Beatles - 'The Christmas Records' Ltd Edition 7" Coloured Vinyl Box Set *SEALED*

	£		84
	$		112

Beatles - The Christmas Records Ltd Edition 7" Coloured Vinyl Box Set *SEALED* *RELEASED 15/12/2017*
Apple Corps and Universal Music issue a new Beatles box set just in time for Christmas.
The Christmas Records is a vinyl box set that features seven coloured vinyl records.
Each 45 features the Fab Four’s original festive messages, which were issued every year to the fan club on flexi-disc.

The Christmas messages were very much an annual tradition and ran from 1963 to 1969.
They are largely spoken-word with lots of larking around, although 1967’s does feature Christmas Time (Is Here Again).

These Christmas messages have been newly pressed as seven-inch coloured vinyl singles for this new ‘limited edition’ box set.
It also comes with a 16-page booklet with recording notes and reproductions of the fan club’s National Newsletters,
which were mailed to members with the holiday flexi-discs.

Each recording featured a “jolly Christmas message” that had been specially recorded by The Beatles for their fans,
and all seven holiday messages have now been newly-pressed on a rainbow set of seven-inch vinyl singles for this new ‘Christmas Records’ box set.

Each vinyl single comes in its own original flexi-disc sleeve artwork, with the box set also containing a 16-page booklet which
includes recording notes and reproductions of the fan club’s ‘National Newsletters’ which were mailed to members.


Disc: 1
1. 1963: “The Beatles’ Christmas Record”
Recorded: 17 October 1963
Location: Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Writer: Tony Barrow
Producer: Tony Barrow
Issued: 6 December 1963
Label: Lyntone, LYN 492
7", 1 side, 33 RPM
Total time: 5:00
The first Christmas recording from the Beatles featured several renditions of the traditional carol "Good King Wenceslas"
and individual messages from the four, ending with a closing chorus of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo".
This offering, as well as 1964's, was scripted by Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow, who had instigated the Christmas message programme.

Disc: 2
1. 1964: “Another Beatles Christmas Record”
Recorded: 26 October 1964
Location: Studio Two Abbey Road
Writer: Tony Barrow
Producer: Tony Barrow
Issued: 18 December 1964
Label: Lyntone, LYN 757
7", 1 side, 45 RPM
Total time: 3:58

The song "Jingle Bells" is sung, followed by individual messages to the fans.
John Lennon mocks the prepared statement, doing an imitation of Paul Harvey and includes his own pseudo-words and ad-libbing.
When Paul McCartney asks him if he wrote this himself, he says, "No it's somebody's bad hand-wroter.
It's been a busy year Beople peadles, one way and another, but it's been a great year too.
You fans have seen to that. Page two ... Thanks a lot folks and a happy-er Christmas and a Merry Grew Year. Crimble maybe."
(The statement is apparently handwritten as at various points in the recording, McCartney reads "making them" as "melting them" before correcting himself
and George Harrison reads "quite a time" as "quiet time" before correcting himself with "great time" as well.)
Finishing up the record is a brief rendition of the traditional song "Oh Can You Wash Your Father's Shirt?"


Disc: 3
1. 1965: “The Beatles’ Third Christmas Record”
Recorded: 8 November 1965
Location: Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Writer: Tony Barrow, The Beatles
Producer: Tony Barrow
Issued: 17 December 1965
Label: Lyntone, LYN 948
7", 1 side, 33 RPM
Total time: 6:20

Several off-key, a cappella versions of "Yesterday" are dispersed throughout the record, alongside Lennon's "Happy Christmas to Ya List'nas",
"Auld Lang Syne", a one-and-a-half-line version of the Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song" (which they quickly stop before they violate the copyright)
and an original poem titled "Christmas Comes But Once a Year".

Disc: 4
1. 1966: “Pantomime – Everywhere It’s Christmas: The Beatles’ Fourth Christmas Record”
Recorded: 25 November 1966
Location: Dick James Music
Writer: The Beatles
Producer: George Martin
Issued: 16 December 1966
Label: Lyntone, LYN 1145
7", 1 side, 33 RPM
Total time: 6:36

Recorded between sessions for "Strawberry Fields Forever", for the 1966 offering, the usual greetings and thanks gave way to a 'Pantomime'-themed collection
of original songs and dramatic skits. The songs include "Everywhere It's Christmas", "Orowainya", and "Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back".
McCartney plays the piano. The sketches performed include "Podgy the Bear and Jasper" and "Felpin Mansions."

Disc: 5
1. 1967: “Christmas Time (Is Here Again): The Beatles’ Fifth Christmas Record”
Recorded: 19 May 1967
Location: Studio Three EMI Studios, London
Writer: The Beatles
Producer: George Martin
Issued: 15 December 1967
Label: Lyntone, LYN 1360
7", 1 side, 33 RPM
Total time: 6:06

An elaborate production, Christmas Time Is Here Again! was developed around the concept of several groups auditioning for a BBC radio show.
The title song serves as a refrain throughout the record.
The Beatles portray a multitude of characters, including game show contestants, aspiring musicians ("Plenty of Jam Jars", by the Ravellers),
and actors in a radio drama ("Theatre Hour"). At the end Lennon reads a poem, "When Christmas Time Is Over."
This offering was likely a deliberate homage to/continuation of the broadly similar "Craig Torso" specials produced for BBC Radio 1 that same year by
the Beatles' friends and collaborators the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and also shares much in common with their then-unreleased track
"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", recorded six months previously.

Disc: 6
1. 1968: “The Beatles’ Sixth Christmas Record”
Recorded: November–December 1968
Location: various
Writer: The Beatles
Producer: Kenny Everett
Issued: 20 December 1968
Label: Lyntone, LYN 1743/4 7", 2 sides, 33 RPM
Total time: 7:48

The first Beatles Christmas fan-club disc to be recorded separately, the 1968 offering is a collage of odd noises, musical snippets, and individual messages.
McCartney's song "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year" is featured, along with Lennon's poems "Jock and Yono" and "Once Upon a Pool Table."
Also notable is a rendition of "Nowhere Man" by the ukulele-playing Tiny Tim.
Also included is a sped-up snippet of the Beatles' own "Helter Skelter" and a brief snippet of Perrey & Kingsley's "Baroque Hoedown"
which was used three years later in Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Yer Blues," and "Birthday" are also heard
in the background for part of the message.The dialogue and songs for the flexi-disc were organised and edited together by DJ and friend of the Beatles, Kenny Everett.

Disc: 7
1. 1969: “The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record”
Recorded: November–December 1969
Location: various
Writer: The Beatles
Producer: Kenny Everett
Issued: 19 December 1969
Label: Lyntone, LYN 1970/1971
7", 2 sides, 33 RPM
Total time: 7:39

The final Beatles Christmas offering was also recorded separately, as the band had effectively split by this point.
It features an extensive visit with Lennon and his wife Yoko at their Tittenhurst Park estate, where they play "What Will Santa Bring Me?" games.
Harrison and Ringo Starr appear only briefly, the latter to publicise his recent film, The Magic Christian. McCartney sings his original ad-lib, "This is To Wish You A Merry, Merry Christmas." Starting at 1:30, at the tail-end of Starr's song, the guitar solos from "The End" are heard, followed by Ono interviewing Lennon.

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