Record Store Day and The Beatles – A History

Posted on November 27, 2024 by beatlesblogger

With Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 coming up we started thinking about all the RSD releases there had been over the years involving The Beatles both as a group and as solo artists. Just when did they start to get involved? And has anyone done a complete look back on all the releases associated with RSD over the years?

Record Store Day was conceived in back in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding the nearly 1,400 independently-owned record stores in the US – plus thousands more stores internationally.

The very first Record Store Day took place on April 19, 2008. Now in its 17th year it has grown in prominence as a day when fans and collectors are encouraged to physically visit their local record store to hunt down unique and limited items released specifically on the day.

While there’s only one Record Store Day proper in April each year, 2010 saw the first RSD Black Friday also join as an event each November. Like Record Store Day, the Black Friday event also provides local stores with exclusive releases to encourage bricks and mortar record store visits. And it helps them be a part of what has become the biggest sale shopping event of the year.

In 2020 the global pandemic saw Record Store Day morph into three “RSD Drop” dates which split the official list of releases between them – August 29, September 26 and October 24. There were two similar “Drops” in 2021 in June and July, and one additional “Drop” in 2022 (June). Record Store Day Black Friday continued throughout the pandemic.

So, looking back, just when did The Beatles start to get involved in dropping their own special releases for Record Store Day and RSD Black Friday?

Early information is a bit patchy because the official RSD Archive only dates back to the Black Friday releases of 2011. Before then we need to trawl through our own collection, consult articles we wrote for this site way back in the day, cross check in Discogs and generally snoop around the Internet. If you have any corrections or additional information please don’t hesitate to let us know!

Based upon that, we reckon the very first Beatle RSD-related release was in 2009. We gave this a brief (and it must be said a little bit vague) mention in November of that year:

Now, we say RSD-related for a reason. The Abbey Road Deluxe Vinyl Box was released in November. That is prior to RSD Black Friday starting up. However, publicity around the release at the time stated:

In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the original release of Abbey Road, there will be a special vinyl edition of the album released on November 7, 2009. The Beatles Abbey Road Deluxe Vinyl box will include a vinyl copy of the album, a t-shirt featuring the original artwork from the 7″ single Come Together/Something, and a corresponding poster. This boxset will be released on Vinyl Saturday, which is sponsored by the folks behind Record Store Day and will be limited to 5,000 copies worldwide.

Information is difficult to find but “Vinyl Saturday” seems to have been a November precursor to the Black Friday event we now know and love. So, we’re nominating the Abbey Road Deluxe Vinyl Box as the first association between The Beatles and the RSD folks.

The following year for Record Store Day in April, 2010 came the very limited 7″ single, ‘Paperback Writer’/’Rain’ – just 1000 copies in the UK, and 5000 (some say 4000) in the US:

Also issued for RSD proper that year was the John Lennon Singles Bag containing 3 x 7″ singles in an individually numbered Kraftpak envelope with button and string closure. Also inside were a custom plastic adaptor hub, a 24” x 36” poster and three postcards. The three 45 RPM vinyl singles (‘Mother’/’Why’; ‘Imagine’/’It’s So Hard’ and ‘Watching The Wheels’/’Yes, I’m Your Angel’) came in replicated original artwork covers. this was a limited edition and individually numbered, 7000 copies total.

Then, for RSD Black Friday 2010 came a 40th Anniversary edition of George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, also numbered and limited to 7000 copies worldwide:

The front of the box had a replica Apple hype sticker:

And a special RSD sticker on the rear:

The following year, 2011, contained just a couple of releases – both were for RSD Black Friday. These were The Beatles Singles Box:

Inside this glossy red box were 4 x 7″ singles (‘Ticket To Ride’/’Yes It Is’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’/’Eleanor Rigby’ in replica US picture sleeves and on Capitol “swirl” labels, plus ‘Hey Jude’/’Revolution’ and ‘Something’/’Come Together’ on the Apple label in generic US Apple sleeves) plus a poster, plus a cool 45rpm record adapter with Apple printing on it. 10,000 copies for the US and 5700 for the rest of the world.

Also released for Black Friday 2011 was John Lennon’s Imagine in a unique 2-record box set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album:

This was a limited edition with 6,700 produced worldwide. The box contained the remastered Imagine album on vinyl. It also included a poster and a 12″ EP on white vinyl which included songs previously released on the John Lennon Anthology.

RSD 2012 was fairly slim pickings for Beatle and solo fans. The only item that came out for the whole year was a replica Paul McCartney single ‘Another Day’/’Oh Woman Oh Why’. Limited to 2000 copies worldwide this was issued to help promote the forthcoming box set of Ram, the next title in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection:

2013 saw just two Beatle-related releases – both for RSD proper. These were a Wings 12″ re-issue of ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’, and the 3 x 7″ box set of singles simply called Ringo.

The Ringo Starr Ringo singles box is three 7″ singles, accurately reproduced in their original picture sleeves, in an Apple Records lift-top box. It came with a poster and a custom spindle adapter. The singles inside are ‘Photograph’/’Down And Out’; ‘It Don’t Come Easy’/’Early 1970’ and ‘(It’s All Down to) Goodnight Vienna’/’Oo-Wee’. It’s thought there were 5000 copies released – 2500 in the US plus 2500 in the UK.

The Wings ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ (recorded live) was a replica of a 12″ originally sent as a radio-only promotional single back in 1976 ahead of the release of Wings Over America. It has mono and stereo versions of the song in two durations. This time around it served as a promo for what was to be the next installment in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection – Wings Over America. 3,500 copies.

The following year was a quiet one with collectors having to wait until Black Friday 2014 for a faithfully replicated Beatle EP, Long Tall Sally, cut from the original analogue tapes at Abbey Road Studios and complete with period-correct fold-back tabs on the rear. This served to promote the vinyl edition of the Beatles In Mono box set, which had been released just two months earlier. 7000 copies:

The whole of 2015 was given over entirely to Paul McCartney releases. The first was a Record Store Day re-issue of The Family Way, his 1967 soundtrack to the film of the same name. Long out of print in vinyl (there had been a CD re-issued in 2011), this served as a good way for collectors to add it to their libraries:

The next, also for RSD proper, is probably one of THE rarest Record Store Day releases of all time.

Sweet Thrash was a secret Record Store Day 2015 release signed by Paul McCartney. It never appeared anywhere in any lists or pre-publicity for the day.

From Discogs: “A first wave of records appeared in selected shops in the UK on 6th-7th of April, 2015. Selected shops in the US received a single copy and were instructed to not advertise it or include it with the rest of the RSD releases, but to hide it under the Paul McCartney section at RSD 18th of April. Each side contains a different unreleased alternate mix of “Hope For The Future”. Allegedly limited to 100 copies worldwide. The record was originally released in a white generic die-cut cardboard jacket, a thin white inner sleeve and an inserted card with details of how to download a ‘3D printable Paul’ figurine.”

‘Say Say Say [2015 Remix]’ came out as a 12″ single on transparent clear vinyl for RSD Black Friday 2015. The track, which had been included as part of the bonus audio for the Paul McCartney Archive Collection – Pipes of Peace box set, features previously unheard vocals by Paul and Michael Jackson, with the parts they sing on the original swapped in position in a remix by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent. For the full story check out this article on the official McCartney site. The B-side is an instrumental version of ‘Say Say Say’ mixed by John “Jellybean” Benitez as featured on the original 12” single, remastered for this limited edition release. This was limited to 3700 copies.

For 2016 Beatle fans (and their wallets) got a reprieve – until RSD 2017 when things picked up again….

For Record Store Day 2017 came an exclusive, limited edition (7000 copies) 7″ single of The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’/’Penny Lane‘. The hype sticker states “New Stereo Mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell” – a clear teaser product for the much-anticipated 50th anniversary edition of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which would be along in the following month.

Also released that year was a single-sided, three-song cassette of Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello Flowers In The Dirt demos. The limited edition, cassette-only release (on a replica Hog Hill Mill Studio label) was clearly designed to help promote the just-released Paul McCartney Archive Collection edition of Flowers In The Dirt. It was the first time these recordings (‘I Don’t Want To Confess’; ‘Shallow Grave’ and ‘Mistress And Maid’) had been be made available in the same form as when Paul and Elvis first cut them directly to tape.

Then, for RSD Black Friday, came more McCartney in the form of two 7″ singles of the song ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ in a new recording originally performed on The Tonight Show and featuring Jimmy Fallon and The Roots. One came in a green cover on green vinyl, with the song ‘Jesus Christ’ by The Decemberists as a B-side. The other came in a red cover on red vinyl, with the song ‘Peace’ by Norah Jones as the B-side. 3500 copies of each were released:

RSD proper 2018 came and went and it wasn’t until Black Friday that year that we saw a new Paul McCartney single released – in two different forms. It was a double A-side with ‘I Don’t Know’/’Come On To Me’, both taken from the Egypt Station LP. And there are two different pressings of this single, one for the US market and one for the UK. The US version is hand-numbered on the rear (from a total of 5600 copies) and comes with a non die-cut inner sleeve:

Note the rear cover top left hand-numbering (plus the FBI Anti-Piracy Warning below):

While the UK/Europe version is not individually numbered on the rear, has no FBI Anti-Piracy logo, and comes with a die-cut inner sleeve that reveals the labels:

The EU die-cut inner sleeve:

Welcome RSD 2019 and an 180 gram “audiophile” black vinyl LP called Imagine [Raw Studio Mixes] from the Lennon camp. This brought to vinyl for the first time CD3 in the Imagine – The Ultimate Mixes box set from the year before. Quantity was 5500 copies and it included a poster and printed inner sleeve containing credits, photographs, and liner notes.

For RSD Black Friday 2019 there was another Paul McCartney double A-side single released. It was again from his Egypt Station LP. This time it was the turn of ‘Home Tonight’/’In A Hurry‘ – on a picture disc with new artwork exclusively created for this Black Friday release. 12000 copies were pressed. Check out this article about the single on the official McCartney website too:

As mentioned earlier, 2020 in the midst of the pandemic was a tumultuous time. Lock downs and supply chain issued forced Record Store Day to be re-scheduled a couple of times which finally morphed into a series of three “Drop” days, spread over a three month period. These were in August, September and October.

In August (Drop 1) came ‘Instant Karma!’ from John Lennon in newly mixed audio the hype sticker was describing as the Ultimate Mix version. This was a clear foreshadowing of how all Lennon reissues would be referred to in future. The artwork is a faithful reproduction of original UK sleeve. 7000 copies.

Then in September (Drop 2) came the 50th anniversary of Paul McCartney’s debut solo album, McCartney. It was being released as a Half-Speed Master, pressed from a master cut by Miles Showell at half speed using the original 1970 master tapes at Abbey Road Studios. It was made as a vinyl specific transfer in high resolution and without digital peak limiting for the best possible reproduction. 7000 copies pressed.

For October (Drop 3) there were no Beatle or solo releases, but RSD Black Friday 2020 still went ahead in November. That saw a George Harrison single ‘My Sweet Lord‘ on clear vinyl and in a very nice numbered, reproduction picture sleeve that replicated the one made for the Portuguese market in the former Portuguese colony of Angola back in 1970. The RSD site says 7500 copies, but going on the limited edition numbering system on the rear cover some speculate this could be as high as 15000.

We then see a two-year hiatus in Beatle and solo releases. It’s not until 2022 that some new titles are put forward. The first came in June that year as RSD instituted an additional mid-year “Drop”. Included was the 12″ single ‘Women and Wives’. On Side A was the Paul McCartney song of the same name, taken from his McCartney III LP, while on Side B was St Vincent’s version of the same song lifted from his collaborative album, McCartney III Imagined. The whole thing was also designated the inaugural ‘Record Store Day Song of the Year’. Limited to 3000 numbered copies this was tricky to get hold of:

For Record Store Day Black Friday 2022 Ringo Starr joined in for the first time as a solo artist with a flurry of product. There was Old Wave on “brown smoke” colour vinyl (2000 copies), and on CD (500 copies):

There was Ringo the 4th on orange translucent (1000 copies) and blue translucent vinyl (755 copies):

And not satisfied with just those four, he also put out a RSD Exclusive Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band Live At The Greek Theatre 2019, a double LP limited to 2000 copies on yellow vinyl:

The Lennon Estate issued for Record Store Day 2023 a very classy, numbered box set of 9 x 10″ EPs on white vinyl. In fact everything was white or whited out, including all the packaging. There were 36 songs in all, replicating the running order of the Lennon Gimme Some Truth Ultimate Mixes box from 2020. Limited to 1,500 copies (RSD site incorrectly states 500):

Paul McCartney had been looking for opportunities to keep releasing 50th anniversary Half-Speed Master editions of his albums and in 2023 he used Record Store Day to issue Red Rose Speedway. Once again the vinyl was cut by Miles Showell at half speed using high-resolution transfer of the original 1973 master tapes at Abbey Road Studios, London. It came with an OBI strip, a 12 page booklet and a ‘Half-speed Mastering’ certificate. 5000 copies.

Also in 2023 a re-issue of Ringo’s Stop and Smell The Roses came out as a double red and white vinyl LP which included for the first time six bonus tracks (2500 copies). It also came out on CD (500 copies):

And that brings us to 2024. Earlier this year Record Store Day was massive. There were no less than ten Beatle and solo releases on offer.

First up, a format first in the form of a tiny Beatles Limited Edition RSD3 Turntable set that plays tiny 3″ Beatle singles. The turntable sports a branded dustcover and facing and was housed in a Beatles’ box that included four super small vinyl records: ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’; ‘Til There Was You’; ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. Each record came in an outer box and picture sleeve, plus there was a poster with each too. The package also included a Beatle-branded record carry case that can hold up to ten 3” records. (2300 of these sets were manufactured):

If you didn’t want the record player and carry case, the four 3″ singles were sold separately (1500 copies each). These records only have music on one side:

Earlier this year the Lennon Estate was very busy forward-promoting the forthcoming Mind Games Ultimate Mixes box sets and so issued not one, but two 12″ EPs for Record Store Day. Both featured the same four tracks from the soon-to-be-released SDE’s. One was a “glow-in-the-dark” edition:

The other an “audiophile black 180G vinyl” edition:

The cover was a great photo of John, cleverly showing the image of himself he cut out and pasted on the artwork for the original Mind Games cover:

Ringo Starr also put out an RSD 12″ EP called Crooked Boy. It has a really cool cover too and 2000 copies were available on exclusive black & white marble vinyl :

Dark Horse Records is slowly bringing their rich catalogue under the BMG banner – with whom they now have a distribution and publishing deal. That of course includes the George Harrison back-catalogue. Part of the plan seems to be to eventually release all his titles as Zoetrope discs – and two of them saw light of day on Record Store Day 2024 – Electronic Sound and Wonderwall Music. Limited to 8,000 units globally and exclusive to Record Store Day, each is individually numbered in silver foil and include an insert reproducing the original album artwork:

And that’s about it for Beatle and solo releases across the 17 years of Record Store Day…..so far.

At least Black Friday 2024 this week is a little more reasonable. You can read our preview article here.

We also collect Dark Horse releases and there have been a LOT put out over past Record Store Days, so a separate retrospective on those plus other Beatle-related items is here: Record Store Day and the Beatles – Part Two.

As we said, if you have any thoughts, corrections, or items we’ve missed please do get in touch.

Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 is coming up on November 29.

Record Store Day 2025 will be held on April 12, 2025.

Ringo’s ‘Look Up’ Country Album Due in January

Posted on October 18, 2024 by beatlesblogger

Ringo Starr has released the first teaser song from his forthcoming country album, Look Up:

Here’s the track list for the album, due to be released on January 10, 2025 on vinyl, CD and digital download:

Breathless (feat. Billy Strings)
Look Up (feat. Molly Tuttle)
Time On My Hands
Never Let Me Go (feat. Billy Strings)
I Live For Your Love (feat. Molly Tuttle)
Come Back (feat. Lucius)
Can You Hear Me Call (feat. Molly Tuttle)
Rosetta (feat. Billy Strings & Larkin Poe)
You Want Some
String Theory (feat. Molly Tuttle & Larkin Poe)
Thankful (feat. Alison Krauss)

As you can see, along with producer T Bone Burnett, there are some heavy hitters helping out including Alison Krauss, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle.

Variety has just published this in-depth article with a very recent interview with Ringo, and contributions from T Bone Burnett. Well worth a read.

And the online magazine JamBase is running this article with information about the background to Look Up as well:

Billy Strings is not only a star who can fill massive arenas with his band but has also become an in-demand studio musician. For example, Beatles legend Ringo Starr and fellow music icon T Bone Burnett called upon Strings to contribute to Starr’s forthcoming country album.

While Starr hasn’t officially announced Look Up, Ringo spoke about the album with Fox News Digital in July. “I met him [when] Olivia Harrison was reading poems for George. There was about 100 of us there listening, and he was one of them, and I bumped into him [off and on] since the ’70s,” Starr said of Burnett.

“He said, ‘What are you doing? I said, ‘Oh, well I’m doing this, EPs [extended play albums, which have more tracks than a single, but less than a record]. I’m getting people to write a song, put some music on it,” the Beatles legend continued. While Ringo Starr had several pop songs written for the project, he thought Burnett’s tune was “absolutely one of the most beautiful country songs I ever heard. So, I thought, ‘I’m going to do a country EP.’”

When Ringo talked to Burnett about cutting additional tracks, T Bone explained he had nine songs ready to go. “I thought let’s make a real CD, so I’m back making a CD,” Starr said about the decision to turn the EP into an LP.

In May, T Bone Burnett revealed he was working on a country album with Starr while speaking to Variety. Burnett had high praise for Ringo. “He’s such a beautiful singer. Ringo was in a band with two of the best singers in rock ‘n’ roll history, so people never took him as seriously as a singer as they should. If you listen to all the country stuff he did, ‘What Goes On’ and ‘Act Naturally’ and ‘Honey Don’t,’ he did so much great country music, even in the Beatles. And, you know, he’s called Ringo Starr because that’s a cowboy name, and he wanted to be a cowboy when he was a kid. As we all did back in those days; we always all wanted to be Gene Autry.”

Starr’s first solo foray with country was Beaucoup of Blues, an album of country covers he recorded in Nashville in 1970. “Yeah, it’s pretty good. I mean, they whipped it out really quickly; I think they did it in two days or so,” Burnett said of Beaucoup of Blues. “And we’re gonna do something a little more thorough. I mean, Ringo in his third act is deserving of a serious album… I want to make a classic Ringo Starr country record. I think we can,” T Bone added.

Ringo initially planned to put out the country album this fall as per his May chat with Variety. Starr gave a status report to the outlet. “We’ve done 90% of my work. He (Burnett) may want to put other stuff on it. And tomorrow I’m gonna finish off the odd lines I have to re-sing or think about, and then it should be done. As far as I’m concerned, the drums are good and the songs are good and, you know, I sing to the best of my ability, but sometimes I change the melody. That’s the way I am, and I had to back off a bit and do his melody, because he wrote it. So that’s what happened. It just came about and we’re just going with the flow. And now we’ve got a country record. The last country LP was… was it 1970? [Beacoups of Blues]. And now we’ve got one coming out probably in October. Because it’ll be coming out on vinyl and on CD, you’ve gotta get it in, and now it’s like five or six months before you put anything out. I mean, I’d like to finish it here and put it on the radio right now, but you can’t do that anymore.”

The first exclusive is the LP version of the album (available now for preorder) on opaque white vinyl from Ringo’s official site.

Ringo has also announced he’ll be supporting the new country album with two performances at the fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The shows will be filmed for a special. Check out the Ryman page for more.

And here’s the second teaser song, a co-write by Ringo and long-time collaborator Bruce Sugar. It features the great Alison Krauss on back-up vocals:

Sixty Years Since The Beatles Toured Australia and New Zealand

Posted on June 23, 2024 by beatlesblogger

Here in Australia over the last week or so there’s been a lot of fond reminiscences of the time, sixty years ago now, that The Beatles came to this country.

Australia’s national broadcaster the ABC (kind of like the BBC in the UK) has just played a terrific hour-long documentary on The Music Show that is really worth a listen:

Click on the image above to stream. Or you can listen here:

One of the key guests on the show is Greg Armstrong, co-author with Andy Neill of a comprehensive new book all about the tour called When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964.

