Move over, Ms L!

Hi all, wondering why you are looking at this jumbled up page? This is due to the fact that Facebook didn't like our url since it starts with wog, so we have been forced to move the blog. This was some time ago, and we have placed a script which would automatically send you to our new location. Obviously, this hasn't worked for all of you, since we have just finished moderating some of your comments which appeared on this site recently, and not on our new (and improved!) site. So what we're saying is head on over to our new site, and update your bookmarks!

Friday 30 April 2010

Fab Productions and the Trevor Jones tapes

Latest in the line of releases of the Trevor Jones tapes that was leaked on the internet last week is the notorious Fab Productions 4 disc release, packaged as two single discs and one 2CD package. They have also been busy enhancing the material, as the raw tapes leaked could do with a bit of sonic tweaking. Here are the new releases:

WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND OUTTAKES CD

01. Let 'Em In (1975 Rehearsal)
02. The Note You Never Wrote (without strings)
03. She's My Baby (Take 1)
04. She's My Baby (version 2)
05. Beware My Love (Instrumental, complete acetate version)
06. Beware My Love (rough mix)
07. Wino Junko (rough mix)
08. Silly Love Songs (without strings or horns)
09. Time To Hide (instrumental)
10. Must Do Something About It (Paul on vocal)
11. Beware My Love (Instrumental incomplete)
12. Must Do Something About It (remastered)
13. Let 'Em In (Mono Promo 45 Edit)
14. Let 'Em In (Stereo Promo 45 Edit)
15. Richard Cory (studio 1975)
16. Soily (studio 1974)
17. Junior's Farm (Ernie Winfrey Mix #1 - early mix)
18. Sally G (Ernie Winfrey Mix - early mix)
19. Junior's Farm (Ernie Winfrey Mix #2 - early mix)

These tracks date from the January-February 1976 Wings At The Speed Of Sound sessions, unless noted. All remastered and have nice stereo separation.

WINGS THE ELSTREE REHEARSALS 1975

From the Trevor Jones Collection - 2 cds worth of rehearsals over 3 days in September, 1975.
01. Little Woman Love / C Moon
02. You Gave Me The Answer
03. Live And Let Die (Part 2 working Session)
These tracks date from the early September 1975 Elstree Film Studio rehearsals for the Wings UK tour later that month. There are three cassettes in the Trevor Jones collection from this era, named "1975 Tour Setlist," "Tour Rehearsal 1975," and "Day 2 Elstree, 1975." It's hard to tell which tracks are sourced from which, but it does seem (through the track labeling as well as the sonic quality) that there are 3 different sources for these tracks. This one is "Tour Rehearsal 1975."

04 Junior's Farm (Version 1)
05. Junior's Farm (Version 2)
06. Let Em In (Take 1)
07. Little Woman Love / C Moon
08. Old Man River
09. Soily
10. Stealin'
11. Suicide
More Elstree rehearsals. Since Soily and Junior's Farm are more developed, thus this may be "Day 2 Elstree 1975." Let 'Em In was a runthrough with the band.

12. Venus and Mars - Rock Show - Jet
13. Let Me Roll It
14. Spirits of Ancient Egypt
15 Lady Madonna
16. The Long and Winding Road
17. Picasso Last Words / Richard Cory
18. Bluebird
19. I've Just Seen A Face
20. Blackbird
21. Yesterday
22. You Gave Me The Answer
23. Magneto And Titanium Man
24. Medicine Jar
25. Go Now
26. Letting Go
27. Live And Let Die
28. Call Me Back Again (Incomplete)
29. My Love
30. Listen To What The Man Said
31. Band on the Run
32. Hi Hi Hi
33. Soily
The balance - and these sound more polished!

PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS: THE TREVOR JONES COLLECTION 2 CDS

More songs, sessions and outtakes spanning 1971-1987 plus a few bonus tracks that are newer finds.

DISC ONE:

01. Another Day
02. Hi Hi Hi Both of these are taken from acetates.

03. Mull Of Kintyre (count-in)
04. Deliver Your Children (Paul Mix) Recorded in August 1977.

05. Did We Meet Somewhere Before From early 1978, not too different from what's been bootlegged before, although it might be a little cleaner than what's previously circulated.

06. Reception (Long Version)
07. Cage (Instrumental Backing Track)
08. Getting Closer (Instrumental Backing Track)
09. Rockestra Theme - So Glad To See You Here (Instrumentals) These Back To The Egg outtakes could be sourced from the early 1979 rough assembly cassette Madinger and Easter mention. The track numbers given also hint that there may be more from this cassette yet to come.

10. Daytime Nighttime Suffering (early version) Dates from January-February 1979.

11. Fabulous / Teddy Bear
12. Momma's Little Girl (Intro)
13. Momma's Little Girl
14. Take It Away
15. No Values
16. Denny's Song These are also likely from a "Wings Rehearsal 1980" cassette. These all seem to be from Pugins Hall in Kent (the site of the aforementioned When It Rains It Pours boot), and seem to be rehearsals in earnest for a Wings album that never came to fruition. Take It Away has been dated as October 1980, while No Values is from November 7, 1980.

17. Waterspout
18. A Love For You Rough mixes from the overdub sessions in late 1980 for the Cold Cuts unreleased LP.


DISC TWO:

01. Take It Away (monitor mix)
02. What's That You're Doing (rough take)
03. Newt Rack (instrumental)
04. Ebony & Ivory From the Tug Of War sessions at Air Studios in London and Montserrat in March 1981. "Newt Rack" was recorded on March 11, 1981 with an appropriately whimsical throwaway title (get it, New tRack?) Stevie Wonder on #4 - not from Trevor Jones Tapes, but a rehearsal session.

05. Martha My Dear Instrumental Made for the Give My Regards to Broad Street movie - however unused in the "medley" with orchestra players.

06. Choba Medley (Part 1)
07. Choba Medley (Part 2) These two tracks contain excerpts from all the tracks recorded in the July 1987 sessions. This includes interesting but frustratingly incomplete snippets from the unreleased versions of "Cut Across Shorty," "No Other Baby," "Poor Boy," "Lend Me Your Comb" and "Take This Hammer."

BONUS TRACKS:
08. Honorary Consul Demo #1 - 1983 demos ex quality
09. Honorary Consul Demo #2
10. Honorary Consul Demo #3
11. Yvonne - 1986 Outtake - the best quality yet!
12. Ou Est Les Soliel - 1988 Demo
13. Party Party - 1989 (Forest DJ Only Mix)
14. Hello Picadilly - 1973 Radio Jungle by Wings
15. Baby Face - 1974 - from One Hand Clapping Sessions
16. You Gave Me The Answer - instrumental backing
17. Runaway - written by Paul, recorded in 1982 by Ivory

Bill King, editor of the american "Beatlefan" publication puts forward his version of the story of how the tapes were leaked in his blog. Furthermore, he indicates that, in conjunction with the forthcoming re-releases of the McCartney catalogue on Concord Music, an official DVD of Wings Rockshow will finally see the light of day.
In the aftermath of the McCartney leakage, one of the major bittorrent trackers have ceased operation, and collectors are speculating that the Trevor Jones tapes may have something to do with that.

Thursday 29 April 2010

Who was Trevor Jones?

I met and took this photo of Trevor Jones in London in 1982. Wings was no more and Paul wasn't touring, so Trevor was Pauls "minder" and kept in the back. In a 2008 interview with Howie Edelson, Denny Seiwell said of Trevor: "The roadies; Ian Horn and Trevor Jones - they were brothers-in-law, I guess. Ian married Trevor's sister. . . something like that - I don't know. But the next couple of years it was just me and Henry (McCullough) and Ian and Trevor. We were like always together. Trevor died. What year was it that Linda (McCartney) died? '98. Well then, Trevor died just before that, I think. He had an alcohol problem. Paul told me about this. I had no idea. Paul said that he had to give him the 'golden handshake' because of his boozin' and that he had passed away."
Okay, so I cropped this photo square and put a title on it, what's it to you? ;-D

The Hidden Gallery

Menier Gallery in London yesterday revealed a collection of unseen photos of The Beatles from 1963/64. The 37 shots were unearthed after languishing in an attic for almost 50 years.
Photographer/journalist Paul Berriff discovered the pics at his home in north England. The photos, which chronicle the band members rehearsing onstage, smoking in their dressing room, and relaxing with drinks and snacks backstage, goes on display today.

"I started to root around in my attic and I found this box of about 800 negatives, and in it were shots of these old pop groups in 1963. I was absolutely knocked out when I saw the quality and realised I should do something with them," the Daily Express quoted Berriff as saying.

Berriff took the pics after the boy band gave him unlimited access on tour when he was a teenage snapper - just months before Beatlemania gripped the world.

The photographer had stored the negatives at his home, along with hundreds of other images of musicians in the 1960s.

Menier Gallery
51 Southwark Street
London SE1 1RU
Phone: 020 7407 3222

The exhibition runs until noon Saturday 1st May and entry is free.

The black and white photographs were taken backstage and onstage during The Beatles’ 1963/1964 UK tours. The band toured the UK through February, March, May and June 1963.

Finding his feet in his chosen career, Paul Berriff, the man behind these amazing images, was lucky enough to gain access behind the scenes, spending many hours with the Fab Four in the pre-gig buzz. He quickly built up a rapport with the band members, who were happy to let him practise his art, building an intimate photographic record of their rise to fame. Sometimes they posed and played up for the camera, at other times images were shot ‘off the cuff’, capturing them in their most unguarded, natural form.

As the band went on stage to play to the crowds of screaming girls and adoring fans, Berriff positioned himself as close to the stage as he could, almost sharing the performance platform with them. This unique view provided the opportunity to catch them at their most animated; playing the music they loved, to the people who loved them.

Shortly afterwards, with Beatlemania reaching fever-pitch, it became increasingly difficult to gain an audience with this ground-breaking band; resulting in many of the photos taken later in their career being shot by a small group of official photographers and on professional photo shoots.

These limited edition photographs are a unique insight into the true personalities of John, Paul, George and Ringo. They are genuine, never-before-seen images, uncovered after over 45 years; each one a true piece of music history. The images will now be distributed for sale as limited edition prints. Each of the 37 individual images in The Beatles Hidden Gallery collection will be produced in a very limited edition run of just 49. Once an image has reached a production total of 49, there will be no future opportunities to purchase any further editions. This guarantee of edition size also includes the promise that no further reproductions will be made in other dimensions. Each individual image will be produced to approximate A0 or A1 dimensions, dictated by composition and the photographer’s recommendation. There will be no further release of alternative sizes. Each limited edition photograph will be produced, signed and numbered by the photographer.

