Welcome to BROW. I can think of no other Beatles-related album that is more politically oriented than the John Lennon/Yoko Ono w/Elephants Memory release from 1972 titled Sometime In New York City. Every track on the double LP was a blatant political statement at a time of widespread controversy around the world. The album’s cover sported an altered photo of Richard Nixon and Mao Tse Tung dancing nude together along with the hit single Woman Is The Nigger Of The World. (Yeah, John was really making a good impression on the government to insure his immigration problems would iron themselves out, right?) One of the two songs on the album that address the hardships of war-torn Northern Ireland was The Luck Of The Irish. I will not speak more of the subject matter of this tune because it’s message speaks for itself well enough if you give it a listen. John and Yoko sing it together on the album as on this demo recorded sometime in March of 1972. Although Yoko is a far cry (no pun intended) from my favorite vocalist, her part compliments this song in my opinion. This is actually 2 takes of the demo as John discontinues the first take early. Enjoy.

John & Yoko, 1972

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

No related posts.

I just want to say have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow to all readers and followers of my web site and the BROW. Less than 2 weeks ago on November 12th, Paul McCartney performed at a charity event at the Royal Albert Hall. As an extra listen for your holiday, here he is at that historic venue playing for the BBC sponsored charity to benefit the UK’s Children In Need fund. It’s an audience recording but still not too bad. Enjoy.

Paul McCartney at the Royal Albert Hall

Again, Happy Holidays to all!

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Mrs. Vandebilt, Live in Kiev On June 14, 2008, a record 350,000 braved the inclement...

In celebration of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album being released for the Beatles Rockband format earlier this week, I thought I’d post a Pepper-era BROW. Your Mother Should Know was not released on the Sgt. Pepper album but recorded immediately afterward on August 22, 1967 for the upcoming Magical Mystery Tour film. This was immediately before the band would travel to Bangor to meet the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the first time, and just 5 days before manager Brian Epstein was found dead of a drug overdose. This is an early acetate of the song (initially penned by Paul) that has no organ or bass added yet and background vocals that are entirely different from the finalized version. It is believed to be take 8. Upon completion, the music from the film would be released as a double EP in the U.K. the following December 8th and as a complete album in the U.S. a week and half earlier.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 1967

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on Beatles Rockband The word in the news is that Harmonix and MTV...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends (mono mix) Welcome to this week’s BROW. Many of the mono versions...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (unconnected) Welcome to the BROW. It’s pretty common knowledge that by...

Ringo is putting out a new album due on the shelves January 12th called Y Not. Paul McCartney will be playing bass on a track called Peace Dream and sharing vocals with Ringo on the album’s first singe called Walk With Me. Paul has not been on a Ringo record since 1998′s Vertical Man. This will also be the first time in Ringo’s career that he will also be involved with producing the album. Other guests on the album include Joe Walsh, Joss Stone, Van Dyke Parks, Ben Harper and Richard Marx.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr

No related posts.

In the liner notes on the jacket of the vinyl release of The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl LP issued on May 6, 1977, producer George Martin describes the reason for his misgivings on releasing these live recordings much earlier. He states that since the band had no fold-back speakers they could not hear themselves playing and the extreme chaos of over 17,000 healthy, young lungs made even a jet plane inaudible (actually all 18,700 seats sold out for all 3 recorded Hollywood Bowl shows). For these reasons, the quality of the recordings was a disappointment. However, the electric atmosphere and raw energy apparent in the recordings inspired him to team up with engineer Geoff Emerick years later and bring the recordings back to life. The three Hollywood Bowl shows caught on tape were from August 23rd, 1964, August 29th, 1965 and August 30th, 1965. Selected tracks from the 23rd and 30th shows were used to create the official release. One reason for not using the 29th show was that Paul McCartney’s microphone went out and remained that way for the first four songs of the set leaving the others to handle the vocals without his being heard at all. This week’s BROW, recorded near the end of that August 29th set (after the mic issue had been attended to), features Ringo belting out I Wanna Be Your Man while laying down a solid beat on his drum kit. Take it away Ringo!

The Beatles performing at The Hollywood Bowl, 1964

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl An extra-treat from an extra-Happy Nat this week. To help...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I Want To Hold Your Hand (Hollywood Bowl) On August 23, 1964, The Beatles performed live at The...
3. A Hard Day’s Night (Hollywood Bowl, 1964) Back on January 22, 2010, I launched the VOW series...

The word in the news is that Harmonix and MTV Games will release the 8 songs from the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album that did not come with The Beatles Rockband game for download on Wii and XBox 360 on November 17th and PlayStation 3 on November 19th. Those 8 songs specifically are Fixing A Hole, She’s Leaving Home, Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite, Within You Without You, When I’m 64, Lovely Rita, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise) and A Day In The Life. Wii users (unfortunately) will have to purchase the tracks separately but PS3 and XBox 360 users will also have a bundle for the complete album option. This is the same as it was last month when the Abbey Road completion downloads were made available.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Your Mother Should Know (early acetate) In celebration of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (unconnected) Welcome to the BROW. It’s pretty common knowledge that by...
3. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/With A Little Help From My Friends (mono mix) Welcome to this week’s BROW. Many of the mono versions...

