Tag Archives: Coloured Vinyl

Ringo Starr ‘February Sky’ – Amoeba 7″ Single Rarity

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In the lead up to Record Store Day 2024 Ringo Starr was on the publicity trail for his forthcoming 4-track EP called Crooked Boy. It was being released on Record Store Day as a Limited Edition black and white marble vinyl. Then, later this month, it will come out on normal black vinyl and on CD.

Ringo did a lot of social media in the lead-up, plus a number of interviews for print, radio and podcasts. But the big deal was a personal appearance at the Amoeba Music record store in Hollywood. This was on April 18 where he was joined on stage by Linda Perry, the driving force behind the latest EP. Perry wrote, produced and engineered the new record. She even chose the photo for the front cover of the EP.

On that day, and only in person at the store, Amoeba made available an extremely limited edition 7″ single of one of the songs from the EP called ‘February Sky’. It’s been reported (but not confirmed) that only 500 of these singles were pressed. They come in a picture sleeve and are pressed on a cool red vinyl:

Amoeba must have had a few left over and so the following week they made the remaining stock available online. These sold out in ten minutes. It was US customers only as the store doesn’t ship internationally.

As you can see, some copies on eBay have since sold for as high as US$360…..

Being based in Australia we thought we’d never get a copy for the collection, but thanks to one of our readers – our mate Guy – there will be one winging its way Downunder very soon!

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:

Collecting ‘Now and Then’ – and beyond….

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There’s no doubt about it.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for collectors and completists in the Beatle community!

Not only have we had the release of the new/last Beatle single, ‘Now and Then’, but also a newly expanded Beatles 1962-1966 [Red] and Beatles 1967-1970 [Blue] in double CD and triple LP form.

One of our readers (Guy in the USA) prides himself on securing every possible variation and often sends us a tantalising image or two. For ‘Now and Then’ he points out that most collectors only show pictures of the outer covers. Here, he says, are the contents – photographed all together:

For collectors in the west there are no fewer than 9 variations to seek out. If you add in unique Japanese editions that number creeps up to 14.

Because there are enough different pressings we thought we’d create another visual representation to capture them all (we have previously created these for McCartney III and McCartney III Imagined too):

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

The Japanese ‘Now and Then’ vinyl pressings are unique in that they have a rear cover written in Japanese. They also come with a special lyric sheet with the lyrics in English and Japanese:

Additionally, the SHM-CD single comes with an OBI strip (and also the extra lyric insert):

To add to the onslaught on collector wallets there was also Black Friday Record Store Day.

No Beatle records that day, but for completists who also go for the George Harrison-affiliated Dark Horse Records label, we had music on vinyl from Splinter, Leon Russell, and Ravi Shankar.

Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’s Old Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. Here’s Guy again:

You can see there on the bottom row the little Yoto kids toy card editions of the 2023 Red and Blue albums, plus a unique Paul McCartney card containing a selection of his hits for kids which also contains two hard-to-get instrumentals.

McCartney also weighed in with pre-sales of the 50th anniversary, Half Speed Mastered editions of Band On The Run, and then followed that up a week later with the 3rd anniversary release (yes, that’s right 3rd anniversary….) of McCartney III, which comes in a limited edition choice of 3 coloured vinyls with new artwork and inserts.

Phew.

McCartney III – 3×3 Edition

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Well, we knew that all the previous marketing for McCartney III (and McCartney III Imagined) has revolved around the number 3.

After all, the first (and very limited) release of McCartney III was made at Jack White’s Third Man Records. Symbolically, 333 copies were pressed. Then came the myriad of coloured vinyl editions, many limited to 3000 copies (again to tie into the 3 theme). There were also the dice sets you could buy from the official McCartney store, which had the number 3 on all sides, etc, etc.

So the marketing gurus thought (no doubt over a long lunch), “Why not celebrate 3 years since McCartney III came out with yet another limited edition? And while we’re at it, let’s not make it just one limited edition, but three limited editions!”

And so we have the answer to last week’s question…..

Yes. Three more variations will be joining the 32 iterations already out there of this title across vinyl, CD, and cassette. That’s right, we said 32 variations (see the table below).

