McCartney releases “Amoeba Secret Show” on CD.

It looks like Paul McCartney will have a new EP coming out in a week or two.  Yes sir, the Paul McCartney vinyl-only EP from Paul’s secret Amoeba gig last year is finally coming out on CD.

The CD tracks will be the same as the vinyl EP — “Only Mama Knows,” “C Moon,” “That Was Me” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” The bonus tracks from the show used on the “Ever Present Past” CD and vinyl singles will not be on the CD, Henderson said. The artwork will also be the same as the EP, he told us. Two of the tracks are nominated for Grammys — “That Was Me” for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. The Grammy Awards will take place Feb. 8.

Paul McCartney’s “Amoeba Secret,” the vinyl EP recording of his live show at Los Angeles’ Amoeba Records on June 27, 2007, that’s nominated for two Grammy Awards, is quietly coming out on CD Jan. 27, according to a listing at Amazon.com and other online retailers. That’s just in time for the Grammy Awards show Feb. 8, likely the only reason this is coming to CD at all.

The Grammy nominees from the disc are “That Was Me” for Best Pop Male Vocal Performance and “I Saw Her Standing There” for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. Those two tracks comprise half of what was on the original vinyl EP release — “Only Mama Knows” and “C Moon” were also on it.

One listing we saw said the CD will contain just the four tracks of the vinyl, though two other tracks from the show, “House of Wax” and “Dance Tonight,” were added to the vinyl and CD single releases, respectively, of “Ever Present Past” from the album “Memory Almost Full.” Here’s an idea: Why not release the whole show?

Several online sources explicitly rumored that the EP would never come out on CD or digitally. I guess that truly was only a rumor.

• Check out the amazon.com listing for the CD.  It looks like you can make a pre-order at the site.

New Lennon book collects John interviews.

So sorry folks for the lack of regular updates since the New Year, but things have been busy around here.  We have been playing with redesigning the blog and making some changes to things around here.  Please bear with me as I make some changes, and bring in some really new and exciting content!

We are looking at more ways of making the blog even more active for 2009 , and should unveil a great redesign in the coming week(s).  For now, though updates will be a bit spotty.

For now though it looks like a new John Lennon title is collecting some interviews from the late-great legend. We look forward to hearing more details about it in the near future. It looks promising.  Any new Lennon titles is always promising.

Here’s what we’ve read.

New Book Collects John Lennon’s Essential Interviews

JOHN LENNON: The Essential Interviews collects the pop music legend’s most candid and inspirational interactions with the media. Available for advanced order and immediate delivery from Rock Reader Books here: (http://www.lulu.com/content/5363419), this exciting new book – which is also now available for download – will be formally released March 3, 2009 through traditional and online book retailers.

Beginning in the sensational heyday of the Beatles, The Essential Interviews traces Lennon’s personal and creative evolution over the span of the next fifteen years up until his tragic murder in December 1980. Allowing the iconic musician to tell his own story, JOHN LENNON: The Essential Interviews finds the genius behind most of the Beatles best songs, delivering the memorable, newsworthy sentiments that captivated the media and record buying public alike.

Compiled by pop music journalist John D. Luerssen specifically for Rock Reader Books,

this project offers direct perspective from Lennon on how the following legendary sentiments took shape:

“Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.”

“Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.”

“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”

“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”

Thanks for John Luerssen for sending us the link.  Hopefully we will be able to review this book in the near future.

Another year and no Beatles under the Christmas tree.

We all hope that Santa Claus brought you several Beatle goodies under the Christmas tree this year, and you all were able to ring in the New Year with a loved one.  The end of this year was a bit odd.  As of late, Beatle fans have had a few items to put on their Christmas wish-list.  This year was a bit unique.  We were treated to a new, and stellar, McCartney album, a Beatles monopoly game, a White Album puzzle, and the All Together Now DVD.  But really, there was no truly HUGE gift worthy item under the tree that really got us going.

There wasn’t a new album that was released as a Christmas item, there really was no big item officially from the Fabs to make us reorganize our Christmas lists. We do hope that Santa was good to you this year, and that you had a wonderful New Year, and that 2009 is a truly good one for you and yours.  We have a lot to look forward to as Beatle fans as we face a new year.  We still have the possibility of  the remastered back catalog being released and you all know how much that gets us speculating and drooling.

• Let us know all of those goodies that Santa left under your tree. We’d love to hear in the comments below.

Here’s what we’ve read.

If you still believe in Santa Claus, you might also have expected to wake up on Christmas morning and find an iPod stocked with the long-promised reissues of all the Beatles albums. But if you know the shocking truth about Santa, you probably know that the vaunted Beatles reissues don’t exist either, outside the vaults of EMI, the group’s record label, and Apple, the company the band set up in 1967 to oversee its interests.

Other long-anticipated Apple projects, such as DVD versions of the Beatles’ Shea Stadium concert and the Let It Be film, also failed to turn up for the holidays. If you put any faith in Paul McCartney’s passing mention, in November, that the 1967 avant-garde track “Carnival of Light” might be released, don’t hold your breath: This track has been dangled before (about 10 years ago, when McCartney used it as the soundtrack of an unreleased “photofilm,” made from photographs of the Beatles taken by his first wife, Linda).

Indeed, whenever McCartney releases a new album (as he did the week “Carnival of Light” was mentioned), reports of “long-lost” Beatles tracks that “might be released” suddenly surface, but the recordings themselves do not.

Even the most believable of reports, floated by EMI insiders, proved fruitless last year. During the summer EMI was said to be preparing a deluxe remastered edition of the The Beatles (popularly known as The White Album) to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release. The anniversary came and went, with no sign of the reissue.

Sir Paul McCartney: sort out Beatles iTunes deal

The advent of a new year is always a time to reflect on the year(s) past, but it’s also a time to look forward as well.  As Beatle fans we have a lot to look forward to as we wait hopefully for the remastered Beatle catalog.  Fans have specculated for years.  Fans have made their own deluxe compilations, often rivaling the officially released products (ahem-Purple Chick collective).  Rumors about the fabled release of the Beatles back catalog have been around for decades now.

The time is now to release them.  Put them out on iTunes, put them out on CD, heck put them out on Blue Ray I don’t care.  Just put them out.  As the world continues to turn, The Beatles are missing the boat.  At this point the boat has come back and sailed off twice over.

With such a good set of recent releases from Paul and Ringo this past year the fire is hot.  Just put those puppies out.  I have a feeling that 2009 will bring fans a treasure of remastered material.  We’ll have to stay tuned.

Ahh the joys of being a Beatle fan.  I guess part of the pleasure is in the waiting. Happy New Year folks!

Here’s what we’ve read.

SIR Paul McCartney has called for an end to the deadlock stopping Beatles fans being able to download their back catalogue.

The Fab Four’s work is not available online due to legal wrangling between two companies – Apple Inc and Apple Corps.

The former is the firm behind iTunes and the iPod, while the latter was set up by Sir Paul with the rest of The Beatles in 1968 to look after their affairs and recordings.

He said: “I hope it happens.

“It is out of our hands, really. It is a business thing and there is some gridlock somewhere.

“It is the usual thing – when it is a Beatles deal, it is a big deal. It is not like we are just some new act.

Imagine: Lennon in TV ad 28 years after his death + VIDEO.

It’s all a little outrageous don’t you think?  I mean I know that they have revived Elvis, Roy Orbison,  and Frank Sinatra, but I don’t they’ve ever done aything truly like this.  I have never seen a dead celebrity used to promote a movement. Personally, I think this ad is in truly poor taste.

Somehow, I just feel uncomfortable about all of this.  I guess if Yoko gives her blessing, then it’s OK.  Somehow I just don’t think I can justify it that’s all.  The more times I watch it, the sicker to my stomach I get actually.

Plus, you’d think they’d find a guy to do a better voice imitation. 

• What are your thoughts on this ad?  See it below. 

Here’s what we’ve read.

Imagine, John Lennon makes a television commercial for charity — 28 years after his death.

Through the use of digital technology, the former Beatle urges people across the United States to support a campaign by “One Laptop per Child” to deliver tough, solar-powered XO laptop computers to the world’s poorest children.

Inebriated Lennon tape grab 30k at auction with AUDIO.

No this may not have been John Lennon’s finest hour, but it certainly is a fun listen.  If you haven’t heard any of the bootleg or outtakes from John’s fabled “lost weekend” then you me dear friends are in for a fun inebriated ride.  I personally find the drunken ramblings of an ex-Beatle playing the moldy oldies quite hillarious.  You have to give John credit for trying to get through these.  Ahh to have been a fly on the wall.  The “lost weekend” outtakes are some of my favorites out there.

Plus, it’s really funny to hear John sing about nipples.  Enjoy!  The tape has been leaked onto youtube in both stereo and mono.  To those of you who are fans of the Lost Lennon radio tapes show this tape should sound a little familiar.

John Lennon – Just Because (mono)

Here’s what we’ve read.

Maybe it wasn’t John Lennon’s best musical effort, but a tape of an apparently inebriated Lennon warbling a cover of Lloyd Price’s “Just Because” brought a sobering $30,000 at auction Sunday in Los Angeles.

John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono, seen here in 1969 at a Paris Flea Market.

New McCartney/Fireman album to be re-issued.

Folks, if you have not already purchased, or gotten Paul’s newest album, Electric Arguments, then you may have a reason to hold off.  Or,  if you are a collector of all-things Beatle related, then you may have an excuse to get a second copy for your shelf.  It looks like Paul is, yet again, re-issuing his album in another format.  Do we really need another version of the same album?

Probably not, but this album is so good, we just may have to buy it twice.  Yeah, we really do like it that much!

Here’s what we’ve read.

Save up those pennies, folks. The Paul McCartney-Youth Fireman album “Electric Arguments,” already available on CD, in mp3 form and on vinyl LP, has been in stores on CD just about a month and we’re told it’s already being reissued. McCartney’s press office tells us the slipcase is changing and new copies will be in stores, either in the UK or U.S.,  this coming week.

The White Album: 40 Years Later

As the year draws to a close many of us spend time reflecting on the year, and our own past(s). As 2008 draws to a close it is a time to look back and celebrate a year, and usher in a new beginning.  Many times we are caught looking back to a time of yesteryear.  For some, it’s a way to relish a past that we were not able to experience first-hand.

In this way we are able to celebrate a collected past and come together.  This year, we celebrate the storied and varied anniversary of the Beatles’ White Album.  While I, personally, was not around to experience it first-hand this essay allows me to relive the magic once again.

As we look towards the time of year where the white stuff is flying in the air for some, we look back at the panorama of rock and roll that is The Beatles’ White Album.

Special thanks to John Kays for sending me the link to his wonderful article.

Here’s what we’ve read.

1968 was a year of dramatic change. A few of those pivotal events were: the Tet Offensive, the Paris war protests in May, the killing of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as a blossoming partnership between John Lennon and Yoko Ono. I will link a helpful timeline of 1968 for you, so that you can gain a working knowledge of events for that turbulent year. The Beatles` White Album, which turned forty a few weeks ago, was a quintessential reflection of that era; I still remember that day (11/25/`68) clearly as if it was yesterday. This double album contains, by way of kinetic expression in pop song, much of the energy of 1968.

Now rewind the fragile reel tape back to the day. Just a week before a comment from a colleague at Jesuit Prep piqued my interest, “Did you hear John, that a new Beatles` album is set for release next week?” I got in gear and did some yard work to earn ‘record money’ and also rolled some quarters, dimes, and nickels in anticipation of B-Day. I was fidgety for several days, and invented ways in my mind that the new songs might possibly sound. I reviewed all of the older records so that I would be well oiled to make accurate assessments for the new release. This was a Standard Operating Procedure of that day.

12 Days of Beatle Christmas: Second Day- Paul ‘s Electric Arguments

Paul McCartney is arguably on the greatest streak of his solo career with the latest installment in his catalog.  OK, OK we know that this is not an “official” McCartney album, but it is by far his most accessible Fireman long-play.  It is also our dear Paul at his most adventurous.  It’s almost as if he was listening to his people this time.  I can imagine them saying, take those risks, Paul.  When you think you’ve gone too far out there, go out a little further.  It’s exactly the type of album that I’ve always wanted Paul to make. 

If you haven’t gotten it yet, and why not people?  Then you have to have it in your  Christmas stocking. Maybe the elves will leave you a McCartney treat.  The reviews have been nothing but stellar.  Any McCartney fan worth their salt should be buying this album for their music friends.

Here’s the scoop on the album if you haven’t read enough about it yet.

Electric Arguments is the third album by The Fireman, an experimental music duo comprising Paul McCartney and producer Youth. The album was first announced September 29, 2008, on Paul McCartney’s Web site, and was released on November 24, 2008.[1] It is the first Fireman release to be publicly acknowledged by McCartney, and the album cover features both names of the contributors.

The album, unlike the earlier albums, features prominent vocals. Each song on the album was recorded in one day, the album itself done in only thirteen days, spread over the course of a year.[1]

It debuted at #79 on the UK Album Charts, marking the first appearance for The Fireman in the British charts. They also made their inaugural appearance on the Billboard 200, reaching #67.

The duo borrowed the title “Electric Arguments” from the poem “Kansas City to St. Louis” by Allen Ginsberg.[2] Ginsberg describes driving along the highway in a “white Volkswagen” (i.e., a “beetle”) while listening to music and call-in shows on the radio and looking at signs and billboards:

“Michelle, John Lennon & Paul McCartney / wooing the decade / gaps from the 30s returned / Old earth rolling mile after mile patient / The ground / I roll on / the ground / the music soars above / The ground electric arguments / ray over / The ground dotted with signs for Dave’s Eat Eat”[3]

Thus, “electric arguments” refers both to the radio waves carrying talk-show arguments and also to illuminated billboards and neon signs.

Notably, the album contains songs titled “Traveling Light” and “Highway” (apparently echoing the Ginsberg poem). Also, in the brief few lines at issue, the poem contains a three-time repetition of the phrase “the ground” in the context of “electric arguments” “over” (and Beatles music “soar[ing] above”) the ground; and, indeed, The Fireman’s first album consisted solely of variations on McCartney’s album Off the Ground.

Contents [hide]
1 Track listing
2 Release history
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Paul McCartney.

“Nothing Too Much Just out of Sight” – 4:55
An edited version premiered on Radio One on 9/29/08.[4]
“Two Magpies” – 2:12
“Sing the Changes” – 3:44
“Travelling Light” – 5:06
“Highway” – 4:17
“Light From Your Lighthouse” – 2:31
“Sun is Shining” – 5:12
“Dance ‘Til We’re High” – 3:37
“Lifelong Passion” – 4:49
Was available briefly as a charity download for Adopt-A-Minefield.[5]
“Is this Love?” – 5:52
“Lovers in a Dream” – 5:22
“Universal Here, Everlasting Now” – 5:05
“Don’t Stop Running” – 10:31
The song ends at 5:54; a bonus track (the style of which resembles earlier works by The Fireman) begins 7:57
“Sawain Ambient Acapella (iTunes Bonus Track)” – 4:53

Here’s what we’ve read.

SHARE A ‘LATE BREAKFAST’ WITH PAUL McCARTNEY…THEN FINISH OFF YOUR CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!

HMV are very proud to announce that music legend Sir Paul McCartney will make a personal appearance at their London Oxford Circus flagship store, 150 Oxford Street next Sunday, 21st December 2008 between 10.00am – 11.00am to sign copies of ‘Electric Arguments’, the new highly critically acclaimed album by Paul’s under the guise of The Fireman.

12 Days of Beatle Christmas: First Day – Beatles Monopoly

Christmastime is here again my friends!  We all have wish lists for Santa Claus, and for most that wish list is topped by Beatle memorabilia galore.  This is the time of year that it’s always easy to shop for a Beatle-maniac.  There is a bevy of items that any Fab Four fanatic would love to own.  Some of these items are collectible, and some will become collectibles in the near future.  Others still are fun things that any Beatle fan can score for a loved one and not break the bank at all.

On the first day of X-mas my true love gave to me…a copy of Beatles monopoly.

Not since the 1960’s, with the Flip Your Wig Game, have Beatle fans had the opportunity to participate in family game night together.  Most parents in the 1960’s wouldn’t hold any interest in Flipping their Wigs, but the folks at USAopoly have combined two cultural instituions into one game that’s fun for Beatle and monopoly fans alike.

We were most impressed with the way the gane incorporated the look and feel of the songs and albums of The Beatles without spoiling the fun of playing monopoly at the same time.  We had “tested” out the game by playing with hardcore Beatle fans and people that just loved board games.  The novelty of playing a Beatles game was a delight.  It was a joy to delve back into the Beatles catalog by collecting albums at the same time with game pieces that felt like memorabilia itself.  Several folks laughed every time their turn came up and someone asked “who’s the walrus?”

The game is a great way to crack out family game night and put a rock and roll feel to it.  We have now hosted a family game night, but never before had a listening party, as the game’s “houses” are so aptly named.  Each time a monopoly was made we switched the ipod to a Beatles song from that album.  It was a great way to listen to the back catalog as we played along to the game.  We were able to stay away from the “Taxman” until late in the game, and even watched concert videos on youtube each time a concert ticket was landed on.  The game really allowed us new avenues to celebrate all things Beatle.  The references aren’t that obscure either.  Most everyone playing, Beatle fan or not, got the references.

Like most of the collector’s editions of the Monopoly games, the Fab Four edition is nothing short of fun.  The game presents its own sense of style with beautiful artwork, song-related pewter pieces, and Beatles-related artwork galore.  If you are looking for that gift for the Beatles’ fan that has it all, then this is a nice place to start.  In the Christmas card with this gift, though, promise to play a game or two with them as a condition of buying them the game.  It’s loads of fun for the entire family.  Unless of course, you’re one of those fans that likes to keep their copy of the game sealed.  We’ve bought two copies in our household, just in case it becomes a rarity in the near future.

You can purchase your copy of the Beatles monopoly game at the Beatles official website, amazon, and at your local retailer in the games section.  For a modest $39.99 it a fine addition for family game night in any household.

Here’s what we’ve read.

The Beatles Collector’s Edition of Monopoly celebrates the music that revolutionized rock-n-roll in the 20th century. This Completely customized game features Apple and Abbey Road Studios along with every album released by the Beatles allowing fans to create their own private music anthology. Enjoy and sing along to the timeless music that has transcended generations as you collect the White Album, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and more.