We have had a very busy year here at Capitol 6000, and we thought it would be nice to end the year 2013 on some high-notes with a little "Kool-Yule" music for the Holidays.
Now some of the tracks listed below are quite obscure and you may not have heard one or two of them before. All of them have been pulled from the discographies held on this web site. If anyone can help with a link for the Barry Allen track that would be nice. Can you spot the tracks that were not by Canadian artists ?
Coming Home Christmas by Edward Bear
(Capitol 72715, November 1973)
Honky, The Christmas Goose by Johnny Bower
(Capitol 72318, November 1966)
Ringo-Deer by Gary Ferrier
(Capitol 72202, December 1964)
Hurry, Santa, Hurry ! by Barry Allen
(Capitol 72315, December 1965)
(listen at - ER ... WELL, MAYBE SOMEONE CAN DIG THEIR COPY OUT AND SEND US A LINK ? )
December Dream by Klaatu
(Capitol 72871, December 1981)
Winter Winds by Slim Dusty
(Capitol 72041, Summer 1962)
The Abominable Snowman by Manfred Mann
(Capitol T-6199 Manfred Mann - Soul Of Mann Lp, April 1967)
So put the fire on, get something nice to drink, cozy up with someone you really like, and fire up your iPad to hear these tracks all over again. And if you have any other suggestions for our list, please send your track suggestions to
Happy Holidays from Capitol6000
This week, we have heard of a few new releases announced for Beatles material, some new, some not so new...
First, Apple announced the release of yet again a new box set, this time containing the US catalog on CD for the first time. In reality half the box set is a first time release, with albums like the Beatles Story, Yesterday and Today (regular and Butcher cover), and Hey Jude, but the other half is pretty much identical to the "capitol Albums vol 1 and 2" from a few years back. Will we buy it? most likely... Are we excited about it? Well, a new Beatles release is always exciting, but the material here is nothing we haven't heard before, especially since it does not seem to be a remastered box set. You can read all the details on the offical Beatles website.
Also, another more intriguing release has been announced on the underground blogs: an iTunes exclusive album called "The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963". Apparently, Apple releases this to gain rights over all these previously unauthorized releases, once and for all. According to the Examiner, European law states that "if the tracks are released by the end of 2013, before the 50-year-anniversary of their first publication, those copyright protections will be extended 20 years, otherwise they'll go into the public domain, which has already happened with "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You."
The album has been released mostly in Asian countries, while the UK and North America still awaits the release. Unverified rumours suggested it would be available only for a limited time, and it seems some countries already removed their iTunes link only a few days after the release; so if your local iTunes store finally offers it, don't waste too much time to get your copy!
According to the Examiner who did a quick A-B comparison test, this releases is a good upgrade to bootlegs we heard before, offering a much fuller, richer sound. The album contains a few alternate studio takes of early songs, and 44 BBC tracks not issued on either previoulsy released BBC albums. Another rumour claims a volume 2 might already be in line for the next few weeks... Which would seem to make sense if the copyright issues are indeed one of the motivators to release this album.
The album was released on December 17 in Canada, and was still available at the time of writing of this update. Some Asian countries offered the album for only a few hours, so fans wondered if the album would be released here at all! It is still uncertain if this is temporary or a permanent selection, but one thing for sure, neither Apple nor Universal announced this album: no press release, no preview, nothing, not even on the official Beatles website. It did not keep the album from topping the charts on the day of release, starting at #4 in the UK, and reaching #1 here and in the USA.
I have listened to the album myself, and without having compared it directly to the bootlegs we knew, the tracks do seem much brighter, fuller and suffered less compression. The material is nothing new, really, for those who heard of brilliant bootleg series like Unsurpassed Masters or Ultra Rare Tracks, but to hear it in such good quality does make a difference. A glimpse inside the studio is always interesting, especially when we can here the guys chat and try out ideas; fortunately, the first few tracks on the album show exactly that, running through the most important takes of the Beatles compositions from their first album. If one wanted to be picky, it would have been nice to hear takes further away from the quasi-final chosen master take we are used to, that are only missing a few overdubs - everyone is hoping to hear different takes on their known classics! Nevertheless, this part of the album is still very enjoyable and well worth the taking the time to listen to.
