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!

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Paul plays a request

At the opening concert of the 2014 leg of Paul McCartney's "Out There" tour, many fans had their dreams come true. This is the story of one of them, Flavio Pastre.
Standing at the front, Flavio was shouting out for "One after 9!", meaning "One after 909", a song that McCartney didn't have on his play list.

McCartney has been known to some times grant his audience's requests for "Ram On", a song featuring just Paul singing, accompanying himself on the ukulele. The die hard fans know when to shout for this song, because Paul usually brings out the ukulele for the first part of "Something", his tribute to his late band mate George Harrison.

But "One After 909" is a different kind of song, it involves the whole band. An early Lennon/McCartney original, "One after 909" was initially recorded by the Beatles in 1963, but went unreleased. The band then resurrected the song during the filming and recording of the "Let It Be" movie in January 1969, and performed it at their last ever concert, on top of their Apple office building in 3 Savile Row on January 30th, 1969. That version of the song was released on the final Beatles album, "Let It Be" in 1970.

Paul McCartney started playing the song live with his band in 2010, and the song was played on a number of concerts in 2010 and 2011. So, the band obviously knew the song. Relentlessly, Flavio kept on requesting the song until McCartney finally gave in and the band performed the song, exclusively for Flavio.



"Esta canción es para usted, solamente", Paul quipped, meaning "This song is just for you!"
You can hear Paul recount the story in this telephone interview, at around 7:50.


Flavio's story reminded me of my own magical McCartney moment way back in 1989. Paul hadn't toured for ten years, now he was opening his comeback tour in my native Norway, and I was standing near the front. When he sang in Band On The Run, "all I need is a pint a day", I raised my hand, and mimed that I was drinking a pint of beer. And I could see that Paul was looking at me.
I was also at the next concert, which was in Gothenburg, Sweden. At the time, no one knew if he was going back on the road for good or if it was a one off tour, and Gothenburg was just a few hours drive for me. And when he sang that same line at the Gothenburg concert, I was amazed to see that he used the same "drinking a pint" hand gesture that I had taught him a few days before!

A Hard Day's Night - New trailer

1964 magazine
Apple just released a trailer for the restored and remastered A Hard Day's Night. You can watch it at trailers.apple.com, or below:

Monday 28 April 2014

New NEW cover

Cover image for the new Japan release of "New" CD+DVD
This title will be released on May 7, 2014. Contains the 15 track CD (plus one "hidden track") and a DVD with:
1. Save Us (video)
2. Everybody out There (video) Both from 2013 Tokyo concert.
3. Rendezvous With Paul McCartney (Canadian documentary)
4. NEW (Lyric video)
5. Queenie Eye (Music Video)
6. Something New (Documentary on the Making of "New")

A limited edition release to promote McCartney's concert in Japan, the price listed on Amazon (Japan) is ¥ 3,280.

Japan boxed set preordering

The boxed set image in a high resolution. Photo: Apple Corps Ltd/Universal Music Group
Here's some preordering information regarding the upcoming 5 CD boxed set from Japan. The Beatles Store Japan is unable to ship the boxed set out of the country, but you may order it from here:

SpinCDs.com: £ 149.99
Amazon.co.jp: ¥ 15,120
Amazon.com: $118.98


Details

Japanese original box set of The Beatles contains 5 albums released in Japan from 1964 through 1965. Each album artwork faithfully replicates the original Japanese album artwork, including obi and inner sleeve. Each album uses 2009 remaster (mono master: "Meet The Beatles," "The Beatles' Second Album" / stereo master: "A Hard Day's Night" / original stereo mix: "HELP!").
Following are the titles and release years: "Meet The Beatles (Japanese title: Beatles!) (1964)," "The Beatles' Second Album (Japanese title: Beatles No.2) (1964)," "A Hard Day's Night (Japanese title: Beatles ga Yattekuru Ya! Ya! Ya!) (1964)," "Beatles No.5 (1965)," and "HELP! (Japanese title: 4 Nin wa Idol) (1965)." Available for CD format for the first time in the world.
Comes with a 100-page (subject to change) booklet with Japanese contents. Deluxe box packaging. CDs are pressed in Japan and cardboard sleeves are made in Japan. According to these notes, the "Help!" title will be using the original sixties stereo mix, as included with the 2009 UK mono boxed set.

Released on June 25th, Spin CDs are expecting to have them on 30th June 2014, and the item will be dispatched on release. This is a limited edition release.

Friday 25 April 2014

Candlestick Park Revisited

Poster for Paul McCartney's concert in Candlestick Park
Yesterday, Paul McCartney announced another concert, at a well known venue. Candlestick Park was the stadium where the Beatles' final concert for a paying audience took place on August 29, 1966.

The Park’s capacity was 42,500, but only 25,000 tickets were sold, leaving large sections of unsold seats. Fans paid between $4.50 and $6.50 for tickets, and The Beatles’ fee was around $90,000. The show’s promoter was local company Tempo Productions.

The Beatles took 65% of the gross, the city of San Francisco took 15% of paid admissions and were given 50 free tickets. This arrangement, coupled with low ticket sales and other unexpected expenses resulted in a financial loss for Tempo Productions.

Candlestick Park was then the home of the baseball team the San Francisco Giants. The stage was located just behind second base on the field, and was five feet high and surrounded by a six-foot high wire fence.

The Beatles took to the stage at 9.27pm, and performed 11 songs: Rock And Roll Music, She’s A Woman, If I Needed Someone, Day Tripper, Baby’s In Black, I Feel Fine, Yesterday, I Wanna Be Your Man, Nowhere Man, Paperback Writer and Long Tall Sally.

The group knew it was to be their final concert. Recognising its significance, John Lennon and Paul McCartney took a camera onto the stage, with which they took pictures of the crowd, the rest of the group, and themselves at arm’s length.

A Candlestick Park "selfie"

Much of the existing film footage of the concert was captured in colour by a 15-year-old Beatles fan, Barry Hood. A relatively small amount of black-and-white footage was shot by local TV news in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento. Hood released some of his film in a documentary called The Beatles Live In San Francisco. A smaller quantity of Hood's same film was later released in a documentary called The Unseen Beatles. But the public has never seen all of Hood's rare Last Concert footage—which remains in a vault, unreleased and unseen by the public even today.

Now, Paul McCartney says his final "goodbye" to the ballpark, which will be closing forever. It was San Francisco's mayor, Ed Lee, who personally invited McCartney to close "the Stick" when Paul played at the Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park last year.

The poster for The Beatles' concert
There was a bit of speculation around whether McCartney would go for the offer, as he was also reportedly considering another venue for his concert in the bay area this year. McCartney's worldwide concert promoter, Barrie Marshall, toured Candlestick last month and let slip that they had just visited Levi's Stadium as part of negotiations with the Niners for an opening concert there in early August.
It seems they have now landed on a decision which has a greater historical significance. Perhaps they read the WogBlog? The announcement says: "Putting the rumor mill to rest, Paul has confirmed that he will indeed return to San Francisco August 14 to play Farewell to Candlestick: The Final Concert."

This once in a lifetime occasion is sure to be doubly bittersweet as Paul closes the same iconic venue where The Beatles played their final concert date on August 29, 1966. Of Paul’s most recent visit to San Francisco, headlining last year’s Outside Lands festival, the SF Weekly gushed, “One of pop music’s original supernovas... let us bask in its incredible warmth for the best part of three hours… The question of whether or not it was a ‘good’ show almost doesn’t apply — Paul McCartney… was good in a way that no other show could be.”

Demolition of the stadium is planned for late 2014 or early 2015.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

A Hard Day's Night UK Press release

Finally, the press release for UK. Photo: Second Sight Films/Metrodome.

We know, this is our second post today about the UK version of "A Hard Day's Night", but after posting the first one we managed to get hold of the UK press release for the film:

'Great band, great music, great film. Not only that, it remains a fascinating portrait of Britain on the cusp of change'**** Empire

'A fascinating picture of this country in 1964, with the Beatles as our cheerfully anarchic heroes, leading us out of austerity-era Britain with its stuffiness and complacency' The Guardian

'A relentlessly entertaining film that is not only the best film to feature The Beatles, but one of the finest British comedies of all time' Den of Geek

The year is 1964 and Beatlemania is in full swing. The biggest band on the planet are about to make their big screen debut. The film is A Hard Day's Night, a seminal piece of filmmaking that shows The Beatles as they've never been seen before.

To celebrate its 50th Anniversary the film will be presented in a new 4k digital restoration approved by director Richard Lester, with three audio options -a monoaural soundtrack in addition to newly created stereo and 5.1 surround mixes supervised by sound producer Giles Martin at Abbey Road Studios. The film will be in cinemas from 4 July 2014 on video-on-demand and available to download from 4 July followed by a special edition DVD and Blu-ray release on 21 July 2014, courtesy of Second Sight Films.

A Hard Day's Night will have an Extended Run at BFI Southbank from 4 July 2014, with a special preview and talk with Richard Lester on 3 July 2014. The UK theatrical release will be handled by Metrodome Distribution.

Director Richard Lester used his experience of working on television adverts combined with slapstick comedy, a nod to the French 'New Wave' movement and a documentary style, and alongside screenwriter Alun Owen created a unique and innovative film that went on to influence a whole generation of music videos and films.

A Hard Day's Night follows a 'typical' day in the life of the Fab Four as they try to make it to their big show. As the title track roles we see John, Paul, George and Ringo mobbed by a group of fervent fans as they catch a train to London along with their manager Norm (Norman Rossington -The Longest Day), his assistant Shake (John Junkin -Hooray For Laughter) and Paul's troublesome Grandfather (Wilfred Brambell -Steptoe and Son).

Aseries of hilarious escapades follow, with Grandfather bribing a butler for his clothes to go to a casino, Ringo leav­ing the band to go solo and ending up in a police station and John's disagreements with a disgruntled TV producer (Victor Spinetti -Help). Will the boy's make it in time for their big concert?
This is all set to a brilliant soundtrack of classic Beatles tracks including I Should Have Known Better, And I Love Her, Tell Me Why, If I Fell and Can't Buy Me Love, and features a stand out supporting cast including comedienne Anna Quayle, cartoonist Bob Godfrey, TV host Robin Ray, dancer Lionel Blair, Harrison's future wife Patti Boyd, and director Lester himself.

Bonus features: to be confirmed shortly

Title: A Hard Day's Night

Theatrical and Download Release Date: 4 July 2014

Release Date Blu-ray and DVD: 21 July 2014

Blu-ray:
Audio: LPCM mono, stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio Cat No: 2NDBR4035, RRP: £19.99

DVD:
Audio: Mono, Dolby Digital 2.0 /5.1 Cat No: 2NDVD3266, RRP: £15.99

So, it seems the UK Blu-ray release will be a stand alone product and not bundled with the DVD like the USA edition.

Europe: "A Hard Day's Night" for July

Photo taken while The Beatles filmed a scene for the movie trailer
While Criterion Collection has revealed plans for the upcoming remastered and restored USA edition of "A Hard Day's Night", UK distributor Second Sight Films have been silent, except for this announcement on their Facebook page: "A HARD DAYS NIGHT 50th Anniversary release is coming this Summer. The film will be in selected cinemas from July 4th when it will also begin an Extended Run of 2 weeks at BFI (British Film Institute) Southbank with a special preview and talk by Richard Lester on July 3rd. It will also be available to download from this date and be followed on July 21st by the Blu-ray and DVD release. More details will follow soon..."

This confirms the initial report by NME about the film being released on July 21st, which is a little less than a month after the USA release, on June 24th. Amazon (UK) still has not released the upcoming film for pre-ordering, and the film is still not announced on Second Sight Film's regular website. Formatwise, it is still unclear whether the European Blu-ray will be available on it's own, or if it will follow the pattern of the USA edition, where the Blu-ray is bundled with a regular DVD in a dual format package.

Dual format Blu-ray/DVD release from Criterion

Monday 21 April 2014

Macca reschedules Chile and drops Candlestick Park?

Latest edition of the U.S. tour poster
(SFGate.com) The 49ers are in talks with Paul McCartney to perform the opening concert at their new Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara - a move that would effectively yank the rug out from under San Francisco's plans for the music legend to headline a final send-off concert at Candlestick Park.
Mayor Ed Lee personally invited McCartney to close the Stick when the former Beatle played at the Outside Lands festival in Golden Gate Park last year.
The idea was to say goodbye to the ballpark where the Beatles played their final paid concert in 1966.
McCartney's reps and the city had been talking since Lee made the offer, and City Hall was convinced that the show was all but a done deal.
It all changed, however, when McCartney's envoys, including his worldwide concert promoter, Barrie Marshall, toured Candlestick last month and let slip that they had just visited Levi's Stadium as part of negotiations with the Niners for an opening concert there in early August.
It was a blindside hit that had city officials feeling betrayed.
Team execs insisted to San Francisco officials that they had been approached about hosting a McCartney show by Live Nation, the national promoter that has a financial stake in Sir Paul's management company.
Besides, the Niners said they had a fiduciary responsibility to their sponsors - including Levi's, which has a $220 million naming-rights deal at the stadium - to host a certain number of concerts a year.
"Classless" is how one San Francisco official greeted the Niners' play - which some see as the latest in a string of insults aimed at the city since owner John York announced in 2006 that the team was leaving town.
Sarah Ballard, spokeswoman for the city's Recreation and Park Department, which runs Candlestick, expressed disappointment at the prospect of losing the concert. But she steered clear of any name calling, noting that the decision on where to play was ultimately McCartney's.
Mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey said that regardless of how it all plays out, "the city is going to have a great farewell for Candlestick for the public." A representative for Live Nation said the company had no comment.
In a statement, the Niners said they book events on behalf of the Santa Clara Stadium Authority and "we continue to seek world-class sports and entertainment events that benefit the entire region."

Tonight's concert rescheduled

Meanwhile, McCartney has rescheduled tonight's concert in Chile. Due to a technical issue Paul McCartney is rescheduling the first night of a two night stint at the Movistar Arena in Chile. A plane carrying touring equipment failed to arrive in Santiago on time following a show in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Paul's Monday (21/4/14) concert will now be moved to Wednesday 23rd April.
Paul said:
“Though I'm upset that the jumbo jet carrying all my equipment for the show has gone technical and will not arrive in Santiago in time for the show tonight, I will not cancel the concert. I would hate to disappoint our great Chilean fans so we are moving the Monday show to Wednesday this week and looking forward to having a rocking time in Santiago.”

Sunday 20 April 2014

One After 909

Paul McCartney opened the 2014 edition of his ongoing tour in Uruguay

In Uruguay Paul McCartney played the following set list: Eight Days a Week, Save Us, All My Loving, Listen to What the Man Said, Let Me Roll It, Paperback Writer, My Valentine, 1985, The Long and Winding Road, Maybe I'm Amazed, I've Just Seen a Face, We Can Work It Out, Another Day, And I Love Her, Blackbird, Here Today, New, Queenie Eye, Lady Madonna, All Together Now, Lovely Rita, Everybody Out There, Eleanor Rigby, One After 909, Something, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Band On the Run, Back in the U.S.S.R., Let It Be, Live and Let Die, Hey Jude, Day Tripper, Hi, Hi, Hi, Get Back,Yesterday, Helter Skelter, Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End. The only difference from his November concerts was that "Being For The Benefit of Mister Kite" was replaced with "One After 909".
See the song on YouTube.
Before the concert, Liverpool FC striker Luis Suarez interviewed Sir Paul McCartney for Liverpool Echo.

Saturday 19 April 2014

Upcoming new underground Shea releases

Upcoming new release of the 1965 Shea Stadium material sounds promising. LP version depicted.
The word is out that the underground (= bootleg) label HMC (His Master's Choice) is due to release a number of interesting new Beatles products in the near future and that it will all start with a Shea Stadium film in the same quality as the few clips Apple let us see in their Anthology DVDs. We are talking about two different products here:
  • A "HMC Gazette" with a DVD + CD
  • A 12" Vinyl LP + CD package with a colour poster
Rumoured is that the DVD contains the unreleased 2005 stereo remaster of the film commissioned by Apple. The audio contents are not known at the time of writing. HMC (formerly known as Yellow Dog) is primarily known for audio only bootlegs, but they recently released their first DVD (the Delaney & Bonnie concert from Copenhagen), so this new Shea will be their second DVD release. Further DVD releases of rare Beatles stuff is expected from the company in the next few months.

Due to the fact that "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" never has been released in an official capacity except for a few clips from the film used in documentaries, the film keeps being exploited by various bootleggers as well as being traded among fans. The undoctored soundtrack was leaked to the Beatlesfan community a few years ago and has been frequently used as a secondary soundtrack to bootleg DVDs of the film.
A clip of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" was used to promote a collection of Capitol Albums in 2007.

Friday 18 April 2014

The Japan box - press release

Banner
Here's the official press release in English for the upcoming 5 CD boxed set of Japanese Beatles albums we announced yesterday:

A treasure box which enables us to have a virtual experience of Beatlemania in Japan

In January 2014, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles conquering America, “THE U.S. ALBUMS”, a 13 CD box-set of the US Capitol albums, was released. Within six months after that, this time “THE JAPAN BOX” is released, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ debut in Japan. “THE JAPAN BOX” will be a precious present for Japanese fans, especially the ones who have been fascinated by the group since the early 1960s.

The Japan Box
The release of the Beatles’ archive materials has been increasing recently. The starting point was the fall 2009, when 16 CD box-set “THE BEATLES BOX” was released and completed the digital remastering of all the 213 officially recording songs.

The current of such archive releases was as follows: As for audio material, a reproduction of 7-inch vinyl “Love Me Do” (2012), the vinyl LP edition of “THE BEATLES BOX” (2012), a compilation from the BBC radio sessions “ON AIR - LIVE AT THE BBC VOL.2” (2013) were released. New reissues by using the 2009 remaster also have been continued, such as “THE BEATLES 1962-1966” (2010), “THE BEATLES 1967-1970” (2010), “THE BEATLES 1” (2011), “YELLOW SUBMARINE SONGTRACK” (2011). It looks as if the 2009 remaster became the new standard of the Beatles’ sound.

These remastered CDs were often linked together with the digital download edition of them. In 2010, iTunes version of “THE BEATLES 1962-1966”, “THE BEATLES 1967-1970”, and iTunes only “SPECIAL DIGITAL THE BEATLES BOX”, featuring the concert film “LIVE AT THE WASHINGTON COLISEUM 1964”, were released. In 2011, “LOVE” (mash-up album), “THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY” (trilogy album) and “THE BEATLES 1” (best hit album) all became available on iTunes. Also “THE BEATLES USB BOX”, 24 bit apple-shaped USB drive, was released in the same year.

Materials only by digital download are increasing these days. Such examples are “ANTHOLOGY HIGHLIGHTS” (2011), the digest of “THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY” trilogy, “TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS” (2012), a compilation of heavy and psychedelic rock numbers, and “THE BEATLES BOOTLEG RECORDINGS 1963” (2013), a collection of unreleased studio recordings. The remastered album “LOVE” (2011) featured iTunes only bonus tracks, the “LOVE” versions of “Girl” and “The Fool On The Hill”. Thus, the release of the Beatles’ archive materials is progressing steadily and in multiform way.

As for the visual material, the newly remastered “MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR” (2012), Blu-ray version of “HELP!” (2013) were released and became the definitive edition of these movies.
Looking back upon the releases after 2009, I can say that “THE JAPAN BOX” is equally meaningful as “THE U.S. BOX”, and is the best “bonus track” for Japanese fans.

Since the Beatles’ albums were released on CD for the first time in 1987, only the UK albums and the US “MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR” have become standard and been considered as “canon”. But before 1987, a lot of original compilation LPs were produced worldwide, including Japan. Not only LPs, but also singles and EPs with original content had been produced in countries like Japan and the US. From February 1964 (when the Japanese debut album “BEATLES!” was released) to September 1965 (when the Japanese sixth album “HELP!” was released), 27 singles and 8 EPs had been originally compiled in Japan. Therefore many Japan-only hits were produced. These records released by the Japanese Odeon labels are still in very high profile among record collectors all over the world.

“THE JAPAN BOX” contains the first five titles of the Japanese original LPs reproduced as CDs. The titles have been out of print since the Beatles’ CDs first came out in 1987, so it is significant that they are now released on CD for the first time. Especially, reproducing the album “BEATLES!”, which has very strong contents and is one of the most well-known compilation LPs in the world, and “A HARD DAY’S NIGHT”, which has the Japanese original cover, is quite meaningful.

A Hard Day's Night
“THE JAPAN BOX” uses 2009 remaster sound. In particular, the titles “BEATLES!”, “BEATLES No.2” and “BEATLES No.5” are using 2009 mono remaster. As for packaging, all five titles are made of paper sleeve, reproduce even “obi” strips (especially legendary “half-obi”) and supplement posters. It’s a real “treasure box” that satisfies the curiosity of enthusiastic fans.

Kunihiko Fujimoto, April 2014

Help!
Interestingly, the one release which strays from using the 2009 Remastered versions is the final CD in the boxed set, "Help!" in stereo. In the release notes, this album uses both the 2009 remastered version as sound source, but also the original stereo mix.
As we know, the remastered "Help!" from the Beatles in Stereo box from 2009 replicated George Martin's 1987 remix of the album, whereas a remastered version of the original 1965 stereo mix was a bonus included with the remastered Beatles in Mono 2009 boxed set. Will the new Japanese "Help!" CD be a mixture of these two different mixes of the album?

The new boxed set is also listed at Amazon.co.jp but not yet at the official Beatles store in Japan.

Thursday 17 April 2014

Beatles CD boxed set for Japan

A 5 CD boxed set is due out in Japan
A 5-CD boxed set of original Japanese Beatles albums is due out in Japan on June 25th. The albums are: "Meet The Beatles" in mono, "The Beatles' Second Album" in mono, "A Hard Day's Night" in stereo, "Beatles no. 5" in mono and "Help! in stereo".
Meet The Beatles
The albums will have audio from the 2009 UK remasters (although it's indicated that the "Help!" album may have some unique stereo mixes), but the sleeves will be made like miniatures of these original Japanese Beatles albums.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Limited Edition. Catalogue no. UICY-76429/33
Estimated price ¥ 14,000
A one song promotional CD has been produced using the Japanese single-jacket for "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

The CDs will not be sold separately.
100 page Japanese booklet
Albums commentary / Japanese bilingual lyrics


Beatles! / Meet The Beatles

Japan Original Release Date: April 5, 1964
Mono (2009 Remastered sound source)

Tracks:
1. I Want To Hold Your Hand
2. She Loves You
3. From Me To You
4. Twist and Shout
5. Love Me Do
6. Baby It's You
7. Don't Bother Me
8. Please Please Me
9. I Saw Her Standing There
10. PS I Love You
11. Little Child
12. All My Loving
13. Hold Me Tight
14. Please Mister Postman


Beatles No.2 / Second Album


Japan Original Release Date: June 5, 1964
Mono (2009 Remastered sound source)

Tracks:
1. Can't Buy Me Love
2. Do You Want To Know A Secret
3. Thank You Girl
4. A Taste Of Honey
5. It Won't Be Long
6. I Wanna Be Your Man
7. There's A Place
8. Roll Over Beethoven
9. Misery
10. Boys
11. Devil In Her Heart
12. Not A Second Time
13. Money
14. Till There Was You


A Hard Day's Night


Japan Original Release Date: September 5, 1964
Stereo (2009 Remastered sound source)
Tracks:
1. A Hard Day's Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can't Buy Me Love
8. Any Time At All
9. I'll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'll Be Back


Beatles No.5


Japan Original Release Date: May 5, 1965
Mono (2009 Remastered sound source)
Tracks:
1. Long Tall Sally
2. Sie Liebt Dich
3. Anna
4. Matchbox
5. You Really Got A Hold On Me
6. She's A Woman
7. Ask Me Why
8. I Feel Fine
9. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
10. Chains
11. Slow Down
12. All I've Got To Do
13. I Call Your Name
14. This Boy


Help!

Japan Original Release Date: September 15, 1965 
Stereo (2009 Remastered sound source / original stereo mix)
Tracks:
1. Help!
2. The Night Before
3. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
4. I Need You
5. Another Girl
6. You're Going To Lose That Girl
7. Ticket To Ride
8. Act Naturally
9. It's Only Love
10. You Like Me Too Much
11. Tell Me What You See
12. I've Just Seen A Face
13. Yesterday
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy

Source: Universal Music Japan

Tuesday 15 April 2014

Patti Boyd in Norway

This image of George walking in the snow was selected as the main photo for the exhibition
A couple of weeks ago, Patti Boyd visited Norway for the first time, to open an exhibition of her photos and some memorabilia from her collection, at the Rockheim museum in my birth town of Trondheim. I went there, had a few words with her and a couple of autographs before enjoying the exhibition. Here's a few photos, not of her pictures but of some of the sixties dresses and outfits she had brought along to exhibit. Some of these are from the Apple boutique and some were designed by Marijke of The Fool.





In an interview, Patti explained that the outfits are a bit small these days...
My conversation with Patti was rather uneventful and fruitless, because we didn't really connect as people. However, a friend of mine managed to ask her about the song "Bye Bye Love" from George Harrison's Dark Horse album: Was she and Eric Clapton involved in the recording? Patti confirmed to him that they had indeed added some percussion to the track.

The exhibition runs until 31. August.

Website: Rockheim

Monday 14 April 2014

British Pathé Newsreels

Yesterday, British Pathé published an unprecedented 42 Beatles related news clips on their YouTube channel, totalling 2 hours and 44 minutes! We have arranged these into this playlist for your convenience:




  1. Selected Originals - The Beatles Come To Town - Technicolor & Techniscope (1963) 24:26
  2. The Beatles Come To Town - Two Stories - Technicolor & Techniscope (1963) 13:04
  3. Selected Originals - The Beatles Come To Town - Technicolor & Techniscope (1963) 5:13
  4. Selected Originals - The Beatles Come To Town - Technicolor & Techniscope (1963) 2:08
  5. THE BEATLES COME TO TOWN - Technicolor & Techniscope 6:17
  6. Beatles Singing in Concert and Backstage with the Fab Four (1963) 6:02
  7. Selected Originals - The Beatles Come To Town (1963) 3:05
  8. Let's All Be Beatles! (1963) 1:18
  9. Beatles Off To America (1964) 1:21
  10. Beatles Conquer America (1964) 1:46
  11. The Beatles Arrive In New York (1964) 1:01
  12. The Beatles Arrive In Washington (1964) 2:04
  13. Beatles Welcome Home (1964) 5:46
  14. Beatlemania Arrives (1964) 2:30
  15. Selected Originals - Beatles Welcome Home (1964) 10:37
  16. Beatles Take Over Holland (1964) 4:10
  17. The Beatles Leave For Australia (1964) 3:21
  18. The Beatles Arrive In New Zealand (1964) 2:14
  19. The Beatles Arrive Back In Australia (1964) 0:40
  20. The Beatles Wet Reception In Sydney (1964) 3:10
  21. The Beatles Performing In Sydney (1964) 9:50
  22. Beatles Conquer Aussies (1964) 2:23
  23. The Beatles A Hit In Australia (1964) 1:40
  24. Beatles Get Show Biz Top Award (1964) 4:21
  25. Selected Originals - Beatles Get Show Biz Top Award (1964) 0:07
  26. Duke Meets Beatles (1964) 1:35
  27. Hairstyles From Grandma To Beatles (1964) 1:13
  28. And The World Listened (1964) 10:04
  29. Beatles At Palace (1965) 1:14
  30. Beatles at the Palace 1:17
  31. Beatles Win Caroline Award (1965) 0:52
  32. Ringo Starr Visits Maternity Hospital To See His Baby (1965) 1:37
  33. Guess Who! (1965) 1:21
  34. The Beatles In Germany (1966) 10:22
  35. Beatles Like Home Best (1966) 0:50
  36. Beatles Boutique Aka Beatles' Apple Boutique Opens (1967) 1:20
  37. Rishikesh - Beatles With The Maharishi (1968) 2:25
  38. Revolution Fashion Show Aka Fashion Show At The Revolution (1968) 1:04
  39. John Lennon's Caravan (1967) 0:57
  40. Beatle Paul Weds (1969) 1:00
  41. John Lennon's Lithos On Show In Holland (1970) 1:51
  42. Review Of The Sixties (1970) 6:26

Saturday 12 April 2014

"Save Us" new single from "New"

The Queenie Eye single
It looks like Paul McCartney's album "New" gets a new single release in the form of the song "Save Us".  This will be the third single from the album, following the title track and "Queenie Eye".

The "New" single
Paul McCartney.com is having a competition where you can participate in the video for "Save Us". Of course, these days singles are no longer available to the general public in a physical format, they are merely sent out as promotional discs to radio stations. But you can always pick them up at ebay.

The physical "Save Us" disc was distributed to radio stations in February 

Paul McCartney and his band performing "Save Us" at BBC Radio 6 Music Live

The digital release of the track was on 31 March 2014, although it had already been available since the album release.

Friday 11 April 2014

The three Hello Goodbye videos

On the 10th of November 1967, The Beatles filmed three promotional films for Hello Goodbye at the Saville Theatre in London. Directed by Paul, film no. 1 saw the Beatles dressed up in their Sgt Pepper uniforms, and Ringo's drum kit was rather small. For film no. 2 they wore their everyday clothes, and film no 3 was put together of outtakes from the first two, with the Beatles hamming it up for the camera. Here's a snippet of film no. 3, courtesy of the Beatles' own YouTube channel:



The full length video of this is very rare, but we found a copy over at Dailymotion - in a not so good quality. The other two are more common, thanks to having been aired more frequently on TV. Number 1 was shown on Norwegian TV once in the eighties.
But we had a hard time finding the number 1 video on the internet, in fact we came up empty handed. It looks like most uploaders go for the Anthology edit, which is actually a fourth version - but more on that later.
Video no. 2 was distributed to TV stations when the Red and Blue albums were released on CD for the first time, in 1993. Unfortunately, Apple messed with the films, adding a blue border around the videos from the blue album and a red border for songs from the red album. Another version was borderless, but featured a rather big Apple logo on the screen.



Like we mentioned earlier, Apple also made a fourth version in the nineties, which was shown on the Anthology TV series. This was merely video no. 1 until the coda, then it switched to footage from video no. 3. In number 1, the coda just had those dancing girls, dancing until the song ends. For some reason, the Anthology edit also rendered the opening footage of the film in black and white, but not so in the version below.


If the rumoured "1"- themed Beatles music video compilation gets a release this autumn, it'll be interesting to find out which of the videos they will include. A completist would want them all, at least the first three.  

Thursday 10 April 2014

Wednesday 9 April 2014

A Hard Day's Night in Beatles store

The U.S.A. dual format edition
The Beatles' Facebook page promoted the upcoming new edition of the "A Hard Day's Night" film yesterday, and the product is now available for preordering over at the official U.S.A. Beatles store. They have it for $39.95 (dual format) or $19.95 (DVD). The DVD release will be region coded to only play in U.S.A. DVD players, unless you have a DVD player without a region lock. Still no word about a European version, though - and nothing on TheBeatles.com.

McCartney announces U.S. dates

Poster for the initial U.S. dates
Yesterday, Paul McCartney announced four concert dates in the U.S.A. for June and July. More are likely to follow. So we guess the European dates won't be until after the summer.
Ringo Starr is also touring North America in June and July, which means that Americans can catch two Beatles' concerts during the same week. Three of McCartney's announced concert dates are on days when Ringo and his All Starr Band are not performing, so they will be able to attend each other's concerts...

Tuesday 8 April 2014

The Beatles in the Netherlands

On the canals of Amsterdam. Photo: © Eddy Posthuma de Boer
"Yeah! yeah! yeah!: Twee dagen met The Beatles in de Polder" is a new book featuring Eddy Posthuma de Boer's photos of the Beatles in the Netherlands.
On June 4, 1964 the first Beatles World Tour started in Denmark. After that, the band came for two days to visit the Netherlands, before travelling to the Far East and Oceania. The group was not complete, as Ringo Starr was ill, and Jimmie Nicol was the replacement drummer. Still, the Netherlands was captured by Beatlemania. There was total madness in the country. Sixties Photographer Eddy Posthuma de Boer was present and took some ​​legendary photos that only recently have come to light. You can see some of the photos here.
The 56 page book also features an introduction by Hugh Skipper and text by Cees Nooteboom.

The book



Tuesday 1 April 2014

McCartney: New "New"

There's a new "New" coming.
Universal Music in Japan is to release a new edition of Paul McCartney's 2013 album "New", with a bonus DVD, "NEW - 2014 Japan Tour Edition". The CD will be the same edition as previously released album, including once again the Japan-only bonus track “Struggle”.
The DVD will be 80 minutes long and the contents are:

The Canadian documentary was also released on DVD last year in an exclusive CD+DVD package from the Target stores in USA. The "Something New" documentary has been previously shown on TV, it premiered on Palladia and VH1 Classic in December.
The new Japanese tour edition of "New" will be released on May 7th, just ten days before McCartney's concert in Tokyo.
Source: Universal Music Japan