See the photos and order here

Wednesday 28 April 2010

Wings leakage hits the news


Courtesy of KLPX, the Tucson classic rock station:
FOUR HOURS OF UNRELEASED PAUL McCARTNEY MUSIC LEAKED ONLINE  

In an astonishing unprecedented event, nearly 65 unreleased Paul McCartney tracks spanning 1971 through 1987 have been leaked online over the past few days -- totaling nearly four hours of music. Beatles fans have been trading information back and forth in a frenzy as to how all this music - music that McCartney has vigorously safeguarded for decades - has now been linked to the public for free over various websites.
Many of the songs are believed to be straight tape dubs from Wings' original roadie, the late Trevor Jones, whose personal archives were auctioned off by Christie's in 1998. Other speculation is that some of this material stems from early work tapes intended for one or more of the McCartney box sets which have recently been in production.
Among the many highlights on the set are: Acetates of "Another Day," and "Hi, Hi, Hi," full Wings rehearsals of songs performed on their 1975/1976 world tour -- including "Listen To What The Man Said," "Blackbird," "Hi, Hi, Hi," multiple takes of "Junior's Farm," "Soily," "Call Me Back Again," "Picasso's Last Words," "Bluebird," "I've Just Seen A Face," "Magneto And Titanium Man," "Little Woman Love/C Moon," "Live And Let Die," and "You Gave Me The Answer," the still-unreleased McCartney torch song "Suicide," -- as well as an early live band run-through of "Let 'Em In" taped prior to McCartney officially recording it.
Other gems include an early mix of "Silly Love Songs" lacking the signature string and brass overdubs with McCartney instead scat-singing the legendary horn part, a version of the 1976 Wings favorite "Must Do Something About It" -- which was originally released with drummer Joe English taking the lead, but now features McCartney's original unreleased "guide" vocal, an instrumental mix of Wings' 1979 hit "Getting Closer" and the 1978 outtake "Cage."
More rarities in the bunch feature 1980 Wings rehearsals of "No Values" - which McCartney eventually released on his 1984 Give My Regards To Broad Street soundtrack, full band rehearsals of 1971's "Mama's Little Girl," and an extended take of McCartney on electric piano teaching Wings "Take It Away" - a tune they would never get to record.
A particular highlight is the rarely-heard 1982 official recording of "Runaway" - a tune McCartney donated to the Barbados group Ivory.
For the first time, outtakes from Tug Of War -- McCartney's 1982 reunion with George Martin -- have surfaced. The new batch of tracks include the previously unheard instrumental "Newt Rack," as well as "offline monitor mixes" (tapes running while music is playing out of speakers) of "Take It Away" which features an extended coda, and a scaled-back, very rough mix of McCartney's collaboration with Stevie Wonder "What's That You're Doing?"
Pristine sounding abbreviated outtakes from McCartney's 1987 "Russian Album" sessions feature McCartney going full throttle on snippets of Elvis Presley's "Poor Boy," the Vipers' "No Other Baby," the Lonnie Donegan-adapted "Take This Hammer," Carl Perkins' "Lend Me Your Comb," and an alternate vocal version of Fats Domino's "Ain't That A Shame."
Beatlefan magazine publisher Bill King explained that there is a direct correlation between these tracks going public within days of McCartney announcing a catalogue overhaul through his new label Concord Music Group: "The leaking of these tracks -- for whatever reason - whether it's a disgruntled employee who's upset about the box set reportedly being shelved for a while, or if these tracks perhaps had already leaked out and someone was just sitting on them for a while - y'know, there's a lot of different theories. But for whatever reason that these things have suddenly come out, I think it's not coincidental. I think that it happened a day or two after the Concord reissue program was announced is probably instructive. Y'know, there's a cause and effect relationship there."

Although McCartney has issued previously-unreleased work on various soundtracks and single B-sides, he's shied away from releasing a full-on outtakes collection. In late-1980 he had been preparing an album called Cold Cuts featuring outtakes spanning his entire career up though that point. Following John Lennon's 1980 murder, McCartney was said to have felt that releasing an outtake collection in what would be his first musical statement following Lennon's death would be in poor taste. Although Cold Cuts has been booted numerous times since 1985, McCartney has yet to release an official version of it.

Book review:The Beatles Covered

I've mentioned this book here before, but I've finally managed to take the time to review it in Norwegian for Norwegian Wood - The Beatles Fan Club of Norway, so I thought I'd bring an English version of my review to my faithful blog readers.
The Beatles Covered by Joachim Noske, with the slogan/subtitle "a pictorial journey through Beatles record releases from around the world" is just that. Nearly 800 pages and 6 kilograms heavy, in LP size, it lists and depicts records from five continents. Each continent gets it's own section, divided into chapters by country (or territory). The focus is on EMI releases (vinyl albums, singles and EP's only, no cassettes or CD's), but also finds space to cover the Polydor releases (Sheridan), the Star Club releases and the releases from the Decca audition. A few bootlegs are also thrown in for good measure.
An appendix deals with various subjects like the boxed album collections, the Christmas fan club releases, the various versions of the Magical Mystery Tour releases etc. A chapter is also devoted to discography books and publications from around the world. Two norwegian publications are listed, "The Beatles i Norge" ("The Beatles in Norway"), which was published by your's truly and Knut Uller back in 1994 and H.P. Nenseth's "A Complete Discography of Norwegian Beatles Records" from 1997. Neither of us have been mentioned by name in the book, though. The only Norwegian collector mentioned is Ivar Oellingrath, who also provided insight into the Beatles releases from India. In reviewing the book, I need to concentrate on the country whose releases I'm most familiar with, my native Norway. I'm not big on international Beatles releases, but I believe that by reviewing the Norwegian section of the book, I'm sure other countries releases will follow the same pattern.
The Norwegian chapter starts by listing the singles. Only the singles whose covers were printed in Norway are included. The first single in Norway was Please Please Me, which featured a cover imported from Denmark, so the singles list omits it completely, and starts with the second single, which was From Me To You.  Based on criteria like paper quality and colour, some Norwegian record collectors are actually fronting a theory that some of the covers identified as Danish import covers for the "Please Please Me" single was actually printed in Norway, but I guess this has never been substantiated and thus this information has not been included here.
"From Me To You" is presented in no fewer than seven colour variations, ranging from orange to red, and a couple of them looks very similar. One example is given as to how the back cover looks like.

