Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year, is fast approaching. The folks at Record Store Day have helped to organize a series of exclusive items just for indie record stores to be released on Black Friday. The list is pretty big, so we wanted to highlight some of the titles and give you the chance to view or print the entire list (PDF) so you can be prepared on Friday November 25. Just a heads up that the stock may differ between the three stores as well. 


We will hold exclusive RSD releases behind our front counters. Line will form outside the store no earlier than 8 a.m. on Saturday. Product is limited to stock on hand and available to customers on a first come, first served basis. Limit one per title per customer. Store opens at 10:30 a.m.

Huge Black Friday Turntable Sale at Amoeba Hollywood! All turntables 20% off, plus even bigger deals on Audio-Technica LP 60 and Crosley Keepsake turntables. Limited to stock on hand. Friday 11/25 only.

We will feature exclusive RSD releases on our sales floor. Product is limited to stock on hand and available to customers on a first come, first served basis. Limit one per title per customer. Stores open at 10:30 a.m.

I thought I had heard every imaginable cover version and reinterpretation of The Beatles' music but this operatic rendition of the Fab Four's "Ticket To Ride" by Cathy Berberian, which is done in all seriousness, outdoes them all in absurdity as well as in sheer entertainment value. It reminds me of when I first heard Mrs Miller who in the 1960's recorded a series of high-pitched, off-key covers of popular songs of the day. Mrs Miller's music promptly got filed under "novelty" while the Dutch operatic singer Berberian, who recorded the above Beatles cover for the Dutch TV show Cathy's Songbook in 1977 with Harold Lester on piano, is definitely a better singer - but no less entertaining than Mrs Miller.

Watching/listening to Cathy Berberian's version of the song prompted me to dig for some other covers of "Ticket To Ride" which, with production by George Martin, was originally released by The Beatles on their 1965 album, Help! as well as a single. These covers of "Ticket To Ride" (videos of a few of which appear below) range in quality and include The Carpenters' 1969 slowed down ballad version and Hüsker Dü's mid-eighties true to the original live version - my two personal favorites. Other versions, done from the years immediately following the original up until recently include The Bee Gees, Vanilla Fudge, Sly and Robbie who renamed it "Free Ticket To Ride," The 5th Dimension, Atomic Kitten, The Punkles, Kids Incorporated, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden fame who did a concert (not a recorded) version on his solo acoustic tours both last year and earlier this year.

Good news for Paul McCartney and Beatles fans. This week will see the reissue of two must-have solo albums by Sir Paul; 1970's McCartney (his first post Beatles solo release) and 1980's McCartney II (his first solo album following the final Wings release).

Similarly to the recent re-issue of Wings' 1973 tour de force Band On The Run, these two new remastered reissues, available from Amoeba on Tuesday June 14th,  are being re-released in a variety of formats (2CD, 2LP, & Deluxe) with lots of great bonus material.  Paul himself personally supervised these two reissues for which the remastering was done at Abbey Road with same team responsible for recently working on the complete Beatles' back catalog.

While these two McCartney albums were originally released a full decade apart they actually have a lot in common since each were solo releases coming on the heels of a break from bands: McCartney came right after the Beatles breakup while McCartney II came a year of the final album by Wings; 1979's  Back to the Egg.- and a year before they officially dissolved. Essentially then, these 1970 and 1980 solo McCartney albums bookend his work with Wings. Furthermore each were largely experimental spontaneous, freeform recordings (with the obvious exceptions of such songs as the infectious pop of "Coming Up" and the soulful, timeless "Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul's moving love letter to Linda), and each  were recorded in a home studio with Paul playing much of the instrumentation himself and clearly just doing exactly what he felt like doing without the constrictions of working within a band structure. For example on McCartney II he fully explored the use of electronics and experimental sounds, incorporating lots of synthesizers which he was very attracted to at the time.

John Lennon wrote this blistering letter to the McCartneys in 1971, when tensions over The Beatles' breakup were still running very high. The letter goes up for auction soon, and thus it has hit the web and our eyes 40 years or so after it was written. The relationship between the two most famous songwriters ever is still fascinating, even after all this time...

It's a little hard on the eyes; for the full transcript, head here.