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 31 July 2015

Tug / Pipes press release and commentary

For the first time since The Beatles, Paul hired George Martin to produce his albums.
MPL and the Concord Music Group are proud to announce two more landmark installments in the multiple GRAMMY-winning Paul McCartney Archive Collection. On October 2, 2015, Paul’s early ‘80s back-to-back classics Tug of War and Pipes of Peace will receive lavish multiple configuration reissue treatment including exclusive 2015 remixes of both the entire Tug of War album and the Pipes of Peace classic collaboration with Michael Jackson “Say Say Say,” a treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks and never before seen video, and much more.

Released in 1982, Tug of War was Paul’s first album following the break-up of Wings and his third solo LP overall. Hailed upon its release as “exquisitely crafted” by The New York Times and a “masterpiece” by Rolling Stone, Tug of War went to #1 in no less than nine countries. Tug of War yielded such classic tracks as Paul’s #1 duet with Stevie Wonder “Ebony and Ivory,” the top 10 single “Take It Away,” and of course “Here Today,” the conversation Paul never had with the late John Lennon that remains a staple of Paul’s live set to this day. Pipes of Peace, Paul’s fourth solo album, followed in 1983 and continued Paul’s early '80s run of platinum records. Singles from Pipes of Peace included the title track and of course Paul and Michael Jackson’s timeless “Say Say Say,” a multi-format global chart-topping smash continually cited as a landmark of that or any year--as recently as 2007, Vibe magazine rated “Say Say Say” as one of the greatest duets of all time.
As with the GRAMMY-winning Band On The Run and Wings Over America Archive editions, Paul personally supervised all aspects of these releases and their various formats, which include:

Special edition of Tug of War
Tug of War will be issued as a 2-CD Special Edition comprised of the 2015 remix of the entire album, plus a second disc of bonus audio featuring eight previously unreleased demos of both album tracks and outtakes “Stop, You Don’t Know Where She Came From” and “Something That Didn’t Happen,” as well as demo and solo versions of “Ebony and Ivory” and more.
DeLuxe edition of Tug of War

The Tug Of War 3-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition adds the original 1982 album mix and a DVD featuring original music videos for the album’s singles and the brand new 18-minute documentary “Fly TIA—Behind The Scenes on Take It Away” featuring previously unseen archival footage. In keeping with the award-winning Paul McCartney Archive Collection standards, the Tug Of War Deluxe Edition will include a 112-page essay book and 64-page scrapbook, while the strictly limited run of 1000 Super Deluxe sets will arrive in a limited edition acrylic slipcase with five hand numbered prints of images from the Linda McCartney archive.

Super DeLuxe Limited (1,000) edition of Tug of War
The Pipes of Peace 2-CD Special Edition is made up of the original album plus a 9-track bonus disc with such exclusive gems as a 2015 remix of “Say Say Say” by Spike Stent, unearthed demos of three album tracks and outtakes “It’s Not On” and “Simple As That,” the previously unreleased “Christian Bop” and more.
Special edition of Pipes of Peace

DeLuxe edition of Pipes of Peace

The 2-CD/1-DVD Pipes of Peace Deluxe Edition features a bonus video disc comprised of the original promo clips for all three of the album’s singles, plus previously unreleased clips from Paul’s film archives. The Deluxe configuration will also include a 112-page essay book and 64-page book that takes the reader behind the scenes on the “Pipes of Peace” title track video shoot.

From the Pipes of Peace music video
Both albums and their companion bonus audio discs will also be released as 2-LP 180-gram audiophile vinyl editions complete with gatefold sleeves and download cards. The newly remixed and mastered Tug of War and remastered Pipes of Peace will also receive standard and Hi Res digital releases, as well deluxe digital and Hi Res releases featuring all bonus audio.
2LP vinyl edition of Tug of War

2LP vinyl edition of Pipes of Peace
Tug of War and Pipes of Peace are the newest installments in the acclaimed and ongoing Paul McCartney Archive Collection. The inaugural release in the series, the Deluxe Edition of Paul McCartney and Wings’ 1973 milestone Band on the Run, won the 2010 GRAMMY Award for Best Historical Album, while the Deluxe Edition Box Set of the 1976 classic live collection Wings Over America took the 2013 GRAMMY for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package. Previous releases in this ambitious reissue program encompassing 41 years of timeless material from the most successful songwriter and recording artist of all time include solo works McCartney and McCartney II, Paul and Linda McCartney’s RAM, and Wings’ Venus and Mars and At The Speed Of Sound.

iTunes pre orders:
Tug of War
Pipes of Peace
Pre order physical formats and non-iTunes downloads here.


Commentary:

What's new about this installment of the Archive Collection (apart from introducing the concept of a "super" deluxe limited edition), is that Paul has remixed an entire album. And it's the newly remixed edition which will be the only version available in the standard (aka "Special") edition of "Tug of War", as well as on the 2LP vinyl set. McCartney wouldn't have gone to the step of remixing "Tug of War" unless he was unhappy with the original mix. Of all his albums, "Tug of War" seems to have a special place in McCartney's mind. Unlike his other albums, both the original CD release and the 1993 remastered edition of the album was kept clean from bonus tracks, thus preserving the integrity of the song collection featured on the album. This is a step further, remixing this album to create the ultimate edition.

Remixing a stereo album means that you can tamper with each instrument's and each vocal's volume and placement in the stereo picture. You may also bring into the mix instruments or vocals that were mixed low or muted when the original mix was made. If the remix is a radical one, you may even record new, additional vocals and/or instruments to introduce into the mix. This has probably not been done here.

For The Beatles circle, remixing seem to be a temporary thing. The 1999 release of The Beatles "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" brought great, remixed stereo versions of the songs in the collection, 2000's "1" reverted to the old sixties stereo mix. Yoko Ono remixed John Lennon's entire catalogue back in the early 2000's but the catalogue reverted to Lennon's original mixes for the Signature box in 2010 and the most recent vinyl Lennon boxed set also uses the original mixes.

Initially, the 2006 soundtrack to Cirque du Soleil's Beatles tribute "Love" was going to feature original songs from The Beatles' catalogue in new stereo remixes, but the project developed further. Giles Martin: "To begin with, it was just going to be the Beatles remixed, and the idea of chopping and changing didn't really come to fruition until we tried stuff out. Apple are the four Beatles' families, so we played them to Paul, to Ringo, to Yoko, to Olivia Harrison, and they gave the green light for the whole thing to go ahead".
If you ask me, the entire Beatles catalogue should be remixed in stereo, as the sixties version of stereo mixing was highly experimental, as well as severely limited by the non-availability of multitracks, apart from the original twin, four and eight track consoles of the day. Now that Giles Martin has made multitracks by digitally separating instruments, a more modern version of stereo as well as surround sound can be accomplished.

But back to the "Tug of War" album. It's not mentioned in the press release who the remix engineer is, but it seems that Paul himself was remixing the album at his studio at The Mill, according to a May interview in Q magazine. He even sought the advice of the Q journalist, playing for him the remixed "Ballroom Dancing". Apart from the "Tug of War" album, another remix is being included with "Pipes of Peace", a 2015 remix of Paul's hit duet with Michael Jackson, "Say say say". remixed by Spike Stent. This does not replace the original mix of "Say say say" on the "Pipes of Peace" album, but is included as a track on the accompanying bonus disc.

As a video collector, I am always looking forward to see the track lists of DVDs included with the McCartney Archives Collection DeLuxe editions. And I keep getting disappointed. Where in the past we would get the unreleased "One Hand Clapping" film, we just keep getting ultra short documentaries and previously released music videos. What I'm most looking forward to see in this new collection is the behind the scenes look at the filming of the "Take It Away" music video. Wings Fun Club members were invited to participate as an audience for the concert scenes in the music video, and were treated to an impromptu concert by McCartney and his band, which were assembled especially for that particular scene. Paul sang songs like "Lucille,"  "Twenty Flight Rock,"  and "Searchin’" during the warm up. Fun Club member Margaret Dreyton reported from the event in the Wings Fun Club magazine, "Club Sandwich", and you can read her full report reproduced at the excellent "Meet The Beatles For Real" site.

I have to admit that I actually have bypassed the DeLuxe editions of "Venus & Mars" and "Speed of Sound" so far, although I'm still planning on acquiring them at some point in time. I wonder how many other McCartney fans have jumped off the Archives train during it's journey? Shelf space and economy are contributing factors in this equation. Hi-res digital audio files are the dominating formats for audio aficionados of today, and the source for modern domestic playback of music. I still plan on getting the new "Tug of War" DeLuxe, as it was a very important album for me back in 1982 when I was twenty. It was the soundtrack for that summer for me, a summer when I actually met Paul McCartney himself, the day after the "Take It Away" video had been shown on "Top of the Pops" for the first time. I'll pass on spending 85 extra £'s for five hand numbered photos and an acrylic box, thank you very much.

Thursday 30 July 2015

Tug of War & Pipes of Peace - full details

Tug of War: Archive edition.

Release date: October 2, 2015.

Tug of War will not only be made available as a Deluxe edition, but also as a SUPER Deluxe edition, limited to 1,000 copies worldwide. (Update: Official press release, including package shots and video ads)

Disc 1 (All tracks: Remixed 2015):
  1. Tug Of War
  2. Take It Away
  3. Somebody Who Cares
  4. What's That You're Doing?
  5. Here Today
  6. Ballroom Dancing
  7. The Pound Is Sinking
  8. Wanderlust
  9. Get It
  10. Be What You See (Link)
  11. Dress Me Up As A Robber
  12. Ebony And Ivory
Playing time: 41:10

Disc 2 (All tracks: Original mix. Remastered 2015):
  1. Tug Of War
  2. Take It Away
  3. Somebody Who Cares
  4. What's That You're Doing?
  5. Here Today
  6. Ballroom Dancing
  7. The Pound Is Sinking
  8. Wanderlust
  9. Get It
  10. Be What You See (Link)
  11. Dress Me Up As A Robber
  12. Ebony And Ivory
Disc 3 (All tracks: Remastered 2015):
  1. Stop, You Don't Know Where She Came From (Demo)
  2. Wanderlust (Demo)
  3. Ballroom Dancing(Demo)
  4. Take It Away (Demo)
  5. The Pound Is Sinking (Demo)
  6. Something That Didn't Happen (Demo)
  7. Ebony And Ivory (Demo) 
  8. Dress Me Up As a Robber / Robber Riff (Demo)
  9. Ebony And Ivory (Solo Version) (Previously only released on the 12" vinyl single in 1982)
  10. Rainclouds (Previously released as the B-side to "Ebony And Ivory")
  11. I'll Give You A Ring (Previously released as B-side to the "Take It Away" single)
Playing time: 36:00

DVD:
  1. Tug of war (Music video version 1)
  2. Tug of war (Music video version 2)
  3. Take it away (Music video)
  4. Ebony & Ivory (Music video)
  5. Fly TIA – Behind the scenes of Take it away (18 minutes documentary)

Recorded from October 1980 to December 1981 with George Martin producing, the project was interrupted by the murder of John Lennon. New recording sessions 3 February to 2 March on Montserrat in George Martin's Air Studio with Stevie Wonder, Carl Perkins, Stanley Clarke and Ringo Starr. Recording sessions then continued at George Martin's Air Studios in London.

Formats:
  1. Standard. 2 CD (remixed and bonus)
  2. Deluxe. 3 CD (remixed, original, bonus) + DVD + 112 pages book and 64 pages scrapbook. Includes Hi-Res download of CD 1 & 3
  3. Super deluxe. Like 2, plus: acrylic box and 5 hand numbered photos 8”x10” from Linda McCartney's archives. Limited to 1.000 copies (worldwide).
  4. Vinyl. 2 LP remixed and bonus includes high quality mp3 of CD 1 & 3
  5. Download standard-res (remixed) no e-book
  6. Download standard-res (remixed) includes e-book
  7. Download standard-res (remixed) (mastered for iTunes) no e-book
  8. Download Hi-res (remixed) 24 bit 96kHz includes e-book
  9. Download standard- res (remixed & bonus) no e-book
  10. Download standard- res (remixed & bonus) includes e-book
  11. Download standard- res (remixed & bonus) (mastered for iTunes) includes e-book
  12. Download Hi- res (remixed & bonus) 24 bit unlimited includes e-book

For promotional purposes, a radio special has been produced, as well as a video film. Also, "Take it away" (single edit) (2015 remaster) will be used in some way, perhaps as a download from PaulMcCartney.com.

Pipes of Peace: Archive edition
Release date: October 2, 2015.

