One of the three is Splinter’sThe Place I Love, the very first record to come out on George Harrison’s then new label.
Produced by and featuring Harrison, The Place I Love was one of the earliest recordings to be made at the FPSHOT studio in his Friar Park home.
DETAILS Event: BLACK FRIDAY 2023 Release Date: 11/24/2023 Format: Clear vinyl LP Label: Dark Horse Records Quantity: 1000 Release type: ‘RSD First’ Release
MORE INFO Splinter was comprised of duo Bill Elliot and Bobby Purvis, and their blend of folk, pop, and rock were introduced to Dark Horse Records founder George Harrison in 1973. Harrison was quick to spot their potential and made them one of the first signings to his new label.
The band’s debut album The Place I Love was produced by Harrison and features extensive guitar work by the legendary musician, as well as contributions from Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Alvin Lee (Ten Years After), and Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth and ‘Dream Weaver’).
Including the hit record ‘Costafine Town’, along with the singles ‘Drink All Day (Got to Find Your Own Way Home)’ and ‘China Light’, this remastered recording will be available on vinyl for the first time since its 1974 release. For RSD Black Friday it is remastered and pressed on transparent clear vinyl with reproduced gatefold artwork and an OBI strip.
Also being readied for RSD Black Friday is an album that originally made it’s debut on the Apple label – Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan’s In Concert 1972.
DETAILS Event: BLACK FRIDAY 2023 Release Date: 11/24/2023 Format: 2 x LP Label: Dark Horse Records Quantity: 1280 Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
MORE INFO The original Apple Records release, now remastered and reissued on Dark Horse, is the Indian sitar master in concert with Ali Akbar Khan on sarod, and Alla Rakha on tabla. It was recorded at Philarmonic Hall in New York City. The double LP is produced by George Harrison, Zakir Hussain, and Phil McDonald.
Dark Horse is also digging deeper into its Leon Russell catalogue with a special edition red vinyl release of his called Hank Wilson Volume II.
DETAILS Event: BLACK FRIDAY 2023 Release Date: 11/24/2023 Format: Red vinyl LP Label: Dark Horse Records Quantity: 1700 Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
MORE INFO This is a coloured vinyl reissue of Leon Russell’s 1984 country album Hank Wilson Vol. II. Hank Wilson is Russell’s country music alter ego, and this title has a bit of a strange release history. You can read up here for a bit of the background. Originally released on Paradise Records, Dark Horse is reissuing the album on vinyl for the first time since 1984. It includes country staples such as ‘Wabash Cannonball’ and ‘I Saw the Light’. Willie Nelson makes a guest appearance on ‘Wabash Cannonball’.
So there you have it. Some Dark Horse titles to look out for in November.
And if you’re collecting the new Dark Horse release series don’t forget they’re once again re-issuing Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore LP on October 20. This time it will be on black vinyl with an exclusive ‘Coma Girl’ Lyric Art Print from the Joe Strummer Archive. It will also be available on CD. Dark Horse already issued this album on limited edition white vinyl for Record Store Day proper earlier this year.
Back in 2016 the knowledgeable hosts, Ryan Brady and Chris Mercer, set themselves the task of discussing, in detail, every single solo McCartney release. And they succeeded!
Understandably, the podcast went into a hiatus. How do you go on when one very talented half of the team has been taken away?
Well, the podcast is now re-emerging – as Take It Away: The Complete Solo Beatles Archive Podcast. Chris Mercer is joined by a new co-host and fellow Beatle nut, Paul Kaminski. Together they plan to expand the original brief to take in the solo careers of all four Beatles.
If you’re interested in The Beatles, Wings, or Paul McCartney the solo artist, then this could be the podcast for you.
The all-new Take It Away begins with a dive into the music of George Harrison. The first episode, ‘Beatle George’ (part one of two) is out now at your favourite podcast aggregator.
