On October 18th, 1988, the debut album by the Traveling WIlburys, Volume One, was released to an ovation of widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. Five legendary musicians had joined forces to include Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Session man and old friend of George’s, Jim Keltner, was also on board, playing drums. Only seven weeks later, Roy Orbison tragically died of a heart attack at age 52.

Roy’s death occurred on Dec. 6th, 1988, just 4 days before they were set to begin filming the follow-up video to their first single and video “Handle With Care”. This song of choice was also the closer for the album – a track called “End Of The Line”. The song refers to the on-the-move aspect of the group and has a “freight train” style rhythm to give it that feel. With that in mind, the plan for the video was to have a lot of “boxcar” scenes of the band playing on a moving train.

When “End Of The Line” was recorded, three of the Wilburys – George, Jeff and Roy – took turns singing lead on the choruses, with Tom Petty singing the verses. When the video was filmed, the original “train theme” was modified to include a guitar in a rocking chair slowly swinging back and forth during the chorus where Roy is singing lead. There is also a brief close-up of a black and white photo of Roy in a frame.

In the fall of 1988, Roy had also been working on his own solo album, Mystery Girl, which also enlisted help of most of the Wilburys (Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison). The tracks were finalized in the weeks following his death and the album released in February 1989. With Volume One and Mystery Girl, Roy Orbison became the first musician since Elvis Presley to have two albums in the U.S. Billboard top five at the same time.

Click the image above to play the video.

Extra info: The surviving Wilburys convened in 1990 to record their second and final album, curiously titled Volume Three. For more on the origin of the Traveling WIlburys, click here.

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

1) Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 – 2008 remaster of original 1988 album Volume One, featuring “End Of The Line”.

2) Traveling Wilburys Collection (2 CD / 1 DVD) 2008 2-CD/1-DVD set containing both Traveling Wilbury albums (Vol. 1 & Vol. 3) plus 5 video clips, including “End Of The Line”.

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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1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – New Blue Moon (instrumental version) I’m going to break some ice with this week’s BROW....
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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!

Related posts:

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On March 8, 2008, I presented a BROW that featured Ringo Starr’s performance, at a Lennon tribute concert, of The Beatles classic, I Call Your Name (view that post here). Originally penned and sung by John Lennon in 1964, it was a great choice for Ringo, as it was a good straightforward rocker, and he sang it well. I’ve decided here to “complete the picture” and give you the video performance this week.

Twenty-three other artists were in attendance at this event, aptly titled Lennon: A Tribute, including Elton John (performing Imagine), U2, and Cyndi Lauper. It was held in Liverpool in May 1990. Ringo plays drums and sings I Call Your Name with Tom Petty on bass, Jeff Lynne on electric guitar and Jim Keltner playing a cowbell. Ringo also says a few words about John before the performance. If this ever comes out on DVD/Blu-Ray, I’ll be the first in line at the store to pick it up.

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) Lennon:a Tribute [VHS] – Original 1991 VHS of film Lennon: A Tribute (not currently available on DVD/Blu-Ray) with 23 artists including Elton John, U2, Cyndi Lauper and Ringo Starr’s performance of I Call Your Name.

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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The five piece supergroup, Traveling Wilburys, released their first CD, Volume One, in October of 1988, and two months later one member, the rock legend, Roy Orbison, died of a massive heart attack. This was just before a planned trip to London to make two music videos for the album. The surviving members carried on with a follow up album released in October 1990 with the title Volume Three. In case you’re wondering what happened to ‘Volume Two’, the name Volume Three was simply credited to “George (Harrison) being George.”

Inside Out followed the opening single for Volume Three which was titled She’s My Baby and featured lead vocals from Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty. All were using their Wilbury pseudonyms, which were respectively Boo, Spike and Muddy. Jeff Lynne, as Clayton Wilbury, plays guitar and provides backing vocals while Jim Keltner, as Buster Sidebury, plays drums. For more on the history of the Traveling Wilburys check out this post and/or this post.

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) The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 – 2007 remastered edition of the original 1990 CD (with 2 bonus tracks), including Inside Out.

