Tag Archives: Plastic Ono Band

An Unusual ‘Some Time In New York City’

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Whenever we venture up to the suburb of Hornsby in Sydney’s north, a visit to the used record store Mix Up Music is always on the cards.

As you can probably tell from the image above, this is not the most appealing store from the outside, and that vibe continues continues once you’re inside. It’s a bit of a rabbit’s warren with stock seemingly all over the place – but there is treasure to be found here if you have patience and the time to check it out.

The store is actually two shops in one, with a space at the front being sub-let to another, completely separate second-hand dealer called The Vinyl Section. So, with two collections on offer it is rare to walk out without buying something from this store.

And that’s what happened last week when we found this LP in The Vinyl Section part of the store:

With last year’s focus on the Lennon Estate’s big box set Power to the People, this album (minus one controversial song) was it’s centrepiece, along with the One To One concerts and a wealth of previously unreleased Lennon and Ono outtakes and rarities. So it was timely to find an unusual Australian vinyl pressing from 1981 of the original Some Time In New York City album to add to our collection.

Now, you might be saying didn’t Some Time In New York City come out in 1972? Yes, it did – but it was never released here locally at that time. The Australian pressing only came out in early 1981 in the wake of John Lennon’s death when interest in his back-catalogue was reignited.

It comes in the same gatefold sleeve as the original. Here’s the rear sleeve:

If you look closely you can see in the small print on the rear this EMI Records Australia credit included:

And these are the images inside the gatefold:

The two discs themselves do away with the original custom labels used in 1972 (featuring John and Yoko’s faces morphing into each other across the top). Instead we have bright orange Parlophone labels for both discs. Labels like these were common in Australia for many Beatle pressings, so it looks kind of weird to have them on a John and Yoko/Plastic Ono Band release:

And instead of the two different inner sleeves of the original, you only get this one with its hand-drawn liner notes. There is one of these for each disc:

So, after the big Power To The People release of last year it’s great to have this vinyl version join it in the collection.

New Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Zoetrope, and More Dark Horse

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There’s been a further development in the green vinyl ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ 7″ single release announced a few weeks back…..

It all seems timed to coincide with the release of a new children’s book, which in turn is adapted from the Academy Award winning animated short film of the same name that Sean Ono Lennon was involved in…….

Anyways, on the official John Lennon store site they’ve just announced a very special 12″ Zoetrope disc featuring the songs ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (Ultimate Mix)’ and ‘Listen, The Snow Is Falling (Ultimate Mix)’ on side one, and on side two ‘War Pigeon/A Game Of Chess/A Sudden Interruption/Then Peace’, from the soundtrack to the War Is Over! animated film, composed by Thomas Newman (who has done everything from The Shawshank Redemption to Finding Nemo, two Bond films Skyfall and Spectre, to 1917 and Elemental). Suffice it to say he is up there with the best! This is the first time soundtrack music from War Is Over! has been available on a physical format.

The 12” Zoetrope picture disc is designed by Drew Tetz using still frames from the film, and features (on the front outer title sticker) an illustration by Max Narciso from the children’s book adaptation.

The disc is 180g and cut at 45rpm, and comes in a PVC clear sleeve with a title sticker featuring the credits.

It looks very cool and is set to become a definite collectors item.

Meanwhile, the team at Dark Horse Records has announced yet another pre-Christmas release. This is in addition to the three titles announced for Black Friday Record Store Day.

It’s another Yusuf/Cat Stevens back-catalogue title Tell ‘Em I’m Gone, and it will be on yellow vinyl:

The album was produced by Rick Rubin and sees Yusuf exploring some of his bluesier influences, tapping into musical traditions that have informed his own work. Fans of Cat Stevens will know that Leadbelly has always been one of his favourite artists and alongside the album’s original compositions Tell ‘Em I’m Gone contains covers of songs dear to him such as Edgar Winter’s ‘Dying To Live’, Luther Dixon/Al Smith’s ‘Big Boss Man’, and a bluesy reworking of the Jimmie Davies/Charles Mitchell song ‘You Are My Sunshine’. Interesting stuff. The album is available for pre-sale now and is released on December 5.


If You Want To Keep Up, Here’s Everything You’ll Need to Order

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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 Starr Choose 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.

Beatles and Solo News Update

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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 standalone triple 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.

