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Saturday Deluxe / 13 June 2020

By Paul Sinclair

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57

 

Peter Jackson ‘Get Back’ film delayed 

Disney have announced that the ‘new’ version of The Beatles‘ Let It Be film, called The Beatles: Get Back will now come out a year late, in August 2021, having been originally slated for theatrical release in September 2020. As you might expect, the reasons are related to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

This is of course a blow to Beatles fans and inevitably we have to consider the impact on a 50th anniversary Let It Be music box set – which hasn’t been officially announced – but was widely expected for later this year. The viability of this package all depends on whether the Get Back film was ever going to be included as part of a music-video box set in the first place.

Disney own the worldwide distribution rights, so their priorities are going to be firstly the theatrical run of the film, and then after that using this ‘content’ to drive people to their Disney+ video-on-demand streaming service, which launched in the UK back in March. Helping Universal Music Catalogue sell a Let It Be box set isn’t going to be top of Disney’s ‘to do’ list. If you accept this premise, you must conclude that even if the film had been released in September this year, it was extremely unlikely to feature in the Let It Be box set, which Universal would have needed to release no later than two months after the film’s premiere.

Therefore SDE’s prediction is that this delay to the Peter Jackson film will have no impact on the Let It Be box set. Therefore, as long as there are no manufacturing impediments, I think it will still happen later this year, because including the film was never an option.

While Disney have secured the rights to The Beatles: Get Back, the fate of the original cut of Let It Be is less clear. Is that part of the Disney deal too, or is that exempt and could Apple offer the restored original to UMC for their Let It Be box set? That seems unlikely, especially when you recall the official statement about the Peter Jackson film back in March, which noted that the original version would be made available AFTER the Get Back reworking (“at a later date”).

So expect a multi-disc Let It Be box for late 2020 to include the remastered album, multiple outtakes and a 5.1 surround mix – but no films.

Nik Kershaw announces new album ‘Oxymoron’

Nik Kershaw has told fans that his new album is ready for release. As he points out in his Facebook video, it has been seven years and nine months since the last album (2012’s Eight) and he offers a few reasons for the lengthy delay, including the frank omission that “it gets harder writing songs as you get older”. Kershaw says “a lot of songs got binned” but 16 songs have been recorded, mixed and mastered and the album will be called Oxymoron.

The original plan was to release it now, but given what has been going on in the world, it is expected on CD and vinyl in the autumn. However, while we wait Nik has decided to issue six tracks as a digital EP called ‘These Little Things’ which will be made available in two weeks, on 26 June 2020.

READ THE SDE INTERVIEW WITH NIK WHEN HUMAN RACING WAS REISSUED

Thank you for the tremendous response yesterday to the announcement of the next SDE keepsake booklet, which is a Macca special: ‘McCartney” 10 Years of Archive Reissues‘. Orders are coming in thick and fast.

This is A4 publication is going to be the best one yet, and at 52-pages there will be plenty to read. I hope this will prove a trusty companion to your McCartney Archive Collection reissues and we’ll be shipping at the end of July when the Flaming Pie reissue comes out. Secure yours buy heading off to the SDE shop, or just stay here and use that button below.

Have a great weekend and stay safe…

 

 

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57 Comments

57 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 13 June 2020”

  1. I’d be willing to sacrifice the “Get Back” movie and instead get deluxe CD/Blu-Ray boxed sets of “Let It Be’,”George Harrison-All Things Must Pass” & “John Lennon-Plastic Ono Band”, but, I suspect that we’ll get none of the above. The “Get Back” movie might have been interesting to watch once, but the CD/Blu-ray boxed sets that I’ve mentioned would have been played many times at my house.
    Years and years of hype build-up for the “Get Back” movie may create expectations that the actual film may not live up to.

  2. Would Disney actually lose that much money by releasing the film this year? Documentary films typically have a very brief cinematic run. COVID-19 doesn’t stop Disney playing the film on Disney streaming services and cable channels.

    1. They’ve obviously invested a lot in it, so are going to do everything to maximise their income. Putting it out while the world is recovering from a pandemic is I’m sure a sub-optimal scenario.

  3. Poor Peter Jackson has a job on his hands. To please Sir Paul he has to edit out John’s and George’s cold stares when he says “let’s try Maxwell’s Silver Hammer again, lads!”
    The bootlegs show that they were not always miserable and homicidal, especially when they switch to doing snippets of oldies they all loved. I assume that if it’s on audio, it was also filmed?

  6. I’m certain you’re right that the new Get Back film wouldn’t be in the box set anyway, as the theatrical “window” would determine that if the movie opened in September, the box wouldn’t make a pre-Christmas release. But there could still be a question over the box set release, as there was probably a whole integrated marketing campaign planned. So it’s not impossible they would delay everything by a year – although, on the other hand, Universal probably desperately want the revenue from the box presumably already planned into 2020 budgets. Some difficult discussions ongoing, I imagine!

