MOG - marknavl's Posts

The Black Keys

marknavl — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 12:46:51 GMT

Not much to say here other than The Black Keys put on a great show at The Orange Peel in Asheville NC last night. It was a good time.

Patrick Carney

Dan Auerbach

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:52:42 GMT

Welcome to this week's Beatles Rarity Of The Week. This track was requested by a subscriber a few weeks ago. Back in 1966 while The Beatles were working on their Revolver LP, Capitol Records in the U.S. were putting together a compilation album of singles tracks that had yet to appear on a U.S LP plus some leftover songs that were on the British Rubber Soul album but left off of the U.S. Rubber Soul album. It came up three songs short of being a typical length so they pressed EMI for 3 new songs to round it out. What they received was three Lennon tracks: Dr. Robert (featured in an earlier BROW), And Your Bird Can Sing and the one featured here: I'm Only Sleeping. With that the U.S. album was completed and named Yesterday...And Today. These three songs were early versions that The Beatles modified with edits and overdubs after they were released in the U.S. That is why the U.K. Revolver mixes of these songs differ from the U.S. mixes. There are also mix differences between the mono and stereo mixes within each country and in the case of I'm Only Sleeping there are five different versions: U.K. mono, U.K. stereo, U.S. mono, U.S. fake stereo (on original stereo Yesterday...And Today albums) and U.S. stereo (later editions of Yesterday...And Today albums). Since the U.K. Revolver album was what was later issued to CD, the U.K. stereo version of I'm Only Sleeping is the most common. The version I'm featuring here is the U.S. mono version. The backwards guitar heard in verse two with the common version on "everywhere at such a speed" and "find there's no need" is missing on this version and the guitar ends at the end of the solo whereas here it continues into the words "please don't". The common version also has the guitar starting immediately after the last word "sleeping" at the end and it comes in four beats later on this version. So if you're fairly used to the common version of this song, I hope you enjoy this variation .On the other hand, if you haven't heard any version of this song in awhile, I hope you enjoy it anyway because it's a great tune.

Trunk cover issuance of Yesterday...And Today.

This week's BROW is from my collection of over 6750 Beatles-related recordings. Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the "Tracks" button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The return of Cheech & Chong

marknavl — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:46:39 GMT

Heather & I had the pleasure of catching Cheech & Chong on their reunion tour down in Atlanta last night and it was fantastic. They did borrow a lot from their earlier material but it was updated and seemed fresh enough and they added new bits to it as well. Many of the not forgotten characters (Margret, Sgt. Stadenko, Pedro, Dave, etc.) had one or more parts or mentions. Tommy Chong's beautiful wife Shelby opened up for them and also contributed a little bit to the main feature. It was well worth the ticket cost to get to see these guys again so if you get a chance and you like to laugh, then try to make it to a show.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:43:55 GMT

This week's Beatles Rarity Of The Week is special because this is the week that BROW is one year old. The Beatles were always big on birthday celebrations as can be felt through this medley of happy and rare birthday recordings that I have assembled for this week. The medley includes:

1) Whit Monday - from the BBC program From Us To You. It was recorded on May 1, 1964 and aired on May 18, 1964 (just a few days after my first birthday).

2) Birthday - The Beatles' classic performed by Paul McCartney in Stockholm, Sweden on May 5, 2003.

3) Happy Birthday Michael Love - Recorded with Michael Love (of the Beach Boys) while The Beatles were in India during March 1968.

4) Happy Birthday - This recording comes from October 1971 at John's 31st birthday party in a Syracuse NY hotel room. Eric Clapton, Ringo & Maureen Starkey, Klaus Voorman, Allen Ginsberg, Jim Keltner, Mal Evans and Neil Aspinal were all present and "o-blue-terated" (to borrow a word used by the Blue Meanies in the Yellow Submarine film).

5) Happy Birthday Saturday Club - The Beatles performed this one on the BBC program Saturday Club in honor of it's 5th birthday. The recording was made on September 7th, 1963 and aired on October 5th, 1963.

6) Happy Birthday John - From John's 30th birthday celebration on October 9, 1970. Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Stephen Stills and Klaus Voorman were all present (and once again: O-blue-terated).

It's been "fab" bringing you rare Beatles-related recordings over the past year and a sincere thank you goes out to all the "gear" people out there who have taken an interest.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:14:19 GMT

Welcome to this week's BROW. This recording is from Twickenham studio on January 9th, 1969. John takes a good nasal lead vocal as he kicks off this slightly off-color, up-tempo number. George and Paul give some staccato 'rat-tat-tat' backing. It's a 50's influenced song if there ever was one. An edited version of this track appears on the Let It Be film and it was actually copyrighted in 1971 as a band composition under the title Suzy Parker (the name of a fashion model), but maybe this was just to protect the soundtrack of the Let It Be film. The simplistic and slightly risque lyrics as well as John's comments after the song suggest this was an on-the-spot composition drawing heavy from Wake Up Little Susie (The Everly Brothers) and That's My Little Suzie (Ritchie Valens). It sounds like they were having a really good time with this one.

This photo is from Twickenham Studios, January 1969.

This week's BROW is one song from my collection of over 6750 Beatles-related recordings. Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the "Tracks" button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Ringo is Jesus

marknavl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:53:54 GMT

As an added treat this week I'm posting this rare Kinky Friedman track from his Lasso From El Paso album. Ringo Starr is featured in the song in the roll (pun intended) of Jesus Christ who speaks to a man contemplating using Jesus's picture for an unintended purpose in an under-supplied men's room. The album was released to CD many years ago but has long been out of print. My only copy originates from vinyl so excuse the noise.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:03:44 GMT

This week's BROW honors a request from last week for an original recording of John Lennon's Free As A Bird. This is one of the original piano demos recorded on an audio cassette by John in 1977. Later when Paul McCartney asked Yoko Ono for any unreleased material by John, she gave him a recording of this song along with Real Love, Grow Old With Me and Now And Then. Free As A Bird was then chosen to be the best one to be completed by the remaining Beatles for use on the upcoming Beatles Anthology project in 1996. George Martin was originally offered the opportunity to produce but declined due to his hearing limitations and Jeff Lynne, who had worked with George Harrison and the Traveling Wilburys was given the job. Since John's piano and vocal were on a single track, his voice could not be separated from the piano and it was used on the final production even though some chord changes were edited in for the sake of extended the song and adding a break for an extra vocal part by Paul and George. The demo heard here is known as demo take 1 and from it we can hear that John still had some lyrics to work out. Some lyrics were modified on later piano demos (such as demo #3 where John sings It's the nearest thing to be...Free As A Bird instead of It's the next best thing to be...Free As A Bird) but the lyrics were not finalized until Paul, George and Ringo worked on the full production version. Hats off to Dermahrk for the request.