Chris and Paul write: “In this preamble to the next phase of the podcast, we’ll explore the origins of Harrison’s songwriting, musicianship and legacy, as the “quiet one” fights for his place amongst both his band mates and his musical contemporaries alike. We’ll chronicle every single (official) George Harrison Beatles songwriting contribution from the band’s beginnings up through 1967 in this first installment — an extensive deep dive you will not want to miss! Now, without further ado: take it away, George…”
Worth checking out.
Oh, and while we’re talking podcasts, just a reminder that the first two episodes in the brand new Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon outing, A Life In Lyrics, will now be available for download from October 4. (Seems they missed the originally advertised September 20 release date for some unknown reason).
If you’re a completist and want to cross check that you have every physical and digital release, or if you’re interested in a smart, informed commentary on every song by Paul McCartney then this book series is for you.
Paul McCartney The Songs He Was Singing Vol. 5 2010 – 2019 is (as its title suggests) the latest installment in a series compiled and written by John Blaney. Blaney, a passionate Beatle fan, brings to his writing the expertise and rigour of a professional historian. After starting out in music retail he trained as a graphic designer and studied History Of Art at Camberwell College Of Arts and at Goldsmith College (both in London) before taking up his present post as the curator of a museum of technology. He’s the author and publisher of no less than twelve books on The Beatles, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison.
In The Songs He Was Singing series Blaney has split McCartney’s songwriting and his steady release schedule roughly into ten-year slabs, with Volume 1 covering the period 1967-1979; Volume 2 the 1980’s; Volume 3 the 1990’s; and Volume 4 the Noughties (i.e. the years 2000-2009).
And that brings us to the present book (due out next month) and the years 2010 – 2019. Or, to put it another way, from the re-release of Band OnThe Run – the very first in the Archive Collection series – through to the bloated Egypt Station (Traveller’s Edition).
The way Blaney has structured the content in this series is comprehensive – with just a couple of caveats. For each entry you get US and UK release dates and chart positions, then the name of each song, the personnel who played, and recording locations. If it’s not a re-issue (or, if it’s a previously unreleased bonus track) you get an individual song description and an appraisal by Blaney. Then there’s a concluding “Data” section for each release detailing correctly and succinctly exactly how it was issued i.e. which formats (LP, CD, digital), along with the sometimes complex configurations and extras the release came in. This includes if promo copies were produced and distributed. It is great book for identifying those rarities which may have escaped your attention. A good example of this is the “Tug Of War Data” section where Blaney explains the more obscure extras. Like for example the Barnes and Noble-only 7″ bonus single ‘Ebony and Ivory’/’Rain Clouds’, released exclusively to their customers in a replica picture sleeve; or the fact that there was a very limited Super Deluxe Edition of the Tug Of War box set issued in a red acrylic slipcase with exclusive hand-numbered 8×10 photo prints. It’s detail like this the avid collector sometimes forgets. Then, for each release, there’s a selection of colour photographs of the packaging and labels to help further identify what you have – or what you might be still be seeking out for your own collection.
The album summaries and individual song descriptions which Blaney provides are worth a special mention – especially for their often outspoken honest opinions. It’s clear that while he reveres the McCartney canon, Blaney is no fanboy who treats everything McCartney touches as brilliant art. If there’s something he feels isn’t up to scratch he has no qualms in saying so. Take this example from the Archive Collection edition of McCartney II. Blaney is addressing one of the included bonus tracks, ‘Mr H Atom’/’You Know I’ll Get You Baby’:
“Not so much a song as a chorus in search of a verse, ‘Mr H Atom’ sounds like a demo recorded by an obscure New Wave band fronted by a female singer – Linda McCartney. Another example of McCartney being unable to flesh out his original idea, ‘Mr H Atom’ is little more than an unfinished fragment. If McCartney had the will to finish the song it may have developed into something a little more interesting. As it stands it’s of passing interest but no contender as a lost gem. ‘You Know I’ll Get You Baby’ is, if anything, less interesting. Consisting of the title repeated over a chugging 12-bar, it may possibly be the worst ‘song’ McCartney has allowed to slip out of his archives.”
