Carl Perkins Friends-Blue Suede Shoes Double-10 Inch Vinyl

First vinyl release of the 1985 television special featuring George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton.

Carl Perkins and Friends 1985 Television Special - 1st Vinyl Release

Beatles Vinyl Reissues Update (August 2020)

 

Beatles Vinyl Reissues Update

Beatles and Beatles-Related Vinyl reissues recently released or previously released but newly available.

Paul McCartney, Flaming Pie (1/2 Speed mastered)

Reissued as 2-LP, 3-LP (with an LP of home demos in addition to the original album) or 4-LP set (with a 12-inch one-sided Pressing of “Ballad Of The Skeletons”) as part of the collector’s edition) pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Reissued July 31, 2020.

https://www.flaming-pie.com/products/3lp

Linda McCartney: Wide Prairie (Blue and White Vinyl)

Linda’s 1998 LP, with assistance from Paul. Reissued 2019.

The Reissue of Linda McCartney's 'Wide Prairie' is Out Now | PaulMcCartney.com

 

Ringo Starr, 45 RPM Box Set (3 7” black vinyl 45s)

Originally released for Record Store Day in 2013, this box set includes repressings of three Apple Records Ringo 45s, with reproductions of their original picture sleeves. Includes “It Don’t Come Easy/Early 1970,” “Photograph/Down and Out,” and “Goodnight Vienna/Oo-Wee.”

Ringo Starr - Ringo 45 RPM Singles Limited Edition Box Set – uDiscover Music

 

Ron Wood’s 1974 album, with George’s song “Far East Man,” on red or purple swirl vinyl. Forthcoming, 9/18/20.

Ron Wood - I've Got My Own Album To Do (180 Gram Translucent Red Audiophile Vinyl/Limited Anniversary Edition) | Shop the Friday Music Official Store

Ron Wood - I've Got My Own Album To Do (180 Gram Translucent Purple Swirl Audiophile Vinyl/Limited Anniversary Edition) | Shop the Friday Music Official Store

Beatles Singles Box

It pays to keep on Barnes & Noble, especially their “exclusive” releases. This is a four disc box set containing four Beatles 45s. Little information regarding the release is provided on the B&N website, but the “Ticket To Ride” and “Yellow. Submarine” 45s appear to be included, along with a poster.

The Singles [7" Vinyl]

Commentary: Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (Apple Records, December 11, 1970)

Recorded during Lennon’s sessions for his John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band consists of seven tracks, composed and sung by Ono, with backing by Lennon (guitar), Klaus Voorman (bass), and Ringo Starr (drums). Often mistakenly or perhaps purposefully derided as mere jamming in between takes for Lennon songs, each track in reality is a distinct entity, with a unique instrumental and vocal approach, within the context of the Voorman/Starr “backbeat” and Lennon’s avant-garde guitar. The 4/4 straight ahead rock’n roll of “Why” gives way to the bluesy “Why Not”, followed by the Side One closer, the reggae-based “Greenfield Morning I Pushed An Empty Baby Carriage All Over The City.”

Ono’s abstract, atonal vocalizing finds a more “traditional” (in the artistic context of the times) setting on “AOS, where she is backed by free jazz soprano sax virtuoso Ornette Coleman, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell. Recorded live one and a half years before the rest of the album’s tracks, AOS is consistent with the sensibilities of free jazz, is proof of the considerable artistic credentials Yoko brought to the Lennon/Ono partnership.

“Touch Me”, released as the U.S. B-Side to Lennon’s “Power To The People” in February 1971, evokes the album’s opening track, while the album’s closer, “Paper Shoes” merges an opening sound collage with mesmerizing free form backing from Lennon, Starr, and Voorman.

While Two Virgins, Life With The Lions, and Wedding Album were largely conceptual in approach, eschewing traditional musical instrumentation and “song” construction, Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band attempts to combine traditional rock instrumentation with the duo’s previous conceptual approach, although it must be noted that YO/POB is credited to Ono as primary artist, and not to Lennon/Ono. This is significant, as throughout their work together, they were very purposeful in identifying their collaborative work. This is indeed Yoko’s first solo album, just as Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band” was his.

Below are scans of the excellent 1997 Rykodisc CD reissue:

Friday Music Ringo Vinyl Reissues: Ringo IV (Gold Vinyl) & Time Takes Time (Green Vinyl)

Ringo IV

Time Takes Time

Both issued with gatefold covers. First North American is release of Time Takes Time. 

