Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records [Original recording remastered]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Apple Records
• ASIN: B003YDXGFQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,489 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Come and Get It: The Best Of Apple Records is the first commercially issued multi-artist compilation in the label’s history. This 21-track compilation of singles ranges from the folk-rooted tunes of Mary Hopkin and James Taylor, and the energetic rock of Badfinger (also The Iveys) and Jackie Lomax, to the deep soul of Doris Troy and Billy Preston.

Come and Get It displays Apple’s vibrant years of musical experimentation in full flower, from bona fide hit singles to the cult classics of the catalogue, as represented by brass band The Black Dyke Mills Band, Cajun collective The Sundown Playboys, and more. Hot Chocolate (as ‘The Hot Chocolate Band’) makes an appearance, as does Ronnie Spector, Bill Elliot & The Elastic Oz Band, Chris Hodge, Brute Force, and others.

Launched by The Beatles in 1968, Apple served as the new outlet for their own recordings as well as the music of an eclectic roster of artists who were all personally brought to the label by The Beatles (individually and/or collectively). In the revolutionary spirit of the times, Apple’s utopian artist-orientated mission celebrated diversity in a friendly creative environment. The result was a rainbow spectrum of music, from folk, rock and soul to The Modern Jazz Quartet and the work of contemporary British classical composer John Tavener.

TRACK DETAILS FOR COME AND GET IT: THE BEST OF APPLE RECORDS:
1 Those Were The Days / Mary Hopkin
The multi-million selling debut 45 by Mary Hopkin was UK No. 1 for six weeks in 1968 and was produced by Paul McCartney, who discovered this 1920s Russian folk song in a London night club.

2 Carolina In My Mind / James Taylor
Taken from his self-titled debut album, this is the original version of ‘Carolina In My Mind’, cut in London in 1968. Issued as a US single, it features Paul McCartney on bass and George Harrison on backing vocals.

3 Maybe Tomorrow / The Iveys
The Iveys were brought to Apple by former Beatles roadie Mal Evans and ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ was a hit in Holland and a minor hit in the US, before the band changed its name to Badfinger.

4 Thingumybob / The Black Dyke Mills Band
Paul McCartney’s theme tune for a 1968 British TV comedy drama series, recorded by the most famous brass band in the world.

5 King Of Fuh / Brute Force
Brute Force is a New York songwriter and this single was championed by John Lennon and George Harrison, but ‘Fuh’ rhymes with ‘Uh’, and ‘the Fuh king’ was therefore banned back in 1969.

6 Sour Milk Sea / Jackie Lomax
Jackie Lomax has a great blue-eyed soul voice that more than does justice to this otherwise unavailable ‘White Album’-era song by George Harrison. Paul and Ringo provide rhythm and Eric Clapton plays lead guitar.

7 Goodbye / Mary Hopkin
Mary’s hugely successful follow-up to ‘Those Were The Days’ was written by Paul McCartney, and features Paul providing his own thigh-slapping percussion throughout.

8 That's The Way God Planned It / Billy Preston
Billy Preston’s breakthrough UK hit, reaching No. 11, features the stellar line-up of Billy on keyboards, George Harrison on guitar, Keith Richards on bass, Ginger Baker on drums and Eric Clapton on lead guitar.

9 New Day / Jackie Lomax
An original non-album Lomax 45 that was co-produced with Mal Evans, and single-handedly defines the Jackie Lomax sound: British soul meets R&B with horns.

10 Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight / Trash
A powerful interpretation of two songs from The Beatles’ Abbey Road, recorded by Trash, a heavy Scottish group that came to Apple via their producer, former Shadows drummer Tony Meehan.

11 Give Peace A Chance / Hot Chocolate Band
This completely re-worded British reggae version of John Lennon’s peace anthem was brought to Apple in a one-off deal by the band that became hugely popular in the Seventies with a string of classic disco hits.

12 Come And Get It / Badfinger
Written and produced by Paul McCartney for The Magic Christian film starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr, ‘Come And Get It’ was a massive worldwide hit and the first record issued by The Iveys under their new name of Badfinger.

