Month: April 2026

One of the pleasures of being a fan of the Beatles and/or of their solo careers is the endless pursuit of rare tracks they may have participated in with other notable musical artists. Paul McCartney has worked with so many various artists in his career, it was my great pleasure in finding this rare track that Paul McCartney co-authored with musician Nitin Sawhney several years ago. I sought out this boxset recording which featured Nitin’s album along with the cd of the album: LONDON UNDERSOUND

Nitin has a distinct melancholic air surrounding his musical creations!

Hope you will enjoy his musical collaboration with Paul McCartney!

My Soul – Nitin Sawhney & Paul McCartney – YouTube

The instrumental of their co-written composition

My Soul (Instrumental)

The lyrics in my copy of the CD:

The credit of the track provided with the cd:

Another composition of Nitin Sawhney:

The Immigrant – Nitin Sawhney, Nicki Wells, Ashwin Shrinavasin

Hope you enjoyed hearing a talented and versatile musician that Paul McCartney had chosen to work with!

Paul always had great musical taste and judgement!

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

There have been so many books written abut John Lennon, and these are a few unique John Lennon books. The publisher was not kidding-Pelican Big Books. It is the physically largest John Lennon book in my collection by length and width, not in the number of pages. The book is immense and makes my getting older much more graceful as I can see the photographs provided with tremendous clarity and the large print is tremendous. Put together by author, Brian Moses it represents one of those unique titles that is so different in its approach to dealing with the magnificent career of John Lennon and the Beatles that I wanted a copy for my collection and purchased a copy several years ago on Amazon UK.

It makes for a great conversation piece when others see its immense dimensions in the size of the book! The content provided may not startle or impress many but the format in which the book is presented made it of interest to my collecting fancies of Beatles print material!

Back Cover

Creative credits in the book:

Alfred Ebeling of Germany reminded me of another large format Lennon book by Richard Buskin which I also have in my collection: 360×259 mm–A VERY LARGE BOOK INDEED!

Publisher

Publications International, The Limited 2010

This book is fascinating as the author is listed as John Robertson which is a pseudonym for a prominent UK writer who has extensive knowledge about the Beatles

This introduction will give you an accurate portrayal of what John Lennon meant to the author, no matter which pseudonym he chooses to use!

Another title by author John Robertson:

I found this to be excellent book!

The Art & Music of John Lennon: Robertson, John: 9781559720762: Amazon.com: Books

Lennon Legend

If you do not own a copy of this book, in my opinion you should. Written and compiled by James Henke it is fabulous and the content will blow your mind. A special CD is included, and many facsimiles of many historical documents are included in this title. I was so happy to acquire a copy, and my only regret is that the book made me long for much more!

The cd in the box which features Lennon interview and a live performance of Imagine:

The Table of Contents for the Henke book:

Back cover of the book:

Back cover of the box:

Hope you enjoyed this sampling of some interesting and intriguing John Lennon books. If you have any questions that you would like to have addressed about the titles presented, please ask your questions in the comments section!

Thank you!

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT JOHN LENNON WITH THESE EXCELLENT BOOKS

There are a few Beatles boxsets that I have acquired/ purchased over the years that I am considering putting up for sale in the near future. Before I actually take that step, I want to preserve some of the images of some of my favorite Beatle’s boxsets for posterity on the blog.

For the older Beatles fans, do you remember the time when Beatles CDs were first being introduced into the marketplace? What a thrill that was to listen to a Beatles CD with great sound and random access to any track that you might like to hear at a given time. What a treat. as the years rolled by CD sales hit their peak and the introduction of streaming media began the decline in the sale of physical media. Ironically not in all cases as vinyl records have undergone a resurgence in recent years!

THE HOLOGRAPHIC CD BEATLES BOXSET:

Here is the holographic CD boxset which contained the image of a Ringo type drum set on the cover of the box. It must be noted at this juncture that a possible problem with any potential boxset is the lack of a thorough completeness of a band’s recorded legacy. For example, the Anthology recordings are not included in this cd set. It misses the three completed new Beatles songs, the 2 recorded in the 90s and the one from 2022/2023. It does not include the only official Beatles live album of the Hollywood Bowl material as well.

