WATCHING RAINBOWS
Company: Dragonfly Records
Matrix Number: L-7 Seite A / L-7 Seite B (original pressing); SEITE A L-7 RE-1 (side A of the second version)
Release date: March 1978
Country: USA
SIDE A
1. WATCHING RAINBOWS
2. MADMAN / MEAN MR. MUSTARD / MADMAN
3. BLACKBIRD
4. “EARLY IN THE MORNING” / HONEY HUSH
5. STAND BY ME
6. HARE KRISHNA MANTRA
7. TWO OF US
8. ONE AFTER 909
SIDE B
9. TOO BAD ABOUT SORROWS
10. JUST FUN
11. SHE SAID SHE SAID
12. MEAN MR. MUSTARD
13. DON’T LET ME DOWN
14. ALL THINGS MUST PASS
15. FOOLS LIKE ME
16. YOU WIN AGAIN (incomplete)
17. SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW (incomplete)
18. GOLDEN SLUMBERS / CARRY THAT WEIGHT
19. A QUICK ONE WHILE HE’S AWAY
20. JAM (with Yoko - incomplete)
21. HER MAJESTY
​
SOUND QUALITY: VG-mono
SOURCE:
#1, 2: Twickenham Studios, January 14, 1969
#3: Paul, EMI Studios, late 1974 (EX); from MPL documentary “One Hand Clapping’’ outtakes
#4 to 17, 19, 20: Twickenham Studios, January 8, 1969
#18: EMI Studios, July 2, 1969, take 13 (backing track)
#21: EMI Studios, July 2, 1969, take 3 (with uncut finale)
COMMENTS
This LP consists of TWICKENHAM and APPLE Studios rehearsals from January 1969, partially issued on two previous EP’s (TWICKENHAM JAMS, released in February 1977 by ToBe MiLo, on green vinyl, with a rubber-stamped jacket and custom disc sleeve, and WATCHING RAINBOWS, released in May 1977 on multicolor vinyl, later repressed on blue vinyl) and to be reissued in better quality and more complete form on THE BEATLES (BLACK ALBUM). The album is padded out with various other studio cuts and features the first of Yoko Ono’s appearances on Beatles bootlegs.
TWICKENHAM JAMS EP
7'' EP
Company: no manufacturer indicated
Matrix Number: MASTERPIECE ##8104 VC 4591 A / MASTERIECE ##8104 VC 4591 B
Release date: February 1977
Country: USA
SIDE A
1. "EARLY IN THE MORNING" / HONEY HUSH
2. STAND BY ME
3. HARE KRISHNA MANTRA (incomplete)
SIDE B
4. ALL THINGS MUST PASS
5. FOOLS LIKE ME
6. YOU WIN AGAIN (incomplete)
Sound quality: VG-mono
source: 1 to 6: Twickenham Studios, January 8, 1969
WATCHING RAINBOWS EP
7'' EP
Company: no manufacturer indicated
Matrix number: 77132M SIDE I / 77133M SIDE 2
release date: May 1977
Country: USA
SIDE A
1. WATCHING RAINBOWS
2. SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW (incomplete)
SIDE B
3. TOO BAD ABOUT SORROWS
4. JUST FUN
5. SHE SAID SHE SAID
6. MEAN MR. MUSTARD
7. DON'T LET ME DOWN
8. GOLDEN SLUMBERS / CARRY THAT WEIGHT
Sound quality: VG-mono
Source:
1, 6: Twickenham Studios, January 14,1969
2-5, 7: Twickenham Studios, January 8, 1969
8: EMI Studios, July 2, 1969, backing track
The EP was soon repressed on blue vinyl, with a new cover suggesting an import from Luxembourg.
RELEASES OF THE LP
The first version came with a deluxe full color jacket, blue and pink on the back side, and the disc had yellow Dragonfly labels. The matrix for side A was L-7 SEITE A. The second pressing had white Ruthless Rhymes labels, and was still pressed from the original stampers.
July 1978. The producer recut Side A with the matrix number SEITE A L-7 RE and the first two tracks were replaced with the same songs, slightly shorter but from a better quality tape. The back side of the jacket was blue and black and the spine had the album title and the indications “Audifon L-7’’ and “0698’’ record number (the latter number is a price code commonly printed on LP jackets at the time). It was released with yellow Ruthless Rhymes labels (copies from the new master on the white Ruthless Rhymes labels may exist as well).
1979. The last group of repressings of the new version was distributed in 1979 and 1980 under the green Hohrweite Stereophonie label; they had the same jacket with the blue and black back cover.
INTEREST. The two EPs were quite important when they appeared, since they contained previously unavailable material from the January 1969 sessions. Moreover, they were pressed on colored or multicolored vinyl. Still, these two EPs retain a good collectable value (***/****). The first LP version, with the blue and pink back cover on the Dragonfly label, is rather rare (***), whereas those on the Ruthless Rhymes label, particularly those of the second version for Side A, are still quite common in the market (**).
