Beatles

"Product", "Filler", whatever you want to call it, the appropriately titled Beatles For Sale was a "have to meet the two album a year schedule" interim album due out for the 1964 Christmas season—a hodgepodge return to covers, George really asserting his country and western licks, John feeling his inner Bob Dylan, John and Paul channeling the Everly Brothers, Ringo given a real chance to stretch out in the percussion department and Paul rocking, rolling and screaming on reissue and breaking your heart on one of his achingly beautiful ballads.

Though the two originals have plenty of "mileage", they don't sound "chewed" and a great deal of high frequency energy remains in the grooves. Nonetheless, this new AAA reissue sounds tonally identical to the original.

The Beatles in Mono arrived today. This evening listening will begin but this afternoon analogplanet.com editor Michael Fremer opened the box and physically inspected.

Analogplanet received one of the first Ortofon 2M MONO Special Edition cartridges developed by the company in cooperation with Universal Music Group as a tribute to the upcoming Beatles "Back to Mono" box set.

This year's Fest for Beatles Fans coincided with the 50th anniversary of their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9th, 1964. The "invasion" festivities began earlier of course, including one event held Thursday February 6th at the 92nd St. "Y". That one featured Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon, who also signed James Taylor to Apple and went on to become a major producer/manager), performer Billy J. Kramer, Beatle secretary Frida Kelly and Vince Calandra. The event was hosted by British actor/comedian and Beatle fan Martin Lewis. Donovan was a no-show due to a friend's death.

“I don’t object to people inheriting or having a big lot of money I never did but I do object to people being stony broke and starving”.—John Lennon

These BBC recordings from 1963 and 1964 make clear that The Beatles were, even at that early stage of their career, a skilled musical ensemble and that even then they were eager to cast off the teen-craze image created for them by Brian Epstein.