Looks Like the Yoko Ono Reissue Train is Back On the Tracks
by BeatlesBlogger
Posted on August 5, 2026
After a solid start – way back in 2016 – the Yoko Ono reissue program came to an abrupt halt in 2019. It’s now been 7 years since we’ve had anything.
Back then the promise was 11 albums in all. They were to be reissued on LP, on CD and for the first time as digital downloads. The plan was to do this in three distinct groups:
1st group:
Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (1968)
Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions (1969)
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
2nd group:
Fly (1971)
Approximately Infinite Universe (1973)
Feeling the Space (1973)
A Story (1974)
3rd group:
Season of Glass (1981)
It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982)
Starpeace (1985)
Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album (1969)
And that release plan all began to happen. There was even a promo video to officially kick things off:
Group one materialised in late 2016. Then group two (except for A Story) was issued across 2017. Then came a two year hiatus until Unfinished Music No. 3: Wedding Album suddenly appeared in all its box-set glory in 2019, the first release of group three.
And then, for about seven years, it all went very, very quiet. Until now.
Season of Glass has just been released and, like each of its predecessors, it comes on limited edition white vinyl, on black vinyl, and on CD. All the artwork is faithfully reproduced and the CD comes with bonus material:
And today an email from Secretly Canadian/Chimera Music popped into our inbox alerting us that on September 18 It’s Alright (I See Rainbows) is set to follow quickly on its heels. It is available for preorder now:
So that begs the question – are A Story and Starpeace soon to follow? Hope so.
Rare signed US-only issued Beatles album set for auction
BUDDY IAHN
The Music Universe
AUGUST 3, 2026
Courtesy of Anderson & Garland
The album is the only signed copy known A signed copy of the Beatles’ American-only album Beatles ’65, one of only two such copies known to survive, is to be offered at British auctioneers, Anderson & Garland’s Collectors’ Auction on August 27th, with an estimate of £20,000-40,000 ($27,000-$54,000) The album carries a direct and well-documented connection to the filming of the band’s second feature film, Help!
The album’s history begins with the Beatles’ journey to the Bahamas in February 1965 to film warm-weather location scenes for Help!
The band arrived in Nassau on February 22nd. On arrival, when a reporter asked John Lennon how the band had entertained themselves during the flight, he replied simply, “Well, we got stoned,” believed to be the first time any member of the group publicly acknowledged drug use.
The band spent 15 consecutive days filming across locations including Nassau itself, Balmoral Island and the Nassau Beach Hotel, before departing New Providence Island on March 10th. Their management chartered a BOAC Boeing 707 for the journey, a flight nicknamed by those on board the “Beatles Bahamas Express.”
Among the cabin crew on the return leg was Angela Bass (née Bourton), a BOAC air stewardess. During the flight back to London, landing at 7:05 am the following morning, Mrs Bass had the opportunity to spend considerable time in conversation with all four Beatles, and asked them to sign her personal copy of the album. Three of the band signed the reverse of the sleeve; George Harrison, by his own preference, chose to sign the front. She also had them autograph the flight’s first-class menu, which promised cabin service including fresh Canadian salmon mayonnaise, breast of chicken Madeira, French beans and roast potatoes, a tossed salad with Roquefort dressing, a wine list drawn from Bordeaux and the Côte d’Or, and a choice of English or American cigarettes.
That menu was later sold for more than £5,000 ($7,000), and was subsequently acquired by the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool, where it now resides.
Max Bass pictured holding the Beatles album which his mum got the Beatles to sign in 1965
The album has remained in the family ever since and is now being consigned for sale by Angela Bass’s son, Max Bass, on behalf of himself and his two brothers. Speaking about the album and his mother’s memories of the flight, Mr Bass said:
“Mum was an air stewardess in the golden age of flying in the 1960s. She flew with BOAC, the precursor to British Airways. She was lucky enough to be the stewardess on the flight bringing them back, and as was her way, she made the most of the experience and spent time talking to all of them. She particularly enjoyed chatting with George Harrison, who she said she talked to for hours, and always said how easy he was to get on with. She also had a memorable exchange with John Lennon, who was lying across the gangway of the plane as she tried to get past with the menu. He wouldn’t let her by until she gave him a kiss, which, apparently, she didn’t oblige him with.”
“This album has stayed in the family ever since our mother passed, and between the three of us brothers, we decided the best thing was to move it on to a collector who would really value it.”
Signed copies of any Beatles album are exceptionally scarce, and copies of American-only releases signed by all four members are rarer still. Specialist census work by autograph researchers has identified only one signed copy of Beatles ’65 known to exist.
Beatles ’65 was released in the United States and Canada on December 15, 1964, issued by Capitol Records as the North American equivalent of Beatles for Sale and drawing on material from the group’s EMI recordings. The record topped the Billboard albums chart for nine consecutive weeks from January 1965 and has been certified triple platinum in the United States.
A close-up look at the album which will go up for auction this month.
Abbey Road photography exhibition ‘explores almost a century of music history’
It will also offer a ‘rare opportunity’ to see photographs of items from the Abbey Road collection which have never been exhibited.
Pierra Willix
INDEPENDENT
Tuesday 28 July 2026
The Beatles (Terry O’Neill/PA) (Terry O’Neill/PA)
A new Abbey Road photography exhibition will explore “almost a century of music history”.
The world-famous Abbey Road recording studio is synonymous with The Beatles, but has also hosted acts including Pink Floyd, Oasis, Stevie Wonder, Frank Ocean and Stormzy over the past 95 years.
It is now also the focus of the exhibition Abbey Road: Reframed, which presents three interconnected perspectives: The Art Of Recording, Iconic Image Makers and the Abbey Road Music Photography Accelerator.
Nile Rodgers’ 1960 Fender Stratocaster guitar in Olympic White is among the captured items to be feature in a new Abbey Road photography exhibition (Rick Guest/Legacy/PA)
Together, they explore the artistry in the recording process, celebrate the photographers whose work has shaped music culture, and champion the next generation of image-makers defining its future.
Abbey Road has said the exhibition is a “reflection on how music photography not only captures moments of creation, but shapes how music is seen, felt and remembered in our own lives”.
It will also offer a “rare opportunity” to see photographs of items from the Abbey Road collection which have never been exhibited.
Some of the photographed items include the Neumann U47 microphone, the studio’s Mrs Mills piano, and studio documents handwritten by Abbey Road engineers.
Other items captured include The Hitmaker, Nile Rodgers’ 1960 Fender Stratocaster guitar in Olympic White, which he used on a string of hits including David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.
For the first time, fans will get a look at the inside of the Sgt Pepper mono master tape (Rick Guest/Legacy/PA)
Another is the Hammond RT-3 Organ which Richard Wright used throughout Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon album.
For the first time, fans will also get a look at the inside of the Sgt Pepper mono master tape, alongside the famous Neumann U48 microphone used on countless vocals, the Studer J37 4-track machine that committed it all to tape, and the piece of pop-art history that is the Sgt Pepper drum designed by Sir Peter Blake.
The exhibition will also feature a collection of images taken at Abbey Road Studios by photographers including Jill Furmanovsky, Norman Parkinson and Terry O’ Neill, as well as images from finalists and award winners of the Music Photography Awards.
Abbey Road managing director Sally Davies said: “For the first time, this exhibition explores almost a century of music history through the tools brought to life by legends and the images that define the Abbey Road story.
“Photography has never simply documented music; it has shaped its mythology, captured its most enduring moments and transformed sound into culture.
“Since launching the Music Photography Awards in 2022, we’ve deepened our commitment to the art form and re-examined how we interact with visual culture. Whether it’s the detail in a fine art photograph, honouring our roots with iconic image-makers, or working with a new wave of creators, we hope to present an Abbey Road, reframed.”
There will also be a selection of photography on sale at the exhibition.
Abbey Road: Reframed will be showing at London’s Iconic Images Gallery from August 11 to 22. Entry to the exhibition is free.
2022 : Yoko Ono's retrospective exhibition opening in Kaunas
On June 27, 2026, the program Current Time presented a report on the exhibition that Yoko Ono held in Lithuania in 2022.
Current Time is a Russia-language network run by RFE/Rl in association with VOA.
Yoko Ono's major retrospective exhibition in Lithuania was titled The Learning Garden of Freedom, presented alongside her prominent installation Ex It. These exhibitions formed a key part of the Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022 program in Kaunas.
Yoko Ono unveils major new exhibition in Kaunas
September 2022
Exhibition Details
° The Learning Garden of Freedom: Hosted at the Kaunas Picture Gallery from September 10 to December 4, 2022. It featured conceptual art, spatial installations, experimental films, and text works.
° Ex It Installation: Displayed at the Bank of Lithuania in Kaunas from January 23 through September 2022, featuring 100 wooden coffins of varying sizes with fruit trees growing out of them.
° Curators and Organizers: Curated by Jon Hendricks and organized in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, and Studio One in New York.
To celebrate Yoko Ono’s birthday on 18 February, Sean Ono Lennon made a virtual ‘Wish Tree’ for people all over the world to post their wishes online and (in association with One Tree Planted) plant real trees in Yoko’s honor.
Yesterday’s boo boo by Amazon France gave us much of the detail of what the new 2026 re-issue of Rubber Soul contained – but not everything.
Now that it is officially announced more is known – especially about the rarities and outtakes, which comprise 24 early session recordings, including 20 previously unreleased takes and three previously unreleased home demos – among them early versions of Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out, plus (and this is really special) Little Girl, a previously unheard John Lennon song outline never before released or even rumoured. It was discovered by the Lennon Estate when they did a thorough trawl through their archives and passed on for consideration as part of this box set by Sean Ono Lennon. It is only available in the 5LP box or the 4CD box.
Some great alternative photos are now on the web as part of the promotion too, including a shot of the US version of Rubber Soul showing it is indeed the stereo edition. We just don’t know for sure which mix is being used, although the official press release says “the original Capitol US Album version“, so that implies it’s from 1965:
There’s also a nice close-up of the 45rpm single:
There are also alternate packshots of the 88-page hard-cover book, and glimpses of the album sleeves that show the US version will have the traditional Capitol Records look:
And while super-deluxe Beatle releases in the past have just about always had a picture disc (think Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver and Let It Be), we didn’t know yesterday that this time it will come in the form of a Zoetrope disc:
And that there’ll also be “exclusive” orange coloured vinyl from key retailers, like Target in the US:
And HMV in the UK, JB HiFi in Australia and fnac in France:
Wouldn’t be surprised if this extends to other places, like jpc in Germany for example. Its also just popped up on Platekompaniet in Norway. And these days who knows if there’ll be even more coloured vinyl variants, though in the past Apple haven’t really gone in for such multiple variations.
Lastly, on the official Beatle site is the first example of the music rarities and outtakes, ‘Michelle (Take 1)’. It’s an early studio recording demonstrating the song’s development, and showcases the band’s performance before the final master was completed. From the website: “Recorded during a nine-hour session on 3 November 1965, Take 1 was the only complete performance to survive on the original four-track tape. Presented here without the later overdubs heard on the finished master, it reveals the song in its earliest recorded form. The tape also preserves tantalising fragments of earlier takes that had been recorded over, offering a rare glimpse into the band’s creative process”:
The countdown is on for the official announcement of The BeatlesRubber Soul in full super deluxe edition mode.
As the official Beatles website says, “Good things come to those who Wait”, with an official countdown to a full announcement tomorrow, July 30.
Only thing is, they forgot to tell the French Amazon site not to publish the details ahead of time……
Looks like we’re getting your choice of a 5LP plus 1×7″ single box set and book, or a 4CD box set and book.
LP 1 in the 5LP set is a new stereo remix of the original album. LPs 2 and 3 are 28 tracks of sessions and out takes (including 3 versions of ‘Norwegian Wood’; 4 versions of ‘Day Tripper’; 3 versions of ‘We Can Work It Out’; and 3 versions of ‘I’m Looking Through You’). LP 4 is a new mono mix of the original album, and LP 5 is the US version of the LP which has a completely different running order. It is 12 songs instead of the 14 on the UK version, plus it loses ‘If I Needed Someone’, ‘What Goes On’, ‘Nowhere Man’ and ‘Drive My Car’ and adds ‘I’ve Just Seen a Face’ and ‘It’s Only Love’. The 7″ single in the new set is ‘Day Tripper’ b/w ‘We Can Work It Out’.
CD 1 in the 4CD set is the new stereo remix of the original album. CD 2 is the 28 tracks of sessions and out takes. CD 3 is the new mono mix, and CD 4 is the US version of the album.
There will also be 2LP and 2CD editions. These comprise a disc of the new stereo remix, plus a second disc that is a unique, 16-track truncated version of the sessions and out takes from the box set.
And perhaps the biggest surprise is a stand-alone Blu-ray comprised of a hi-res stereo re-mix of the original album (plus ‘Day Tripper’/’We Can Work It Out’), an Dolby Atmos mix of those tracks, and 4 videos.
Fans will either be celebrating or lamenting the Blu-ray because once upon a time these were included as a matter of course in Beatle SDE box sets. They disappeared completely after the Let It Be re-mix CD set in 2021. Now Blu-ray is back for those who want such things, but you’ll have to buy it separately….
John Lennon Lyrics for Beatles' 'If I Fell,' Written on Valentine's Card, Sell for $656,250 at Auction
The Glass Onion Beatles Journal
on July 21, 2026
John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the Beatles' song "If I Fell," sold for $656,250 at auction this week.
The song was written on the Beatles' first flight to the U.S. to perform on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964, and were written on a Valentine's Day card, apparently written to Paul McCartney from his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher.
More info from Heritage Auctions:
John Lennon Handwritten Manuscript Lyrics for "If I Fell". One page, written on the back of an unfolded Valentine's Day card, approximately 11.5" x 6" (11.5" x 11.5" unfolded), aboard an airline bound for JFK Airport (then Idlewild), New York from London Heathrow, en route to The Beatles' historic first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964.
At first glance, this Valentine's Day card looks completely ordinary-just a simple token of affection, decorated with hearts and the caption "To the One I Love". But once opened, and then fully unfolded, it reveals something far more remarkable: a hidden piece of music history tucked inside. What starts as a commonplace object becomes a deeply personal Beatles artifact, capturing a moment when one of the most important songwriting partnerships in modern music was actively at work.
The card is believed to have originally come from Paul McCartney's girlfriend at the time, actress Jane Asher. On the left-hand side interior, in a different hand believed to be Asher's, is the simple inscription, "To Paul / with love / xxx." Inside is a printed Valentine's verse. What might seem like a lighthearted romantic gesture quickly turns into something much more significant. Building on the sentiment of Asher's message, Lennon used the card to write out the lyrics to "If I Fell", turning a personal keepsake into a working draft. His handwriting begins on the inside and continues across the card's panels, unfolding line by line as the card is opened further. The song's title appears at the end, meaning the full piece is only revealed once the card is completely expanded. Lennon writes, in full:
"Intro] If I Fell in Love with you
Would you promise to be true
And help me understand
Cause I've been in love before
And I found that love was more
Than just holding hands.
1. If I give my heart to you
I must be sure
From the very start that you're
Gonna love me more than her
2. If I trust in you oh please
Don't run and hide
If I love you too oh please
Don't hurt my pride like her.
'Cause I couldn't stand the pain
And I would be sad
If our new love was in vain
3. So I hope you see that I
Would love to love you
I hope that she will cry
When she learns that we are two."
These lyrics are followed by the title, in Lennon's hand: "If I Fell."
Lennon's handwriting moves across the card with striking clarity and control. Written in dark ink, the lines are compact yet highly legible, with only minor corrections-suggesting not a heavily worked draft, but a composition that came together with unusual ease. The verses are neatly structured and even-numbered, giving the layout a sense of order and intention, as though Lennon were organizing the song in real time while already confident in its form. Notably, the text closely matches the version of "If I Fell" as it appears on A Hard Day's Night, with its phrasing and structure largely intact-pointing to a near-complete draft rather than a rough sketch. The lyrics unfold across the card's panels in sequence, culminating in the title, "If I Fell", written at the end in a slightly more deliberate hand.
What makes this all the more compelling is the setting itself. Rather than a notebook or loose sheet, Lennon chose a Valentine's card-something casual, personal, and quietly playful-transforming an everyday object into a record of the creative process. In doing so, the piece offers a rare glimpse into how Lennon and McCartney worked together, shaping ideas in real time. As Joseph Wolf Shenk observes in Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs, the pair operated with "a shared identity", each sharpening the other's instincts. This card captures that dynamic in tangible form, preserving a moment where composition feels fluid, immediate, and almost effortless.
According to its provenance, Lennon wrote these lyrics while the Beatles were en route to their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964-a defining moment that introduced them to American audiences and helped spark the British Invasion. Created at this precise tipping point of their global breakthrough, "If I Fell" stands as one of John's most poignant early ballads and among the most significant Beatles songs to appear at auction.
Ostensibly composed during that journey, Lennon-seated next to Paul McCartney on the plane-was suddenly struck with inspiration, sketching out what would become a standout track on 1964's A Hard Day's Night. As one of the Beatles' first truly introspective songs, it reveals Lennon exploring more vulnerable and uncertain emotions around love. The cadence and subtlety of the lyrics suggest he already had the melody in mind, shaping the words to a fully formed musical idea. Presented here in such a personal format, the lyrics become more than a draft-they reflect a real-time creative exchange between Lennon and McCartney at a pivotal moment in their partnership.
