Saturday, June 25, 2016

Two new unauthorized Beatles documentaries

Here's some info on two new Beatles (or related) DVD documentaries coming Aug. 16.

Shami Media Group


"Scream and Shout," which will be out on DVD Aug. 16, is a look at their first American tour. Not all the footage, surprisingly, is the usual public domain footage, because we saw at least one interview that seemed unfamiliar. Most of the footage in the hour long film, though, is of fans and promoters. In it, Beatles collector Mark Naboshek and musicians Andy Timmons (who made a "Sgt. Pepper" cover album a couple of years ago), John Bryant and Paul Averitt discuss the group's music. If you have Amazon Prime, you can stream the movie at this link.


Wienerworld


The other is "I Killed John Lennon," which tells yet again the story of Mark David Chapman and includes audio of him in his interviews with journalist Jack Jones. It'll be on the street from the Wienerworld label also on Aug. 16.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Magazine alert: Beatlefan #220




Some of the highlights of Beatlefan #220: Bruce Spizer on the Beatles butcher cover, Ken Orth's look at Robert Freeman's "lost" cover for the "Revolver" album, Kit O'Toole's look at how John Lennon adopted the principles of the advertising world in his anti-war campaign, Jeff Slate's interview with biographer Philip Norman, Rick Glover's look at McCartney on tour. 

A sample issue costs $8 in the U.S. or $12 abroad. U.S. funds only. For more information, email goodypress@gmail.com.

Monday, June 20, 2016

Update #2 on the Beatles Yellow Submarine Hot Wheels: Deluxe package



From what we're seeing, there is still some confusion about purchasing the Beatles Yellow Submarine Hot Wheels, even with the links we posted the other day. A deluxe package can be purchased through the Beatles' official website. That second link all of what you see below: all six cars, the Yellow Submarine car, the remastered "Yellow Submarine" CD, "Yellow Submarine Songtrack," the DVD/Blu-ray and the vinyl album. Our Beatles Examiner story has additional general information about the set.


Saturday, June 18, 2016

Popmarket McCartney birthday sale




Popmarket has a huge list of 24-hour specials of 20 Paul McCartney releases for his birthday.

Here's some of what they're offering:

"Pure McCartney" vinyl: $55.99
"Wings Over America" deluxe CD: $95.99
"Band on the Run" deluxe CD: $43.99
"McCartney" CD/DVD deluxe: $55.99
"Venus and Mars" CD/DVD deluxe: $43.99
"Venus and Mars" and "Speed of Sound" 2-LP 180 gram vinyl: $27.99
"Ram" 2-LP: $21.99.

You can find more details and prices at this link.


Friday, June 17, 2016

Update on the Beatles Yellow Submarine Hot Wheels


We've heard from some people who have unable to find the new Yellow Submarine Hot Wheels at Walmart, which is where the company told us they'd be in our original story. We've sent an inquiry to our contact at the company, but meanwhile you can find both the Yellow Submarine and the six-car set at Amazon. (Photos courtesy of Mattel, Inc.)

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Read Beatles researcher Thorsten Knublauch's new information about the Beatles' Tony Sheridan sessions



Thorsten Knublach sent us this information that reveals some new information about the Tony Sheridan sessions. It may also indicate Pete Best is owed some money. (Graphics provided courtesy Thorsten Knublach.)

Article by Thorsten Knublauch

Once in a while a new document turns up and you are happy about it because it sheds new light on a subject. Sometimes documents turn up that raise more questions than they answer… Here is one that answers a lot of questions!

Mark Lewisohn sent me a newly found document recently, because he knows that I have been researching and writing about The Beatles` Hamburg days for years, and he wanted my opinion. This document is called "Künstlerquittung" – "artist receipt" signed by each Beatle and an unknown executive of Deutsche Grammophon.

Four identical documents exist – one each for John, Paul, George and Pete… Mark was able to get the copies pertaining to George and Pete, and each musician is listed with his Liverpool home address. It is a receipt from Deutsche Grammophon recording company, which documents that each Beatle was paid for five songs recorded in Hamburg during the session of June 22nd/23rd 1961 with Tony Sheridan without receiving any formal rights. It appears to be a standard document for session musicians.