This photo is from John's 40th birthday party on October 9th 1980.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:09:49 GMT

I’ve seen a lot of discussion on MOG about The Beatles being "first" to do a lot of things: lyrics coming with the album packaging (Sgt. Pepper), the first feedback sound in a rock/pop song (I Feel Fine), the first classical instrumentation in a pop song (Yesterday), the first rock band to wear their hair longer than anyone was used to seeing on males, the first metal song (Helter Skelter), the first band to put backwards secret messages in their music or other hidden meanings on the album jackets, etc., etc. etc. Yeah, well, whether or not you agree with all of these, you should at least agree that The Beatles were innovative as hell.

I think this weeks BROW was the first pop/rock song to contain drug references or maybe to actually be completely about drugs. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. If you can find, or know of an earlier one, then please comment and educate me. The fact that it was about a pill pusher actually went unnoticed for awhile. The Beatles were always stretching the boundaries of what was "acceptable" and in this case got away with it without any bans. Soon afterwards the Stones followed suit with Mother’s Little Helper which was also about pill popping. Most of us also know the story about how A Day In The Life was banned on the BBC due to the I’d love to turn you on lyric. And, of course, afterwards there are countless other "druggie songs" that followed.

Specifically a composition of John’s (with a little collaboration with Paul), aboutthebeatles.com says this about who Dr. Robert actually was:

[A song] written about a New York doctor named Doctor Robert Freymann, a 60 year old, German physician who was famous for prescribing generous amounts of amphetamines to famous people. Freymann once boasted that he could name 100 famous names in 10 minutes of people who used his services. Some books credit Dr. Robert as being Dr. Charles Roberts, but that name was only used as an alias for one of Andy Warhol’s actresses to protect another doctor who practiced the same type of medicine. The real Dr. Robert died in 1987 after losing his license in 1968 and removed from the NY State Medical Society in 1975.

And why am I posting this as a rarity?

Dr. Robert, the song, was first released in the US on the Yesterday...And Today album (yes, this was the one with the infamous Butcher cover, but that's another story) on June 20, 1966. It was later released on the UK Revolver album on August 5th, 1966 but some mixing changes were made after the US version was released that only appear on the UK albums. Since the masters from the UK stereo album was what was eventually used for the Revolver CD, the US (fake stereo and mono) versions were destined to obscurity. The version I've posted here is the US mono version from Yesterday...And Today which unlike the UK/Revolver CD version has the fade reaching the true ending of the song where John is saying 'OK Herb' (?) or something like that (you have to turn the volume up loud to hear this as it is at the end of the fade). The middle-eight section (which starts with 'well, well, well you're feeling fine') are also mixed differently here than on the common version we hear on the Revolver CD. The US fake stereo version which appeared on the stereo US Yesterday...And Today album was also different as the fade was 43 seconds longer than it is anywhere else.

Top to bottom: Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison

Nine Inch Nails, Lexington KY, August 31, 2008

marknavl — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:56:04 GMT

It was a great Labor Day weekend in Kentucky. My wife Heather & I attended our 4th Nine Inch Nails show this tour in Lexington Kentucky's Rupp Arena last night...and this time as you can see in the picture, we made it to the rail. At least we did for a little while. The crowd surge got to be a bit much for us after a while and we got squeezed out but it was great while it lasted.

The 3 piece opening act White Williams from Ohio, was quite boring and had a pretty negative response from the crowd but when NIN hit the stage things got pretty crazy. The set list covered mainly the last 3 releases: The Slip, Ghosts I-IV, and Year Zero but there were a few older tunes thrown in as well. The current touring band with Trent Reznor consisted of Josh Freese (drums) Robin Finck (guitars, synthesizers), Alessandro Cortini (keyboards, synthesizers), and Justin Meldal-Johnsen (bass) and they proved to be a volatile combination as the ripped through a 30 song set list. Here's a picture of Trent taken by me while we were still at the front.

The show was elegantly enhanced by a terrific visuals. Three screen that came down hiding the band with various projections including rainfall effects and obscurations with static and other projections so that during some songs you could not see the entire band. Before the 5 song encore a screen came down with a giant NIN logo in red as seen here.

The set list went like this:

1. 999,999

2. 1,000,000

3. Letting You

4. Discipline

5. March Of The Pigs

6. Head Down

7. The Frail

8. Reptile

9. Closer

10. Gave Up

11. The Warning

12. The Great Destroyer

13. Ghosts 21

14. Ghosts 14

15. Ghosts 19

16. Ghosts / Piggy (Ghosts Reversión)

17. The Greater Good

18. Pinion

19. Wish

20. Terrible Lie

21. Survivalism

22. 31 Ghosts IV

23. Only

24. The Hand That Feeds

25. Head Like A Hole

Encore:
26. Echoplex

27. The Beginning Of The End

28. God Given

29. Hurt

30. In This Twilight

The Great Destroyer and a few of the tracks here were not done at the previous shows we attended. We will get a couple more chances to see NIN later in the year in Greenville SC and at the Voodoo Experience Rock Festival coming up next month in New Orleans. I can't wait for that.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:22:14 GMT

It's Friday already, which is my self-established deadline for the Beatles Rarity Of The Week, so here we go. It was on this day in 1958 that 15 year old George Harrison joined The Quarry Men. George had been watching the group and hanging around with them since February of that year and his friend Paul McCartney had already been in the band for over a year. Despite group leader John Lennon's reluctance over George's age, Paul insisted that George be "let in" because of his skill as a lead guitarist. George fit in well with the group over the following few years and not only played guitar but sang on many of their performances. It wasn't established at this point that John and Paul would be the primary vocalists. When they had their big audition with Decca records on New Year's Day 1962, George sang 4 of the 15 songs, and this week's BROW was one of them. George was a big Buddy Holly fan and covered Buddy's Crying, Waiting, Hoping with a vocal flare that equaled or exceeded any of the other performances at the audition. George's overly cheerful guitar break also brings beaucoup happiness to my ears. Of course, Decca producer Mike Smith turned the band down at the audition saying that groups with guitars are on the way out.

Left to right: Paul McCartney, Pete Best (drummer at the time), George Harrison, John Lennon.

I'm The Greatest

marknavl — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:24:45 GMT

As an addendum to my last Beatles Rarity Of The Week post, and also at the request of Inrumford, I am posting the official version of Ringo Starr's I'm The Greatest composed by John Lennon. Enjoy...

Stone Temple Pilots in Atlanta

marknavl — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:02:35 GMT

It was good to see the complete show after Charlotte's "shortened"set list last weekend due to coming on late and the city's curfew for outdoor venues. These guys really rocked!

