FROM SOUTH AFRICA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND ISRAEL, AND ONE BONUS RARITY FROM THE NETHERLANDS
Shown below is the cover of the fabulous book that got me interested in the subject noted above. As a collector, I have become fascinated with the matter of rare Apple Records. The person that I know that fits the bill of being one of largest collector of Apple Records in the world is Nigel Pearce whose collection is both extensive and fabulous.
Nigel’s Book – Inside Number Three
Inside Number Three – The Illustrated History of Apple Records
Inside No3 takes you through that famous door, deep into the minds of all who worked there at Apple Records. This is done also in a very different way. This is not a kiss-and-tell diary, it is through fan adulation and understanding via a personal collection of artifacts and memorabilia that author Nigel Pearce has built up over the last 50 years.
For prices and dates please contact Nigel again via the website
There are also many knowledgeable people about the subject in Europe in countries such as Belgium where a good friend, Philippe Colinge, assisted me in finding some of the records you are about to see for me to purchase, or at least finding photographs of many of them to present to you so you are aware of their existence.
Magical Mystery Tours
There is a chapter in Tony Bramwell’s book that deals with the various licensing deals that Apple did to issue many of its records in multiple countries across the world. Three of the countries hold a particular fascination for me: The Philippines, South Africa and Israel.
For quite some time it has been reported that Tony has been working on an updated version of this book!
Mary Hopkin-Mary Had A Baby
According to some reports, the Philippines was the only country in the world that issued this Christmas holiday record on Apple Records, as Mary’s contract with Apple had just expired with Apple when it was issued there. The song appeared on different labels in all of the other worldwide locales. Mary’s husband at the time, noted record producer, Tony Visconti was involved in the production of this record. After the dissolution of their marriage, Tony was to marry May Pang who in 1973-75 had more than an 18 month relationship with John Lennon of the ex-Beatles!
First of all, I would like to take the time to acknowledge a phenomenal site based in the Netherlands that is a primary source of many of the photographs you are seeing on this blog post: This is the site and it is highly recommended. Philippe Colinge from Belgium shared this with me and I am very grateful to him. The Netherlands are the source of some of the most knowledgeable Beatles fans in the world!!!
Holiday song of: “Mary had a Baby”
The flip side: “Cherry Tree Carol”
John Lennon and “We All Shine On”
In the Philippines, the title of Instant Karma was transposed and the A-side reads as We All Shine On with Instant Karma within parentheses!
John Lennon Mother/ Isolation and The Beatles?
For some strange reason, many of the solo Beatles recordings in the Philippines began to appear with the solo artist’s name being followed by “The Beatles” on the label. This happened to John, George, and Ringo, but not Paul so I can only assume this was due to some management issue or lack thereof. What was odd about this Mother 45, it not only had the incorrect Beatles labeling but the A side of Mother was also issued as the B-side in other issues of the 45.
APPLE – “LOVE”
APPLE – “POWER TO THE PEOPLE” and the Beatles listed as the performers of Yoko Ono’s “Open Your Box”
“IMAGINE”/ “OH MY LOVE”
Soon thereafter, the Beatles label was dropped from John’s 45’s.
George: “My Sweet Lord”/ “Isn’t It a Pity”
George – “What Is Life”/ “Apple Scruffs”
George – “Bangla Desh”/ “Deep Blue”
After Bangla-Desh, the Beatles attribution was dropped from the Philippine George 45’s
Ringo – “Beaucoups of Blues”/ “Coochy Coochy”
Ringo – “It Don’t Come Easy”/ “Early 1970”
A couple of Paul rarities from the Philippines. The Apple issue of Give Ireland Back to the Irish is credited as Wings featuring Paul and Linda McCartney and The “I Lie Around” Apple 45 featured I Lie Around as the A-side to Live and Let Die as the B-side!
A rare Beatles 45 from the Philippines is one that I am still seeking for in my collection: It is Two of Us with the flip side of Across the Universe from the Let It Be album! This would have made a wonderful single from the LP in my opinion. Here is a photo of the 45:
From Israel:
On Discogs, I was able to locate the rare Billy Preston EP on Apple which featured the only Apple appearance of the song “In the Midnight Hour,” by Wilson Pickett and Steve Cropper. Cropper was also to play guitar on the Phil Spector Lennon oldies sessions in California in 1973.
I want to make one exception to my three-country Apple rarity discussion. This rarity is from the Netherlands and it is the only version of James Taylor’s first Apple album to feature it on the label listed as “The First Album.”
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, APPLE RARITIES FROM SOUTH AFRICA
UYANDIZE UMABENGWANE / SIYAV UNGAZELA (Abafana Be Myunge)
DIE JARE GAAN VERBY / ROSE IS ROOI (Gene Rockwell) The AFRIKAAN VERSION OF THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language that is spoken in South Africa according to Wikipedia!
“TSI TSI NO.1″ / “MAHLOMELA (Big Voice Jack)”
The 4th known Apple South African release-no photograph is available:
DARK CITY JIVE / WHITE CITY JIVE (Izinyozi Boys)
Hope you have enjoyed this post! Special thanks go to Philippe Colinge for providing many of the photographs presented here as well as the wonderful site based in the Netherlands of: www.applerecords.nl
TRIVIA QUESTION: “Which was the first Beatles song released on Apple Records in the UK”? Answers in the comments below.
Buzz
FWIW, “In The Midnight Hour” is not an Apple recording. It comes from an album that Capitol released in the early 1960s.
The point of the post was to highlight it’s RARE appearance on an Apple record, Scott!
I stopped dead in Tony’s book when I read the Lennon and Mac watched Buddy Holly in Liverpool.