  7. Another Beatle news story was also doing the rounds yesterday regarding a tape of the very first Beatles session at Abbey Road in 1962. The tape was discovered by the late Geoff Emerick’s family whilst going through his possessions and they are going to court against Universal, Emerick’s family claiming he was told by EMI (date hasn’t been given when) to throw the tape away but never did and the family are claiming ‘Finders Law’.
    What doesn’t add up is that Geoff didn’t start working with the Beatles until 1966 so Im guessing he was told sometime after that to throw the tape away although he was already an employee at EMI prior to that. It also hasn’t been reported who exactly told him to destroy the tape, EMI have kept almost all of the tapes of the Beatles so I can’t understand why they would decide to destroy this one.
    Also why did Geoff keep quiet about the tape whilst working on the Anthology? He must have known he had it to be able to tell the family he’d been told to throw it away. Quite funny watching the video of “Young Boy” just posted on You Tube with shots of Geoff in the studio with Paul, I was imagining Geoff thinking “Should I mention that tape?”
    I was hoping Mark Lewisohn might have put out a message with some info.

    1. Geoff Emerick didn’t become The Beatles’ primary recording engineer until 1966, but he started at EMI Studios (as it was then called) in 1962 at age 16. As an apprentice assistant engineer, he was present during The Beatles’ june 1962 “Commercial Test” session with Pete Best. Check Mark Lewisohn’s book “The Beatles Recording Sessions”. EMI’s decision to destroy the tape was because it would not be used for release, due to Pete Best’s departure from the group.
      As for EMI saving Beatles session multitrack tapes, they only implemented a decision to save Beatles multitracks starting with the group’s firsr session with 4-track recording equipment (“I Want to Hold your hand” & “This Boy”). And 2-track session tapes that survived did so accidentally. Almost no multitracks from “With the Beatles” survived excepting a few mediocre attempts at “Hold Me Tight” & “Don’t Bother Me”. Multitrack tapes survived for at least 5 songs from the “Please Please Me” album, plus “From Me To You”, “Thank You Girl” & “One after 909″(1963 version)
      Mark Lewisohn has never been permitted to update his book about the recording sessions. EMI (and hence the recordings’ present-day owner “Calderstone Productions”) owned the copyright on Lewisohn’s book. At some point in recent years, Lewisohn upset Yoko,Paul,Olivia & Ringo, and they no longer speak to him.

  8. Paul and group– Is there any chance that a ‘clean’ version of either of Glynn John’s ‘Get Back’ albums will be included in the ‘LIB SDE’??? It would be desired and so easy to do….

    1. I would be expecting those, especially after the White album included the Esher Demos.
      Glynn Johns has a fantastic book called Sound Man about his career which is well worth a read.

  10. Obviously, fan reaction (on this forum) to the lengthy postponement of the “Get Back” movie has been mostly disappointment, but elsewhere on the internet (at mainstreet news sites) roughly half of the fans have responded with anger.
    Apple needs to develope a quality consolation prize, and get it onto the market for Christmas shopping season. Apple should look at other Beatles albums(other than “Let It Be”) and determine which one could be easily remixed and expanded with a few months of effort.

    1. That really says more about the internet doesn’t it. It feeds off anger like the mincing machine in The Wall.
      It doesn’t take long on any site like the BBC or any of the news sites and even less long on digital only sites to realize what an absolute haven of sanity this place is.
      It’s just a delayed film. I remember how it felt interminable… the wait for The Return of the King to come out (“why do we have to wait for a bloody year”) and yet it was almost 20 years ago now.

      The internet doesn’t do normal. “People waited patiently” needs to be “I am so angry and shocked”. Sooo glad I am not 20 now. Navigating real life, for our children, is getting so much harder than it was for us.

  11. I’d really like it if they issue a Get Back lp complete with a recreation of the original graphics on the sleeve. I used to stare for hours at the covers of the red and blue albums, and it’s incredible how much the boys changed in 7 years. Of course they changed music even more!

  13. I’ve always seen the LIB50 SDE and the Peter Jackson film as two distinct projects. When the film finally gets released it will almost certainly be accompanied by a ‘new’ soundtrack album, just the way that ‘Eight Days a Week’ was accompanied by a ‘new’ live album (essentially an expanded and remastered version of ‘Live at the Hollywood Bowl’). The PJ film soundtrack album (one assumes) will contain only music that’s heard/seen in the film. That could include some of the Abbey Road songs in demo form (‘Maxwell’, ‘Octopus’ etc.). These are some of the best moments of the original LIB film. Meanwhile the LIB50 SDE can focus on the original album, complete with a remix of the 1970 album, a remaster of LIB Naked, a cd of out-takes/rehearsals, and (perhaps) one of the Glyn Johns versions of the original album.

  14. Would I be right in thinking this film is just archive footage cleaned up and re-edited? How does something like that get delayed? It’s just a man in a room putting old film into a computer, letting the computer fix any issues with the picture and then storing the results on a hard drive surely?

    I know I’ve made like an iPhone advert and shortened the process there, but it’s not like there’s a film crew being unable to get outside and film the band, is it?

    1. I’m sure it was delayed because of the coronavirus epidemic. They want to help keep everyone safe and healthy. I understand. I’d expect that the new film is probably completed by now.

  15. I bought Let It Be when it was first released, in 1970. I was 15 years old.
    From the comfort of my family’s living room, my 2 emotionally overwhelmed teenage sisters, my equally enthralled babysitter, and I watched The Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show, on Sunday, February 9, 1964. That night, the USA saw it’s largest ever television audience for 1 show, up to that time. I was 9, totally excited and obviously I became an instant fan.
    It’s essential that Let It Be, as a special deluxe box set, includes the original album millions of people bought and loved. Anything else for the special anniversary edition is fine with me, but Let It Be has to be heard as it sounded in 1970. More than that, this is the version people continued to buy throughout the 70’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s…
    Also, I truly hope All Things Must Pass receives a special, Fiftieth Anniversary Deluxe Box Set. I’m looking forward to buying both box sets!

    1. Why?The other Beatles boxes haven’t include the original (excepting the mono Sgt Peppers).99.99% of the people who will buy the box have the original anyway.
      As for them doing up a quickie box in a few months as a consolation prize again a big no.Any of the Beatles albums they do are worth doing properly with time and care taken in the music and packaging.I’m sure they begin work on them the best part of a year out from release.The older the album the more time consuming it would be to do it I’d think.

  16. Was the theatrical showing of Eight days a week that successful? I’ve have been to several music based film showings in the West Midlands and none of them have had huge audiences. At Concert for George there was only myself and my mate at the screening in Birmingham. I would’ve thought most Beatles fans will want the physical edition of the film. Disney and Apple could do what Macca is doing and put the film in an overpriced box.
    Very happy that Nik’s new album has been announced, the guys a legend.

  17. Interesting reading the Disney comments, the Disney channel is £6 a month and has been a bit of a godsend in our house during lockdown, especially for me as I’ve been watching the Simpsons from the first series, if the Beatles films eventually end up on the Disney channel it’d be great for me. I like the look of the PM book, but dare not get it as I’d have to hunt down everything in it. I first got into the Beatles with the Love Me Do anniversary picture disc series early/mid 80’s, and again with the Anthology series mid 90’s, they always seem to pick up another generation of fans, and I guess the younger ones is who this is aimed at, maybe that’s the right thing to aim at, I don’t know. Happy Saturday SDE gang, I’ve dug out Let it Be Naked & it still has the HMV shrink wrap, I’ll be listening to that tonight.

    1. I have Disney+ and I must admit I think it’s great. We’ve been recently working our way through the complete Star Wars saga…

    1. No, I think they will have a new Giles mix of the original, then Naked and then outtakes + 5.1. The original mix probably won’t be included as per Pepper/White Album/Abbey Road.

  21. This of course means that Michael Lindsay Hogg’s original 1970 film will not get a release this year either. I don’t think the original Let It Be film will be released in 2021 or any time after that. All Disney care about is ‘their’ film and how much money they can make. They don’t give a toss about the Beatles legacy or Beatles fans. And maybe there was never any intention to reissue the original Let It Be motion picture.

    You’d think that Apple would have learned from their dealings with Klein. Now they are in bed with another industry monster. Would the late Neil Aspinall had been so keen to do a deal with Disney? I doubt it. He did love the Beatles and he ran Apple with care and class. I don’t think those who run Apple nowknow know the meaning of those words. It’s all about cash and the Beatles reputation and integrity have gone out the window.

  22. Licensing the cinematic rights to The Beatles’ “Get Back” film to a non-Apple company has proven to be one of the worst decisions that Jeff Jones and company have ever made. Apple should work out a financial settlement to buy back the cinematic distribution rights from Disney.
    I wonder if Apple Corps will now leave fans totally empty-handed this year. And next year. And the year after that. COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon.None of the original fans are getting any younger. On June 15th, I turn 64. (Yes, I’ve been humming the tune to “When I’m 64” lately)

    1. Right said Phil, I turn 63 on June 19th and would like to see the release of Let It Be box this yeat at least, before COVID-19 will strike the Earth community again and again

  23. I love Nik but his new music is quite depressingly devoid of the usual harmonic twists and turns that his songs of yesteryear are known for.

    1. Gotta say I kind of agree with your critique re Mr Kershaw’s more recent work – I thought his latest 90s comeback ’15 Minutes’ compared very favourably to his mid 80s heyday, but all his albums this side of the millennium have been a bit short on invention and inspiration.

      Interesting to note that the new album is expected ‘on CD and vinyl’ in the autumn – Nik is on record as not being a fan of the humble long-player…

      On a related note – if Universal choose to do deluxe editions of ‘Radio Musicola’ and ‘The Works’ at some point (and they should), I hope they learn their lessons from the car-crash that was ‘The Riddle’ deluxe and keep Mr Kershaw as far away as possible when it comes time to select the bonus material (sometime the artist is REALLY not the best curator of their legacy).

    2. I am a huge fan of Nik’s first 4 albums and have had a chance to hear the new EP.
      … whilst it sounds very Nik and fresh and new I am also getting The Works vibes from it…the songs all left a lasting impression on me.
      The new Cd will be an instant buy , can’t wait!

  24. Ah, feel the love for Nik. I have been a massive fan of his since I found a copy of Fusion “Till I hear from you” in a record fair bargain bin for a quid in 1983. It has to be said I became an even bigger fan of his in 1986 when I sold that album for £110 through Record Collector magazine via a postal auction which I thought would raise a tenner at best. Still, it covered that months student rent and then some.
    The thing with Nik is that there is never any rubbish. Nothing throwaway.

      1. Good point but that was his early doodlings from 1980, actually even before that, 1979 and the Reg Webb Band. I will forgive him that.

  25. Just wondering which of the Let It Be albums will be remastered (original or Naked) but box set must include roof top concert surely.

    1. If the new boxset does not include the full live rooftop session I will give up! Ideally as a vinyl extra disc or stand alone vinyl would be lovely. Gutted the new doc film is to be held back for over a year. Sigh. Interesting point on the naked album, one of the best post Beatles releases In a long time that, i’m guessing it’ll be in there as part of the deluxe cd set or something along with the rest.

  26. I could see the “Let It Be” 50th anniversary box set and Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary being released as separate entities. The “Let It Be” box set could be a multi-disc CD set, out this year. They almost have to, because of the 50-year European copyright law. And the Peter Jackson “Get Back” documentary could be released, after its theatrical run, as a multi-disc Blu-Ray/ DVD set, with the documentary, the remastered original film, plus more footage. I hope this is what happens. Postponing the theatrical release of the documentary is completely understandable.

  27. I’m not sure there will be a 50th Let It Be SDE given the fact that Paul doesn’t like the album. We will see but stand alone products I would buy Let It Be film on Blu Ray, ditto the rooftop concert(complete) and a reissue of the original Let It Be Box Set

    1. It’s not as simple as ‘Paul doesn’t like the album’. He didn’t like the fact that control was taken away from him. Phil Spector was making decisions about how his songs sounded without approval from Paul. 50 years later Paul will be in control. I’m sure he likes his classics such as Get Back, Let It Be and The Long And Winding Road. He was on fire in the late ’60s

      1. He is playing 4 songs of this album at almost every concert: Let it be, Get back, The long and winding road and I‘ve got a feeling.
        He also played One after 909 and Two of us at his shows. Doesn‘t look like he doesn‘t like the album…

        1. He also performed “Maggie Mae” at Kings Dock,Liverpool 01 June 2003.
          He also covered “For You Blue” at the “Concert For George” 29 November 2002.

    1. What I should have said was he did not like what was done to his songs at the behest of the rest of The Beatles, then again the rest of The Beatles did not like what he made them do during the Maxwell’s Silver Hammer sessions either, remembered by Ringo as “the worst session ever” It wasn’t the best of times.
      If it’s a 50th anniversary then it has to have the original album on it surely, with the production that he has always previously disliked, but I’m sure they can get round that!

      1. McCartney approved the reissue of the original album as a stereo remaster both in 2009 for CD and then again in 2014. The 50th anniversary will undoubtedly be a Giles Martin remix which will allow for some (small) ‘adjustments’.

        2. It would be interesting if Giles could “fix” The Long and Winding Road to a point where it actually makes sense. I actually think the string parts are well written, but mixed too loud in places. The Naked version sounds too bare. So simply lowering Phil Spector’s additions in the mix, but not muting them completely, would be the way to go IMO – the best of both worlds.

    2. Nik’s albums before 15 Minutes weren’t bad either ;) He’s truly one of the best songwriters to come out of the UK, with superb catchy melodies over unpredictable chord progressions. It’s a very special gift that he has.

      1. Nik has never made a bad album (although I do struggle a bit with Radio Musicola). One of the UK’s most under-rated songwriters, stymied by his early years teenybopper image.

      2. @John Myers, I couldn’t agree more! His first four albums were superb! Although I also agree with the other comment about Radio Musicola. I only said from from 15 Minutes onwards because that was his comeback album after a decade of writing and producing for other artists.

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