John Lennon’s ‘Power To The People’ Announced

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As he promised months ago, Sean Lennon and the Lennon Estate have this week formally announced the release (on 10 October, 2025) of a mega box set focusing on John Lennon playing (mostly) live in New York in the years 1971 and 1972.

It’s called Power To The People (The Ultimate Collection) and the release is timed to celebrate what would have been John Lennon’s 85th birthday.

The big box set comprises 9 CDs and no less than 3 Blu-Ray audio discs, all packaged in the 10-inch sized slipcase size that’s been the hallmark of all the Lennon super-deluxe re-issues so far. This one will come with a cool lenticular cover of John & Yoko’s faces, presenting a “dynamic 3D effect”.

The box set will come with a 204-page hardback book designed and edited by long-time Lennon Estate historian and archivist, Simon Hilton (he’s done all the box sets so far and is great). It will feature an oral history about all the included music through the words of John & Yoko and those involved, sourced from both archival and new interviews.

The book will be illustrated with previously unseen photos, lyrics, drawings, tape boxes and memorabilia. Additionally, the set includes a newspaper print poster, sticker sheets and a VIP envelope containing replica concert tickets plus backstage and after-show passes that have all been uniquely reproduced with textured, archival materials.

The centerpiece of Power To The People is the ‘One To One Concerts’, which were Lennon’s only full-length concerts after The Beatles, and his final shows with Yoko Ono. They raised more than US$1.5 million (2025 equivalent of $11.5 million) to support children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Both the afternoon and evening performances are being released together for the first time, though they’re not complete (see below).

Alongside those two concerts, Power To The People (Super Deluxe Edition) offers an aural time capsule of John & Yoko’s first NYC era, when they traded Tittenhurst Park, their estate in Ascot, England, for a small apartment located at 105 Bank St. in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, and includes the music they were inspired to make during a time of great civil unrest and the deeply unpopular Vietnam War. As a result the set will contain 92 bonus tracks.

Paramount to their recorded musical endeavors at this time was their 1972 political blockbuster album, Sometime In New York City, recorded by John & Yoko with legendary drummer Jim Keltner and New York band, Elephant’s Memory.

For this special collection, songs from the album have been completely remixed from scratch, stripped of the overly heavy production sound that constrained such inspired and inspiring songs as ‘Attica State’, ‘Angela’, ‘New York City’, and ‘Born In A Prison’.

Noticeably missing though is the controversial song (back then and perhaps now even moreso), ‘Woman Is The N***** Of The World’. Some fans are upset about that but the song is still easily available on streaming services and on CD if you want it. Live versions from the ‘One To One’ concerts can also be had on the Lennon Anthology collection from 1998 (evening performance), and on John Lennon – Live in New York City released in 1986 (afternoon performance). For those hoping the song might be a secret hidden track in this new box, a note has been added to the official website pre-order page: NB – This is the full track listing. There are no hidden tracks on the CDs or Blu-Rays.

For this box set the tracks from Sometime In New York City have been re-ordered, rejuvenated and completely re-imagined as a new set of Ultimate Mixes, and is now simply entitled New York City. It includes extended versions of ‘John Sinclair’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, so while we lose one song we gain longer versions of others.

In addition to the Deluxe 9 CD/3 Blu-Ray box there will be a four LP version with the afternoon and evening ‘One To One’ concerts:

There’ll also be a 2LP edition on black vinyl featuring a “hybrid” best-of from both live shows:

This “hybrid” best-of will also be available as a Limited Edition 2LP in transparent green vinyl:

Both the afternoon and evening ‘One To One’ shows will be available as a 2CD Deluxe Edition housed in a triple gatefold digisleeve:

And there will be a 1CD Edition containing the “hybrid” best-of which, like the 2LP edition combines the two shows to create a one show best-of in a digisleeve:

Record Store Day 2025 – Lists Announced

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George Harrison’s song ‘Be Here Now’ has been named the RSD Song of the Year for 2025’s Record Store Day on April 12.

To celebrate the honor, a double A-Side 12” Single of ‘Be Here Now’ will be released featuring the 2024 mix of George’s original version. The flip-side will contain Beck’s recent cover of the track. Proceeds will go to the Material World Foundation.

