By Gillian G. Gaar

Serious Beatle record collectors will undoubtedly have at least one of Bruce Spizer’s books on their shelves, which have delved into the history of The Beatles on the Vee Jay, Swan, Capitol and Apple record labels (in addition to his definitive account of The Beatles’ arrival in America, in “The Beatles Are Coming!”). Even noncollectors can enjoy his beautifully printed books, as they contain a wealth of information on how the records were packaged and marketed, along with interviews and numerous illustrations.

Spizer had thought that “The Beatles Swan Song” (released in 2007) would be his last book. Instead, he’s getting ready to publish another one, “Beatles For Sale on Parlophone,” written in collaboration with Frank Daniels (whose “Price Guide For The Beatles American Records” was published in 2007 by Spizer’s company, 498 Productions).

It marks the first time Spizer has looked at The Beatles’ U.K. recording history. “I always assumed that someone else would do a comprehensive Beatles U.K. records book,” he explains. “At least two different people at prior Beatlefests told me they were working on a U.K. book in my style, but they apparently gave up once they realized what was involved. I still had no plans to do a book until Frank Daniels sent me an e-mail to discuss doing something together. Frank had already compiled rough images and data about what records were out there, and realizing that his assistance would make the project less burdensome, I agreed to once again take up the mantle.”

“This is a massive undertaking,” Spizer adds, with no exaggeration. Covering the U.K. records pressed by EMI incorporates not just the 22 singles released in the U.K., but also those pressed for export sale; an extensive section on EPs (including two that were never issued); the 13 U.K. albums (including the two unreleased “Get Back” albums) and export albums; and the Christmas album. along with the fan club discs. No surprise then that book runs to 444 pages.

“I did not realize how many label variations there were,” Spizer says. “EMI seemed to redo the labels every time they ran out. It was not a case of using the same typesetting each time. It seems like the boys in the print shop kept tweaking the label every time new ones were needed. There were also changes in label styles and perimeter print. I also learned a lot from U.K. trade magazines and from interviewing people. I tracked down a man who worked at EMI’s Hayes factory starting in the mid-’50s until the plant was sold by EMI. He was most helpful. I also learned some fun stories about the music and how it was marketed. No matter how much someone knows about The Beatles, he or she will learn new things from the book.”

Given that the titles of Spizer’s other books have drawn on Beatles record titles, “Beatles For Sale on Parlophone” was a natural fit. Though Spizer’s own record collection had concentrated on U.S. and Canadian records, his work on this project has led to some changes. “My U.K. collection has grown from about a dozen discs to a few hundred in the time I started the book less than a year ago!” he says. “This book will give other collectors the confidence to start collecting the U.K. records.”

Spizer hopes to have books ready in August, for Chicago’s Fest For Beatle Fans and Liverpool’s International Beatles Week. Then, a much-needed break will be in order.”

“This could even be my last book,” he says. But Spizer’s fans shouldn’t despair, for he quickly goes on admit, “My last book, ‘The Beatles Swan Song,’ was supposed to be my ‘swan song’ as an author. So as in the title to that James Bond film, never say never again!”

For more information: 498 Productions, 1010 Common St., Suite 1964, New Orleans, LA 70112; www.beatle.net.

For related items that you may enjoy in our Goldmine store:

• Cover everything with Goldmine’s Guide to the Beatles (PDF Download)
• Get the book “John Lennon: Life is What Happens Music, Memories & Memorabilia”

By Susan Sliwicki

The Beatles are admittedly a Market Watch staple, but securing four fab spots in this edition’s countdown — including the No. 1 and 2 spots with different pressings of the White Album — is the kind of feat that only the lads from Liverpool could achieve.

1.$4,956.29 — The Beatles, “The Beatles” (White Album), LP. This ultra rare, low-numbered, 1968 U.K. mono first pressing — complete with poster, photos, spacer and black inner liners — turned a few heads at auction, with 21 bids getting swapped before it found a new home.

The seller shared the story of how the art for the album — which originally was going to be called “A Doll’s House” — came to be the familiar stark, white cover, thanks to the suggestion of artist Richard Hamilton.

“He suggested that rather than adding to the number of garish sleeves already in existence at that time that they should make the cover look distinctive by putting nothing on it at all except the title “The Beatles” and to give each issue its own number,” the seller wrote. “Also, the sleeve was given its openings at the top instead of the side, again another first for its time.”

