Still no sign of the “1” DVD
 |
| A latter day incarnation of the bootleg DVD “Chronology” |
We must admit that we are starting to lose faith in the previously leaked news about a release of a Beatles promo video collection for October, themed to the “1” album. The Dutch Beatles promo special last month was to us an indication that perhaps they were gearing up for a DVD, but October keeps creeping up on us and no word from Apple. Word was, the “1” promo DVD was going to come out alongside a new vinyl edition of the album, as well as promotion of the Avedon posters. The “1” vinyl reissue did actually appear on the last release plan from Universal Music, but the date was still pending. Perhaps it is being pushed further towards the Christmas market? And where does that leave “Bootleg Recordings 1964”?
We have seen a lot of official product from the Beatles camp this year, starting with the release of the USA albums on CD, the Blu-ray/DVD of the restored and remastered “A Hard Day’s Night” film, the 5 CD Japanese boxed set and now the mono vinyl boxed set (also available individually), but all of these have been re-releases of stuff that’s already out there, even though it has been sonically updated. What we fans would really like to see is something that hasn’t already been sold to us many times over already.
A promo video collection would fit that bill very nicely. It has never been available commercially, even in the video cassette era, and the manufacturers of bootleg DVDs have been reaping all the profit from this non-release since forever. So Apple, if you are reading this – know that we are ready for it and that it is something we all would purchase. The reissues you have given us so far this year have all been very expensive stuff, geared towards the money strong audience, whereas a DVD or Blu-ray of the promotional films would be something we could probably all afford.
If you’re curious about which music videos the “Chronology” DVD consists of, here’s the list:
DVD 1:
01.
Some Other Guy
02.
Love Me Do
03.
Please Please Me
04.
From Me To You
05.
She Loves You
06.
I Want To Hold Your Hand
07.
Can’t Buy Me Love
08.
A Hard Day’s Night
09.
She’s A Woman
10.
I Feel Fine
11.
Eight Days A Week
12.
Ticket To Ride
13.
Help!
14.
We Can Work It Out
15.
Day Tripper
16.
Paperback Writer
17.
Rain
18.
Strawberry Fields Forever
19.
Penny Lane
20.
A Day In The Life
21.
All You Need Is Love
22.
Hello Goodbye
23.
Lady Madonna
24.
Hey Jude Rehearsal Film
25.
Hey Jude
26.
Revolution
27.
Get Back
28.
The Ballad Of John And Yoko
29.
Something
30.
Let It Be
Special
Features:
–
Baby It’s You
–
We Can Work It Out (Version 1)
–
Paperback Writer (Version 2)
–
Paperback Writer (Version 3)
–
Rain (Version 2)
DVD 2:
01.
Love Me Do
02.
Please Please Me
03.
Twist And Shout
04.
I’ll Get You
05.
I Want To Hold Your Hand
06.
This Boy
07.
You Can’t Do That
08.
She’s A Woman
09.
I Feel Fine
10.
Help!
11.
Yeterday
12.
We Can Work It Out
13.
Day Tripper
14.
Paperback Writer
15.
Rain
16.
Eleanor Rigby
17.
Yellow Submarine
18.
Strawberry Fields Forever
19.
A Day In The Life
20.
All You Need Is Love
21.
Hello Goodbye
22.
Hello Goodbye
23.
Hey Bulldog
24.
Helter Skelter
25.
Blackbird
26.
Hey Jude
27.
Revolution
28.
Get Back
29.
Let It Be
30.
The Long And Winding Road
Special
Features:
–
Paperback Writer (The Ed Sullivan Show)
–
Rain (The Ed Sullivan Show)
–
Hey Jude (The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour)
–
Don’t Let Me Down
–
Come Together (Color 1969 8mm Montage)
We found it on ebay. Note that there were made several versions or videos of certain songs, so no material on disc 2 duplicates what was on disc 1. Note that the Chronology DVD has been improved upon by later DVD compilations, notably the “Unsurpassed Promos” 4 discs set, divided into the 2 DVD “Tour Years” and the 2 DVD “Studio Years”. I guess we can only dream that Apple should be as thorough as the Beatles fan bootleggers, and make such a comprehensive collection, but they should at least give us something.
Apple is waiting until all the Beatle fans are so old that they have forgotten everything because of either dementia or Alzheimer's. Aspinal was the master of under-promotion and they learned from his legacy.
Do you remember how much in advance the second BBC album and the Magical Mystery Tour sets were announced? To get the "1" dvd on sale before Christmas, they should announce it too, because December is too late to release it.
I would have thought that Apple had some big and significant release for the fall, because so far there hasn't been any. The Hard Day's Night was not really an Apple release, and the Japanese box and the Mono vinyl box are targeted to rather limited audience. So there would be some place for a general Beatles release. Let's hope for the best.
September is for the George Harrison box set.
November is for the two McCartney archives, and most likely the special edition of NEW.
December will have the Bootleg Series 1964 digital release right before the end of the year.
If the "1" DVD is coming for Christmas, it's probably going to be announced right when the George Harrison box set gets released.
If not, I suspect the "1" DVD is being held to first quarter 2015, with the summer/fall getting Shea or some type of live project.
The fact that there is (still) no Beatles DVD of this kind out there has become a bit of a joke. Some bands(Rolling Stones )have little say over their 60s material. While others like Led Zeppelin don't have a huge lot of footage, but still manage to put something decent out for their fans. Apple currently owns all the Beatles promos,and there is nothing stopping them putting this out. So why not?
Think the 1-DVD is a new release or copy of the 2004 DVD set Chronolgy 1+2 of the picture perfect label.