The songs mentioned in the document are "My Bonnie", "The Saints" and "Why", recorded as backing musicians for DM 25 per person and song, and "Ain`t She Sweet" and "Cry For A Shadow", recorded by The Beatles on their own, for which they received DM 50 per person and song. Their payment was called "Pauschalentgelt für Musiker" – “flat compensation for musicians”. With this one-off fee all possible rights were waived by the musicians. The period in question that the document covers is backdated April 1st to June 30th 1961 and signed June 28th 1961

This document seems to be the missing link in the Beatles-Sheridan-Polydor-story.

Why is this document so special?

- Over the years it has been written in the books – and perhaps understood by The Beatles themselves - that they had a recording contract with Bert Kaempfert for the "My Bonnie" sessions. But that is not true. Most books claim that the recordings were done for producer Bert Kaempfert, and that he later sold the recordings to Deutsche Grammophon. We notice that this newly found document was issued by Deutsche Grammophon record company and not Bert Kaempfert. In addition to that, although this document is signed by two parties (Deutsche Grammophon and each Beatle) it isn’t a contract – it`s just a receipt.

- It clearly shows that The Beatles were regarded as, and paid as sessions musicians for these recordings.

- We learn for the first time about the amount of money the Beatles received for those recordings – DM 175 in total per person. In the books so far, a total of DM 300 was only ever mentioned, and no source was ever citied.

- There are only five songs mentioned! “Nobody’s Child” and “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby” are missing.




What did we know before?

We knew that only those five above named songs were mentioned in the newspaper Mersey Beat in issue No. 2 in the famous “Beatles sign recording contract” article. This information came directly from The Beatles. The four songs except “Ain`t She Sweet” were released before The Beatles had a record contract with Parlophone: Two tracks on the “My Bonnie”/”The Saints” single in Germany on October 23rd 1961 as well as in the UK on January 5th 1962, and all four songs on the French “Mr Twist” EP around January 26th 1962. The other three songs were released for the first time on “The Beatles’ First” LP in Germany in April 1964.

The Polydor documents (Aufnahmeprotokolle) for “My Bonnie”, “The Saints”, “Why” and “Cry For A Shadow” were logged in 1961. The documents for the other three were only written in April 1964, shortly before their first release. Surely, all seven documents refer in their contents to the recordings of June 22nd/23rd 1961. (BTW: In the files, those two dates are listed, but it is not clear if the Beatles actually were present on both days. My personal guess is that they recorded only on June 22nd and that mixing and editing was done a day later – without the musicians. There was no need for more than one day to record seven songs.)

We also learned before that the Beatles had a real contract with Bert Kaempfert Productions, effective July 1st 1961. Three copies of those contracts exist and were shown in the booklet for the Bear Family “Beatles Bop” boxed set from the Bert Kaempfert files or were sold in auctions – the latest one in the Uwe Blaschke Collection auction at Heritage in September 2015. This contract signed on June 19th 1961 (ahead of the sessions) had a duration of a year – until June 30th 1962, with a term of notice of three months. In this contract the Beatles were obligated to record at least four tracks for Bert Kaempfert on their own. It wasn`t clear among Beatles experts if the songs recorded with Tony Sheridan in June - or at least those two songs recorded on their own during that session - were counted in this contract (see Mark Lewisohn in Tune In – full edition - p. 916 who suggested that they were outside the contract).




When the Beatles were to get a contract with Parlophone they had to terminate that contract with Bert Kaempfert. It wasn`t terminated during the three month period, though, and a dissolution contract needed to be made on June 25th 1962 - the day after The Beatles’ final session for Bert Kaempfert, recording “Sweet Georgia Brown” and the missing “Swanee River”, together with Roy Young. In this dissolution contract the Beatles gave away their rights to the recordings – it does not specifically say which recordings - it was just a disclaimer for all kinds of future demands. The Beatles gave away their rights, and, on the other hand, were released from the obligation to record the above-mentioned number of songs, which, at the time, might have been two additional tracks, since “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Swanee River” were already on tape. As no other documents were known at the time, the experts weren`t sure if with this contract also the rights to the 1961 recorded songs were given away.

What do we know now with the newly found document?

We know now for sure that the Beatles gave away their rights to the above mentioned five songs shortly after the recordings were done in 1961 – or, more precisely: they never had any rights to these songs, as they were only session musicians. They were even seen as session musicians for their own two tracks! For a fee of DM 50 per person they sold away “Cry For A Shadow” and “Ain`t She Sweet”, respectively. As they were only session musicians the record company could have added vocals or more musicians to those tracks without asking– and this was indeed done when the tracks were released in the United States in 1964. They signed this document on June 28th 1961 – the same day that John and George signed away their composers’ rights for “Cry For A Shadow” to Alfred Schacht – most likely for a one-off fee, if any at all (the pages with those details were never published)! Therefore, the Bert Kaempfert contract becoming effective on July 1st 1961 was a contract for NEW recordings, and this was ended with the dissolution contract dated May 25th 1962.

The period between April 1st and June 30th 1961 mentioned in the receipt is almost identical with the engagement at the Top Ten Club Hamburg (lasting until July 1st) but does not make sense what the starting date is concerned. They did not meet Kaempfert before early May 1961!




What we still have to find out is the reason why this document came from Deutsche Grammophon and not from Bert Kaempfert (as stated over the years in many books- even my own). I think the explanation is very simple: There never was a contract with Bert Kaempfert prior to the July 1961 contract! We all were misled by that famous contract – and most likely the Beatles were, too…. Only Tony Sheridan had a contract with Deutsche Grammophon starting October 1st 1961 for a year (printed in "Beatles Bop"). (If it was not cancelled in time it was automatically renewed – and, as far as I know, finally lasted until 1967.) Surely, the document paying The Beatles must have been made with Deutsche Grammophon as well! Kaempfert was only the producer for Deutsche Grammophon and didn`t act on his own for these recordings.

Without really knowing what to do with The Beatles, Kaempfert offered them a contract with his production company for a period of time AFTER the sessions – which turned out to become The Beatles’ first record contract. Perhaps The Beatles thought this was a contract for the “My Bonnie” sessions, because it was signed ahead of the session and therefore told Bill Harry so for his Mersey Beat article. The Beatles were happy to sign anything, most likely without knowing what they did… If you look at interviews done with The Beatles – until today – those Tony Sheridan sessions were rarely mentioned – and it seems there was a lot of disappointment about them, for various reasons… One should also remember that this contract was difficult to fulfill – The Beatles left Germany a couple of days later, after the sessions on July 2nd 1961 and didn`t return until April 1962 to open the Star-Club…





But hey – now there are still two questions left! Why are there only five songs listed in the receipt? Could this mean that The Beatles never played on those two other recordings? Was that the reason only five songs were mentioned in Mersey Beat No 2?

OK – no one doubts that the Beatles played on those undocumented tracks. Nor do I, as there was no other recording session with Tony Sheridan in Hamburg at the time, apart from the “My Bonnie” album session in December 1961. Those sessions were done with different musicians in a different studio, and the overall sound and playing appears to be different compared to the sessions with the Beatles.

But why were two songs left out? Even if those songs were not intended to be released at the time I would imagine that they would at least have been mentioned in the receipt. Surely, if they had wanted to save money at the time Deutsche Grammophon would never have paid for material that was not supposed to be published, and this is the only reason I can imagine why they are not mentioned…
Some experts theorise that those two missing songs were only given to Polydor after the success of the Beatles from the archive of Bert Kaempfert and were to be released in April 1964. I totally agree with that because there are three clues suggesting it:

- Firstly, it is proven in a way by the 1964 dates of the “Aufnahmeprotokolle” documents.

- Secondly, those songs were missing in the receipt.

- And there is a third clue – and previously most likely a misinterpretation. In “Beatles Bop” the sound engineer Richard Moore has checked the sound picture of all recorded songs from that first session. He claims that the sound picture of “Nobody’s Child”, “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby” and “Ain`t She Sweet” is different from those other four tracks - perhaps because of a different setting in the studio. His conclusion is that those three tracks were recorded on a different day (in other words: the second day of the session). I am no expert in those details and I can’t prove it, and, as stated above, still believe that one day was enough to record seven songs – but all three songs were not released shortly after the session, but more than two years later. Is it possible that they were mixed or (in case of “Ain`t She Sweet”) remixed much later to be included in “The Beatles’ First”, which resulted in a different sound picture than the songs mixed directly after the session?

To cut a long story short: Kaempfert delivered only five songs to Deutsche Grammophon, and they only paid The Beatles for five songs at the time. That is the simple reason why there are only five songs listed on the document… Strange but lucky for us that the tapes were never wiped.

And this leads to the final question: There is no known contract or receipt between either Bert Kaempfert and The Beatles nor Deutsche Grammophon and The Beatles for a financial compensation for “Nobody’s Child” or “Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby”!

There is no doubt that Tony Sheridan was paid for those two tracks when they were finally released – even though his Polydor contract only guaranteed him small percentages, which annoyed him until his death.





The Beatles only got their session fee for the five songs recorded in 1961 as proven by that newly found document! The dissolution contract of 1962 was only valid for the songs recorded in May 1962. The two 1961 leftover songs were first released in April 1964 on “The Beatles’ First” and rereleased extensively ever since.

Looks like it might be a good idea for Pete, Paul, Olivia and Yoko to get a date with their lawyers, doesn’t it?

Thorsten Knublauch, author of Komm, gib mir Deine Hand – Die Beatles in Deutschland 1960 -1970 and Bravo-Beatles-Blitztournee.

Additional sources:
Komm, gib mir Deine Hand – Die Beatles in Deutschland 1960 -1970 by Thorsten Knublauch & Axel Korinth
Tune In by Mark Lewisohn
Facts & Fiction by Eric Krasker
Beatles Bop CD-Booklet by Hans Olof Gottfridsson
Many thanks to Mark Lewisohn, Joachim Noske and Eric Krasker.

(You can see related Beatles legal documents below.)















Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

'Traveling Wilburys' return on CD

On the new Traveling Wilburys set from Concord -- for those of you who have the old Rhino sets, you'll probably be glad to hear that new regular “The Traveling Wilburys Collection” on Concord is exactly the same as the old one. The CDs in the set have the same bonus tracks and booklet, though the new booklet is on thinner paper. The DVD is the exact same length as the old. The more recent footage on YouTube is, however, not in the regular three-disc collection. We do not have the new deluxe version, but we're guessing that nothing's changed there.  



The Traveling Wilburys Collection
 - Rhino version




Friday, June 10, 2016

Beatles "1" on sale on iTunes


Apple Corps Ltd.

For a limited time, "1 (2015 Version) - The Beatles" is being featured at iTunes for $9.99.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Is a Beatles LEGOs toy coming??

You see the new Yellow Submarine Hot Wheels? Well, here's what's called a tribute to the Beatles done with LEGOs that apparently is going to be more than a fan's dream. No word on when we'll see this in the marketplace.


Wednesday, June 8, 2016

'Pure McCartney' vinyl pre-order special today (6/8) only!

Popmarket has a special price today (6/8/16) only on a pre-order of the four-LP vinyl version of "Pure McCartney." The price is $61.99 with free shipping, which is $2 below Amazon Prime's price (which includes free shipping only if you're an Amazon Prime member).

Popmarket also has ongoing specials on several other Beatles collections, including The Beatles in Mono on both CD and vinyl, the Lennon signature box (both CD and vinyl), the McCartney "Wings Over America" deluxe set, the George Harrison "Living in the Material World" deluxe set and the Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" deluxe set.