The seller declined to give technical grades for the records or its contents, instead indicating that the labels on the records are in “superb” condition, the glossy vinyl displays a stunning “mint appearance” in normal daylight, and the audio play is “flawless.”
“Copies numbered this low do not surface for sale that often, and one numbered below 100 will without doubt be a real jewel in any Beatles collection,” the seller wrote.

2. $4,945.14 — The Beatles, “The Beatles” (White Album), LP. Coming in just a few dollars shy of our countdown leader is a second copy of the White Album, this time the U.K. Parlophone/Decca stereo pressing issued by EMI for export purposes only.

According to the seller, the export copies were the same as the U.K. issues, featuring gatefold numbered sleeves, black inners, and a poster, except these pressings had the well-known black and yellow Parlophone label (P-PCS 7067) instead of the new Apple labels.

“There seems to be some uncertainty as to just how many copies were pressed by Decca, but what is certain is that the numbers were very few and very limited,” the seller wrote. “It has been suggested that fewer of these Decca pressings exist than the infamous ‘black and gold’ stereo, (reputed to be just 900?) and whilst that suggestion is open to debate, what can’t be disputed is the fact that this particular contract pressing appears for sale on the open market far less often than the “black and gold” stereo, and both of these albums are not considered amongst the all-time rarest U.K. records of all time and of any artist.”

Again, the seller offered no specific technical grades for the record, labels, cover or sleeves, other than “overall super condition throughout,” according to the buyer.

3. $4,000 — Paul Makanowitzky-Noel Lee, Beethoven sonatas 4-LP box set. Roll over, Beethoven. The Beatles may be before you in the countdown, but you beat out the Fab Four for the No. 3 spot, this time with a lovely mono box set on the Lumen label. The seller had little to share about this offering except for numbers (LD-3-416, LD-3-417, LD-3-418 and LD-3-419) and the condition, giving the cover and box a grade of Mint and the records a Near Mint Minus.

4. $3,668.96 — The Beatles, “Please Please Me,” LP. The U.K. stereo pressing of this record (PCS 3042) has become a regular in our countdown, appearing about a dozen times since January. The seller touts that the record has an A stamper for Side 1, the rarest stamper of all, and an R stamper for Side Two. The vinyl earned a visual grade of VG++, but a play grade of NM.
“This album has had one very careful owner,” the seller wrote. “All in all, a fantastic copy of this very, very rare record.”

5. $3,050 – Imperial C’s, “Someone Tell Her” / “I’ll Live On,” 45. Twenty-two bids were swapped before this gorgeous Northern Soul 45 on the Phil-L.A. of Soul label found a new home. We were won over by record’s clever label name and fun fishbone logo.

“We don’t use the grade “Mint,” but this thing looks Mint!!” the seller wrote. The flip side, “Someone Tell Her’ is a white label D.J. copy, with a black marker X on that label, while “I’ll Live On” bears a yellow label.

6. $2,950.08 — Robert Johnson, “Kind Hearted Woman Blues” / “Terraplane Blues” 78. This Robert Johnson 78 on the Vocalion label (03416 ) makes a second Market Watch appearance in four months. This copy is in VG to VG+ condition, with a sticker “Master 2” appearing on the “Kind Hearted” side’s label.

“This man’s original discs are so scarce that even the most diehard record collectors may have never seen something as rare as this,” the seller said.

Does anyone else sense an imminent “holy grail”-related description coming up?

“‘Impossibly rare’ and ‘incredibly rare opportunity’ are the kind of phrases that seem to bounce around eBay attached to the most ordinary records, but this kind of disc justifies the hype! It rarely turns up for sale as a first-issue pressing in brilliant playable condition like this, so seriously, don’t miss out.”

Despite the seller’s enthusiastic pitch, the record’s final sale price didn’t hold a candle to the last time it appeared on the countdown for $3,428.92. This copy  also bears a label or sticker of some sort a previous owner had applied to the “Kind Hearted” side of the disc. Could it be the same record, sold at a loss? It’s too hard to tell for sure from the photos, but we suspect it might be.

7. $2,831.18 — The Cure, “Jumping Someone Else’s Train,” acetate. Regardless if you like The Cure’s music, anytime you can get a rare U.K. acetate in a custom picture sleeve, it’s a collecting win-win in our book.

Issued in the U.K. with a Strawberry Mastering label in 1979, this record is a “serious rarity” that grades in NM condition, and the cover pulls in an Excellent rating, the seller said.

“This acetate was sent out to a reviewer in a custom sleeve which is actually one big piece of paper that’s folded over and cellotaped on the rear. There would have been a mere handful of these, and how many have survived is anybody’s guess,” the seller wrote. “The disc is in superb condition and appears unplayed, while the makeshift sleeve has two tiny splits on each side, caused by the tightness of the wrap around.”