Today the McCartney camp announced that the McCartney III 3×3 Edition will be joining them:

The idea is you place your order for a limited edition coloured vinyl disc. One of the three variations available will then be randomly selected and sent to you. Your LP will come in a newly designed Ed Ruscha cover. It will have a lyric printed inner sleeve plus an Ed Ruscha sketch poster for the cover design of McCartney III included:

Also randomly included will be a smaller replica Paul McCartney handwritten print. From the images released so far this will either be the handwritten lyric to ‘Pretty Boys’, ‘The Kiss of Venus’, or what looks like an early sketch of McCartney’s album logo/cover ideas.

So, to summarise: each customer gets 1 LP, a handwritten replica print and a poster in the newly designed cover, with the record in a lyric/credits inner sleeve. However, the colour of the LP and the print pairing is random. If you purchase more than one copy, the store won’t guarantee you will receive two or three different variants.

If you want to have all three unique colours and all three prints you will have to take your chances. Most stores are limiting pre-sales to 4 copies per customer. However, here in Australia the official store limit was initially set at two copies per customer (though this seems to have been removed entirely now).

At this stage we don’t know how “limited” these sets are.

McCartney III 3×3 Edition ships on December 15, 2023 (but for Australia make that January 12, 2024).

Do we really need another three McCartney III coloured vinyl in the world? No. Here’s our running total of all the variations to date (click on image to see a larger version):

The first YouTube unboxing of McCartney III 3×3? Got to admit, he was quick:

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:

More Billy Idol on Dark Horse

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For those label completists among us, Billy Idol is set to issue another four-song EP called The Cage on the Dark Horse Records label. 

The EP will be released on September 23. It follows the release of Idol’s 2021 The Roadside EP, and a re-issue of his Christmas LP Happy Holidays, also on Dark Horse.

For The Cage Idol is again joined by longtime collaborator, co-writer and guitarist Steve Stevens.

For those who like physical formats, the new EP is available for pre-order on exclusive red vinyl from the Billy Idol website (though this is already showing as sold out):

And there are signed black vinyl editions – though these are showing as sold out too:

CD fans are not left wanting, with signed copies (also now showing sold out), and standard editions available:

The Billy Idol announcement comes hot on the heels of Dark Horse announcing a major box set for Joe Strummer called Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years.

Looks Like Yet Another McCartney III to Chase Down

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From teasers on the official McCartney socials, plus scant details on various Beatle forums, it’s emerging that there is yet another coloured vinyl variant of the McCartney III LP for those collectors who must have everything.

This cryptic image and message was posted in the last few hours on the Paul McCartney Instagram account:

There were also some additional words on Facebook saying “Keep your eyes peeled for 3000 more coming soon exclusively to indie record stores”.

Then in the forums, some stores and fans started to reveal that they’d been able to secure copies of this disc already:

One indie store had the temerity to post a photo with the official price sticker of US$34.95 clearly on display, but in the text on the same page say they were selling their copies for US$1000!! Bad form for an independent store in our book.

Here’s a closer view of that hype sticker. This pretty much sums up what we know so far, which is not a lot:

This new yellow and black splatter vinyl edition is pressed by Third Man Records in Detroit, is limited to 3,333 copies, and is to be on sale only through US independent record stores. Oh, and we know that the catalogue number is 602438227396 (B003391101).

There does not appear to be any information about this release on the Third Man site.

On Discogs there are two copies for sale already. One for US$1,873 and the other for US$3,000.

While some folks seem to have tracked down copies, for the most part fans in the US are bewildered by this release and, despite trying, have been unable to find any for sale.

We await developments!

If you know more, or can provide photos please get in touch via the comments box below.

Lennon – Imagine 50

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On September 9, 2021, John Lennon’s Imagine LP turns 50 years-old.

With that anniversary comes a new logo, and a new opportunity to sell the LP to us once more….this is despite it having had something of a spectacular re-mix campaign reissue just three years ago in a wide range of formats.

To celebrate it’s 50th, Universal Music yesterday announced a 50th anniversary, limited-edition “collectors” white vinyl 2LP of Imagine.

This features the exact same 2018 “Ultimate Mix” of the album by engineer Paul Hicks and produced by Yoko Ono on disc 1, and the exact same set of album outtakes on disc 2.

When that 2LP set was issued in 2018 it was offered on a 2LP black vinyl:

And there was also a limited edition 2LP clear vinyl set:

As you can see, its now a case of “spot the difference” with this latest white vinyl iteration:

So, what do you think? Will you be buying it one more time?

