JL BOX BONUS DISC NOT MUCH FOR THE BUCKS!

"Howdy suckers,?"





Look, to me-and many other hard-core fans-just about any "new John Lennon recordings are welcome.

But, the upcoming John Lennon Signature Box set which will retail for close to $200 is also close to throttling the golden goose.

Especially, when the individual LPs-of which all of JL's solo ones are here-have been remastered and released several times on CD.

But most of all, the completists among us must swallow the hefty price to get the "bonus" disc which only has 13 tracks, and appears to contain some material from the Lost Lennon Tapes, which were broadcast over 20 years ago.







Whichever way you feel though, you can click on the image above to get a look at the tracks, which are all listed as "demo."

TAKE ANOTHER LOOK, er, LISTEN

Gave some, hope...
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Of course it goes without saying, but not without writing, that many pop music critics are total dicks. or, to be technical, micro-penises.
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And many of those snotty critque shortcomings shone through way back in time around the summer of '73, when George Harrison released his much anticipated follow-up to the smash All Things Must Pass.
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Now if we stop right there, we see that following ATMP was like
"will there ever be another Beatles?"
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The answer, besides, I 'ope not, is NO.
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So George had an impossible task with Living In The Material World, but he gave it the old Krishna try.
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Legitimately, many critics found the album too preachy, a downer, etc., etc.
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And yes, several of the tunes on LITMW were a little too dirge.
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But, we must also consider that not everyone buying or listening to the album wanted their socks rocked off. Many I have discussed the LP with say that songs like Be Here Now, Who Can See It and That Is All held great personal signifacance due to some trial and tribulation they were going through at the time.
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Certainly not tunes to have a wedding reception to, but nonetheless spiritual to some people.
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And don't forget, the album did contain a number one smash in Give Me Love, two great rollicking rockers in Sue Me, Sue You Blues and the title track, as well as the hopeful, Don't Let Me Wait Too Long.
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Besides, if you click on the scan above, you will see that LITMW sold quite nicely thank-you, despite what the dopes at Rolling Stone and others wrote.
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And so, that is all.

ROLLING STONE IS AT IT AGAIN

Oi Beatle vey!

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What's a slow news month to be without (another) Rolling Stone mag Beatles special?
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I'll tell you: just another boring August.

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Of course these sorts of "best of" things are rubbish, but they are fun.

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An there is some pretty good writing by RS editors on each of the Top 100 Fab Ones, yet somehow-like all daft lists-I'd reckon many of you won't agree with the order of selection, or for that matter, even those selected.

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MIA songs might be, I Call Your Name, Savoy Truffle, Baby's In Black, All Too Much, One After 909( one of the first songs of Lennon/McCartney) What You're Doing, and many, many other worthy contenders among 217 total songs. I'm sure you'll have yer own list, as well.

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Yet there are some interesting tidbits of info, here in this special RS ish.

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For instance, did you know that Yesterday, rated at #4 has been covered by Daffy Duck?

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George Harrison would-in a big turn-a-bout-instruct Paul McCartney how to play the bass line on Something, #8.

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Or that there was an invasion of girls into Abbey Road studio whilst #14, She Loves You was being recorded which apparently charged up the lads to do a rollicking take.

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How about the claim that Ringo Starr was responsible for the line, "darning his socks in the night," for #22, Eleanor Rigby.

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There is also some real crapola, such as referring to #74, Yellow Submarine as a "gateway drug" to turn on adolescent Beatle fans to the group.

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Now that, is some bloody rubbish.

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But the good well out-weighs the bad, with a ton of excellent B&W and colour pics of our heroes through all those years ago.

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And even a "Numbers" page-at left-which tables the stats of the mag's picks.

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Although it lists the "main writer" of 40 of the top 100 as being from the pen and mind of John Lennon, of the 17 tracks attributed jointly to Lennon/McCartney, 9 get a Lennon/McCartney first, while the other 8 get McCartney/Lennon as the chief writer, despite some quarreling among the songwriters right up to Lennon's death as to who was more responsible for a given tune.

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Anyways, I urge you to pick up this Rolling Stone special., warts and all.

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AND, to read this, a review of a new Beatles book and DVD:

www.boomermediareview.com/BeatlesFiftyFabYearsBookDVD.html

MAD ON BP

Brilliantly cynical, as usual

All those who would like to give the finger to the collective corporate criminality, et al, should pick up the new MAD issue.
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The cover, satirizing the hideous BP Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophic oil blow-out, is deliciously, and
sadly, right on.
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Then, as MAD is wont to do, the pile on some more.
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In a scene that will most likely give the Vatican and religious right an irritated bowel, Jesus His-self takes a walk on the wild side of the greasy water.
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Of course, the rest of the ish is just as anarchic, and good.
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Betty White, now enjoying a late-life career magnificent, is given a send-up that will I'm sure bring a smile to your face.

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And who else but MAD would make fun of a beloved 88 year old woman?
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Think about it: MAD is the only mainstream publication since National
Lampoon mag flamed out there that dares tweak the parochial sensibilities

of this anal retentive North America.

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Plus, MAD's influence helped R. Crumb become what he is, whatever you may believe that to be.

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Speaking of RC, I will have some news on the new Criterion edition of the 1994 Crumb movie, shortly.

HE STILL SHINES ON!

