The Beatles Rarity » VOW

It’s So Hard – John Lennon visits Mike Douglas Show, 1972

Happy Nat — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:00:19 +0000

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On February 14-18, 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono did a one week co-host stint on US television’s Mike Douglas Show. This performance aired on the Feb. 14th show and was actually taped two weeks earlier on Jan. 31st. John and Yoko are joined onstage by the Elephants Memory Band to perform a song from John’s most recent Imagine album called “It’s So Hard”. Later in the year, Elephants Memory would record with the Lennons again on John and Yoko’s next album, the double LP Some Time In New York City. This first show with the Lennons also included musical guests The Chambers Brothers, attorney/political activist Ralph Nader and comedian Louie Nye. The show opens up with Mike himself singing his own interpretation of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul classic “Michelle”.

For “It’s So Hard”, John sings and plays rhythm guitar while Yoko hits a bongo drum. The Elephants Memory lineup included Stan Bronstein on sax, Richard Frank Jr. on drums, Wayne “Tex” Gabriel on lead guitar, Adam Ippolito on piano and Gary Von Scyoc on bass.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Some Time In New York City (remaster) – 2010 remaster of original 1972 double LP with Plastic Ono Band & Elephants Memory.

2) Imagine (remaster) – 2010 remaster of original 1971 LP with Plastic Ono Band & Flux Fiddlers. Includes classic version of title track.

3) Rubber Soul (remastered) – 2009 remaster of original 1965 stereo U.K. LP by The Beatles. Includes “Michelle”.

4) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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You’re Going To Lose That Girl (clip from Help!, 1965)

Happy Nat — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:28 +0000

On February 19, 1965, The Beatles did an afternoon recording session to record John Lennon’s new song, “You’re Going To Lose That Girl.” The 4-track mix consisted of John’s Gretsch rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney’s bass and Ringo Starr’s drums on track 1, George Harrison’s guitar solo and electric piano on track 2, backing vocals from John, Paul & George on track 3, and John’s lead vocal on track 4. After doing more filming for their upcoming film Help!, they returned to the song on March 30 to add overdubs that included a new track 2 with a better guitar solo by George, bongos and an acoustic piano.

“You’re Going To Lose That Girl” was the last of the songs recorded for the Help! film, from which this clip originates. At the end of the scene, one of the great swami Clang’s thugs uses a chainsaw to saw a hole in the floor around the drum kit. The producer reports that they will have to re-record the song due to a buzzing noise, and The Beatles begin asking one another who was buzzing. As they look to Ringo, he and the drums fall through the floor.

Click the image above to play the video.

Extra info: “You’re Going To Lose That Girl” was re-titled “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” in the U.S.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Help! (Remastered) 2009 remastered stereo CD of original 1965 UK LP, including “You’re Going To Lose That Girl”.

2) Help! 2007 remastered 5.1 surround DVD of original 1965 film Help! starring The Beatles and with bonus features. Includes the clip of “You’re Going To Lose That Girl” seen here.

3) Ringo 2012 – Ringo Starr’s new album.

No related posts.

Penny Lane (original 1967 promo video)

Happy Nat — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:00:36 +0000

Back on November 11th, 2011, I featured the promo video for one side of the double A-sided Strawberry Fields Forever c/w Penny Lane single. I decided to follow that up this week with the other side.

The promo clip for Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane” was shot at a few locations on the 5th and 7th of February, 1967, in preparation for the upcoming mid-February single release (specifically the 13th in the U.S. and 17th in the U.K.).

Although there were a few sequences shot in Liverpool’s Penny Lane (the subject of the song), The Beatles never traveled there to make the video. The footage, where The Beatles are in the city, was shot at a district of London called Angel Lane. This includes the scene where they are riding horseback through the streets (I’ve always wondered if it was a coincidence that George Harrison rode the “dark horse”). These scenes are interspersed with footage of the “real” Penny Lane in Liverpool, which show the #46 bus, the “shelter in the middle of the roundabout,” the barber’s pole, the fireman on the white horse, etc.

The banquet scene at the end, where Beatles assistant Mal Evans serves the band guitars instead of food, was shot at Knole Park, in the Sevenoaks district of Kent, U.K., where the “Strawberry Fields Forever” promo had been shot less than a week earlier.

As was the case with the “Strawberry Fields Forever” promo clip, the video was directed by Peter Goldman, who was given the position as a result of a recommendation by long-time Beatles friend Klaus Voormann, whom The Beatles had met back in their pre-fame days in Hamburg, Germany.

Click the image above to play the video.

Extra info: “Penny Lane,” along with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” was originally intended to be part of the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band LP, but since it was already early 1967 and the band had not put a single out since the previous August’s “Yellow Submarine” c/w “Eleanor Rigby,” it was decided to release it as a single ahead of time. Since singles tracks did not typically end up on albums in the U.K., neither song was included on Pepper. Both songs were later included on the U.S. Magical Mystery Tour LP; however the British double EP package of the same name included only the songs that were in the Magical Mystery Tour film.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Magical Mystery Tour (Remastered) – 2009 stereo remaster of original 1967 album, including “Penny Lane”.

2) 1967-1970 (Blue) Remastered – 2-CD 2010 stereo remaster of original 1973 Beatles hits compilation, including “Penny Lane”.

3) 1 – 2011 remaster of Beatles No. 1′s, including “Penny Lane”.

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The Fool On The Hill (1967 Magical Mystery Tour film sequence)

Happy Nat — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:00:59 +0000

“The Fool On The Hill” was a Lennon/McCartney original, used in the Magical Mystery Tour film and accompanying LP/EP set. It was actually conceived by Paul McCartney, who stated in an interview that he wrote the song with someone like Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in mind. He claims that he looked at the Maharishi as someone that was considered a fool to his detractors. However, the earliest memories of the song occur around the time of the sessions for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album, a few months before The Beatles first met with the Maharishi. Paul had actually played the song for John Lennon on piano during a writing session for the “Pepper” track, “With A Little Help From My Friends.” The Beatles Anthology 2 CD set has the first recorded demo of the song, taped on September 6th, 1967, along with an account of take 4, made on September 25th, by which time the recording of the song in earnest had begun. The basic track for the master was completed by September 27th, and the flutes were added on October 20th as the finishing touch.

On October 30th, 1967, during filming of the Magical Mystery Tour television special, Paul, along with camerman Aubrey Dewar, traveled down to Nice, France, without the other Beatles. The idea was to shoot sequences of him prancing and skipping about in a rocky mountainous area, for use in the “Fool On The Hill” segment of the film. As seen in this video excerpt, the scene is portrayed as a daydream of Paul’s that occurs while he sits on the Magical Mystery Tour bus, waiting for the magic to begin.

The finished film premiered on December 26th (Boxing Day) in the U.K. on BBC1 and has been on several VHS releases throughout the late 1970s and up through the 1990s. The most recent official release of the film was on DVD in 1997, and it is currently out of print. Fortunately, it still can be found if you visit the right stores. (I have added a link below to a 3rd party Amazon vendor who still has copies, if you are interested.)

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Magical Mystery Tour (Remastered) – 2009 remaster of original 1967 LP, including “The Fool On The Hill”.

2) The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour – 1997 DVD of the complete 1967 film, including “The Fool On The Hill”.

3) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Follow Me (Live at the Glastonbury Fesival, 2004)

Happy Nat — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:00:41 +0000

For over forty years the Glastonbury Festival, held each year in the southwest of England, has been a great source of good rock and roll entertainment. In the 1970′s you may have seen T.Rex or David Bowie there. In the 1980′s, there was The Cure, Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne. In the 1990′s it got even louder with Radiohead, Primal Scream, Sinead O’Connor and R.E.M.

On June 26, 2004, Paul McCartney showed up and introduced a song that he stated was written specifically for “Glasto.” “Follow Me” had never appeared on a McCartney release or been performed in public before this night. Paul performs it on acoustic guitar accompanied with his touring band of Rusty Anderson (guitar), Brian Ray (bass), Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums, percussion), and Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens (keyboards). A studio version was released 15 months later on his September 2005 album Chaos And Creation In The Backyard, and he also included it in the setlist of his 2005 “US” tour.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Chaos And Creation In The Backyard 2005 CD release containing the studio version of “Follow Me”.

2) Paul McCartney – The Space Within US 2006 DVD featuring live performances from Paul McCartney’s 2005 “US” tour, including a nice live version of “Follow Me”.

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Ding Dong Ding Dong (George Harrison original promo video, 1974)

Happy Nat — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:00:44 +0000

Welcome to the last offering from The Beatles Rarity in 2011.

Two years ago on Dec. 28, 2009, I featured George Harrison’s “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” in demo form as a BROW (Beatles Rarity of the Week), which you can catch here. I also mentioned it on last week’s VOW (Video of the Week), and that got me thinking about it. Since it is George Harrison’s only anthem for the new year, I thought I’d feature the finalized version and promo video for today’s VOW.

This festive track was released on an Apple single in time for the New Years’ festivities on Dec. 6, 1974, and also hails from George’s Dark Horse album released three days later. The lyrics have George telling us to “ring out the old, ring in the new” and we see him doing this in the video as he appears in various Beatle-garb, such as his gray collarless suit and Sgt. Pepper uniform. Since his former bandmate, Ringo Starr, plays drums on the track, we can see him in the video too. There are lots of other musicians, including keyboardist Gary Wright on piano, Ron Wood on guitar (credited as “Ron Would If You Let Him” on the Dark Horse liner notes), Mick Jones on guitar, Alvin Lee on guitar, and old friend Klaus Voormann on bass. Additional drums were on the record from long time friend and session man Jim Keltner. The horns you hear are played by Tom Scott. The spirit of Sir Frank Crisp is also credited.

Most of you likely recall that George had written a song called “The Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp” that appears on his All Things Must Pass album. Frankie was a lawyer, microscopist and horticulturist who was the former owner of the Henley-On-Thames mansion George was living in at Friar Park. He had purchased it in 1895 and died in 1919. When George purchased it in 1970, it had been in a state of neglect for 60 years.

Click the image above to play the video.

As I said before, this will be the last post for 2011, and I want to thank all reading (no matter when you’re reading it!) for being here. Just being here to read the posts, make comments and all of the input, feedback and encouragement I have received is what keeps things going on TheBeatlesRarity. I know I said that last year but it deserves a repeat. 2011 has been a very busy year on the site and I have great expectations for 2012 as well. Last year I mentioned new ideas for 2011 and they turned out better than I expected (with new successful additions such as Collectors Corner and the two Fab 4 Radio shows BROWCAST and Side Track Sunday). You can also continue to count on the old stand-bys (BROWs, Cartoons and VOWs). There will be plenty of more cool stuff like this in the new year too, if I have anything to do with it, so I hope you’ll stick around!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
See you here in 2012…

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Dark Horse 1992 CD remaster of original 1974 album, featuring “Ding Dong, Ding Dong”.

2) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Wonderful Christmastime (Paul McCartney’s original 1979 promo video)

Happy Nat — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:00:19 +0000

For your holiday VOW this year, I’ve dug up Paul McCartney’s 1979 promo video for “Wonderful Christmastime.” Many of you have probably been hearing it lately, playing over the PA in all of the department stores, while getting your holiday shopping done, and so I thought I’d post up the visuals to go with it.

Although it has a Christmas theme, it was recorded most likely in the summer of 1979, during Paul’s sessions for his McCartney II album. Like the other songs from these sessions, Paul plays all the instruments, although his band Wings are present in the video. While the McCartney II album was not released in final form until May of 1980, a double album test pressing version, prepared in extremely limited quantities, was out in late 1979. However, “Wonderful Christmastime” was not on it, or on the final version of the album. It was only issued as a single on November 16, 1979. Years later, in 1993, it appeared on the U.K. remaster CD of the Wings album Back To The Egg as a bonus cut. More recently two different edits of it appeared on the June 2011-issued deluxe edition of McCartney II (along with a DVD that contains this featured video). The video was filmed at the Fountain Inn, located in Ashurst, West Sussex, U.K.

Paul was the third of the solo Beatles to release a festive song for the holidays. John Lennon had released his “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” single in 1971, and George Harrison’s “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” was released in 1974. Ringo Starr released an entire album of Christmas songs on CD in 1999 titled I Wanna Be Santa Claus.

Whatever happens to be playing on your stereo or video player this week, I wish you all happy holidays, and plenty of peace and love going into the new year.

Click the image above to play the video.

Beatles music makes great gifts over the holidays. Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post, for your favorite Beatlemaniac:

1) McCartney II (Archive Collection) a beautiful set of three CDs and a DVD. All of the 2011-remastered tracks from original 1980 McCartney II album plus extras that appeared only on the rare test pressing double album, blus two edits of “Wonderful Christmastime”. The DVD contains the video seen here plus much more music. Click for details.

2) Back to the Egg 1993 remaster of original 1979 Wings album. Features two holiday bonus tracks: “Wonderful Christmastime” and “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae”.

3) Power To The People: The Hits 2010 CD hits collection of John Lennon’s best, including “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”.

4) Dark Horse 1992 CD remaster of original 1974 Dark Horse album featuring George Harrison’s Happy New Year song “Ding Dong, Ding Dong”.

5) Christmas Collection: 20th Century Masters 2003 CD remaster of Ringo Starr’s 1999 I Wanna Be Santa Claus CD with lots of good and “cheery” Christmas music.

6) More Amazon links for any of your favorite Beatles-related music: The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Yesterday – Blackpool Night Out performance, Aug. 1, 1965

Happy Nat — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:50 +0000

On August 1, 1965, after over a year of no live performances on U.K. television, The Beatles took the stage at the ABC Theatre to perform six numbers on the program Blackpool Night Out. Along with both sides of their new single (“Help!” and “I’m Down”), they performed the A-sides of the previous two singles (“Ticket To Ride” and “I Feel Fine”) and two songs from their latest LP, Help! The first of these was Ringo Starr’s vocal performance of the Buck Owen’s song “Act Naturally”. The second, featured here for the VOW, is Paul McCartney’s solo performance of “Yesterday.”

The audience during “Yesterday” is quite interesting, as they are likely used to screaming, but aren’t sure how to react to such a gentle song. As the stage lights darken, John Lennon and George Harrison make their exit, and Ringo remains sitting quietly at his drums. Paul plays his acoustic guitar upside down, and is accompanied only by the house band’s string quartet. The audience remains unusually quiet until Paul’s final note. At that point, as the screaming applause fills the room, the lights come up, and John Lennon runs on stage to present Paul with a bouquet of flowers, saying “Thank you, Ringo. That was wonderful.”

This performance of “Yesterday” (along with”I Feel Fine”, “Ticket To Ride” and “Help!” from the same show) appears on the Beatles Anthology 2 CD set. All six Blackpool performances except “I Feel Fine” appear, at least partially, on episode 4 of the Beatles Anthology home video documentary. This show would be The Beatles’ last non-mimed U.K. television performance until “All You Need Is Love” in 1967.

Click the image above to play the video.

Beatles music makes great gifts over the holidays. Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post, for your favorite Beatlemaniac:

1) Anthology 2 1996 2-CD set featuring out-takes, live performances and other historic Beatles recordings between 1965-1968. Includes the version of “Yesterday” heard in this post.

2) The Beatles Anthology – 2003 reissue of 5 DVD set with over 10 hours of Beatles commentary and historic performances, including the performance of “Yesterday” seen in this post.

3) Help! (Remastered) 2009 stereo CD remaster of original 1965 album, featuring original stereo master of “Yesterday”.

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All Those Years Ago (George Harrison original slideshow promo, 1981)

Happy Nat — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:31 +0000

Thirty one years ago yesterday, John Lennon was taken from us by a disturbed individual’s violence – the very same violence that John himself had spent much of the later years of his life opposing. Today’s video feature is a slideshow of various video clips and photographs of John’s life that were compiled into a promo of George Harrison’s tribute song to John, “All Those Years Ago,” released on a single in May of 1981, a few months after his murder.

George originally wrote “All Those Years Ago” with different lyrics, for Ringo Starr to record. Ringo made a recording of it, but felt that the vocal requirement was too high for his range. He was also not too keen on the original words. Since Ringo was not happy with the song or his recording of it, George took it back, and after John’s death, he wrote the lyrics for the version containing all of the heartfelt references to John that we know now.

George retained the original backing track, with himself on lead guitar and Ringo on drums, and superimposed his new vocal with the revised lyrics onto it. He also recruited Paul and Linda McCartney and their Wings bandmate, Denny Laine, to provide backing vocals. This makes the song one of the few that feature three members of The Beatles after the official breakup of the band. Additionally, Al Kooper plays keyboards on the record. Appropriately, long time Beatles producer George Martin co-produced the song with George Harrison. The sessions for “All Those Years Ago,” as well as the rest of the tracks on the associated album, Somewhere In England, were held in George Harrison’s private studio located at his Friar Park home in South Oxfordshire, U.K.

Today we can hear the song, not only in remembrance to John, but to its composer as well. Two veterans of music’s past, whose spirits remain strong in our music and memories of today. Thanks for stopping by…

Click the image above to play the video.

Beatles music makes great gifts over the holidays. Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post, for your favorite Beatlemaniac:

1) Somewhere in England – 2004 CD remaster of original 1981 album, including “All Those Years Ago”.

2) Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison – 2009 remastered CD collection of George Harrison’s biggest hits, including “All Those Years Ago”.

3) Live in Japan (Hybr) – 1992 CD set of George Harrison live in concert with the Eric Clapton band. Includes hybrid CD that has separate surround sound mixes, and features a live performance of “All Those Years Ago”.

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Off The Ground – Paul McCartney promo clip, 1993

Happy Nat — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:00:51 +0000

Paul McCartney’s first studio CD of the 1990′s was Off The Ground. Continuing with the majority of the band from his previous Flowers In The Dirt album from 1989 and most recent world tour, Paul initiated sessions for Off The Ground in December of 1991 and had the tracks up to snuff by the following July. American drummer Blair Cunningham was the newest edition to Paul’s line-up. Blair, who had formerly played with The Pretenders, along with a few other bands, had replaced previous drummer Chris Whitten after Paul’s 1989/1990 world tour. Chris had left the band earlier and went on to participate in the Dire Straits final world tour of 1991-1992. Hamish Stuart and Robbie McIntosh, who both play guitar and bass, had been with Paul since ‘Flowers,’ as had keyboardist Paul ‘Wix’ Wickens, who is still touring with Paul today. Paul’s late wife Linda sings backing vocals and plays keyboards.

The title track to the disc, seen in this promo clip, is an upbeat pop-flavored tune that has Paul taking a trip out the window and flying around the world. Paul released a VHS in October 1993 called Movin’ On that touches on the making of the video, as well as a few others from the album. The song “Off The Ground” was also released on a CD single in April of 1993. The short interlude that precedes the song in the video is a non-album track that appears on the CD single with the curious title “Soggy Noodle.”

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are some Amazon links to read more on, or purchase, some music related to this post:

1) Off the Ground 1993 complete CD containing title track and other great tracks C’Mon People and even a couple collaborations with Elvis Costello.

2) Movin on [VHS] – VHS film of one hour feature on Paul and his band in the studio and video filming sets for Off The Ground promos, etc. Never released on DVD/BluRay.

3) Flowers in the Dirt- – Paul’s previous CD with ‘almost’ the same band (Chris Whitten was on drums instead of Blair Cunningham). Includes the hit My Brave Face and a few other collaborations with Elvis Costello.

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