presented in a lenticular gatefold cover:

So, a lot of product from Dark Horse for RSD 2024…..

Record Store Day 2024 is on Saturday, April 20.

More Dark Horse Records News

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As well as the new Yusef/Cat Stevens release next month there’s another title on the way from Dark Horse Records.

While we are STILL awaiting a release date from Mobile Fidelity for their audiophile vinyl re-issue of the George Harrison-produced Shankar Family & Friends, Dark Horse has decided to put it out on CD, and as a limited edition “orchid” purple coloured vinyl – remastered by Paul Hicks.

One of the first albums to be released on George’s original Dark Horse Records, its East-meets-West musical styles put Western musicians such as Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann, and Nicky Hopkins side-by-side with Indian-music pioneers Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasi.

Shankar Family & Friends is released in 2023 for the first time as a “stand alone” CD (though it was on CD part of this lovely Collaborations box set from 2010).

The purple vinyl and CD were initially slated for a June 9 release, but the date has recently been pushed back to July 14.

There could also be a black vinyl version but we’re not exactly sure. This image is appearing on some store sites: