Some Beatles Car Boot Sale Booty

Posted on November 10, 2014 by beatlesblogger

There was a big car boot sale just around the corner from us this last weekend, and we were able to find quite a few nice additions to the collection. One vendor just had boxes and boxes of CD’s, 7″ vinyl 45’s and 12″ LP’s on their stall – and so quite a bit of our Saturday morning was spent trawling….

It was time well spent though as it turned up a few gems.

First up was a Australian vinyl single taken from the John Lennon and Yoko Ono album Double Fantasy. ‘Watching the Wheels’ was the third single from this LP (the first two were ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ and ‘Woman’). We didn’t have a copy of ‘Watching the Wheels” so this was a good find.

Next was another 7″ single we didn’t have – Badfinger’s ‘Come and Get It’ on the Apple label. It dates from 1969 and is a Paul McCartney composition written for the band, and it makes an appearance on the soundtrack for the film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. This is an Australian pressing. There’s a lot of writing on the label – but still…..

Further hunting through the boxes revealed another Apple single – this time from George Harrison. It’s an Australian copy of ‘My Sweet Lord’ b/w ‘Isn’t It A Pity’. In Australia this was a double A side as both titles have green Apple labels:

Our good luck continued in the multiple boxes at this car boot sale. Next out were two singles – a US copy of McCartney’s ‘Coming Up’, and ‘Say Say Say’ with Michael Jackson – both on the Columbia label, then a division of CBS. In the late 70’s/early 80’s McCartney was briefly (six years) on the Columbia label for his releases in America. He’d temporarily turned his back on Capitol Records, enticed by one of the most lucrative recording contracts around at the time, a deal which included as a sweetener the ownership of Frank Music, a CBS owned publishing company consisting (amongst other things) of Frank Loesser’s songs (think of the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, etc.). Frank Music is now of course folded into McCartney’s highly successful MPL Music Publishing business.

The two singles we found came out on the Parlophone label in Australia, so it’s good to have these US versions:

The final 45 we discovered was Billy J. Kramer’s ‘From a Window’ – which sadly is kind of beat up, but worth having because it is a song from 1964 written specifically for Kramer (and his band the Dakotas) by John Lennon and Paul McCartney:

The last purchase of the day was a bit of a find. It’s Jools Holland’s 2001 CD Small World Big Band, which is an important one to have in the collection because it contains George Harrison singing and playing on his last ever recording. George passed away just two months after this recording. He does a song called ‘Horse to the Water’, co-composed with his son Dhani.

Holland’s CD is sub-titled “….his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and friends”, that’s because for each track he invites various stars to join him for a track each. These include the likes of Sting; Paul Weller; Dr John; Mark Knopfler; Van Morrison; Steve Winwood; and Eric Clapton, amongst many others. To quote two of the poignant reviewers on Amazon:

“For me, the big reason to buy this CD was the George Harrison contribution, ‘Horse to the Water’. It is a GREAT song, and a brilliant Harrison song at that. George sounds weak, and I am not sure if Clapton has stepped in on some of the guitar parts, but what a brilliant and fun piece of music, worthy to be held in the highest esteem among its author’s ouvre. IT is reason enough to buy the CD.”

And this one:

“I purchased this CD for one reason. I had seen the DVD Concert for George and loved it. Among the best offerings on the DVD was the Sam Brown/Jools Holland rendition of ‘Horse to the Water’ by George. Except for the words, I would never have guessed that it was a Harrison song. It was too R&B. So I was curious to see how he handled it. Well, he does not have the powerhouse voice of Sam Brown, but I was in fact really surprised at how well he did, helped greatly by the superb backup band. I would not have recognised his voice. I am sure his throat cancer was behind that.”

There’s a small picture of George in the booklet:

One More Wings Bonus Track – Free Download

Posted on November 7, 2014 by beatlesblogger

At paulmccartney.com there’s a further free, previously unreleased track which has been made available for download. That makes three so far….we’re heading towards the makings of an EP.

In November 1974 Paul and Wings were in the process of recording the album that came to be known as Venus and Mars. As with all recording sessions there are songs and different versions of tracks that don’t make the final release.

