The Beatles

$

118

When albums were the mode of audio delivery, I had over fifteen hundred of them. All that is left of that collection are 24 of the Beatles, both as a band and as solo artists. There were no discs at the time so all of these records were purchased pre-disc. That means that they were bought over 25 years ago. I guess that means they are all vintage.

            Along with a wonderful, top of the line stereo, I kept my albums completely pristine with a zero-stat system popular at the time. Most of these albums were stored up straight with plastic covers on the outside and a specially designed inner sleeves to protect against dirt, etc. All have not been played in well over 25 years.

            Though many are not original, there are some that are. I just don’t have the time to track down serial numbers, differences in inner labels, stereo vs. mono, etc. I doubt one is going to find the equivalent of the butcher cover but there are some pretty good treasures, I’m sure. If the album came with posters or other inner album products, they should be mostly intact, like the Wedding Album. Below is a run down of the titles and my assessment of the condition and a description of the inner label:

Wedding Album (pristine, EMI/Oden)

The Beatles Live at the Hamburg Star-Club (pristine, multi colored with Double H Licensing Corp along the outer circle)

The Beatles Featuring Tony Sheridan (pristine, Orange and Black label with Pickwick presents Contour, on it)

Let It Be (pristine, Apple)

Revolver (stereo) (very near pristine, rainbow border and black, Capitol)

All Things Must Pass (pristine, purple, Capital)

Unfinished Music No. 2 Life With The Lions (an Apple with Zapple on it)

Live Peace in Toronto (pristine, Apple)

Wonderwall (pristine, Apple)

The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (pristine, Tan with a blue ticket, Capitol)

Second Album (Stereo) (pristine, Apple)

The Beatles Tapes (pristine, Red with Polydor on it)

Rarities (blue cover) (pristine, Black with Parlophone on it)

Introducing The Beatles (stereo) (pristine, Rainbow border around Black, VJ)

Buried Treasure (pristine, this may be a bootleg also, plain White with Wonderland across the top and Genuine Trademark Quality underneath that with a picture of a pig)

Manchester (Bootleg) (pristine, White with sketches called Old Glory Records)

Copenhagen (Bootleg with Jimmy Nichols on drums) (Pristine, Red and blank, the record itself is Red)

The Beatles Story (Stereo) (pristine, Red with Gold “Capitol” on it)

‘65’ (stereo) (pristine, Apple)

The Early Beatles (stereo) (pristine, Apple)

Something New (stereo) (pristine, Red with Gold “Capitol” on it)

Rarities (silver cover) (pristine, Rainbow border, around Black, Capitol)

Hard Days Night (high fidelity) (Average, Black with multi-colored balls along the top, United Artists)

Help (full dimensional stereo) (pristine, Orange with Gold “Capitol” on it)

            One needs to understand that when I was buying records, I bought the record, cleaned it, and recorded it. When I wanted to listen to it, I listened to the cassette, not the record. So many, if not all, were played once.

My assessment regarding the condition of these records is visual only. I do not even own a turntable and cannot assess if there are clicks/ pops, and cannot assess if there is a warp in any of them. I can only say there appears to be no warping. Of course, I will not comment on the audio quality of bootlegs. Also, some of the mainstream releases were also bootlegged by high quality bootleggers. If there are some of those in there, I would not know. I would submit that there is value even in high quality bootlegs, maybe even extreme value.

All of the above is a friend’s narrative. I am selling these for him so all questions should be routed to roleyrice@yahoo.com. He would be better at answering your questions than I. Serious bidders only, please.

 You are bidding on all the records. He will not sell any of these individually. This is an all-or-nothing process.