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:43:25 GMT

Welcome to this week's BROW. As most of you know, over the years since the Beatles' break-up, Ringo Starr has had a few compositions given to him by his former bandmates to pepper up his solo career. I came across this early take of I'm The Greatest in my collection this week and decided I'd share it. John Lennon wrote most of this song as early as 1970 but knew he could never get away with releasing a song with such a pompous title, yet it would be "great" for Ringo. Ringo's well-known performance of it opens up his hit album in 1973 simply titled Ringo which also contains a few other tracks written or co-written by former Beatles: Photogragh (co-written with George), Sunshine Life For Me (written by George) and Six O'Clock (written by Paul & Linda). This version of I'm The Greatest was a rehearsal labelled take 1 and has a guide vocal by John. It was recorded sometime in early April 1973. It's apparent that the words were not firmly established at this point and John was just improvising with new on-the-spot vocals as he often did, because the lyrics are quite different here. Enjoy.

Stone Temple Pilots at Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphithetre

marknavl — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:20:51 GMT

We got there as soon as the gates opened and with pit tickts we made it to the front immediately and took our place front and center at the rail. I was able to grab one beer on the way and still secure a spot right at the front. The opening act was called Tab the band. I had never heard of them before but they have a CD out and played a pretty respectable 5 song set. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club followed with a set similar to the one they did at Virgin Mobile Fest last week. They are always a pleasure to catch. Stone Temple Pilots came on a good half hour late and finally hit the stage at 9:35 or so. People were complaining about the wait and we heard from a security guy that the set list had to be shortened due to an 11:00 curfew for outdoor events in Charlotte. Nevertheless when STP hit the stage, they blew everyone away. The show was loud, intense and filled with amazing visuals. Most of the songs came from the first three albums but they played a couple (Down and Sour Girl) from the 4th album as well. They played nothing from their final (5th) release: Shangri-La Dee Da which was the least commercially succesful CDs prior to their reunion this year. The set list went something like this: Big Empty, Wicked Garden, Big Bang Baby, Vasoline, Lounge Fly, Lady Picture Show, Crackerman, Sour Girl, Creep/Jam, Plush, Interstate Love Song, Down, Sin, Sex Type Thing, Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart and encore Dead And Bloated. Scott mingled with the audience quite a bit and held hands for a minute or so with a girl standing next to us and she practically melted. The barely squeezed the encore in inside the curfew. Next week we see them with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club again in Alpharetta, GA. I can't wait!

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:24:13 GMT

Welcome to this week's Beatles Rarity Of The Week. A couple weeks ago I featured a b-side by Ringo Starr and decided to do one this week too from the George Harrison catalog. This short little ditty was recorded near the end of the sessions for George's Dark Horse album during September and October 1974. It was released not on the album, but only as the b-side to the supporting U.S. single Dark Horse on November 18, 1974. In the UK it was the b-side to the Ding Dong Ding Dong single from the same album. This track has not been on any official George Harrison album or CD.

NIN again

marknavl — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:40:47 GMT

Saw another great NIN show tonight. The set ist was a little varied from the Virgin Mobile Fest gig and they were opened up by a band called Deer Hunter. We had assigned seats this time on the far right of the stage which gave us a diffirent perspective from the show in Baltimore because here we could see between the screens that come down in front of the band. It was a great show and I'm looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow in Atlanta.

Virgin Mobile Festival

marknavl — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:10:17 GMT

This is the first year I've been to Baltimore for this festival but it was great. I saw Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a family circus act, Iggy & The Stooges, Stone Temple Pilots, Bob Dylan, and Nine Ince Nails all in the same day. Incredible.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:21:14 GMT

Welcome to the weekend and to this weeks BROW. This recording was made on August 22, 1962 at one of The Beatles' infamous Cavern Club gigs in Liverpool, only four days after Ringo Starr joined the band and less than two weeks before recording their first single Love Me Do. It was a Ritchie Barrett hit from the previous April and The Beatles covered it in their stage act often during this period as well as a few months later when they were guests on the BBC. Due to the subsequent rise of The Beatles' popularity in the UK, the performance was televised in Britain the following November. The sound quality of this leaves much to be desired due to the acoustics of The Cavern and the prehistoric nature of the recording equipment. After all, it wasn't recorded by anyone at EMI, just by some other guy.

The bears are back....

marknavl — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:38:49 GMT

and visiting the house again. A few pictures:

The Beatles 'Let It Be' film out on DVD after all..."sometime"

marknavl — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:20:40 GMT

Reports stating that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have blocked the release of The Beatles Let It Be DVD are completely untrue. Steve Marinucci from Beatles site AbbeyRd`s Beatles Page has confirmed with Apple that there are plans to release the long awaited movie, but just not right now. Marinucci pointed out in an email that the story circulating last week claiming McCartney and Starr were blocking the release came from a blog at the Chicago Tribune. After the original story requested the release of Let It Be, bloggers added their bits to the point were the truth certainly got in the way of a good story. Marinucci set about to debunk the story. The official word from Apple, The Beatles record company is "we do have plans to release it some time in the future". `Let It Be` was filmed in 1969 and released to cinemas in 1970. The movie was meant to document The Beatles recording but instead captured the destruction of the band. However, the movie is historic as it is the most complete look inside The Beatles inner sanctum and despite the results, shows the fans what went on during the recording process. In 1971, the film won an Academy Award for Best Music Score and a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special. While last week`s story is now proven completely unfounded, there is still no official time-line for the release of the movie on DVD.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 12:05:58 GMT

Welcome to BROW. This week's feature is one of those pesky b-sides released in the 1970's. Ringo Starr's Just A Dream first appeared on the back of his single ironically titled Wings released in the US on August 25th, 1977 to promote his upcoming album Ringo The 4th released the following month. The track was released again as the b-side to the follow up single Drowning In The Sea Of Love in October 1977 but it was not included on Ringo The 4th, nor has it ever appeared on any album or CD since.

Ringo thought that Ringo was his first true album but unlike the previous three Ringo the 4th had no contributions from any of the other Beatles and the majority of the songs were written by himself with the help of collaborator Vini Poncia. Producer Arif Mardin used the Atlantic Records influence and tried to turn Ringo into a disco/RnB artist but the public opinion revealed it's say on this when both the album and two singles flopped miserably on both sides of the Atlantic.

So Just A Dream is just a forgotten song, until now on BROW.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:02:28 GMT

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's BROW. Inside the final days of May 1968, immediately before beginning work on the White Album at EMI, The Beatles gathered at George Harrison's house in Esher, southwest of London, to routine their latest compositions. This recording of Julia is an example of one of those Esher demos. It is the only Beatles song that John wrote and performed himself without accompanyment from any of the other Beatles. It's common knowledge that when John was 18, his mother Julia was run over and killed by a drunk off-duty policeman. John dedicated this song to her and to Yoko, whose name in Japanese means ocean child, referenced as a line in the lyrics. Folk artist Donovan Leitch, who was with The Beatles at the Maharishi's camp in India earlier in 1968 taught Lennon the finger-picking guitar style he uses in the song. This early demo gives us a feel for the magic of this beautiful ballad before it was perfected in the studio.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the "Tracks" button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Rush Rocks Charlotte

marknavl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:06:35 GMT

Despite the heat in Charlotte, NC last night, Rush put on a great show. The set list however did not stray very far from the one from the first leg of the Snakes And Arrows tour (which I caught at the same venue last summer). It went like this: Limelight, Digital Man, Ghost Of A Chance, Mission, Freewill, The Main Monkey Business, The Larger Bowl, Red Barchetta, The Trees, Between The Wheels, Dreamline, (short intermission), Far Cry, Working Them Angels, Armor And Sword, Spindrift, The Way The Wind Blows, Subdivisions, Natural Science, Witch Hunt, Malignant Narcisism/Drum Solo, Hope, The Spirit Of Radio, 2112 (Overture & The Temples Of Syrinx) and Tom Sawyer. The encore was: One Little Victory, A Passage To Bangkok and YYZ. The only difference between last years set list that I can recall is that instead of Ghost Of A Chance and 2112 we got Entre Nous and Summertime Blues from the Feedback covers EP.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:28:45 GMT

Once again, it's time for this week's BROW. On August 18, 1965, three days after the historical Shea Stadium concert that kicked off their 1965 US tour, The Beatles were cooking down in Georgia for their big show at the Atlanta Stadium where they once again performed on a baseball diamond. Toward the end of the set, Paul has apparently broken a bass string and John takes it upon himself to ad-lib to the frenzied audience while the situation is rectified. Then the band launches into their new single, Help! which had just been released the previous month to promote the then-new movie we all know and love by the same title. Everything comes off well other than John's little vocal flub-up in the second verse. I'm sharing this little piece of history in hopes that you can excuse the fidelity issues, as I don't think there is a surviving recording of it in any better condition. Enjoy...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in Charlotte: 7-11-08

marknavl — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:53:25 GMT

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers put on a great show in Charlotte last night. The line up of Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Ron Blair, Scott Thurston & Steve Ferrone hasn't changed and I was glad of that. The set list went was pretty "hit-oriented" and went as follows: You Wreck Me, Listen To Her Heart, I Won't Back Down, Even The Losers, Free Fallin', Mary Jane's Last Dance, Cabin Down Below, End Of The Line, Breakdown, Saving Grace (with an extended jam afterwards) A Face In The Crowd, Honey Bee, You Don't Know How It Feels, Learning To Fly, Don't Come Around Here No More, Refugee and the encore: Runnin' Down A Dream, Mystic Eyes and American Girl. I was expecting maybe one Mudcrutch song but they didn't do that. However Mike Campbell was wearing a shirt that read Mudcrutch For President.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:44:50 GMT

This weeks BROW takes us back to the infamous Get Back sessions at Twickenham Film Studios in London on January 9, 1969. Only two days before an embryonic version of Get Back had been performed for the first time. Now, with energy levels increased by a lunch break, The Beatles decide to bash out a hard series of "Get Back Jams" and what you are hearing is an excerpt from them. At this point Jo-jo has yet to even be written into the lyrics. Paul improvises various place-names which leads to Puerto Ricans and finally to Pakistanis. This leads to improvising more lyrics about discrimination as these two groups were talked about in the morning paper concerning how too many non-white citizens of the British Empire were living on visas in England and competing for limited job opportunities. Then Mohicans are added to the lyrics. Crazy, huh? Toward the end Paul amuses himself by shouting out the title and groaning as loudly as possible into the microphone. The song had a long way to go but it sounds like they were having fun along the way. In retrospect the Get Back sessions are always talked about as a time when The Beatles were constantly angry with each other but there were some good times in there too.

One And One Is Two

marknavl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:37:36 GMT

At the request of SkyLatern in today's BROW post (see below), here is The Strangers version of the Lennon-McCartney composition One And One Is Two. It's a bit way-out for it's time (May 1964).

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:15:21 GMT

BROW continues this week with a recording that dates back to January 1964 when The Beatles were using a studio in Paris to record Can't Buy Me Love. In between visits to the studio, Paul put together this early demo called One And One Is Two and recorded it with his own acoustic guitar accompanyment right in one of The Beatles' hotel rooms. The Beatles never made an official release of the song, but gave it away to The Strangers who put it out on a UK single the following spring. As always the fabs were staying very busy while looking forward to their upcoming first visit to America and wondering if they would catch on. History was in the making.

The Black Angels are coming to Asheville, NC

marknavl — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:17:02 GMT

I'm hoping these guys put on a good show this coming Friday at Asheville's Orange Peel because I've got a ticket and what better way to celebrate the 4th with some good old fashioned rock and roll? These guys sound like a darker version of The Doors to me and I only just discovered them a couple months ago so this will be the first time I've seen them. This is a track from their latest album Directions To See A Ghost.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:31:20 GMT

Not much is known about this mysterious recording of John Lennon's most likely recorded sometime in the mid-to-late 1970's. It may well have seen the light of day on an official release had John's life not been stolen from him so early. This is in demo form with only John and his acoustic guitar. It might have been a cool idea to have included this on the 2004 John Lennon Acoustic CD release but , ah, what do I know about these things? Anyway, it's called India and it's your BROW for this week. Enjoy

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:47:14 GMT

The master of The Beatles' 1966 single Paperback Writer was created using take 2 in a recording session that took place on April 13th of that same year. Be a fly on the wall in the studio now (or should I say then?) and listen to it "raw", sans fade-out and preceded by take 1 which was an instrumental take that broke down early. The backing vocals come through much clearer here than on the final mix created a few days later. It was then that the reverb special effects were added yielding the official version that we are all familiar with today. It was released on 45 in the US on May 30th and went on to become yet another number one single for the band.

Paul McCartney's Historic Kiev, Ukraine Concert

marknavl — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:58:55 GMT

Paul's outdoor performance Monday night in front of tens of thousands in the Ukranian capital of Kiev was nothing short of amazing. During thunder, lightning and torrential rain Paul performed a two and a half hour show in the former Soviet city that has never been host to a show by Paul or any of the former Beatles before.

Paul opened with the Beatles classic Drive My Car and did many other Beatles hits including Penny Lane, Let It Be, Hey Jude and of course Back In The USSR. He also did some earlier solo favorites including Jet, Calico Skies, and Live And Let Die complete with pyrotechnics and fireworks treatment. He closed out the show with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

This was Paul's first full concert in the former Soviet Republic and it was broadcast on live television across the country.

Paul will be 66 years old on Wednesday.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:00:20 GMT

I received a request last week from fellow mogger DPR to feature a rarity from Paul McCartney's "Flaming Pie era" (circa 1997), so for this weeks BROW I'm serving up a recording made on November 20th of that year when Paul paid a visit on the Oprah Winfrey show to promote his new album. Paul was not accompanied with a band at the time but he had pre-recorded all backing instruments and backing vocals especially for the show's performance which enabled him to sing and play guitar live with the backing in this account of Young Boy. The song has a slightly different feel than the version we hear on the Flaming Pie CD since the official version features Steve Miller on backing vocals and guitar and here Paul is playing all instruments and handling all vocals himself. Paul also performed the title track from Flaming Pie using pre-recorded backing as well and also a quick keyboard solo of Lady Madonna. At the end of the show, the world premier of his Beautiful Night video was aired which featured Ringo Starr (although a scene of extremely brief nudity was censored from the video to make it suitable for us here in the "land of the free"). The show aired 4 days later on November 24th.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Congratulations Dresden!

marknavl — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:42:58 GMT

My daughter has graduated high school. Congratulations Dresden!

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:01:35 GMT

Welcome to BROW. This week we look at George Harrison's Run Of The Mill. This was one of my favorite, although somewhat obscure tracks from the All Things Must Pass sessions. Recorded sometime between May and August of 1970, this early take has just had the piano track added to it and sounds much cleaner than the version we hear on the album since we are spared the "wall of sound" production technique administered by producer Phil Spector. The eloquence of the words and the quiet horns in the background make this a real gem. George adds some la-la's at the end where he's probably imagining some backing vocals or additional instrumentation.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Seven Curses

marknavl — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:24:23 GMT

What a shock...Mark makes a non-Beatle-related post. It does happen every once in a while. I was in the right mood to be touched by this tune while in my car the other day when it randomly popped up on my Ipod. Be careful if your listening though because if you are paying attention to the words and not to careful it just might try to induce a tear or two. Then again, maybe it's just that my baby daughter is graduating high school next week and moving off to college very soon and I'm just going through a depressing empty-nest phase, after also having just lost my dog a few months ago. Whatever! It's a cool tune. Have a good weekend, folks.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:53:44 GMT

Welcome to this week's BROW. This track hails from The Beatles' first BBC session that George Harrison took on a lead vocal. It was also the last BBC session that Pete Best played drums on as one of The Beatles. George covers A Picture Of You which was already a hit song at the time of the session by Joe Brown and the Bruwers. You may remember Joe Brown from his performances a few years ago at the Concert For George but like The Beatles, his beginnings as a musician date back to the British skiffle movement of the late 1950's. This session was recorded at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, UK on June 11, 1962 and also included Ask Me Why and Besame Mucho. My apologies for the substandard sound quality but this is as good as it gets for this recording. Things were on their way to getting better though. The Beatles were within 3 months of recording their first single and changing the world.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:51:35 GMT

It's a good day for a BROW.

The Beatles were quickly trying to wrap up a collection of songs for their Rubber Soul album in time for the 1965 Christmas market and this lengthy instrumental track was originally going to be included. But then John came up with Girl and Paul came up with I'm Looking Through You and then after deciding to resurrect a leftover track from the Help! sessions called Wait, there was no room for this bluesy original and it was relegated to the vault.

Never properly titled, 12-Bar Original made an appearance on the Beatles Anthology 2 CD set in 1996, but it was severely edited down to under 3 minutes due to time constraints. What is presented here is a 1982 re-mix by the late EMI engineer John Barrett of the nearly 7 minute track in it's entirety.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:42:38 GMT

The BROW series continues this week with a studio out-take from the Wings London Town sessions. Despite the album title, much of this album was recorded in the Virgin Islands on Paul's yacht Fair Carol during May 1977 and Waterspout was most likely one of the tracks they worked on there. It was near this period when the line-up of Wings was reduced to just Denny Laine, Linda McCartney and Paul so it is not clear if drummer Joe English and guitarist Jimmy McCulloch participated in this recording that has never seen the light of day. The image here is of a postcard issued at the time to promote the LP.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Lots of Shows....

marknavl — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:27:45 GMT

Okay I've got my "Shows" widget updated after it was cleaned out by MOG a few days ago. It looks like it's going to be a busy August.

An Ultimate Beatles Collection is up for grabs...

marknavl — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:48:20 GMT

...and this is quite possibly the BEST Beatles' collection on the planet. It is owned by Stan Panenka whom I've have had the pleasure of corresponding with recently. Stan is a great guy and his collection contains the finest mint copies of original Beatle vinyl that you'll ever see and has been featured on both VH1 and CBS. Stan is selling his collection in order to buy a dream home for his aging mother, so I thought now that we are on the verge of a Mother's Day weekend that this might be a good time to bring this up. To get a better idea about how incredible his collection is you should visit the website where it is showcased: http://www.ultimatebeatlescollection.com and he has a news clip from CBS posted on his site if you want to check it out. If you're interested in contacting Stan to make an offer or you know someone else that might be, please let him know about it. Stan's email address is beatlefantastic1964@yahoo.com.

An Ultimate Beatles Collection is up for grabs...

marknavl — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:48:20 GMT

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:54:24 GMT

It's too bad, but all chapters in the Beatles' careers cannot be success stories. Back in 1986 there is a good example of this when George Harrison's Handmade Films produced the movie Shanghai Surprise starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. George even had a cameo in the movie as a nightclub singer and recorded several songs for the movie soundtrack. Unfortunately the film was such a flop that the soundtrack was never released. In fact the title song for the film by George was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for the worst original song (it didn't win though). Someplace Else was a track destined for the ill-fated soundtrack album that never saw the light of day but was rerecorded later and released the following year on George's tremendously successful Cloud Nine CD. This week's BROW is an offering of the never-released original version that we hear in the film.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:54:24 GMT

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Record Store Day

marknavl — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:10:20 GMT

I've been pretty busy this past week and am only just getting around to getting this posted. April 19th was Record Store Day and my wife Heather and I headed up from our Carolina home to Lexington KY where Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club did a fantastic unplugged free show in the parking lot of a record store called CD Central located just up the street from the University of Kentucky. In this photo Peter has turned away from the audience for a moment and behind him the long haired guy with the necklace and shades on is yours truly and the little lady (with the camera) next to me is my sweety Heather. This track was actually recorded at this same show. You BRMC fans can download this entire performance at http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/2008/04/23/download-black-rebel-motorcycle-clubs-record-store-day-performance-at-cd-central/ Later that night we stuck around for BRMC's show at The Dame where they seriously rocked the place after being opened by another great band The Duke Spirit.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:56:05 GMT

The BROW is coming to you early this week due to me being in travel mode for the rest of the week. This version of Paul's She Came In Through The Bathroom Window was recorded at a rehearsal at Apple studios on Jan. 29, 1969 during the Get Back sessions, just one day before the infamous rooftop gig seen in the Let It Be film and well before it saw it's final form on the Abbey Road album released some eight months later. The tempo is much slower and bluesier here and there is a lot more guitar from George and although the enthusiasm was lacking in comparison to the official version, it is interesting to see how the song was taking shape at this early stage.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:04:20 GMT

Welcome to BROW. Back in 1997 when George Harrison showed up for an interview at VH1 studios no one expected a performance since he hadn't toured the U.S. since the mid 70's. He was accompanied by Ravi Shankar and his wife Sukanya and then it was noticed that someone in their entourage was carrying around a guitar case. The interviewer, VH1 correspondent John Fugelsang didn't waste anytime asking George if he would do a song or two. After performing an Indian song with Ravi, George shared a charming little demo of Any Road, a song which was issued in final form as a single in 2003 from his posthumously released Brainwashed CD.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:26:29 GMT

On January 30th, 1969 after going two and a half years without a concert performance, The Beatles climbed out on the roof of their Apple Headquarters in London to perform a surprise concert that was also to be their last public performance as a group. Fifteen and a half months later when the Let It Be album was finally released, it contained three songs from this show: Dig A Pony, One After 909 and I've Got A Feeling. This week's BROW is a studio rehearsal of the latter track. It includes Billy Preston on the keys and recorded three days before the rooftop gig, it shows the band almost had this one ready.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:48:08 GMT

This week BROW, covered by Paul McCartney was first a big hit by Guy Mitchell in 1956. All of The Beatles were suckers for these old rock 'n' roll standards and rightfully so. Paul did this one on June 6th 1993 at a live soundcheck in Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario during his 1993 World Tour. The accordion played by his long time bandmate 'Wix' Wickens adds a slightly homier feel to the song. A couple years later on June 11, 1995 it was broadcast on Paul's radio serial called Oobu Joobu. The program aired on the American radio network Westwood One and was full of unreleased soundchecks, demos, etc. from his solo career and with The Beatles. Paul also had a few special guests on the show which ran from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend in 1995. Singin' The Blues was also #1 hit in the UK for Tommy Steele in February 1957 and this may have been the version that Paul heard first.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:19:38 GMT

This week BROW turns it's attention to the final week of the 'White Album' sessions in early October 1968, when John Lennon, MBE was experimenting with different mixes of I'm So Tired. Apple treated us to an alternative look at this song on Beatles Anthology 3 with a hybrid version combining takes 3, 6 and 9. The master that we hear on side 2 of the 'White Album' was take 14. Presented here is another take that was up for consideration and was even "souped up" with a lot of guitar fill embellishments, organ accompaniment and other overdubs that were later discarded in favor of a more simplified final product. This Hendrixy account of the track is an interesting alternative to the one we've become so accustomed to over the years. What do you think?

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 01:15:30 GMT

Welcome to this week's BROW (i.e. Beatles Rarity Of The Week for all you newcomers). Back in the early sixties when The Beatles music started flooding the market, the singles were all in mono. To get a stereo version of a song you had to get the LP that it was on as there was both mono and stereo issuances of the LPs. 1963's From Me To You was a single that never made it on to an album until the end of 1966 when a compilation came out called A Collection Of Beatles Oldies and that only came out in the UK because The Beatles didn't have a record out at the time for the Christmas market. This greatest hits collection contained a stereo mix of From Me To You that was later issued again on the "Red Album" in 1973 (The Beatles 1962-1966) but in the 90's when said Red Album was issued on CD, the mono version was used. So now the stereo is the rarest of the official versions and has a major difference from the mono version. There is no harmonica in the introduction. This is one of countless examples with The Beatles music where the difference between the mono and stereo mix of a song is far more than just the number of audio channels. Another couple of examples would be the mono mix of Help! which, unlike the stereo mix, has no tambourine in the chorus and a completely different vocal track all the way through the song and the animal sounds on the "White Album" tracks Blackbird and Piggies are very different between the mono and stereo and even occur in different places in the songs. Anyway...here in stereo...a song From Me To You.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:38:25 GMT

Welcome to BROW. This week I thought we'd have a listen to an acoustic ballad from the Beatles '65 album called I'll Follow The Sun but a more historic account of it - before it was an acoustic ballad. This recording dates from Hamburg in 1960 and includes John, Paul, George and Stu Sutcliffe. Paul, all of 18 years old is on the lead vocal. The estimated recording date is known to be between Aug. 17 and Nov. 30 1960. It's not really clear what they were calling themselves at the time as that was the transitional year where they were The Beatals, The Silver Beats, The Silver Beetles, The Silver Beatles and then by year's end, The Beatles.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:35:15 GMT

At the ending of the Yellow Submarine movie we hear a portion of the "Harrisong" called It's All Too Much. We get the complete track on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack. Or is it complete? A little comparison between the movie and the soundtrack reveals that part of the portion we hear in the movie is a verse that is missing from the soundtrack. Apparently some sound engineer (was it Geoff Emerick?) decided that there was "too much" of It's All Too Much to go on the album, and the verse beginning with the lyric "Nice to have the time to take this opportunity..." that we hear on the film and the chorus previous to that verse are not on the intact account of the song that we hear on the album. So, for this week's BROW I have decided to give you the complete track reunited with the lost 3rd chorus and 4th verse along with a longer fade out. Actually I have another account of this with an even longer fade out but the quality (although this is mono, folks) is better on this one. There is interesting guitar work on this track. So without further adieu, take it away, George.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:43:26 GMT

Although the other Beatles have been featured as solo artists on the BROW, I have yet to feature Ringo Starr. This just isn't right, so here is a Ringo rarity:

In May of 1990, Ringo performed at a John Lennon Tribute Concert with 23 other artists. It was held in Liverpool. Elton John, U2, Cyndi Lauper and others were also in attendance. Ringo performed this classic previously sung by John with The Beatles in 1964. Ringo also has a few words to say about his former friend and bandmate before he kicks in with the song. This show was officially released in 1991, but only on VHS (remember those?) and is now long out of print.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Oh Mercy....

marknavl — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:22:46 GMT

I'm getting into Dylan's Oh Mercy album lately. Here's a nice dark track from it that shows that everything that came out of the eighties wasn't bad...you just may need to look a little bit harder to find the good stuff.

Great show at the Peel...

marknavl — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 06:24:13 GMT

Les Claypool and band put on a great show at the Orange Peel tonight. Nothing else to say....Great show...

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:49:32 GMT

Welcome to this weeks BROW. During the summer of 1983 Abbey Road Studio 2, where The Beatles did most of there recording between 1962-1970, was being completely refurbished. To celebrate the completion of this, a big celebration was planned including a show that was to be called The Beatles At Abbey Road. EMI sound engineer John Barrett was on a project at the time creating many re-mixes of Beatles songs and made some of these mixes specifically for the show. This version of Because is one of those mixes. You may remember on the Beatles Anthology 3 CD set we are treated to a vocals-only version of Because. We see here though that this may have been an idea of Barrett's to mix it this way as we hear it starting out that way here, 14 years before Anthology 3 ever came out. A synthesizer is introduced at the halfway point during the "love is old, love is new" section but the song is sporting a new mix throughout. I should mention that while Barrett was working on these mixes,he was fully aware of his terminal condition and was able to accomplish quite a lot of interesting re-mixes and quality upgrades of Beatles recordings before his death with cancer in 1984.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:37:04 GMT

Wow, it's that time of week again. TGIF everyone...
For this weeks BROW I want to ask how many Moggers out there are old enough to remember the album Beatles VI? The featured track for this week hailed from that album here in the States but since the days of CDs (which are based on the UK albums) it's on Beatles For Sale.
This exciting version of What You're Doing is take 11 and was recorded on September 30, 1964. It was temporarily marked "best" until the Beatles re-made the song on October 26th. It's a bit rough around the edges, but features a slate call, studio chat, full vocals from Paul and John, and includes a false ending which was not utilized in the final version. Enjoy...

The photograph is the one used for the cover of Beatles VI.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:22:22 GMT

Those of you who are fans of The Beatles' White Album (who isn't??...if you aren't you shouldn't be wasting your time reading this) should appreciate this week's BROW. During a lengthy 8 hour recording session for I Will, Paul would occasionally break off into an "on-the-side performance" on his acoustic guitar to sort of break up the monotony between takes. Paul has always been good at these on-the-spot kind of acoustic things and sometimes they actually turn into parts of real songs. For example the Hey-La, Hey Hello-La's at the end of Hello Goodbye come to mind. Step Inside Love and Los Paranoias on the Beatles Anthology 3 CD set are a couple of these little ditties recorded during the same session of the track I've featured here. The date was September 16, 1968. There was a bit of strife within the band at this point and George didn't bother to show up that day. There's about 28 seconds of this that will probably sound familiar as it was used as an untitled linking track on The White Album between Cry Baby Cry and Revolution 9. It's nothing too astounding, but now you've heard the rest of the story...(hats off to Paul Harvey).

By the way, a special thank you goes out to those of you who sent kind words to me concerning Ruby last week. You know who you are...she will be sorely missed. You guys are great and I really appreciate it.
Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:05:08 GMT

I regret to say that the BROW will be canceled this week as I am opting for a "silent week". Ruby, our sweet lab/hound of 14 years has lost a battle with cancer and will be put down this Friday around 7pm EDST. Needless to say, my family will miss Ruby very much and so I'm just not into a very musical spirit this week. But I promise to return with something good for all next week. For now I'll only offer this photo.

Spot the Oddity, Pt. 5 - Solution

marknavl — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:48:13 GMT

Thanks to Steve Simon, jerste, AA Coppertop and dermahrk for coming up with the right answer on the last Spot the Oddity edition of BROW. The extra piccolo trumpet riff at the end of Penny Lane was "spotted" as the oddity. The early U.S. and Canadian pressings of the Penny Lane 45 originally contained the extra riff and the track was in mono (as all the Beatles singles were at that time). The U.S Beatles Rarities album brought it back in 1980 but created a stereo version simply by tagging the riff on at the end of the album version of the song. Thanks for listening.....

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week (Spot the Oddity, Pt. 5)

marknavl — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:04:07 GMT

This will be the last week of the Spot the Oddity series, however the normal BROW will be back in February. The idea is to figure out what is different about this version of Penny Lane vs. the one you normally hear on the radio these days (i.e. the version on the Magical Mystery Tour album). The version presented here was also out officially at one time or another. As a bonus see if you can determine where (i.e. on what release) this version first surfaced. Put your answer in a comment here. Of course, if your going to try this don't read the comments until you do (that is, if there is any, this time). Good luck to all.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature. The site has been updated recently and should be much easier to navigate. All the best...

Spot The Oddity, Pt. 4 - Solution

marknavl — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:53:58 GMT

FastRMacR picked up on the extended "reverse" ending that concluded When We Was Fab posted as last week's Spot The Oddity. This version was not released in the U.S. but only as a 12 inch U.K. vinyl single in January 1988 and U.K. CD single the following month. This was the second single George put out to promote his Cloud Nine album. The first was the previously obscure cover of Got My Mind Set On You which also had an extended version released in the U.K. only.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week (Spot the Oddity, Pt. 4)

marknavl — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:05:38 GMT

The end of the work week is getting close for most of us and it's time to post this week's BROW. I also want to point out that this is the first week that I have featured a solo track by George Harrison. We are still in our Spot the Oddity series and believe me folks, this one is by far the easiest I have posted. Again for the newcomers, just figure out what is different about this version of When We Was Fab. It was released officially just as you here it here. As a bonus, see if you can tell me what release this slightly different version was originally found on. Put your answer in a comment here. Of course, if your going to try this don't read the comments until you do (that is, if there is any, this time). Good luck to all.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. To help you decide you could visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature. The site has been updated recently and should be much easier to navigate. All the best...

A nice cover for a mellow evening at home tonight....

marknavl — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:09:09 GMT

BRMC is a great band, especially live. This is something a little different for them but it shows an interesting side to their repertoire. This Dylan tune dates back to 1964 near the time of the actual and very sad event that he's describing in the song. Enjoy...

Marilyn Manson at The Tabernacle

marknavl — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:51:42 GMT

Manson put on a great show last night in Hot-Lanta to a sold-out crowd. It was well worth the long drive down south and having to listen to the picketing Baptists with their big signs and megaphones blaring nonsense right outside the line to get inside. I was standing near the front of the stage and when he first came on I thought I was going to get crushed to death but I eventually wormed my way all the way to the front and was able to see MM and Twiggy much better as well as breathe (I'm glad I'm not short). At one point a girl was spidering along the top of the crowd, landing on few heads along the way and then something loosened and her ass became completely separated from the pants she was wearing. These kinds of things keep it interesting for me. The stage show was great and he did his notorious Bible burning on the pulpit routine during Antichrist Superstar. Good crowd, good show, good atmosphere...I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Now if he'd only come to The Orange Peel here in Asheville NC like QOTSA did last year, it'd be even better.

Now And Then - Original Demo

marknavl — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:21:44 GMT

A few days ago I posted a possible "Beatle mix" of a track called Now And Then. Read that post here. Here, as per request from a couple listeners, is the original John Lennon demo of that song. The date of this is most likely in 1979 and the song also had the working title Miss You. The demo clock in almost two minutes longer than the incomplete "Beatle mix" version. And BTW, this track is not included as part of the 22 CD set The Complete Lost Lennon Tapes and for the life of me I can't remember where I found this one. Enjoy...

Spot The Oddity, Pt. 3 - Solution

marknavl — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:53:58 GMT

As was pointed out by DERMAHRK last week, this version of And I Love Her has an extended ending. A few people pointed out some distortion on the guitar too but, ahem, that's just because the recording came from crappy vinyl. Sorry about that.

This version also has a double-tracked vocal and it first surfaced on the German Something New album in 1964 and then later was included on the U.S. Beatles Rarities collection that was released in 1979.

There are actually two common versions of this song. First the U.S version that appeared on the Capital 45 and U.S. A Hard Day's Night soundtrack which had no double-tracked vocal. The version with the double-tracked vocal appeared on the British soundtrack album plus the American Something New album.

Fits the mood for the day...

marknavl — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 17:52:08 GMT

This is one of my favorite Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker tunes from his best album. It was under 10 degrees here this morning and I got no sleep last night but this song still gets me going.

MyBeatlesCollection.com

marknavl — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:22:44 GMT

Just a quick post to let anyone who's interested know that MyBeatlesCollection.com which I've had down for maintenance since yesterday is back up with a cleaner easy-to-read look. The Abbey Road theme I had on it before was sort of cool but I thought it was a bit cluttered on the front page. If anyone wants to check it out and let me know what you think I'd be grateful. Thanks folks...

A New Song by The Beatles

marknavl — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:09:30 GMT

A little bit of mystery surrounds this recording. It was rumored that when Yoko gave Paul the demos of Free As A Bird and Real Love that were polished up later by Paul, George and Ringo for The Beatles Anthology sets in the mid-90's, that she also gave Paul a third demo. When John's demo of Now And Then in a polished up form appeared on the You Tube web site in January 2008 labeled as being by The Beatles, it made the news. It has been concluded (or is this some artificially created hoax?) that this was in fact the rumored third demo. I have to say the drums do sound like they are by Ringo. You be the judge. Enjoy.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week (Spot the Oddity, Pt. 3)

marknavl — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:28:17 GMT

This week's BROW is the third in my "Spot the Oddity" series. Thanks for the responses last week. The idea (in case you're here for the first time) is to see if you can tell what is different about the Beatles tune that I've posted keeping in mind that it was at one time or another an officially released version somewhere. This week, the song featured is And I Love Her. Please excuse the vinyl crackle because this version has not been released officially on a CD. As a bonus, see if you can tell me what release this slightly different version of it was originally found on and put your answer in a comment here. Of course, if your going to try this don't read the comments until you do (that is, if there is any, this time). Good luck to all.

BTW...The photo is from the Ed Sullivan show in February 1964.
Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Spot The Oddity, Pt. 2 - Solution

marknavl — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:11:45 GMT

As was quickly pointed out by Terry last week, this version of All My Loving (see last post and comments) has a 5 beat hi-hat intro that the US or UK versions did not get. It did appear on the German LP called Beatles Greatest that was released in June 1965 on the Odeon label. This version also surfaced much more recently on a CD called The World's Best that was only available in Germany via mail order. Thanks to Terry and everyone who responded. I'll post another of these within a few days. All the best....

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week (Spot the Oddity, Pt. 2)

marknavl — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:47:04 GMT

Last week's "Spot the Oddity" edition of BROW went great so I'm going to try it again. Thanks for the responses. This one is even easier than the last one so let's see how you do.

See if you can tell what is different about this version of All My Loving that was officially released at one time or another. As a bonus, see if you can tell me where this slightly different version of it was originally found and put your answer in a comment here. Of course, if your going to try this don't read the comments until you do (that is, if there is any, this time). Good luck to all or otherwise, you can just enjoy listening to the tune and forget about the little trivia game I've cooked up.

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then Mogmail me with what you’d like me to feature.

Spot The Oddity, Pt. 1 - Solution

marknavl — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:42:49 GMT

Here I've posted the audio solution. I'm happy to credit both crowleyal and FastRMacR for being the first to post the correct answer last week. They both pointed out the extra measure that occurs just before John's "Yellow matter custard" line and that this was the version on the single and now you can hear the comparison (a few second of the differing part of the single followed by the same part in the standard version). Walrus was released as the B-side to Hello Goodbye late in 1967. For more info read the comments here.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week (Spot the Oddity, Pt. 1)

marknavl — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:19:15 GMT

Happy New Year! I decided to try something different this month for the BROW. Usually for the rarity I will feature something that has never been officially released. However for the next 4 weeks I am only going to post songs that were officially released. Now they won't be the versions that you typically hear on the radio now or pick up at your favorite CD shop but they will be close. Yet something is going to be at least slightly different about them. Here is your chance to test your familiarity with some of these Beatles songs that most of you have heard hundreds of times or so. So it's a game of "spot the oddity".
For example I have posted I Am The Walrus this week but there is something that is odd about it that differs from the one you normally hear on the radio (yet it has been officially released this way before). See if you can spot what's different and if you feel like venturing a guess you can post it in comments below. Of course, if you want to give this a try and there are already comments below, make sure you listen to the track and figure it out before reading them. For a bonus, if you know anything about the source of this alternate version, tell us about that in your comments too. I will post the answer in the BROW next week or just acknowledge the correct comments if they are there. We'll just see how this goes....Good luck!

The Beatles Rarity Of the Week

marknavl — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:59:13 GMT

Back in 1999 when Paul McCartney did his album of covers called Run Devil Run he covered this tune which was a hit originally by the great rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry. However, I have a much more obscure recording of the track by John Lennon who decides every now and then to lapse into Get Back while he plays it. This was recorded as a home demo at some point in the mid or late 1970's and is part of the elusive Lost Lennon Tapes collection. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

My Neighbor's Band...Visions Of Cody

marknavl — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:47:22 GMT

That's right. They are named after the novel by Jack Kerouac for those of you in the know. I decided to post a recent unplugged cover they've recorded of Neil Young's Harvest classic. For more information about these guys you can visit their web site at http://www.visionsofcody.com/ or their my space at http://www.myspace.com/visionsofcody1.

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

marknavl — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:01:49 GMT

Well, this would be the week to come up with something not only rare but "Christmasy" for the BROW. So, considering this, I dug into the vault and found what I hope will be a treat for Beatle-people everywhere.
This nearly 15 minute recording was made on December 17, 1963 for the BBC program Saturday Club and features The Beatles in their very own brand of Christmas spirit. It aired 4 days later. None of these recordings appeared on the "Live At The BBC" disk set or any other official Beatles release. Between the chat with Brian Matthew the band performs All I Want For Christmas, This Boy, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, She Loves You and they finish off with their very own Chrimble Medley. Happy Holidays to all and I hope you don't mind that I have removed the commercials.

Punish The Monkey

marknavl — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:49:13 GMT

A few months ago Mark Knopfler came out with his new Kill To Get Crimson CD. Mark has mellowed out a lot over the three decades since that first Dire Straits album, but his music is still very good. He's a great lyricist and very graceful guitar player. Punish The Monkey is the most Dire Straits-like song on the album in my opinion so I thought I'd post it. Here's to great music: The old and the new.