The white vinyl version ships on September 10th. Here’s the track listing:

Side A
1. Imagine
2. Crippled Inside
3. Jealous Guy
4. It’s So Hard
5. I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die

Side B
6. Gimme Some Truth
7. Oh My Love
8. How Do You Sleep?
9. How?
10. Oh Yoko!

Side C
11. Imagine (Original demo recorded at Ascot)
12. Imagine (Take 1)
13. Crippled Inside (Take 3)
14. Crippled Inside (Take 6 alternate guitar solo)
15. Jealous Guy (Take 9)
16. It’s So Hard (Take 6)

Side D
17. I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier Mama I Don’t Wanna Die (Take 25)
18. Gimme Some Truth (Take 4)
19. Oh My Love (Take 6)
20. How Do You Sleep? (Takes 1 & 2)
21. Oh Yoko! (From Bed Peace footage – Sheraton Hotel, Bahamas 1969)

That’s not a Collection. THIS is a Collection.

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The recent McCartney III release, and its follow-up McCartney III Imagined, will probably go down in history as having the most vinyl colour, cover artwork and physical format variations of any Beatle or Beatle-related release ever.

For the McCartney III LP, CD and cassette we produced this chart to help keep track:

(click on the image to see a larger version)

That’s no less than12 LPs in different colours (not counting the very rare Third Man Records test pressing – of which only 3 copies were made available in the world), 12 CD variants with colour, cover or track-listing differences, and 2 cassettes. It also doesn’t include all the different bundles that came in boxes containing either tee-shirts, dice, etc.

Then, as the variants of McCartney III Imagined started to pile up, we produced this chart:

(click on the image to see a larger version)

Here you can see there were 10 LPs in different colours and/or cover artwork, 6 CDs, and again two different cassette variations.

If you’ve ever wondered if anyone has actually succeeded in collecting absolutely every variation of those two releases, wonder no more.

One of our readers this week sent in this amazing image of all the variants he collected of these two releases and we think you’ll agree it is mighty impressive:

From what we can see for McCartney III he doesn’t have absolutely everything, but comes pretty darn close! Obviously missing is the very limited Third Man Records pressing on yellow and black vinyl and sporting a unique cover design. There were only 333 copies of this pressed. These were available only via the Third Man Records website, and only for a very limited time before all were snapped up.

As for the McCartney III Imagined LPs, CD,s and cassettes though…..we reckon he’s got the full set of everything. What an impressive collection!

Billy Idol to Join the Dark Horse Records Stable

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Billy Idol is set to issue a new four-song EP called The Roadside — and it will be on none other than the newly resurrected Dark Horse Records label.

Produced by Butch Walker (Green Day, Weezer) and featuring Idol’s longtime lead guitarist and co-writer Steve Stevens, the EP will be Idol’s first new release in nearly seven years.

Dhani Harrison, who runs the label with David Zonshine, said in a statement “I couldn’t be more excited to welcome Billy Idol to the Dark Horse Records family. Billy is a legend, and his music couldn’t fit the Dark Horse persona any better. I’ve loved his music throughout my whole life, so to be able to give this new music a home on our historic label is a massive honour.”

It’s interesting to read that Idol fits the ‘Dark Horse persona’. When the label was re-launched with a distribution deal with BMG in January last year, Dhani said “Future releases in 2020 will include compilations, live albums, and box sets featuring rare and unreleased recordings from the Dark Horse label, many of which will be available digitally for the first time. From the Indian classical Ragas Of Ravi Shankar to the rock and roll of Attitudes I look forward to reintroducing, to a new audience, all of those artists that my father loved so much. We will also be expanding the Dark Horse family with new artists and classic catalogues in the coming years to include a rich and varied roster of incredible musicians whom we love. Please watch this space!”

So, under those criteria, Billy Idol is a perfect candidate.

For those who like physical formats, the EP is available for pre-order on exclusive blue vinyl from the Billy Idol website – though it is showing as Sold Out already. Hopefully more copies will be pressed. Orders will ship on September 17:

It’s also avaiable on black vinyl:

And on CD:

The lead single from the EP, ‘Bitter Taste’, has been previewed on YouTube. It’s a pretty good track:

Billy Idol joins Joe Strummer and Ravi Shankar as the most recent physical releases on Dark Horse.