The exclusive Venus and Mars outtake track now available is a previously unreleased and unheard version of the song ‘Rock Show’. Listen to it below:

I think you can hear why this version was passed over in favour of the one that eventually made it to the LP, but it’s still great to hear how the song went through the process of being more finely crafted.

See also the exclusive versions of ‘Letting Go’ and ‘Love My Baby’ – both still available for download at paulmccartney.com

Another McCartney Bonus Track – Free Download

Posted on November 5, 2014 by beatlesblogger

As part of the continuing publicity push for the Archive Series re-issues this week of Venus and Mars and Wings At The Speed of Sound, Paul McCartney has made available another exclusive bonus track.

It’s a Wings track called ‘Love My Baby’ and is taken from the One Hand Clapping film:

Like the extended and remastered version of the song ‘Letting Go’ (released last week), ‘Love My Baby’ is not on the forthcoming re-issues of Venus and Mars or At the Speed of Sound, but is only being made available as a free download from paulmccartney.com

It’s short and cute. Sounds like Paul is playing a toy piano – long before that became fashionable!

One Hand Clapping was filmed in Studio 2 at Abbey Road in late summer of 1974. The documentary captures Paul playing numbers from Band on the Run with Wings.

He’s said of the film: “It’s nice to see that one re-surfacing. It was made by a friend of mine, David Litchfield; he produced a little magazine that was funky (Ritz, co-edited with David Bailey). We decided that he would shoot a very simple piece, on video. We would just go into Abbey Road and play basically what we had rehearsed. So we went in there and it was very simply filmed, absolute basic stuff, and I think its charm now is that there’s no pretence. It is what it is. We just called it One Hand Clapping, for absolutely no reason.”

A Hard Day’s Night – On the Big Screen Across Australia

Posted on October 30, 2014 by beatlesblogger

An image of The Beatles forms the centrepiece for all this year’s advertising for the 2014 British Film Festival. The festival will be held in Australia between November 5 – 26.

That’s because the film A Hard Day’s Night is to be shown at big screen cinemas right across the country as part of the festival activities:

The long rich history of British cinema is represented in the festival’s ‘Six From The 60s’ retrospective, with six standout films from the era including a digitally restored, 50th anniversary print of Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night – a day in the life of The Beatles at the height of Beatlemania.

Check out the location and time listings for when AHDN is coming to a big screen near you.

McCartney Bonus Track – Free Download

Posted on October 30, 2014 by beatlesblogger

Paul McCartney has today made available an exclusive, extended and remastered version of the song ‘Letting Go’. The song won’t be on the forthcoming re-issue of Venus and Mars (out next week), but is only available as a free download from paulmccartney.com

Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound are the latest additions to the Paul McCartney Archive Collection. Both albums will be reissued on CD, vinyl and digital, including previously unreleased material, on November 3 (UK), and November 4 (US).

Op Shopping – Two Small Finds

Posted on October 28, 2014 by beatlesblogger

Another trip to the NSW Central Coast, and some time available to check out a couple of the local opportunity shops (or “op shops”) there – like The Salvation Army and the St Vincent de Paul (or “Vinnies” as this chain is more commonly known in Australia – they are similar to Goodwill in the US).

It’s usually a long-shot to look for Beatle items in these places as they tend to be pretty well picked over already. But you never know…..

This time around we did come away with two small finds. First, at the Salvation Army store, was a cassette of A Collection of Beatles Oldies but Goldies:

This one is on Axis, which was EMI’s budget label in Australia. We don’t even have a cassette player anymore – but for just 50c how could we leave this little gem from the past just sitting on the shelf?

Then, from the same store, a 3-track CD single of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ by Band Aid 20. This was released in 2004 and is the twentieth anniversary fundraising re-make of the 1984 song which kicked off the whole Live Aid charity phenomenon. The CD features Paul McCartney on bass:

As you can see in the official video from the time, Sir Paul is obviously having a good time providing the bass line for this remake of the famous song.

BTW, Paul McCartney, U2’s Bono, Bob Geldof, Midge Ure, and Sarah Dallin and Keren Woodward (from Bananarama) are the only artists to have appeared on both the 1984 recording and on this one from 2004.

