By Request...

I present 12 pages from the 164 page Let It Be book, a collection of photographs by Ethan Russell and text by Jonathan Cott and David Dalton, which accompanied the album in all major markets--except the United States. United Artists refused to issue the album with such deluxe packaging, fearing the resulting higher price would lead to lower sales in the US. More scans to follow...

Teen Magazines

I enjoy collecting original Beatles-related teen magazines, mainly for the pictures. The articles can be quite hilarious because they are so over-the-top and erroneous. (The Beatles themselves didn't find them too funny, however!)

The second, third and fourth photos were taken as the Beatles rehearsed for their first appearance on Big Night Out, filmed September 1, 1963. They appeared in their collarless Pierre Cardin suits and mimed to "From Me To You," She Loves You," "Twist and Shout," and "I Saw Her Standing There." The entire show circulates among collectors, and portions of it appear in the Anthology.

Some Rare Photos from the '66 Tour

Here are some delightful photos sent to Greg of Beatle Photo Blog fame and me by our mutual friend, Jay. (Thank you, Jay - you deserve all the credit here!) You may have already seen Greg's posting, but I waited until I had time to properly enlarge and adjust the photos before posting them here. I also left the captions, which reveal a bit about how the Ronettes felt about the Beatles themselves. It appears they were quite close, with the gorgeous Estelle (RIP) revealing that she had "dated" George at one time.

Although the Beatles themselves had become weary with touring by this time, their 1966 North American tour boasted a roster of talented and enthusiastic opening acts, including one of the greatest "garage" bands of all time, Boston's own Remains. In a new documentary about the Remains, their current manager divulges that at the time of recording Double Fantasty, John Lennon had spoken with him about the quality and energy present in the Remains' performances on this particular tour, and how he would like to assemble such a band himself. (For more information about the Remains' experiences on this tour, pick up leader Barry Tashian's book, Ticket to Ride, which contains his personal journal entries written along the way.)

Random (And I Do Mean Random) Screen Captures

Someone has done the work for you...

As you, dear reader, can probably tell, I have not been updating frequently. Life is very stressful at the moment, and my time is consumed by other endeavors. Beginning in August, I will be pursuing my Ed.S. degree (which is 30 hours beyond my Master's) so I will be updating less than I have previously.

Thank you for your continued support over these past 3 years. The positive feedback I've received has served to motivate and inspire me. Having this blog has lead to many exciting opportunities for me.

So, I'm not going away, merely slowing down a bit. In the meantime, don't forget to check out the links to the right, and also the fab Kenwood blog.

Twickenham Film Studios, London - November 23, 1965

I present a plethora of screen captures from each of the promos The Beatles filmed on November 23, 1965. Although heavily edited versions of these appear in the Anthology, I chose to use other sources of the complete clips for these captures. Beginning in the afternoon and extending into the evening, the lads filmed the following promos:

• Two versions of "Day Tripper" to start
• Three versions of "We Can Work It Out"
• A third version of "Day Tripper"
• "Help!" (the strange clip with the umbrella, beam and fake snow)
• Two versions of "I Feel Fine" (which includes the unusual "exercise equipment" themed promo and the "fish and chips" version, filmed as The Beatles had their lunch. Only John attempts to mime the words.)

These promos are often hilarious due to The Beatles' poor miming talents and the very obvious way they choose to accentuate their mistakes. John keeps Paul in stitches throughout, particularly during the "Shea Stadium" jackets version of "We Can Work It Out," some of which I've captured here. I love seeing them interact this way and bringing fun into rather straight presentations of the material-- save for those weird props! It's also good to see George's Gibson ES-345, which he only used for a short time at the end of 1965 during The Beatles' final tour of Britain. These promos are the only footage we have of him using that particular guitar. (Read more in John C. Winn's fabulous Way Beyond Compare and Andy Babuik's Beatles Gear.)

Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent

On January 30 and 31, and then again on February 5 and 7, 1967, the Beatles filmed promotional videos for both sides of one of the greatest (if not the greatest, in my opinion) pop singles ever, "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane". As with their previous promos, these were also produced by close friend Tony Bramwell. These photographs were taken by Don Long and later purchased by Mark Hayward, who included them in his book, The Beatles Unseen. These photographs reveal the Beatles as active participants in every aspect of filming, learning about the process from director Peter Goldman. The second picture exposes a technique--Paul rubbing Vaseline on the camera lens! In the third picture, Ringo is passing Mal Evan's video camera to John, a camera which is now in Mark Hayward's collection.

These ground-breaking clips were shot in vivid color, but were only shown in black and white at the time. As evidenced in the Anthology project (which includes incomplete versions), these promos have been brilliantly restored. When I met Tony Bramwell a few years ago, a fellow fan asked him about the promos, and he talked about how they have been restored but are just sitting around in the vault, so to speak. Let's hope we'll see an official, complete Beatles promo collection DVD sometime in the (near) future...

I suppose everyone has heard the news that the long-awaited remasters will be released on 09.09.09 (John would approve of the date). I am very pleased that there will be both stereo and mono collectors boxes, and I will be pre-ordering both; however, I wish that each album would be released in a deluxe format, including both the mono and stereo versions, plus a disc of rarities--singles, odd mixes, outtakes, demos. This would have been the perfect opportunity to include the Kenwood and Kinfauns demos with a deluxe White Album. I am encouraged by the technical details released by the mastering team--perhaps these will not be drenched in NoNoise or mastered too "loud," as many modern releases are. This is quite an exciting event, and I can't wait until we can all enjoy them.

Screen Caps: Paperback Writer/Rain May 19, 1966

Here are some screen captures I took from the Chronology 1 & 2 versions of four of the promos filmed in Studio 1 on May 19, 1966. Another wonderful thing about the promos is observing the Beatles' attitudes toward filming them. We get a chance to see them goofing off a little, sharing an inside joke, and miming rather poorly, which they play up, of course. (They do a decent job of miming in these particular promos, however.) They seem to enjoy each others' company and make the most out of a day on the job; therefore, even the standard "band and instruments" type promos provide enjoyable viewing.

I have captured other scenes from many other Beatles' promos/TV appearances, etc. which I will be posting soon.