Greg is a Melbourne-born and based radio presenter, researcher and Beatle historian. He is a co-presenter on Australia’s Let It Be Beatles, the world’s longest-running radio show dedicated to the Beatles, on Melbourne’s WynFM. The show is now in its 31st continuous year, having broadcast over 1,400 episodes. Andy Neill is a UK-based music writer, researcher and historian, born in New Zealand. Alongside several other music biography books, he compiled and annotated Across The Universe: The Beatles on Tour and on Stage (2009) and Looking Through You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from the Beatles Book Monthly Archive (2015).

Their book is amazingly researched with a wealth of photos, memorabilia, stories and information. You can get a taste of what’s inside here.

When We Was Fab – Inside The Beatles Australasian Tour 1964 is published by Woodslane Press.

Ringo Starr ‘February Sky’ – Amoeba 7″ Single Rarity

Posted on May 8, 2024 by beatlesblogger

In the lead up to Record Store Day 2024 Ringo Starr was on the publicity trail for his forthcoming 4-track EP called Crooked Boy. It was being released on Record Store Day as a Limited Edition black and white marble vinyl. Then, later this month, it will come out on normal black vinyl and on CD.

Ringo did a lot of social media in the lead-up, plus a number of interviews for print, radio and podcasts. But the big deal was a personal appearance at the Amoeba Music record store in Hollywood. This was on April 18 where he was joined on stage by Linda Perry, the driving force behind the latest EP. Perry wrote, produced and engineered the new record. She even chose the photo for the front cover of the EP.

On that day, and only in person at the store, Amoeba made available an extremely limited edition 7″ single of one of the songs from the EP called ‘February Sky’. It’s been reported (but not confirmed) that only 500 of these singles were pressed. They come in a picture sleeve and are pressed on a cool red vinyl:

Amoeba must have had a few left over and so the following week they made the remaining stock available online. These sold out in ten minutes. It was US customers only as the store doesn’t ship internationally.

As you can see, some copies on eBay have since sold for as high as US$360…..

Being based in Australia we thought we’d never get a copy for the collection, but thanks to one of our readers – our mate Guy – there will be one winging its way Downunder very soon!

Heaps of RSD 2024 Titles for Beatle Fans and Collectors

Posted on February 19, 2024 by beatlesblogger

Apologies, but we’re a little slow of the mark with the Record Store Day 2024 news from last week. However, it has given us a bit more time to research and hopefully provide a few more details – so here goes.

First up, from Apple Records is another unique format first for The Beatles. It is a tiny The Beatles Limited Edition RSD3 Turntable, featuring a Beatle-branded dustcover and turntable facing. Each turntable is Bluetooth-enabled and housed in a Beatles’ box that includes four super small 3″ records featuring the four songs they performed 60 years ago on The Ed Sullivan Show: ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Til There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘I Saw Her Standing There’. Each record is housed in an outer box and comes in a picture sleeve. There is also a poster for each. The package also includes a bright yellow Beatle-branded carrying case, which can hold up to ten 3” records. These little discs apparently play at 331/3 rpm.

If you don’t want the record player, the four 3″ singles will be sold separately, also housed in an outer box, with a picture sleeve and poster. The records only have music on one side:

The concept of these 3″ singles and their accompanying tiny record player have been around for a while (think the Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, or The Doors as recently as last year for RSD). However, they represent a limited format The Beatles have not yet embraced, making them a bit like those cards from last year containing special editions of the Red and Blue albums for kids to play on their Yoto players. So they could potentially reach a whole new younger audience. If you want to get an idea of just how small the turntable and discs are check out this Youtube unboxing.

Next up, from the John Lennon camp, comes a 4 track, 12″ EP teaser for the forthcoming Mind Games Ultimate Mixes box sets – due in June. Two versions of this will be available – one on “glow-in-the-dark” 140g luminous vinyl, and one described as “black ‘audiophile’ 180g vinyl”:

Gotta say the cover for the EP is great. The track list is:

Side A:
1. Mind Games (Ultimate Mix)
2. I’m The Greatest (Ultimate Mix) – feat. George Harrison & Ringo Starr

Side B:
3. Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) (Ultimate Mix)
4. You Are Here (Outtake, Take 5)

Ringo Starr will have an RSD 12″ 45 EP called Crooked Boy available on exclusive black & white marble vinyl – and also in a really cool cover:

Written and produced by Songwriter’s Hall Of Famer Linda Perry, Crooked Boy features four brand-new tracks from Ringo. The EP also includes guitar performances on every song from Nick Valensi of The Strokes.

On a recent video Ringo showed the inside cover:

And a quick shot of what looks like a green vinyl edition. Maybe that is coming later?

Zoetrope picture discs seem to be all the rage this RSD. There are no fewer than nine LPs being released, including artists like Blur, Marc Bolan and T.Rex, Fatboy Slim, Lily Allen, and even one from Doctor Who.

What is a Zoetrope Picture disc? They look fantastic spinning on a turntable. Have a look at this YouTube from last year of Blur’s ‘The Ballad of Darren (Zoetrope Vinyl)’:

Dark Horse Records and Record Store Day have announced a multi-year partnership to release limited Zoetrope picture disc pressings of George Harrison’s entire studio album catalogue. The first two titles in the RSD exclusive series – Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound – will be available on Record Store Day in April 2024. Limited to 8,000 units globally and exclusive to Record Store Day, each is individually numbered in silver foil and will include an insert reproducing the original artwork. The front cover will look like this – with a cut-out window showing off the LP plus a hype sticker and limited edition numbering also on show:

As mentioned there’ll be an insert in each LP with the original cover artwork included:

Dark Horse is once again extremely busy this RSD. They’ll also have out a 25th anniversary edition of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros’ Rock Art & The Ex-Ray Style, the debut album by the band in a limited pink vinyl Record Store Day exclusive 2LP pressing. The remastered 1999 album, which was Strummer’s first album release in a decade, is spread over 2 LP’s for optimal sound quality, and the original gatefold artwork by Damien Hirst will be meticulously reproduced:

One obscure Dark Horse release can be found only on the US RSD list as a Limited Run/ Regional Focus release with only 800 copies made. Its an album called Dreamers In The Field by Huun-Huur-Tu, Carmen Rizzo and Dhani Harrison:

From Wikipedia: Huun-Huur-Tu are from Tuva, a Russian federative republic situated on the Mongolia–Russia border. Their music includes throat singing, in which the singers sing both a note and its overtones, thus producing two or three notes simultaneously. The overtone may sound like a flute, whistle or bird, but is solely a product of the human voice. They also play traditional Tuvan instruments. However, in recent years, the group have begun to selectively incorporate Western instruments and electronic music.

Carmen Rizzo is an American record producer, mixer, programmer, DJ, remixer and recording artist. A two-time Grammy nominee, he’s worked with Seal, Coldplay, Dido, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Pete Townshend. In addition to collaborating with Huun Huur Tu, Rizzo co-founded the world/electronic act Niyaz with Azam Ali and Loga Ramin Torkian (with three #1 iTunes albums). He’s released his own solo electronic albums too, so this RSD release looks to be an eclectic sound mix!

And lastly, on the UK and Australian RSD sites, there are two Dark Horse Yusuf/Cat Stevens LP re-issues listed (….can’t seem to find these on the US list).

They are (from 1975) Numbers on black vinyl LP – which will be limited to 2,000 units globally, and reissued for RSD with a lenticular gatefold cover. Included will be a reproduction of the original 16-page book with lyrics and illustrations:

And also (from 1977) Izitso – again, limited to 2,000 units globally and presented in a lenticular gatefold cover:

So, a lot of product from Dark Horse for RSD 2024…..

Record Store Day 2024 is on Saturday, April 20.

Collecting ‘Now and Then’ – and beyond….

Posted on December 18, 2023 by beatlesblogger

There’s no doubt about it.

It has been a busy couple of weeks for collectors and completists in the Beatle community!

Not only have we had the release of the new/last Beatle single, ‘Now and Then’, but also a newly expanded Beatles 1962-1966 [Red] and Beatles 1967-1970 [Blue] in double CD and triple LP form.

One of our readers (Guy in the USA) prides himself on securing every possible variation and often sends us a tantalising image or two. For ‘Now and Then’ he points out that most collectors only show pictures of the outer covers. Here, he says, are the contents – photographed all together:

For collectors in the west there are no fewer than 9 variations to seek out. If you add in unique Japanese editions that number creeps up to 14.

Because there are enough different pressings we thought we’d create another visual representation to capture them all (we have previously created these for McCartney III and McCartney III Imagined too):

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

The Japanese ‘Now and Then’ vinyl pressings are unique in that they have a rear cover written in Japanese. They also come with a special lyric sheet with the lyrics in English and Japanese:

Additionally, the SHM-CD single comes with an OBI strip (and also the extra lyric insert):

To add to the onslaught on collector wallets there was also Black Friday Record Store Day.

No Beatle records that day, but for completists who also go for the George Harrison-affiliated Dark Horse Records label, we had music on vinyl from Splinter, Leon Russell, and Ravi Shankar.

Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’s Old Wave and Stop and Smell the Roses. Here’s Guy again:

You can see there on the bottom row the little Yoto kids toy card editions of the 2023 Red and Blue albums, plus a unique Paul McCartney card containing a selection of his hits for kids which also contains two hard-to-get instrumentals.

McCartney also weighed in with pre-sales of the 50th anniversary, Half Speed Mastered editions of Band On The Run, and then followed that up a week later with the 3rd anniversary release (yes, that’s right 3rd anniversary….) of McCartney III, which comes in a limited edition choice of 3 coloured vinyls with new artwork and inserts.

Phew.

Fashioning The Beatles – The Looks That Shook the World

Posted on November 23, 2023 by beatlesblogger

“It wasn’t like we were following a trend;
we were in the trend.”
— PAUL MCCARTNEY

There’s no doubt that clothing is one of the most visible aspects of the development of a culture. A new book that’s just hit the shelves, Fashioning the Beatles – The Looks That Shook the World, is a well-researched and thoughtful exploration on how The Beatles played a leading role in shaping the fashion, attitudes and social change going on around them throughout the 1960s and beyond.

Author Deirdre Kelly wisely begins her book with a brief preliminary section called ‘Dressing for Pepperland’. That’s because during this period the band reached the zenith of their flamboyant style. Designers on Carnaby Street and around the world were influencing, and were in turn being influenced by, The Beatles in something of a symbiotic relationship. They were in their heyday.