More Dark Horse Records

Attitudes Best of and Ravi Shankar and Ali Abkar Khan's In Concert 1972 are available for streaming and digital download. Attidues was a Dark Horse Records band consisting of Danny Kortchmar, Paul Stallworth (who backed George on Extra Texture), and frequent Beatles sideman Jim Keltner. They released two albums for the label, Attitudes (1975), and Good News (1977). The streaming and Mp3 offerings currently available on Amazon include 16 tracks, all taken from one of their Dark Horse albums. The Shankar album was an original Apple Records release. It was reissued in 1993 on both vinyl and CD in Europe as part of the first Apple reissue series. The CD, long out of print, fetches high prices these days.

Dhani Harrison Announces New Dark Horse Releases and Reissues

Dark Horse Records Reissues and New Releases Coming

Ravi Shankar - Chants of India - Red VinylDhani Harrison announces the first-ever vinyl release of Ravi Shankar's Chants of India.

From "Paperback Albums" to Prestige Music: Vinyl In The 21st Century

In the 21st Century, enjoyment of vinyl is problematic. First, there’s the money - at least $500 for a “decent” turntable, $200 (at a minimum) for an “acceptable” cartridge – “decent” and “acceptable” as defined by so-called audiophiles. And the funny thing with these cartridges is that their replacement styli cost about as much as the cartridges themselves. Add to that $25-$30 per album, and the cost of music on vinyl adds up.

Then there’s the “set up.” Vertical Tracking Alignment, Anti-Skating setting, tracking force (it must be low), stylus type – listening to a record is not a simple as getting a turntable, putting a record on the platter, and enjoying the music. Or is it?

I've got my old pioneer turntable, and two other "vintage" (meaning 1970s) turntables that I use from time to time, with my $30 Numark or my old Shure M44E cartridge. If I can’t enjoy the sound of vinyl that way, I'm all in with digital formats. At least they don’t require me to get a degree in electrical engineering or physics to enjoy the sound.

When The Beatles launched Zapple Records in 1969, John Lennon touted the label’s forthcoming release of “paperback albums.” 50 years later vinyl seems to be a "prestige” format. If so, it’s best left for aesthetes, not music lovers.

Cambridge 1969 In Pictures

Great pics and clippings documenting this Lennon/Ono performance from 1969, as posted on the "Beatles and Solo Photos and Videos Forum"

What Might Have Been: The Plastic Ono Band At Fifty

The Plastic Ono Band, whose formation was officially announced to the world on July 3, 1969, was born of John Lennon’s relationship with Yoko Ono, and of his need for an outlet for his artistic work outside The Beatles. As a conceptual group, the POB had no permanent members save Lennon and Ono.


The first POB record, the single “Give Peace A Chance/Remember Love,” was released on Apple Records (#1809 U.S.) in July, 1969. The A-Side, recorded in John & Yoko’s hotel room during their Montreal bed-in for peace some two months earlier, featured Lennon on guitar on vocals, with backing vocals by members of the local Hare Krishna Temple and Ono, among others. Tommy Smothers of the Smothers Brothers played acoustic along with John. The Ono-composed B-Side featured Yoko on vocals and John on acoustic guitar.


The POB’s follow-up single, Cold Turkey/Don’t Worry Kyoko (Apple 1813), was released October 20 in the U.S. Following the same approach as the previous single, the A-Side featured Lennon, with Ono writing and singing lead on the B-Side. This time around, the POB featured, in addition to Lennon and Ono, Eric Clapton on guitar, Ringo Starr on drums, and Klaus Voorman on bass, on both tracks.


A live performance at the Toronto Rock ‘N Roll Festival in September, and the release of the band’s performance on LP followed in December. But there might have been a third Plastic Ono Band single in its initial year of existence if Lennon had had his way.


That record, “You Know My Name/What’s The New Mary Jane” was scheduled for release in December. It was assigned a U.K. catalog number, “Apples 1002,” but the single never materialized. Consisting of two unused Beatles recordings - “You Know My Name,” begun during the band’s Magical Mystery Tour sessions in 1967, with The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones on sax, and with overdubs by John and Paul in 1969 – and “What’s The New Mary Jane,” recorded during The Beatles’ (sans Paul and Ringo) White Album sessions in 1968, it would have been the most unconventional single release of Lennon’s career.


Lennon remixed both tracks, with the final mixing/editing sessions occurring on November 26. Release was set for December 5. Although it was shelved, both tracks were eventually issued – You Know My Name as the B-Side of The Beatles “Let It Be” single in 1970, and “What’s The New Mary Jane” on the third installment of The Beatles Anthology in 1996.

The Day a Beatle Took a Back Seat: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Cambridge, 1969

This post is not about Yoko Ono’s effect on The Beatles, nor is it an attempt to “justify” her work with John Lennon by pointing out its artistic merit. Those topics have been covered elsewhere. Rather, this post concerns what it meant the day Lennon showed up unannounced, as Ono’s sideman, to perform at Lady Mitchell Hall at Cambridge University.

That day in March 1969, Ono was the headliner. Scheduled to play before an audience of academics, and other members of the artistic “elite,” she and Lennon improvised for close to 27 minutes, Lennon adding  feedback guitar to Ono’s vocal experimentation to create the piece we now know as “Cambridge 1969,” the first track on the duo’s second album, Unfinished Music No.2: Life With The Lions. 

By the time of their appearance at Cambridge, Lennon & Ono’s artistic relationship was well established. They had performed together at the Rolling Stones’ Rock ‘N Roll Circus the previous December, and had released their first joint album, Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, in November 1968. Still, according to Barry Miles (2016) in his excellent book The Zapple Diaries, his appearance at Cambridge came as a surprise to those in attendance.

Why surprising? The most obvious answer is that Lennon, the leader of the world’s preeminent rock group, had not performed live since August 1966, save his appearance on the Stones’ television special the preceding December. Therefore, seeing Lennon on stage in any context was unusual.

A more telling explanation is that his appearance as a backing musician for an artistically obscure (except for her work with Lennon) female artist was completely unexpected because, although the individual Beatles had begun to pursue projects outside the band by the time of Cambridge performance,  none had done so with a permanent partner outside the group, much less a female partner. 

Notwithstanding second wave feminism and the concurrent “women’s lib” movement, western society in the late 1960s, including Britain, was a bulwark of patriarchy. Male dominance was also evident in the arts, including rock ‘n roll. So when John took up his guitar, and turned his back to the audience, facing his amplifier to generate his accompaniment to Ono on that winter day, he was making at least two statements which challenged social norms. 

First, he was publicly embracing the validity of non-traditional music. To those familiar with the history of so-called “serious” 20^th century music, not much about the Lennon/Ono performance of that day was groundbreaking, at least not sonically. From Arnold Schoenberg’s twelve-tone system, to John Cage’s “chance music,” by 1969 much work had been done which challenged the very notion of what music "was." That said, for a rock star to perform work in this genre in public was to risk much, and to face at best bewilderment from their traditional audience. Still, Lennon persevered. 

More significant, perhaps, was that he undertook this artistic experimentation in partnership with a woman. In fact, Ono took center stage that day. While some will certainly argue that she served as a buffer against the potential backlash he might face for his musical adventure, Lennon’s tacit recognition of her as an equal artistic partner challenged prevailing societal beliefs about gender, including those of the macho world of Rock ‘n Roll. 

Did it make a difference? Establishing historical cause and effect is a difficult task, and that is not the point of this post anyway. What is important is recognizing that, in taking his first steps outside the protective artistic cocoon of The Beatles, Lennon confronted society on two cultural fronts. Musically, he asked his audience to look beyond pop music and consider other sounds as musically valid. Further, he said, through his actions, that he had a new partner, and that the fact that she was female had no impact on his choice to work with her artistically.

So why did John Lennon show up at Cambridge in 1969? Was he there to make a bold statement about gender equality? Was he there to establish his credentials as an experimental musician? We will never know all his motivations. What we are fairly certain of, however, is that he did not speak to the audience that day, and that he did not direct the musical proceedings. He just made music.

Wasn’t that enough?

Former Beatle Ringo Starr celebrates late bandmate John Lennon’s music - Liverpool Local News - News - Liverpool Echo

Former Beatles Ringo Starr celebrates late bandmate John Lennon’s music - Liverpool Local News - News - Liverpool Echo

Grapefruit Records?: Secretly Canadian Rewrites History With Yoko Ono Reissues

As a part of its Yoko Ono reissue project, Secretly Canadian Records has reissued John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Wedding Album, 50 years after its original release in 1969. Touted on their website as a "faithful recreation," the reissue includes the remastered (white) vinyl, as well as reproductions of all original inserts in a boxed set edition. 

While the reissuing of Ono's albums originally released between 1968 and 1985 (including three  with John Lennon) is a valuable contribution to the preservation of her artistic work,  Secretly Canadian has not quite lived up to its stated purpose, "to painstakingly recreate the original vinyl packaging" in the Lennon/Ono series. In fact, SC has replaced the original Apple Records label with a "grapefruit" label (see below). While some might see this as a minor point, the substitution is at best inconsistent with SC's avowed commitment to authenticity.

While not always the case (albums are commonly reissued on different labels, of course), in this instance it is impossible, and historically disingenuous, to attempt to separate the artist and record from the label, at least as far as Ono's Apple albums are concerned. Apple, at the time, carried with it an implied association with The Beatles. In Ono's case, her artistic association with and marriage to John Lennon elevated her professional profile and facilitated her access to worldwide distribution of her work on a major label. This is not to say that her work did not merit such attention and support. It did, and it is gratifying that she has subsequently received the credit she deserves. However, when a reissue aspires to be the "definitive edition" of a work, the altering of a fundamental part of the original album is a significant misstep.