13 Ain't That Cute / Doris Troy
Soul singer-songwriter Doris Troy had scored hits before coming to Apple in 1969, and she and George Harrison wrote ‘Ain’t That Cute’ from scratch in the studio — the first time George had ever written a song that way.

14 My Sweet Lord / Billy Preston
George Harrison produced this soulful, gospel version of his most famous solo song, which he gave to Billy Preston before he had recorded it and released it himself.

15 Try Some Buy Some / Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector, one-time Ronette and former wife of legendary producer Phil, recorded this George Harrison original in 1971. George later re-cut it himself for Living In The Material World, using the exact same backing as Ronnie’s single.

16 Govinda / Radha Krishna Temple
‘Govinda’ is a Sanskrit hymn to Krishna, and was a UK Top 30 hit for the Radha Krishna Temple in 1970. Produced by George Harrison, who also plays bass and accordion.

17 We're On Our Way / Chris Hodge
In 1972, Chris Hodge, a young British pop singer with a fascination for UFOs, caught the attention of Ringo Starr who signed Chris to Apple. ‘We’re On Our Way’ was recorded at Apple’s own studio in the basement of 3 Savile Row, London, and was a hit in America.

18 Saturday Nite Special / The Sundown Playboys
‘Saturday Nite Special’ is a lover’s lament sung in Cajun French by this cross-generational collective from Louisiana, USA, who came to Apple when their teenage accordionist sent in the song on a whim.

19 God Save Us / Bill Elliot & The Elastic Oz Band
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this fundraiser for the defense in the famous Oz Obscenity Trial of 1971 and produced it too with Mal Evans and Phil Spector. Vocalist Bill Elliot later signed to George Harrison’s Dark Horse label.

20 Sweet Music / Lon & Derrek van Eaton
New Jersey’s Lon & Derrek van Eaton were one of the last acts to sign to Apple in 1971 and the first to make use of Apple’s then state-of-the-art recording studio. George Harrison produced ‘Sweet Music’ and Ringo played drums.

21 Day After Day / Badfinger
The band’s third single for Apple was produced by George Harrison, who duetted with the band’s Pete Ham on the slide guitar solo. It went UK Top 10 in 1972, and peaked at No. 4 Billboard in the US, in the same week that Nilsson’s cover of Badfinger’s ‘Without You’ was at No. 1.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 21 slices of classic Apple! FINALLY!, October 26, 2010

By 

Jason P. Pumphrey "the movie & music man" (Falls Church, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records (Audio CD)

This is an Apple Records lovers dream! 21 classic Apple A-sides on CD, many which are very hard to find on original singles these days! The "crown jewel" of this set is the inlusion of the ultra-rare "King Of Fuh" by Brute Force. After all it's about "The Fuh King", it was quickly pulled and only an handful of of the original singles exist today, copies can easily fetch over a grand at auction! Of course there's lot's of hits here too, you get Badfinger's "Come and Get It" and "Day After Day", Mary Hopkin's "Those Were The Days" and "Goodbye", and young James Taylor's original version of "Carolina In My Mind", Jaclie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea" and "New Day", Ronnie Spector's "Try Some Buy Some", Chris Hodge's "Were On Our Way", Lon and Derrek Van Eaton's "Sweet Music"(reminds me a lot of George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity?") and Billy Preston's "That's The Way God Planned It" and his cover of the late George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". Plus there are some unique and unusual singles too, you get The Hot Chocolate Band's reggeae cover of John Lennnon's "Give Peace A Chance", "Govinda" by The Radha Krsna Temple London, "Thingumybob" by The Black Dyke Mills Band,The The Sundown Playboys "Saturday Nite Special" and Trash's cover of The Beatles' "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight". For the 12.99 I spent on this was quite the bargain, plus the remastering is superb! I hope this set as well as the other Apple Reisssues sell well so that they will reissue some more Apple treats in the future! This great collection is tasty to the "core"!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long Overdue!, October 26, 2010

By 

S. M. Brown "mdbeta51" (Manassas, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records (Audio CD)

Apple Records had some amazing releases. This disc just skims the surface, but is still a welcome addition. It's worth purchasing even if just for the remastered, CD reissue of Chris Hodge's "We're On Our Way" -- certainly one of my favorites ever. Come on Apple, give us the rest of the singles in subsequent volumes!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice compilation of Apple singles--some of which are exclusive to this edition, November 14, 2010

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records (Audio CD)

Ripe with possibilities Apple Records was The Beatles chance to establish a label that didn't play the same games that the big labels played and take artistic risks. It also gave them a tax shelter. The label fell short of its goal for a variety of reasons (including the dissolution of The Beatles themselves shortly after forming the label)BUT it did result in a variety of artists some of whom went on to much bigger careers AFTER Apple (James Taylor, Billy Preston, Hot Chocolate), some of whom had big hits for the label (Badfinger)and some of whom disappeared into obscurity.

This collection takes singles from albums released by Apple as well as single-only releases for a variety of artists. The only place to find these single only releases is here on this compilation. The only thing that MIGHT have improved this set is to include the b-sides for each artists singles. The mastering sounds pretty good and it was done by the same EMI team that remastered The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Badfinger catalogs for CD.

"Those Were The Days" was a hit single for Welsh singer Mary Hopkins who also turned the Paul McCartney penned "Goodbye" into a hit single as well.

"Carolina on My Mind"-James Taylor would go on to bigger hits after his producer and manager Peter Asher left Apple. Taylor would re-record this later.

"Maybe Tomorrow" was a single by Mal Evans' discovery The Iveys who would undergo a name change (Badfinger) and score four top 20 hits before tragedy struck the band.

"Thingumbob" is a McCartney penned song by The Black Dyke Mills Band a favorite brass band of McCartney's.(Exclusive to this release)

"King of Fuh" was a novelty song that Apple picked up and was recorded by Brute Force. It's the story of the Fuh King (yep, say that fast and you'll understand WHY it was never released and WHY John and George love it. (Exclusive to this release)

"Sour Milk Sea" written by George Harrison was recorded by Jackie Lomax a long time friend and musician that was signed to the label after his stint with The Undertakers was over. The song was a White Album demo that was rejected for the album and features George & Eric Clapton on guitars, Paul McCartney on bass, Ringo Starr on drums and Nicky Hopkins on keyboards. Lomax's R&B influenced "New Day" also appears.

"That's the Way God Planned It" and "My Sweet Lord" were singles from Billy Preston's two albums that he recorded for Apple.

"Try Some Buy Some" was a single recorded by Ronnie Spector written by George and produced by Phil Spector. It is exclusive to this set and although not a great track (and the music appeared with additional overdubbing on George's "Living in the Material World"). It's not a great track but it's nice to have it.

"Come and Get It" recorded by Badfinger was written and produced by Paul McCartney for the band's first album. We also get Badfinger's Pete Ham's songs "Day After Day" produced by and featuring George Harrison on slide with Ham included as well.

"Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight" recorded by Trash was a single of The Beatles tracks (exclusive to this set).

"Saturday Nite Special" by the Sundown Playboys and "We're On Our Way" by Hodge are both exclusive to this CD as well. (both exclusive to this set)

"God Save Us" by Bill Elliot and The Oz Band was written and performed by John Lennon and cohorts (no, not the other Beatles)and a single only release (exclusive to this set).

"Sweet Music" recorded and written by Lon and Derrek Van Eaton is exclusive to this set. We also get Radha Krsna Temple's "Govinda".

We also get a single recorded by Hot Chocolate who later went on to have more hit singles away from Apple ("You Sexy Thing").

The 12 page booklet includes information on each recording artist included in this set.

This is a nice set for those who only want the singles released from Apple or the exclusive songs to this set.

It's a pity that there aren't any unreleased tracks here such as George's original demo for "Sour Milk Sea" with the same line up (except for Lomax) as it's pretty darn close to the exact line up for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" but what we do get it quite good and for an anthology of what Apple put out this is very good indeed.