We then journey back to the year 1960 and in chronological order, chapter by chapter, visit key fashion moments with quite a detailed examination year-by-year of what the band were wearing through to 1970, and beyond. We learn who was helping, advising, and being commissioned to come up with new looks for them, but also importantly, how The Beatles themselves played a central role in defining their style. Kelly then uncovers how that style in turn influenced whole industries and often swung the pendulum of the fashion world in new directions.

After a stint as “the savage young Beatles” which (in their early Hamburg/Liverpool days) saw the band sporting a tough look (black leather pants and jackets, black shirts, black t-shirts), in 1961 the group underwent a complete makeover. At the suggestion of their new manager, Brian Epstein, the band took on a suited, clean-cut, almost boy-next-door look that was carefully designed to help them break through in the pop world. They weren’t forced into this. It was something the group agreed was the right thing, as they too saw it as a way to achieve their goal of becoming the “toppermost of the poppermost!”. It was a makeover that worked, one where even the footwear they chose was considered. Kelly goes into detail about how the band had input into the evolution of the famous “Beatle Boots” and how this too became part of their defining look, and a fashion icon of the time. Soon manufacturers where knocking off copies and The Beatles were well on their way to becoming major influencers.

1963 was the year of the now iconic collarless suit – created for the band by UK tailor, Dougie Millings, whom we learn went on to make over 500 outfits for the group. His collarless creation was conceived in a brainstorming session involving Paul McCartney, who’d originally proposed the idea. Their suits were modeled on an original design by Pierre Cardin, but tweaked to make it a distinctively Beatles’ garment. Kelly writes: “It established the Beatles as fashion forerunners”:

It continued what was to become a trend. What a Beatle wore today would soon turn up as the latest hot trend in the shops tomorrow:

However, as with their music, The Beatles never stood still, always pushing the boundaries and never repeating themselves. Once a particular fashion look they’d pioneered started catching on, they’d already moved on.

Fashioning The Beatles is meticulously researched and contains fascinating detail around how the designs they wore came to be. The book also turns up interesting side observations along the way. Take this 1965 photograph taken during the filming of Help!:

In the movie, the band mixed British and US clothing styles. Denim wasn’t yet the ubiquitous fabric it would become and was regarded as something of a novelty. Notice though that George has bleached his jeans, prefiguring the acid wash jean trend that proliferates to this day.

By this mid-decade period and beyond The Beatles largely discard the suits (and boots) and begin to dress to please themselves. In doing so they have a further profound influence on the way young people dress and behave too. What the band wears is an extension of their innate creativity: their personal taste, their natural sense of style – and it was being followed closely by millions.

Tony Palmer (director of the documentary series All You Need is Love: The Story of Popular Music) says in his Preface to the book that The Beatles didn’t set out to be trendsetters. They were innately stylish young men and by simply wearing what they wanted to wear, became the leading style-makers of their day. Their huge, worldwide fame ensured that whenever they were photographed, filmed, or simply seen out and about in public, people took notice of their sartorial style, and those looks helped influence the culture of the day.

By the mid to late 60s The Beatles were now routinely mixing stage clothes with items from their personal wardrobes, and even (albeit briefly) starting up commercial fashion outlets of their own. Kelly provides great detail and context to these ill-fated forays into the fashion retail world via the Apple Boutique store and Apple Tailoring. And herein lies an Australian connection (and yet another example of The Beatles’ questionable choice in business partners), in the form of one John Crittle, proprietor of a business often frequented by the band called Dandie Fashions. They eventually came to own a 50% stake in the store and re-branded it Apple Tailoring (Civil and Theatrical). They opened a hair salon in the premises too, presided over by Leslie Cavendish (who’d been cutting the hair of Paul, George and John). However it turned out that the brains and style behind the clothing part of the venture was really Crittle’s fashion-savvy wife Andrea, who is perhaps better known as the mother of British prima ballerina, Darcey Bussell. Just how Crittle sullied Apple Tailoring’s reputation is something you’ll need to buy the book to read about. It’s not pretty.

Fast forward to today and the influence and spirit of The Beatles still ricochets around the fashion world. Take for example this 2023 collaboration between fashion house Rabanne and the multinational, mass market clothing retailer, H&M. The look could easily owe its inspiration to 1967 and the famous foursome’s adoption of the militaristic uniforms from their Sgt. Pepper era:

We here at beatlesblogger.com have a mountain of books about The Beatles. Amongst them is just one other book on Beatle fashion, Fab Gear – The Beatles and Fashion by Paolo Hewitt – and it’s long out of print. That is proof that very little has been written about this aspect of the band’s creativity and their huge impact on fashion and culture. It is why Fashioning The Beatles – The Looks That Shook the World is an important piece of scholarship. Deirdre Kelly’s new work is a very welcome addition to the library. Grab a copy while you can.

Comparing John’s Demo to the Final Track

Posted on November 4, 2023 by beatlesblogger

This is a well put together analysis of how the original demo tape of ‘Now and Then’ compares to the finished Beatles ‘Now and Then’ just released:

‘Now and Then’ – There WILL Be a CD Single

Posted on November 1, 2023 by beatlesblogger

It was always odd that there wasn’t a CD single of “the Beatles last ever single” included in the long-awaited big release announcement last week.