It’s another hefty RSD for the Dark Horse label. It will also release a limited Zoetrope picture disc pressing of George’s All Things Must Pass. It is the next part in the plan to eventually issue Zoetrope picture disc pressings of George’s entire studio album catalogue:

The limited edition 3LP Zoetrope set will be the third title in this RSD series and follows Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound from 2024. Like them, All Things Must Pass will come in an individually numbered sleeve.

And from the Record Store Day UK list, Dark Horse is continuing it’s Yusuf/Cat Stevens reissue program with the release of his 1976 LP, Back To Earth. Like the titles they’ve already put out it will come in a limited lenticular, gatefold jacket:

The Lennon Estate has also entered the RSD fray. They’re no strangers to using Record Store Day to give publicity to other projects they have on the go (see our article “Record Store Day and The Beatles – A History” for proof of this over many years).

This time it’s the turn of the new documentary film One to One: John & Yoko which looks at the couple’s life in 1970’s New York, exploring their musical, personal, artistic, social, and political world. Directed by Kevin Macdonald and set in 1972, the film has at it’s core the story of The One to One Concerts, John Lennon’s only full-length performances after The Beatles, accompanied by Yoko Ono, The Plastic Ono Band, Elephant’s Memory and a range of special guests. Together they headlined two historic benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The performances, held before a combined audience of 40,000 people, raised over $1.5 million to support schoolchildren with special needs.

The film has newly remastered and remixed sound from those concerts, produced by Sean Ono Lennon and mixed and engineered from the original tapes by Paul Hicks and Sam Gannon and for RSD 2025 they’re releasing what is described as an “extremely limited edition” 12″ EP featuring four tracks from the afternoon and evening concerts, including three previously unreleased performances. The EP is pressed on 180g yellow vinyl.

Check out the full Record Store Day 2025 list here.

Remember this?

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Back before Christmas you might recall us running a story about Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon sending out another batch of rare, specially cut acetates to a select group of 50 charities. You can read about that here.

Well, one of the charities has been in touch to let us know how they are using their acetate to raise much needed funds to promote the cause of peace. Here’s their press release:

Limited-edition John Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘Give Peace a Chance’ vinyl acetate available in prize draw to fight extreme poverty

International humanitarian organisation Concern Worldwide is running a prize draw for the exclusive vinyl acetate, newly released in 2023 and hand-cut at Abbey Road Studios. It is one of 50 that has been gifted by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon to charities that support peace.  

Funds raised from the prize draw will go directly towards Concern’s work across 26 countries to end hunger and extreme poverty.  

“It’s amazing to be able to offer our supporters the chance to win such an exclusive item, with such an important and unique history, and we’re grateful to Sean and Yoko for including us,” says Lucy Voakes, Fundraising Innovation Manager at Concern.  

“The prize draw will raise vital funds at a time when nearly 300 million people around the world need humanitarian assistance and protection, due to conflicts, climate emergencies and other economic factors.” 

Concern delivers life-changing interventions in some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable communities, including emergency response, health and nutrition, livelihoods and education.  

The record bears a machine-printed signature from Yoko Ono and is a collector’s item. It also includes the B-Side ‘Remember Love.’  

‘Give Peace a Chance’ was first produced fifty-five years ago in June 1969, during John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “bed-in for peace” in Montréal, Canada.  ‘Give Peace a Chance’ quickly became the anthem for the anti-war movement at the time.  

To enter the prize draw, visit the charity’s crowdfunder page. Tickets are £5 for a single entry. To enter the draw for free, submit your entry via post. Visit the crowdfunder page for more information: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/give-peace-a-chance-vinyl  

So, that means we know where limited edition acetate number 14 of 50 was sent, and how they intend to use it to help fight poverty.

But what of the other 49? We know where they’ve gone (scroll down the News page on the official John Lennon site to see the full list of charities), but what are they actually doing with them?

As we did for the 50 acetates that the Lennon estate sent out to record stores previously, we decided to have a look around the web to try to find out.

