In terms of Beatles compositions given to other bands, Cilla Black's single of a Beatles composition It's For You sold for 7$, while Peter and Gordon's Woman, written by the mysterious Paul "Bernard Webb" McCartney sold for 6$. Otherwise, The yardbirds Psycho Daisies sold for 10$; all of these online, with one single bidder. More interesting though, is a hard to find Johnny Bower single from the 72000 series that made it through quite a fight among 14 bids to reach a total of 37.50$.
In the 6000 series, Matt Monro's Start Living sold to one lucky buyer for 10$, while Frank Ifield's The Singer And The Song also sold for 10$ and the soundtrack of Thunder Alley, a record we don't see too often for sale, changed hands for 15$ and also, the always popular Pink Floyd's first album was disputed among 15 bidders but only reached 28$, maybe it was due to the fact that it was on the retro rainbow reissue label (even though this pressing is probably more scarce than the actual early Rainbow pressings!). Finally, The Montreal record show was held earlier this month and 6000 series albums were quite the attraction with many buyers asking for them and many records trading hands. We saw at least 50 different albums from the series being sold; some for as low as 5$ while others, like the stereo Yardbirds Little Games and the Downliners Sect, sold for an impressive 125$ each!
As always, The Beatles remain one of the best selling bands on the 2nd hand market. It is no surprise then to see sealed albums like the Canadian exclusive purple wax Sgt Pepper's album sell for 50$, the ever so classic Abbey Road in the shrink for 20$, an early sealed Rubber Soul album for 75$ or the yellow wax promo Reel Music sell for 50$. Some albums that usually not considered as interesting as the chart breakers still find their way in the sales charts 40 years later; this is the case of the documentary The Beatles Story which its rare red target pressing sold for 20$.
On the funny side of things, an interesting fantasy Canadian butcher album sold for 41$, like what the album still intrigues so much that counterfeit versions easily reach the 40$ brackets! On the serious side, a very rare Long Tall Sally album with Asterix on each side of the catalog info sold for 10$, making this only the 3rd copy to be confirmed (2 from BC and one from Quebec). Also of great interest, a rare Canadian sealed promo Rock N Roll album with shipping box and Capitol letter was offered by an american collector. Many fought over the item but the lucky winner finally won it for 160$.
Finally, classic items like the ATCO Ain't She Sweet 45 sold for 20$, the 1982 reissue of I Want To Hold Your Hand on the retro swirl sold for 4$. It is not rare to see singles from the 1970s Beatles Forever for sale, but a complete mint series of these singles is much rarer to see, and this one sold to the same person (in 5 different lots) for around 115$.
According to Mark Lewisohn's "The Beatles Recording Sessions", the song was recorded by The Beatles at Abbey Road Studio Two on Thursday, June 17th, 1965. It was added to the final track lineup for the British Parlophone edition of the Help album. The song was not included on the Canadian Capitol version of the Help LP but was included on the famous butcher LP "Yesterday And Today" issued almost a year later on June 20th, 1966 (Capitol S(T)-2553). The song was issued on the B-side of the Yesterday 45 (Capitol 5498) in Canada on Tuesday, September 7th, 1965. The Canadian single was pressed by Compo at their Cornwall, Ontario plant.
This cover of a Buck Owen's 1963 hit was a great fit for Ringo and was a very inspired move to a new area for The Beatles. Ringo was a fan of Country & Western music and suggested that they try it out. I remember first hearing the 45 in 1965 and wondering whether it was done "tongue in cheek". After listening to many of the other Mersey Beat groups from 1964 and before, Beatles fans can conclude that C&W can be traced to the roots of Mersey Beat itself; it can be heard in the music of Gerry And The Pacemakers "Jambalaya" for example. Ringo was of course playing to his own fans with the zany lyrics.
The Beatles performed the song on an episode of the Ed Sullivan Show aired on Sunday, September 12th, 1965. The coupling of Yesterday with Act Naturally in September 1965 made for one of the very best Beatles couplings of all, and ranks up there with Hey Jude c/w Revolution and Something c/w Come Together. You can't ever really imagine the single without the two sides together. Oddly, the single version of Yesterday was not issued in England on Parlophone until the 1970s.
Paul White included the new Buck Owens Act Naturally single in his weekly Sizzle Sheet for the week ending Friday, March 15th, 1963. In that same newsletter, Paul White was still extolling the greatness of The Beatles' Love Me Do 45 on Canadian Capitol (Capitol 72076) under the section "New Singles To Watch And Play". For Act Naturally, Paul wrote that it was a crossover between the pop and country charts. He was right about that. Note also that The Beach Boys new one that week was "Surfin USA".
The song was credited to two writers, Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison, but in reality the song had been written in 1961 by Johnny Russell. It was not recorded though until the Buck Owen's version in 1963. Buck Owens recorded the song at the Capitol Recording Studios in Hollywood on Tuesday, February 12th, 1963.
Act Naturally is quite different from the other covers because it was the "newest' of the covers the Beatles would record on disc while they were recording as The Beatles for Parlophone and Capitol in the 1960s.
In fact, Act Naturally was on the "Country & Western" charts in Canada in the summer of 1963, after the Beatles had issued their first Parlophone LP in England, and after they had already issued two singles on Capitol Records Of Canada.
Canada had a very strong Country & Western following and the singles by C&W artists like Hank Snow and Jim Reeves were huge sellers for RCA in Canada in the 1950s. CFGM AM 1310 Toronto was one of a very few radio stations in Canada in 1963 that was devoted to Country Music. They published "Toronto's OFFICIAL Country Music Survey". For the week ending July 16th, 1963, CFGM charted Buck Owen's Act Naturally at number 10. The single had been at number 9 the week before.
CFGM AM 1310 Toronto - Country Gentlemens Music Survey -Week Ending July 16th, 1963
1. Abilene, George Hamilton IV, RCA Victor
2. Ring Of Fire, Johnny Cash, Columbia
3. Six Days On The Road, Dave Dudley, Apex
4. Old Showboat / A Toast To The Bride, Stonewall Jackson, Columbia
5. Sweet Dreams, Patsy Cline, Decca
6. We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds, George Jones And Melba Montgomey, Columbia
7. Detroit City, Bobby Bare, RCA Victor
8. Building A Bridge, Claude King, Columbia
9. Sands Of Gold, Webb Pierce, Decca
10. Act Naturally, Buck Owens, Capitol
11. Down To The River, Rose Maddox, Capitol
From the top 11 discs listed above, the Buck Owens single was in the company of some great C&W records in the summer of 1963. Capitol Of Canada would have some great success with their roster of C&W artists in the 1960s.
The Canadian Capitol 45 by Buck Owens was pressed in early to mid March 1963 by RCA Victor in Smiths Falls, Ontario using metal parts shipped up to Canada from Capitol's east-coast plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Oddly the record was pressed at the same plant as the Beatles' Love Me Do 45which had been pressed there during the previous month. The Canadian 45, as seen below, shows the mustard yellow colour that is seen also on the original first-run 1963 copies of Love Me Do and Please Please Me.
The song did not appear on a Buck Owens album until June 1964 when it appeared on the album "The Best Of Buck Owens" which was issued in Canada on the Star Line label as follows:
Capitol T-2105 - The Best Of Buck Owens (black label with silver print). MONO only, June 1964 (Side 2, Track 1)
The song would appear later in stereo on a second volume, also on the same Star Line label:
Capitol ST-2897 - Best Of Buck Owens Vol. 2, And His Buckaroos (black label with silver print), STEREO only, April 1968 (Side 1, Track 3). Note - collectors should seek out this excellent stereo recording of Act Naturally which is far superior to the 1964 mono LP version.
Both of these albums are excellent introductions to the great songs of Buck Owens.
Here is Buck with his Buckaroos doing the song (not tongue in cheek) on The Jimmy Dean TV Show (episode TBD) from perhaps the summer or fall of 1963. The lame suits went along with the space age !
Act Naturally was a great success for Ringo. Yeah Ringo ! But the Beatles would do no more cover versions until they performed in a number of cover versions for the Get Back project in 1969 .. more on those Get Back sessions covers later ... coming soon. Stay tuned to Capitol6000.com !
Today was held the annual Montreal record show (Salon du Disque de Montréal) in the St-Stanislas-de-Kostka church, on St-Joseph street. This was a great opportunity for fans to meet once again and share all their new found rarities. Beatles records are often still the most prized items in these events, but it was very interesting to see that records from the 6000 series were also extremely sought after this year! We were ourselves attending the event, armed with exclusive previews of our books to come early next year. The response was extremely positive, so don't be surprised if you see us again next year with the completed works available for sale!
Until then, enjoy these few pictures of the event:
Throughout the 1960s, Capitol Records Of Canada produced, from time to time, some very unique promotional items for new single and album releases. These included special large-sized store displays for The Beatles Lps Help and Sergeant Peppers. By the late 1960s, some new record releases were accompanied by large posters that could be hung on the walls of record shops. These would be hung for the period during which the record was being promoted as a new release and would be replaced by the next batch of promotional posters within a few weeks. Their short life span mean that they were disposed of very quickly and very few have survived to this day.
The above three promotional posters were distributed to Canadian record retailers in 1968 and in 1969. Most likely the posters were produced for distribution during the same week that the record was issued in Canada.
Apple 2 - Mary Hopkin Le Temps des Fleurs / Turn Turn Turn (September 1968).
This cool Apple 2 single was manufactured for the Quebec market, as the A side was a French version of the smash hit "Those Were The Days", and so the posters would have been sent to record retailers in the province of Quebec only.
Apple SO-383 - The Beatles - Abbey Road (September / October 1969).
These Beatles Abbey Road posters feature the same artwork as the USA posters (eg from the back cover) and may have been imported. The posters also state that the new Abbey Road album is available on both record and tape formats.
Apple 1815 - Badfinger - Come And Get It / Rock Of All Ages (December 1969).
This poster used the hippie day-glow green text against a black background for a very striking effect.
The above three poster images are by courtesy of Jamie Anstey, Vancouver. Special thanks to Jamie for these very cool poster images.
Less than a few weeks ago, I first heard of the release of a new single to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original UK release of Love Me Do. The single was to be an exact replica of the original down to the minutest detail. Well, apparently someone in production did not pay much attention to detail, because around 6000 initial copies got out to distributors in the UK with the LP version of the track with session drummer Andy White instead of the version with Ringo as the original Parlophone 45 featured.
This was not all. The B side actually has the wrong catalogue number on the label showing R 4714 instead of R 4949. EMI immediately issued a recall on the singles and all mistake copies were to be destroyed. The release date has now been pushed back to October 30 for the corrected version, and existing copies of the mistake version are now selling on eBay for $100 and up.
Was this mistake purely accidental or deliberate? Few people other than die hard collectors were even aware of this upcoming release until this controversy erupted last week. Is it possible that EMI created this controversy to drum up interest in the single, and more importantly, the upcoming vinyl reissues, and the newly restored Magical Mystery Tour? You be the judge.
Thirty years ago, there was a 20th anniversary campaign for the same single. Apparently, (just in time for the multiple format 20th anniversary releases) EMI had finally "discovered" the master tape with Ringo on drums, and this track was to be included alongside the Andy White version. This made these new releases essential for collectors. Before that the only versions of the track were the original Parlophone UK single release and the 72076 Capitol of Canada single that was dubbed directly from it. Indeed, as recently as 1980, Capitol used the Canadian single for the North American "Rarities" album, because it was the best source available.
It seems nothing stirs up sales like a little controversy, and Capitol/EMI/Apple are well aware of it. After all, the Butcher cover taught them that way back in 1966!