As for the BBC tracks, it goes both ways: some sound better, some unfortunately don't... yet, although we have had our share of redundant BBC tracks lately, the selection here is almost as interesting (if not more) than the newly released BBC volume 2 album, offering more of these non-traditional Beatles tracks, like "Some Other Guy", "Too Much Monkey Business" and " I Got To Find My Baby".
In the end, the album is interesting for collectors who wish to hear more Anthology-like material (that has in reality been released only to protect copyrights), but keep in mind that these 59 tracks will require you to invest 40$ of your hard earned money. Once in a while is fine, but if rumours are true, there could be more than one of those every year, and it seems Apple plans on staying quite unpredictable on the matter... So save up your dimes in a sock, because nobody knows when (or if) a similar "volume 2" will be available!
Here is the link to a CBC news segment on the release of the album:
Here is the lineup of this new album:
1. “There's A Place” - Takes 5, 6. 2:19
2. “There's A Place” - Take 8. 1:58
3. “There's A Place” - Take 9. 2:04
4. “Do You Want To Known A Secret” - Track 2, Take 7. 2:17
5. “A Taste Of Honey” - Track 2, Take 6. 2:12
6. “I Saw Her Standing There” - Take 2. 3:07
7. “Misery” - Take 1. 1:54
8. “Misery” - Take 7. 1:56
9. “From Me To You” - Take 1 & 2. 3:24
10. “From Me To You” - Take 5. 2:17
11. “Thank You Girl” - Take 1. 2:09
12. “Thank You Girl” - Take 5. 2:04
13. “One After 909” - Take 1 & 2. 4:29
14. “Hold Me Tight” - Take 21. 2:42
15. “Money (That's What I Want)” - RM 7 Undubbed 2:48
16. “Some Other Guy” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 26th January, 1963. 2:02.
17. “Love Me Do” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 26th January, 1963. 2:31
18. “Too Much Monkey Business” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 16th March, 1963. 1:50
19. “I Saw Her Standing There” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 16th March, 1963. 2:38.
20. “Do You Want To Know A Secret” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 25th May, 1963 1:50
21. “From Me To You” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 26th May, 1963. 1:54
22. “I Got To Find My Baby” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 26th January, 1963 1:59.
23. “Roll Over Beethoven” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 29th June, 1963 2:29
24. “A Taste Of Honey” - Live At BBC For "Easy Beat" / 23rd June, 1963 2:01
25. “Love Me Do” - Live At BBC For "Easy Beat" / 20th October, 1963 2:29
26. “Please Please Me” - Live At BBC For "Easy Beat" / 20th October, 1963 2:08
27. “She Loves You” - Live At BBC For "Easy Beat" / 20th October, 1963 2:29
28. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 21st December, 1963 2:19
29. “Till There Was You” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 21st December, 1963 2:16
30. “Roll Over Beethoveen” - Live At BBC For "Saturday Club" / 21st December, 1963 2:16
31. “You Really Got A Hold On Me” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 4th June, 1963 2:54
32. “The Hippy Hippy Shake” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 4th June, 1963 1:43
33. “Till There Was You” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" /11th June, 1963 2:14
34. “A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 18th June, 1963 2:06
35. “A Taste Of Honey” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 18th June, 1963 1:56
36. “Money (That's What I Want)” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 18th June, 1963 2:41
37. “Anna” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 25th June, 1963 3:02
38. “Love Me Do” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 10th September, 1963 2:29
39. “She Loves You” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 24th September, 1963 2:16
40. “I'll Get You” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 10th September, 1963 2:05
41. “A Taste Of Honey” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 10th September, 1963 2:00
42. “Boys” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 17th September, 1963 2:12
43. “Chains” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 17th September, 1963 2:22
44. “You Really Got A Hold On Me” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 17th September, 1963. 2:57
45. “I Saw Her Standing There” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 24th September, 1963 2:41
46. “She Loves You” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 10th September, 1963 2:15
47. “Twist And Shout” - Live At BBC For "Pop Go The Beatles" / 24th September, 1963 2:36
48. “Do You Want To Know A Secret” - Live At BBC For "Here We Go" / 12th March, 1963 1:55
49. “Please Please Me” - Live At BBC For "Here We Go" / 12th March, 1963 1:57
50. “Long Tall Sally” - Live At BBC For "Side By Side" / 13th May, 1963 1:49
51. “Chains” - Live At BBC For "Side By Side" / 13th May, 1963 2:23
52. “Boys” - Live At BBC For "Side By Side" / 13th May, 1963 1:53
53. “A Taste Of Honey” - Live At BBC For "Side By Side" / 13th May, 1963 2:04
54. “Roll Over Beethoven” - Live At BBC For "From Us To You" / 26th December, 1963 2:17
55. “All My Loving” - Live At BBC For "From Us To You" / 26th December, 1963 2:06
56. “She Loves You” - Live At BBC For "From Us To You" / 26th December, 1963 2:21
57. “Till There Was You” - Live At BBC For "From Us To You" / 26th December, 1963 2:12
58. “Bad To Me” - Demo 1:29
59. “I'm In Love” - Demo 1:32
It is time for the last Recent Sales column for 2013!
In the non-Beatles portion of this column, Pink Floyd's Piper's album sold for 150$, the extremely rare Don't Make Me Over by the Swinging Bluejeans sold for 357$ in the shrink, and the almost equally rare Eternity's Children Timeless album sold for 406$. The withdrawn House of the Rising Sun sold for 25$ this time, while Harry Nilsson's Spotlight on Harry sold for 33.50$, and while Rolf Harris's It's A Rolf Harris World for 8$. The Wes Dakus album changed hands for 77$, and Sounds Incorporated sold for 23$ while Billy J Kramer's Twelve Hits found a new home for 10$.
The column would not be complete without our traditional Beatles sales section! First, Sie Liebt Dich sold for an impressive 410$, and Do You Want To Know A Secret sold for 305$, while other copies sold for around 55$ each. Another interesting item that sold was a batch of rare Canadian Reel Tapes (Meet The Beatles, Revolver, Sgt Peppers, The White Album, Hey Jude and Let It Be - most of them from the 70s Gold Box series) sold for 385$. The rare Twist And Shout 45 on the target label sold fro 25$, while All My Loving on the same label sold for 40$, and an early pressing of Beatlemania with the Capitol promo picture usually found with the Twist And Shout album sold for an impressive 333$. The Canadian Ain't She Sweet album sold for 50$, while the Canadian MGM album and its hard to find Why Single sold for 173$ and 21$ respectively, a pretty good deal for the single! Finally, the always popular Let It Be Box Set sold for 100$.
1. It was the fifth and final Beatles single to be issued by Capitol of Canada on its new 72000 series of 45 rpm discs during 1963.
1st was Capitol 72076 - Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You
(February 18th)
2nd was Capitol 72090 - Please Please Me / Ask Me Why
(April 1st)
3rd was Capitol 72101 - From Me To You / Thank You Girl
(June 17th)
4th was Capitol 72125 - She Loves You / I'll Get You
(September 16th)
and 5th was Capitol 72133 - Roll Over Beethoven / Please Mister Postman
(December 9th)
As such it completed a perfect run of five great 1963 Beatles singles selected by Capitol`s Paul White for release in Canada, and this was amazingly before any Beatles single had been released by Capitol in the USA.
2. It was the very first Beatles single in North America to differ from a British Parlophone coupling. The second single to differ from its British pairing would be I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There which was issued by Capitol USA in January 1964.
3. Both sides of the single were pulled from the album Beatlemania! With The Beatles. The primary purpose of the new Beethoven single was to promote sales of the very first Beatles album in North America, ahead of the Christmas 1963 gift giving season.
4. All copies of the single were pressed for Capitol of Canada by RCA Victor at their Smiths Falls, Ontario pressing plant.
5. This was the first Beatles single that was NOT dubbed from a British Parlophone single. Both Roll Over Beethoven and Please Mister Postman were tracks that were mastered from the imported EMI tape reel containing the tracks for the album released in Canada on November 25th, 1963. As a result, the CC prefix was used on the label and is an acronym for Canadian Capitol. The four previous Beatles singles issued by Capitol during 1963 had been dubbed from a Parlophone record sent to Capitol in Toronto from England and had all used the EMI prefix 7XCE.
6. Oddly, neither side was penned by the Beatles, so sales of the disc in Canada probably did not add too much to Beatle bank accounts. But two American song writers, Mr. Berry and Mr. Holland, were not complaining.
7. Thousands of copies of the single were exported to the USA to meet Beatlemania demand in early 1964. American juke box strips like the one pictured above were prepared for the thousands of juke boxes all over the USA (NOTE - image of juke box strip appears by courtesy of Andrew Croft).
8. The Beatles played the song in their Vancouver set-list when they appeared there in concert on August 22nd, 1964. That was, of course, the very first concert they played in Canada.
9. Canada was the first country to issue a Beatles single that featured a George Harrison vocal on the A side.
10. The song opens side 2 of Beatlemania! With The Beatles. It makes a second appearance on the third Canadian Capitol album Long Tall Sally. It makes a third appearance on the only EP the Beatles issued in Canada.
HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY to Capitol 72133 Roll Over Beethoven / Please Mister Postman !
For our other articles on 50th anniversaries of Beatles records, please take a look in our archives section along with all the other articles that were previously posted on the homepage.
You will be happy to know we updated our list of records for sale, just in time for the holidays! From Beatles records to the Zombies, Them and The Who, take a few seconds to browse our quicklist on the left hand side of this page, or our complet list featured on our Records For Sale page. You might just find what you have always been looking for!
Amid all the hoopla around the new "On Air - Live at the BBC Vol. 2" release, it may have gone unnoticed to the casual fan that along with this new album comes a revamped version of the original 1994 release of "Live at the BBC Vol. 1".
The first volume, like "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" before it, was no doubt issued to create a proper legitimate collection of these recordings that had been available to hard core collectors on the bootleg market for years. The recordings were cleaned up, edited and put out as a double CD set or vinyl LP, bearing the familiar Apple label. Collectors gobbled it all up: LP, CD, and both CD and vinyl EP's, along with all the various promo items that accompanied the release. Two years later Apple would take the same approach with the massive Anthology campaign, also, no doubt, aimed at rendering all previous bootleg versions of the material obsolete. Fast forward to 2014; 20 years on from the original BBC vol. 1 release, we have the new, improved, remastered version, available on it's own, or in a double slipcase pack along with the new Vol. 2 album. Is it any different? Here are some of the differences as I have observed.
The first and obvious thing one notices before even playing the album is the new packaging that conforms to all the new releases since 09-09-09, rather than the fat double jewel case that housed the original. NO plastic. That's a thumbs up, for me. It's slimmer, the booklet is of better quality and has a slightly different layout, but the liner notes and photos are essentially still the same.
The second thing one notices before listening, is the change from sepia tone to straight black and white on the monochrome images. I prefer it, but this is purely a matter of personal preference. To me, sepia tone is reminiscent of the Old West, not London in the swinging '60's.
Sonically. the sound on the new version has more "presence" than the original. The mids and highs are definitely more prominent, bringing the vocals, guitars, and Ringo's cymbals more to the fore. The downside of this is the audible presence of tape hiss on the new version. The original was much quieter, but sounded at times like it was recorded in a closet; very "dry".
With these recordings being in mono, these differences are subtle, and only noticeable when doing a back and forth simultaneous comparison, as I did. One would be hard pressed to hear any difference listening to one after the other in it's entirety. So you have to ask yourself, "do I need this?" (probably not, if you have the existing version); "do I want this?" (of course you do! It’s new Beatles product).
So now, since 09-09-09, we have had repackaged versions of the entire core catalogue, both red and blue compilation collections, the Beatles 1 collection, Yellow Submarine Songtrack, and now Live At The BBC. That leaves the three Anthology volumes, "Let It Be - Naked", and both versions of "Love" that have yet to receive the CD repackaging treatment, so start saving, collectors.