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 StarrChoose 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.
Liveright Books has just announced a special numbered, limited edition of Wings: The Story of a Band On The Run, signed by Paul McCartney. There will be 175 copies available for the US market, and 175 copies for the UK market.
These limited signed edition books are packaged in a deluxe cloth case featuring screen printing, including a 24-page full-colour bound-in booklet of Wings-era album and singles cover artwork (front and back). They also include an exclusive colour vinyl 1 LP (with unique labels) of the forthcoming Wings: The Definitive Collection release. There’s also a special enamel pin and a blue and white embroidered patch.
Each copy will be numbered and signed by Paul McCartney.
On sale from November 25, they’re available now for pre-order (if you can find one). The limited edition has a RRP of £2500 or US$4,000.
This is a lot of money, but they will sell out and become genuine collector’s items for sure.
As has become usual with these limited McCartney book releases various retailers undertake a variety of promotional activities to entice you to secure a copy – and they probably only get one copy each. This bookshop is asking you to enter a competition just to win the right to BUY the only copy they have for sale!
Check out this link for a full list of all US participating bookseller locations.
In Britain it’s the same. For example, the big Waterstones chain there is offering a chance to win the limited edition version in a prize draw. The competition is open to all customers who order the standard hardback online from them.
Meanwhile, here in Australia this record store has this super deluxe edition for sale at an incredible AUD$24,999.00. That’s around US$16,315.00, or £12,397.00 British Pounds, or €14,094.00 Euros. Blimey!
Magic Christian Music is the second album released by Welsh rock band, Badfinger. They recorded 5 albums for Apple Records, and were the first non-Beatle recording artists signed to the label.
This release will be the first time the 2010 remasters of Magic Christian Music are available on vinyl, and the first time the album has been re-pressed since 1996.
Magic Christian Music includes the band’s first international hit, ‘Come And Get It’, written and produced for them by Paul McCartney. Of the fourteen tracks, seven were newly recorded for the album while the remaining songs were lifted from their first album Maybe Tomorrow, which had seen only a limited release. Three of the new tracks were featured in the film The Magic Christian (starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr). They were produced by Paul, and the strings on ‘Carry On Till Tomorrow’ were arranged and conducted by George Martin. SIx tracks were produced by Tony Visconti and five by Mal Evans.
This 180g blue vinyl version, out on October 18, is housed in a single sleeve featuring the original artwork, with poly-lined white inner sleeves.
In other Beatle-related release news, the push by BMG to get more George Harrison/Dark Horse Records titles officially onto their catalogue continues. On October 24 they will release the next batch including the self-titled George Harrison (from early 1979) on both vinyl and CD:
The CD has one bonus track, ‘Here Comes The Moon (Demo)’:
Then in June 1981 came Somewhere In England. It too gets a vinyl and CD re-issue on Dark Horse:
The CD is interesting. It comes in the original album concept artwork and has one bonus track, a demo of ‘Save The World’:
And then comes 1982’s Gone Troppo:
The Gone Troppo CD also comes with a single bonus track, the demo version of ‘Mystical One’:
Also due for an October 24 release are CD versions of Brainwashed; Cloud Nine; and Thirty Three and 1/3. Each of these has already seen a vinyl release under the BMG distribution deal. This just makes a CD version available to collectors:
All CD’s are in Digipak packaging. You can get all the details on all these releases, and place pre-orders, at the Official George Harrison Store.
Interestingly, also listed there (for an October 3 release) is a 3LP set of All Things Must Pass. This too is to bring that classic title in under the BMG/Dark Horse Records banner as a vinyl issue (there’s already been a CD released).
The question is, will it come out with Dark Horse Records labels, or will it be on the traditional orange Apple and Apple Jam labels? The pack shot has a prominent Dark Horse hype sticker (click on the image to see a larger version):
This vinyl is the 50th anniversary mix by Paul Hicks and the set includes the original poster – but with the back of the poster containing notes by Dhani Harrison and Hicks about remixing the album.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the LPs have the Dark Horse label. For some reason our money is on Apple labels……look very closely at that hype sticker and you’ll see in the small print the words “Apple and the Apple logo are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd and used with permission.” So maybe it won’t have Dark Horse labels after all….
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 standalonetriple 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.