Ouch.
Now to a couple of items missing from the book and, to be fair here, what we were sent for review is an early “proof” copy, so there could still be some changes prior to it’s October release. We think the 12 track Paul McCartney Live in Los Angeles should have been included. Yes, it was a free CD given away in 2010 to buyers of the UK newspaper The Mail on Sunday (and also The Irish Mail on Sunday), and it is related to a four-song EP called Amoeba’s Secret officially released on CD and 12″ single by Hear Music in 2007 and 2009 (so it my well have been detailed in a previous volume), but it was the first release of 9 previously unavailable live tracks. Having said all that, Blaney provides at the back of the book a separate section listing all the release dates, record company information, catalogue numbers, etc. Mentioned there briefly is the 2019, 2 x LP, 21 track Amoeba Gig album (also available on CD). But the Mail on Sunday release is different.
There’s also no mention of the 2011 CD re-issue of The Family Way original soundtrack on the Varese Sarabande label. Nor the 2015 vinyl LP of the same title. Again, these may have been dealt with in Volume 1 as the original did come out in 1967.
This volume does give a good amount of space (including some handy photographs) to the12″ EP Hope for the Future from 2015. This contains music McCartney composed for the Bungie online video game Destiny. It even references the very obscure (and rare) secret Record Store Day 12″ ‘Sweet Thrash’ single mix of the song. But it misses an important reference to a 6-LP release called The Music of Destiny Volume Icontaining the Destiny original soundtrack with many McCartney co-compositions, and a piece titled Music of the Spheres which ends with a movement called ‘The Hope’ that includes his ‘Hope For The Future (Main Version)’.
Having said that some items are missing, in all fairness these are minor and there is plenty here that will be a revelation – even to avid collectors. For us there was numerous releases included we hadn’t been aware of at all. For example in 2011 McCartney and his company MPL helped put together a compilation CD and LP of Buddy Holly cover versions. Rave On Buddy Holly has contributions from the likes of Modest Mouse, Florence and the Machine, Patti Smith, Nick Lowe, and Lou Reed. It also contains Paul McCartney singing a strange, rocky, distorted version of ‘It’s So Easy’. We also learn there was a different digital download only version of the same song sung in a more traditional Holly fashion. Of the CD version Blaney writes “…while McCartney delivers a passionate vocal, the backing is more than a little sloppy and sounds for all the world like a first run through…..And quite why [he] felt compelled to burst into an improvised rap before the track returns for a brief reprise is beyond me…..the result is like watching your dad dancing at a wedding: embarrassing.” When a song is great it gets praised in this book, but if it’s lacking then that gets called out as well – which is kind of refreshing.
Overall, this book is a delight to read, dip into, and is a great resource to cross-check your own collection. John Blaney has done a power of work in researching and engagingly critiquing (almost) every release by Paul McCartney between the years 2010 – 2019. Well worth having in your library.
Now all I need to do is track down the four previous volumes!
Sometimes tip-offs about Beatle stuff come from the most unexpected places…
Beatlesblog is located in Australia, but it took an email from our friend and avid collector Andrey – based in Russia – to let us know about this magazine, out now in Australian newsagents.
Its the latest edition of Australian Guitar and, following Andrey’s email, we simply walked up to to the corner store and got a copy. Wouldn’t have known it was there otherwise!
As you can see, the mag has a major article (13 pages in all) called ‘The Ultimate Beatles Tone Guide’. In it they unpack how the band crafted their sound from the perspective of the instruments and the electronics used.
To do this writer Chris Gill examines 11 specific songs: ‘Please Please Me’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Ticket To Ride’, ‘Michelle’, ‘Taxman’, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, ‘Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, Let It Be’, and ‘The End’.
Obviously, this article has been published previously in the US by parent magazine Guitar World (and you can read it here), but it’s nice to have a physical copy to flip through.
