First up is the next installment in the ongoing George Harrison/Zoetrope disc back-catalogue series, Living In The Material World:
Featuring the 2024 50th anniversary mix of the album, this will come in a numbered sleeve with an insert of the original cover art. Hopefully it will be easier to secure than the Zoetrope edition of All Things Must Pass from Record Store Day earlier this year! It quickly became as rare as hen’s teeth.
Also on Dark Horse is a Billy Idol 12″ single picture disc. It features the track ’77’ which was on his LP Dream Into Itfrom earlier this year. The song is a collaboration with Avril Lavigne, but the version with her has so far only been available as a digital download. She didn’t make the cut for the version on the physical release. Well, now we get both versions on this 2-sided picture. Side 1 features the duet with Lavigne, while Side 2 is the album version.
A third Dark Horse Records title for RSD Black Friday is only appearing (so far) on the UK list. It looks to be a follow-up to last year’s RSD collaboration between Dhani Harrison and Carmen Rizzo. That was called Dreamers In The Field and featured world music artists Huun-Huur-Tu. This time Ivan Shopov is also involved and special guests are the New Bulgarian Voices and composer/choir leader Georgi Petkov. The album is called Ascending Into Silence. Very interesting stuff:
And lastly, there’s also the now almost obligatory RSD Ringo Starr re-issue on coloured vinyl from Friday Music. It’s his Choose Love from 2005 and it is the first time this record has been available on vinyl, so that makes it interesting. It’ll be on ruby red vinyl:
UPDATE: Despite being published on early RSD Black Friday 2025 lists, this Ringo Starr release seems to have quietly slipped off those same lists in recent days. We’ll keep an eye on it to see if it re-appears and will let you know.
Dark Horse Records celebrated George Harrison’s birth date this week with the release of a new tribute album by gypsy jazz guitarist Robin Nolan.
For The Love Of George can be streamed on all good streaming services and features some amazing gypsy jazz versions of classic George songs. Also included is a brand new composition crafted by Nolan from chords jotted down by George on an envelope and only discovered after his passing. Cementing to strong connections here, Nolan played three of George’s own guitars, and the recording was made in the studio George created at his home in Friar Park.
The album featuresten Gypsy Jazz interpretations of Harrison songs from across his Beatle and solo career, as well as the brand-new composition. Surprisingly they really lend themselves to the Django Reinhardt-style.
Nolan’s relationship with Harrison dates back to the 1990s, when George personally recognized and encouraged his playing. Since then, Nolan has remained a valued presence within the Harrison musical circle, making this tribute especially meaningful. And it’s not the first album Nolan has recorded at Friar Park. He released Gypsy Blue in 2013 on Dhani Harrison’s H.O.T. Records – and like this this one it was only available digitally but also a very limited CD. (H.O.T. of course stands for Henley-On-Thames, the town where Friar Park is located).
Talking about how the new album came about, Robin Nolan explains, “I was at Friar Park playing for Olivia’s birthday. We were all talking and then George’s Ramirez acoustic guitar appeared and I played ‘And I Love Her’ on it. It was a massive thrill to play the song on the same guitar he’d originally recorded it on with Olivia and everyone watching.”
“I had already been thinking about how cool it would be to do an album of George’s songs, but then to actually be playing one of his songs on that guitar. ‘That’s another level, you know, that’s another layer of awesomeness.’ So that was where the inspiration for the album was born.
“A few days later, I was working on the arrangements of how these songs could sound in the Gypsy Jazz style and Olivia texted me this picture of an envelope with some chords that George had written on it and said, ‘Check it out. I wonder if George ever did anything with that? Maybe you can look at the chords and tell?'”
“I stared at the envelope and studied the chords intently that George had written all those years ago and started to feel the magic. It was like unraveling a mystery, trying to imagine what George might have meant.
“At a certain moment I felt that the chords started to make sense and came alive as I strummed them on my guitar, ‘Ahh maybe that’s what he meant’, I remember thinking to myself.”
“After I’d figured out the chords a melody came to me. In my mind I could hear George humming a tune that sounded really beautiful. That’s when it all came together. The title track of this album For The Love Of George.