The CD single features the 2004 recording, the original from 1984, and a version taken from the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985.

Three New Beatle/Beatle-related Vinyl Singles

Posted on October 23, 2014 by beatlesblogger

For collectors and completists there are not one, but three new Beatle and Beatle-related 7″ vinyl singles on the way.

The first two are from Paul McCartney and Wings.

In association with the Best Buy electronics supermarket chain in the USA, two 7″ vinyl singles – one taken from Venus and Mars, and one from Wings at the Speed of Sound – will be released on November 4 as limited bonus items with the purchase of the forthcoming re-issues of these two titles:

From the description on the stickers (i.e. “DETAILS INSIDE”), it looks like there will be a coupon included to redeem these special vinyl singles after initial purchase, though we’re not sure about this.

Also, based on a tiny image on the Best Buy site, it looks like the singles will come in picture sleeves which re-create the original artwork:The third 7″ vinyl item will be released on November 28 as part of the Record Store Day “Black Friday” celebrations at independent record stores. It’s a limited pressing of the Beatles EP Long Tall Sally (originally released in the UK in 1964):

Songs on the EP are: “Long Tall Sally”; “I Call Your Name”; “Matchbox” and “Slow Down”.

Like the recent reissues of the Beatles original albums, this EP is being released in glorious mono. The Long Tall Sally 7” vinyl EP is being specially reissued for Record Store Day’s Black Friday in very limited quantities. Click here for the full list of special Record Store Day releases.

John Lennon – Solo in 20 Songs

Posted on October 11, 2014 by beatlesblogger

To mark John Lennon’s birthday, Yoko Ono and Universal Music have launched a special microsite called John Lennon Solo in 20 Songs:

Universal has also re-issued the Lennon solo catalogue on a variety of streaming platforms:

Universal is also making every album available for download as high definition audio for the first time. These are available for purchase from hi-res digital audio providers like these:

(P.S. Universal also created a George Harrison Hail a Dark Horse microsite to coincide with the release of The Apple Years 1968-1975. It’s to let fans know there’s a limited re-pressing of the previously sold out 2004 companion box set The Dark Horse Years 1976-1992. However, a quick search on the Amazon US site failed to find it…..The Amazon UK site has this – stating the set is due for a limited release on October 20. If anyone can confirm it is actually being re-issued please let us know.)

Second Hand Records on the Central Coast

Posted on October 6, 2014 by beatlesblogger

A recent trip to the Central Coast of New South Wales (about an hour and forty-five minutes drive north of Sydney) unearthed a great dedicated record store we weren’t previously aware of:

The Sound Exchange Record Bar, located in Long Jetty, sells new and used LP’s and 45’s, picture discs and coloured vinyl, turntables and accessories, as well as used amplifiers, speakers, etc.

Of course we made a beeline straight to the Beatle section and there was a large choice of good quality second-hand LPs on offer. For some time now we’ve been looking for a copy of the Australian version of Rock’n’Roll Music (Volume 1) on the Axis budget label – the one with the catalogue number AX-1002. Well, The Sound Exchange had a copy – and at a reasonable price. This will now sit alongside the copy of Volume 2 (AX-1003) which we already have and complete the set:

In Australia Axis was the equivalent of Music for Pleasure in the UK, or the budget green Capitol label re-issues in the USA. For more info see our post on Budget Beatles releases.

There’s something of a Beatles theme going on in Long Jetty. Just across the road from The Sound Exchange is a groovy art gallery/cafe called The Glass Onion Society, and right next door to it a florist/gift shop called Octopus’s Garden. On the intersection closest to all three stores a street artist has painted this cool image on the roadside box which controls the traffic lights:Nice.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Tag Archives: Music

One More Wings Bonus Track – Free Download

Another McCartney Bonus Track – Free Download

A Hard Day’s Night – On the Big Screen Across Australia

McCartney Bonus Track – Free Download

Op Shopping – Two Small Finds

Three New Beatle/Beatle-related Vinyl Singles

John Lennon – Solo in 20 Songs

Second Hand Records on the Central Coast

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