2) Traveling Wilburys (2 CD / 1 DVD) (See all Pop Music CDs) – 2007 2-CD/1-DVD expanded set containing both Volume One & Volume Three Traveling Wilbury CDs with added bonus tracks and a DVD that features a Wilbury documentary and 5 promo music videos (including Inside Out)

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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Welcome the the Beatles Rarity of the Week. During 1974, George Harrison made a few changes to update his life and career. First off, he separated with his wife of 8 years, Patti Boyd, who left George for Eric Clapton. Also, with the end of his contract with EMI in sight, he decided to found his own record label, Dark Horse Records, and spend some time with some of the acts he was interested in recruiting for the label.

In January 1976 with his previous contract obligations fulfilled, he was able to join the label himself. He also planned a new LP release which would also have the title Dark Horse, and set up the last two months of the year to support it with a full fledged North American tour.

With everything that was going on with George, he did not manage to begin recording the new record until September, leaving him little time before needed rehearsals in mid-October with his touring band. One song on the album was a cover of the Everly Brothers hit Bye Bye Love, with modified lyrics to parody George’s breakup with Patti, and even included her and Eric Clapton on the track. There was a large host of other musicians on the record (many of who went on the upcoming tour with George) to include Tom Scott (of the LA Express), Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Klaus Voormann, Willie Weeks, Jim Keltner, Gary Wright, Olivia Arias (future wife), Mick Jones, Andy Newmark, Alvin Lee, Nicky Hopkins, Robben Ford, Roger Kellaway, Max Bennett, Chuck Findley and Emil Richards.

Unfortunately, during the sessions, George came down with a serious case of laryngitis. But, due to the time constraints, he felt he had no choice other than to finish recording, despite his raw voice. When the album was released on December 9, 1974, critics soon became referring to it as “Dark Hoarse” in reference to George’s strained vocals. This limitation notwithstanding, good musicianship helped carry it through, and it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart on January 25, 1975.

By the time the tour kicked off on November 2, 1974, George’s voice had been given no time at all to recover, as is apparent in this week’s BROW, recorded on November 22, 1974 at the Tarrant County Convention Center in Fort Worth, Texas. George clears his afflicted throat and then performs John Lennon’s Beatles classic, In My Life, with a slower horn-driven rhythm and philosophically modified lyrics that replaced a concluding verse line with In my life I love God more. Along with George, the core band included Robben Ford (guitar), Willie Weeks (bass), Andy Newmark (drums) and old friend Billy Preston (keyboards). The horns section included Tom Scott (horns), Chuck Findley (trumpet) as well as Jim Horn (saxophone), who is a name you may recognize from various liner notes from any of the four Beatles as solo artists. At the conclusion of the track George sends a blessing to John, Paul, himself and Ringo along with all of the “exes,” who at the time included not only Patti, but also John Lennon’s former wife Cynthia, the woman cited as the initial inspiration for the song.

George Harrison on tour, 1974

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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

1) Dark Horse (See all Classic Psychedelic Rock Music CDs) – original 1974 Apple George Harrison LP on 1992 re-issued CD

2) Rubber Soul (Remastered) (See all Rock Music CDs) – 2009 remaster of original stereo LP by The Beatles, including In My Life (with John Lennon vocal)

3) Additional Amazon links for 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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TheBeatlesRarity.com marches forward with your first BROW for the month of May. In June 1973, right about the time John Lennon was ready to go into the studio to record his next album, Mind Games, he separated from Yoko Ono for a period of 18 months that was later referred to as his “lost weekend”. Leaving his recording plans undeterred by the split, he arranged for sessions at New York’s Record Plant through August 1973 and put together his newest incarnation of The Plastic Ono Band (now termed The Plastic U.F. Ono Band). He even decided to handle the production of the album himself (i.e. without Phil Spector, who had been John’s primary producer for previous releases). Guitarist David Spinozza was recruited to play in the band and was worried that if John found out he had also played recently with Paul McCartney (on the Ram sessions) that, due to the recent feuding between the two, he would be fired. Upon learning about it, John’s only comment was that McCartney knows how to pick good people. Also in the band was John’s old friend, drummer Jim Keltner, along with Gordon Edwards on bass and Ken Ascher on piano. John also enlisted the help of a group of backing vocalists known as Something Different. John designed the cover art for Mind Games himself. It shows a picture of himself walking through an empty field and in the background is a high mountain which doubles as a horizontal profile of Yoko’s face. John later said the design represented his walking away from Yoko and her mountainous influence on him.

Mind Games cover art, 1973

Many of the songs on the Mind Games LP are directed at Yoko, including this weeks BROW. Unlike the finalized account of Out The Blue, this alternate take is a more ‘bare bones’ version. It does not include the prominent backing vocals of Something Different, nor does it have the pedal steel guitar heard on the master (credited on the album simply to ‘Sneaky Pete’). John’s final chorus, where he sings Like a U.F.O. you came to me, is repeated twice in this version, along with the preceding piano break. This adds nearly an extra minute to the song. Although John is only singing a guide vocal here, to my ears, his voice comes through quite nicely. Enjoy…

John Lennon, circa 1973

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

1) Mind Games – 2010 CD remaster of original Mind Games LP featuring Out The Blue and bonus tracks.

2) Gimme Some Truth – 4 CD themed box set of selected John Lennon favorites all remastered in 2010. Featuring Out The Blue and all the John Lennon solo hits.

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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The Concert For Bangla Desh was held at New York’s Madison Square Garden on August 1, 1971. It was a charity event to raise funds for relief to the refugees in East Pakistan (now Bangla Desh) after the 1970 Bhola cyclone and during the Bangla Desh 1971 atrocities and Bangla Desh Liberation War. The event was the first benefit concert of this magnitude in world history. Present for the show was it’s organizer, George Harrison, along with musicians Ravi Shankar, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voormann, Jesse Ed Davis and Jim Keltner.

It’s great that Eric Clapton plays lead guitar on George’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps, just as he did on The Beatles White Album. With Ringo Starr on drums, it must have seemed very reminiscent of those 1968 sessions. The triple album highlighting the concert was released on Apple Records on December 20, 1971 and a film of the show was released later in 1972.

An interesting side note is that some of the crowd noise from the film was used in the Aerosmith recording of Train Kept A Rollin’ on their Get Your Wings album.

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are a few links from Amazon to read about or purchase releases related to this post:

1) Concert for Bangla Desh – 2005 expanded remaster of original triple album featuring While My Guitar Gently Weeps

2) The Concert for Bangladesh (Limited Deluxe Edition) – 2005 restored DVD version of original Concert for Bangla Desh film featuring While My Guitar Gently Weeps (includes 5.1 mixes of all tracks)

3) Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison – 2009 remastered collection of George Harrison hits including the Concert for Bangla Desh version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps

4) More links for 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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Although, I have featured the Traveling Wilburys a couple of times in the past on the site, this will be the first video feature with the super group. A BROW posted in December 2009 (accessible here) went over some background information on the band and goes on to feature a b-side to their She’s My Baby single, the subject of this week’s VOW. The group decided to put out another album after the death of legendary former bandmate, Roy Orbison and the album was titled Volume 3. She’s My Baby was the lead single for the release and has lead vocals from all four surviving members (Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan & George Harrison, in order of appearance). The exciting lead guitar solo was handled by Irish blues rock guitarist Gary Moore (not seen in the video) and the drums are played by old friend, Jim Keltner, who worked with George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr throughout the 70′s and 80′s. Jim also played on the other Traveling Wilburys album Volume One.

The aliases the Wilbury’s used for Volume 3 are as follows:

* Clayton Wilbury (Jeff Lynne) – acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards, lead & backing vocals
* Spike Wilbury (George Harrison) – acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, sitar, lead & backing vocals
* Boo Wilbury (Bob Dylan) – acoustic guitar, harmonica, lead & backing vocals
* Muddy Wilbury (Tom Petty) – acoustic guitar, bass guitar, lead & backing vocals
* Buster Sidebury (Jim Keltner) – drums

Click the image above to play the video.

Here are a few links from Amazon to read about or purchase releases related to this post:

1) The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 2007 remaster featuring She’s My Baby

2) Traveling Wilburys (2 CD / 1 DVD) – collection of their 2 studio CDs (Vol. 1 & Vol. 3, which contains She’s My Baby, along with bonus DVD of extras including the promo film featured here, remastered in 2007.

3) More links for 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!

Related posts:

1. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – New Blue Moon (instrumental version) I’m going to break some ice with this week’s BROW....
2. Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Runaway (original mix) Welcome to the BROW. A couple of months ago when...
3. Inside Out (1990 Traveling Wilburys promo clip) The five piece supergroup, Traveling Wilburys, released their first CD,...

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week! This past Thanksgiving, I posted a BROW of an acoustic demo of John Lennon’s Cold Turkey, that had appeared in the form of a shorter edit on John’s Acoustic CD. This week’s feature goes down a very similar path. It is another acoustic demo John recorded at home sometime in early 1974. What You Got would be released in final form on his September 26, 1974 LP release called Walls And Bridges. It also appeared as the b-side to the album’s second single, # 9 Dream. Although we are only hearing the song in embryonic form here, it really came out great when recorded in the studio. John’s old friends from his earlier albums (Klaus Voormann (bass), Jim Keltner (drums), Jesse Ed Davis (guitar) and Nicky Hopkins (piano) were all along for the ride. The edit of this recording on John’s Acoustic CD removes a mess up where John repeats part of the middle eight and also removes the final verse, which effectively shaves off about a minute of the track. It is presented here in complete form.

John Lennon, 1974 Walls And Bridges photo session

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of thousands of Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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

1) Walls And Bridges – 2010 remaster of John’s original classic album, featuring the finalized version of What You Got (with great drums by Jim Keltner)

2) John Lennon Acoustic – a collection of acoustic performances by John Lennon (contains a shorter edit of the acoustic What You Got used in today’s post)

3) Gimme Some Truth – a 4-CD themed compilation of 2010 Lennon remasters of his best work (including the final version of What You Got)

4) John Lennon Anthology – a 4-CD compilation of alternate Lennon recordings (including another home recording of What You Got)

5) Wonsaponatime – a 1-CD “best of” version of the John Lennon Anthology listed above (also including another home recording of What You Got)

6) And here are more Amazon links 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!

No related posts.

Ringo and his All Starr Band played at Radio City Music Hall last night and the concert was super, the band was hot, background vocals outstanding. It was virtually the same as any other night on his 2010 Tour. BUT IT WASN’T THE SAME AT ALL. This was Ringo’s 70th birthday and the sold out show was filled with luminaries and celebs in the Beatles world. The first hint at something special happening came during Photograph, when our friend Mark Rivera (who is listed in the program as the Musical Director) came out with his Sax and he and Edgar Winter shared the solo in the song. It was the start of unforgettable moments. The finale of With A Little Help From My Friends/ Give Peace a Chance saw dozens of musicians join Ringo in stage as backup singers. We cannot give you a full list of who was up there but Yoko, Peter Asher, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, Little Steven, Nils Lofgren, Jim Keltner, Max Weinberg, Greg Lake, Gary Brooker, Richard Marx, Billy Squier, Gary Burr, Colin Hay, Keith Allison were singing the extended finale. Then a huge cake was wheeled out in the shape of Ringo’s drum set and the entire audience sang Happy Birthday along with some of his grandchildren who came on stage with the cake. He said goodnight and left the stage, but I noticed the tech guys moving some gear on stage and then it appeared, under a dim light – it was THAT HOFNER BASS. At that moment the fans knew what was happening. It was a total surprise for Ringo, as the All Starrs came back on stage and then PAUL jogged out to center stage and ripped into Birthday. I can’t remember hearing such a loud ovation, more like a roar when Paul appeared. Ringo ran on stage and headed for his Drums. It was an unforgettable version with Paul turning around a number of times to glance at his former band mate. After the song, Ringo bopped over to Paul and they gave each other a warm and long embrace. They each said I Love You and there wasn’t a dry eye around. We will blog the full list when we can all figure it out. Olivia was also spotted in the audience but did not join in the finale.

To the Greatest – Peace and Love Ringo!

Original article by The Fest.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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