“I was really excited so I recorded a simple version on my phone and sent it to Olivia wondering what she might think. She responded, ‘Wow it sounds so much like George!’
“And, of course, it does sound like George, because there’s a few chord changes in there which are really unique to him, and then the melody I wrote is so inspired by him.”
“For this new track I used all three of George’s guitars that feature on the album. The intro is the 12-string Rickenbacker used on the bulk of the Hard Day’s Night album, and it’s just got that sound, you know? So I made the intro with that guitar, and some fills. The main melody is played on the Gibson J160, which is the guitar with a lot of history. It’s the only guitar that was used on every Beatles album. It’s tough to play, but it has so much character. I did the melodies on that one, and then there’s some backing lines on the Ramirez.”
Those interested in the Beatle-related label Dark Horse Records will know that the Benmont Tench LP, The Melancholy Season has been something of a mystery in the catalogue. People seemed to know about its existence for a couple of years now, but exactly when it would see the light of day has remained a complete unknown. Until now.
The long-awaited album has finally been officially announced and assigned a release date of March 7 – on LP, CD and digital download.
Nearly fifty years ago keyboardist Tench was one of the three founding members (along with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and he stayed with that legendary band right the way through.
The Melancholy Season is only his second solo album and Tench “couldn’t be happier” about finding a home for the record at Dark Horse, describing it as “an emotionally resonant label for me” through Petty’s close friendship with George Harrison. “I met George maybe three times. But I have that connection through Dhani to his dad, through Tom to George. And they have George’s music, Cat Stevens, Joe Strummer – these are writers. To be in that company, it’s perfect.”
The Melancholy Season is available in physical form for pre-order on Limited Edition blue vinyl (through Tench’s official store):
On standard black vinyl:
And on CD:
Benmont Tench has just released an official video of the first single from the new record. It’s the title track, “The Melancholy Season”.
The LP, CD and digital download are out on March 7.
Also, as an aside in case you’re wondering about the striking artwork used on the cover, it’s a painting from around 1907 called Fisherman’s Cottage by Norwegian neo romantic artist, Harald Oskar Sohlberg (1869 – 1935). It suits the album title perfectly!
As has been much expected on the rumour mill, the George Harrison Estate has announced a 2024 re-mix of George Harrison’s 1973 title,Living In The Material World.
It will come in a myriad of forms on November 15 – with one to suit the price bracket of just about every fan.
There’s a 2LP, 2CD, 1 Blu-ray, plus 7″ vinyl single super deluxe box set edition. Similar content is replicated across the vinyl, CD’s and Blu-ray. This set is limited to 5,000 units globally and contains 12 previously unreleased Harrison tracks – early renditions of every song on the main album, plus one previously unreleased song, ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) which is only available in this box. This will really upset fans who can’t spring for the box, or who simply just don’t collect vinyl. ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’ is on CD2, the Blu-ray, and the 7” single (with an instrumental version of the song on the flip side). It featuresRobbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, and Rick Danko from The Band alongside Ringo Starr. There’s a 60-page hardcover book in the set and a 12-page Recording Notes booklet:
There’s a 2LP version on 180g black vinyl. This includes the new mix of the album alongside 12 session outtakes housed in a gatefold sleeve with a 12-page booklet and an exclusive double-sided poster:
There are 2CD and 1CD editions. The 2CD includes the new 2024 mix of the album on one disc, along with the 12 session outtakes (but NOT including the previously unreleased ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’), housed in a clam shell style box with two printed wallets, a 20-page booklet, and an exclusive double-sided poster:
The standard CD edition comes in a 4-page gatefold sleeve with printed inner wallet, and a 12-page booklet. There’ll of course be a 1LP edition on black vinyl. It comes in a gatefold sleeve and includes a 4-page booklet:
So, the song ‘Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond)’ only being exclusive to the big box will be a thorn in the side for a lot of collectors….
Also of note is that three other tracks – which were previously released on a 2006 re-mastered LP and a CD/DVD edition of Living In The Material World – are not on the new 2024 reissue. These are ‘Deep Blue’, ‘Miss O’Dell (alternative version)’, and ‘Sue Me, Sue You Blues (acoustic demo version)’ – plus some video content too that is not on the Blu-ray and could have been. And there’s another previously-released related track from George’sEarly Takes Vol. 1: ‘The Light That Has Lighted The World (Demo)’.
