Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Richard -- (Congerz 83)
Kindly check your e-mai. I have sent you two messages with the requested pictures of the Thirty Days bootleg boxset, including the one picture (the back of the boxset) that lists all the contents of the 17 discs in the collection, with all the tunes/rehearsals/improvisations that the Fabs did at Twickenham in January 1969.
Regards - Rich F.

Hot as Sun ... You know there is one fact that might throw a little creedence to support the Hot as Sun myth about the tapes erasure, etc. That fact I refer to is that there are pictures at the airport and stories of George Harrison (accompanied by wife Patty) personally carrying his own master tapes of All Things Must Pass over to the USA from the UK, for the pressings to be made here. It was either fear of bootleggers getting their hands on the master tapes or fear of erasure that prompted GH to personally escort his work to deliver to EMI's subsidiary in the USA. That All Things Must Pass airport episode was within a year of the alleged Hot as Sun tape erasure incident. Anyway, we can all enjoy speculating about something that we will never really know - how much truth is in that ancient Rolling Stone article.... unless somebody knows Ben Fong Torres or some other RS editor from the 70s and can ask him.
Regards - Rich F.

This thread is Rich with information!

Back on the main theme of re-constructing an album of the four ex-Beatles songs from the post-break up period -- I did not see anybody referencing Lennon's first two singles released on Apple by the Plastic Ono Band - "Give Peace a Chance" and "Cold Turkey". Even if its not one of Lennon's best tunes how could anyone forget Cold Turkey, since that song's "slipping down the charts" was one of the reasons Lennon cited in his famous letter to the Queen and Prime Minister in returning his M.B.E. to Buckingham Palace, which letter was signed by "John Lennon of Bag" on Bag Productions stationary. Not to forget that Ringo and Eric Clapton played on the studio version of Cold Turkey too. Regards - Rich F.

Jerry,

I think you raise an interesting point. Would George Martin have produced the next album?

Thanx for the E-mail. Very cool I NEED THESE RECORDINGS!!! Also very true about "Cold Turkey." I did think of it, my project isn't about the the best songs, it's the best available from their first solo efforts (excluding "Wonderwall Music of course.) Good work Rich F.

Cold Turkey wouldn't have been available...would it? I think it came out before Let it Be. Or am I thinking about Instant Karma?

Richard-Congerz --- as a side note, I think that one instrumental track "Party SeaCombe" on Wonderwall is really not too bad. You might want to check it out. I've included that tune on my private compilation discs and tapes of Beatles and ex-Beatles over the years. Wonderwall does have its place in History, in that Clapton is on about 5 or 6 tracks, I think I read, playing psychedelic/distortion type overdubbed stuff. Hard to believe the same George & Eric combination did "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Badge" that same year as Wonderwall. It's Harrison's Electronic Sound (on the Zapple Label) that does not leave too much to be desired, as an early solo effort. Sort of like Lennon and Ono's track "Two Minutes Silence" on the Life With the Lions - Unfinished Music No. 2 LP, also on the Zapple label....clever concept/title but you would not listen to it more than once.

As for acquiring that awesome 17 CD boxset of "Thirty Days" ...not sure when it was released or when it went out of print. I would assume one would have to become a big game hunter in the wild world of the bootleg jungle, and have something of value to trade, or that sort of thing, with other avid collectors. There are Newsgroups, Yahoo Groups and Web-site devoted to Beatle bootleg recordings. It might even be as expensive a hobby as Rickenbacker collecting !!
Cheers -- Rich F.

Think you're thinking, Instant Karma, Brian.

** Added note, actually the single was released in 1970.

Brian --- Cold Turkey was recorded around Sept of 1969. It was the first recording project for Eric Clapton after he "Retired" from his stint with Blind Faith and before he (Clapton) went on the Autumn tour in the UK with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends also accompanied by George Harrison.

Instant Karma was dreamed up, rehearsed and recorded all in one day, I believe it was around February or March of 1970. Phil Spector first worked with John and George on Instant Karma and from that intro, they gave him the project of cleaning up the "Get Back" mess of tapes, that the Beatles were all disgusted with, (the Glyn Johns versions) and you guys know the rest of that whole Let it Be - Phil Spector story.

I am just going from memory here on the Instant Karma dates, while I'm at work... I could check out a couple of reference books at home to confirm the exact date.

Brian, it is true that the first two Plastic Ono Band singles Give Peace a Chance and Cold Turkey were released when the Beatles were still together as a band, in name only... just like George's Wonderwall and Electronic Sound LPs and Lennon/Ono's Two Virgins, Life With The Lions and Wedding Albums were released while the Beatles officially existed. The first solo album which triggered the break up of the Beatles was "McCartney". This was released with Paul's famous self-interview Press Release, telling why he released a solo album and had musical differences with the other Beatles, etc. While John was doing his Peace and Bagism and Plastic Ono band stuff with Yoko all through 1969, he still was "officially" a Beatle.

And while McCartney and Let it Be were being released simultaneously in May of 1970, George Harrison was in the studio with Derek and his Dominoes and Klaus, Ringo and Billy, etc. laying down the tracks for All Things Must Pass.
Regards Rich F.

Richard's got it right. 'Cold Turkey' was in '69, with 'Don't Worry, Kyoko' released in the same year, at least in the U.S..

McCartney may have announced it but Lennon was without a doubt the first Beatle to leave. I remember seeing a comic with the four Beatles. The next strip shows John leaving. the next one George leaving and then finally Ringo leaving. Finally the last strip is one with McCarntey standing by himself yelling "I'm leaving".

I took Brian's lineup, changed a couple and switched the order of two songs (the album needed a stronger beginning) and this is what I came up with (titles 'Hot As Sun'):

1) Cold Turkey (Lennon)
2) What is Life (Harrison)
3) Every Night (McCartney)
4) Oh Woman, Oh Why! (McCartney)
5) Isolation (Lennon)
6) All Things Must Pass (Harrison)
7) Hot As Sun/Glasses (McCartney)
Apple Scruffs (Harrison)
9) It Don't Come Easy (Starr)
10) Look at Me (Lennon)
11) Oo You (McCartney)
12) Love (Lennon)
13) Remember (Lennon)
14) Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney)

I like it Kris! Too bad McCartney's stuff was so weak at the beginning of his solo career. The others had a pretty good jump on him in 70-71

Post-Script to Richard - Congerz83

As this was your original thread, did you settle on the same Hot as Sun compilation songs line up that Kris - Beatlefreak came up with ? There were several possible line ups suggested along the way, by several Forumites in this extended thread.... hard to choose.

Did any one find out anything more about those two mysterious songs "Zero is Just Another Even Number" and "Proud as You Are" mentioned in the Rolling Stone article ?

Did anyone locate that Rolling Stone article in the archives anywhere, that had a supposed picture of the Hot as Sun album cover ?

--Rich