However, it’s proving a much more difficult task this time around because not many of the charities have (yet) openly publicised their intentions. Here’s our very short list to date:

9/50 Thanks to Discogs we know that this one went to British Red Cross. Not sure what they did with it, but here are a couple of small, somewhat fuzzy images we found:

14/50 as we know went to Concern Worldwide. They are selling raffle tickets for a prize draw (as per the details above). This closes on May 31. More info can be found at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/give-peace-a-chance-vinyl. Here’s their disc:

45/50 War Child UK. They are holding a timed online auction 24 April – 16 May called Spring Clean for War Child. Lots of other rock and pop culture memorabilia is available to bid on, but you’ll need to register. Details on the acetate they were sent – it is Lot 59 – is available here. As of the date of publication the current bid is £500, and there are 13 bidders:

46/50 One of our readers won this disc! It was raffled by War Child Canada and Barry our reader made the winning bid. He’s kindly sent in a couple of photographs, probably the best close-up look at this collectible item we’ve seen yet:

50/50 This was sent to World Vision UK and Liverpool Lighthouse. After hanging on to it for almost a year and a half, they will auction it during a Liverpool Lighthouse event called the Liverpool Gospel Music Festival on Sunday, May 4, 2025 at the Liverpool Olympia. All proceeds will help transform the lives of vulnerable children worldwide:

And finally this one, which shows that the record is indeed a rare, specially cut acetate:

Unknown disc number. Sent to Refugees International. They’ve already held an online auction and it ended on April 30, 2024. The winning bid for the limited edition acetate was $500. See: refugeesinternational.afrogs.org/#/view/942515 for more.

Unknown disc number. Beyond Conflict UK. Details of just how they intend to raise funds are unknown at present. They have posted online that they will disclose details “in the new year”. So we guess it is a case of ‘watch this space’. beyond-conflict.co.uk/mediahub/blog/john-lennon-donates-rare-give-peace-a-chance-record-to-bc/

And that is it!

So far we’ve been able to track down just 7 of the 50 acetates!

If you know where any of the others have ended up, and what the plan is on how to use them, please let us know!

‘Give Peace A Chance’ – Another Charity Acetate From Yoko & Sean

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Yoko Ono and Sean Ono Lennon have donated specially created Limited Edition acetates to 50 charities for them to raise money for peace and love this holiday season.

The pair, in association with Abbey Road Studios and Universal Music, commissioned 50 rare and strictly limited 12″ vinyl acetates of the Ultimate Mixes of the Plastic Ono Band single ‘Give Peace A Chance’/’Remember Love’.

This is a repeat of what they did in 2021 when 50 ultra-rare 12″ copies of ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ acetates where made. They sent these discs to 50 independent record stores, asking each to sell, auction, or creatively fundraise in any way they saw fit and donate the money to a charity of their choice. We tried to follow what happened to each of those discs and you can read about that here.

This time the discs are going direct to 50 charitable organisations to use as they please. In a note accompanying each record, Sean Ono Lennon says:

‘Happy Holidays. To raise the spirit of Peace and Love this December, here is one of only fifty Limited Edition acetates that have been hand-cut at Abbey Road. It’s yours – to sell, auction, raise money to help your charity or to fund your Xmas party – to GIVE PEACE A CHANCE and REMEMBER LOVE.

We’d like to follow the journey these acetates take and the goodwill that they spread – please use the hashtag #GivePeaceAChance and we’ll re-tweet and share their progress on social media to help promote the good causes and good vibes.’

The 50 double-sided 12” acetates have been individually hand-cut on the lathe at Abbey Road Studios by mastering engineer Sean Magee. The acetates use the latest ‘Ultimate Mix’ version of the songs, produced by Sean, mixed by Paul Hicks, engineered by Sam Gannon and executive produced by Yoko Ono.

Each edition is stickered and numbered out of 50 and includes a machine printed signature from Yoko Ono Lennon, making them incredibly collectable.

As we said back in 2021, we reckon this is a fantastic initiative by Yoko, Sean, Abbey Road Studios, UME, and the John Lennon Estate to do some good and promote some much-needed peace in the world this particular holiday season. Good on them for using ‘Give Peace A Chance’ in this creative way.

You can read more and find a list of the 50 chosen charities on the official John Lennon website.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – 50 Acetates for 50 Years

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In the lead up to Christmas what a fantastic idea from the John Lennon Estate to mark the 50th anniversary of the release of the Plastic Ono Band song, ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’.

They have sent selected record stores and charities across the UK a very, very limited edition 12″ single of the song in the form of an acetate, each individually cut at Abbey Road Studios.

