Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary Re-Issues Revealed

Posted on April 5, 2017 by beatlesblogger

Significantly more detail has emerged about the May 26th release of the 50th Anniversary Editions of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

As already noted, the BIG news is that there’ll be a 2LP set; a 1CD set; a 2CD Deluxe Edition; and a 6 Disc Super Deluxe Edition! That’s four CDs plus a DVD and a Blu-ray disc of the documentary “The Making of Sgt. Pepper”.

This “unboxing” video has been released:

As you can see, it says “Remixed….a brand new stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell from the original master tapes”.

Plus, wait for it, one CD of “previously unreleased session takes” in the double CD set, and in the 6 disc edition “two CD’s of extras – a deeper dive with 100 minutes of outtakes, many previously unheard and unreleased”.

There’ll also be a Mono mix “…with 6 extra tracks, including the ‘lost’ version of “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”.

Phew! More soon.

(click image for larger version)

Cryptic Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary Re-issue Hints?

Posted on April 1, 2017 by beatlesblogger

The official Beatles website has today begun some sort of a mystery teaser campaign by publishing a cryptic, four-colour image on its front page:

While many are asking what it means, others are saying the image symbolises the colours of the uniforms the four Beatles wore on the front cover their Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album – which in June is about to celebrate its 50th Anniversary:

If this is true it’s very much like what the site did for the “1” and “1+” video, CD and vinyl project back in September, 2015. Back then it began a teaser campaign by publishing a mysterious countdown video with red numbers on a bright yellow background. There was little or no other explanation offered at the time::

And so, we await further instalments!

Tweets and retweets from each of the individual Beatles have also surfaced:

Ringo’s specifically says “Coming soon…..”, while John’s Tweet below confirms that the colour of his Pepper uniform is the key to unpicking the coded message:

And then there’s this on the official Beatles YouTube Channel:

And Amazon US is saying that on May 26 there’ll be Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Editions released as a 2LP set; a 1CD set; a 2CD Deluxe Edition set; and a 6 Disc Super Deluxe Edition set! No images available yet.

Then, a further teaser video….

A Big Beatles Garage Sale Haul

Posted on June 3, 2013 by beatlesblogger

In my previous post I was bemoaning the scenario where you make the effort to get out and about early on a Saturday morning on the hunt for Beatles vinyl – and return frustrated and empty-handed.

Not so this last weekend which produced a wealth of great Beatles treasure, including one LP I’d not seen before. My son has taken to joining me on these forays into others people’s garages and front lawns. He calls it “crate digging“. He’s on the lookout for jazz plus wide range of other artists he might be able to take samples from to load into his computer. He then uses short grabs from these to mix into new songs he’s creating himself.

Anyway, we go to this one house early Saturday morning and the lady says yes, she has some records, but as she hasn’t gone through them she doesn’t want to put them out right now. If we could come back after lunchtime she’d find them (somewhere up the back of a very packed garage) and we could have a private look through to see if there is anything we want. We like the sound of an exclusive “crate dig” and so return at the appointed time. By this time four very large plastic bins filled with records have been located and we begin to look through….

First out of the crate comes an Australian copy of Sgt Pepper. It is in the old-style gatefold cover with the fold-over tabs, plus it has the original paper inner and the “cut out” insert. Things are looking good. This one is on the old Parlophone black and silver “Stereo Banner” label. Jaesen Jones, the author of “An Overview of Australian Beatles Records“, says this label was used on some pressings of Pepper by EMI here between between the years 1967-1969: Nice. Next find was an Australian copy of Let It Be. It’s not an original issue, but one of the many, many re-issues of this disc. This one is on the Apple label and is in pretty good condition – near mint. Here’s the rear cover and label:

While flipping through the boxes we got talking to the lady and it turns out this collection of records (which was literally a couple of hundred discs across a wide variety of genres – but mostly rock and pop) came from a very well-known Sydney radio and TV personality. He was an old family friend and years ago when moving house asked the lady if she wanted his records…

Next I find, in quick succession, a Beatles White Album and an Abbey Road (both re-issues on Apple and probably about the same vintage as the LIB above). The White Album even has the poster and all four photos and is in very good condition:

Further digging then reveals a red The Beatles/1962-1966, again an Australian copy, with the Apple label and a red background. It has both lyric sheet inserts and is in reasonable condition. Not mint, but OK:The final Beatles treasure to come out of these crates is a bit of a rarity. It’s an album I’ve not seen before The Beatles – Birth of Legend. A New Zealand release from 1983 on the budget Music World Records, it features twelve songs from the famous Decca audition tapes:As the liner notes on the rear cover say, the Decca audition refers to the now-famous audition by the Beatles for Decca Records before they reached international stardom. In what was considered one of the biggest mistakes in the music business ever, Decca decided to reject the band selecting instead a band called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.

So, after a weekend before of nothing, this time around it is a different story.

Another Very Limited Edition Sgt Pepper Up for Auction

Posted on April 11, 2013 by beatlesblogger

You might have heard recently about the signed copy of Sgt Pepper which sold at auction for US$290,500. It made headlines around the world because it shattered the previous record for such an item.

The album was purchased by an unnamed buyer from the Midwest USA. An anonymous seller parted with the album through the Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, which ahead of the bidding estimated the album would sell for $30,000.

The album was a U.K. Parlophone copy with a high gloss cover and gatefold:

Now comes news of another perhaps even rarer copy of Sgt Pepper that will be auctioned by the same auction house.

I got an email last week from a guy named Tony Gillespie alerting Beatlesblogger to this one. Its a copy of Pepper on the Capital label – but the cover has a major difference to what you are used to. Many of the faces on the famous shot have been superimposed with the faces of Capitol Records sales executives from the day. I first came across talk of this unusual item this back in 2009. Its estimated that only 40-50 copies were ever made for internal company distribution. Now, one is coming onto the market. Tony Gillespie is helping the owners of this extremely rare LP to publicise the auction – and so I asked him to provide me with some more details. His response is printed below:

Here’s a quick history of the “Doctored” Sgt Pepper’s cover:

Earlier this year, I received a message from a friend of mine named Chad, a prominent local buyer and seller of collectibles and antiques. He purchased a set of Beatles records, and since records aren’t his forte, he contacted me, Tony Gillespie, owner of Gillespie Records, because he knew of my extensive Beatles record collection, which has been called one of Indiana’s finest. (www.facebook.com/gillespierecords) He mentioned a “weird Sgt Pepper’s cover with different faces on it.” I asked him to send a photo of that record first.

I recalled reading an article that was generated from a story in Record Collector magazine (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-beatles-album-artwork-worth-70000-276691) about a “doctored” Sgt Pepper’s cover. I found the article and waited for the photo. When I opened the attachment, my knees buckled. There it was, the Holy Grail! The article estimates the cover to be worth 70,000 pounds (equvalant to $100,000+ US dollars, roughly).

I called the owner (Chad) and his wife (Kimberly), and told them to sit down. I revealed what the article said, and the roller coaster ride began. The three of us formed a partnership, with them owning the record, and me acting as their representative and got to work on finding the best home for the record. We contacted Perry Cox, the leading authority on all things Beatles, and he agreed to have us to his home (we flew from Indiana to Arizona) to personally authenticate the record. It was the first time he had ever held the “doctored” cover in his hands.

Perry estimated there were only 40-50 copies of the record produced (a claim mirrored by Bruce Spizer in his book, “The Beatles Story on Capitol Records, Part 2) for a Sales Executive meeting held in late 1967 in Florida. One cover is thought to have been made for each of the executives featured on the cover, but only 3-5 are known to still exist, and NONE have ever been sold on the open market, making the true value of this cover unknown. We were able to successfully tie the record to an executive on the cover, which Perry says could double the value!!

Perry also gave me this quote for promotional purposes…he has given his permission to me to print it:

“Among the rarest and most interesting artifacts produced during the original era of the Beatles classic Sgt. Pepper’s LHCB”, was an extremely rare U.S. stereo album cover version prepared exclusively for a Capitol Records party in honor of the landmark album in late 1967. The front cover of the album featured photos of noted Capitol Records employees amongst the many noted famous images we’ve now become so familiar with. Today, this has become one of the most sought after albums by collectors and fans all over the world. With only about 40+ examples made, I rank it one of the top 10 all time collectible albums by the Beatles in the world.”———Perry Cox, April, 2013.

We settled on Heritage Auctions of Texas to handle the first public sale of the “Doctored” Sgt Pepper’s cover, which will be held on August 10. They gave an auction estimate of $25,000-$30,000 but admitted the estimate in this case was hard to pinpoint due to the record’s obscurity. Chad, Kimberly and I have set up a Facebook page dedicated to the record www.facebook.com/rarestbeatlesrecord , a Twitter account @Beatlesrarist and a website www.rarestbeatlesrecord.com. We also made a You Tube video to detail the story a bit better here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hhg4XzjCN0E

John Lennon’s Rolls Royce – Part Two

Posted on March 16, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I’ve had an update on the latest whereabouts of John Lennon’s Rolls Royce from one the men who helped restore it, and on the portable Sony TV which used to be installed in the rear passenger area of the car. That television was possibly the one also featured on the front cover of the Sgt Pepper LP, although there is a bit of mystery surrounding that little Sony.

Jim Walters works at Bristol Motors in Victoria, British Columbia in Canada and they have been the custodians of John Lennon’s famous Rolls Royce since 1993.

The car is actually owned the Royal British Columbia Museum, which for a long time has been looking for a replacement portable Sony TV to install into the space where the original used to be – one just like a Sony model TV9-306 UB – the one on the “Sgt Pepper” cover.

Well, Jim writes:

“I just thought I’d update the search for a Sony TV 9-306 UB. I finally found one on eBay in the UK last year and now have it here on display in my shop (Bristol Motors). The Royal BC Museum’s curators have not yet decided whether they will put it in the car as it is not the actual TV that was in it, although it is the identical model. Also John Lennon’s Phantom V 5VD73 is on display in the Pointe-a-Calliere Museum in Montreal, Canada until April 2014. They have an exhibit called “The Beatles in Montreal” in which the car is prominently displayed.”

Thanks so much Jim for the update – and anyone living in or travelling to Montreal in the next year should drop in to see “The Beatles in Montreal” exhibition. You can find more details on that here. The exhibition opens on March 29 and runs for a year.

With 2014 being the 50th anniversary of the Beatles first world tour there are a number of museums, including here in Sydney and in Melbourne Australia, planning exhibitions of their city’s brush with Beatlemania….

Greta’s Beatle Records

Posted on February 12, 2013 by beatlesblogger

OK. We take a little bit of a sidetrack here. To a website I stumbled across by accident last week. As you do.

It’s still very much about “…adventures in collecting Beatles music…” though.

It’s a site called Greta’s Records, and it’s a fascinating concept realised by an American woman named Allison Anders. As she explains on her site: “Just before Christmas, I treated myself to a new and special experience — I bid in a live celebrity auction. Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, Ca. presented a 2 day live auction of the remaining estate of classic film actress Greta Garbo”.

And there was a mass of possessions on offer in the auction. (Click here to see the full Garbo collection catalogue).

Allison continues: “The question one needs to ask when you bid in an auction like this — what do I truly WANT, just something which belonged to her? Everyone would love a dress she wore — but what would I really DO with it?…..Then I saw it. WOW — Greta Garbo had records! Of course! Why wouldn’t she? Everyone had vinyl records, stacks of them in the 50s, 60s onward. What would possibly be in Greta Garbo’s private record collection? All of it was thrilling and surprising. There were several lots of records up for auction — including one of classical records and opera, one of spoken word, one of jazz, then one of international records, and one of rock and pop records…..[and] I was the winning bidder on the rock/pop records! 50 of them!” (Click here to see the catalogue page featuring Lot 420 – the popular records).

The first Beatles LP of Greta Garbo that she explores is Introducing the Beatles.

As well as some detail about the release and it’s songs, Allison has researched Introducing the Beatles fairly thoroughly – even down to notes and links on this the most counterfeited of all popular LPs. She also includes a backgrounder on the Vee Jay label, the most successful black-owned record label before Motown. And there’s even a video on how to tell whether your copy of this record is legitimate or a phoney (….turns out Greta Garbo’s is a phoney):

Well, there’ll be more Beatle records coming up on Allison’s great blog. There are at lease two others (Sgt Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour which we can see in the photos) and I’m sure she will be worth reading when she gets to these.

For anyone with a collector’s heart this is a fascinating journey and a document of a famous person’s taste in popular music.

Amazing Pixelated Beatles Album Covers

Posted on December 9, 2012 by beatlesblogger

OK. These are a bit old now (2003), but this is the first time I’ve seen them. So here goes.

For those of us who feel we know the Beatles album catalogue like it is part of our DNA it is always interesting to have that challenged from time to time.

The visual nature of collecting has always intrigued me. How you can know so many of the variations of album covers and album art. Looking at and handling these all the time I guess means they become ingrained in your subconscious memory. That’s why I was intrigued to see these examples of the catalogue stripped right back to the basics by British artist Jonathan Lewis.

It’s Beatle album cover inspired pixel work. I recommend taking a few steps back (or squinting) to really see how amazing these painting are.

You can see all the collection in an online book called “The Pixles” (after “The Beatles (White Album”)….but these are five of my favourites:

Please Please Me

For Sale

Sgt Pepper

Magical Mystery Tour

And last, but not least, Abbey Road

Weird “Sgt Pepper” Inner Bag

Posted on December 2, 2012 by beatlesblogger

Stumbled across a nice old copy of Sgt Pepper, and a copy of With the Beatles yesterday at a garage sale. They are both Australian pressings. The Sgt Pepper is mono on nice heavy vinyl in the gatefold cover, with the cut-out insert, and it’s on the black and yellow Parlophone label:

That, according to Jaesen Jones’ fantastic reference book “An Overview of Australian Beatles Records“, would make this pressing from around 1969. The weird thing though is the inner bag. It’s one I’ve certainly never seen before and I wonder if it’s an official variation on the original, or just a random bag that a previous owner has adopted for the purpose. It looks like this:

It looks aged and very much like it comes from the same vintage as the LP. The colours are very similar to the famous “psychedelic” original inner sleeve too. As you can see they are shades of pink, red and white – but in regimented stripes. Does anyone know anything about this one? Ever seen it included in a Sgt Pepper before? This is what the usual bag looks like:

At the same garage sale I also got a really nice copy of With the Beatles – with an original Australia-only cover:

These are difficult to find in reasonable condition as they suffered ring-wear badly. With an orange Parlophone label this means this particular copy comes from around 1969:

It would have been amongst the first to use the orange Parlophone label, but amongst the last of the Beatles LPs to have the old-fashioned flipback cover construction:

And it would have been the last to have a black and white “STEREO” sticker on the top left-hand side as these were phased out in 1969:

So, two nice additions to the collection. If anyone can help with information on the unusual Sgt Pepper inner sleeve above let us know by posting a comment below or you can email me.

John Lennon’s Poster Replicated – Mr Kite!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by beatlesblogger

This is nice.

The Beatles tune “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” was inspired by an 1843 circus poster that John Lennon purchased at an antiques store and hung in his music room.

Now London designer and Beatles superfan Peter Dean has recreated this poster in obsessive detail. He went so far as to collaborate with a wood-engraving artist and had the final poster letterpress printed. The short film (above) has been made about the project. You can find a larger format version of it and a lot more info on a cool website at: http://kiteprint.com

And for more info Peter’s email is: mail@kite.com

Beatles White Album Cover Designer Dies

Posted on September 18, 2011 by beatlesblogger

Sad news this past week that Richard Hamilton, the British artist who helped the Beatles design the minimalist cover and inserts (a large photo-collage poster and four individual photographs of the band) for their famous “The Beatles (White Album)” LP has died at the age of 89.

Released in 1968, no Beatles collection would be complete without it. Its simple plain white cover was the very antithesis of the one which immediately preceded it – the comparatively gaudy and colourful “Sgt Pepper”.

I really don’t have to write much here as there is such a lot of good information on the web already about Richard Hamilton and the work he did on “The Beatles (White Album)”.

In fact there’s one extensive website dedicated to just about everything you’d care to want to know about it, including a page on the design, and a page about Hamilton the artist himself.

The Beatles Bible website also has a six-page article on the “White Album”. And the Guardian newspaper ran this obituary to Hamilton.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Tag Archives: Sgt. Pepper

Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary Re-Issues Revealed

Cryptic Sgt Pepper 50th Anniversary Re-issue Hints?

A Big Beatles Garage Sale Haul

Weird “Sgt Pepper” Inner Bag

John Lennon’s Poster Replicated – Mr Kite!

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