To help you ring out the old, ring in the new and keep things festive this New Year’s season, I have dusted off a demo version of this holiday classic by your friend and mine: George Harrison. Anticipating an end-of-year release for his Dark Horse album in 1974, George included his simplistic and newly-penned Ding Dong Ding Dong and also released it on a single 2 days before Christmas of that year. It actually sounds best after a few drinks when you are feeling chipper enough to sing along with a group of another 15 people or so. This demo version was actually recorded a couple months earlier in September or October and the Happy Christmas/New Year message heard at the intro is tagged on from a recorded message from 1987 (no that’s not cheating, just being creative!). Also there is a video around, that you may find on YouTube or circulating the web somewhere, that features George ringing out the old by appearing in a gray collarless suit and playing his 12-string Rickenbacker as he did in the Beatle-days.

I want to say a big thank you to everyone reading for being a part of my series this year and especially those mog-friends who saw fit to follow the BROW here from mog.com.

Happy New Year!

George Harrison, circa 1974

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. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I Don’t Care Anymore (b-side) Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week. A...
2. Ding Dong Ding Dong (George Harrison original promo video, 1974) Welcome to the last offering from The Beatles Rarity in...
3. Wonderful Christmastime (Paul McCartney’s original 1979 promo video) For your holiday VOW this year, I’ve dug up Paul...

Welcome to your Christmas-week BROW!

The Beatles Christmas Message Flexi-Disc issued on Dec. 18, 1964

As most fans are aware, each year from 1963 through 1969, The Beatles recorded a special Christmas greeting for their fans. The Official Beatles Fan Club in England sent flexi-discs containing the Christmas messages to its members each holiday season. Last year, I featured the 1963 message and so this year I shall post the 1964 message, simply titled Another Beatles Christmas Record. It was recorded on October 26, 1964, which was the same day they recorded What You’re Doing and Honey Don’t for their Beatles For Sale album. It was also the only flexi to play at 45rpm insead of 33 1/3 (for those of you who remember turntable settings).

Of course a newsletter was issued with the flexi-disc. It was written by The Beatles press officer Tony Barrow (who’s idea it was, by the way, to do the Christmas recordings each year, in the first place). Here is what it read:

Just a year ago The Beatles made their first Christmas record for exclusive distribution to fan club members. Now at the end of another splendid period of world-wide pop supremacy our fabulous foursome have made a second equally precious recording as a Christmas gift to the club’s 65,000 Beatle People. This disc will not be in the hit parade. Additional copies will never be pressed. The contents of this sleeve will make each fan club member the envy of numerous friends. Money can’t buy ANOTHER BEATLES CHRISTMAS RECORD – but with membership of the most with it fan club in Britain, the disc comes through your letter-box free of charge in time for yuletide parties and holiday record sessions. This is the uniquely pleasant way in which John, Paul, George and Ringo choose to say Thank You to thousands of their loyal fans throughout the nation. The Official Beatles Fan Club of Great Britain operates from special offices in Central London. National Secretaries Anne Collingham and Bettina Rose have a hard-working staff of full-time assistants to help run the club affairs. And in every country throughout the British Isles there is a local Area Secretary to look after members’ queries on a voluntary basis. Overseas you’ll find a branch of the club in more than a score of countries scattered around the globe. Each branch is run quite independently but with the authorisation and supervision of Anne and Bettina in London.

The four boys find time to pop into the club headquarters despite their hectic schedule of tours, television appearances, recording sessions, film work and broadcasts. The girls in the office still retain vivid memories of the morning Paul dropped in for a chat, joined in with the gang to stamp up a batch of membership cards and then treated the entire staff to an excellent lunch in a nearby steakhouse!

TONY BARROW

It’s been fun bringing you the BROW this year and I thank you all for being a part of my new web site home for these tributary posts. Fab holiday wishes go out to you all from me to you.

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. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – The Beatles Christmas Record 1963 Welcome to this year’s Christmas BROW. Most Beatles fans realize...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record (1966 fan club record) Welcome to your 2011 Holiday-week BROW! As most fans are...
3. Freda Kelly – Beatles Fan Club Secretary, 1963-1972 Liverpudlian Freda Kelly was the Beatles Fan Club Secretary from...