There is nothing that can be done about that phenomenon when those new releases follow the release of a supposed complete collection of legitimate recordings. With the initial CD releases there was also criticism due to the first 4 Beatles releases being released in only the mono format. Later that was rectified, but of course, that warranted additional purchases.

The cover of the book that accompanies the boxset that describes the contents of the CDs contained within:

The poster provided within the boxset:

Notes and comments by Johnny Black within the CD boxset:

Closing comments:

The listing of the album titles included in the CD boxset:

Suggestions for the proper lighting of holograms were also provided in the set:

UK BEATLES SINGLES COLLECTION:

If you are a collector, you will of course realize that not all the 45 singles issued in the UK were similar or identical to the releases in the US!

These are the contents of my UK singles collection:

A listing of the UK 45s:

Photos of the A-sides of the UK sleeves:

BEATLES E.P. COLLECTION VINYL:

Though E.P.s were not a common occurrence in the US, they were very popular in the UK. Here is my boxset of UK Beatles E.P.s:

Photographs of the EP covers:

ORIGINAL MASTERS: VINYL

Possibly the best sounding recordings of the lot. The boxset of the Original Master Recordings. That contention has been disputed by some Beatle audiophiles. I love the recordings despite the criticism:

What’s inside? The GEO disc is designed to properly make sure that the disks are being heard in the best possible fashion by your respective turntables:

The Certificate of Authenticity for the Limited boxset:

The booklet detailing the cover art and the contents:

THE BEATLES COLLECTION (VINYL):

The UK boxset containing the Beatles Rarities LP

Despite having UK pressings in the boxset-the Rarities LP was listed as being Capitol Records:

Side 1 of the Rarities LP:

Side 2 of the Rarities LP:

THE BEATLESCOMPACT DISC E.P COLLECTION (CD):

Contents:

The compact Disc E.P.’s (Not arranged in chronological order:):

Hope you enjoyed this discussion of Beatles Boxset mania!

Those days are unfortunately now gone for me!

Be healthy and be happy!

Buzz

OUR FEATURED BOOK – CAVERN THE INSIDE STORY

How would the Beatles story have worked out if National Service hadn’t ended? Or Ended sooner?

After World War 2 had ended, so many soldiers had been killed or wounded, and the so-called Cold War had begun, the British government brought in National Service conscription into one of the armed forces.

This has consequences for one of the Beatles drummers, Norman Chapman, who little was known about until David Bedford’s book, The Fab One Hundred and Four: The Evolution of The Beatles, when he tracked down Norman’s family and presented the first and only biography and photographs of Chapman. He had succeeded the first Beatles’ drummer, Tommy Moore, not long before they were heading to Hamburg.

But, because of National Service, the week before The Beatles headed for Hamburg, Norman got his call-up papers to join the army, and he was off to Kenya for 2 years, and not to Hamburg with The Beatles! Because of this, Pete Best was conscripted into The Beatles just days before they headed to Hamburg.

What about The Beatles and National Service?

The government had decided in 1957 that National Service was to be ended for those born after 1st October 1939. With John, Stuart, and Ringo being born in 1940, they escaped National Service, but only by months! If National Service had only been extended for 12 months, then these 3 Beatles would not have been Beatles! What would have happened then? Would Paul and George have waited two years? But what if it hadn’t been ended at all? As John, Stuart and Ringo were finishing their National Service, Paul would have been starting his, and then a year later, George would have begun his conscription.

The Beatles: What If?

This is just one of 70 scenarios discussed in the latest book by David Bedford, with Andrew Phillips, called The Beatles: What If? Our conclusion was that if National Service had been extended, then the chance of The Beatles getting together would have been impossible and it would have been the end of the group.

Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below.

Get your copy of the book here:

US AND CANADA (For UK/ Europe see below)

UK/ Europe