Being a guitar magazine the focus is entirely on the gear – the makes, model and year of manufacture, the amplifiers, studio speakers, etc. In some cases they even get right down to the likely strings used on the guitars to achieve a particular sound quality.
Gill acknowledges a big part of the challenge here is the great amount of sometimes conflicting information out there about these things. The Beatles themselves, their producer George Martin, and even engineers like Geoff Emerick, have offered over the years conflicting accounts. They even contradict themselves in some of their personal recollections.
So, its a tough ask to get this stuff right. Gill says that what the feature contains are his best efforts to determine the guitars, basses, amps and effects actually used. He admits it is not perfect and in many cases highly speculative (for example the amp used by John Lennon to record his solo on ‘The End’), but he reckons it is a good guideline for any guitarist wanting to replicate those magic sounds.
And yes, there’s a whole section on guitar string specifics. To quote: “Many guitar nerds note that perhaps the most important detail of replicating the Beatles’ tones after their guitars and amps is the types of strings that they used. It is generally believed that Harrison and Lennon used flatwound strings in the early years up until late 1965, just after the release of Rubber Soul. After that, from Revolver and beyond, they apparently switched to roundwound strings.” Check out the section on string theory here.
The feature ends with a short article called ‘Beatles Unplugged – A Guide to the Fab Four’s Acoustic Arsenal’. You can read that too online here:
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:
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.
In addition to the two Dark Horse Records releases that came out on Record Store Day just past (see our post here), there are two more physical titles from the newly-revitalised label you might like to track down.
The first came out just a couple of weeks prior to Record Store Day.
Its the late, great Leon Russell’s Signature Songs, an album of solo piano and vocal recordings originally released in 2001 and which has been long out-of-print since.
Signature Songs features stripped-down, unique takes of songs from across Russell’s long and illustrious songwriting career. Songs you will definitely know either recorded by him, or the many artists who covered his songs and had hits with them: ‘A Song For You’, ‘Tight Rope’, ‘Delta Lady’, ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’, and the classic ‘This Masquerade’.
Signature Songs is available on CD, digital download, and is now pressed on vinyl for the very first time.
Here’s the hype sticker:
And the label:
Sometimes you just have to bide your time when it comes to waiting for new releases.
We reported way back in January 2022 that the Mobile Fidelity company intended to issue an audiophile pressing of the1974 George Harrison-produced Dark Horse album Shankar Family ૐ Friends. On it Indian musical virtuosos Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Kamala Chakravarty, Hariprasad Chaurasia are joined by Western musos like Ringo Starr, David Bromberg, Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voorman and Tom Scott.
Well, truth is we’re still waiting for this one, so you’ll have to be patient.
But, there has been movement at the station…
A press release page has appeared on the Mobile Fidelity website inviting pre-orders. Still no firm release date sadly, but at least you can now pre-order and secure this Dark Horse “Beatle-related” extra for your collection:
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Concert for George event at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 29 2002, the Harrison Estate, film distribution company Abramorama, and Craft Recordings have announced a global theatrical screening of the film of the same name.
The Concert for George is to be shown – for one night only – in select theatres around the world on November 29, 2022:
First released in 2003, the GRAMMY®-winning concert film captures the concert event which celebrated in spectacular style the life and music of George Harrison. It features performances by Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and many others.
You now have the opportunity to experience the concert on the big screen in immersive Dolby Atmos sound for the first time – newly remastered by GRAMMY-winning engineer Paul Hicks. The anniversary screenings will also feature a brand-new introduction by Olivia and Dhani Harrison.
Paul Hicks has also produced a new Dolby Atmos mix for the film’s accompanying Concert for George soundtrack album – available now on digital platforms. Listen here.
Certified 8 x Platinum by the RIAA, the acclaimed 27-track album is also still available in a variety of existing physical formats including a 180-gram 4-LP box set; 2-CD/2-DVD and 2-CD/2-Blu-Ray box set; and a 2-CD package. Order here.
This is a really special film of what was an amazing, star-studded tribute to George filled with top performances of his songs. It would be well worth seeing again on the big screen, and with great sound.