Do you remember how in the 1990′s it became trendy to have a “secret song” as the last track on a CD? Everyone seemed to be doing it. This is where there is a long pause of silence (sometimes as much as 20 minutes!) after the last listed track and then all of a sudden a new track shows up with the same track number as the last track. I guess it is sort of a joke, as if to say “Ha! We fooled you. You thought the CD was over but here we are again. Surprise!” The one that is coming to mind now is that second Stone Temple Pilots CD called Purple, but there are many, many others.

The Beatles had done this as early as 1967 on the UK issuance of their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Most are aware of it because it’s also on the CD issues of the album. There was a couple seconds of a special effect right in the record’s inner groove on side 2 strategically placed so that the needle would play it just before skipping on the label and cause it to repeat over and over again. Another weird-ism was the dog whistle sound, undetectable to the human ear during the interval of silence preceding.

Then in 1969 there was the Abbey Road album. The first pressing of the album had the last song listed on Side 2 as The End. A very appropriate title for the last song. But, of course, that was a trick. After a long pause of silence, a surprise power chord suddenly breaks the silence and we then hear the 25-second acoustic song fragment known as Her Majesty. Surprise, surprise! – if you were hearing it for the first time.

The version of Her Majesty heard on the Abbey Road album was recorded in the sessions for the album on July 2, 1969 but had first been recorded back in January 1969 during the Get Back Sessions. Possibly inspired by some discussion The Beatles were having over staging a performance at the Houses of Parliament, Paul created this playful ode to the Queen. This version recorded on January 24, 1969 is over 2 minutes longer than the Abbey Road snippet, however we can hear some background chatter on it, including George Harrison calling The Beatles assistant Mal Evans into the room for something. There are also some interesting guitar embellishments by John that are unique to this account of the song.

Paul McCartney, January 1969

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

No related posts.

Paul did 3 shows at New York’s Citi Field (the new Shea Stadium) earlier this year and the 2-CD/1 DVD set titled Good Evening New York City will give a 33-song coverage of these shows. A bonus version of the set includes an extra DVD of his late show performance with David Letterman earlier this year. Here are some previews (and remember you heard it first on The Beatles Rarity!):

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. Paul McCartney Nominated For Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance It’s official. Paul McCartney is a nominee for best solo...
2. Beatles and Paul McCartney 2011 Grammy Wins Congratulations go out to Sir Paul for his first solo...
3. Paul McCartney Live on the “US Tour” 2005 – Helter Skelter I believe this performance of Helter Skelter hails from Paul...

First off let me say THANK YOU to everyone that has registered on this site. I am very happy to have you here (and that’s one of the reasons I’m not Sad Nat).

Some of you may be thinking Wow! I’m getting way too many email notifications since I registered on this site. Let me explain what is going on.

Each Monday I post the new BROW (i.e Beatles Rarity Of The Week). At any day of the week when I have time I am posting the MOG-era BROWs. From Sep. 2007 through Aug. 2009 I made a BROW post each week on mog.com and now I’m diligently working to get all of those posts moved over to this web site. For registered users, the subscription function is set up to send out an email each time a new post (or in this case, a new “old” post) goes up on the site. Some of you may enjoy this as you may not have been a part of mog then, or now, and are seeing/hearing these for the first time. Others, I realize, may prefer not to get an email each time one of the old posts gets re-posted here; especially if they have read/listen to it before. So here is what you can do about that. I have assigned the category “MOG-era BROW” to all of the repeat old posts. If you only want to get an email notification each Monday when the new BROW is posted, do these steps:

1) Click your profile. It’s in the sidebar at www.TheBeatlesRarity.com under the heading “Meta”.
2) In the left sidebar on the following page scroll down until you see Subscriptions and click that.
3) You’ll see a Subscribed Categories section here. If you uncheck the box that says MOG-era BROW then you should no longer get an email notification when I re-post all of the old BROWs. Of course, you can uncheck any other categories here that you want too, but the frequent ones now are the MOG-era BROW posts.

If you do this you’ll get a notification on Monday’s when the new BROW hits the site and occasionally at other times when a post is made that is not a BROW or if someone has a comment related to one of your comments.

Now again, if you like getting all the notifications, even while I’m playing catch up, then you don’t need to change a thing. I just don’t want to annoy anyone and drive them away. Right now I have posted Sep. 2007 through Nov. 2007 so I have a ways to go yet.

If anyone has any trouble with these instructions or they don’t seem to be working for whatever reason, please let me know and I’ll work with you on getting it fixed.

All the best,

Happy Nat

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

Related posts:

1. A new start… Hello, my name is Happy Nat and I would like...

It was back in January 1964 when The Beatles first took the stage at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France. This was just before their first trip to America and the point where it is said they conquered the world. On October 22, 2007, Paul McCartney returned to this historic venue. Accompanied by his touring band (Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Abe Laboriel Jr. and Wix Wickens), Paul delivered a complete performance, nearly 44 years after his first visit there. The A&E network filmed the show and broadcasted a one-hour special of the event on December 29, 2007. Of course, with such a time constraint, there were a good many songs that were not aired, including this one.

Paul McCartney

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

No related posts.