Announced yesterday out of the blue a new Wings “best of” compilation to accompany the forthcoming book, Wings – The Story of a Band on the Run (and possibly the new documentary film, Man On The Run):
WINGS – The Definitive Collection will contain purely Wings songs (in other words no Paul McCartney solo, or Paul and Linda McCartney releases) and it will come in the shape of a 3LP set, a 2CD set, a 1CD, and there’ll be a separate, exclusive Blu-Ray Audio Disc with Atmos mixes for the first time.
This 3LP set will also be offered as a McCartney Official Store limited edition coloured vinyl exclusive:
If you don’t want to pay US$20.00 for a lithograph and a sticker sheet then you can get a standard 3LP set without the trinkets:
And there’s a single LP on black vinyl containing 12 tracks in all:
The first “exclusive”, “limited edition” coloured vinyl release of the 1LP has been announced. It’ll be available on green vinyl through Target stores in the U.S., in FNAC stores in France, also from jpc in Germany and Austria, and at JB Hi Fi in Australia. In other words, it looks like one retailer per territory will get the “exclusive”. Will this be the first of many colour and cover art variations like we saw with McCartney III?
If CD is more your thing then the 2CD set has all the tracks from the 3LP sets, including the poster:
While the 1CD replicates the 1LP track running order:
The McCartney Store and the SuperDeluxeEdition site are offering an exclusive Blu-ray Audio disc which is likely to be the format that most excites McCartney fans. As site owner Paul Sinclair writes, “For the first time, tracks are available in Dolby Atmos on a physical product. The mixes are by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard. 14 of them have been available in recent times on streaming, but 17 of them are unheard in this format, including tracks from un-reissued latter albums, such as ‘With A Little Luck’, ‘London Town’ and ‘I’ve Had Enough’ (from 1978’s London Town) and ‘Getting Closer’ and ‘Arrow Through Me’ (from 1979’s Back to the Egg). 7 out of the 10 tracks from the US version of Band on the Run also feature on this compilation.
Blu-ray Audio audio streams summary:
Dolby Atmos Mix (48/24)
5.1 Surround Mix (48/24)
Hi-Res Stereo Mixes (96/24)
This blu-ray audio contains 32 tracks and is presented as a ‘softpack’ with a 16-page booklet:
The WINGS– The Definitive Collection packaging has been designed by Paul and Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell of the famous Hipgnosis design studio. The two have worked together extensively in the past, not only on album artwork but also the art direction for McCartney tours. The first thing that hit us though was that front cover with the word WINGS populated with a photo montage of the band, and the inner sleeve replicating that was a little bit derivative. Some other band from the past used a very similar idea way back when…..
You might know if you’re a regular reader that we’re quite interested in celebrating artists and creatives who sometimes go unsung, but have helped The Beatles as a band or solo to achieve their artistic vision.
One such talented and long-time collaborator passed away last week.
His name was Sir Brian Clarke, a British painter, architectural artist, designer and printmaker, best known for his large-scale stained glass, tapestry, ceramics and mosaic projects. He was also known for his symbolist paintings and stage designs.
His artistic collaborations have included work with David Bailey, Hugh Hudson, Malcolm McLaren, and also with Lindaand Paul McCartney. In fact, he was a firm friend of theirs and Paul has paid tribute to him this week in his socials:
Brian Clarke’s first public collaboration with McCartney was his striking cover and label art for Paul’s 1982 album, Tug of War.
Clarke designed the cover, producing an abstract painting in oil on canvas that incorporated a painted portrait into the cover from a photograph by Linda McCartney of Paul in the recording studio. The geometric elements of the painting, which he calls ‘reticules’, were used in promotional material for the release, incorporated throughout the vinyl and CD booklets by Hipgnosis, and also appeared on the vinyl labels:
Clarke also designed and fabricated a series of Tug of War stained glass panels in different colours and treatments:
Each artwork is made of mouth-blown glass and these stained glass panels make a cameo appearance in the music video for the single from the album, ‘Take It Away’. You can see them briefly from about 3’10 in, during the scene set in the bar:
Interestingly, the style Clarke used for Tug of War is also evident in his paintings from the time as well, for example this one from 1982 – a series called The Rome Paintings:
His concept again paired Clarke’s paintings and compositions (this time of of cut flowers) with Linda McCartney’s photography, producing a collaborative series of canvases and pictures. The photographs were shown at Linda’sFlowers in the Dirt exhibition at the Mayor Gallery, London, in 1989.