With the 2022 remaster and remix of The Beatles‘ Revolver album due to hit stores next month, there’s renewed interest in solving some of the remaining mysteries of just where cover designer Klaus Voormann sourced all those little images that make up the collage he created for this now-famous cover:
As you know last year we published an article about the latest thinking. There were still at least four images (circled in yellow) that remain mysterious as to their source (click on the image to see a larger version):
Now at least three of those four yellow circles have been solved (to an extent) by German fan and YouTuber, Yaacov (Jack) Edisherashvili.
Jack actually took a trip to visit Klaus Voormann in person and spoke with him about the Revolver cover. While there he asked him about where he’d sourced some of those photos.
You can see that video below. It’s interesting because in this first video Klaus talks about the cover and how it will be explained in the new book that’ll be included in the new 2022 release:
After Jack visited Klaus he wrote to us to say:
“The image on the top left corner – the three faces – was never published. This was given privately to Klaus by the band.
The Ringo image – on top right corner – Klaus says was shot on a boat trip.
The John Lennon image with cigarette – I forgot to ask, but looks to me taken from press conference pictures?“
So, that’s more information than we’ve had previously. Following his visit to Klaus, Jack has also uploaded this comprehensively researched YouTube with a detailed breakdown of the Revolver cover:
As you can see still a couple of mysteries remain.
If anyone knows the origins of the John Lennon photo with the cigarette – please let us know.
Also, two other outstanding questions are around the origins of the image of Ringo that Klaus used as inspiration for the drawing at the bottom left of the Revolver cover. Where was it published and who’s the photographer? And also the George image on the right – same questions:
The complete list of Record Store Day Black Friday 2022 titles has been issued and there are a couple of Beatle-related items of interest for collectors.
Black Friday titles will go on sale Friday, November 25 and are only available through at brick and mortar independent record stores.
For Dark Horse Records fans there’s an interesting LP Dark Horse Records – The Best Of 1974-1977 (not to be confused with an album with a similar title by George Harrison from 1989 called The Best of Dark Horse 1976-1989).
This one is a newly-curated selection exclusive to RSD Black Friday of the artists discovered by, and in some cases produced by George Harrison, and includes two tracks each from Ravi Shankar, Stairsteps (formerly known as The Five Stairsteps), Splinter, Attitudes (featuring Jim Keltner, David Foster, Danny Kortchmar and Paul Stallworth), and Henry McCullough (Wings and Joe Cocker’s Grease Band). There’s also one track each from Keni Burke, and the band Jiva.
Ringo Starr fans are well-catered for this time around. There’s not one but five Black Friday releases.
The most interesting of these is the re-issue of a fairly obscure Ringo release called Old Wave. This originally came out in 1983, but only in limited places. Looking at the Discogs site it appears to have been released on vinyl only in Germany, Spain, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil. It did get a CD release in the US in 1994. But that’s about it. Critically known as “Ringo’s most overlooked album” and “Ringo’s solo masterpiece”, it was produced by Joe Walsh and Russ Ballard. It is set to be re-issued in 2022 on CD and on LP. The vinyl package includes an OBI strip, single album jacket, printed inner sleeve, original record labels and comes in a special brown and white smoke color vinyl. It also includes a bonus track available for the first time on vinyl “As Far As We Can Go (Early Version)”:
Here’s the CD image for Ringo’sOld Wave. It gets the bonus track as well and, as yiu can see in the list above there will only be 500 copies made available (in the US at least):
The other two RSD Black Friday releases on the list for Ringo are what is becoming the obligatory coloured vinyl editions of his 1977 LP, Ringo The 4th. This time they’ve announced two different colours. One in translucent orange (1000 copies) and the other in translucent blue (also 1000 copies). We are told the LP’s will be house in a gatefold cover with rare photos and lyrics.
But hey. Wait just a minute. Didn’t they also announce this exact same thing for RSD proper on April 23 this year!?
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