Only 50 of these have been produced – so they are instant rarities and valuable collectors items. The outer sleeve is stamped with the signature of Yoko Ono, and each recipient received a letter signed by Sean Ono Lennon outlining the Estate’s request that they use the disc (in which ever way they please) to help raise much needed funds for charity. Brilliant!

The entire idea is fully outlined on the John Lennon official site.

That got us curious to see how many of the 50 individually numbered acetates we could track down in the wild. We’ve pulled together these images of the discs – and sometimes their new owners who are charged with on-selling them for charity. Each recipient is doing this in their own way – so check out their details for how you could possibly secure one of these 50 rare acetates for yourself. You’ll be helping a good cause along the way!

03/50 Assai Records – Dundee, Scotland. They have decided to run an auction with bids lodged via email. Details here.

05/50 Dig Vinyl – Liverpool:

07/50 Five Rise Records – Bingley in Yorkshire. They’ve chosen the eBay option to raise funds for charity. See their eBay auction here.

10/50 Jacaranda Records – Liverpool. They have taken the online raffle route.

11/50 Kelly’s Records – Cardiff, Wales:

12/50 Monorail Music – Glasgow, Scotland: They are holding an eBay auction.

13/50 The Musical Box Records – Liverpool:

15/50 Probe Records – Liverpool:

16/50 Resident Music – in Brighton, UK. They’re running a raffle where every purchase at their store gets an entry. Money raised goes to the Gig Buddies charity.

18/50 RPM Music – Newcastle upon Tyne:

20/50 Skeleton Records – Liverpool. They’re auctioning their acetate on Boxing Day. Watch this space for more details.

21/50 Spillers Records – Cardiff, Wales. Spillers have given their record to Oasis, a charity doing good work with refugees and asylum seekers in Cardiff. They in turn are holding a raffle by donation. i.e. you make a donation and go in the draw to win! Details here.

22/50 Spinning Discs – Sheffield:

24/50 Kingbee Records – Manchester:

25/50 Vinyl Revival – Manchester:

26/50 The Vinyl Whistle – Headingly – Leeds (These guys have decided to sell raffle tickets. At £2 quid each you can buy as many as you like and go in the draw to win!):

27/50 Wax and Beans Records – Bury (near Manchester):

29/50 Attitude is Everything – a UK charity based in London working on giving deaf and disabled people better access to live music.

31/50 Collage Arts is in London. It works in the community and offers artist studios, creative enterprise training, young people’s arts programmes, live music and events. They joined in a group of seven other recipient charities and used Crowdfunder to raise £13,720!

32/50 went to Earth Percent, a charity set up in part by Brian Eno to raise awareness of climate change. Watch their Twitter account for plans on how they’ll use the gift to raise funds.

33/50 Glasgowbury – Northern Ireland’s emerging music festival, established from a need to support and develop homegrown artists. They’re HQ is located in Draperstown and they’re taking bids via email.

34/50 This acetate went to Help Musicians UK, an independent charity that provides support and opportunity for professional musicians of all genres and career stages. They also joined in a group of seven other recipient charities and used Crowdfunder to raise £13,720!

?/50 Sister Ray Records – Soho, London (Not sure of what number these guys got, but they decided to hold an auction across their various social media sites – for example Instagram). It raised £2,300. Not bad!

35/50 Hen Hoose – Scottish female and non binary songwriters and music producers. (They have also posted a lovely video unboxing on Twitter). Their auction via the Omega Auction house raised £4,320!

37/50 Karousel Music CIC – This is a London-based music industry hub promoting collaboration amongst artists, songwriters, musicians and industry. See their ticket raffle here.

39/50 Moving On Music – Located in Belfast, this is an independent, not-for-profit and registered charity. It provides an eclectic mix of music and education services to the entire community in Northern Ireland. See their eBay auction here.

40/50 Music Broth – Scotland’s musical instrument and equipment library. Social enterprise and charity improving access to music making for all:

41/50 The Music Venue Trust is a London-based registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve grassroots music venues. They have uploaded a Facebook unboxing and appear to be totally surprised by what they find in the package! See their ticket raffle here.

42/50 Music Place North-West is a music therapy charity from Liverpool’s Merseyside and they are auctioning their acetate through Bonhams. It will be auctioned in the new year so watch their Twitter account for details.

45/50 Phoenix Arts Club is also located in London and they too have done a Facebook video unboxing in which they are absolutely bowled over by the generosity of Sean and Yoko in choosing them. Watch it. It’s great!

46/50 SWIM stands for Scottish Women In Music. It is a collection of music creators and industry professionals who identify as women working in all music industries. It’s committed to achieving a level playing field for women, pushing for gender equality. They’ve decided on an eBay auction for their acetate.

47/50 The Brain Charity is based in Liverpool and does amazing work helping those affected by neurological conditions to live longer, healthier, happier lives. They also decided to auction their ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ acetate disc on eBay – and it sold for £4,900. Wonderful effort!

48/50 The Glad Foundation is a charity in Glasgow. It provides a wide range of free and affordable music workshops for people of all ages and abilities:

?/50 The Coda Club in London seems to be associated with the Phoenix Arts Club (see 45/50 above) because their acetate disc is mentioned and seen still sealed in the Phoenix Arts Club Facebook video. The Coda Club is a meeting and support network for retirement-aged classical/jazz/session musicians to reconnect and meet and combat loneliness.

We reckon this is a fantastic initiative by Yoko Ono, Sean Ono Lennon and the John Lennon Estate to do some good in the world this holiday season. In it’s 50th anniversary year good on them for having the vision to use ‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ in this creative way.

Song Exploder does Lennon’s ‘God’, and the McCartney Podcast ‘Take It Away’ is Back

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Song Exploder is one of the biggest music podcasts going around.

Host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway works with musicians to take apart their songs and, piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made – delving into the specific decisions that went into creating the work. Guests have included Fleetwood Mac, Billie Eilish, U2, Metallica, Solange, Lorde, Yo-Yo Ma, The Roots, Bon Iver, and more. Here’s the full list of episodes.

Now, Song Exploder has taken a deep dive into John Lennon’s song ‘God’, from his 1970 solo album Plastic Ono Band. It’s the first time Hrishikesh has unpacked a song posthumously, teaming up with the Lennon Estate for a special, first-of-its kind episode using demos, out-takes, multitracks and interviews from their vaults.

“Earlier this year, I got an amazing email—the estate of John Lennon said that they have a treasure trove of audio material from his life, and they were wondering if I would be interested in making an episode around the song ‘God‘. I’ve never tried making a posthumous episode before, because hearing directly from the artist is at the heart of Song Exploder. But with all the interview archives that they have of him speaking, plus all the isolated tracks from the recordings, and the original demo, it actually seemed possible. So this is a very different and special episode of the show.”

Speaking about the episode on Instagram Sean Ono Lennon said “I’m a big fan of Song Exploder and the way Hrishi analyzes songwriting and recording using the multitracks and sessions and the creator’s voice. The shows are always intelligent, well-researched and beautifully edited, so we felt comfortable and confident opening up the archive to them to tell the story of this important song’s creation. They’ve done an amazing job and I’m excited for everyone to hear this special episode.”

In the episode we hear from John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voormann, Billy Preston, and psychologist Arthur Janov.

Meanwhile in other podcast news, the very good Take It Away: The Complete Paul McCartney Archive Podcast is back.

After the tragic death of co-host Ryan Brady last year in a motoring accident, his podcast partner Chris Mercer has (understandably) been lying low for a while. The good news is that the show has returned.

Two weeks ago Mercer posted on Facebook: “I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Paul Kaminski as the new co-host of Take It Away. Many of you will have guessed as much already. When it comes to the Beatles, Paul Kaminski is the real deal. He’s also a highly accomplished podcaster, having worked on the Jack White-related Third Men Podcast, the Beatles podcast Yesterday and Today, The Lucy & Annabel Show, and Now Hear This!, which he co-founded with Ryan Brady. We‘ve already had a productive collaboration going for some time, and we can’t wait to talk everyone’s heads off about music we love!”

The new team of Mercer and Kaminski sound great together and have released the final episode of Season 4 in which they unpack Paul McCartney’s McCartney III Imagined.

And they’ve announced there’ll be a Season 5 coming this fall. “While we will honor the show’s roots by covering McCartney‘s latest projects and expanding our Macca-related offerings, Paul and I are eager to take TIA to new places, and we think you’ll enjoy what we have planned” said Mercer.