Joshua Rifkin: "The Baroque Beatles Book"

This is an absolutely fabulous novelty LP released in 1965.

It takes musical parody right down to the level of the cover art, the liner notes, and the compository presentation of the track titles.

Fun, fun, fun.

Cover art by Roger Hane.

Decent article providing more details: HERE.

The Beatles: "Beatles '65"

The sixth of six LPs released (in the US) in 1964.  Beatles albums have the amazing distinction of having no tracks one would really want to skip when listening.  Among the treasures on this LP - their cover of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" and their own "I Feel Fine." 

This LP took a trip to New Jersey.

The Beatles: "Hey Jude"

This compilaton LP was released in 1970.  It is a bit of an "outlier" in the history and progression of Beatles albums because unlike most of the previous five or six albums that were painstakingly created by The Beatles as very deliberate collections of songs presented in careful order, this album was a collection of previous recordings, some of which had not been released before, put together by Allan Steckler for Allen Klein (Apple) to "Capitol"ize on the success of the single "Hey Jude" and bridge the gap between "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be."

This LP went to a collector in Tennessee.

The Beatles: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Can you name all of the cultural stars depicted on this album cover?

So widely known and wildly popular, I doubt my ability to add anything enlightening to the decades of commentary and accolades lavished on this LP.  Released in 1967, this album went 11x Platinum, eclipsed in sales only by "Abbey Road" and "The Beatles" (the 'white album').

Click on the gatefold picture to get a great closer look at the Fab Four in their colorful "military" attire.

Paul's back to the camera, fueling the rumors of his untimely demise that continued with "signs" on other LPs to follow.

Album insert that featured punch-out moustache and chevrons.

This LP went to a fan in Texas.

The Beatles: "Help!"

Released in 1965 between "Beatles VI" and "Rubber Soul" (both also released in 1965).  I will boldly state that for most Beatles fans the music is much more important than the film.  Although the movie is important historically, and it is moderately fun to watch, we all know that the venture into big screen exposure was not as fun for the Fab Four as it appeared to be.  They really just wanted to make great music, which they did better than any other artistic team in history.

Yep. Canada.

Con Los Beatles

The dilapidated condition of this jacket suits the half-face black and white photo of The Fab Four almost to the point of seeming intentional; like it must have looked like this from Day One.

This particular cover is simply the cover that was used for the Argentine release of "With the Beatles" in 1964.  The tracks are the same, and are (naturally) in English.

A previous owner was obliged to hand-write "With The" on the cover, just in case someone might be struggling with the translation of "Con Los." I found that rather amusing even though such careless defacement theoretically depresses the "value" of the jacket. I'm not too worried about that. I managed to sell this LP to a fan in New York back in October 2007 for the startling sum of $1.79. Unbelievably, the LP was still in playable condition, too!

Hey. Sharing music and memorabilia can't always be about piling up cash. In fact, I dare say it should never be about that. My love of music and my fascination with the recorded medium of vinyl LPs, and especially the wondrous history and art of the jackets, keeps me from any expectation that my retirement will be financed by an endless parade of shrewd sales deals. I'd much rather have another doe-eyed fan pick it up and lovingly gaze at it and take care of it than lose it to some passionless mercenary clearinghouse.

The Beatles: 'White Album' and 'Rubber Soul'

OK. Well. I said in my previous post that I would follow it with a straight list of the 90 LPs from which I have disencumbered myself already. BUT honestly that idea does not appeal to me in the least. In particular, as I looked at the list in preparation for that expedient method of disposing of their mention in these esteemed digital halls of history, I really began to feel that I had to give the LPs a bit more attention than just to list them with little or no elaboration.

I reckon I still am not going to give these LPs nearly as much attention as I would like to do, but then again I'm pretty sure I am not the first or only person ever to mention and make comments on these albums. I don't have the time or knowledge really to do each one quite that much justice. So, I'll report off the top of my head and that will be it, pretty much.

The first two albums that flew out of my collection (on the same day) were two Beatles albums.

One was the so-called 'White Album.' It came to be called that because it was released in a plain white cover with "The Beatles" embossed unobtrusively on it. Released in 1968, it is actually TWO LPs - aka a 'double album.' I read just recently in Geoff Emerick's book "Here, There, & Everywhere" that the 'White Album' got no other name because The Beatles could not settle on one in consensus. They had not too long before suffered the death of their manager, Brian Epstein (drug overdose at age 37), and they were just returning from their trip to India when they began recording the tracks that became the 'White Album.' So, their perspective, their camaraderie, their outlook were quite different for the making of this album than it was for the previous recordings. This album marked a significant turning point in the lives of these men who made such an irreversible impression on the world of their day. I believe the effects of their contribution are still reverberating.

The other Beatles LP that slipped from my fingers that day (not so unwillingly because it fetched a decent sum in return!) was 'Rubber Soul.' 'Rubber Soul' is The Beatles' sixth LP, but due to separate releases in countries outside the UK, it could conceivably be counted as somewhere between the tenth and fifteenth album recorded by The Beatles. Released in 1965, it included fourteen tracks. Among them was a Grammy-winning song called "Michelle" as well as "Norwegian Wood," "Drive My Car," "You Won't See Me," and "Nowhere Man."

Like so much of their music, the appeal is truly timeless.

You can see by the pics that these records saw a lot of use - and a great deal of love - over the years.