Instant Uncut Lennon

Beginning with the August issue, UNCUT will devote 4 covers to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr-and probably in that order.
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In addition to a very cool cover shot, the multi-page spread on JL has some seldom mentioned stuff on John's tumultuous year of 1970.
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Without spoiling too much of the piece-which you really should seek out and purchase-
UNCUT reveals that Primal Scream "therapy" guru Dr. Arthur Janov has hours of footage of Lennon's PS sessions.

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Janov also says he has an agreement with Yoko Ono only to speak in general about Lennon's treatment, but does say that he never hear John say, "mama don't go, daddy come home."

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Also of note is discussion of the 10 hours of video tape shot by Tony Cox mad into a film entitled 3 Days In The Life, which has been the subject of much legal wanking, and has never been released.
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However, a person quoted in the UNCUT article says that most of the video is
unwatchable because Cox could not even hold the camera steady.
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Also interesting is John's brief dalliance with a Black Panther leader, as well as
his association with the radical Red Mole underground paper.

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The thing I find most intriguing about John's solo career is that if one is being
objective-and honest-Lennon put out two outstanding albums, and a handful
of very good singles during 1970 and 1971, but after that, the pickings got a

lot slimmer. (Sometime In New York City immediately comes to mind.)

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If you click on the scan above from the UNCUT article, you will read John's

reaction to McCartney's first solo effort, which is, to be kind, un-supportive. -
However, one can hardly argue that Macca's combined output from 1970 to
1975-the year John "retired"-is, on balance, not at least equal to, or perhaps even surpasses the Lennon releases of the same period.
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However, in my opinion, while Plastic Ono Band and Imagine are superb, the single "best" Beatle solo album is Harrison's All Things Must Pass, which will be featured heavily in the October UNCUT.

APPLE, SAUCE

Oh, PM's ears must still burn...

Sort of before it was really fashionable to regard the Beatles as anything but

earthly Gods, there was this book, Apple To The Core.

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Penned in 1972 by former Rolling Stone editor Peter McCabe, and Robert D. Schonfeld, a poly-sci and economist guy-to help sort out the dollars and no sense, presumably-this 200 page Pocket Books paperback gets down and dirty in the Fabs' break-up wankings, with Paul McCartney
seeming to get the worst pranging.

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There is great intrigue centering around the Concert For Bangladesh wherein just (court) deposed Beatle manager Ron Klein

is scheming to have the NYC show prep for a full Beatles reunion
later at Wembley Stadium. "I'll roast his fuckin' ass," Klein is quoted

about McCartney.

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According to the book, Klein plans to offer a few Beatle bust-up legal bon-bons to Macca if he will show up for a real reunion.

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However, as the authors point out, the dream reunion may never have been in play such was McCartney's displeasure at Klein stalling
the release of Macca's first solo album.

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Apparently, Ringo Starr was sent to Paul's house to sort things out, but Macca would hear none of it.

According to Ringo, Paul "went completely out of control, shouting at me, prodding his finger toward my face saying, 'I'll finish you all now..you'll pay,' and then Starr says Macca threw him out of his house.
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Yikes! Poor little Ringo.

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Or, as John Lennon sung a bit more metaphorically, "the dream, is/(was) over."

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I'd urge hard-core Beatle-freaks to seek out this book via e-bay, where

it is generally available for well south of $20.

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Remember though, all things must pass.

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And HEY, Dig this: www.boomermediareview.com

A QUICK ONE:LIVE AT LEEDS, SEVERAL WAYS

If you love the Who, get this!





Record Collector is usually always a good monthly read, but sometimes they come up with a must read issue that should not be missed.
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And the July issue is such a keeper.
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Even though it may make first-and my-generation Who fans feels like dying old, it is 40 years since what many consider to be the greatest rock and roll live recording ever released, the Who Live at Leeds was released.
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So RC salutes it, and rightly so.
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Not to be boring, but I'll never forget the day that I brought this original vinyl LP home.
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I was 15 and I had heard the Who before, but not THIS kind of Who!
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This, was amazing. Loud, frantic, angry, and most likely capturing
the Who at the height of their powers. At least live-wise.
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And even though we have had three different CD versions of Leeds-the original vinyl mix, the expanded single CD, and the deluxe twofer-some Who fans still prefer the original single LP and CD as its (edited) 40 odd minutes was tighter than a chicken's arse.
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The 10 page RC article points out all the many Byzantine machinations the Leeds recordings have taken through the years, including a Canada-specific variation in the medley contained in My Generation, as well as the sad fact that in 40 years, the complete, unedited Leeds show has never been legitimately released.
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But, as you can see at left courtesy of the Bootleg Zone, the Leeds
show in its rough 2 hour+ entirely, is, or was, available for a time.
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Of course there are many warts in that unedited recording, and it
is easy to see why Pete Townshend and crew sought to excise them.
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See, in the studio, one can do sonic wonders, although learning from the RC article that a fabulous echo/reverb effect was added
to a segment of My Generation kind of blew some myths to smithereens for me.
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Yet regardless sweating the details, Live at Leeds in any form
remains the preeminent example of live rock, at least in the 20th
century. (Click on image at upper left.)
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And hopefully, at least one other show from the era-many of which were recorded- will be legitimately released in the near future.
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Oi!