Apple Records politics

Apple Records has announced a 17 discs boxed set of the upcoming Apple Remasters, a box containing all the new releases and which also includes a couple of bonus discs which aren’t available outside the box.

This is good news for the old-fashioned collector who aren’t regarding “download only” bonus tracks as really existant. The people who aren’t satisfied unless there’s something on the shelf. Because the content of those two bonus discs is actually available for everyone, it’s just that it isn’t available on a physical medium (unless you simply burn the CD’s from your digital downloads).

Here is the complete track list of the two-CD bonus set in the Apple Box Set:

Disc 1:

Badfinger:

1. Dear Angie (Mono mix)

2. Think About the Good Times (Previously unreleased mono mix)

3. No Escaping Your Love (Mono mix)

4. Arthur (Previously unreleased remix)

5. Storm In a Tea Cup (Mono)

6. Yesterday Ain’t Coming Back (Previously unreleased mono mix)

7. Love Me Do (Previously unreleased instrumental version)

8. Get Down (Previously unreleased version)

9. Money (Earlier version)

10. Flying (Earlier version)

11. Perfection (Earlier version)

12. Suitcase (Earlier version)

13. Sweet Tuesday Morning (Earlier version)

14. Mean Mean Jemima

15. Loving You

16. Get Away (Previously unreleased version)

17. When I Say (Previously unreleased version)

18. The Winner (Previously unreleased version)

19. I Can Love You (Previously unreleased version)

20. Piano Red (Previously unreleased)

Disc 2:

Mary Hopkin:

1. Quelli Erano Giorni (Those Were The Days – Italian) (2010 Remix)

2. Que Tiempo Tan Feliz (Those Were The Days – Spanish) (2010 Remix)

3. An Jenam Tag (Those Were The Days – German) (2010 Remix)

4. Le Temps Des Fleurs (Those Were The Days – French) (2010 Remix)

5. Quand Je Te Regarde Vivre (Let My Name Be Sorrow – French)

6. Watashi O Kanashimi To Yonde (Let My Name Be Sorrow – Japanese)

7. Jefferson

Jackie Lomax:

8. Going Back To Liverpool

9. Sour Milk Sea (Mono mix)

10. The Eagle Laughs At You (Mono mix)

11. Little Yellow Pills (Mono mix)

OK, so here we have the most famous albums from the Beatles’ Apple company, all shiny and new and with bonus CD’s to boot. Most collectors are reluctant. Why? Because Apple is releasing and re-releasing the same albums over and over again, while there are other albums on the Apple records company not available at all in the digital domain, on compact discs or as downloads. There was another major campaign between 1991-1993 when the same albums were all released for the first time on CD. That campaign also saw them released as vinyl LPs, complete with the original artwork and lots of bonus tracks, additional photographs, etc. The next time they were reissued, there was no campaign, just quietly releasing the same CD’s again. My copy of Billy Preston’s “Encouraging Words” album is from 2003. In 2005 it was released again, this time in a paper sleeve in Japan, along with six of the other Apple records. And here they are again, with a few new bonus tracks and a cleaned up sound.

When the Lennon’s moved to USA, John Lennon kept signing up new artists to the Apple label. Artists like “David Peel and the Lower East Side“, “Elephant’s Memory“, Lon & Derrek Van Eaton. None of their Apple album releases have been made available on CD’s. Never mind good reviews. Wonder why Yoko Ono hasn’t campaigned for Lennon’s discoveries on Apple?

From Rolling Stone, November 1972

Also released on Apple were the soundtracks to “Come Together“, “Raga” and “El Topo“. You will still have to look for them on vinyl if you want an Apple on the label, but the Raga movie is due out on DVD soon, and the soundtrack will then be available free via a digital download card with purchase of the DVD or can also be purchased separately at all digital retailers.

Here‘s Apple Records’ official site,

here‘s what a fan can do on a website,

here‘s wikipedia and here‘s a wiki discography.

2010 Promo Poster