“I got the idea for the Flowers in the Dirt cover when I was staying at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok. I did a sketch and a faxed it back to Paul. He said he was interested and wanted to see it developed. By then I was in New Delhi and I did the painting there. I flew back with it one Thursday night and Linda and I went into the studio the following day, laid the flowers on the canvas – which was still wet – and worked on it until we got it right.”
His art also adorned the press materials released to promote the album:
These were huge works that hung behind the band on stage:
Clarke’s stage designs were also incorporated into The Paul McCartney World Tour posters and souvenir concert tour programs:
His other record cover art from this time includes the design for the cover of the single ‘Figure of Eight’, taken from the Flowers in the Dirt LP:
Brian Clarke also created stage designs for The New World Tour in 1993. His painted stage sets and projections included collaged biographical pictures by Linda McCartney, a photographic history of stained glass, and appeared on promotional materials designed for the tour. Those hand-painted sets, on canvas and on acoustically transparent scrims, became the world’s largest-ever stage sets, and are Clarke’s largest ever paintings:
“The main sets were painted, and the projections included a collage I made of photographs of my favourite works in stained glass from the 11th century to the present day, used by Paul as the backdrop to ‘Let It Be’. Somehow the imagery and the rolling depth of colour across the enormous stage morphed perfectly with the religious mood that is always provoked when one listens to that remarkable song.”
Then in 1997, not long before Linda’s death, she and Clarke held a joint exhibition called Collaborations. It showed works by both artists and collaborative pieces in which Linda’s photos were silk screened onto mouth-blown glass using a process of their own devising.
“Linda McCartney, working with her friend, the artist Brian Clarke, is helping to spearhead a revival of an art form that has been dormant for more than 100 years – stained-glass photography. They have been secretly working for three years on reviving the technique, which was last in vogue in the 1880s, and which Clarke has experimented with once before. They have now produced a number of stained glass photographs, including a set of portraits of Sir Paul McCartney as well as other celebrities, friends, flowers and urban landscapes.” (The Independent, February 1998)
As a mark of the long friendship and artistic association he had with the McCartney family Brian was amongst a select few to deliver a message during Linda’s memorial service on June 8, 1998.
Then, in 1999, Paul McCartney released Working Classical, an album of his orchestral and chamber music. On it was a composition called ‘A Leaf’. In the CD booklet the notes about each work is accompanied by a creative image. For ‘A Leaf’ it was a photo of one of Linda and Brian’s stained glass works……
Jump forward another six years to the 2005 McCartney album, Chaos and Creation In The Backyard. The front cover image is a photo taken by Paul’s brother Mike McCartney. But inside the CD booklet, and in the vinyl edition, there are featured numerous line drawings by Brian Clarke:
The Special Edition CD came with a bonus DVD with a few extras, including an 11’30 animated film called Line Art featuring Brian’s drawings accompanied by instrumental tracks of the songs ‘Riding to Vanity Fair’, ‘At the Mercy’ and ‘Anyway’. The single that was taken from the album ‘Fine Line’ also featured Clarke’s work on the front cover:
Vale Brian Clarke, 2 July,1953 – 1 July, 2025.
His work in stained glass, painting and sculpture has been shown widely internationally, and can also be found in the permanent collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Tate Gallery in London.
He was awarded a Knighthood in January 2024, becoming the first stained glass artist to be honoured for a medium that has significantly shaped the course of British art.
The Beatles have announced this week that the new CEO of their company, Apple Corps Ltd., will be Tom Greene. He replaces Jeff Jones, who ran the company for almost 18 years and decided to step away from the job last year.
In a group statement, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Sean Ono Lennon joined together to say: “We are thrilled to welcome Tom Greene as CEO. We have a lot of exciting plans and Tom’s experience and vision make him the perfect person to join us in making it all happen.”
Variety reports that while Greene (pictured above) has no music business experience, he comes to the role with a strong entertainment background having been Chief Operating Officer of BLAST “a competitive entertainment company working with the biggest video game developers and publishers in the world on the production, commercialization and audience growth of their e-sports programs”.
Prior to that Greene was at Wizarding World Digital and Pottermore, the official hubs and parent companies of the Harry Potter franchise – with “over 50 million members, supported by immersive digital experiences, daily content publishing and an innovative e-commerce offering.” Greene was Group Commercial Director for Pottermore from 2015 through 2018, then moved to Wizarding World Digital, where he acted as COO, then General Manager.
In taking on his new role, Greene will still maintain his position on the board of directors for both BLAST and Pottermore.
Greene, who won’t start until September, said “It is a huge honor to lead Apple Corps into this new phase of its history. Like so many people around the world, I grew up in a household obsessed with the Beatles and their music. At a time when the world might need more of the Beatles’ spirit, there are so many new and innovative ways to bring their unique magic to all generations of fans. I cannot wait to get started.”
It’s going to be very interesting to see where the company goes in the future. With his e-commerce background will this mean that physical product from The Beatles is set to take a back seat? Hope not.
The entertainment bible Variety is reporting that at last there is definite movement on Paul McCartney’s on-again, off-again animated children’s feature film, High In The Clouds.
The magazine says that “Celine Dion, Himesh Patel and Hannah Waddingham will lead the voice cast of High in the Clouds….which [production company] Gaumont (“Ballerina”) is producing and repping internationally.”
“Inspired by the children’s adventure book by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh, High in the Clouds will also bring together Idris Elba, Lionel Richie, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Fallon, Clémence Poésy, Pom Klementieff and Alain Chabat.”
There’ll also be six original songs by McCartney in the film, which – back in 2023 – was budgeted at €28 million (US$31.7 million). It’ll be directed by Toby Genkel (The Amazing Maurice), and will have a screenplay by Jon Croker (Paddington 2), with Patrick Hanenberger (The Croods, Lego Movie 2) as production designer. Paul McCartney will also voice one of the main characters.
And here’s the exciting bit. Oscar winner Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, Up, Inside Out, Coco) will score the feature with the original soundtrack set to be released by Universal Music Group. So, we’ll be getting at least six new Paul McCartney songs.
The cast and the characters they voice are:
Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as the main character, Wirral Céline Dion (Academy Award winner for Best Song) as Sugartail Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as Gretsch Paul McCartney as McKenzie Idris Elba (Luther) as Barrel Lionel Richie as Gladstone Ringo Starr as Roy Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show) as Froggo Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter) as Doris Pom Klementieff (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) as Mina Alain Chabat (Night at the Museum) as Bigsby
Two things to note:
You’ll notice on the official poster (above) it says “Coming 2027“, so we’ve still got a while to wait.
Secondly, if you’re wondering about someone who is missing in all this latest reporting on the film, you’re not wrong. When we said this has been an on-again, off-again project across a number of years we weren’t kidding.
Way back in 2015 there were prolific reports on social media showing Paul working with none other than Lady Gaga on one of the key songs for the film. This photo from Instagram dates back to February that year. So, High In The Clouds the movie has been on the boil at least 10 years now. In fact first reports of an animated film based on the book date back to 2013.
This doesn’t mean that Gaga’s contribution has been ditched. She’s just not in a speaking role. Maybe her song will be in the opening and closing credits? Here’s a happy-snap from the same 2015 recording session with Gaga, with Paul and all the musicians in the studio. You can also see Paul’s regular drummer Abe Laborial Jr. at his left shoulder.:
As is the way with these things ideas, concepts and themes morph. The synopsis of the book now looks distinctly different to that of the film.
Plot of the book (as per the 2005 book cover): “Forced to leave his woodland home, destroyed by the expansion plans of the evil Gretsch, Wirral the squirrel vows to find the fabled land of Animalia, where all the animals are said to live in freedom and without fear. Wirral’s personal quest turns into a full-blown plan to save enslaved animals everywhere.”
Plot of the film (as per the 202 Variety article): “Follows the journey of a headstrong teenage squirrel, Wirral, who lives in Gretschville, a city where music has been banned by a diva-owl, Gretsch, who wants to be the only singer in town. Determined to overthrow Gretsch and bring music back to his town, Wirral joins forces with an underground band of legendary musicians who hide high in the clouds, in a secret place called Harmonia.”
Quite different, don’t you think?
Still, this promises to be a fun watch with a special soundtrack album as an added bonus.
As a first generation Beatle fan who fell hook, line and sinker for the band when they took Australia by storm back in 1964, it constantly amazes how subsequent generations come to hear about and love their music – over and over again.
Just take a look at faces in the crowd at any of Paul McCartney’s 2024 Got Back tour dates. Yes, you’ll see a fair smattering of grey hair in there, but his audiences around the world are a true cross-section of the ages – from the Builders and Baby Boomers, to Gen Z and now Gen Alpha.
And here’s a new Beatle book (released today, 6 May) aimed directly at the youngest of those Gen Alpha’s.
We Are the Beatles is the latest in Meltzer’s Ordinary People Change the World series of kids books where historic heroes come to life to inspire young readers to greatness themselves.
Born out of a desire to give his own kids real people to look up to, Meltzer’s books highlight notable figures from around the world. These have included people like Walt Disney, Dolly Parton, Frida Kahlo, Gandhi, Anne Frank, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, and many others. By showing what each of these inspiring people were like as children, and exploring who they grew up to be gives kids to opportunity to emulate the traits that made them great – and to realize their own huge potential.
Now it’s the turn of John, Paul, George and Ringo to again inspire a new generation. It’s the first time in this long-running book series (there are 36 titles in all, so far) that a group has been highlighted rather than a single person.
Meltzer and Eliopoulos pack a lot of accurate detail into this little book, and their story of four ordinary kids from Liverpool who loved music, who became the best of friends, and who grew up to become the most famous band in the world, is told with whimsy and a beautiful eye for detail.
We Are The Beatles begins by taking us through the four individual Beatle childhoods, how they found their instruments and each other, shared a love of music, practiced, practiced, practiced, get their break into the business, and the familiar tale of success heaped upon success worldwide. The message is “Whatever your dream is, keep chasing it!” and “The best music is the music you make together. And the essential message will never change: Love. It really is all you need.”
Meltzer has really done his research as the list of his impeccable sources at that back of the book reveals: The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles; Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, by Mark Lewisohn; Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles; Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress by Michael Braun; John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman; The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story by Vivek J. Tiwary; and The Beatles: Get Back documentary, directed and produced by Peter Jackson.
He’s even included a handy further reading and viewing for kids list: Who Were The Beatles? by Geoff Edgers; What Is Rock and Roll? by Jim O’Connor; Imagine by John Lennon and illustrated by Jean Jullien; and the Yellow Submarine movie, directed by George Dunning.
I can imagine reading this book to my own grandchildren (aged 7 and 4). And then we’d listen to some Beatles tracks together. Such is the power of the music these four young men made. It can still capture new young audiences as the years roll by.
We Are The Beatles is published by Rocky Pond Books, a division of Penguin Books. Get your copy here. Here’s to the next generation of fans!
BOOK GIVEAWAY COMPETITION (open to our U.S. readers only)
With thanks to Penguin Books we have four copies of Brad Meltzer’s We Are The Beatles to give away to four of our U.S. readers.
All you need to do is provide us your name and email address below, and then have a go at answering three easy Beatle-related questions. Good luck!
Please note that due to the high cost of shipping this competition is open only to residents of the United States.
For some reason publishers in the US seem to want to be different to the rest of the world.
Take the recently announced book from the McCartney camp, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.
Initially there was no cover art ready for the official announcement, but now not one but two different covers have (ahem) broken cover.
This one is for the UK and the rest of the world:
And this one – the United States:
Who knows why the US needs a different look? There are two different publishers, so that could have something to do with it. In the US it will be Liveright/W W Norton, and for the UK & ROW it’ll be Allen Lane/Penguin.
The UK cover is a black and white version of this 1972 Linda McCartney colour image, taken during the Wings Over Europe tour:
The blue US cover is by artist Alex Trochut. He says “I’m a digital crafter. Wherever and with whomever I’m working, I let the needs of a project dictate its style. I try not to think my way into a design, quality is always my priority but I believe you have to let play drive you. My motto? Easy is boring. If you aren’t having fun pushing yourself, you aren’t doing it right.”
Trochut was born in Barcelona, Spain and after completing his art studies he established his own design studio in there before relocating to New York City. Through his design, illustration and typographic practice he has developed an intuitive way of working that has resulted in an expressive visual style. Alex has created design, illustration and typography for a diverse range of clients including Nike, Adidas, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry, BBC, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, The Guardian, The New York Times, Time Magazine, and now he can add Paul McCartney and Wings to his resume!
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