 

The size of these images in the book is not much bigger than a regular postage stamp. The next single up is Twist and Shout/Boys, presented with five different cover variations and three rear views. She Loves You has been depicted in several nuances of green, and also in the rare red variety. (For a look at the various Norwegian singles, you can see some of the variations in this earlier blog post of mine).
The Beatles Covered fails when it comes to the All My Loving/I Saw Her Standing There single. It delivers in depicting three different colour varations but it completely omits the rare later re-release, which featured a different typeface and placement for the records catalogue number and the "I Saw Her Standing There" title, and also a different back cover, featuring the EMI logo.

The regular 1963/64 release
The rare later re-release.
The back cover of the late re-release.

For the I Want To Hold Your Hand single, only the true Norwegian blue (the Norwegian blue? What's wrong with it?) version has been depicted. Of course, this single was also released in Norway with a Danish import cover in orange. Again, some Norwegian record collectors are speculating that some of the covers identified as Danish imports may have been produced in Norway. This is based on the fact that on some of these covers there are "shadows" present, and those shadows have not been found on copies found in Denmark. If you look at the Danish section of the book, this single is only presented in one variation, whereas in Norway you can find many variations of this "Danish import" cover.

Like I said, the records whose covers were not printed in Norway have been omitted, which means that the singles Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Back in the USSR, Get Back, The Ballad of John & Yoko and Let It Be are not shown, since these all have covers printed in Sweden and they are all on display in the Swedish chapter. They are all mentioned, though. One could wish for some of the labels to be depicted, and especially The Ballad of John and Yoko, since this single was available both with a Parlophone and an Apple label in Norway.

We then move on to the EP's and again, only the one with a true Norwegian cover, I Feel Fine (GEOS 225) is displayed. The other two EP's that were pressed in Norway had Swedish or Danish covers. I wish that this book would at least have mentioned their titles. We are talking about the Michelle EP (GEOS 245) and the Yellow Submarine EP (GEOS 262).

As for LP albums, the book depicts four different label styles of the Norwegian pressings, and makes a note of the fact that the early, purple label used on Beatles For Sale has a combined Odeon and Parlophone design, something not found anywhere else in the world.


One would also wish that the book lists the various albums pressed in Norway, but it doesn't. And the chapter ends without mentioning a Norwegian album that has a cover printed in Norway, The Beatles in Hamburg on Tip Records.


We found it in the Swedish section, mis-identified as a Swedish pressing. This detail from the back cover is a giveaway, though:


The company "Team Trykk" was based in Oslo, Norway and started printing record covers from the late sixties onwards. This is a 1968 release. The company also printed record sleeves for solo Beatles releases, among them "Double Fantasy" and "Somewhere in England". If you didn't know that Team Trykk was a Norwegian company, the language gives it away. The word "trykk" means "print" and is spelled "tryck" in Swedish and "tryk" in Danish.

Now, this was nitpicking, and extremely so. Only hard core collectors within a country would be able to muster up diverging information of such minor details. But this book is best described as pure pornography for the seasoned Beatles vinyl collector. He (and it's usually a he) will find records here that he has never seen or even heard about before. And, much like Playboy magazine, the book also has foldout pages. It's truly a feast for the eyes. If you want to delve deep into the Beatles discography of any given country, a local publication will bring you more attention to details. But if you want the world at large at a glance, here it is.

You can view sample pages and order the book from it's official website.

Sunday 25 April 2010

Wings in the wind

There seems to be a bit of promotion going on for Wings at the moment. You'll notice that my latest blog postings have been about the group. Now The Sun and Q Magazine are both talking about the seventies group. And Misterclaudel, the notorious japanese bootleg label have announced 2 CD's featuring the recently leaked material:
WINGS AT THE SPEED OF SOUND SESSIONS OUTTAKE & ALTERNATES mccd-167

01. SILLY LOVE SONGS (Basic Mix Without String Horns)
02. BEWARE MY LOVE (Take 1, Instrumental Complete Acetate Version)
03. BEWARE MY LOVE (Alternate Take)
04. MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT (Paul On Vocals)
05. SHE'S MY BABY (Take1)
06. SHE'S MY BABY (Version 2 Rough Take, Complete)
07. THE NOTE YOU NEVER WROTE (Basic Track, Without Strings)
08. TIME TO HIDE (Outtake, Basic Track)
09. WINO JUNKO (Alternate Early Take)
10. SILLY LOVE SONGS (Single Edit Version)
11. LET 'EM IN (Promo edit 45")
12. BEWARE MY LOVE (45" slight edit)
13. BEWARE MY LOVE (Take 1, Acetate Incomplete)

A GARDEN FULL OF McCARTNEY ROSE mccd-168

WINGS STUDIO SESSIONS
01. Soily (1973 Studio Version)
02. Junior's Farm (Ernie Winfrey Mix with Count-In)
03. Richard Cory (1975 Studio Version)
04. Letting Go (Promotion Edit)
05. Mull Of Kintyre (1977 Studio Session with Count-In)
06. Daytime Nightime Suffering (1979 Early Version)
07. Deliver Your Children (Paul on Vocal)

TUG OF WAR & PIPES OF PEACE SESSIONS
08. New Rack (Tug Of War sessions, instrumental- Monitor Mix)
09. Take It Away (Monitor Mix-Rough Take- complete)
10. What's That You're Doing (Rough Take - Monitor Mix)

CHOBA B CCCP SESSIONS
11. Choba B CCCP promotional medley part 1
12. Choba B CCCP promotional medley part

Friday 23 April 2010

More Wings leakage

Even more Wings tracks have now surfaced:
We don't know if these stem from the ongoing archive work that's being done on McCartney's back catalogue. There is speculation that the leakage comes from part of the Wings' roadie Trevor Jones collection of memorabilia, auctioned by Christie's in December 1998.

Thursday 22 April 2010

Wings leakage

Many moons ago, we told you that a boxed set of McCartney rarities and outtakes was in the works and due for release for Christmas 2010. A few days ago, it was revealed that the entire back catalogue of Macca was about to be re-released this autumn, starting with Band on The Run in August. We don't know whether these news have something to do with each other. Maybe the boxed set is off and the tracks will be included as bonus tracks on the new version of the catalogue or maybe they'll still be an entity of their own. What's new is that seven tracks from the project now has leaked on the internet as wav files:
Silly Love Songs.....without brass/strings
Must do Something About It , Paul on voice.
Richard Cory demo,
Time To Hide (no vocals):
Soily (1976 studio version):
She's My Baby (take 1):
Wino Junko (rough mix with unused guitar fills):

Wings in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

There's currently an ongoing campaign to get the band Wings inaugorated at the "Rock And Roll Hall of Fame". The debate has reached new levels since it was announced that the Swedish pop group "Abba" was to be given this honour, whereas well known bands like "The Moody Blues" still aren't in. A Facebook group was started last month, Get Wings in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and currently has more than 1000 members. Jorie Gracen also started a petition online, Nominate Wings for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which at the time of writing has been signed by a bit over 6000 people.
We're thinking that now that Paul McCartney's collected back catalogue is due for a re-release on Concord Music, Paul could use a little extra PR to make some waves about it. So why not reunite Wings? Perhaps hold a few concerts? McCartney is aware of the fact that Wings still is a popular band, especially among old original Wings fans, but they are also enjoying credibility among other rock stars. In later years, Paul is incorporating more Wings numbers in his act, which has been warmly welcomed by his audience. He and Denny Laine has buried the old hatchet, and he did a shout out to Henry McCulloch the last time he played Dublin. The next move would be to get him up on the stage!

In conjunction with "The Fest For Beatles Fans" in the USA, there has been some hitherto unknown Wings-constellations featuring musicians from various lineups of the band, but without Paul. I say it's time for a true Wings reunion!
What do you think?
Should Wings be a part of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame?
Is Wings a real band, or were they just incidental musicians who backed Paul McCartney?
Should Wings reunite? And who should be the drummer, in that case?

Rock And Roll Hall of Fame Inductees

Wednesday 21 April 2010

McCartney back catalog to Concord

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - (Business Wire) Paul McCartney’s MPL and Concord Music Group, one of the world’s leading independent music companies today announced an historic agreement to globally market and distribute McCartney’s venerated solo and Wings catalog, which encompass 40 years of cherished, classic material from the most successful songwriter and recording artist in music history. Indeed, the music legend has sold an astonishing 100 million solo singles and 700 million albums world-wide in his unparalleled career. The announcement coincides with the 40th anniversary of McCartney, his fabled first solo album released April, 1970.

This exclusive global arrangement, will cover both physical and digital distribution of McCartney’s treasured post Beatles catalog including landmark solo albums such as McCartney, Ram, McCartney II, Tug Of War, Pipes of Peace, Give My Regards To Broad Street, Press To Play, Flowers in the Dirt, Off the Ground, Flaming Pie, Driving Rain, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Memory Almost Full, and Good Evening New York City. The classic Wings albums include Wildlife, Red Rose Speedway, Band On The Run, Venus and Mars, Wings At The Speed of Sound, Wings Over America, London Town and Back To The Egg. The catalog also includes the inventive, highly regarded albums recorded under the McCartney pseudonyms Percy "Thrills" Thrillington, The Fireman and Twin Freaks.

McCartney fans can look forward to an ambitious and rewarding reissue program beginning in August of 2010 with Band On The Run; Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic #1 album from 1973 that spawned the immortal title song as well as the smash hit “Jet”. It will be available in a variety of configurations, including a special collector’s multi-disc edition with remastered audio, enhanced packaging and rare bonus content, according to the press release.

So let's hope that Concord will remaster the rest of the catalog. Many of McCartney's fans have been unhappy with Peter Mew's 1993 remasters that were released on CD as "The Paul McCartney Collection", and are instead favouring the rare DCC gold edition CD's remastered by Steve Hoffman from the same year (sample picture above), or even the eighties versions of the CD's that weren't remastered at all...
A rare boxed set of The Paul McCartney Collection from 1993, only released in Japan, and only used as a prize for competition winners.

Press release

Saturday 17 April 2010

Beatles collection for sale

The collection of author Geoffrey Giuliano & The Fool has been put up for sale.
Here's a shortlist of some of the amazing things available:

Cold Springs Harbor John Lennon Home Video 1980 (With Lennon, Sean and Yoko)
This is a NEVER SEEN, NEVER RELEASED VHS approx 1 ½ hour home movie of John Lennon in 1980 in Cold Springs Harbor in an oddly empty mansion. In color. He plays with Sean, performs an acoustic concert and sails his small boat. This VHS bears the writing of his assistant Frederic Seaman on the label. Mr. Seaman shot the footage. Very, very short clips (about three / a few seconds long) have been included in various Ono post Lennon videos. This is the original master master. With history and COA from Geoffrey Giuliano. Formerly the property of John Lennon.

John Lennon Kyoko Cox Unreleased Acoustic LP Recorded in 1969 at home.

This is a very rare reel to reel acoustic album recorded by John Lennon and Kyoko Cox probably at Tittenhurst Park in 1969. It is about 60 minutes long and is a charming intimate look at the very private, magical world of John Lennon. Several years ago a single COPY of this tape was I believe sold at Sotheby's for about $75,000. The poor fellow thought it was the original – it is not, our reel to reel tape is. The buyer never released it. We are selling the original (which came from Derek Taylor to Geoffrey Giuliano) at a greatly reduced price due to this single copy being sold at Sotheby's. With history and COA from Geoffrey Giuliano. Formerly the property of John Lennon.

The Kenwood Tapes.
The tapes currently on offer are some of the many private home recordings John Lennon made here during his extended LSD period between 1966 and 1969. These particular recordings were made in late 1966. Along with the occasional collaboration of friends Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Star and, most notably, Beatles aid Terry Doran, Lennon made these long lost, unreleased historic tapes for his own private use and experimentation. In early 1969 Lennon gave the one and only master to his close friend and Apple promotional manager Derek Wyn Taylor. In these extraordinary tapes we see Lennon the actor, comedian, alchemist, eccentric composer, LSD disciple and unabashed loon. Here he unwinds his mind to become a host of strange characters with the obvious goal of pleasing only himself. A kind of fractured audio diary of the man behind the Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Lennon reveals himself and his private passion for characterization, improvisational comedy and acting as never before. We see Lennon now the quirky avant gardest and psychedelic humorist spewing forth numerous characters inspired, one suspects, by a potent mix of various drugs including, LSD, hashish, mescaline and god knows what else. Many of John's 'comic skits' often featured tape loops and synthesized sounds. These tapes however, for the most part do not.

John Lennon Yoko Ono Personal Home Recording Concerning Their Sex Lives Before And After They Began Their Relationship (A Sexual History Of Both Of Them)
An unheard original tape of John Lennon speaking to his wife amend at times is disbrued with her answers. A HISTORY changing tape. Originally the property of John Lennon. Lennon gave a copy to Derek Taylor at Tittenhurst Park telling Taylor, “Keep it we might need it later if I ever decide to break up with Yoko.” Original cassette and CD listening copy. With history and COA from Geoffrey Giuliano. Formerly the property of John Lennon. From the collection of Derek Taylor.

Bronze Hand Sculpted And Cast Dark Horse Records Logo Statue.
An approximately 17 inch high bronze Statue of George’s Dark Horse records logo, circa 1974. Commissioned by George Harrison and his personal property for years. From the collection of Derek Taylor.

George Harrison’s Indian Harmonium
This wooden, hand crafted Indian Harmonium was the personal property of George Harrison for some years. He used it while chanting Vedic mantras in meditation and prayers. A very beautiful and intimate piece. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano as well as an additional statement from Hare Krsna friend His Grace Syamanda Das. With very rare unpublished photofrapogs of Mr. Harrison in Vrndanava India on his final trip to the Land Of Krishna where he used this instrument daily.

George Harrison’s Hand Made Prototype Indian Musical Instrument Tamboura.
A very rare original handmade acoustic version of the Indian Tambura custom made from a hand drawing for George Harrison. In a wooden case with various company and personal stickers and a brass name plate reading: HARI GEORGESON which is an Indianztion of George Harrison’s name he also used in India while travelling. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano and a letter from the craftsman who made this unusual and amazing intstrument. Mr Harrison used this instrument while recording, and in prayer. Formerly the property of George Harrison.

John Lennon’s Bass Guitar
This guitar belonged to John Lennon and was used as a bass in the studio on several recordings by both John Lennon and George Harrison. Either a Hofner or Hofner copy it was one of dozens of guitars owned by Lennon. Acquired from the collection of Derek Taylor it was given to Taylor after the Apple promotional director commented that one of his children was keen to play bass. Comes with a case (not Lennon’s) and a handmade leather guitar strap owned and used by John Lennon. The strings too are original to Lennon. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano and Barry Finch. Formerly the property of John Lennon. . From the collection of Derek Taylor.

Original Two Virgin’s Photographs By John Lennon
and
Two Virgin Outtake Photos By John Lennon


Cold Turkey Outtake Photograph Of John Lennon’s Skull By Beatle Photographer David Nutter
16X20 black & white, unpublished print of John Lennon’s skull in x-ray with his glasses and eyes superimposed in the lenses. This photograph is an unused photograph collage for the Cold Turkey advertising campaign in 1969. The photograph is stamped on the back by the photographer by David Nutter, brother of the Beatle’s Savile Road tailor. . With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giulian. Formerly owned by John Lennon. From the collection of Derek Taylor.

The Unused Original IMAGINE LP Front Cover collage / Artwork By Yoko Ono
and
The Unused Original First Design Artwork For The John Lennon Imagine LP


Two approximately 14X12 unpublished, original negative, color photographs (LP size) of John Lennon intended as the front and back cover of the Imagine LP. Photographed at John Lennon’s home, Tittenhurst Park, Ascot, Surrey, in 1971. The photography session can be seen in the Imagine John Lennon documentary or in the documentary “Gimme Some Truth / The Making Of The Imagine LP, 1971 on youtube.com at  PART 7 at 3:00. One can also see John Lennon personally showing this actual art piece (offered now for sale) to several friends at his home on youtube.com at URL: PART ONE (1) in the documentary, “Gimme Some Truth / The Making Of The Imagine Album 1971” PART 1 at: 7:38 . With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano. Formerly the property of John Lennon. From the collection of Derek Taylor.

Note: There are four photos in all which were used by John Lennon to construct the collage which became the LP cover. They are all here. Both panels are beautifully framed and matted.

Note: The front Cover piece has two cloud pieces on paper (collage) placed over the eyes of John Lennon which have come loose from the photo. They are included in the lot and the buyer may, at their descrition, reattach them to the photo before framing. The back cover image has two collage inserts of a sun down which are to go in the area of John Lennon’s eyes. They too, are removed for safety.

Five original, Color Transparencies (Eastman Kodak) Of The Beatles Recording Sgt. Pepper.

Six original period prints (circa 1966) color 5X7 self portait photographs by George Harrison.
These beautiful original negative photographs were taken by George in India in 1966 which includes several shots of his wife Pattie, as well as a self portrait etc. Formerly owned by George Harrison. From the collection of Derek Taylor. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano.

Three original unsigned pen and ink drawings (circa 1967) by former art school student Eric Clapton while under the influence of LSD

A typed letter on WORDS FROM APPLE color stationary from George Harrison to the other three Beatles
This letter was posted on the wall at Apple and asks the Beatles NOT to break up(via an original unreleased zen like poem/koan reading, “A flower on it’s pretty. A flower in a garden is beautiful.” Hand signed by George Harrison. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano. From the collection of Derek Taylor. Formerly the property of George Harrison.

George Harrison’s rare Tulsi Wood (108) large Hindu prayer beads
Used for years by Harrison for his most personal and private prayers and meditation. With a COA and history from Geoffrey Giuliano. From the collection of Derek Taylor. Formerly the property of George Harrison. With a statement of history from Hare Krsna leader Syamanda Das. Lot comes with the cloth bag Harrison kept them in as well as an unpublished photo of George with them at the end of his life.

A blue silk coat from around 1967 belonging to John Lennon


There's lots more. If you're a facebooker, there's a facebook page with the photos and full descriptions of the items on offer.

Conditions of sale: Prices are negotiable as we are not, strictly speaking, in the memorabilia business, but rather, seek to obtain the needed funds to renovate the Museum Of 60's Music & Culture in Lockport, New York to facilitate it... See more’s opening for the education and enjoyment of the public at large. All pieces come with a certified, notarized history and COA from The Us Department Of State (for and signed by Geoffrey Giuliano) and in the case of The Fool’s Founder, Barry Finch Esq. a notarized history and COA from a lawyers firm (signed by Mr. Finch) in Amsterdam. All pieces as described. Fully guaranteed in every respect.

For purchase and details, write to milesfar@hotmail.com. Please mention the WogBlog if you do.

Tuesday 13 April 2010

George joins Dylan & Petty

From the Beatles Solo Gigs Website

Bob Dylan: Wembley Arena

* 17.10.1987 Wembley Arena, London, England

George makes an impromptu appearance with Bob Dylan at Dylan's concert at Wembley Arena. He joins Dylan on "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35". George, who had attended all four of Bob's Wembley shows, had been watching the show from the side of the stage. The backing band is Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.
Home movie footage:

Ringo at the Grammy Museum

From the Beatles Solo Gigs Website
Ringo Starr: "An Evening With..." January 19th, 2010.
Musicians: Ringo Starr with Ben Harper and the Relentless 7
Museum members, who received prior notice on programs, bought up the tickets in 15 minutes. Some of these showed up on ebay. It was a very intimate gathering of about 200 people. Lots of celebrities were in attendance: Barbara Bach and her sister Marjorie, Joe Walsh, Edgar Winter and his wife, Barbara Orbison, actor Jason Schatzman, and Dhani Harrison (no Olivia). Ringo answered questions for about an hour and performed four songs: "Photograph," "The Other Side of Liverpool," "Walk With Me" and "A Little Help From My Friends." Among the questions were audience questions, including one asking about the remake of "Yellow Submarine". His answer was that the story won't change, but it will have wonderful effects. Ben Harper and the band also performed two songs of their own.
Rockerrrazzi went inside the Grammy Museum to catch Ringo Starr.

Up and Coming news

Bootleg CD's from the current Paul McCartney "Up and Coming" Tour are starting to appear, both for sale and for free download. Also, some DVD's made from YouTube clips have started to appear. As technology moves on, these kind of concert DVD's are getting better and better. And you can find enough clips on YouTube and similar sites to account for a complete concert! Of course, the more popular song the song is, the more clips you will find of it, and the talking between the songs are harder to find. Also, the lesser known  songs can be difficult to find, as only few people would bother to film it. Still, those are exactly the kind of songs we diehards are most anxious to hear.
Meanwhile, McCartney has already started to sell tickets for his concert in Mexico on the 27th of May, one day early! So if you're planning to go, you should get over to the official site and click for tickets!

Saturday 10 April 2010

Beatles weekend on Australian Radio

Beginning at 8am, Saturday 10th April and continuing until midnight Sunday 11th April, ABC Beatles will give listeners the opportunity to hear rare and exclusive material drawn from the depths of the BBC Radio archives. The broadcast will include an in-depth history of the band, interviews and recordings from their visits to BBC studios and carefully crafted documentaries.

"Most of the material that's in the BBC Radio archives would never have been broadcast in Australia before. With such an auspicious anniversary upon us and now having the ability to create special event digital radio broadcasts, we felt it was high time the Australian public heard it." ABC Digital Radio Content Director, Stuart Matchett said.
Digital Radio can be heard in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and also online.

The schedule
all times AEST

Saturday April 10
8:00am Nothing's Gonna Change My World
9:20am The Beatles Story
2:53pm The White Album at 40
3:50pm Songwriters - Lennon and McCartney
4:04pm Nothing's Gonna Change My World
5:26pm The Beatles At The Beeb Take 2
6:23pm The Beatles Story

Sunday April 11
0:08am Songwriters - Lennon and McCartney
0.22am The Making of Sgt Pepper
1:18am The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes
8:02am Nothing's Gonna Change My World
9:23am The White Album at 40
10:21am The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes
5:04pm Nothing's Gonna Change My World
6:29pm The Beatles Story

Midnight ABC Beatles ends

Links to listen online: Windows Audio  -  Real Media
The contents are not available on demand, so you'll hear it at the same time as it's broadcast (plus internet delay, of course).
ABC Beatles Official Website

Thursday 8 April 2010

Date set for vinyl remasters

The Beatles catalogue remastered on vinyl now has a release date: October 4th 2010. The presentation will be in a 16-LP box, and the albums will also be available individually.
The vinyl pressings will be made on 180 gram vinyl, the covers will stick to the original artwork, and a 100 page hard back book will be included with the boxed sets.
In late 2009, Jeff Jones (CEO of Apple Corps) said that they were working on the vinyl remasters, but that they did not yet have a release date set because they wanted to make sure they got it right rather than rushing out a product to meet a release date. I'm afraid I have no information on issues like mono vs stereo, different dates for different continents or anything, but I'm sure there will be details in a forthcoming official press release.
The CD remasters were released on September 9th 2009, and were available both as a stereo boxed set, individual stereo CD's and as a mono boxed set. Whereas the mono release stuck to the original cover art, inner sleeves and labels (like miniature LP's), the stereo CD's had some makeover regarding additional pictures in the digipack covers and they all had booklets with newly written sleeve notes. It's likely that the 100 page book included with the remastered vinyl boxed sets will contain the same material, only in a larger format and all together.

McCartney to Mexico in May

There's still no word on Paul McCartney's official site regarding the rumoured Mexico concert on May 27th, but this poster is available for download over at Ocesa, so we find no reason to believe it's just a rumour. Presale starts April 14th for Benamex customers over at Ticketmaster Mexico, general sale starts April 16th, it says on the Ocesa site, but according to Ticketmaster Mexico's current listing, the general sale starts simultaneously as the Benemax pre-sale, April 14th at 11 o'clock. The prices range from MX $429 to MX $4.429.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

McCartney: Up and Coming Set Lists

The first leg of Paul McCartney's "Up and Coming" tour has now been and gone, and we are able to compare set lists. The first gig at the Jobing.com arena in Phoenix, Arizona on the 28th of March featured 36 songs (medleys are counted as one song in our summary). There were two world premieres: "Nineteen hundred and Eighty Five" from the Wings album "Band On The Run" (1973) and "I'm Looking Through You" from the Beatles album "Rubber Soul (1965). After the first gig, "Every Night" (from the McCartney album, 1970) was dropped, and the set list reduced to 35 songs. At Hollywood Bowl on the first night (30th of March), apart from the missing song, "Letting Go" (from the Wings album Venus and Mars, 1975) changed places in the set list, and was placed much earlier in the concert. So much for adjustments in the set list. The second concert at the Hollywood Bowl (31st of March) was so different that we can label it as an alternative set list. "Got to Get You Into My Life" was substituted by "Drive My Car."  "(I Want To) Come Home" was substituted by "Let 'Em In." "Two of Us" was substituted by "And I Love Her."  "I'm Looking Through You" was substituted by "I've Just Seen a Face." On the next concert, on the 3rd of April at the Sun Life Stadium Miami, they reverted back to the usual set list, and on the final concert at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico on April 5th, the alternative set list was used.

Set list 1:
1. Venus And Mars/Rock Show
2. Jet
3. All My Loving
4. Letting Go
5. Got To Get You Into My Life
6. Highway
7. Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
8. The Long And Winding Road
9. Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
10. (I Want To) Come Home
11. My Love
12. I'm Looking Through You
13. Two Of Us
14. Blackbird
15. Here Today
16. Dance Tonight
17. Mrs. Vanderbilt
18. Eleanor Rigby
19. Something
20. Sing The Changes
21. Band On The Run
22. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
23. Back In The USSR
24. I've Got A Feeling
25. Paperback Writer
26. A Day in The Life/Give Peace A Chance
27. Let It Be
28. Live And Let Die
29. Hey Jude
Encores 1:
30. Day Tripper
31. Lady Madonna
32. Get Back
Encores 2:
33. Yesterday
34. Helter Skelter
35. Sgt Pepper/The End

Set list 2 (alternative set list):
1.Venus And Mars/Rock Show
2.Jet
3.All My Loving
4.Letting Go
5.Drive My Car
6.Highway
7.Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
8.The Long and Winding Road
9.Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
10.Let ‘Em In
11.My Love
12.I’ve Just Seen A Face
13.And I Love Her
14.Blackbird
15.Here Today
16.Dance Tonight
17.Mrs. Vandebilt
18.Eleanor Rigby
19.Something
20.Sing The Changes
21.Band On The Run
22.Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
23.Back In The U.S.S.R.
24.I’ve Got A Feeling
25.Paperback Writer
26.A Day In The Life/Give Peace A Chance
27.Let It Be
28.Live and Let Die
29.Hey Jude
Encores 1:
30.Day Tripper
31.Lady Madonna
32.Get Back
Encores 2:
33.Yesterday
34.Helter Skelter
35.Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)/The End


There is a rumoured extra concert scheduled for May 27th in Mexico City, Mexico. We'll be looking forward to see if it surfaces, and what the set list will look like.

Tuesday 6 April 2010

Lennon-produced album reissued

When the Lennons moved to New York, they were met by up and coming New York musicians who wanted a touch of that Beatles magic. One of those was David Peel, and he ended up with an album on Apple Records backed by the Lower East Side and produced by John and Yoko.
Lennon said: "People say, Oh, you know Peel - he can't sing, or he can't really play and that, but he writes beautiful songs, you know, and even sort of as simple as his basic chord structures are, supposedly. - Well you know - Picasso spent 40 years trying to get as simple as that."
Finally available on CD, you can now purchase this Limited Edition release directly from the publisher. The CD edition contains three bonus tracks: "Amerika" (with Yoko Ono), an interview with John Lennon "How Did You Meet David Peel?" and a remix of "Everybody's Smokin'"
LINK TO SALE PAGE