The sleeve is a proof from the printers, and the piece comes from the collection of a reviewer who worked for Music Week and Record Mirror in the 1960s to the early 1980s, the seller said.

8. $2,810 — The Beatles, “That’ll Be The Day” / “In Spite of All the Danger,” 78. Here’s one you don’t see every day: a 1958 recording of the band that evolved into The Beatles. Technically, The Quarrymen were the musicians who made the recording, with John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lowe and Collin Hanton, credited on the record, the seller said. (We won’t quibble too hard with the seller labeling it as ‘The Beatles’ to draw in bidders, which it did quite handily with 30 bids being swapped).

“This recording wasn’t available until it was released on The Beatles Anthology Volume 1 in 1995, and ‘In Spite of All The Danger’ was edited a little,” the seller said. This copy has a 2 minute, 48 second version, which is shorter than the more familiar 3 minute, 44 second one, the seller said.

When inspecting the recording with backlighting, the seller also noticed three extra holes in the record that are hidden by the label. Sounds like a magical mystery in the making!

9. $2,771 — Stross Quartet, “Haydn’s Quintet for Strings,” three 78s. This pressing on the German Polydor label is another example of classical music making serious inroads in Market Watch. All of the records (LM 68259-LM 68261) were pressed in the 1940s and grade in EX condition. They feature the green and gold Polydor label. It comes from the seller’s private collection.

10. $2,749.99 — Dobby Bragg, “Fire Detective Blues” b/w “Single Tree Blues,” 78. The seller says this E+ copy on the Paramount label (12827) is one of his favorites. “A Roosevelt Sykes masterpiece,” the seller writes. “What an extraordinarily beautiful copy of an extraordinarily rare Paramount. This may well be as fine a copy as there is.”

By Susan Sliwicki

Where else but in Market Watch would you find a picture disc showing Madonna sucking someone’s toes competing with a vintage blues record, a punk 45, classical music, and, of course, The Beatles, for the top spot in the countdown. Just goes to show that when it comes to record collecting, condition aside, desirability is totally in the eye of the beholder.

1. $9,788.13 — The Beatles, “Love Me Do”/ “P.S. I Love You” demo 45. Holy Beatles rarity, Batman! At nearly 10 grand, this goodie is not for the faint of heart — or checkbook. But what a goodie it is: a 1962 U.K. demo pressing of The Beatles, billed by the seller as “THE rarest U.K. Beatles 45.”

Only a few hundred copies of this record were specially pressed and distributed to deejays and reviewers before its official release in October 1962, according to the seller. Most were quickly discarded, and, as a result, only a handful of genuine examples survive today. The disc has the “oversize” labels with a large red “A” on the “Love Me Do” side (R-4949). Paul McCartney’s songwriting credit on both sides is misspelled as “McArtney.” Both labels, which grade in Excellent condition, are stamped with “The Parlophone Co. Ltd.” and “Demonstration Record — Not For Sale.” The disc has a few wispy hairline marks and earns a visual grade of VG+ and a play grade of VG, with light background noise. The record is housed in an original EMI promotional “Top Pop” sleeve; which is a little wrinkled but clocks in at Excellent condition.

2. $5,000 — Robert Johnson “Come On In My Kitchen” 78. Apparently, less was more when it came to this description. The seller which he had almost nothing to say about this record, other than it was graded VG, it was on Vocalion 03563, it was rare, and “sharp lbl … E- in 78 collector parlance!” The $5,000 “buy it now” price was just fine with the buyer, too.

3. $4,250 — The Fix, “Vengeance” b/w “In This Town” 45. “Lightning strikes twice!!!” the seller declared in the description of this punk rock recording, which also appeared at No. 10 in our last Market Watch roundup.

“I respectfully waited until the auction of the other seller’s Fix record was over before listing this as to not upset anyone so everyone gets a second chance at bidding on this incredibly rare record,” the seller wrote. He had plenty of takers, as there were 34 bids before a winner was declared. This copy on the Touch & Go label comes with a picture sleeve, and, the seller explains, “Records” is spelled with a “k” because the typesetter ran out of “c’s” when he was making the sleeve!

As we mentioned last week, only 200 copies of this record were pressed. The record grades in Near Mint/Mint Condition, and the picture sleeve has only minor wrinkle marks and a faint record impression.

4. $4,000 — Elvis Presley, “That’s All Right” b/w “Blue Moon of Kentucky” 45. If you love Elvis, chances are good his Sun 45s land on your want list somewhere. But at the $4,000 “buy it now” price for this copy of Sun 209 (which the lucky winner was happy to pay), budget-minded collectors may find The King is stuck on their want lists a little while longer. The well-cared-for original record grades at near mint to mint condition.

5. $3,800 — The Beatles, “Yesterday & Today” LP. This first pressing, Second-State Butcher Cover on Capitol ST-2553 attracted 49 bids before a winner was declared. The cover is in near mint shape with no writing, saw cuts, holes or seam splits. The auction price easily outstripped the book value as listed in “Goldmine’s Standard Catalog of American Records 1950 to 1975,” which puts the value for the 1966 issue of this record at $1,000.

6. $3,200 — Uncle Funkenstein, “Together Again” LP. It’s deja vu all over again for this Uncle Funkenstein record, which makes its second appearance in a row in the Market Watch countdown. This “impossible to find private press!” was purchased from a used record store in 1998. The jacket grades at Near Mint condition overall, and the vinyl itself varies from VG+ to VG++, with light paper scuffs on each side. There is a bit of writing on one label, however.

7. $3,053.90 — Madonna “Erotica” 12-inch picture disc. Purists argue that Madonna has no business in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but one bidder was happy to pay a Hall of Fame price for this rare picture disc, which shows Madonna sucking someone’s toes. Yup, you read that right.

It took 62 bids before a winner was declared on this Warner Bros./Sire/Maverick rarity. The seller bought the album (catalogue number WO138TP 9362-40662-0) from a dealer after learning they weren’t supposed to be released. Warner Bros. reportedly pressed 50,000 copies of the disc before recalling them due to a “related” foot/toe scandal involving Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. Only 138 copies were unaccounted for. The disc is in Mint condition, and the package retains its double-sided insert and original plastic sleeve.

8. $2,950 —Lazare Levy Mozart sonatas, 10-inch. Now for something completely different, as the Monty Python catchphrase goes, we move from toe sucking to Mozart. This French pressing featuring Lazare Levy playing Mozart’s piano sonata in C Marjo and piano sonata in A major features an EX- grade cover and vinyl ranging from VG+ (Side 1) to EX (Side 2).

9. $2,867.50 —Dr. Z, “Three Parts to My Soul” LP. There are always one or two “never heard of ’em” artists whose records show up on the Market Watch countdown, and this week, Dr. Z wins that honor. But, according to the seller, if you’re a prog collector worth your salt, you’d know all about this 1971 release on the Vertigo label, “the rarest and most desired of all Vertigo releases.” This copy came from an collection that had been stored away, untouched, for 39 years and was listed in Mint/Mint Minus condition.

Touting it as “the pinnacle of U.K. prog collections,” the seller declared that everything from the vinyl and inner sleeve to the intricate fold-out were free of damage and wear.

10. $2,806 — Trio Tommasi, “Zamboni 22” LP. With the word “Zamboni” in the title, my brain went directly to “hockey” before my eyes had a chance to catch up and read that this is a very rare original 1960 pressing of the most-sought Italian jazz “hard-bop style” record on the Adventure label. The seller grades the record in Mint condition, with the cover at a very respectable near mint. (And, from what I can tell, no ice resurfacing machines were harmed in the making of the album.)

The Beatles’ U.K. home throughout their years of greatest success and popularity, the story of the Parlophone label is, basically, the story of George Martin, the former navy pilot who joined the label in 1950 as assistant to A&R manager Oscar Preuss.

It was a tiny label at the time, dwarfed by its compatriots within the EMI Group: HMV, Columbia and Regal Zonophone, and content with an output of orchestral, dance, light jazz and childrens’ music. Martin recorded all this and more — Eve Boswell and Cleo Laine, Kenneth McKellar and Jimmy Shand, the Luton Girls’ Choir and the Kirkintilloch Junior Choir all passed through his studio.

Preuss retired in 1955 and Martin stepped up to replace him, immediately making changes in the Parlophone policy. The label’s bread and butter remained much the same as before (one now notable recording featured Dick James, later renowned as owner of the DJM label, voicing the TV theme “Robin Hood” — MSP 6199), but Martin also began bringing in new talent, singer Edna Savage, the skiffle band The Vipers and the King Brothers.

In December 1959, Adam Faith brought Parlophone (but not Martin — Faith’s producer was John Burgess) its first-ever British #1 45, “What Do You Want” (R4591). He followed through with the equally successfully “Poor Me” (R4623). But if Parlophone was renowned for any one thing at this time, it was for Martin’s painstaking recruitment of the cream of Britain’s radio-comedy community. Such records were unheard of in Britain at that time, but under Martin’s aegis they became one of the fastest-selling genres of the late 1950s.

Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine, individually brilliant and collectively The Goons, cut a string of hits with Martin. So did the musical duo Flanders and Swann, actors Bernard Cribbens, Peter Ustinov and Charlie Drake. The Temperance Seven event provided Martin with his own first U.K. chart-topper, when their “You’re Driving Me Crazy” (R4757) went to #1 in May 1961. Had Martin never made another “musical” record in his life, his modern collectibility would be assured by the barrage of comic brilliance which Parlophone issued between 1955-62.

1962, however, brought him The Beatles, and Parlophone embarked upon its next phase as home to the most successful act in recording history. Today, the black Parlophone imprint dominated by a giant 45, introduced in 1962 shortly after the release of The Beatles’ “Love Me Do” debut (R4949), is among the best-known identities of all, and one of the most heavily researched.

Whereas labelology — the minute study of record label design and variations — has long been an accepted part of the record-collecting hobby in the U.S. and Japan, British collectors have seldom shown any interest in pursuing it. It was, therefore, an American collector Mitch Scharoff, author of the handbook “The Beatles: Collecting The original UK Pressings 1962-70,” who first ventured into the field, to be followed by members of the Tokyo Beatles Fan Club in Japan.

Their research isolated and dated the most minute Parlophone label varieties and even cracked the long-standing mystery of the indented numbers printed on the push-out center of Parlophone 45s, identifying them as coded references to EMI pricing and the government’s Purchase Tax (the then-equivalent to American sales tax and modern European VAT). These letters can then be used to date the period during which a particular record was pressed, an important factor in identifying 45s which remained in print, and largely unchanged, for over a decade.

The Beatles aside, 1963-65 saw the label issue hit after hit by Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, the Hollies and so many more. Of course, these are highly collectible, but so are many more less-successful releases for which Martin and Parlophone were responsible, acts like Freakbeat pioneers The Action,  pop-soul specialists The Marionettes, The Roulettes (Adam Faith’s former backing band) and a host of others.

Martin departed the label in 1965 to concentrate on his responsibilities as the Beatles’ producer — his years at the label are best chronicled within the box set Produced By George Martin: 50 Years In Recording (EMI 07253 532631 2 6).

His replacement was Norman Smith, engineer at the first Beatles session and the man responsible for bringing EMI both Pink Floyd and The Pretty Things. The change did not affect Parlophone’s output; neither did The Beatles’ own departure to establish their Apple imprint (distributed, of course, by Parlophone) in 1968.

1965 brought the young Marc Bolan (his “Hippy Gumbo” — R5539 — is one of the label’s highest-priced non-Beatles issues); 1966 introduced the Art Woods, featuring Deep Purple’s Jon Lord and Ron Wood’s brother Art; 1967 introduced Nick Lowe’s Kippington Lodge and Simon Dupree and The Big Sound, the pop band which would soon metamorphose into prog heroes Gentle Giant; 1968 saw Parlophone secure Love Sculpture, featuring guitarist Dave Edmunds, and the return of Jon Lord with Deep Purple.

Nevertheless, the 1970s would see the label enter a period of sharp decline, and in 1973, Parlophone was closed, to be merged (alongside Columbia, HMV, Stateside and several other EMI subsidiaries) into the new EMI imprint.

Parlophone re-emerged in the late 1970s with Beatle Paul back on board and new-wave hopefuls The Flys heading a small but impressive roster of new talent — McCartney’s “Goodnight Tonight” 12-inch (12R 6023) is an entertaining rarity from this period. Another quiescent period then ended in 1985, when it was revitalized with the arrival of Duran Duran and The Pet Shop Boys. Since then, Parlophone has reestablished itself as a major power on the U.K. scene, with acts as disparate, but universally acclaimed, as Morrissey, My Life Story, Radiohead, Supergrass and The Sundays maintaining this new era of prosperity, capped by the restoration of the classic 1960s Parlophone label design.

Many of these latter-day signings have proven as collectible as (almost) any past Parlophone artist; however, Parlophone’s own inherent collectibility is firmly locked within those first generations of George Martin-inspired talent.

MORE RESOURCES FOR MUSIC COLLECTORS

*Great Books, CDs, Price Guides & More
*Share YOUR Thoughts in the Goldmine Forums
*Check out our FREE Online Classified Ads

Click here to check out the latest price guides from Goldmine