The 4-LP track listing:

LP Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. Maybe I m Amazed
2. Heart Of The Country
3. Jet
4. Warm and Beautiful
5. Listen To What The Man Said
6. Dear Boy
7. Silly Love Songs
8. The Song We Were Singing
9. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
10. Another Day
11. New

Disc: 2
1. Mull of Kintyre
2. Sing The Changes
3. Jenny Wren
4. Mrs Vanderbilt
5. Save Us
6. Let Em In
7. Let Me Roll it
8. Ebony and Ivory
9. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five

Disc: 3 
1. Band on the Run
2. Arrow Through Me
3. My Love
4. Live and Let Die
5. Too Much Rain
6. Say Say Say (2015 remix)
7. My Valentine
8. Goodnight Tonight
9. The World Tonight
10. Pipes of Peace

Disc: 4
1. Dance Tonight
2. Here Today
3. Wanderlust
4. Great Day
5. Coming Up
6. No More Lonely Nights
7. Too Many People
8. Only Mama Knows
9. With a Little Luck
10. Hope For The Future
11. Junk

Monday, June 6, 2016

Five new Beatles-Harrison thingies

The excellent Collector's Music Reviews reports on five new Beatles-related DVDs. The first four come ahead of the forthcoming Beatles Live Project, but the last is a CD-DVD set of the George Harrison Tokyo Dome show.  








The Traveling Wilburys are now streaming

Concord Music Group

The Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison) are now on all streaming services worldwide. You can find The Traveling Wilburys CollectionTraveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Prime Music, Tidal, Deezer, Microsoft Groove, Napster/Rhapsody and Slacker Radio. The Traveling Wilburys Collection is now available from Concord Music.

Friday, June 3, 2016

Opening "Pure McCartney"




Ordering "Pure McCartney"










See Ringo's press conference here


Photo: Jean Fortunenet


Here's Ringo's press conference from earlier today. The tour starts tonight.




Ringo Starr press conference streaming live on Facebook today at 3:45 p.m. ET

Photo by Steve Marinucci


Just got word that Ringo's press conference today, which will include songs from the All-Starr Band, will be live on Facebook on his page at 3:45 p.m. ET.


Update: Watch the full press conference here.


Here's the full press release:

RINGO STARR AND HIS ALL STARR BAND KICK OFF NORTH AMERICAN TOUR JUNE 3 FROM LAKEVIEW AMPHITHEATER IN SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
PRESS CONFERENCE WILL STREAM LIVE FROM RINGO'S FACEBOOK PAGE STARTING AT3:45PM EST

June 3, 2016 Syracuse, NY -- TODAY Ringo and His All Starr Band invited media for a sampling of a few songs and a quick Q&A to kick off this leg of their on-going tour. This line up which includes, Steve Lukather, Gregg Rolie, Todd Rundgren, Richard Page, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette, first toured in 2012 and is the longest running All Starr Band Ringo has ever played with.

The tour launches tonightJune 3, 2016 at Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse New York and ends on July 2, 2016 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
On July 7, 2016 Ringo will join friends and fans in front of Capitol Records for his annual Peace & Love birthday event. Since 2008 Ringo has been inviting the world to join him at Noon their local time to think, say and do “Peace & Love” to help realize his dream of having a wave of Peace & Love sweep over the planet. 
Ringo has also been working on new music, which is anticipated for release in January 2017.
Here’s where you can catch Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band on Tour:
June 3 Lakeview Ampitheater, Syracuse, NY
June 4 Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino, Salamanca, NY
June 5 Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY
June 7 Bergen Performing Arts Center, Englewood, NJ
June 8 Cross Insurance Center, Bangor, ME
June 10 Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, Gilford, NH
June 11 DCU Center, Worcester, MA
June 12 Santander Arena, Reading, PA
June 14 FM Kirby Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA
June 15 St. George Theatre, Staten Island, NY
June 17 Warner Theatre, Washington DC 
June 18 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
June 19 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
June 21 Foellinger Theatre, Fort Wayne, IN
June 22 Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
June 23 Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI
June 25 Pinewood Bowl Theater, Lincoln, NE
June 26 Hartman Arena, Wichita, KS
June 28 Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO
July 1 Humphreys Concerts, San Diego, CA
July 2 The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA