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 26 February 2016

One off Beatles single

A two-sided 10" record, to be played at 78 rpm.
A record Brian Epstein (his handwriting on the label) had made at the HMV store in Oxford Street in 1962 to bring around and play when he had meetings with record companies is up or auction. It contains two songs from the Decca audition of the Beatles.

Epstein wrote "Paul McCartney & The Beatles", because he sang lead on the track.

The record contains two songs, "Hello Little Girl" and "'Till There Was You". It's the granddaughter of Les Maguire (74) from the Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers who is auctioning off the record, estimated to bring in up to £10,000. It's likely that this record was used for the Pacemakers to learn "Hello Little Girl", which they went on to record.



"Hello Little Girl" was offered to Gerry and the Pacemakers as a follow-up to "How Do You Do It". They recorded it 17 July 1963, but decided not to release it, opting instead for Mitch Murray's song "I Like It" - probably a wise move.
Before the Pacemakers, on 3 July another Liverpool group, The Fourmost recorded a version of the song at EMI in Abbey Road, produced by George Martin. Released on 30 August, it became the group's debut single and went to no. 9 on the UK charts. Gerry and the Pacemakers' version of the song was canned and remained unreleased until 1991, when it appeared on their CD "The Definitive Collection".

The version on this Beatles single was released on "Anthology 1" in 1995.

John Lennon & The Beatles is the "Hello Little Girl" credit.
Omega Auctions will auction off the single on 22 March.

Source: BBC News

Wednesday 24 February 2016

Beatles Live Project update

The Beatles Live - news trickles in slowly.
A Beatles news page of the Japanese Universal Music site now has a few details regarding "The Beatles Live Project". The "project" part of the title has been dropped, and THE BEATLES LIVE is the current working title. The page also has the autumn of 2016 as the approximate time of the film's release.

Translating somewhat awkwardly from Japanese, using Google Translate, the page goes on to say that "The Beatles Live" covers the Liverpool era of the band, and chronicles the tour years from 1963 onwards, spanning 15 countries, 90 cities and 166 performances and ending with the August 29, 1966 concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. The film interweaves filmed concert footage with interviews with celebrities and officials, exploring the evolution and phenomenal popularity of the group.

The news item goes on to list film credits:
Director: Ron Howard.
Producer: White Horse Pictures' Nigel Sinclair and Scott Pasukutchi. Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer.
Executive producers: Apple Corps Ltd. represented by Jeff Jones and Jonathan Clyde, Imagine Entertainment represented by Michael Rosenberg, White Horse Pictures represented by Guy East and Nicholas Ferral.

The production crew has been pretty tight lipped about what's in the film, if there's going to be spin-off products etc. Here's what White Horse Pictures writes on their website:

"The Beatles Live Untitled Project" is a feature-length documentary focused on The Beatles’ touring years, from the early days of the Cavern Club in Liverpool and engagements in Hamburg in the early ’60s to their last public concert in Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in 1966. By their last tour date in August of 1966, The Beatles had performed 166 concerts in 15 countries and 90 cities around the world. The cultural phenomenon their touring helped create, known as “Beatlemania,” was something the world had never seen before and laid the foundation for the globalization of culture.

Beatlemania was not just a phenomenon. It was the catalyst for a cultural shift that would alter the way people around the world viewed and consumed popular culture. At its core the film will be a piece of raw entertainment that includes an undercurrent that explains the climate that allowed for this cultural pivot point to occur. The unique conditions that caused technology and mass communication to collide. The film will also explore the incomparable electricity between performer and audience that turned the music into a movement – a common experience into something sublime. Most of all, the film will aim to illuminate what it was about the band itself – both the music and the musicians – that made the world fall at their feet, to unfurl itself in a joyful wave of youthful revolution that would reverberate through the ages.

Here at the Wogblog headquarters, word has reached us that a two hour plus "rough cut" of the film was screened in Los Angeles this month, and only to people involved with the film project. Still, the fact that Universal Music in Japan now has a news item about it, is perhaps is a sign that we are about to get some more detailed news from the official sources.



As fans of The Beatles, all we need to see is a multi-disc video collection stringing together all available performance footage in chronological order, perhaps linked with a few comments by the Fab Four themselves and Brian Epstein, taken from sixties interviews and press conferences. But that's not a likely scenario. This will be a film targeting a broader audience, and we must prepare ourselves for an ordinary documentary with talking heads and some edited performances from televised concerts, video taped concerts or home movie footage from concerts. If we're lucky, we'll get to see some stuff we didn't know existed. But we'd surely wish that Apple Corps would bring out full concert home video discs as spin off products for the fans. The Beatles' legacy deserves that kind of treatment.

Links:
Official website

Tuesday 23 February 2016

New Beatles vs EMI theory

"Mersey Beat" 31 May, 1962.
On the front page of "Mersey Beat" in June 1962, there was an article about the Beatles' Parlophone release - due out in July.
At the EMI A&R meeting for the July releases, George Martin announced that he had a new group called The Beatles. He was met with laughter. Then after he had played "Love Me Do", he was met with criticism, especially about the drumming.
Martin decided against releasing the Beatles record. He called Brian Epstein and this is the phone call where Brian started crying and begging Martin to reconsider.
Brian made a deal to purchase the minimum amount of discs EMI would press for the initial release.
Martin agreed, but wanted to re-record the songs. In early August 1962, Brian had to explain to The Beatles what had happened to their July release. That set the wheels in motion to get rid of Pete Best.
It would also eliminate Mona Best and her involvement in managing The Beatles with Brian. That's why the record came out in October instead of July.
The original June 1962 EMI contract was with John, Paul, George, and Pete. Brian always held Pete's share in escrow and only paid Ringo a salary, because he knew Pete could sue and win 25% of the Beatles' EMI income from the original 4 year deal.

This theory was posted by the founding editor of "Mersey Beat", Bill Harry on his Facebook page, but it came to him as a message from James Scroggins. So, what do you think? It kind of makes a bit of sense. Liverpudlians seem to forever have claimed that the rumours of Epstein buying up huge quantities of "Love Me Do" to make an impressions on the charts was nonsense. Maybe so, but perhaps he had to buy a substantial amount of the first pressing just to close the deal with Martin & EMI? And this theory also takes care of the question about why Pete Best was sacked.

How I Won The War Blu-ray

How I Won The War was released on Blu-ray in USA in January.
"How I Won The War" was filmed in 1966 and premiered in 1967. John Lennon played the part of Private Gripweed in this anti-war movie, which was directed by Richard Lester. The new Blu-ray edition was released in USA on January 12, 2016. The small, independent film company Kino Lorber has released it, but they have failed to supply us with information about regional coding. Their website only ships the film to USA and Canada, so it's a fair guess that it's regian A and only playable on North American Blu-ray players. This edition has no subtitles, either.

In their review, Blu-ray.com notes that the AVC encoded image (1.67:1 aspect ratio) presentation provides a respectful but unremarkable viewing experience, with passable details for a feature of this age, slightly muted but comfortable colours.

In the sound department, Blu-ray.com calls the 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix "extremely harsh on the ears, offering a shrill listening experience". Music is described as "equally unpleasant".

Bonus material:
  • The Bed Sitting Room
  • "Trailers From Hell" with John Landis
  • The Knack "Trailer From Hell" with Allan Arkus
  • Trailer Gallery
I guess the main reason "How I Won The War" keeps being released in the various formats as they become popular, is the fact that John Lennon is one of the actors. Lennon delivers a good performance as Gripweed, and I believe he could have become an actor, had he wanted to.

Lennon later remarked that he accepted the part because he didn't know what to do, now that The Beatles had abandoned live concerts. In the movie, Gripweed is wearing round glasses, something Lennon kept using in the aftermath.

Having his hair cut for the movie.
His Beatles hairdo was also cut short. The hairdresser kept the hair he cut off for nearly fifty years, and eventually auctioned it off only recently, February 20, 2016. It was sold for $35,000!

Material for cloning? Lennon's hair, fifty years later.

Links:
Kino Lorber's page for the film
Review from Blu-ray.com
Amazon.com

Monday 22 February 2016

Live Atlantic City 1964

Due out in March. But is it really from Atlantic City?

The Livewire label is releasing what they call a "classic live performance: FM radio broadcast from The Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey. August 30th 1964".
Back in August 2014, for the 50th anniversary of this concert, local radio station KOOL-98.3 FM announced that they were going to air this concert. Dave Coskey, president of the Longport media company, reported that staff had discovered the recording in the radio station's archives as they worked to commemorate the concert anniversary. He said . "It's a 50 year old tape, it certainly doesn't sound pristine, but we think the historic value of it outweighs the technical quality," Coskey said. "I sat down and listened to it from start to finish. I thought it was especially cool, I'd always heard about the Beatles in Convention Hall, this is going to be as close as you can get to seeing it."

When the broadcast was aired, Beatles collectors soon heard that what they in fact played, was an old vinyl 1970's bootleg called "Live At Whiskey Flats" - pops, clicks and all. That album contains what most collectors consider to be a concert at the Philadelphia Convention Hall, which took place several days after Atlantic City.

When a collector wrote to Coskey in the aftermath of the broadcast, about this disappointment, he received this reply:

Thanks for your note. I’m sorry that you’re “disappointed”. The recording that we have was marked “Atlantic City August 1964” – which is why we said that “we believe” this to be the recording from Atlantic City. We initially promoted the concert as an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic City show. We purchased the live Beatles concert from the Hollywood Bowl and planed to air that because it was the same set list and seemed like a good way to celebrate the anniversary. When we found this concert recording we thought the historic value of a live recording was a better way of celebrating the anniversary. Again, sorry that you were disappointed. 

The new release is available to pre-order from Amazon, both in the UK and Germany. Release date is March 11. It remains to be heard if this is the real deal, but we sincerely doubt it is.

Contents:
  1. Twist and Shout
  2. You Can't Do That
  3. All My Loving
  4. She Loves You
  5. Things We Said Today
  6. Roll Over Beethoven
  7. Can't Buy Me Love
  8. If I Fell
  9. I Want to Hold Your Hand
  10. Boys
  11. A Hard Day's Night
  12. Long Tall Sally

Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon Germany

If you visit those Amazon sites, you'll also see advertisements for a pair of Beatles BBC CDs, "Live on Air 1963", volumes 1 and 2. The outfit releasing these is Reel to Reel. Volume 1 was released on 4 Dec. 2015, and Volume 2 is due out on March 25.

Live on Air 1963 - Volume One. Reel to reel. Already released.

Live on Air 1963 - Volume Two. Reel to reel. Due out March 25.
It seems everyone can release Beatles CDs in the EU countries these days without getting hassle from Apple Corps Ltd. or Universal Music.

Friday 19 February 2016

Harrison on Clapton's new album

20 May sees a new album with Eric Clapton where George Harrison participates.
UPDATE: Posted by Eric Clapton on his official Facebook page: "There is no truth to the rumor that George Harrison plays or sings on the forthcoming album 'I Still Do'."
"I Will Be There" is a song of unknown vintage, and a certain Angelo Mysterioso participates on acoustic guitar and vocals. Angelo Mysterioso used to be the pseudonym of George Harrison when he helped out on Cream's "Badge", a song co-written by George and Eric (and with a little help from Ringo).

On the new Clapton album "I Still Do" this song is track 3. The album has been produced by Glyn Johns, who also was the mixing engineer for various versions of the unreleased "Get Back" LP, which eventually became "Let It Be".

Victor Spinetti's younger brother Henry plays drums, as he did on Paul and Linda McCartneys "Ram", Paul's "CHOBA B CCCP" and George's "Gone Troppo".

Even the cover has a Beatles connection, it features a portrait of Clapton by Peter Blake, who also designet the cover for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Wednesday 17 February 2016

Carl Perkins' "Dance" album

Dance album of Carl Perkins
Those of you who have read Mark Lewisohn's "Tune In" book will have noticed that the Beatles were very fond of the "Dance Album of Carl Perkins", and that they performed and/or recorded several of the tracks from the album. And it didn't stop there.

The album was first released in 1957 or 1958 on Sun Records. It has been said that Sam Philips rushed the album out after Perkins had left the Sun label for Columbia, which would make it 1958. Reading the track list now, it looks like a "Greatest Hits" album, but that's only because most of the songs have later carved their way into our collective minds as standards from the rockabilly era. It also helps that several of the songs, "Matchbox", "Honey Don't" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" were later recorded by The Beatles, and their versions sold millions. Put together from his Sun single releases, Carl's album was later re-released as Teen Beat; The Best of Carl Perkins in 1961.

From 1954 to 1957, Carl Perkins and his band, recorded the following recordings for Sun Records: "Movie Magg"/"Turn Around" (Flip 501) 1954, "Let The Jukebox Keep   On Playing"/"Gone, Gone, Gone" (SUN 224) 1955, "Blue Suede Shoes"/"Honey Don't" (SUN 234) 1955, "Sure To Fall"/"Tennessee" (SUN 235) 1955, "Boppin' The Blues"/"All Mama's Children" (SUN 243) 1956, "Dixie Fried"/"I'm Sorry I'm Not Sorry" (SUN 249) 1956, "Your True Love"/"Matchbox" (SUN 261) 1956, "That's Right"/"Forever Yours" (SUN 274), and "Lend Me Your Comb"/"Glad All Over" (SUN 287) 1957.

In the U.K., the "Dance" album was released in 1959 on the London label, which is likely the edition The Beatles had access to.

U.K. edition of the album on the London label.
But John Lennon had an earlier encounter. He had bought Perkins' 78 rpm "Blue Suede Shoes" single in 1956 and was so thrilled with both songs that he purchased Perkins' next single, "Matchbox" upon release in 1957, at age 16. When the album came out, it was one of only two albums which he played through completely - enjoying all the songs, according to a 1980 Lennon interview.

When the Beatles all came up with pseudonyms during their brief 1960 Scotland tour backing Johnny Gentle, George Harrison opted for the stage name Carl Harrison, in tribute to Carl Perkins.

A waning star in the USA, Carl Perkins toured Great Britain together with Chuck Berry in May 1964. At the tour's wrap-up party, Perkins sat on the floor sharing stories, playing guitar, and singing songs while surrounded by the Beatles. Ringo Starr asked if he could record "Matchbox". Perkins answered, "Man, go ahead, have at it." The Beatles had also previously recorded two versions of his "Glad All Over" for the BBC in 1963, as well as a version of that single's other side, "Lend Me Your Comb". On June 1, Perkins was invited to attend a Beatles recording session at the EMI studios in Abbey Road, where they recorded "Matchbox".

Here's the "Dance Album of Carl Perkins" track by track, and it's Beatles connotations.

BLUE SUEDE SHOES was originally released as a single in December 1955, coupled with "Honey Don't". The single was SUN's first million seller and it peaked at number 4 in Billboard's Hot 100 chart. A number of rock 'n' roll oldies were recorded during The Beatles' Get Back sessions in January 1969, at Apple Studios in London. A medley eventually released on The Beatles' album "Anthology 3" in October, 1996, comprised "Rip It Up", "Shake, Rattle And Roll" and "Blue Suede Shoes". The medley wasn't actually recorded as one, these songs were among a number of rock 'n' roll songs played by The Beatles on 26 January and mixed in stereo the same day. Lennon and McCartney shared vocals on "Blue Suede Shoes". The song was performed later that same year by John Lennon with his Plastic Ono Band in concert at the Toronto Rock Revival Festival on 13 September, 1969 and a recording of the concert was released in December that year, as the album Live Peace in Toronto 1969. Lennon's version was also featured on the Carl Perkins' collaboration album Go Cat Go in 1996.

The Perkins family still owns his songs, the rights to which are administered by Paul McCartney through his publishing company MPL Communications. McCartney recorded a version of MOVIE MAGG on his 1999 album Run Devil Run. He had previously recorded a version with Wings in October 1980, during rehearsals for what was eventually to become his 1982 solo album "Tug of War", the rehearsal version circulates on bootlegs.

The Beatles first recorded SURE TO FALL (in love with you) as part of their Decca audition on January 1, 1962 in London. The Beatles thought highly enough of the song to record "live" versions of it four times for the BBC, all broadcast on the group's BBC radio programs. A recording made on 1 June 1963 for the BBC radio series Pop Go the Beatles would later appear on the Beatles' 1994 compilation album "Live at the BBC". Their September 3, 1963 BBC recording appeared on the 2013 compilation album "On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2". Prior to this, the Decca audition version of "Sure To Fall" had appeared on a number of grey market releases of the Decca tapes in the eighties.

"Sure To Fall" was played by Wings at an October 1980 rehearsal, which circulates on bootlegs. Ringo Starr later recorded a new version of "Sure To Fall" on his 1981 album, Stop and Smell the Roses, produced by Paul McCartney who also played bass guitar and piano. The song would also appear on Ringo's 1989 greatest hits collection Starr Struck: Best of Ringo Starr, Vol. 2.

GONE GONE GONE was jammed by The Beatles on January 7, 1969 - early on in the Get Back sessions. It was almost complete, too.

The Beatles recorded their version of HONEY DON'T on October 26, 1964 as one of the last songs recorded for Beatles for Sale, which was released in the United Kingdom on December 4, 1964. Originally, John Lennon had been handling the lead vocals on the Beatles' concert performances of the song, but for the album, Ringo was handed the song as his one token song per album. The Beatles performed the song twice for the BBC for the From Us To You and Top Gear programs. A version sung by Lennon is available on Live at the BBC, and a version sung by Starr was released on On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2. During rehearsals for his Plastic Ono Band album in 1970, John Lennon sang this song again, plus "Matchbox" - both exist on tape but are as yet unreleased. A version featuring both Ringo and Carl was performed on the TV special "Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session" in 1985.

ONLY YOU (And You Alone) was suggested by John Lennon as a song for Ringo to do on his Goodnight Vienna album. John played acoustic guitar and sang a guide vocal over the backing track of "Only You", onto which Starr later overdubbed his own lead vocals. Lennon's version was later rediscovered and included on the 1998 box set John Lennon Anthology, and on the highlights collection Wonsaponatime. Starr's recording was issued as a single in 1974. Early in the following year became a number one hit on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, and reached number six on the Hot 100.

"All Mama's Children" - a rogue track on some pressings of the album.
ALL MAMA'S CHILDREN - this song is a bit of a mystery. Many editions of Perkins' "Dance" album have 12 tracks, but this one appears on a number of pressings as a thirteenth song. Was it added to the album as an afterhought? It has been confirmed that the song is mentioned on the front cover of the original pressing, but not on the back, nor on the label - and the song is not present on the record itself. It's not on the UK pressing, but it's the seventh and final track on side 1 when the album was re-released as "Teen Beat; The Best of Carl Perkins" in 1961 - although it may have been introduced on later pressings of the original album which ocurred earlier than 1961.
The B-side of Perkins' single "Boppin' The Blues" in 1956, "All Mama's Children" was co-written by Carl Perkins with Sun label mate Johnny Cash. Some later repressings of the "Dance" album feature this song and some don't. No Beatles connection that we know of, it wasn't even jammed during the Get Back sessions - probably because it wasn't present on the album they had listened to in the early days.

A back cover showing the placement of "All Mama's Children" in the lineup.
TENNESSEE was briefly jammed by The Beatles during the Get Back sessions on January 9, 1969, the vocals were handled by John Lennon, briefly joined by McCartney on harmony vocals. George also joins in, and he's probably the one who remembered the lyrics best.

WRONG YO-YO - or Right String but Wrong Yo-Yo is another one of those tracks that were just jammed at the Get Back sessions. This was the final day of the sessions, January 31, 1969 - the day after the rooftop concert. The Beatles taped and filmed "Two of Us", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" for the documentary and album, but also played around twenty other songs, including this one from Carl Perkins.

The Beatles recorded the Carl Perkins arrangement of EVERYBODY'S TRYING TO BE MY BABY on 18 October 1964 at EMI Studios, London, with George Harrison on vocals. It was first released as the final track on Beatles for Sale in the U.K. later that year. They had been playing it live since 1961. The Beatles' recording finishes with a false ending, with the final phrase repeating itself after the song seems to have stopped. A version recorded live at the Star-Club in Hamburg in December 1962 contained four of these musical phrases. The Beatles continued to perform the song after their studio recording was released, and although the performance of this song was recorded at Shea Stadium on 15 August 1965 was missing on the concert film, the song from this performance was included on Anthology 2.

Live performances of the Beatles' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" were recorded in June 1963 for the BBC radio program Pop Go The Beatles, and in November 1964 for Saturday Club. The latter recording can be heard on Live at the BBC.

George Harrison performed the song with Carl Perkins on the TV special "Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session" in 1985.

The Beatles began performing MATCHBOX around 1961. Their then-drummer, Pete Best, performed the lead vocals. In 1962, John Lennon sang the song during a performance at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; a recording of this exists and was included on "Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962".

The next year, the Beatles performed "Matchbox" with Ringo Starr on lead vocals for their BBC radio show, and this version would be included on the "Live at the BBC" album.
Starr also sang lead vocals when it was recorded on June 1, 1964 for the "Long Tall Sally" EP, with Perkins present in the studio. The EP was released released in the UK on June 19th, 1964. In America, the Capitol album "Something New," which contained the song, was released on July 20th, 1964. A single containing "Matchbox" coupled with "Slow Down" took the song into the Top 20 on the Billboard charts, peaking at #17 in October. According to legend, the success of the song and later Beatles recordings of Perkins' songs finally made the composer wealthy enough to buy his parents a new house.

John Lennon also sang it during a taped rehearsal for his 1970 Plastic Ono Band album, but it remains unreleased.

In February 1987 at the Palomino Club in Los Angeles, celebrity guests including George Harrison joined Taj Mahal in an unplanned jam session after the regular concert. The two-hour performance is captured on low-quality videotape, connected to the in-house video system. Amongst the tracks George performs are "Matchbox" (with Mahal), "Honey Don't" and "Blue Suede Shoes" (with John Fogerty). The performance is not released.

Not to be outdone, Paul McCartney has also performed the song many times. In 1990, a live version by McCartney was released on his "Tripping The Live Fantastic" concert album.  A year later, he performed an acoustic version at his MTV Unplugged TV special in 1991, but the song was not included on the subsequent album, "Unplugged (The Official Bootleg)". However, a rocking soundcheck version was released on a DVD which accompanied his "Back in the US" CD.
In conclusion, "Matchbox" is probably the only song all five Beatles have been handling the vocals for.

YOUR TRUE LOVE was briefly revisited by The Beatles during a Get Back session on January 3, 1969.
The song was performed by George Harrison and Dave Edmúnds for the TV special "Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session" in 1985 and later released on a CD, Carl Perkins & Friends - Blue Suede Shoes - A Rockabilly Session on Snapper Records in 2006.
Paul McCartney and Carl Perkins played this song together at a filmed jam session backstage at the Memphis Bowl in 1993, highlights from that session was released on a pair of video cassettes (My Old Friend and Go Cat Go!) by Perkins in 1998.
At Carl Perkins' funeral service on January 23, 1998, George performed the song as a tribute to his old departed friend. The song didn't seem to be familiar to the rest of the mourners.

BOPPIN' THE BLUES was performed and recorded by Paul McCartney with Carl Perkins in 1981 at Montserrat, but remains unreleased. Carl Perkins arrived for the "Tug of War" recording sessions in Montserrat on 21 February, 1981. He and McCartney began recording three days later, performing oldies including "Honey Don't", "Lend Me Your Comb" and "Boppin' The Blues". A duet, "Get It", was also taped that day, and released on McCartney's album the next year. Together they also recorded Perkins' tribute to McCartney, "My Old Friend", on 25 February. That song was unreleased for more than a decade, but finally appeared on Perkins' collaboration album "Go Cat Go" in 1996.

The Beatles positively mined this album for songs.
IN CONCERT
Paul McCartney regularly performs songs from Carl Perkins' "Dance" album at soundchecks. Last time he played here in Norway (2015), he did three in a row: "Matchbox", "Honey Don't" and "Blue Suede Shoes". McCartney's soundchecks are famously not really soundchecks per se, but pre-concert one hour concerts for VIP ticket buyers.

Ringo has performed "Honey Don't" with several of his All Starr Band lineups many times through the years, and several live versions are featured on his many live albums. The song made it's debut on the first self-titled Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band album in 1990. "Matchbox" was first performed live by Ringo in 2012 and was included on his "Ringo At The Ryman" DVD that year. On January 27th, 2014, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Ringo performed "Matchbox" during the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, this televised show being broadcast on CBS on February 9th of that year.

SELECTED RE-RELEASES
The "Dance album of Carl Perkins" was re-released in the U.K. on Charly Records in 1981, catalogue number CRM 2012. That same year, an Italian release on the Oxford label was made available. In 1984, a Spanish release of the album appeared on the CFE ‎label. In Australia, Topline Records released the album in 1987. A CD of the album was released in the U.S. by Varèse Sarabande in 2004. In the U.K. , Snapper Music and Charly Records released a CD with plenty of bonus tracks as SNAP 291. In 2015, as part of Record Store Day's "Black Friday", a remastered translucent colour vinyl edition of the album was pressed, limited to just 1500 copies worldwide. Although the track "All Mama's Children" was mentioned on the web page of the release, it failed to appear on this pressing of the album, which then stayed truer to the original.