For every October since it’s origin in 1986 (except 1987), musician extraordinaire Neil Young and his wife Pegi have organized the Bridge School Benefit Concerts. The concerts are always held in Mountain View, California as the Bridge School is in nearby Hillsborough. Proceeds benefit the Bridge School, which assists children with severe physical impairments and complex communication needs. A main emphasis of the charity effort is the use of advanced augmentative and alternative communication systems and assistive technology. Neil always hosts the benefit and, of course, performs at each of them, as well. Over the years he has had a very impressive line-up of musicians in the line-up including Crosby, Stills & Nash, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Don Henly, Jackson Browne, Sammy Hagar, Elton John, Pearl Jam, Elvis Costello, Steve Miller, REM, Metallica…and the list goes on and on. As a general rule, the performers use acoustic instruments.

The 18th Bridge School Benefit Concert from October 23-24, 2004 included The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tony Bennett, Sonic Youth, Eddie Vedder and Paul McCartney, among others. This week’s BROW was recorded midway through Paul’s performance when he calls Neil Young up on stage with him to perform together on one of Neil’s classics from the 1970 album After The Gold Rush. This is Only Love Can Break Your Heart, a change-of-pace feature that I hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks much for stopping by this week.

Paul McCartney (left) and Neil Young performing together at the 2004 Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA

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. Interview: Sid Bernstein It is my great honor to present to you this...
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – If Not For You (30th Anniversary Concert Celebration) Welcome to this week’s Beatles Rarity Of The Week and...

Twenty-nine Decembers ago, a man on 72nd Street wanted only one thing:

To get home for the night.

CNN’s Bob Greene

full article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/06/greene.lennon/index.html


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

No related posts.

I’m going to break some ice with this week’s BROW. This will be my first post to feature this amazing Beatles-related supergroup.

George Harrison wanted to come up with a unique B-side for his upcoming This Is Love single release of May 1988 and rounded up some of his friends to help him on the recording: Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan & Roy Orbison. George had left his guitar over at another friend’s house: Tom Petty. When George swung by to pick it up, he told Tom about the plans and Tom offered to come along and help out with the record too. When the resulting song, Handle With Care, was recorded, it was decided that it was just too good for a B-side filler track. George used the already recorded Cloud Nine track Breath Away From Heaven as his needed B-side and the five musicians decided to make a whole album together. Besides, they were having fun.

This, of course, is the story of how the Traveling Wilburys were born. The name stemmed from the slang term Wilbury coined by George and Jeff Lynne during the making of George’s Cloud Nine album to describe various pieces of equipment laying around the studio. In October 1988, their very successful debut LP Volume One was released which included Handle With Care along with another all-to-familiar big hit called End Of The Line. Unfortunately, Roy Orbison died of a massive heart attack in December 1988 just prior to a planned trip to London to make two music videos for the album.

The four surviving Wilbury’s reunited for the 1990 CD Volume Three. In case you’re wondering what happened to Volume Two, the name Volume Three was credited to “George being George”. On both albums the musicians used aliases with the surname Wilbury. On Volume One George was Nelson and on Volume Three he was Spike.

On November 5, 1990 a 12 inch single was released of the Volume Three hit, She’s My Baby. One of the B-sides is an instrumental version of New Blue Moon, which is featured with vocal on the album. The instrumental version is pretty catchy and never appeared anywhere else. The single, never released in the U.S. has been out of print since the early 1990′s. But now you can hear it any time you like, on the BROW.

The Traveling Wilburys, circa 1990

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. Inside Out (1990 Traveling Wilburys promo clip) The five piece supergroup, Traveling Wilburys, released their first CD,...
2. Traveling Wilburys – She’s My Baby (1990 promo) Although, I have featured the Traveling Wilburys a couple of...
3. End Of The Line (original 1988 Traveling Wilburys promo) On October 18th, 1988, the debut album by the Traveling...