If you don’t believe there are collectors out there intent on having every single variation, then think again:
This is a photograph from the collection of one of our readers and contributors – Guy from the USA. Guy has managed to secure no less than 16 different McCartney III colour variants, and 10 different McCartney III Imagined double LPs.
You can check them off against our two guides to all the known variants below (they include CDs and cassettes – which Guy also has BTW!). Click on the images to enlarge:
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…..
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.
Also released on that day were further coloured vinyl editions (in “Yellow Submarine Yellow”) of Ringo Starr’sOld 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.
A recent trip to the New South Wales south coast town of Berry turned up an opportunity for a little crate digging.
It was a nice feeling. Since the advent of COVID-19 the chances to get out and about and hunt for records in the wild have really been few and far between.
On the first Sunday of every month the town puts on a big market at the local Showgrounds. There are all sorts of stalls set up with people selling home made goods like candles, local produce, handcrafted items, food and second-hand goods – including a couple of stalls selling records! This allowed us to get back to what this blog is all about: adventures in collecting Beatles music.
One thing we’re always on the lookout for are Apple Records artists – and we found an interesting variation of the Mary Hopkin LP Post Card, produced by Paul McCartney and released in 1969. This one was different because it was manufactured by EMI in South East Asia for the Hong Kong and Malaysian markets:
There are a couple of things to note here about the differences between this and the US and Australian pressings of this release.
First is that it follows the original UK vinyl track listing. Notice that there is no ‘Those Were The Days’ – which was hit single for Hopkin in 1968 – included on this edition.
Second is the printing in blue at the bottom of the rear cover (which by the way has a very nice glossy finish on both sides):
This South East Asian edition also comes with an original black paper inner sleeve:
To compare the differences, here’s the US release:
Notice that the title of the LP is at the bottom of the front cover photo – whereas on the Hong Kong/Malaysia and UK pressings the title is at the top of the photo of Mary.
Also, as already mentioned, that Side 2, Track 4 has ‘Those Were The Days’ in place of ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ which is found on the UK and and South East Asian pressings. Here are the US labels:
Just by way of interest, we also have an Australian pressing of Post Card issued by the World Record Club. It has completely different artwork for the front and rear covers, and labels:
This Aussie World Record Club release also follows the US track listing, with ‘Those Were The Days’ as Track 4, Side 2.
(As usual, click on the images above to see larger versions).
For an exhaustive look at the differences between the UK and US editions, check out BeatleDave’s Beatle Channel.
From teasers on the official McCartney socials, plus scant details on various Beatle forums, it’s emerging that there is yet another coloured vinyl variant of the McCartney III LP for those collectors who must have everything.
This cryptic image and message was posted in the last few hours on the Paul McCartneyInstagram account:
There were also some additional words on Facebook saying “Keep your eyes peeled for 3000 more coming soon exclusively to indie record stores”.
Then in the forums, some stores and fans started to reveal that they’d been able to secure copies of this disc already:
One indie store had thetemerityto post a photo with the official price sticker of US$34.95 clearly on display, but in the text on the same page say they were selling their copies for US$1000!! Bad form for an independent store in our book.
Here’s a closer view of that hype sticker. This pretty much sums up what we know so far, which is not a lot:
This new yellow and black splatter vinyl edition is pressed by Third Man Records in Detroit, is limited to 3,333 copies, and is to be on sale only through US independent record stores. Oh, and we know that the catalogue number is 602438227396 (B003391101).
There does not appear to be any information about this release on the Third Man site.
On Discogs there are two copies for sale already. One for US$1,873 and the other for US$3,000.
While some folks seem to have tracked down copies, for the most part fans in the US are bewildered by this release and, despite trying, have been unable to find any for sale.
We await developments!
If you know more, or can provide photos please get in touch via the comments box below.
Like Egypt Station before it, this latest Paul McCartney LP McCartney III will be offered in a multitude of variations. Absolute completist collectors will be driven to distraction!
First variation to be offered for pre-order today will probably become the most sought after, and the rarest.
It will be pressed at Jack White’s Third Man Records pressing plant in Detroit, Michigan. Known as the ‘333 Edition’, this is limited to 333 copies only, pressed on ‘yellow-with-black-dots’ vinyl:
This vinyl is created by recycling 33 vinyl copies of old McCartney and McCartney II LP’s. The special “regrind” pressing, the first version of McCartney’s third self-titled solo album available for purchase, is hand-numbered, comes in an exclusive screen-printed jacket, and contains a printed inner sleeve and poster.
Just how Jack White’s company became the first to offer this brand new Paul McCartney recording to the world – even before McCartney’s own website store had the same thing on offer, only in red vinyl – remains a mystery. Not surprisingly the 333 copies sold out within minutes:
Next up in the rarity stakes is another Third Man Records pressing, offered a little bit later in the day exclusively on the official US Paul McCartney Store website:
This is described on the site as a “Hand-numbered gatefold featuring photography by Mary McCartney, Sonny McCartney and Paul McCartney (it’s a family affair!). Limited-edition (3000 units worldwide) store exclusive made in collaboration with Third Man Records,180g red vinyl disc with printed inner disc sleeve and a 12” x 18” insert poster.” Again, this is showing as “SOLD OUT”.
Both these pressings are distinguished by a prominent yellow Third Man Records logo on the front cover.
There is also a non-Third Man red vinyl pressing. This is a limited edition available on the official UK Paul McCartney Store site:
This is presented in a gatefold cover and is limited to 3000 units worldwide as a “store exclusive” in 180g red vinyl. It comes with a printed inner disc sleeve and the 12” x 18” insert poster. Also listed as “SOLD OUT” at the moment. However, it is still available in Europe at the German UMe online store Bravado. The difference between this and the UK listing is that the German red vinyl is in a hand-numbered gatefold cover with poster.
Interestingly, the MusicVaults store in Canada (a UMe subsidiary) also had this version on sale briefly. It too was listed as “SOLD OUT”.
Then came news of a white vinyl edition, exclusive to independent record stores. Rumoured to be limited to 4000 copies in the USA, and 3000 copies in the UK. It comes in a hand-numbered cover and includes a poster. Try your local independent store for this one:
Newbury Comics in the United States has a pink vinyl exclusive:
After this came the bigger chain stores who bagan offering their coloured vinyl variants. Target in the US is to have an exclusive green vinyl:
They also have an exclusive Target-only cover for the CD version:
And, here in Australia, the big chain JB Hi Fi is to offer an exclusive blue limited edition:
Like Target US, the Aussie store will also have the CD outer cover available to pre-order in an exclusive colour variant (the same as the Target US one actually!):
The “exclusive” blue vinyl version is also being made available in the UK via the HMV chain of stores, at FNAC in France and at JPC in Germany. Looks like these aren’t 180 gram vinyl and don’t come with the poster.
And the anomaly of the group – again, like they did with Egypt Station – there’s a “Coke bottle” clear vinyl edition being made availble associated with the streaming music companySpotify. I don’t reallly get why vinyl records are being marketed by streaming music companies, but maybe that’s just me? Anyway, this too is “SOLD OUT” on the McCartney Store site. But, if you live in Australia it is still available here.
But of course, if you can’t get your hands on any coloured vinyl there’s always the humble, plain old 180 gram black vinyl, in a gatefold cover:
Universal Music and the organisers of Record Store Day have announced that John Lennon’s Imagine [Raw Studio Mixes] will be released as a Limited Edition on heavyweight 180-gram black vinyl for Record Store Day 2019:
“These mixes capture the exact moment John and The Plastic Ono Band recorded each song raw and live on the soundstage located at the center of Ascot Sound Studios at John & Yoko’s home in Tittenhurst. The tracks are devoid of effects (reverb, tape delays, etc.) offering a unique, unparalleled insight & an alternate take on the record. These mixes have been pressed in the original album sequence appearing for the first time on vinyl.”
Side A
• Imagine – Take 10 / Raw Studio Mix
• Crippled Inside – Take 6 / Raw Studio Mix
• Jealous Guy – Take 29 / Raw Studio Mix
• It’s So Hard – Take 11 / Raw Studio Mix
• I Don’t Wanna Be A Soldier, Mama – Take 4 / Raw Studio Mix
Side B
• Gimme Some Truth – Take 4 / Extended / Raw Studio Mix
• Oh My Love – Take 20 / Raw Studio Mix
• How Do You Sleep? – Take 11 / Raw Studio Mix
• How? – Take 40 / Raw Studio Mix
• Oh Yoko! – Take 1 / Raw Studio Mix
The official Record Store Day release list is a little confusing as it lists this as a 2xLP package, but in other places it is referenced as definitely just one disc. There will be 5,500 copies made available worldwide.
Rob Stevens, who worked on the Raw Studio Mixes for the John LennonImagine: The Ultimate Collection box set from last year says:
“The Raw Studio Mixes are the basic track performances of the musicians playing together in the same rather cramped room….There are no effects placed on the instruments or vocal, e.g. chamber reverb and tape slap for example. Just a bit of EQ and compression when the nature of a particular track warranted it.
John was notorious for wanting his voice bathed in both, and mixed as part of, rather than above the track, so at times you had to really focus your ears and mind to hear his nuances and lyrics clearly.
In the Raw Studio Mixes, there is none of that. John is front and center – clear, unadulterated, live and raw.
Whereas Double Fantasy Stripped Down does have some production enhancements and overdubs, The Imagine Raw Studio Mixes are completely raw and unadorned – they capture the sessions before the gloss was added. The unique challenge in mixing the songs with Yoko was to balance the instruments in a way that fused them into a whole while keeping each individual performance clear, but without the benefit of reverb and effects to do so.”
On November 23 Capitol Records will issue a limited edition, hand-numbered, one-time pressing of the special Double A Side single ‘I Don’t Know’/’Come On To Me’.
The two tracks, from Paul McCartney’s 17th solo album, Egypt Station, were initially only released as a “digital” Double A Side single in the lead-up to his LP release.
The vinyl single is described as a Record Store Day exclusive (i.e. a title that is physically released only at indie record stores), and only 5,000 will be issued worldwide.
Anyone vaguely familiar with the vinyl editions of Paul McCartney’s 1988 release Снова в СССР on the Russian Melodiya label will know that there are two different versions.
One, the earlier more limited release, came with 11 tracks, and a different rear cover:
The second, and far more common edition, has 13 tracks:
The two additional tracks are “I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Someday” (track # 7, the last on side 1), and “Summertime” (track # 2 on side 2).
Why this is so has never been fully explained – until now.
Friend and Russian Beatle collector Andrey has been doing some detective work and discovered this article from the time in the newspaper Sovetskaya Kultura (The Soviet Culture). It is dated July 15, 1989:
In answer to a reader’s question to the newspaper a representative of Melodiya Records explains the existence of the two variations. Andrey’s translation of the Russian text follows:
READER ASKS A QUESTION – A MYSTERY OF TWO RECORDS
I bought the record of Paul McCartney’s Снова в СССР. After a while I saw it again on a shop counter and could not resist of buying it again. For good reason! It turned out that there are 11 songs on the first record, released on September 14, 1988, and the second one which was released on January 1, 1989, carried 13 songs. What a mystery! A. Bogdanov. Severodvinsk, Arhangelsk region
With the request to clarify this mysterious story, we asked the chief editor, Deputy Director of the All-Union Recording Studio of “«Melodiya» Firm”, All-Union Creative-Production Association, Ivan Dmitrievich Nesvit:
– First of all I want to say that your reader is lucky. Why? Just how you will soon understand for yourself. According to the contract, this licensed disk should have consisted of 13 songs, and a special contract clause stipulated that the artist’s desires would be accepted in the design of the sleeve. However, «Mezhdunarodnaya kniga» (our intermediator) provided us with a tape with eleven songs. The recording fit with the Soviet State Standard in terms of running time and so we began working with it. According to the requirements of the contract, a test record and sleeve were sent to Mr McCartney. He studied them and made a few remarks. Although Leningrad Plant had already started pressing and distributing copies, we could not ignore these remarks. Corrections were therefore made to the design, the initial sleeve notes were replaced, and besides this we were sent the recordings of two more songs to include. For this reason the extended record plays longer than any domestic discs [i.e. Melodiya in its working history had never released any LP playing longer than the 13-track McCartney СНОВА В СССР]. And so two records with the same title appeared. By the way, the first record because of its “shamefulness” appearance and limited edition, became a rarity desirable for record collectors, especially abroad since it was intended for sale only in our country. As far as we know, in the USA and Europe 200-250 dollars were paid for this record. So the reader of «Sovetskaya kultura» became the owner of discophile rarity.
So, a little bit more information on the mystery as to how two different records (with the same catalogue number) came into existence.
For a full explanation of all the variations between the two editions and more see the excellent Russian site beatlesvinyl.com.ua. It contains intricate detail of every Russian Beatle release.
For the 11 track, first edition version of Снова в СССРclick here.
For the 13 track second edition versions click here.
Long rumoured, now official. The Harrison family has announced the release of George Harrison – The Vinyl Collection box set containing all of George Harrison’s solo studio albums on 180 gram vinyl in one collection for the first time:
The box set LPs (also available separately) will be in their original packaging, faithfully reproduced with all the original inserts, posters, etc. included.
However, it’s not clear if Universal Music is releasing the Somewhere In England LP as a separate album with its original black and white image of George’s head superimposed on a map of England.This makes it different to all the images shown for the box set version. Collectors should note that both the Harrison online store and the Universal music website for the individual albums currently show the alternative cover if you are buying it as a single LP….
Exclusive to the box set will be two 12″ bonus picture disc singles (‘When We Was Fab’ and ‘Cloud Nine’), housed in their own custom box.
Not only that, for an additional £429.00, there’s a cool-looking, custom-made Pro-Ject turntable to play your LPs on, plus there’s to be a re-issue (in expanded form) of the book I Me Mine.
Early birds who place orders for the 13-album box set online at the georgeharrison.com store will also get a limited edition set of enamel pins.
All the discs are housed in a high-quality two-piece rigid slipcase box with a 3D lenticular front cover image:
The original analogue master tapes were used for the new re-masters and were cut at the legendary Capitol studios to ensure exceptional audio quality throughout.
Wonderwall Music (1968)
Electronic Sound (1969)
All Things Must Pass (1970) (3 LP)
Living In The Material World (1973)
Dark Horse (1974)
Extra Texture (1975)
Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976)
George Harrison (1979)
Somewhere in England (1981)
Gone Troppo (1982)
Cloud Nine (1987)
Live In Japan (1992) (2 LP)
Brainwashed (2002)
Bonus 12” Picture Disc Singles (‘When We Was Fab’ and ‘Cloud Nine’)
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