Regular readers will know that we like to keep up with news about the Dark Horse label – the Beatle-related record company started by George Harrison, but now run by his son Dhani.
As the number of titles is starting to add up we’ve put together a catalogue of all the records and CDs released since Dhani Harrison took over in 2020. You can see that below.
In researching the list one Dark Horse title from the good old days snuck completely under our radar. It actually came out last year in strictly limited numbers through the Vinyl Me Please record club. It was Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival From India, issued on bright orange vinyl and given the new catalogue number of DH0020:
Two other Dark Horse titles are due in the next month or so. They are the reissue of a jazz LP by Nina Simone, originally released 1959:
The other is the black vinyl version of the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros LP Live at Acton Town Hall, previously reissued by Dark Horseon clear vinyl in July last year:
Then in April we’ll finally see the long-awaited Mobile Fidelity audiophile pressing of Ravi Shankar’sShankar Family and Friends. This one has been such a long time coming. We first reported on it back in January 2022! It has clearly been an on-again/off again prospect. So much so that Dark Horse itself seemed to get fed up and put out their own re-issue last year…..
Now it seems the Mobile Fidelity is back on again as we got this in an email last week:
Finally, another strange Dark Horse-related title that you may not have heard about. It is the mysterious duo Dick and Mary and their debut, a self-titled LP which came out late last year. It is on the Bunbun Records label, but on the shrink there’s a Dark Horse hype sticker.
Dick and Mary doesn’t get a Dark Horse catalogue number. We’d suggest its being supported by Dark Horse because people are pretty sure that the “Mary” in the band is Mereki Beach, Dhani Harrison’s partner. (She’s also Australian btw). In a separate project Mereki recorded her solo album Death of a Cloud at the Harrison’s Friar Park studio. You can see her in the studio in a series of ‘live sessions’ videos she’s released. One is here, but there are several others:
Her solo album is only available on streaming services at the moment but there’s talk it will be released in physical form this year, so we guess it is likely to be another Bunbun Records and Dark Horse support deal. So watch out for that one too!
For those interested, here’s a catalogue of Dark Horse releases to date, starting at catalogue number DH001. We’re still unsure of the mysterious DH0017. Could it be assigned to the long-delayed but much-anticpated album by Benmont Tench called The Melancholy Season?
DH0001 Ravi Shankar – Chants of India (RSD) (2LP Red vinyl)
DH0002 Joe Strummer – Assembly (2LP Red vinyl) DH0002 Joe Strummer – Assembly (2LP Black vinyl) DH0002 Joe Strummer – Assembly (CD) DH0002 Joe Strummer – Assembly (Cassette)
DH0003 Joe Strummer – Junco Partner (12” single Picture Disc) (RSD)
DH0004 Billy Idol – The Roadside EP (12” EP Blue vinyl) DH0004 Billy Idol – The Roadside EP (12” EP Black vinyl) DH0004 Billy Idol – The Roadside EP (CD)
DH0005 Billy Idol – Happy Holidays (LP White vinyl) DH0005 Billy Idol – Happy Holidays (LP Black vinyl)
DH0006 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Johnny Appleseed (RSD) (12” single Pink vinyl)
DH0007 Shankar Family & Friends – I Am Missing You (RSD) (12” single Blue vinyl)
DH0008 Billy Idol – The Cage EP (12” EP Red vinyl) DH0008 Billy Idol – The Cage EP (12” EP Black vinyl) DH0008 Billy Idol – The Cage EP (CD)
DH0009 Joe Strummer – 002: The Mescaleros Years (7LP Box Set) DH0009 Joe Strummer – 002: The Mescaleros Years (7CD Box Set)
DH0010 Shankar Family & Friends – Shankar Family & Friends (LP Orchid vinyl) DH0010 Shankar Family & Friends – Shankar Family & Friends (CD)
DH0011 Leon Russell – Signature Songs (LP Black vinyl) DH0011 Leon Russell – Signature Songs (CD)
DH0012 The Best of Dark Horse 1974-1976 (RSD) (LP Black vinyl)
DH0013 Joe Strummer – Live at Music Millennium (RSD) (12” EP Black vinyl)
DH0015 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Streetcore (RSD) (LP White Vinyl)
DH0016 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Live at Acton Town Hall (2LP Clear vinyl) DH0016 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Live at Acton Town Hall (CD)
DH0017 ?
DH0018 Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan – In Concert 1972 (50th Anniversary) (RSD) (2LP Black vinyl)
DH0019 Leon Russell – Hank Wilson Vol. II (RSD) (LP Red vinyl)
DH0020 Ravi Shankar – Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival From India (Vinyl Me Please exclusive/numbered vinyl/1000 copies) (LP Orange vinyl)
DH0021 Splinter – The Place I Love (RSD) (LP Clear vinyl)
DH0022 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Streetcore (20th Ann.) (LP Black vinyl) DH0022 Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Streetcore (20th Anniversary) (CD)
Associated:
4 050538 868876 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (LP Green vinyl). Dark Horse Records logo on rear cover and labels. 538856902 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (CD). 4 050538 856301 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (LP Black vinyl). 4 050538 874006 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (LP White vinyl) (Artist Store Exclusive). 4 050538 885453 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (LP Blue vinyl) (Barnes & Noble Exclusive). 4 050538 899870 Yusuf/Cat Stevens – King of a Land. (Cat-O-Log Records) (LP Purple vinyl) (Spotify Fans First Exclusive)
BB0002 Dick and Mary – Dick and Mary (Bunbun Records) Dark Horse hype sticker (LP Orchid vinyl)
Coming in 2024:
FEB: Nina Simone – Little Girl Blue (Barnes & Noble Exclusive) (LP Pink vinyl)
MAR: Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros – Live at Acton Town Hall (2LP Black vinyl)
APR: Ravi Shankar – Shankar Family & Friends (Mobile Fidelity) (LP Black vinyl)
“Nina Simone is recognised as one of the most authentic and captivating artists of our time. She recorded some of George’s songs with powerful conviction. We are privileged to have this album on the Dark Horse label.” – Olivia Harrison
“Nina Simone’s music has always held a special place in the hearts of my family. Her unique talent and profound artistry not only resonated with us but also left an indelible mark on our musical journey. Nina’s legacy continues to be an enduring source of inspiration, a reminder of the power of music to touch the soul and inspire the spirit.” – Dhani Harrison
Dark Horse Records is proud to release a very limited pressing of Nina Simone’s debut studio album Little Girl Blue, celebrating the album’s 65th anniversary.
Originally released in February 1959, this limited pink vinyl reissue is available exclusively from Barnes & Noble on February 23rd.
The pre-order details say it will include a 12×12 insert with an introduction written by Dhani Harrison. Little Girl Blueincludes some of Simone’s best-known tracks, including ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’, ‘I Loves You, Porgy’ and ‘Love Me Or Leave Me’, and even at this early stage in her career, you can hear the profound impact she would go on to have on the musical landscape in the ensuing decades.
For those of us outside the US though this is going to be a tricky one to secure……however, Barnes & Noble now ship internationally (previously they did not), so it should be possible.
Oh, and it looks like it has the catalogue number DH0024.
We’re all used to seeing the occasional photograph showing glimpses of Friar Park – the mansion, extensive grounds and amazing gardens that George purchased in 1970. The most famous would have to be this album cover:
So it is interesting to read a contemporary article about how the gardens, in particular the topiary section, are doing now. When Harrison first moved in they were in a very poor state, having been let go by the previous occupants for more than 30 years:
George became a very keen gardener and determined to put not only the house (which had also fallen into disrepair) but all the gardens back to rights. He was so hands-on that his son Dhani once said: ‘My earliest memory of my dad is probably of him somewhere in a garden covered in dirt… just continuously planting trees. I think that’s what I thought he did for the first seven years of my life. I was completely unaware that he had anything to do with music.’
His widow Olivia has maintained that dream and, to be honest, from the images in this article the topiary section today is looking magical.
The article ends:
In short, the impeccably maintained topiary garden at Friar Park today is a masterpiece—one of the most important in all Europe.
Image (from l to r): Dhani Harrison and Yusuf with David Zonshine (Dark Horse) and Yoriyos Adamos (Yusuf’s son and manager) at F.P.S.H.O.T.
A number of digital back catalogue albums were almost immediately put up on the Dark Horse releases site indicating they were now available on streaming services. These are all what might be considered his second tier works, definitely not his top-selling LPs. So the wait has been on to see what new content from Yusuf/Cat Stevens might be made available for the first time – and on physical media.
In March the label made this announcement about a brand new studio work and now the wait for that release is almost over because next month (June 16) sees King Of A Land issued on Dark Horse:
The album’s artwork is created by award-winning Canadian children’s illustrator Peter H. Reynolds. As well as the cover art he has created illustrations for each song portraying the album’s lyrical themes in an accompanying 36 page booklet. The vinyl and booklet are housed in a gatefold sleeve.
Dark Horse, with it’s direct association with founder George Harrison, seems to be a natural home for Yusuf. “George has been an immense influence on me, spiritually, from the very beginning. He pioneered certain thoughts and ideas, which stretched way east, and that was very important. He was beginning to explore Eastern mysticism around the time I was hospitalised with TB, in 1968. Lying in bed, I had a lot of time on my hands and ended up reading a Buddhist book called The Secret Path. That was the beginning of my own search for the light.”
“Looking at the jagged journey of my music, beginning as I did in the 60’s, I would say this new record is a mosaic. A very clearly defined description of where I’ve been and who I am.”
In welcoming the singer to the Dark Horse Record label, Dhani Harrison said “I’m thrilled to welcome Yusuf/Cat Stevens to the Dark Horse Records family. Not only is he a great musical legend but his songs could not fit the Dark Horse mythos any better. From his back catalogue, through to the new music we can’t wait for you to hear. Yusuf is without question one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time. It is a great honour to be able to give his music a home on our humble yet historic label.”
Yusuf has started to tease King Of A Land with some very charming lyric videos:
King Of A Land sounds like it could be something special, very reminiscent of his early 1970’s work. Definitely looking forward to this one.
Dark Horse Records have just announced a new Joe Strummer box set, Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years. It will be released on September 16th as part of the celebrations honouring Joe’s 70th birthday year.
The press release says the set is “….the first-ever comprehensive collection highlighting Joe’s work with his post-Clash band, The Mescaleros. The collection includes remastered editions of all three of the band’s studio albums, plus 15 rare and unreleased tracks spanning the first demos Joe wrote for the Mescaleros, and outtakes of several tracks of Joe’s final recordings with the band.”
The box set was executive produced by Lucinda Tait (Strummer) and produced by David Zonshine and features exclusive new interviews with Joe’s friends, collaborators and Mescaleros band mates, plus never-before-seen handwritten notes, lyrics, and drawings by Joe taken from the Joe Strummer Archive. All the albums are remastered by three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Paul Hicks (The Beatles, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie) and are packaged with extensive new liner notes, unreleased images, and four reproduction lyric sheets and chord charts.
Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years will be available as a 4CD with 72-page book box set, and 7LP with 32-page book, special edition packaging and exclusive 12”x12” art print.
The first track from the collection, the previously unreleased version of ‘The Road To Rock ‘N’ Roll (Demo)’ is available to stream now. The video for the song was created using Strummer’s drawings and handwritten lyrics found in the Strummer archive:
If you’re wondering about the title it’s because this is the second installment in what looks to a series of career-spanning compilations. The first, Joe Strummer 001, was released in 2018 by Ignition Records. Since then, Dark Horse has taken over publishing and distribution rights for the Stummer legacy.
“There’s so much great music that Joe left us in his archive,” says Joe’s widow and the executive producer, Lucinda Tait. “We started this work with 001, so to focus on Joe’s work with The Mescaleros was the natural second step on 002 because those songs he made with them just seemed to resonate so strongly and reinvigorated his connection with his audience at a level he hadn’t experienced since his days with The Clash.”
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.
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