Monday 15 February 2016

McCartney plays Europe again this year

Paul McCartney to play two European festivals in June.
  • Sunday 12th June – Pinkpop, Netherlands
  • Thursday 30th June – Rock Werchter, Belgium

Paul McCartney has confirmed he will headline two European festivals this summer.  In June he’ll perform at Pinkpop in the Netherlands and Rock Werchter in Belgium.

These appearances follow a year that saw Paul headline both Firefly and Lollapolooza in the US as well as closing the Roskilde festival in Denmark.

Speaking about performing at Pinkpop Paul said:
"I love a festival audience and we plan to close Pinkpop with a massive party. I’ve not done a festival in the Netherlands before so it will be an exciting new experience for me and for the audience, so we can all rock out together. Get ready Pinkpop we’re on our way. See you in June."

Pinkpop organizer Jan Smeets said: "I am very proud that Sir Paul McCartney, one of the world’s greatest artists will play at Pinkpop. His first Dutch festival show ever. An artist who was never on our wish list because we never thought it would even be possible! A Beatle at Pinkpop, it's almost unbelievable."

And on Rock Werchter Paul commented:
"We’ve been having so much fun at different festivals around the world in recent years and I can’t wait to get to Belgium with the band for our first festival there. I’ve heard such great things about Rock Werchter so I know it’s going to be a big night of rock'n’roll and partying to remember."

Rock Werchter boss Herman Schueremans said: "The number 1 on my wish list. Paul McCartney is one of the last really big names to be missing from our rich festival history. Sometimes such a high profile visit is purely a matter of luck. The artist must be performing and the diaries have to fit. This time it all worked out. Every generation has its McCartney classic. He has inspired so many musicians, and is still doing so today. I am looking forward to the concert."

Links:
Pinkpop
Rock Werchter

New songs and mixes for Love

From the Las Vegas Beatles show "Love" by Cirque du Soleil.
As previously reported, Cirque du Soleil's production of The Beatles show "Love" is undergoing changes for the show's tenth anniversary. "Love" director Dominic Champagne talked to the Montreal Gazette about what's been done; what's new and what has been taken out.

The show has currently taken a three week break while being renewed, and the refreshed "Love" will première on February 25. There's not going to be a big opening, but the participants will continue to tinker with the production in the months to come, in preparation for an official 10th-anniversary red carpet première in July (postponed from the previous announcement of June) with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono attending.

Sound bites and video
There were sound bites of the Beatles in the original show; one of the big changes is that there will be more of them now, and much more video of the four band members. "They’ll be more present via imagery," said Champagne. "A year and a half ago, they gave us access to their entire audio-visual library, which was not the case in the very beginning."

Acrobatics
"Love" is one of the least acrobatic Cirque shows, but Champagne feels the time is right to add a couple of big acrobatic numbers.

Music
There will also be a few changes in the music. Giles Martin is also doing new remixes of the songs, taking into account changes in technology over the past decade. Champagne didn’t want to reveal too much, but did say that "Twist and Shout" has been added and "I Am the Walrus" dropped. "Twist and Shout" was in the initial plan for "Love", but the Beatles didn’t have the right to use it at the time because it’s not their original song. "It’s such a strong vocal performance from Lennon, and it’s the kind of song you’d hear at a 30-year-old’s wedding today," said Champagne. "We hope that the Cirque du Soleil dancers will relaunch the twist with the act."

Source: Montreal Gazette

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Let It Be comparison

HMC opening shot
By request, here are a few screenshots from the recently released HMC version of "Let It Be" compared to an older bootleg DVD of the same film.

Opening shot, older version.

HMC Title screen
Onscreen Beatles logo, HMC.

Onscreen Beatles logo, older version.

George arriving, HMC

George arriving, older version. More bottom, less top.

Two Of Us, HMC.

Two Of Us, older version

End screen, HMC - more sky than earlier.

End screen with titles, older version.

End screen with titles 2, older version.
As you can see from these comparisons, the picture quality of HMC is brighter and better, but the bottom part of the screen is severely cropped, whereas it has more of the top part. The older bootleg has the German release of the film, from around 1984 as image source. As most noticeable on the end screen, the right part of the screen is also cropped quite a bit on the new release, and the end credits are also completely missing.
The version uploaded by Revolver TV to YouTube last year did feature both these original end credits, as well as additional credits particular to the 1992 restoration:






See also our main Let It Be page.