Well, now there is.

A CD single, in what looks to be a simple cardboard slipcase, has belatedly appeared on the official UK Beatles site:

Like all other formats, the CD will feature ‘Now and Then’, plus the 2023 stereo remix of ‘Love Me Do’.

The release date is 3 November – exactly the same date as all the other formats – which suggests that physical product has been prepared and is ready to go out to stores. So why was it not part of the launch last week? Did somebody at Apple/Universal Music stuff up?

So far the CD single only appears on the UK Beatle store site but we’d expect it to pop up elsewhere during the day.

‘Now and Then’, Red and Blue

Posted on October 27, 2023 by beatlesblogger

By now you’ll be aware that there’s a brand new Beatle song coming. It is called ‘Now and Then’ and is the last Beatles song ever to be released.

Like the singles ‘Free As a Bird’ (1995) and ‘Real Love’ (1996) before it, ‘Now and Then’ is all four Beatles contributing additional music and vocals to a cassette demo that John Lennon was working on in the late 1970’s but never got to properly record. It will now be released in 2023 as a vinyl single (in a variety of colours, plus as a 12″ single), and as a cassette (or a “cassingle” as we used to say), on November 3.

The new single has ‘Love Me Do’, the song that started it all off for the band, on the other side. So, it is listed as a “Double A Side”. The ‘Love Me Do’ news is that it is in stereo in a 2023 mix!

The colours for the 7″ are:

And an exclusive Beatles Shop blue/white marble 7″. Also available at some independent record stores:

There is also a 12″ single.

It’s a little confusing as to whether this is also available on red vinyl. It’s shown on the front page of the official Beatle announcement site, but when you click through to purchase it is not on either the US or UK stores.

Based on feedback from our readers though (thank you!), it turns out the red vinyl 12″ is a Target store exclusive in the USA; a jpc store exclusive in Germany; an HMV exclusive in the UK; an FNAC exclusive in France; and (briefly) as a JB Hi Fi store online exclusive in Australia:

Not finished with vinyl yet…..on some official sites there have been links to a black vinyl 10″ pressing. Take the French Beatles store for example:

The 10″ was listed briefly on the UK official site too – as a “Spotify Fans First” exclusive – but the link provided no longer seems to work. However, it is still up on the US Beatles Store, Universal Music Canada, and the Universal Music Brazil sites – but with all now showing as ‘Sold Out’. Strangely it is still for sale on the Universal Music Columbia site though!

The cassette single is a Beatles store exclusive:

Surprisingly there’s no CD single. [UPDATE: Oh yes there will! See our CD Single post.]

In 2022, Paul and Ringo set about completing the song. Besides John’s demo vocal (now much enhanced quality thanks to the use of new technology developed by film director Peter Jackson and his audio team for the Get Back documentary series) ‘Now And Then’ includes electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995 by George, Ringo’s new drum part, and bass, guitar and piano from Paul, which matches John’s original playing. Paul added a slide guitar solo inspired by George; he and Ringo also contributed backing vocals to the chorus.

Then in Los Angeles, Paul oversaw a Capitol Studios recording session for the song’s Beatlesque string arrangement, written by Giles Martin, Paul and Ben Foster. Paul and Giles also added one last touch: backing vocals from the original recordings of ‘Here, There And Everywhere’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Because’, which are woven into the new song using the techniques perfected during the making of the LOVE show and album. The finished track was produced by Paul and Giles, and mixed by Spike Stent. Can’t wait to hear it!

Just by the way, the cover artwork is by celebrated US artist Ed Ruscha. That’s a Paul McCartney influence right there because Ruscha did the cover art (in all it’s many variations) for the McCartney III, McCartney III Imagined releases, and the box set McCartney 1,2,3.

Coincidentally, Ruscha is the subject of a major retrospective currently showing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It’s title? “Now Then”. You can see a short CBS News interview and retrospective about the man here.

As if all this wasn’t enough, on November 10, The Beatles’ 1962-1966 (aka The Red Album) and The Beatles 1967-1970 (aka The Blue Album) collections are to be released in 2023 Edition packages.

Both collections have been expanded, with all the songs mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos. Together both sets contain 75 tracks, 36 of which have new mixes for 2023. The booklets will contain new sleeve notes by journalist and author John Harris.

The UK single version of ‘Love Me Do’ now kicks off the CD version of The Beatles 1962-1966 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 12 additional tracks added chronologically. ‘Now And Then’ ends the CD version of The Beatles 1967-1970 (2023 Edition) – now expanded with 9 additional tracks also added chronologically – to complete the career-spanning CD collections. Both are 2CD sets.

But is is different with the vinyl.

The Red and the Blue will have the first two discs just as they were originally released when they were double LPs, with the third disc containing all the expanded material. In other words, 12 extra tracks on Disc 3 for the Red, and 9 extra tracks Disc 3 for the Blue. Quite a different approach to the CD. No slotting in the newly added songs in chronological order here. In fact the new song ‘Now and Then’ is Track 1 of Side 6 of the Blue. A little bit odd.

Both are 180 gram Half Speed Mastered. They will be available on black vinyl separately as triple LP sets, and they’ll be sold together as a 6LP box set: