Pop Focus: Rare Batman 1966 photos

Anticipation is building for the long-long-long-awaited DVD and Blu-ray release of the 1960s Batman TV series. Here are some pics from the show, and the 1966 Batman movie to help tide you over.

We've posted loads of Batman pics over the past several years, both here and at The Bat Channel, but several below are new to us so check them out!
















Pop culture roundup: Black Terror; Lois Lane; The Who; Tony Soprano; Jack Kirby

A Kickstarter campaign to create a series of action figures based on relatively obscure Golden Age comics characters has been funded. The figures will include original Daredevil, Stardust the Super-Wizard, The Black Terror, Silver Streak and a replica of the 1960s Captain Action action figure. More details on the project.


-----

Lois Lane will be the star of a young adult novel out next year.
Written by YA author Gwenda Bond, "Lois Lane: Fallout" recasts Lois as a teen lead — described by the publisher as an “army brat” — moving to Metropolis for the first time with her family and, as fans would expect, finding trouble at her new high school. The book isn’t entirely free of Clark Kent, however, with the official synopsis mentioning a “maybe-more-than-a-friend” with the screen name “SmallvilleGuy”…


-----

The Who have asked fans to help the band roundup rare recordings for an archive project:
The band are looking for rare radio and TV performances, home movies from gigs, extraordinary bootleg material, demos, unusual photos and memorabilia for their 50th anniversary releases. If you think it's rare, we'd like to see it! Email us at thewho@umusic.com.

Any item that is used will be fully credited on any release and the person with the most outstanding find will receive 2 VIP tickets for a show on the next Who tour.
------

So did Tony Soprano die at the end of "The Sopranos" or not? David Chase says "nope."

-----

A group of New York beer and comic book enthusiasts (people after my own heart!) have created a specialty ale in tribute to Jack Kirby, co-creator of the Marvel Universe.

Fab Friday: Beatles 1964 tour program



Visit The Glass Onion Beatles Journal for more on the Fabs!

Kinks reunion? Band's official Twitter walks back comment by Ray

The Kinks' official Twitter feed this week walked back a statement Ray Davies reported made to Mojo magazine saying that a Kinks reunion is about the music and could occur even if his brother Dave doesn't participate.

MOJO is wrong. There will be NO Kinks reunion without BOTH Ray and Dave Davies. Ray Davies claims to have never...

 Here's what Ray told Mojo:
“Dave’s invited to the party, but if he doesn’t want to do it, [the reunion] will happen anyway,” reveals the singer. “He’s very welcome to turn up if he wants. I’d much rather work with him than without him.”

...Asked if The Kinks without Dave would actually be The Kinks, Davies replies, “Yes, it would. I think it’s all down to the music. If somebody can’t or won’t play, there are other players out there. [original Kinks drummer Mick Avory] and I want to do it.”

Why don't I own these already: DC Comics flip flops


Info here.

New Doctor Who: "Into the Dalek" pics and trailer

Here are pics and the trailer from this week's episode of Doctor Who, "Into the Dalek."














Bob Dylan's legendary Basement Tapes on the way in expanded set - with tracklist

Bob Dylan's "Basement Tapes," recorded with the Band in upstate New York during the late 1960s are among the most legendary recording sessions of all time - mainly because most of the recordings were never officially released.

Apart from an official 2-LP compilation released in 1975, most of the music has only appeared on scattered bootlegs.

Now, we can officially hear more. Dylan has announced the Nov. 4 release of The Basement Tapes Complete, a 6-CD set collecting all 138 recordings, including 30 never before bootlegged.


The set will be the 11th volume of Dylan's long-running "Bootleg Series" of previously unreleased recordings. Also up on Amazon is a double-CD highlights set called Basement Tapes Raw.

According to Rolling Stone:
The previously unknown tracks include an epic, apocalyptic rocker, "Wild Wolf"; an early draft of "I Shall Be Released" with slightly different lyrics; a cover of Hank Williams' 1949 classic "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It"; and country-fied versions of "Blowin' in the Wind," "It Ain't Me Babe" and "One Too Many Mornings," featuring Band keyboardist Richard Manuel handling lead vocals on the first verse.
"The stuff that people haven't heard justifies, in every way, shape and form, all the hype, hubris and myth that surrounds these tapes," says folk musician and writer Sid Griffin, who wrote the liner notes for this new collection (which is also being released as a two-disc version and three-LP set). "Some of this stuff is mind-boggling."
There are also many Dylan originals that have never been released outside of dodgy-sounding bootlegs, including "Sign on the Cross," the trombone-heavy New Orleans ode "Bourbon Street," the 1950s pop parody "I'm Your Teenage Prayer" and the jokey "See You Later Allen Ginsberg," which ends with Dylan and the Band cracking up. Throughout the tapes, Dylan and the Band swerve from country to calypso to jazz to folk to rock and even Spanish music. 
Here's the tracklist:
CD 11. "Edge of the Ocean"
2. "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It" (written by Clarence Williams)
3. "Roll on Train"
4. "Mr. Blue" (written by Dewayne Blackwell)
5. "Belshazzar" (written by Johnny Cash)
6. "I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (written by Charlie A Feathers and Stanley A Kesler)
7. "You Win Again" (written by Hank Williams)
8. "Still in Town" (written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard)
9. "Waltzing with Sin" (written by Sonny Burns and Red Hayes)
10. "Big River (Take 1)" (written by Johnny Cash)
11. "Big River (Take 2)" (written by Johnny Cash)
12. "Folsom Prison Blues" (written by Johnny Cash)
13. "Bells of Rhymney" (written by Idris Davies and Peter Seeger)
14. "Spanish is the Loving Tongue"
15. "Under Control"
16. "Ol' Roison the Beau" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
17. "I'm Guilty of Loving You"
18. "Cool Water" (written by Bob Nolan)
19. "The Auld Triangle" (written by Brendan Francis Behan)
20. "Po' Lazarus" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
21. "I'm a Fool for You" (Take 1)
22. "I'm a Fool for You" (Take 2) 

CD 21. "Johnny Todd" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
2. "Tupelo" (written by John Lee Hooker)
3. "Kickin' My Dog Around" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
4. "See You Later Allen Ginsberg (Take 1)"
5. "See You Later Allen Ginsberg (Take 2)"
6. "Tiny Montgomery"
7. "Big Dog"
8. "I'm Your Teenage Prayer"
9. "Four Strong Winds" (written by Ian Tyson)
10. "The French Girl (Take 1)" (written by Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson)
11. "The French Girl (Take 2)" (written by Ian Tyson and Sylvia Tyson)
12. "Joshua Gone Barbados" (written by Eric Von Schmidt)
13. "I'm in the Mood" (written by Bernard Besman and John Lee Hooker)
14. "Baby Ain't That Fine" (written by Dallas Frazier)
15. "Rock, Salt and Nails" (written by Bruce Phillips)
16. "A Fool Such As I" (written by William Marvin Trader)
17. "Song for Canada" (written by Pete Gzowski and Ian Tyson)
18. "People Get Ready" (written by Curtis L Mayfield)
19. "I Don't Hurt Anymore" (written By Donald I Robertson and Walter E Rollins)
20. "Be Careful of Stones That You Throw" (written by Benjamin Lee Blankenship)
21. "One Man's Loss"
22. "Lock Your Door"
23. "Baby, Won't You Be My Baby"
24. "Try Me Little Girl"
25. "I Can't Make it Alone"
26. "Don't You Try Me Now"

CD 31. "Young but Daily Growing" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
2. "Bonnie Ship the Diamond" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
3. "The Hills of Mexico" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
4. "Down on Me" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
5. "One for the Road"
6. "I'm Alright"
7. "Million Dollar Bash (Take 1)"
8. "Million Dollar Bash (Take 2)"
9. "Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (Take 1)"
10. "Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread (Take 2)"
11. "I'm Not There"
12. "Please Mrs. Henry"
13. "Crash on the Levee (Take 1)"
14. "Crash on the Levee (Take 2)"
15. "Lo and Behold! (Take 1)"
16. "Lo and Behold! (Take 2)"
17. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Take 1)"
18. "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere (Take 2)"
19. "I Shall be Released (Take 1)"
20. "I Shall be Released (Take 2)
21. "This Wheel's on Fire" (written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko)
22. "Too Much of Nothing (Take 1)"
23. "Too Much of Nothing (Take 2)"

CD 41. "Tears of Rage (Take 1)" (written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel)
2. "Tears of Rage (Take 2)" (written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel)
3. "Tears of Rage (Take 3)" (written by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel)
4. "Quinn the Eskimo (Take 1)"
5. "Quinn the Eskimo (Take 2)"
6. "Open the Door Homer (Take 1)"
7. "Open the Door Homer (Take 2)"
8. "Open the Door Homer (Take 3)"
9. "Nothing Was Delivered (Take 1)"
10. "Nothing Was Delivered (Take 2)"
11. "Nothing Was Delivered (Take 3)"
12. "All American Boy" (written by Bobby Bare)
13. "Sign on the Cross"
14. "Odds and Ends (Take 1)"
15. "Odds and Ends (Take 2)"
16. "Get Your Rocks Off"
17. "Clothes Line Saga"
18. "Apple Suckling Tree (Take 1)"
19. "Apple Suckling Tree (Take 2)"
20."Don't Ya Tell Henry"
21."Bourbon Street"

CD 51. "Blowin' in the Wind"
2. "One Too Many Mornings"
3. "A Satisfied Mind" (written by Joe Hayes and Jack Rhodes)
4. "It Ain't Me, Babe"
5. "Ain't No More Cane (Take 1)" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
6. "Ain't No More Cane (Take 2)" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
7. "My Woman She's A-Leavin'"
8. "Santa-Fe"
9. "Mary Lou, I Love You Too"
10. "Dress it up, Better Have it All"
11. "Minstrel Boy"
12. "Silent Weekend"
13. "What's it Gonna be When it Comes Up"
14. "900 Miles from My Home" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
15. "Wildwood Flower" (written by A.P. Carter)
16. "One Kind Favor" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
17. "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
18. "It's the Flight of the Bumblebee"
19. "Wild Wolf"
20. "Goin' to Acapulco"
21. "Gonna Get You Now"
22. "If I Were A Carpenter" (written by James Timothy Hardin)
23. "Confidential" (written by Dorina Morgan)
24. "All You Have to do is Dream (Take 1)"
25. "All You Have to do is Dream (Take 2)"

CD 61. "2 Dollars and 99 Cents"
2. "Jelly Bean"
3. "Any Time"
4. "Down by the Station"
5. "Hallelujah, I've Just Been Moved" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
6. "That's the Breaks"
7. "Pretty Mary"
8. "Will the Circle be Unbroken" (written by A.P. Carter)
9. "King of France"
10. "She's on My Mind Again"
11. "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
12. "On a Rainy Afternoon"
13. "I Can't Come in with a Broken Heart"
14. "Next Time on the Highway"
15. "Northern Claim"
16. "Love is Only Mine"
17. "Silhouettes" (written by Bob Crewe and Frank C Slay Jr.)
18. "Bring it on Home"
19. "Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" (Traditional, arranged by Bob Dylan)
20. "The Spanish Song (Take 1)"
21. "The Spanish Song (Take 2)"

 

Vintage ad: Ella Fitzgerald for Jim Beam


Today's Best Picture Ever: Reading 3-D comics


New comics Aug. 27, 2014: Archie Archives; Tarzan Sundays; Tales of Suspense Masterworks; Marvel Rarities Masterworks; Treasures of Tintin

Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon.


Archie Archives Volume 10


Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Sunday Comics Volume 2: 1933-1935 (Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan Sundays)














Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Tales of Suspense Volume 1


Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Rarities Volume 1


Herge and the Treasures of Tintin