Disc 1 (All tracks: Remastered 2015)
  1. Pipes of peace
  2. Say say say
  3. The other me
  4. Keep under cover
  5. So bad
  6. The man
  7. Sweetest little show
  8. Average person
  9. Hey hey
  10. Tug of peace
  11. Through our love
Playing time: 38.58

Disc 2 (Bonus CD)
  1. Average person (Demo)
  2. Keep under cover (Demo)
  3. Sweetest little show (Demo)
  4. It’s not on (Demo)
  5. Simple as that (Demo)
  6. Say say say (New 2015 remix)
  7. Ode to a kola bear (B-side of the "Say say say" single)
  8. Twice in a lifetime (Bonus from the 1993 CD, a title song from a movie)
  9. Christian bop
Playing time: 32:00

DVD
  1. Pipes of peace (Music video)
  2. So bad (Music video)
  3. Say say say (Music video)
  4. Hey hey in Montserrat (Home video 3 minutes)
  5. Behind the scenes at AIR (6 minutes)
  6. The man (Home video 4 minutes)

The recording sessions started during the previous album, "Tug of War" and continued in September-October 1982 and February-July 1983.

Formats:
  1. Standard. 2 CD (remaster and bonus)
  2. Deluxe. 2 CD (remaster, bonus) + DVD + 112 pages book and 64 pages book about the Pipes of peace music video. Includes Hi-Res download of cd 1 & 2
  3. Vinyl. 2 LP remaster and bonus, includes high quality mp3 of the CDs
  4. Download standard-res (remastered) no e-book
  5. Download standard-res (remaster) includes e-book
  6. Download standard-res (remaster) (mastered for iTunes) includes e-book
  7. Download Hi-res (remaster) 24 bit 96kHz includes e-book
  8. Download standard- res (remaster & bonus) no e-book
  9. Download standard- res (remaster & bonus) includes e-book
  10. Download Hi- res (remaster & bonus) 24 bit unlimited includes e-book

Paul has remixed "Say Say Say" in a 2015 version. A completely new video without neither Paul nor Michael Jackson has been made, but is not yet ready for publication. In some way,  "Say say say" (12" single mix), "Say say say" (instrumental) and "Simple as that" will be used, possibly as downloads from PaulMcCartney.com

A radio special has been produced for promotional purposes.

It's clear that the "Pipes of Peace" project is somewhat smaller than the "Tug of War" project. "Tug of War" has always been a favourite album for Paul, and he made sure that the album's integrity was preserved for earlier CD releases by not including bonus tracks to the album lineup.

Those of you who were around back in 1984 may recall that Paul and Michael Jackson's duet "The Man" was seriously considered as a third single from "Pipes of Peace" and it was rumoured that these plans had come so far that a music video was produced. An enterprising video bootlegger did put together a collage video for the song back in the eighties, but the real video never leaked. As you can see, neither a single mix nor a music video for that song have been provided as part of this package. However, the home video for "The Man" included here may provide said single mix or footage from the scrapped music video. Or it may just be the regular track with home video footage of Paul and Michael doing the dishes.

Doing the dishes.

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Help! turns fifty

29. July, 1965: Help! premieres at the London Pavilion. 
50 years ago, the Beatles' second motion picture "Help!" premiered at the London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus, London, with The Beatles in attendance. Princess Margaret was there, too, making it a "Royal" world premiere, as the ticket says.

The Premiere
Crowds began to gather at 8:00 a.m., and by evening ten thousand fans were gathered outside to see Paul, George and Ringo arrive in a black Rolls-Royce; John’s Rolls-Royce delayed twenty minutes because of the crowd surge. Inside the Pavilion the band met Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, who had held off their summer holiday for the event. After the screening, The Beatles appeared at the supper party at the Orchid Room of the Dorchester Hotel attended by most of the film’s principals, including director Richard Lester, and co-stars Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, Leo McKern, and Roy Kinnear. The movie was a box-office success with overall good reviews. The BBC television show Top Of The Pops also showed a clip from the film on this evening.

"Help!" actor Victor Spinetti revealed in his book that the late Princess Margaret (born 1930) was no stranger to one night stands in London hotel rooms. She was to divorce her husband in the late seventies.
Anniversary screening
For the anniversary, the South Pasadena Library in California will host a free screening of the film tomorrow, on July 30. The film is rarely being screened publically any more, but the South Pasadena Library arranged this event with special permission from the Beatles company, Apple Corps Ltd. The commercial Blu-ray will be used as source for the screening. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. No tickets or reservations are required.

On Home Video
"Help!" was released several times in different video formats by MPI Home Video and The Criterion Collection in the USA, VCI in the UK and numerous companies elsewhere in the world. On VHS, a version was released in USA during February 1987 through MPI, and was followed by a special-edition release on 31 October 1995. MPI also issued a CLV laserdisc in 1995 and two releases on DVD, the first as a single DVD release on 12 November 1997 and the second as part of The Beatles DVD Collector's Set on 8 August 2000. The DVD releases were only for the USA market, and DVDs of the film were unavailable elsewhere in the world, including the UK.

At the film premiere, same suits and bow ties, it seems, as for the premiere of their first film.
LaserDisc releases include a Criterion CAV laserdisc and a Voyager CLV laserdisc in 1987, each of which had three pressings. The first pressings had no UPC on the gatefold covers while the other two had the UPC either as a sticker or printed directly on the jacket.

In July 2007, all home video versions of the film were pulled from the market because of rights issues involving Apple Corps – now the full rights holders to the film. Apple Corps/EMI/Capitol released a new double DVD version with a fully restored film negative and newly remixed in 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround sound of the film. This came in standard 2xDVD packaging and 2xDVD deluxe edition box set on 30 October 2007 in the UK and 6 November 2007 in America. This release contained new featurettes, three trailers (one of which is in Spanish), and a few radio ads carried over from the Criterion LaserDisc issue. The film was released on Blu-ray format in June 2013 by Universal Music, using the 2007 restoration, this was the first Beatles release after The Beatles had left EMI for Universal Music.

Home movies
Sadly, no outtakes from the film exists. When director Richard Lester visited Twickenham Film Studios around 1970 to retrieve the cutting room floor footage from his films, he learned that all outtakes from both "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" had been destroyed only months earlier. However, there are some home movies which were made by members of the film crew and others during the shooting of the film.

1988 VHS release "The Making of Help!"
Four 8mm film silent reels of home movies from the shooting of "Help!" were purchased in an auction and released by a very anonymous company in 1988 as an 18 minute VHS film, housed in a film can. The same material was released on DVD in 2006.

2006 DVD release "The Making of Help!"
A 15:34 version of this film (speed variation may be the cause of the length discrepancy) exists on YouTube.

In April 2015, author of the new "Help!" book, "Eight Arms To Hold You" (one of the film's working titles) Simon Wells published on YouTube this home movie footage of a solo John scene on bike in the swimming pool in Bahamas:



Fact for nerds
Throughout "Help!", Ringo is seen playing his drum kit adorned with the "drop T" Beatles logo. In nearly all the scenes, the bass drum head logo is variation no. 4 (there were seven different variations of the bass drum logo throughout the sixties), which was used from May 31, 1964, straight through to August 1, 1965. The exception is the scene where they are recording "You're Going To Lose That Girl", where "drop-T" drum head no. 3 – The "A Hard Days Night" head is employed.

Tuesday 28 July 2015

The Beatles with Pete ...and Ringo

John, Paul, George, Pete ...and Ringo at the Tower ballroom. Photo: Dick Matthews
Take a close look at this photo. It's possibly the only photo of The Beatles with both their drummers, Pete Best and Ringo Starr. The photo was probably taken on Friday, 8 December 1961, a date when both The Beatles and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes performed at the Tower ballroom. In the photo, Paul is easily recognised as the second person on the right side, directly above him is the back of Pete Best with his drums, making eye contact with and perhaps addressing a bearded Ringo Starr. On the far end of the stage, George Harrison can be recognised by his ears (holding his guitar?) and he seems to be talking to John, who has his back to the photographer and is partly obscured by another person, also with his back to the camera. Click the photo for a closer look.

Same photo with The Beatles identified.
Thanks to Peter Hodgson for alerting us to the people appearing in this photo. More photos from this date are available on this Beatlesource page.

Beatles photo exhibition in London - and app

Sample photos from the exhibition.
An exhibition in London displaying a hand-selected collection of 20 limited edition prints taken during the Beatles 1964 visit to America is currently being held at 40 Dean Street, Soho, London W1D 4PX.
Images can be viewed and purchased at the exhibition or online at: Beatlesfotos.com. The exhibition is open until August 10.

Firefly, the company behind the exhibition, is also offering an app which takes you behind the scenes on The Beatles first visit to America, including rare photographs, commentary and interactive maps.

Here's their description of the app:
Photographer Joe Allen followed the young Beatles for the full two weeks of their first visit to America in February 1964. He recorded their every move, including personal moments sight-seeing, relaxing on the beach and reading reviews of their own shows on their journeys across the country.

We chart their famous arrival at JFK airport in New York where the band was shocked to be greeted by five thousand fans, to the moment the band meet the 22 year-old Muhammad Ali, then called Cassius Clay. Clay would that month be named heavyweight boxing world champion after a shock win over Sonny Liston.

Other key sections of the app include:
  • Interactive Maps showing key locations of the Beatles tour, with details on the cities they visited and what activities and performances they had in each location.
  • Day by Day Tour featuring rare photographs and slideshows from the locations the Beatles visited, with exclusive backstage access.
  • Watch The Beatles allows on demand access to fascinating Beatles documentaries for just £1.49 in-app.
More about the app here.

Monday 27 July 2015

The Beatles at Abbey Road revisited

Coming up from HMC: TMOQ Gazette #21
Between July and September 1983, for the first time the doors to Abbey Road's famous studio 2 were opened to the public. They were treated to a tour of the studio and a 90-minute audio-visual show, "The Beatles At Abbey Road". Your WogBlog host was there, enjoying biscuits and soft drinks, while I was able to check out the studio for the first time - and eventually we were seated for the specially prepared video. It was the closest I had been to heaven at the time, as images of the Beatles appeared on the big screen, many of the films still unknown to me, accompanied by a narrator (Capital Radio DJ Roger Scott) and the Beatles voices in the studio where they were recorded. We were also treated to some outtakes and songs which no fans had yet heard at the time. And the sound coming out of the Abbey Road speakers made it sound as if they were there in the room with us. The reason for opening their doors to the public was that the control room at Abbey Road Studio 2 was due for an overhaul, to enable the installation of updated recording equipment. So the studio couldn't be used for bookings during the installation time, and Abbey Road Studios would lose money. With ticket receipts as an incentive, EMI took the unprecendent step of throwing open the doors to Studio 2 during the 'down-time', and allow the fans in.

A ticket to ride
The new underground DVD+CD release from His Master's Choice commemorates "The Beatles at Abbey Road" 1983 event. Actually, a bootleg video of "The Beatles at Abbey Road" has been in circulation among collectors since some time in the late eighties, as I recall. This new presentation draws in different sources to enhance the presentation and upgrade the film, as well as provide a stereo soundtrack. They also boast about some hitherto unseen video material. Some of that material may be what we have previously featured samples from in this blog, as offerings from Revolver Video. There's also new footage from "Hey Jude", "A Day In The Life", "Rain" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", as well as the 1966 Ed Sullivan show with "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" in full colour and in stunning quality. As a bonus, you’ll also find some black and white footage from the "And I Love Her" sessions from Studio 2 at Abbey road, previously shown on SAT3 German television.

Here's the track list of the DVD:

1. Introduction
2. Love Me Do *
3. How Do You Do It? *
4. I Saw Her Standing There
5. Twist and Shout
6. One After 909
7. A Hard Day's Night
8. Leave My Kitten Alone (unheard at the time)
9. I'm A Loser
10. She's A Woman
11. Ticket To Ride *
12. Help!
13. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
14. I'm Looking Through You
15. Paperback Writer *
16. Rain *
17. Penny Lane *
18. Strawberry Fields Forever **
19. A Day In The Life *
20. A Day In The Life **
21. Hello Goodbye *
22. Lady Madonna *
23. Hey Jude
24. Hey Jude **
25. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (acoustic, unheard at the time)
26. Because
27. #9 Dream

Bonus tracks:
1. Rain **
2. Paperback Writer
3. Ed Sullivan introduces: **
4. Paperback Writer **
5. Rain **
6. The Beatles at Abbey Road **
- I Should Have Known Better
- And I Love Her

* = Where possible, upgraded clips have been inserted
** = These tracks contain previously unseen footage or significant upgrades
Tracks 20 and 24 were originally silent. Alternate song versions were added to enhance your enjoyment of these clips.

The audio CD contains complete takes of all the songs from the video - except "#9 Dream". Extra are the "Thank Your Lucky Stars" sketches 1 & 2 from the 14th November, 1964 show. Also there's a rare mix of "Good Morning, Good Morning" with German words at the end of the song, and from the John Barrett tapes, a version of "Octopus’ Garden".

CD track list:
1. Thank Your Lucky Stars Sketch #1
2. Love Me Do (Take 18)
3. How Do You Do It? (Unedited mono)
4. I Saw Her Standing There (Takes 6, 9, 11 & 12)
5. Twist And Shout (Edit)
6. One After 909 (Take 4)
7. Don't Bother Me
8. A Hard Day's Night (Composite: Takes 2, 3a & 9)
9. Leave My Kitten Alone (Take 5)
10. I'm A Loser (Take 8)
11. She's A Woman (Take 1)
12. Ticket To Ride (Take 1/ Take 2)
13. Help! (Take 5 - instrumental)
14. This Bird Has Flown ((Take 1 - 10/12/65)
15. I'm Looking Through You (Take 1)
16. Paperback Writer (Take 2, RM 2)
17. Rain (Take 7 / RS 1)
18. Penny Lane (Take 9, RS1)
19. Strawberry Fields Forever
20. A Day In The Life (Takes 1, 7 & 26, Barrett mix)
21. Hello Goodbye (Take 22, RS 4)
22. Hey Jude (Take 9, incomplete)
23. Lady Madonna (RS from take 4) (stereo)
24. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Unedited take 1)
25. Because (Take 16 - Barrett mix)
26. Thank Your Lucky Stars Sketch #2
27. Octopus' Garden
28. Guten Morgen, guten Morgen

Front and back of the 24 pages booklet housing the discs.

The package is supposedly due out in Europe this week.

Sunday 26 July 2015

Eight Arms To Hold You available for pre-ordering

Eight Arms To Hold You - a photo book from the shooting of "Help!"
As reported earlier, "Eight Arms To Hold You" (not to be confused with Chip Madinger's and Mark Easter's book from 2000, "Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium") features both rare and unseen photos and materials from the movie Help!, drawn from archives on all four corners of the planet. The project has renowned Beatles researcher and author Simon Wells (Beatles 365 Days and Beatles Japan) on board to curate and narrate the story, with specialist forensic art and photography restorer, Paul Skellett handling the full image remastering process. This is a meticulously researched and restored Beatles book, with support from Rex Features Archive, The British Film Institute, The Pete Nash Collection, The Mark Hayward Collection, The Vincent Vigil Collection, The Cavern Club, The Beatles Story Museum, The Hard Days Night Hotel, The Beatles Fest and many other private collectors.
Richard Lester, director of "Help!" has also lent his assistance in releasing parts of his private collection (including the original hand noted script) as well as being part of the book's final approval process.

"Eight Arms To Hold You" includes photos taken by Richard Lester, Robert Freeman, Michael Peto, Emilio Lari, Gisa Kothe, Jerrold F. Hilton and Karl Höfner.

The crowd funded 180 pages hardcover book will be published by Archivum in the UK on 29 July 2015 and Wonderland Publications on November 30, 2015 in USA. It is now available to pre-order from Amazon (UK) as well as from Amazon.com.

The photos from The Vincent Vigil Collection go to Cleveland: Mr Vigil has signed an exclusive contract with the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and Museum, and his prints from "Help!" will eventually reside in their permanent collection.

Beatles newsreels let loose

British Movietone/Associated Press have launched their own YouTube channel and are uploading new footage daily. For Beatles buffs, here's a query link to the channel's Beatles related films. Beatles film collectors are already reporting a few new upgrades to what's been circulating earlier. Here's a sample film:



Just as was the issue with the Pathe newsreels (which were made available on YouTube from April 2014), the curators of the archives have not been very careful about speed issues when uploading, as a number of the films uploaded are not appearing at their proper speeds. Beatles amateur film restorers no doubt will step in and correct this to provide fellow collectors with more accurate representations of the films.

McCartney Archives: Tug of War track list

Archive edition: Tug of War

Looks like the cat is out of the bag as far as the contents of disc 2 of the archive edition of Paul McCartney's "Tug of War" album is concerned. The eager listers over at Amazon have listed the "deluxe" digital edition of the Tug Of War album, and it has a release date of October 2, 2015.

Disc 1 (All tracks: Remixed 2015):
  1. Tug Of War
  2. Take It Away
  3. Somebody Who Cares
  4. What's That You're Doing?
  5. Here Today
  6. Ballroom Dancing
  7. The Pound Is Sinking
  8. Wanderlust
  9. Get It
  10. Be What You See (Link)
  11. Dress Me Up As A Robber
  12. Ebony And Ivory

Disc 2 (All tracks: Remastered 2015):
  1. Stop, You Don't Know Where She Came From (Demo)
  2. Wanderlust (Demo)
  3. Ballroom Dancing(Demo)
  4. Take It Away (Demo)
  5. The Pound Is Sinking (Demo)
  6. Something That Didn't Happen (Demo)
  7. Ebony And Ivory (Demo) 
  8. Dress Me Up As a Robber / Robber Riff (Demo)
  9. Ebony And Ivory (Solo Version) (Previously only released on the 12" vinyl single in 1982)
  10. Rainclouds (Previously released as the B-side to "Ebony And Ivory")
  11. I'll Give You A Ring (Previously released as B-side to the "Take It Away" single)

The digital edition does not list the DVD contents, so what's coming there is of course still unavailable. Also, the corresponding "Pipes of Peace" album has not been listed.

It looks as if the archive scheduling (and possibly contents) has been overhauled lately, as the releases of "Tug of War" and "Pipes of Peace" indicate that the initial schedule has been revised since the schedule was first leaked back in 2011. The original schedule had the following albums planned before Tug/Pipes: Linda McCartney's "Wide Prairie", Wings' "Wild Life", "Red Rose Speedway", "London Town", "Back to the egg" and "Wings Live 1979" (a completely new release).

Thursday 23 July 2015

Let It Be will not be out this year

Still not ready for prime time: Let It Be.
In a recent birthday interview with Access Hollywood, Ringo was asked a question which we at WogBlog are very interested in: Is the "Let It Be" movie ever going to see the light of day? Ringo had this to say:
"Well, it'll see the light of day, everything sees the light of day, you know. And ... yeah I'm sure it will come out, it's not planned for this year. But yeah, it'll be out".

So that means the vendors of bootleg DVDs of various versions of the "Let It Be" film still can carry on their business, at least throughout this year.

One of our readers, Tom Weber sent us this list of Beatles related films he would like to see released on DVD or Blu-ray:

1. The Beatles Let It Be
2. The Beatles at Shea Stadium
3. Lennon: Rock'n'Roll Circus - Blu-ray cleaned up
4. The Beatles: singles videos including alternate versions
5. Harrison: Tour 1974 or at least a full Japan concert from 1992
6. Lennon: Double Fantasy studio film
7. McCartney: Wings at the Hague 1972
8. The Beatles: Anthology Blu-ray wide screen with upgraded videos

Saturday 18 July 2015

An update on Lennonology

THE TIME HAS COME THE WALRUS SAID...

Fifteen years in the making, the first volume of the LENNONOLOGY series is near realization. Strange Days Indeed—A Scrapbook Of Madness is a day-by-day account of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's artistic and personal partnership from 1968-1980 that will transport the reader back in time to accompany John and Yoko as their future unfolds.

A painstakingly researched collection, Strange Days Indeed—A Scrapbook Of Madness has been written in the form of a daily journal, and weaves oral history together with narrative and contemporary graphic material to provide the most accurate and unbiased portrait of the Lennons' lives and art ever produced.

Such an important release is deserving of a deluxe treatment, and keeping that in mind, 500 hardbound copies will be produced, the first 250 of which will be signed and numbered. In addition to the hardback edition, production will be limited to 1500 softbound copies.

However, to make this book a reality will require the advance support of a minimum number of readers. We humbly request that if you are interested in supporting LENNONOLOGY and wish to guarantee the publication of this unprecedented reference, that you reserve your copy of Volume One at this time.

Interest in this book has been considerable, and we expect that the hardback edition will be fully subscribed prior to publication. A release date of October 9th has been established to align with what would have been John's 75th birthday.

Pre-orders will be accepted at www.lennonology.com beginning at 12:00 EST on Saturday, July 25th. Additional details regarding tiers of support and premiums will be forthcoming.

Thursday 16 July 2015

Rain footage



Those naughty people at Revolver Records and Video have done it again! Set to an extended version of "Rain", here are outtakes from the filming of the "Rain" video. We'd also like to draw your attention to a previously released video from the outfit, outtakes from the "I Am The Walrus" sequence from "Magical Mystery Tour":



This has been a repost of an item we posted at our other blog, The Beatles Video blog, earlier today.

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Full Budokan concert with McCartney

Advertisement for the TV broadcast.
11 July, the full 28 April concert with Paul McCartney from Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo was televised in Japan. The full concert is now available on YouTube in high quality. This was the debut performance of the Beatles song "Another Girl".

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Tug / Pipes for September

coming in September, according to Music Tap
According to the website Music Tap the next two releases in Paul McCartney's series from the archives are set for release September 18, 2015, which usually means the day before in Europe and the Friday before in Germany. it has now been confirmed that the two albums in question will indeed be  "Tug of War" and "Pipes of Peace". The two albums was the product of a reunion of Paul McCartney and the old Beatles producer, George Martin. Martin suggested that Paul strayed from his usual gang of musicians, Wings, and instead recruited musicians who suited the songs he was going to record. Denny Laine from Wings was still part of the proceedings, which also included Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Carl Perkins, Steve Gadd, Eric Stewart, Stanley Clarke and Ringo Starr. Hits from the albums: "Ebony and Ivory" and "Say, Say, Say".

Friday 10 July 2015

Beatles museum established in Hungary

The Beatles are alive and well in Hungary!
Egri Road Beatles Museum has been established in Hotel Korona, in the heart of the historic town of Eger. The name "Egri Road" is pronounced close enough to "Abbey Road" and means "From Eger" in Hungarian. The exhibition displays the Beatles memorabilia of Gabor Peterdi and Gabor Molnar and is a fun place to be!

Guests can get a glimpse of the life and career of the band and its members in the frames of a professional guided tour, which provides an experience supported by up-to-date technical solutions.   Contemporary newsreels are played on screens and the songs of the band can be listened to through headphones, whereas contemporary media publications, garments, models and limited edition rarities are displayed in the showcases.
Various games and photo-taking activities take the visitors back to the legendary sixties.



Beatles museums are currently located in Liverpool, Halle, Alkmaar and Buenos Aires – within its resources, the collection aims to be a partner of these institutions.

Egri Road Beatles Museum’s Official Band is 'The Blackbirds'

Official site of the museum: BeatlesMuzeum.hu

Thursday 9 July 2015

Replacement Rock'n'Roll LP

John Lennon: Rock'n'Roll
As many will have noticed, the copy of John Lennon's "Rock'n'Roll" album which was included with the recent Lennon vinyl boxed set had a production error. "Sweet Little Sixteen" appears twice and "You Can't Catch Me" is missing. But now you can't catch it. Universal Music has set up a web page where you can fill in a form and ask for a replacement copy of the album. You'll have to upload some kind of proof of purchase though.
Here's the link: Claim.LennonVinylBox.com

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Paul McCartney in Norway

Photo: Helge Røys Halkjelsvik
We are back from Paul McCartney's fantastic concert at Telenor Arena in Bærum (just outside Oslo). The concert attracted very good reviews from the biggest newspapers in Norway.
Paul's plane landed around 15:30, and on his way from the Gardermoen airport, he had a phone interview with one of our most popular radio stations, P4. You may listen to the interview here. When his black limousine arrived at the venue, he went straight to the stage for the soundcheck. Several of the most devoted fans from the Norwegian Wood, Beatles Fan Club were there, and from Tore Waskaas we received this soundcheck set list:

Talking intro
Jam
Matchbox
Honey Don't
Blue Suede Shoes
Drive My Car
Junior's Farm
All My Loving
Celebration
Let 'Em In
Miss Ann
I'll Follow the Sun
Every Night
It's So Easy
Midnight Special
Raunchy
Leaning on a Lampost
Ram On
Bluebird
Lady Madonna

Also around ten people gathered around one of the garage doors outside were able to hear the soundcheck, which started at 16:23 and finished at 17:30. I believe that may be the origin of a two part YouTube upload of this soundcheck. Part 1 starts with Blue Suede Shoes and part 2 with Every Night. An hours' worth of warming up before the show must have been good for his voice, because at the Roskilde Festival, several reviewers noted that his voice was a little creaky for the first half hour, and this was not the case in Norway. Some remarked that Paul looked a little tired at the soundcheck in Oslo, but he may have taken a nap between that and the concert itself, which started two and a half hours later. The concert was announced to begin at 19:30, but that was only the pre-show collage film and soundtrack, McCartney didn't show up until 20:00. The audience were up on their feet for Paul's arrival to the stage.
He set the mood straight away with "Eight Days A Week", which got a great reception from the concertgoers, who as usual were from every generation. I'm not going to give you a detailed blow by blow, but I can tell you that his voice was steady 90% of the time, which was commented on by several people after the show. The big Telenor Arena championship for bathroom-running and beerpurchasing took place during "Another Day" and "Hope For The Future". As usual, the albums from the past, ten, twenty, thirty years were all forgotten about by Paul too, except for the latest album "New", from which we got the title tune, "Save Us" and "Queenie Eye". Here's the full set list:

1. Eight Days A Week
2. Save Us
3. Got To Get You Into My Life
4. Good Day Sunshine (Two in a row from "Revolver" is never a bad thing)
5. Temporary Secretary (surprisingly forceful!)
6. Let Me Roll It (with the familiar Foxy Lady coda)
7. Paperback Writer ("I played this guitar on the original recording in the sixties")
8. My Valentine (for Nancy, he said she was there)
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
10. The Long and Winding Road
11. Maybe I'm Amazed (for Linda, very good vocals, not as shaky as on the Saturday Night Live anniversary)
12. I've Just Seen a Face
13. We Can Work It Out
14. Another Day
15. Hope for the Future
16. And I Love Her
17. Blackbird
18. Here Today
19. New
20. Queenie Eye
21. Lady Madonna
22. All Together Now (for the kids)
23. Lovely Rita
24. Eleanor Rigby
25. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! ("I remember the writing session with John")
26. Something
27. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (audience singalong)
28. Band on the Run
29. Back in the U.S.S.R.
30. Let It Be
31. Live and Let Die (Guns 'n' Roses, go home!)

Photo: Eivind Vesterkjær (@eivindves)

32. Hey Jude

Surprisingly many people in the audience seemed to think that this was it, and rushed to get out of the arena to get an early start of their journey home.

Extra numbers:
33. Another Girl
34. Birthday (for Ringo, 75 and daddy Jim, who would have turned 114)
35. Can't Buy Me Love

Again, lots of people reckoned this was it and headed for the exits.

Extra extra numbers:
36. Yesterday
37. Helter Skelter
38. Golden Slumbers
39. Carry That Weight
40. The End

The set list from Oslo. As we can see, switching "Hi Hi Hi" with "Birthday" was spontaneous. Photo: Geir Paulsen
About audience members who were taken up on stage to meet Paul, this was very much almost a reprise from Roskilde, since one girl wanted a hug (Catherine from Philadelphia, USA) and another wanted her arm signed for a tattoo (Eirin from Trondheim, Norway).
"See you next time", was Paul's standard goodbye. If it's in another 11 years time, he will then be 84. On the way home, waiting for the bus, we overheard a surprised young girl saying to her friend "I didn't know he was a rocker"! A testimony to what kind of songs by Paul the radio stations favour. This was truly a RockShow, no doubt about it!

Here are some samples from VG TV:



Here's an amateur recording of "We Can Work It Out", Paul reading a couple of the posters, followed by "Another Day".

Tuesday 7 July 2015

Paul McCartney Concert # 28

Poster for Norway, rare 1st edition.
Tonight Paul McCartney is playing a concert in Norway again. It has been 11 years since he last played here, just as it had been 11 years between that and the previous Norway concert as well. Of course, the longest we had to wait was the 17 years between his first (Wings 1972) and second concert in Norway. So you'll understand, to see Paul McCartney in between, one has to travel. This will be the 27th time I'm attending his concerts. Here's the list:

1. London, England, Live Aid, Wembley Stadium 1985
2. Drammen, Norway, Drammenshallen World tour 1989
3. Gothenburg, Sweden Scandinavium 1989
4. London, England, Wembley Arena 1990
5. London, England, Wembley Arena 1990
6. Copenhagen, Falkonerteatret Denmark Unplugged tour 1991
7. Frankfurt, Germany Festhalle New World tour 1993
8. Gothenburg, Sweden Scandinavium 1993
9. Oslo Spektrum, Norway 1993
10. Oslo Spektrum, Norway 1993
11. Stockholm, Sweden Globen 1993
12. Oslo Spektrum, Norway Nobel Peace Price Concert 2001
13. London, England, Concert for George, Royal Albert Hall 2002
14. London, England, Earl's Court, Back in the World tour 2003
15. London, England, Earl's Court 2003
16. Copenhagen, Denmark Parken 2003
17. Hamburg, Germany AOL Arena 2003
18. Gothenburg, Sweden Ullevi, Summer tour 2004
19. Oslo, Norway Valle Hovin 2004
20. New York, USA Madison Square Garden, US tour 2005
21. Paris, France L'Olympia 2007
22. London, England, Electric Proms, The Roundhouse 2007
23. Liverpool, England Anfield Stadium, City of Culture concert 2008
24. London, England O2 Good Evening, Europe 2009
25. Hamburg, Germany Color Line Arena 2009
26. Dublin, Ireland, RDS Arena, Up and Coming tour 2010
27. Stockholm, Sweden Globen 2011

...and tonight will be 28. Oslo, Norway Telenor Arena 2015.

Monday 6 July 2015

John's Jumbo Gibson was never stolen?

The two guitars in action on Late Scene Extra.
There was a big discussion in the comments section of this blog post about whether or not John Lennon's 1962 "Jumbo" J160E Gibson guitar rightfully belongs to the current owner of the instrument. As you know, Lennon and Harrison had one of these each, and at some point George ended up with Lennon's guitar. Peter Hodgson has now tipped us off that the guitar may never have been stolen in the first place!
For the mimed performances of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" on Granada TV's Late Scene Extra 27 November 1963, both guitars were employed. In a video clip from 1976 of George Harrison watching the Late Scene Extra performance of "This Boy", George bursts out, "I gave that guitar away"!


As we know that one of the guitars (actually Lennon's) is still in the Harrison collection of guitars now owned by George's son Dhani, George must have given his own away and kept Lennon's.

The once Beatle-owned J160E Gibson guitar is currently on a tour of being displayed at various places before it will be auctioned off at Julien’s Auctions Icons & Idols Rock n’ Roll Auction event to be held on November 6th & 7th, 2015.

Friday 3 July 2015

The great rock and roll swindle

The Beatles in Madrid (the photos, that is)
Okay, we fell for it, hook, line and sinker. It was after all, a good story with a beautiful bonus at the end - a chance to hear a professionally recorded stereophonic representation of a full Beatles concert from 1965, with not too much screaming going on.

Efe Eme book
José Luis Álvarez Sánchez set the trap with an exclusive feature at the Spanish music site Efe Eme in May 2015. How he had made an agreement with The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein to record The Beatles' only concert in Madrid, July 2, 1965, and that it was now finally going to be made available for fans of the group for the fiftieth anniversary of the concert, July 2, 2015. A photo of the tape was also featured on the website alongside the interview.

In the interview with Efe Eme, Álvarez also claimed that in a chance meeting with Epstein in April 1965, he himself had persuaded the manager to include Spain in the upcoming European tour. Epstein had been worried about the lack of Beatles record sales in Spain, but Álvarez had convinced him that this was only due to the country's shortage of record players, and that there were plenty of Beatles fans. Epstein relented, and Spain was included in the tour.
There's just one big flaw in this story:

Contract from Brian Epstein about the concerts in Spain, dated February 5, 1965
A letter from Brian Epstein confirming the concerts in Madrid on July 2 and Barcelona the next day still exists, and is dated 5 February, 1965 - a couple of months before Álvarez' presumably fictious meeting with Epstein took place. As the meeting was not taped and photographs not taken, we now have to conclude that Álvarez invented the story. One of the other things Álvarez recounted from this meeting, was that Epstein had been following his music magazine Fonorama since issue 1 in 1963.

Alvarez was at the time of the concert, editor of the magazine called Fonorama. No doubt, Álvarez and other members of his staff would have been able to meet Epstein and The Beatles during the press conference in Madrid prior to the concert, and they featured this and an account of the concert in their magazine at the time.

Fonorama 15/16, 1965
What they probably didn't do, was record the concert. And in the unlikely event that it really did happen, something must have gone wrong. The tape may have been unplayable, or they may just have lost it. Because the vinyl and CD record released by Álvarez' independent record label Cocodrilo Records on July 2, 2015 does not contain the Madrid concert. It's not even in stereo. What the record does contain, is a hodgepodge of recordings, mainly from two Paris concerts. And this is not the first time Alvarez has been selling this fake, it's only a bigger event this time around, with the online music store Fnac reporting that it's currently their biggest seller! And Álvarez has been touring Spanish radio and TV channels with this record for the past couple of days.

An earlier, less successful outing of the tape creation.
Apparently, the fake was created as early as 1992. The following elements were used in the "recreation" of the Madrid concert:

From the June 20, 1965 Paris afternoon concert:
"Twist & Shout", "She’s a Woman", "I’m a loser", "Can´t Buy Me Love", "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "A Hard Day´s Night"
From the June 20, 1965 Paris evening concert: "Everybody´s Trying To Be My Baby", "Ticket To Ride" and "Long Tall Sally"
From the June 30, 1966 Tokyo concert: "Baby´s In Black", "Rock And Roll Music" and "I Feel Fine".
From Paul McCartney's 2 November, 1989 Madrid concert:
Song introduction in Spanish.

The one thing on this album that could be authentic, is the opening announcement from Torrebruno, introducing the Beatles on stage. Judging from the nature of the rest of the material, this was probably recreated by Torrebruno himself, back in 1992 - with added audience noise.

So we've all been duped. The Spanish señorita was a Frenchman in drag. The Beatles' concerts in Paris were great, but are better enjoyed in their natural surroundings, like on this bootleg:

A great bootleg of the Beatles in Paris, come 2016 it will even be legal in Europe.
If you have been lead astray by our enthusiastic first reports about the Madrid concert recording here on WogBlog, our sincerest apology. If it's any consolation, you're not alone. As we are typing this, there's a copy on it's way to us, too. And one other thing: at least you will have a photo booklet and a nice record sleeve with a great story behind it: how we all were fooled by José Luis Álvarez Sánchez. Print this blog post and stick it in the record sleeve. It will reveal the true story behind the record. Show the record to your friends and let them in on the story. Give it enough time, and you'll laugh at it, too.

Update: Statement from Efe Eme.
The store of Efe Eme has released this statement:
In the wake of the rumors generated in the last few hours on the authenticity of the audio of the album "The Beatles: Concierto en Madrid", Efe Eme wants to clarify that this album is not a product produced by us and that, like other stores, all we do is sell it. The producer is José Luis Álvarez under the label Cocodrilo Records.
We have always been aware of the doubts that surrounds this recording, which is why, when we interviewed Álvarez in efeeme.com, at no time did our editor confirm the authenticity of the audio (he could not do it) and actually asked Alvarez about that.
Before putting the album on sale in the store of Efe Eme, we again turned our attention to the authenticity of the recording, and Alvarez again confirmed it was genuine. In any case, the store of Efe Eme cannot see nor assure the authenticity of the content of products produced by third party (only the ones that we publish ourselves under the brand Efe Eme). And so here is a typical example: If the author of a book produced by another company has copied texts of another work, it is not in our power to know. If we knew everything, our wisdom would be infinite, and this is not the case (and it is impossible). With "The Beatles: Concierto en Madrid", it's the same thing. So, we made it clear that José Luis Álvarez "ensures that it was recorded that night with approval from Brian Epstein". That is to say, he ensures it, not we. And we only have offered it on sale, as did other stores.
At the moment it seems obvious that the bulk of the content of the album is extracted from the recordings of the two concerts of the Beatles in Paris of August 1965 (sic) (never released officially but circulating as "bootlegs"), In those concerts the Beatles performed the same repertoire as in Madrid. Added to this were inserted recordings from Torrebruno and Paul McCartney talking in Spanish which, honestly, we do not have the slightest idea about where it comes from.
For all these reasons, and since you have bought the album, we want to state that the audio of this concert is not appropriate to that of the concert in Madrid (which probably does not exist). If you want to return your order, you just have to communicate with us and negotiate the return.
If you have bought the numbered edition, unless we hear from you before the 7th of July that you want to cancel the purchase, when we receive this edition, we are going to ship it to you: towards the 15th of July.
In any case, yes we would like to warn that these editions in these three formats, and which are based on a small lie, over time will turn into a collector's item. It may be in the part of the record collection labeled "bizarre" or "Made in Spain", if you like, but nonetheless collectible. Oddities, "bootlegs" which in all likelihood will rub discographers given its strange origin, and the value that is placed upon pieces related to the Beatles discography.
For the time being, we have withdrawn the albums from sale, but we are thinking, for this collector's market, we will keep selling the units that we have got in stock. But, of course, while warning of their falseness.
As vendors, we want to apologize to all those shoppers who have felt cheated and the inconvenience that all this can entail. It has not been our intention.
The store of Efe Eme

UPDATE 2:
José Luis Álvarez Sánchez has now left a commentary in the comments section of this blog post. He now seems to have accepted that the record he has released is not what it purports to be. His defense is chiefly that someone must have switched his tape out with a false one at some point in time without him noticing it.