This is the fourth and final part in a series of posts titled “Some Unusual Asian Beatles Items”.  These posts have all been based around a recent holiday visit to Vietnam, and some CDs and a DVD box set (The Beatles Anthology) I picked up in a shop in Hanoi. (Click here to read Part One, Part Two and Part Three)

The last CD I’m describing comes in a cardboard package that is meant to resemble a small hardback book, complete with coloured, “sown” binding:

The packaging is designed to look like a small book

It is called “The Beatles – 1956 – 1970”. Parts of the cover are printed in a shiny, metallic silver print making it difficult to read from certain angles:

The CD front cover - lots of Chines and a little bit of English

There are three compact discs inside, and they sit flush with the page surface of the thick cardboard pages. They’re held in place by a small circle of cardboard that fits the centre hole of the CD. You can’t quite see it in the picture below, but the CD is printed to look like a vinyl record with tracks and a label in the centre. Kind of cute.

One of the "pages" showing the how the CDs are secured

As I said, there are three CD’s inside across which is a sprawling sample of The Beatles output – with songs from their earliest official album (“Please Please Me”) through to the final, “Let It Be”. However, they are not in chronological order as such. Disc One for example starts with “Love Me Do” and finishes with “The Long and Winding Road”.

"The Beatles 1956-1970" CD Cover - Rear

I’m not sure why the CD has been given the title “1956 – 1970” because there is nothing pre-1962 here. Notice the final song on CD 3 – “All My Loveing”. Spelling mistakes like this are often dead giveaways that what your’e looking at is an unofficial, illegal release.

Disc Two has “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand” and “Sie Liebt Dich”, as well as some interesting B-sides like “The Inner Light”, “Rain” and “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)”. “Across the Universe” is the “wildlife” version as it has the bird sound effects start.

There is an odd-looking booklet inside which, for some entirely unknown reason, has a picture of an Alfa Romeo sports car on the front….inside are the titles of each song and lyrics.

Now that is just plain weird.....

So, where does this come from and is it kosher? A close up of the rear cover “small print” shows an official-looking barcode, Chinese writing, the words “24 Bit – 100hz”, “Fashion.D.Z.” and “Sony”:

Rear cover close-up

The really small writing says: “This compilation P&C 2007 Earth’s Earth Sound and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, renting, public performance and vroadcasting (sic) of the recording is prohibited”.

This whole series of posts (Part One, Part Two and Part Three) on potentially fake CDs and DVDs is based on the principle that I don’t collect Beatles bootlegs, and I don’t support or promote piracy in the music business. All my collection to date has been made up of legitimate, officially released discs – that’s all my CDs, LPs, 45rpm singles, books, DVDs, magazines and other printed items. In publishing this series I’m not advocating or promoting these sorts of discs. I am still genuinely confused about a couple of these releases. Any additional information or views on these releases are welcome. Feel free to email me at: beatlesblogger@gmail.com, or comment using the “Leave a Reply” hotlink below.